Hey guys!
Today I am going to be giving you my first impressions of the game New Style Boutique 2: Fashion Forward.

I am a huge fan of this game series for the Nintendo DS. Mainly because it is something I have always wanted in a game. I love shopping, I love fashion and this game series combines those things and allows you to run your own fashion boutique.
I picked up the first Style Boutique game on a whim one day and I don't regret it. Since then Nintendo has released New Style Boutique for the 3DS and now New Style Boutique 2.
One thing I will say about the series is that Nintendo wasn't that great with naming it. I know in Japan the game is called something like "Girls Mode" which I suppose isn't much better. But having the word "new" in the title is really confusing. Mainly because the previous game was also called "New Style Boutique".
Either way this game definitely steps up from it's prequels. In this game you can be so much more than a boutique owner, you can also be a hairdresser, model, designer and a makeup artist. This really excited me because it meant we were getting a lot more features to play around with.
This game also has a different storyline from the others. This time you are transported into a doll's world? And it is there that you take the fashion world by storm. I have to admit I found this really strange but I went along with it anyway. I was just excited to be able to play a new game.
One thing I really appreciate about this game is that it takes a long time to unlock features of the game. I found that with the previous two games that things were unlocked far too quickly and you would have completed the game within a number of days. With this one I have found it takes a while for everything to be unlocked. I have been playing since November and I still haven't unlocked all of the brands in the exhibition hall.
That being said, I don't actually play the game as often as I would like. So maybe I just need to keep working on it to unlock everything haha.
Now let's talk about the actual professions you can take on in this game:

My character in the rose garden

Boutique Owner: This is the role that we have taken on in the last two Style Boutique games and it is a role that I enjoy a lot. I love creating outfits for people and seeing them enjoy what I style for them. I also love the styles of clothes that Style Boutique has.
It's definitely one of my favourite parts of the game to buy the clothes from the exhibition hall and dress my character up in the many different styles. It allows me to explore fashion styles I would never try in real life.

Applying makeup like a pro

Makeup Artist: I am not the biggest fan of this career in the game. Mainly because the makeup styles some of the customers ask for aren't that glamorous. Sometimes, they will ask you to copy the makeup of a photo and it can be quite difficult.
I like that they do add this challenge to the game but at the same time I would like if the makeup complimented the skin tone of the character because sometimes it doesn't.
Although that's just a small thing on my part.
This career also gives you the opportunity to unlock more colours for your makeup palette by giving photos to a character in the game. She will look at your in-game photos and pick out new colours for your makeup which I find quite interesting. It also encourages you to take more in-game photos to see if you can unlock the colours.

Ready to style your hair to perfection

Hair Stylist: Another new career for the game. I do enjoy this one a bit more than the makeup artist career but again it's not perfect. The main critique I would have about this one is that when you are asking a customer about the hairstyle they want they sometimes don't give you enough information and so it can be hard to decide what hairstyle they want.
On the bright side, even if the customer is not fully happy with the hairstyle you have chosen they will usually go along with it anyway.

The design studio

Fashion Designer: I don't have a lot of experience with this career in the game yet. Mainly because I just unlocked it. However it seems to follow a similar format to the design feature in the first Style Boutique game.
A brand from the exhibition hall will call you and ask if you will design a type of clothing for their brand. Once you create it then you will be able to wear it and sell it in your shop.
I like this idea because it allows you to create the clothes you want in the game. However it can be a little bit restrictive with the options that the game provides. But it's still a fun feature to the game.

Say cheese!

Model: Again, I don't have a lot of experience with this career either. I actually just unlocked this one in the game. I really like the idea of this one though, especially if you like taking in-game photos.
From what I can tell, you go to the photo studio and they will have a list of modelling jobs and the type of clothes they want you to wear for it. You dress your character up and take the photos and then they will be shown around the town.
I think it's a really fun way to show off your style in the game. I don't really know if this career has anything else to it but so far I enjoy it. I also like that they let you choose your character's pose for photos. In previous games you didn't have that option, so it's nice to have a little more freedom with that.

My first fashion show

On top of that you are also asked to take part in fashion shows. I assume this is in place of fashion contests which were in the previous two games. For fashion shows you sell tickets by serving customers in the boutique, hair salon or makeup studio. Then you take part in the fashion show by dressing up to match the theme and working the runway.
Other features of the game include online miiverse competitions which I haven't really explored and designing your own little room in the ski chalet. I'm not really sure what the whole miniature room thing is about but when you get a streetpass you get a copy of that person's room too. I think it's cute but it's not a feature I use a lot in the game.
Another thing I enjoy about the game is that you don't have to do all these jobs if you don't want to. For example, I spend way more time selling clothes at the boutique and don't really like to do people's make up or hair. And the game gives you the freedom to do each of these things as much or as little as you want. Although it is recommended you do all the careers to fully experience the game.
I don't really have that many problems with the game other than maybe the design of the menu, I preferred the style of map in the other games. And I guess I only have problems with some of the things I mentioned above but otherwise it's a really good game.
I know I still have a lot more to unlock in the game though. I still have to unlock all the brands in the exhibition hall, I also have to explore more with the model and fashion designer careers to see where they go.
But like I said I like that all of these things weren't unlocked right away. In the other games it didn't take too long before you were winning all the contests and unlocking all the exhibition hall brands. So I like that you get more play time out of this game than the others. And like I said, there's so much more to do in this game than the previous ones so there will always be something to do in it.
I would definitely recommend this game to anyone who loves fashion. It's super cute and girly and I'm so glad that Nintendo released this game. I just wish they put a little more love into this series because I know it could also be so much better too. They definitely don't promote this series as much as many of their other games and I think it's a shame because I think it's a really great series.
Anyway, those were all my thoughts on New Style Boutique 2: Fashion Forward! I hope that you enjoyed this blog post. If you guys want to check out more of my New Style Boutique in-game photos I sometimes post them to my Tumblr blog: cullengleekvonvanity.tumblr.com. Again, thanks so much for reading and I hope you will come back for my next blog post!
~ Courtney x