Kohl’s Shoes: Candie’s Caposh in taupe & Simply Vera Wang platform heels in black

Posted in Shoes

I’m a little behind on sharing my recent clothes purchases and outfits. Since I’ve got some more pictures with these shoes I’ll go ahead and start with them.

So at some point in a random shopping trip I had tried on the Vera Wang Platform heels in black (labeled “Dali” on the box) at Kohl’s and hadn’t bought them. I also loved the blue and neon yellow pair but couldn’t rationalize them as a purchase. Both stuck in my mind so I decided to go back for at least the black pair. Aren’t they pretty!

Ok they’re basic black but still, a step up from the last pair of black heels I bought. Wow again – it’s been 3 years since I bought a pair of black heels?

Then I spotted Candie’s Caposh in faux suede taupe with a chunky heel. They were only $19 (marked down from $59.99) with a “limited quantity” sticker.

They look so lonely right?
They say “take me with you Hilary…” Can’t you hear them?

Anyway, fabulous chunky heel, lovely soft color. And though I’m not a huge fan of suede or faux suede I don’t think I would have liked these in regular leather.

I think these will go well with a lot of outfits and the chunky heel and platform make them a bit easier to wear.

So here’s the little bit of drama related to these shoes:
I got to the cash register at Kohl’s to check out with my shoes and they do the usual check to make sure there’s nothing else in the box and that the shoes are a matching pair and match what the box says they are. The shoes were an 8.5 for the left and an 8 for the right! I hadn’t even noticed, I’m guessing because my left foot is a hint larger than my right anyway. The cashier says “I’ll have to check and see if we can find the other one or else we can’t sell you these.” Who, what!! NOOOOOO!!!!! Ok go check. Stay calm.

Someone comes back with another set that are mismatched. But they match them up so it looks like we have two left in 8.5 and two right in 8’s. I say “they fit as they were and I’m willing to buy them mismatched anyway.” They say “we can’t sell them to you, you could check another store though.” To which I respond “but they’re ‘Limited Quantity’ and they fit, I don’t care that they’re mismatched!” and in my head I’m thinking that I didn’t see these shoes at the other Kohl’s which is a good 45 miles away from the one I’m at anyway. So one woman goes off to check some manual or maybe call someone and as I’m standing trying the shoes on at the register again just to prove that they fit I realize that they don’t have two left 8.5 and two right 8’s – they got confused when trying to match them and actually have a set of 8.5 and a set of 8’s!

So disaster averted!

But I still have to wonder why they wouldn’t have sold me a mismatch pair if their match wasn’t anywhere in the store. I’m sure it’s just some policy taken one step too far, but still perplexing.

Have you ever had a cashier refuse to sell you merchandise because of some store policy taken too far?

March 21, 2012

NEON NAIL Mix N Match – “Bikini” pink & “Did I dye it too blonde?” yellow

Posted by By Hilary Baumann

Posted in Makeup / Cosmetics

Sinful Colors in "Bikini" 1101
First I started with a coat of Sinful Color base, then Sinful Colors in “Bikini” which is a BRIGHT pink shade. And to think, at the beginning of February I thought that Zoya’s “Lo” was bright.

I have now reapplied this color when it started to chip. AND it’s stayed on without chipping for a very long time (I’m thinking around 7 days) before chipping. And I’m not gentle to my nails. I love how smooth this polish goes on and the fact that both times I’ve used it, I’ve been smudge and dent free on top and stayed that way.

Then I found this at CVS: Spoiled by Wet N’ Wild in “Did I dye it too blonde?” 🙂 And I was thinking “let’s take this to the next level, it’s only $2, I want to try this neon yellow thing out too.”

Next was several failed attempts at applying this yellow. It’s rather sheer:

The first try I just applied it to my existing color which made for a really nice orange shade but it wasn’t what I was looking for.
Second attempt I used it just on top of a base coat. It lacked “oopmh.” It looked very plain, very boring, still sheer. I could have more color on my nail if I used a highlighting marker.
Third try was the charm. I used a coat of white first and finally got that in your face shade I was seeing in the bottle.

Love it!!

Pictured here with the heart nail file from one of my previous Birchbox’s.

Review of the polishes (not the colors) below:

I will say I’m not amazed by this particular brand nail polish, Spoiled, just because it IS so sheer and it does stay as clean and smooth looking as the Sinful Colors. I’m not sure if this is the entire brand or the color itself. I would give both a second chance. I do think I might invest in a better neon yellow though if my second attempt doesn’t go so well with this yellow.

I am in love with the Sinful Colors “Bikini” pink though because it goes on and stays on so well. I do think the quality there is almost on par with $7-10 nail polishes (did I mention Sinful Colors is a $2 nail polish as well?)

It IS a cheap way to give neon a try.

Affiliate link below (the opinions above are my own, I only sought out the affiliate link because I like the product so much!)

March 19, 2012

What are some alternatives to selling your clothes at a consignment store?

Posted by By Hilary Baumann

Posted in Clothing

Question: I have lots of name brand clothing items that don’t fit/I don’t want any more, and I don’t want to just give them away. I haven’t been able to find any consignment stores in my area. Any ideas?

Searching google will probably help find at least a few consignment stores but if none are a good match for the items you have, here are a couple of ideas. They are listed in order of what will probably make you the most money:

Look for vintage shops particularly if your items are older OR JEANS. They may be willing to consign or flat out buy your items.
Sell your clothes on ebay. This works particularly well if you have high end or name brand items. Be sure to take good photos and use a lot of description words so more people see your item. If you have a lot of clothes to sell you might want to invest in a hanging dress form.
Look for a “Clothes Mentor “store or a “Plato’s closet” or similar to buy your gently used items instead of consigning. http://www.platoscloset.com/ or http://www.clothesmentor.com/
Cheapcycle, like freecycle but for low priced used items, can be great or it can be a bit of a pain depending on who responds to your post. If you don’t have time, I wouldn’t try this route since you have to plan to meet with people.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Cheapcycle_Groups/
Craigslist … this shouldn’t really need an explanation.
Yardsale, Garage Sale, or organize an Apartment community basement sale.
Road Trip! Research reliable consignment stores that will mail you a check and then make a road trip. Some may even let you send photos so they can tell you whether or not your trip will be worth it. This is a little bit lower on the list because it’s more time and effort.
Organize a clothing swap with friends or neighbors. Search for “clothing swap tips” and you’ll find plenty of suggestions on how to organize one. You won’t make money on this one but your clothes will find a new home AND you’ll hopefully end up with some new clothes to add to your wardrobe.
Last but not least, I know you said you didn’t want to give them away but sometimes it’s just better to donate some items. Sometimes it takes too much time or effort or what you own really isn’t worth that much but could help out someone else’s wardrobe. Goodwill is my top pick for clothes but Salvation Army is also a good option. You can take a tax deduction because these are charities. http://locator.goodwill.org/ or http://www.satruck.org/search-arc

If you’re reading this and have any other tips on where to sell gently used brand name clothing, please feel free to leave them in the comments below!

March 18, 2012

New shoes, coffee & a beautiful day. :)

Posted by By Hilary Baumann

Posted in Clothing, Shoes

New shoes, coffee & a beautiful day. 🙂

Shoes are: Lucky Brand Emmie2 Ballet Flat in Pop Combo/Small Ojai Prints (link is an amazon affiliate link)

March 17, 2012

Consignment Store Clothing Haul – $20 Bag Sale

Posted by By Hilary Baumann

Posted in Clothing

Stephen Lawrence, a local consignment store that typically carries gently worn medium – high end items, is having their bag sale March 16th & 17th 2012. $20 gets you a bag and full of end of season clothes. Whatever you could stuff into the bag was yours. I thought it was too good to pass up and I just found out that the proceeds are going our KY neighbors who lost everything in some recent tornados.

I got there promptly at 11am and was done by noon. There were no dressing rooms so you had to be able to really eyeball your size and style across a wide range of brands.

Here’s the breakdown of my bag:

21 articles of clothing total
3 pieces that flat out don’t fit
3 pieces don’t look good on me
2 pieces that are what I call pajama worthy (fit, comfy, but are not flattering)
13 pieces that look good, 3 of which were pants / bottoms!

Not bad for $20!

The 3 that didn’t fit (picture below): “Banana Republic” maroon 100% silk top, “INC” maroon patterned top 100% silk, “For Joseph” lightweight darkwash 100% cotton jean trousers. The lightweight jeans were my biggest disappointment because they look bigger than the other pants I picked up that seem to have magical shrinking powers and seem 3 sizes too small when I try them on. Brand new with tags and a dark wash. I tired them on twice because I really thought I was having a pants trying on failure moment but nope, they just plain didn’t fit.

The 3 that weren’t flattering on me (below): “Nurture” 100% Merino hunter green tank, “Koret” Black and white striped T (with some little yellow stripes), “Sigrid Olsen Sport” red thin-stripped capris.

The Coats / Jackets (below): “Gap” red / rust colored stretch corduroy jacket in a jean jacket style, “The F.L. Collection” brown / auburn colored corduroy fitted jacket with elbow patches, “Harvé Bernard by Senard Roltzman” vibrantblue (UK blue) 70% wool, 20% nylon pea coat (I need to sew the buttons tighter) but is one of my favorites that I picked up.

The Grays (below): “Lauren by Ralph Laren” cotton shawl collar sweater which is another favorite, “Chelsea & Violet” 53% wool, 25% acrylic lightweight snap front cardigan, “Calvin Klein” 100% silk wrap front sleeveless blouse which needs a cami under it.

The Pants / Bottoms: “Talbots” cotton khakis new with tags they have a horse riding inspired look to them and are a nice thickness, “J.H. Collectibles” aqua capris, “Studio Y” brown dress shorts / capris they hit below the knee … which sounds bad but they look better on than you would think.

More layers: “Allison Daley” navy, cream and metallic gold large houndstooth jacket, “Max Studio” black and gold (non-metallic) lightweight hoodie, “Coldwater Creek” navy lace button up shirt with three quarter length sleeves.

The Sleepers & Tank: “Ann Taylor” long sleeve scoop neck t-shirt in a deep pink or pinky plum, “Evie” 55% silk, 20% viscos, 20% nylon, tank in a green apple / light lime color which will be great under things but not by itself, “Olo” periwinkle zip up fuzzy jacket (I knew when I bought this that it would be a sleep item.)

Did I have a process? Yes, but I didn’t have any idea what that would be before I was inside:

1st I glanced at the shoes and decided not to bother with them because they took up so much space in the bag (and I wasn’t seeing any that immediately screamed my name.)
then onto the pants because they didn’t seem to have as much in my size range as other sizes. I wanted to pick over them before other people.

I picked out anything I thought I might like and held it
reviewed them on the hangers
put anything back I thought would flat out not fit or really wasn’t quite what I had thought it was at first glance
removed the tags to put in the pink plastic bags on the walls per the employees instructions
removed the garment from the hanger and neatly folded it and placed in the bag.

then onto the tops and repeat steps 1-5 for both large and medium tops (they had a variety of brands so I look through both because some brands run small and some brands don’t.)
then I still had some space left in the bag so I glanced at the shoes again, not seeing anything in my size, and headed off to the room with the jackets and coats. Since jackets and coats take up a lot of space and because they can be tried on over things I went ahead and tried on quite a few but there were still no mirrors so I held onto those I wasn’t sure of until I was done and repeated steps 1-5 again. The blue coat had gone immediately into my bag after being tried on.
Bag is full, pay my $20 cash and leave happy. I know I at least have a new coat. 🙂

My favorites of the bunch are a vibrant UK blue coat, a Ralph Lauren grey shawl collar sweater, and the fact I actually have three new pairs of bottoms.

Have you ever participated in a bag sale? What did you think and is it common for them to not have dressing rooms? Do you have a plan of action going in in order to get the best deals?

March 11, 2012

March 2012 Birchbox – Teen Vogue :: essie Luxeffects in “a cut above”, twistband Hair tie, tarte Lipsurgence lip tint in “amused”, Shiseido Pureness Oil-Control Blotting Papers, Annick Goutal Petite Chérie perfume,

Posted by By Hilary Baumann

Posted in Makeup / Cosmetics, Subscription boxes

In the box:

Shiseido – Pureness Oil-Control Blotting Papers. I didn’t notice the perfume in the ingredients list for the Shiseido blotting paper which changes my mind on it. A blotting paper should be simple. May also contain parabens (the ingredient list on the package doesn’t match the ingredient list on Birchbox’s site.)
Annick Goutal – Petite Chérie perfume. You all know how I feel about perfume by now right? Synthetic is a no go. And my allergies make it hard to find even natural perfumes that work.
essie – Luxeffects in “a cut above” pink glittery top coat. Nice!
twistband – Hair tie in neon yellow. Yup.
tarte – Lipsurgence lip tint in “amused” a hot pink gloss stick. See video.
Modcloth promo code: take $10 off any $75+ order with code MODPROM vald 3/1 – 4/15 2012

I’m actually really happy with the contents of this box. What I got was a little more along the lines of things I will use (with the exception of the perfume.)

I do think it’s funny that both times that they’ve sent me nail polish, it has been super similar to something I already own. I will at some point do a side by side comparison of both the teals and both of the glittery pinks.

And sorry if I sound a little congested in this video. Also note – changed my mind on the blotting papers. See above.

via YouTube

Birchbox is only $10/month so sign up here!: http://www.birchbox.com?raf=3l3e7