SHAWL REVIEW: TEXTURED CHIFFON SHAWL

Assalamualaikum

I am back with another shawl review!

So, what changes since my last review? I've outgrown my all time favourite, Aisya and Jasmine from TP and ErekaJusoph....What whyyyy? I've become lazier that's why lol, I am too lazy to iron my clothes, so while both the shawls used to be my favourite, both of them are not ironless or at least a minimal care shawl. Sadly, both need to be iron before you wear them.

Thus began my search for an ironless shawl. Everyone knows that the most ironless material out there is lycra/jersey. I tried them both (TudungPeople's Safaa and Calaqisya's Air), which unfortunately, both can only be style "effortlessly"or melekap and who am I kidding, I am no Wawa Zainal or Fazrena Aziz. While they can wear any style they want and still look gorgeous, I nampak serabai gila with an "effortless" look, selekeh amat and the melekap style makes me look like a turtle. So yup, no jersey/lycra/stretchable material. I need a chiffon that won't wrinkle and light. Light is a must because thick material like Bubble akan buat I tercekik. #nonfashionpeople'sproblem

In my trial and error process, I rediscovered TudungPeople's Muna, a fuss free textured shawl. I know I said it here that it's a high maintenance shawl, that it wrinkled easy, well, that's the old Muna! The latest, cheaper priced (RM69 now, before it was RM72) Muna is different! The new ones are my life saver! Then Ereka Jusoph started selling them as well, then Radiusite then I discover other brands as well, so yeah, I went crazy, hence this blog post to justify the haul. >.<

This is also my current travel shawl...I bring only them for my last Hokkaido and Kyushu trip

Here is a little background of the material. It's a soft textured chiffon. It's both light and heavy, haha apa yang awak cuba sampaikan ni? -_______- What I meant with that is it's light as in it's not thick, it's airy and cool, but heavy and slippery enough to create a nice drape. However, it's not a completely iron less material, at the end of the day, it's still a chiffon, the fuss free kind, with minimal ironing needed. Since I am so lazy, of course I try to find ways to get away with this too. For me, as long as I don't put it in a dryer, I store it loosely and don't fold it tightly (fold create folding-crease), the shawl won't wrinkle! I've worn them straight from the drying rack, multiple time, more that I would like to admit.

So here are the brands that I've tried so far:

Muna from Tudung People (RM69)

Classic from Ereka Jusoph (RM49)

Sadia from Radiusite (RM55)
Thea from Neng Geulis (RM69)

Daphne from Farareka (RM35)
Athens from Lilit (RM49)

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My personal favourite:

Of course lah Muna from Tudung People! Muna is the best overall; best material and best quality. I have nothing to complain about this shawl. The seams, of course la kan, TudungPeople kot, they're neat throughout the shawl, and the material, it's the softest among the lot. Maybe because they started this (or at least that's how I was introduced to the material), so they got a head start on the development area. I've seen the growth, the improvement from the old Muna to the new ones. Nothing beats the new ones. It's the softest, the ones with the most consistent texture, and of course, with Tudung People, quality is never compromised.

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The most confusing one is Thea from Neng Geulis.

While I appreciate Muna's softness, Thea is a teeny bit heavier (heavier not thicker). As we all know, heavier material creates nicer drape. That's what I love about Thea, but what I don't appreciate is the seams! omg ish, for something so expensive, RM69, you would expect TudungPeople kind of quality but no okay. I went to the store, so I touched the shawls, ada yang jahitan tertarik, ada yang tergulung, ada yang tertetas, however, interestingly enough, this only happen on one side. The other side of the shawl is good. So you can get away with it as long as you use the good side on the front. If you really want to buy, I suggest you go to the store, this way, you can at least pick which shawl (with the least defect) you want to bring home.

See why I am mad? For a shawl that cost 69 ringgit, I shouldn't be coming up with hacks on how to make the shawl usable, they should have been perfect! but but, the material, it's the nicest and the colours, they have colours that others don't have. ish dilemanyaaaa!

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The one with the most distinctive material is Athens from Lilit.

While the rest of the shawls in this review are more or less the same with very tiny differences, Athens is completely different. If I were to accurately pin point what's different, the rest of the shawl is made of soft chiffon whereas Athens I think it's georgette. It's much rougher compared to the rest which somehow I still like because it's less slippery. It grips well to my inner so it stays put throughout the day.

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The one's that unfortunately is a missed for me is Classic from Ereka Jusoph and Sadia from Radiusite.

It pains me that I have to label them as such considering that both are my favourite brands and they are not nearly as bad as Neng Geulis (still mad at you). Of course, both brands are well known for their quality, I am not denying that and they still haven’t change. Their shawl is still neat..but they’re shorter than the rest. For this type of material, since it suits a more effortless style, I’ll prefer it to be longer and rectangle (Ereka is a curved end shawl) supaya cukup kain nak cover semua lol :P Plus, I think the seams is thicker compared to the rest so that's another thing to watch out for. This is just my personal preference. If you don’t have a problem with that, you’ll be ok.

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A good attempt was made my Farareka with Daphne.

If you want to check out the material but don't want to spend so much on the rest yet, you can start with Farareka. I am not going to be too critical about the quality of the shawl because it's cheap at only RM35 each. They're wearable but will I buy it again, probably not. 

That's all for now, till the next review. (pssst, it's happening soon! hint: pleats!)