Looking for a real, honest review of Meshki before you purchase all the cute stuff in your shopping cart? Happy to help.

It seems like every time you log onto Instagram, there’s another cool new brand with adorable sparkly crop tops or lace bodysuits or PVC leggings. I’m slowly but surely trying to write honest reviews of the most popular ones, because it can be seriously hit or miss. Unfortunately, just because that one dress looks good in your favorite influencer’s photos doesn’t always mean the dress will look good in person.

My friend Priyal introduced me to Meshki maybe a year or so ago when I was complaining about how no brand has filled the void that the OG Nasty Gal left in my wardrobe. She also recommended Oh Polly to me, which I’ve seen tried and loved (you can read my review of Oh Polly here).

But, back to Meshki. At the time, their site wasn’t very user friendly (it honestly still isn’t), and most of their offerings involved bikinis and club wear (which I was good on at the time). But, early this year I was looking for some new stuff to wear on my upcoming trips to Belize and Thailand, and Meshki had a cute beachy two piece set I was into, so I figured it was time to try them out.

I ordered this red two piece set and this leopard print crop top. Shipping ended up taking a little longer than anticipated, so I didn’t get it in time for my trip to Belize (but it’s coming from Australia, so I kind of expected it).

The red set technically fit, but the top was a bit weird in that the straps were super long. Of course, I could tie them up, but they were so big and heavy that it ended up weighing the entire shirt down—which was uncomfortable, primed for a wardrobe malfunction, and not very flattering. I decided to return it.

The leopard top was cute enough, although much shorter than I thought it would be (much more like a bralette than the somewhat modest crop top I was expecting). It was also a little tight on my boobs, but I have a small band size and larger cup size so that’s pretty standard for me. I decided to keep the leopard top, although to be honest I probably wouldn’t have purchased it if I tried it on at a store first, I just didn’t want to have to exchange another thing.

When I eventually got my store credit uploaded to my account (it took 18 days), the other bodysuit I had been eyeing was sold out in my size, and I didn’t see anything else on their site that I wanted and wouldn’t require me to spend extra money on top of my store credit. I ended up waiting for a bit until I was browsing one day and found this red turtleneck mini dress.

In person, the dress was certainly flattering and the fabric was good in that it wasn’t see through, but the fabric still looked a lot cheaper in person than online—it almost looked spandex-y. The dress was also pretty short, which I didn’t fully realize until I walked around in it and kept having to pull it down while it was riding up.

Again, I didn’t feel like returning it and searching for something else to exchange it for, so I decided to keep it. I’m pretty certain I would not have purchased it for $50 if I had tried it on in a store, but that’s how e-tailers get you, right?

Here’s a summary of the main points in case you didn’t feel like reading all that:

The Good:

• Everything I ordered felt true to size. If anything, it was a bit skewed smaller.
• Returns can be done from home.
• Cute selection of trendy clothes (and lots of cute lingerie and bikinis especially).

The Bad:

• They do not offer full refunds for returns, you can only return for store credit.
• They don’t have a ton of inventory on the site (and there seems to be a glitch where you can’t view all their inventory), so exchanging for store credit it more annoying than it is on a larger site with lots of options.
• I’m 5’5”, and everything I ordered seemed like it was missing a few inches of fabric. The skirts were super short and the tops were super cropped—more like bralettes than crop tops. Not the worst thing in the world, but different than I expected based on the product photos.

The Good To Know:  

• You have to pay for return shipping. The cost isn’t as bad as it is with other retailers (like Oh Polly), but it still cost me about $10.
• The quality wasn’t horrendous, but it seemed a little low quality compared to the price point. I would say the quality was similar to Forever 21, but the prices were higher.
• Both skirts I ordered were very short (I’m 5’5”). They’re wearable, but seemed a bit off in terms of trend, they reminded me of the mini dresses I would wear in 2009—especially the fact that I had to keep pulling the red one down when I was walking.
• While the sizing seemed accurate to me, I’ve heard from friends that the sizing has been way off. I assume it depends on the product, as lots of these brands get their clothing from different wholesalers.

Overall, I probably wouldn’t shop at Meshki again unless I saw a style that was super cute and unique that I couldn’t find anywhere else (and was priced affordably). The returns policy combined with the quality/price disconnect combined turned me off a bit. Of course, if they started improving quality, lowering prices, or changed their return policy, I could return! Dolls Kill finally changed their return policy this year, so there is hope!

If you are looking for similar clothing to Meshki but aren’t wanting to try them out, I’d recommend checking out Missguided (cheaper + always has sales), Boohoo (free returns + cheaper), or Oh Polly (better quality + similar price point).

I hope this Meshki review was helpful to you and feel free to comment any questions below!

Photos by @moreirashots_