November Adquisitions

This month I used gift cards for my purchases...


I had a 21.00 USD gift card from Forever 21
which I used up buying a chunky pearl bracelet
for 11.80 USD, a pair of gold tone earrings for 1.80 USD 
and a white cotton button down shirt for 12.80 USD.


With the 21.00 USD gift card I only paid 7.25 USD.


I had another gift card from Tiffany, here I picked up a simple
L monogram silver pendant and necklace, 
for which I ended up paying 69.55 USD.
-
November total is 76.80 USD.


November editing

Clothes have a lifespan.
The lifespan in your closet and the lifespan 
of the garment construction itself.
In my case, for shoes I basically wear
them until they fall apart.
The same goes for bags.
Now, for garments it's a different story.
I hold on. 
Hold on waiting for the garment to be trendy again.
Waiting for the garment to fit me again.
Waiting to find another garment to pair it with...
The bad part is that in order to justify the existence of 
the garment in my closet I force myself to wear it
and sometimes end up with crappy outfits.
Long story short:
-
The blog helps me edit.
-
This month I have edited items that have in my 
closet for a short time, like this fuchsia sweater from 
New York & Co. which I bought November 2012 for 4.27 USD.
In one year I wore it about 7 times, leaving cost per wear at 0.60 cents.
It was piling and the boatneck was too wide and I had to 
tug on it all the time and my bra strap was showing :(


Another item in the bag: a piling cardigan from American Raglie.


Also in the bag, my white short sleeve jacket from Best Jeans.
I wore few times and aren't short sleeve jackets so passé ?


Another item I got rid of was this pair of beige shorts from Ralph Lauren.
They were a gift from mom from about 6 years or so.
They're stained, a bit high waisted and tight on me.

Another item is this white linen vintage Naf Naf skirt which 
was a hand me down.
It was too tight and had tiny holes I could see.
Tiny holes are a thing I cannot bear to see in an garment,
so I let go.


I also went through my earring drawer and decided to really purge it.
I got rid of earrings I've had and have never worn, of those that are just not my style, of those where the gold tone has faded away.


Many of them were parts of a set, they came with a necklace. 
But it came to my attention that even though I wore the necklaces, 
the earrings I did not really like.
I got rid of vintage pearl earrings, chandeliers and a few necklaces.


A feather hair pin, a Puma pin and a bracelet 
were the last to go in the bag.
At the end it was 13 pairs of earrings, 3 necklaces, 
one bracelet, one pin and hair accessory. 

My orange Franco Sarto loafers. This orange is so very Hèrmes.
They have been in the closet for at least 9 years and get very little wear.
(about 5 times in 5 years..)


Also in the bag a red Tous wallet that was in bad shape.
It's at least 4 years old so I got my money's worth.
(It actually looks quite nice in the picture).

Closet edits: 26 items this month.


The process

There's a process I follow before getting rid of an item
in my monthly closet edits, it's something I always do.
This time around the item being examined:




 an American Raglie cardigan.
I found it in my closet a few posts back 
while doing an inspired by look.

After I wore it that day I noticed that it had
some piling and that it was not very structured
so I had to be pulling on it that day.  
Also the sleeves seemed to have stretched out a bit.

SO, I went back and did the process:

1. Checked the blog to see when I bought it:
Happens I don't know, it's older than the blog, 
so it's estimate is 4 or 5 years.
2. How many times has it been worn ?
Went back and counted: 11 times in 5 years.
3. How did it look when I wore it ?
That's when I go back and look at the posts...
this is what I came up with:


I've worn it mostly over dresses, usually to cover
up sleeveless dresses.


Even though it served its purpose, I don't love any of the looks.


I also learned that I seem to be wearing more color these days and that my
last 3 choices have been a lot better that my previous ones.



While I do not remember how much it  cost, I can 
assume that cost per wear is low.

After doing this process I then decide if it stays or goes.

This time around, I decided it's leaving.

For me, closet editing is a constant process.

How about you ?

How do you do it ?


Home Improvements

Even though it can be done at anytime, 
I usually like to do certain home improvement 
projects at the end of the year.
You know, like a Christmas gift for the home.

DKNY boyfriend jeans - Merona light blue button down shirt - Zara blue flats -
Union Jack earrings Forever 21  -  Nicole Lee Red and black bag 
While it already makes no sense, because the end of the 
year is busy enough...
Adding several hours of "tile watching" to the list is 
beginning to be a burden.

Learning how to shop

We learn many things throughout our lives.
The first we learn from family.
I think that one of them are our shopping habits.


Saltworks jeans - Mint belt H&M - White t shirt St. John's Bay
They depend on many things that vary from 
income to needs and I will not get into that. 
In my case, I do not recall "going shopping"
as a weekend activity, while growing up.
I recall going grocery shopping, shopping for a gift 
for someone's birthday or shopping for school stuff.
Maybe shopping for something nice to wear on Easter.

Nicole Lee red bag - Forever 21 pearl and handcuffs necklace -
Black Kenneth Cole Reaction wedges
I honestly don't remember when this changed.
Probably in my teens, when I wanted to choose
mostly brands I wanted to wear. 
Sure, you hear quality over quantity so much
these days - which is something that makes
all the sense in the world... but, many of us do not
practice it, myself included.

Zoya Godiva nail polish

These days it seems like you are tempted all the time.
Tempted to buy.
Wether it's a coupon code you get on line, a catalogue
through the mail, post on your favourite blog, the super
sale advertised on tv or the huge sale sign at the store-
it all directs you to the same place: the cashier.

Where am I going with this ?
Habits are difficult to change, but not impossible to - 
and there are shopping habits I'd like to change.



Just a day to give thanks

Many people are on holiday
today celebrating Thanksgiving.

Beige trousers Lands End - Talbots shirt - Cardigan American Raglie -
Nine West gold flats - Nicole Lee red bag
While for others it's not a established holiday, 
I think any day is a god day so say thanks.


Just because we always have something to be
thankful for.

Last wagon

I have wanted a mirror print garment for a while now,
I was probably the last one to get on that trend's wagon.

White mirror skirt Apt. 9 - Black sweater -
Black suede shoes Moleca - Nicole Lee red bag
But, I finally did.


I love my new skirt. 

Odd colours

Sometime in 2012 I came across this outfit
which is part of Matthew Williamson's 
Spring 2012 collection.
The colours here seemed so odd together,
yet so right that I just had to pin it in my
Pinterest inspiration outfit board.

Image via Vogue here  

Finally today, I decided to recreate it.
Zara mustard trousers - George cream top - American Raglie cardigan 
Same thing happened: colors are odd together
however somehow they do work.

Nicole Lee red bag - Bandolino printed heels 

It's just like certain relationships, you wonder how 
they work, but they just do.

Options

Whenever I want to wear these trousers I feel limited.
Like I can only wear them with black or white.

White top Forever 21 - H&M black and white trousers -
 Moleca black suede shoes - Nicole Lee red and black bag 
How would you style these whale trousers ?

Here's how I have worn them before:


Walking to the movies

i live in a city where walking is always your last choice. 


However I have come to value getting 
around on nothing but your feet.

Printed trousers Wild Girl  - White vintage top - Michael Kors black flats
So as people honked on their horns and traffic heated up
I walked to to the movies.

Do you walk a lot ?

Creamer

I recycle in a country where a small 
percentage of the population does.

Once too many times I look at the bag of 
discarded plastic and wonder if there is anything 
else I could do with these items before taking
them to the recycling company.

This time around, I was actually able to come up with a
way to recycle or really just re use the creamer plastic 
containers: to store your cutlery.
In this particular case, to store cutlery in a summer or
 weekend home where dust could be an issue. 


I guess you could use it for anything and to make it a little more fun,
just use contact paper or an image of whatever it is you're
putting inside the plastic containers so you don't have to open them
to know what's inside.


I made these a few months ago and have been using
them ever since. 

Simple or elaborated ?

If you had me choose between 
simple or elaborated decor I will
probably chose simple.


This dining room is a good example.
I think simple makes it easier for you to be functional.
Since by nature I am a collector - which 
usually leads to clutter - "simple" kind of helps
me stay balanced.
Now, don't get me wrong I appreciate
all those elaborated homes, with pillows,
throws, zillions of paintings hanging on the wall,
and colorful rugs, however just to think of all 
the cleaning involved I get a little jittery.

I think it also translates to what I wear..
I try to keep it simple.

How about you ?

80's Calling

The 80's called and they want their shoulder pads back !

Jeans Saltoworks - White shirt vintage (no brand) - Innovativi wedges - Tous black bag
It had been sooo long since I wore anything that barely resembled
shoulder pads, that is until this vintage white shirt came along.


It belonged to one of my great aunts, Aurea who is in her 90's.
She gave it to my grandmother who than passed it on to me.


I am not very happy with the shoulder pads, so I might just
give them back to the 80's and just keep the shirt.

Do you still have items with shoulder pads ?
DO you wear them ?



Extra

Have you ever been an extra for a film ?

Style & Co. brown jeans - cream Merona top -
 Leopard flats Me Too - Black bag Tous 
A few weeks ago as I walked for breakfast
I decided to stop at a place they were having 
castings for extras for a movie being filmed.


At first I laughed at the thought and then I figured
"this could be an interesting experience".
I was casted once as a child and made my 
tv debut for a Barbie doll ad but that was about it.

I went to the casting and was called back for a shoot
on Sunday, my role was a "walker". They did
my hair and make up 70's style and then the costume: 
bright yellow polyester trouser and matching polyester top.
I sat in the set with a great crowd of people who looked like
they just stepped off a That 70's Show episode.
But, was never called to the set nevertheless it was 
quite interesting to see a 70's version of myself.

One of those

This happens to be one of those.

Image via  stylinginstyle.com

One of those inspired by looks that don't
turn out as we had dreamt of in real life.

Red jeans Old Navy - Black button down shirt Da Moda -
Leopard print flats Me Too -  Black bag Tous
Then again, not many things do ;)

High Heeled Loafers

While I turned the pages of In Style's August 2013 issue I came across
the high heeled loafers and automatically remembered that I have
a pair I bought recently and have yet to wear.


I paired them with a simple dress.

H&M black dress - Arena Milano grey bag - Koaj burgundy heels 
To be honest, I was not am not convinced of the look.
Maybe they were meant to be worn with trousers...


Or maybe it's just that my legs need a tan.


Juicy Inspired

From my Pinterest board for outfit inspiration
comes this image from Juicy Couture Fall 2013.


Honestly speaking I am not a fan of the
brand, however I really loved this outfit
and the moment I pinned the image I 
knew which items I could re create it with.

Printed trousers Wild girl - White tshirt Forever 21 - Black jacket Nine West -
Red heels Melissa - Grey patent bag Arena Milano 
Finally brought the garments together today.


Happy Monday!

Entre Filles

I've had this product sitting on the shelf for a while.
Entre Filles Saison 3.
The time has come to wear it.


The packaging is girly and fun.
It's a light and refreshing floral fragrance
that only stays on your skin for a few hours
which means that you need to re apply during the day.



A penny for your thoughts...

Over the weekend while in a store,
I came across this:


The scene reminds me of that website dedicated 
to Walmart customers.
I have always thought that rollers
are a no-no outside of your home or salon.

Your thoughts ?