Now, let's get down to the review. (All dollar amounts are USD.)
Here is the web poster ad for the Minitrunk. At first, I didn't think I was going to get anything because I already got the normal sized trunk last year. 2014 Trunk Review
I wasn't sure what I could use this for other than storage, or toiletries, but it's bigger in person than it looks in photos. I recommend it for carry on luggage because it definitely fits within the size restrictions I've seen most US airlines use. (The larger trunks might not.)
I've no clue what "korokoro" is meant to refer to, but the whole name is "Korokoro" stripe rose carry. If someone knows what the korokoro means, let me know in a comment! I'm very curious!
The web poster listed the price at ¥15,000, but taxes brought it up to ¥16,200. At that time in December of 2014, that was about $139.22. (My bank is being difficult and not showing me older transactions, but that's around what I remember paying.)
I used the Shipping Service Tenso and chose the SAL shipping option because the weight of the package was 4,920g. The Tenso fees ended up being ¥9,120 which amounted to $79.15.
The trunk was advertised to contain 3 items. Here is a SAMPLE reveal for the contents of the trunk.
Now, I put sample all in capitals up there because I want to stress that these samples aren't always what you are absolutely 100% going to get. The concept of fukubukuro/Happy Bags/Grab Bags/ Mystery Bags/etc. deals with you the consumer not knowing exactly what you are going to get in your bag because it's being sold at a drastically reduced price. It could be stock that didn't sell, it could be specially made for the release, it could be both! The point is, you never know 100% what you are going to get in these and you will have to decide for yourself if that sort of purchase is worth it for you.
I think that it's worth it for me because of a few reasons.
The first is that even though you don't know exactly what you are going to get with TKL's fukubukuro's, you can be sure that each item is being sold at a price way lower than regular retail price. This might be because the quality is less, but I don't think that is true in all cases. In my 2014 trunk, there were two pieces out of NINE that I felt could have been better, but the rest seemed on par with normal stock that I've purchased in the past. This year, I think all three of the pieces were on par with regular Liz Lisa/TKL stock quality.
The second is that fukubukuro's give you a chance to try out a bunch of items that you may have never purchased on their own. If you end up liking it, hooray! If you don't, you know for certain that it's not for you and you can sell the item secondhand or give it away to someone who would like it.
The third is that the trunks are basically a novelty item and us overseas TKL fans usually never get to buy those unless we get in touch with an in-store Shopping Service. (I would love to have the glass wear sets that TKL releases!)
So, here are the pieces that I received.
This coat is extremely soft and comfy. The fur collar is removable. You can unbutton the fur from the lining to reveal a folded over collar. The retail price on the tag was listed as ¥16,956.
The shirt has a nylon lace overlay over a polyester base. Neither fabric feels scratchy and it should resist wrinkles better than a cotton fabric, so I'm pleased with the material. The length of the blouse is somewhat cropped. I think that is to give you options with how you want to wear the blouse and skirt together. If you leave it untucked, it will not obscure the lace-up detailing of the skirt, but it is long enough that you can tuck it in if you want to, which is what I did.
I will wear this with a bra that matches my skin tone and a cami that matches the shirt.
The retail price on the tag was listed as ¥6,912.
The skirt has two layers. The top layer is box pleated to give volume, but the inner layer that the lace trim is sewn to, is a simple rectangle. At times the difference in fabric volume causes the lace layer to ride up inside the skirt, but this could be fixed easily with a couple tacks. There are no built in shorts to make it a sukapan unfortunately, but you can wear shorts underneath if you wish. The shirring/elastic feels pretty comfortable and does a great job of emphasizing the waistline.
The retail price on the tag was listed as ¥6,912.
As you can see, I obviously did not get the pieces that were shown in the sample reveal. And I am totally fine with that. All of the stock photos came from the TKL Outlet listings and since the same model is used for all three, wearing them as a coordinate, I think it's safe to say these were designed as a set which is pretty nice. Not all fukubukuro clothing items work together well as an outfit.
So, the retail price of the coat, blouse, and skirt alone was ¥30,780. I think that's a pretty good deal considering I paid ¥25,320 for the trunk, coat, blouse, skirt, Tenso fees, and shipping.
As for the trunk, I love it. I am eating my words from the release when I said it was too small to be useful. It's a great size for carry on luggage, and the design is very cute.
This is a comparison to the "normal sized" trunk from 2014.
Thank you for reading! If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave a response!
