Living Jewelry

I've always been the kid who would make clover chains and stick dandelions in her hair, so this is the ideal necklace for me. It's $42 from Rockettoro.

Although I bet if I found a good looking vial, I could figure out how to make one.

(found via NotCot)

Summer Headwear

With my pastey-pale skin and intolerance for heat, hats are a pretty necessary accessory when I'm going to be outdoors for an extended period of time. I would love to have a stockpile of really large-brimmed, floppy hats, but unfortunately with my short hair, I have to keep with a shorter brimmed hat in order to not look like a boy.

Straw sun hat from Hat Attack $48 from Bluefly

Settling for the Non-Shoegasm

Remember that $100 giftcard? Remember the absolutely adorable flats made by French Sole that were originally purchased with said giftcard?


Yeah, I love those shoes. Unfortunately for me, I need a size 10 in this style and Zappos completely ran out of 10's. I tried to wait until they got a new shipment, I really did, but unfortunately I could wait no longer and have purchased these flats by DKNY:



Also very cute, but no fantastic color as the French Sole flats.

Vintage Finds

The more I look for vintage fashions, the harder and harder it seems to be to find. You may get the right cut, but then it's usually nothing close to the right color scheme. Here's some vintage clothing and accessories that I've found online that hit the nail right on the head.

When in doubt, search some vintage patterns and be in complete control of the fit and color scheme. These are all from Vogue's Vintage pattern section. Each of these patterns are $15 and the clean lines on each would make these pieces you could keep and wear forever.



From Pin Up Girl Clothing, these three fantastic dresses. I love the length of the skirts. A lot of their clothing is a bit on the sexier side for my tastes, but the two sundresses are just so bubblegum-sweet, it's hard to resist!



More from Pin Up Girl Clothing. These are pretty pricey but are pure candy for the eyes. At one point they had a lipstick pink version of the "Meteor" purse on the right.



Lipstick is a must-have if you are going for a retro-inspired-vintage-rockabilly-whatever-the-hell-you-want-to-call-it look. I love the Besame Red (pictured on the far left). These are from MyBabyJo.com by Besame Cosmetics.



Okay, so Benefit cosmetics doesn't really have all retro makeup, but their packaging is fantastic. They also have a great line of fake-its for tired eyes, not-so-flawless complexions and even jiggly thighs/legs/etc.



Fantastic cat-eye sunglasses from RetroPlanet.com. (And each under $10!)

Now I just have to find a nice field of daisies to wander around in...

The Tailwind Sundress by OK47 that would be absolutely fantastic with some yellow espadrilles and a red floppy hat. The pattern is what struck me about this one, it's not the kind of print that inspires frock horrors nor is it completely boring. It's just a very sweet dress for summertime frolicking!

$75 from Paper-Doll

Finally some patchwork that doesn't look like grandma's curtains (or the big top at the circus)

The Favrille G dress by Dagg and Stacy from Paper-Doll. Silhouettes in a dress are very important and despite the cuts being a little more edgy, it still has a very classic cut. I'm really digging the polka dot and pinstripe combo, it adds some interest without looking like it was made from random scraps that were sitting around the design room floor. (Also very cute in yellow)

$190 from Paper-Doll (via Popgloss)

The Anatomy of Sales, Clearance and Retail, Part 2: Storewide Sale Events

If the store is advertising some sort of sale event where you get so much of a percentage off of your total purchase, you've got a genuine, bonafide sale. But don't be fooled by this ploy, sales of this nature happen often (if you doubt it, think of every single holiday that may be celebrated in the home, but stores tend to publicize greatly: President's Day, Labor Day, Memorial Day, etc.). Unless that percentage caps 35% or so, I wouldn't go all crazy because in the end, you're doing what the retailers want you to do: spend more money than you would originally because you feel like you are getting a bargain.

If the store is advertising a sale but not using the angle of a total purchase, do not run to this store. Check out their weekly ad online and see if they have any items that you actually want and save yourself the trip if nothing catches your eye.

Always read fine print on flyers and coupons unless you are prepared to make a scene at the store in order to get your sale price.

The Anatomy of Sales, Clearance and Retail, Part 1: Price Watching

"Fasion is not a luxury, it's a right." This would be the slogan for Sarah Jessica Parker's new line for Steve & Barry's called Bitten. Everything in the clothing line is less than $20 and most of it is extremely cute. I will be making a trek to Steve & Barry's tomorrow to see it up close and personal and I am very excited. Which brings me to the subject of bargain shopping.

It's one thing to say that you only buy things on sale. But when that sale is at Nordstrom, it's still hella more expensive than my budget allows. I work in retail, I know the secret of a sale. Now this may not be true for all retailers, but it's been pretty accurate for most places I shop:

If there is a sticker of a sale price on the tag, chances are that if you wait it out, the price will go down even further. Waiting for prices to drop can be tricky because if your size is not in the majority, chances are that they will run out of that size. Most retail establishments have the ability to transfer merchandise between stores, utilize this when necessary.

I have only two stores in which I price watch and those would be Burlington Coat Factory and DSW Shoe Warehouse. The reason for those two seemingly random stores? I can visit them every day of the week. They are located in the shopping mall where I work and it takes me about 5 mins to peruse each store and check things out. Shopping lunches are particularly enjoyable and I suggest them to anyone and everyone.

Purchase!

I cracked and spent the $100 on the flats that I really love. Based on the advice by some previous shoppers, I ordered a 1/2 size up from the normal and so they had them in my size. I just adore this color!

Edit: Have to return them and get a full size larger. Thank goodness for Zappos free shipping!

Yeah! Free Shoes! Now what do I get?

I am having a shoe conundrum. It is well known that I am a very thrifty person (which is a nicer way of saying that I'm a cheap bastard) and recently I recieved a $100 gift card to Zappos.com from the wonderful Manolo the Shoeblogger.

Now comes the question of, what do I buy? Originally I thought I would buy a pair of shoes that were just fun, but now the other half of me (that thrifty half) is telling me to go on the cheaper side and get two pairs of shoes that I would actually wear. I think I have narrowed myself down to a sensible shoe (I do not own any black flats, and I think that needs to be rectified) and a more fun, but still wearable shoe (maybe a fun color? interesting cut?).

Here are some of my initial ideas for my new shoes:

The practical:

Dr. Scholl's - Step Up $72.95

The self improvement shoes:

Earth - Allure $112.95, MBT - Sport Low $248.95

The If-I-wanted-to-treat-the-gift-card-like-a-$100-off-coupon shoes:

(left to right) Cesare Paciotti - 9380101 $485.95, Sigerson Morrison - Belle $308.95, Ruthie Davis - DAVIS $283.00

Who knew it would be so hard to find some plain black flats? Zappos has an amazing selection of shoes, so that may be contributing to the problem. But still, whatever happened to classic cuts? I don't want a bow or a kitten heel, no pointed toes (I have big feet and I don't need help to make them look bigger), no sparkles, no grommets. Just a plain, black, rounded/almond toed flat that doesn't look like it came straight out of Grandma's closet. Here are the few that I have found:

The first (and my favorite) is the Sloop by French Sole. It looks so comfortable and so simple. The downside of it? It costs $98.95. That would mean only one pair of shoes with my gift. The second is the Keepsake by Steve Madden for $55.95. It also comes in a non-patent leather but borders on the Grandma side of the shoe spectrum. Lastly is Bees, also by Steve Madden for $69.95. The little bow isn't too cutesy that it detracts from the cut of the shoe so I could deal with it.

This is the part where everyone is thinking, just get the $100 one that you like, it's not like you're paying for it. And up until this point, I may have slightly for a minute thought about agreeing with you, until I found these:

The Rosina by Shellys London: They look amazingly comfortable, have a nice rounded toe, and come in this great teal color (or a purple) and at $45.95, I could get a pair of each color.

Now if only they had my size in all of the shoes mentioned...