Review: Pengin Workshop wigs

Long time no post, eh? (･∀･；) This year has been really busy for me work-wise and I haven’t had much free time, so my dolls have been quite neglected. And since I haven’t done much with my dolls, I haven’t really had much to blog about either. I do have some older backlogged posts from last year and… the year before, but I’ve pretty much given up trying to get them done. (( ´∀`;)) Blogging has felt more like a chore rather than something fun to do, so… I’ve just decided not to stress about stuff anymore, and make blog posts when I feel like writing. A weight off my shoulders, ahah…

Well anyway, I like doing reviews and I hope they’re something that can be useful to other people as well, so I’m breaking the long silence today with a wig review post. Yay! ヽ(･∀･)ﾉ

I’ve been trying to find “the perfect” wigs for my twins, Yuuya and Yuuri (Kagamine Len & Rin). First I tried Luts, but I wasn’t too happy with the styles I picked (and the one I got for Yuuya was kinda bad in quality as well)… next I went for Crobi, which are really nice quality, but the styles aren’t quite what I’ve wanted… (・∧‐)ゞ

For a while I’ve been curious about Pengin Workshop wigs as they have some really cute styles. Recently I discovered these two wigs: Joyce and Yasusu, which made me think that they could be styles that would suit Yuuya & Yuuri well. (人´ω｀*)♡

So, I decided to order the wigs. The communication was great; replies quick and friendly and the wigs also shipped a few days after I’d paid for them. They also arrived really fast in Finland: they were taken to the post office on the 8th of November, the package left Hong Kong on the 11th, arrived in Finland on the 14th and I got the wigs home on the 15th in the afternoon. So, pretty fast! o(*^▽^*)o

This week I’ve been sick with a really bad flu, and I was still sick when I took the box opening photos so I made a couple of blunders, but… yeah. (-∀-`; )

The wigs arrived in a cardboard box like this. There was bubblewrap inside securing the wig boxes, but I completely forgot to document that. “”orz The box smelled quite strongly of some kind of perfume, so that was a bit unfortunate as I’m really sensitive to strong smells. Luckily the wigs themselves had not absorbed the perfume smell.

The wigs out of bubblewrap in their clear plastic boxes. Here you can see that I was sick and my brain wasn’t functioning properly: I photographed them upside down, lol!

The first thing that struck as odd to me, was that the elastic on the ponytail was left long like this, and it peeked from between the fibers unflatteringly. BUT, I contacted Pengin Workshop about this issue and there’s a logical explanation for it: since the ponytails are sewn onto the wigs (rather than attached with clasps), they leave the elastic long during shipping to make sure that the ponytail doesn’t come undone.

The elastic on “Joyce”. I cut the elastic shorter and it’s no longer an issue.

The elastic on “Yasusu”. Shorter compared to Joyce, but I trimmed these too. The ponytail is sewn really firmly, I tried tugging on it and it stayed perfectly in shape without coming undone.

Quick colour comparison with Volks Len wig and Crobidoll’s Milky Blond. I was a bit surprised that this “Cheese” colour was more of a dark ash blond rather than a more… well, cheese yellow. I was hoping they’d be similar to the Volks Rin & Len wigs, but yeah… they’re still a nice colour.

Pengin Workshop JOYCE in 9-10″ size

Not love at first sight… the bangs didn’t have as much volume as I’d expected and those longer fibers that frame the face lack a bit volume in comparison to the shop photos, as well.

From the side it’s really cute, although there’s a bit of a bald spot above the ears, as you can see. For some reason those strands don’t want to sit nicely to frame the face.

At the back, the fibers bend into various directions. But there are no bald spots to be seen and the ponytail has a lot of volume.

There’s a bit of a bald spot on the left side as well, but as a whole this side looks better than the right side.

Then, photos of the Joyce wig after I’d styled it with Volks water wax. Especially on the right side the bangs don’t have enough volume, so I settled to pulling them back with Rin’s hairpins.

Wig wax and the hairpins helped to tame the fibers, so no more bald spot, yay!

I think I’ll eventually resort to heat styling so that the fibers would bend outwards for a more wispy effect, rather than them clinging to the side like this…

The left side revealed more issues after I added wax. I’ll have to try taming it with a hairdryer & brush, definitely.

Side by side comparison:

Price: 25 USD

The wig is available in the following colours:
– Cheese
– Mocha

My rating for this wig:
Colour: ★★★★☆ (4/5)
Style: ★★★★★ (5/5)
Overall quality: ★★★★☆ (4/5)

Pengin Workshop Yasusu in 8.5-9″ size

This wig was looking pretty different from the shop photos. Lots of flyaways and the bangs were kinda uneven, too.

The ponytail doesn’t have as much volume as the one on Joyce, so there’s a bit of a bald spot visible. The wig is also smaller in size, so it doesn’t sit on Len’s head as nicely as the Joyce wig does on Rin.

Close up of the flyaways. I do like that the ponytail is sewn on, but in this case it’s a bit unfortunate: I can’t really try smoothing them out by taking the ponytail off and redoing it. I’ll have to cut the flyaways.

A bit of a bald spot on the left side of the ponytail as well.

Luckily, doing some trimming on the bangs and adding (quite a bit of) Volks water wax worked wonders. It looks more sleek and tidy now.

Right side. Here you can see that the wig easily slips if you’re not careful. I’ll need to get more fabric headcaps for my DDs, ahah…

The ponytail is more wispy after I added wax.

And the left side. I’ll need to cut those flyaways, definitely, smoothing them out with wax didn’t really help.

Side by side comparison:

Price: 25 USD

The wig is available in the following colours:
– Cheese
– Mocha
– Dark pink
– Silver

My rating for this wig:
Colour: ★★★★☆ (4/5)
Style: ★★★★★ (5/5)
Overall quality: ★★★☆☆ (3/5)

And the next day I took nicer portraits of Yuuya & Yuuri with the wigs because I wanted to see how they’d work with their headphones. I had to add hairpins for Yuuya, too, ’cause his wig’s bangs didn’t really like the headphones, ahah.

Initially I was pretty bummed that I had to do some extensive styling for the wigs to look nice… but the haircuts are pretty cute (I just love ponytails) and the wigs do look nice in photos, so… I suppose I’ll be keeping them. These wigs suit both Rin & Len and my Yuuri & Yuuya, so that’s good. So far the wigs that I’ve bought for the twins haven’t been ones that I could use for their Rin & Len look, too. I’m more understanding about the issues after I messaged Pengin Workshop and received their explanation. ( ´ ∀ ` ) I’ll post it here, for reference:

This pony tail elastic come in long piece because we afraid the knot may become loose if we cut it all
I didn’t use any wax for the wig when I take photo, it may looks different because the dolls are different head molds
I think ddh01 head and liselotte are both with a round face, so the effect will look different on different head mods

Only These two styles with elastic bands due to the pony tails are held by sewing and ties, the factory do not recommend to cut the elastic band to very short in case it will become loosen and the elastic band would be to short to tie the knot back again

I think every wigs from different shops may need some styling or modification to fit your doll most. Even I put the same wig on two of my dolls with different head mold, the effect may looks different?

And I am sorry to tell that even the wigs were checked before we send them, but due to the shipping process, they have to be stored in a box, he statice electricity may attract some hair piece to the box and may become a little bit messy after you take it out. It is common for short hair style but quite unavoidable ?

Well, all in all, I think that the wigs are okay – they’ll need some styling upon arrival but if you’re handy with a pair of scissors and wax, it won’t pose a problem. Compared to, for example, Lullaby Poem, these are better quality in my opinion. There are a couple of other wigs from Pengin Workshop that I’m curious about, so I’ll probably place another order sometime and see how those will compare to these two wigs. Customer service and speed are definitely the strong points of Pengin Workshop.╰(✿´⌣`✿)╯♡