Wig Review: Purple Plum (AnimeStuffStore.com) Meiko "Natural Rainbow Blend" Wig

Yay, wig review! My last wig was Stocking from JC-Punk but this one is from a US brand, Purple Plum.

I have no idea when I'll wear this wig (got it last October) but hey! Let's talk about it ~



I think I ran across Purple Plum, owned by AnimeStuffStore, at random while looking for wigs. The store carries a wide range of wigs, as well as anime and manga merchandise, costumes, and little cosplay accessories (like things you might need to complete a Ciel [Kuroshitsuji] cosplay!).

I freaking love their wig colors and selection, ack! I want so many of them. They offer a Miku wig in a variety of colors, not just her normal teal-y shade; there are variations (because let's face it, Miku's hair color is always a little bit different!) and some more natural shades like blonde. Blonde Miku. Hmmm...

Back to the wig and the site itself. The wig section is pretty easy to navigate; they offer categories to search by style or by type. I like that they offer different pieces to add to their more basic wigs (like clip on ponytails, buns, bangs, and extensions). Amongst the wigs, they offer Wig Grab Bags that range in price; cheapest being $12 for an $18 (or more) short wig. I went for the $40+ Grab Bag, which holds one randomly chosen base wig and the wig's matching clips that can range from $40 up to their $50 Miku. 

This bag goes for $25, making it a pretty sweet deal! With shipping tacked on, it came to $36 and some change. Not bad since the wig I got was the $46 Meiko, the sister wig to split-color Umeko. Shipping for Meiko on its own would have been about $50+ I think. I was hoping for Umeko, Meiko or even Miku, (I would have even been happy with cutie Sayuri) since those are the $40+ wigs I love the most! I can't decide which of the offered colors I like best of these too.

Yay grocery bag!

The wig came with a nice AnimeStuffStore grocery bag, which has their cute little maid and wa-lolita mascots on it. Inside, the base wig was in its own bag and the clips were in two other separate bags in one larger bag; nothing will get tangled up together and you don't have to worry so much about losing the clips or the base wig.

Meiko is a popular lolita style wig with a nice selection of color mixes, ranging from natural to subtle to completely outrageous. The color I got was their Natural Rainbow Blend, which is a muted, dusty sort of rainbow. It's not so in-your-face as the Raving, Peacock, Rainbow or Neon Rainbow blends! It was rather shocking to pull out a rainbow wig for me, haha. I'm not sure when I'll get the chance to wear it (its not something I would normally select for myself!) but I'm trying to make a character specifically for this wig. By the way, the red is more of pinky-rose-red, not anywhere near the ketchup red below.

No Flash; the right side image is pretty close to what the wig looks like IRL.

With flash!

The fibers are super soft and heat resistant, as stated by the hang tags. I didn't find it really tangling up when I was wearing and trying to put it on. The base wig is pretty, nice curly ends and the bangs can be trimmed down if you want to do that; it's nice that they can be swept to the side. The base wig is also on the thin side, but not so thin you can see the wefts. It's sort of meant to have the clips attached to make it fuller. Obviously, you don't have to wear the clips if you don't want to. It's a little boring without them to me, haha. 

Left with flash; right without flash

Clips on their own. Left without flash; right with flash

The clips for the wig are crazy full and heavy! I swear, these are a some heavy duty claw clips inside because I struggle a little with opening them. I don't feel like the teeth will break any time soon—this is something I struggled with when I would use claw clips to hold my hair up. Really plush curls due to how thick they are and nicely layered to give an even fuller look when worn on the wig. Running your fingers through the wig and the clips loosens the curls from each other to make it nice and fluffy. (Not bad fluffy, but more voluminous fluffy.) Not knowing how to go about attaching the clips, I asked some users on Cosplay.com how I should go about doing it and their methods were really helpful. I contacted AnimeStuffStore through their Facebook page and asked how they set up their wigs for stock photos; they put the clips through the mesh of the wig cap. Not a bad method and I'll add it to my list of methods for secure attachment. Thanks to all the hair at the top of the clips, you can just maneuver some of it around to cover any of the claw clip that's showing.

About shininess... Wigs will tend to be shiny (unless they get treated like EpicCosplay wigs, which are supposed to be less shiny), because that's the nature of synthetic fibers. I don't find it terribly shiny in incandescent or natural light but with flash from the Lumix, the camera I use most of the time, it is shiny. The shininess level then reminds me of my hair when it's oily (ewwwww).

Overall, it's a really nice wig and I certainly want more Purple Plum/AnimeStuffStore grab bags of wigs! I wouldn't mind buying some of their clips and one of their short, basic wigs to have my own style of clip-on wig.

If you want nice wigs that are pretty dang affordable and have nice color options, as well as various styles, check out Purple Plum! They have an eBay store as well as their regular AnimeStuffStore website. They offer international shipping and have sales occasionally too. I really want another grab bag and hopefully I won't get another really crazy colored wig.

PS: Don't rely too much on stock photos, because the colors can be a little bit muted/darker or brighter in stock photos than the wig is in real life. I'm not sure what their lighting set-up is like! Some of them seem to use natural light, which is always good for a wig.

PPS: I tried pink-to-brown ombré brows on Friday. Giant failure! I only have black eyeliner, since I don't wear brown eyeliner, and tried to put my favorite cool-toned dark brown eyeshadow (the shade I use for my natural brow color) on top and just ended up being smudgy, like none of the powder even touched the eyeliner. I think it might have been the brush I used... Oh well. I plan to buy a brown gel liner from eBay and a pink one, just so I can do my brows easier. I so prefer gel liners for my brows over pencils! They cover the hair pretty nicely and then the eyeshadow put on top has something more to stick to to alter the color of my brows.

SPOOKEHDOOM