OOTD (New Jean!)

Good morning! Are you staying strong through this week's sale? I must admit that I caved this morning, after two of the items that were on my wishlist got marked dowm. Damn, JCrew, you always get me with your 30% off. In reality I was saving for an item that I hoped would popback during this promo but apparently I can't keep the money in my pocket for more than 24 hours. Sigh!

Anyway, today I am going to review a pair of jeans that I bought recently on sale, after I had to say bye-bye to my favorite pair (it ripped off in a place that would make myself a very bad girl if I kept wearing them and I think that unfortunately it is beyond repair). Actually this isn't really a OOTD because it is still too cold to wear this outfit but I really wanted to showcase the jean with this cardigan, which is also a new purchase. Let's pretend that it is a warm spring day and that I am actually going to go outside like that today (wishful thinking). BTW is it me or it was MUCH warmer last year at this time of the year in in the Northeast? I am too lazy to go through my old posts but I think that I was wearing shorts during spring break a year ago.

OK, so the jean is the Matchstick jean in lived-in wash, which of course is still FP on the website but was marked down to $59.99 in stores as of last week (maybe even further this week). I took my regular size, a 26S. This jean came out during the holidays and I have been eyeing it since then so I would have probably bought it even without the excuse of my other pair biting the dust. In fact the are not quite the same kind of jean: my old pair was a casual, wear-with-flats-and-sneakers pair, while this one is THE heels pair that I never had.

As in all the matchstick, the leg is very skinny, especially from the knee down. The denim isn't extremily soft (the website says that it has a hint of stretch but I don't feel it, it seems to have no give) but I like how it contours the body (as opposed to the downtown skinny, which were a disaster on me, waaaay too skinny in the leg and hips).
As I said, it looks best with heels (at least on me), plus, I don't need to have it hemmed if I wear it with heels, which is a bonus. Here I am wearing it with the Tilly satin platforms (a 4" heel) and the Calypso Twill Dye cardi which is now on sale for $99 and is almost the same shade of blue (this is the XS and it fits a little bit big IMO):

Not sure what I am trying to do here, but I like the pic:

The only thing that put me a little bit off are the lighter strikes of color on the bottom part of the leg (I guess they are part of the "lived-in" look), but I decided that I can live with them (however this could be a dealbreaker for some of you). At least they are not "distressed" (no rips or holes):

And here is the butt view, because let's face it, when buying jeans how our butt looks is a very important factor:

Do you wear JCrew jeans? Do you like the matchstick style or you prefer another style? Please share!

JCrew Misc Try-Ons

I stopped by a JCrew this past Saturday to re-buy the Tulip ruffle cami and Lighthouse cardigan for a lower price, since I was in the 30-day window, and I tried a few things on. Nothing spectacular but I thought that I would share.

First the Stripe boatneck sweater. I didn't like this one at all. The fabric is quite scratchy and it isn't slouchy at all. It was also quite sheer. This is a XS:

Next, the Urbanite shift dress, formerly known as the Linea shift dress (I wonder why they changed the name of this one?) I tried the retro orange color in a 00. Didn't like it, it was shapeless on me (in the pic I am trying to show that it stays quite away from the body):

Next, another orange offering, the Cropped silk jacket. I was curious about this one but I don't have anywhere to wear a jacket like this (especially in the orange colorway) and nothing to wear with it (you need a pretty high-waisted pair of pants, like in the website pics, or a dress, otherwise it is too cropped, like on me). It fits TTS (this is a 0):

The next one is the very underrated Cadabra cardigan. All the colors are $19.99 in store while the heather grey and provence pink are back to FP on the website, sneaky JCrew (this is crazy). Anyway, I tried it on only because I had read some positive reviews on the JCA and because of the price and guess what? I loved it (especially for $16 with Mickey card). This is the in-store only color navy in a XS:

It is very soft at the touch and versatile. This is the fatique, which is on promo on the website for $59.50:

I ended up buying the navy and the heather grey that I saw at the last minute in my size.

Some time ago I had tried the Ribbon cami but because it wasn't on the website yet and I didn't like it, I didn't post the pic. Here it is in a 0 in the buff color (with the lovely gingham scout chino that I am waiting to go on sale or at least promo). It is quite unflattering IMO:

In the same occasion I had also tried the Jenny dress. I loved this one, until I saw the price. I think that $78 is outrageous for a slub cotton dress, so I will buy only on super-sale. I needed to size down to a XXS in this one because the armholes were too big in the XS. This is the deep peri color:

And this is the ivory, that I liked even more on me:

Back to last Saturday, my absolute fave was the Marled lace-up hoodie. I had been eyeing this one since it came out and I will buy it as soon as it goes on sale (but it seems to be one of those things that never go on sale). I have the jaspe from last year so I can't justify buying it FP but it took all my willpower to leave it at the store with the 20% of the Mickey card. This is the XS (I am doing the catalog pose):

I wanted to try on the Pointelle shorts for fun but they were all sold-out in my size if you can believe it. I tried the Gingham sonoma shorts instead and even if very cute I didn't feel like spending $50 in a pair of shorts that will go indubitably on sale before it's time to wear them. I would have bought the size 2 to achieve a look like on the model, the 0 was a little bit too snug (sorry, no pics).

That's it for today, I hope that you enjoyed the post and you find it helpful. Have you tried or own any of these? Any questions, let me know.

Have a great Tuesday!

Deal of the Week: Calypso Smocked Waist Dress

Good afternoon, I hope that you are having a great weekend so far. As you know I normally don't blog on weekends, especially on Sunday (family time!) but I felt like I had to write this post and let you know about this fabulous find before the end of the day (it helps that husband is napping and daughter is playing alone.

Today is the last day to take 50% off final sale items at Calypso with code FINALSALE311. I ordered the Smocked waist dress last week after seeing it on FFM (in this post. I have to say that even if I peruse the Calypso website quite often (in fact, it is my favorite shopping activity after stalking JCrew.cm) I had never noticed this dress until FFM reviewed it. They did a vey poor job on the Calypso website with this dress, it is much nicer IRL.
I ordered my regular size, XS, in the navy colorway. FFM looked fabulous in the grey but it was sold-out in my size and navy is one of my favorte colors anyway.
The dress is cut very generously on the top. If you are smaller than a C cup I would say that this dress is not for you. I almost don't fill the top but with the help of a padded bra I can get away with it (for reference I am a 34C). To make a comparison with something that you are probably more familiar with, this dress is cut a little bit like the Jcrew Shelby dress with the difference that it fits better because of the fabric, which is more flowy.
I took these pics very quickly as soon as I took the dress out of the package so it shows the wrinkles from being crammed in the envelope (it was also a little bit clingy) but you can already see that it is a very elegant dress. I just love this shade of navy:

Detail of the smocked waist:

It is a great dress to go out for dinner or even for a wedding. I don't think that I am going to wear it with flats to stroll in the neighborhood, it is more of a heels dress for me (it happens to be the same shade than my Tory Burch peep-toe Sally wedges):

I would reccomend this dress to anyone (C cups and up!) especially for the current price ($14.50 with the code!); however I have to say that the product description on the website is misleading in that this dress ISN'T 100% silk as you could be lead to believe (description says "sleeveless silk silhouette with front & back v smocking around entire waistline"). As a matter of fact the shell is 100% polyester and the lining is 100% silk. I have a Calypso blouse that is exactly in the the same fabric and I immediately noticed that whan I took it out of the package (also, the clingy-ness was a clue that it wasn't 100% silk). It is a beautiful dress neverthless and if you are not allergic to poly, I would give it a try.
Shipping is expensive unless you spend $250 (minimum for free shipping) but the dress is so cheap that the total falls below $25, so in this case it is worth it to pay.

Do you have this dress? What do you think?

Have a nice end of the weekend!

OOTD (Gone Fishing!)

So I mentionned that last Saturday I bought the perfect shirt in candy plaid in the green colorway, that appears top be currently sold-out on the website. I have waited for this shirt to go on sale since it came out, so I bough it at the first markdown (less 20% off).

This shirt really reminds me of a "camping" or "fishing" shirt and it is one of those things that I probably wouldn't have even noticed at another retailer. But since it is Jcrew, the fit, the softness of the cotton and the design made it a must-have for me. Call it Crewlade if you want.

I have to say that this shirt in this colorway is tough to pair, there are only so many colors that goes with it and they are not the more usual ones (basically what they call seaweed green, light pink/blush, clay/brick, citron yellow and light khaki). The other colorway is easier to pair because it goes well with navy and looks great under a navy blazer, so keep it in mind if you have to choose one or another.
I broke it out this morning, pairing it with my green (pardon me, vintage taupe) JBrand cargos and a blush cashmere cardigan from last spring:

I also tried it with the Mackenzie blazer from last year, for a more polished look and it worked too (but I would wear another pair of pants):

The sun outside fooled me a little bit. I thought it was much warmer than it really was and I regretted not wearing my puffer instead of my Gap twill jacket (one of the best jackets ever made by the Gap IMO). I liked the "country" look, but I admit I was freezing like this at the playground:

Later in the season I plan to wear it with white bermudas or denim shorts. By the way for some reasons, this shirts reminds me of the SATC episode in season 4 when Carrie and Aidan go spend the weekend in Aidan's country cabin (and then Mr. Big shows up). I don't remember if she actually wore something similar in the episode, but she definitively could have worn this shirt with a pair of super-short shorts!

Have a great weekend!

OOTD (Playing Dress-up)

Yesterday I took my daughter to a "princess tea party", organized by one of the moms in our class. The "dress code" said that party dresses and princess costumes were welcome. She is not much into princesses (we have two Disney princess costumes but she would wear her Minnie Mouse costume any time over the princesses), so we decided that she would wear her holiday party dress (by the way, I recently saw it in the clearance section at Gymboree and if you have a young girl, I highly reccomend to get it now for the next holiday season. It looks like a million bucks).

I wanted to play dress-up too and my version of dress-up is a pencil skirt and a feminine blouse (when I wear a pencil skirt I always feel like I am dressing up like a lady). I recently received the Timber pencil skirt from the lovely shopwithm but I had nothing to wear with it (my cobblestone cashmere cardigan, which is a perfect match for this skirt, is in the laundry bin), so I came up with an outfit with the Sunnie:

My daughter (who is peeking in her party dress behind me) said that I didn't look like a princess at all because I wasn't wearing a dress and princesses only wear dresses. She was right and besides, I didn't want to wear heels in case I had to chase her, so I changed into a more comfortable outfit, trading the pencil skirt for a pair of jeans. I really wanted to wear the Harlow blouse in sweet guava though (I also have the ivory version) so I kept everything but the pencil skirt (I think that it still looks lady-like, maybe it's the necklace):

Speaking of dressing up and stuff like that, I recently bought my daughter her first nail polish because she was giving herself manicures with markers, which are much harder to wipe off than regular nail polish. I came across Piggy Paint, a brand that sells non toxic nail polishes for kids, in fun colors that kids (but not only kids) love (they just came out with a adults line). Of course she picked a "mermaid green" instead of the more subdued pink that I was trying to sell her. She is obsessed with it and she did a good job in applying it herself:

It also peels off very easily, which in this case is a plus. They also have adorable gift sets that will be a hit at any girls party (you can also buy Piggy Paint on Amazon.com and BedBathandBeyond.com. BTW, I am not affiliated in any way with this brand, I just wanted to share a great find).

Happy Tuesday!

New "Gallo Rojo" tee

Good morning! I wanted to blog about this new tee yesterday but it was freaking snowing here in New York yesterday morning. Snow, what about that to celebrate the official arrival of spring? It didn't last (it snowed for about an hour) but the rest of the day was just rainy and gloomy, so I didn't feel like blogging about a summer tee.

Today the sun shines again (even if we are headed for more snow tomorrow), so here you go. Saturday I went to a shopping event organized by Summer over at SumSunshine (by the way, she's back blogging) and even if the new Mickey card defeated a little bit the purpose of having 20% off on our purchases, it is always fun to shop in the company of other Jcrew-obsessed ladies. I wasn't really in a big spending mood as I had just bought the Cecilia dress, but I managed to find two items that had been on my wishlist for a long time in the sale section (the candy plaid shirt and a pair of matchstick jeans in live-in wash) and I needed a ride-along to reach the minimum for the promotion. I almost bought the chambray Dorrie skirt (very cute, sorry I don't have pics) but then I thought that I would wait for a sale on it as $79 seemed a bit steep, even with 20% off.

I saw this tee at the last minute. I have to say that I almost don't look at their tees anymore, as many of you I suffer from "embellished tee fatigue" and I have more tees than I can wear, but this one called my name.
It screamed summer and I LOVE the colors. I took the pics yesterday (before the snow) when my bedroom was very dark, which probably doesn't make this tee justice because it's all about the colors. But I am too lazy to re-try it on and take pics again, so I hope that you'll see behind my poor quality pics.
It's a v-neck, very flattering and this is a XS (fits TTS):

With the flash the colors are more to true to life:

I needed a replacement for my Imperial tee, that has seen better days, and this one fits the bill (it has the same flattering cut and the colors go wwith the same things that I use to wear the Imperial tee with, in particular one of my summer staples, the striped Monteray skirt).
It says " Gallo Rojo" (which, if my Spanish doesn't fail me, means "Red Rooster" and yes, that is a rooster in neon orange), then "Mi casa es su casa" and below the palm trees "Cafesito" plus something about Costa Rica. I usually don't like to buy tees that advertise places where I have never been but I think that I will tuck in the Costa Rica part most of the times ;-).
If you are interested in this tee, the style number is 39571 (color is WH, for white I guess) and it retails for $29.50. I am sure that it will make it to the sale section but if you need a summer tee, I think it is a good one.

Speaking of Spanish, I watched one of the best movies of the year this weekend, "Carlos" by French director Olivier Assayas of "Cahiers du cinema" fame. It is actually a mini-series on a Venezuelan terrorist who used to operate in the 70s (his name is certainly more known by the European folks than the American ones as he was based in Paris). The movie is highly entertaining even if it is a art house French movie. If you have watched the Golden Globes, you probably remember that it won a Golden Globe for best mini-serie and Edgar Ramirez won for best actor (he is AWESOME and succeds in conveying both the charisma and the flawns of such a controversial character. I mean, it is clear that he is no Che). If you have a Netflix subscription and a Netflix-ready DVD player, you can watch it immediately on your TV.

Have a nice start of the week! We are officially in Spring Break here, which means that I am with my daughter all the time and will have less time to blog. I will be back when I can!

Can't Wait to Wear

This:

BR hat, JCrew Tulip ruffle cami, JCrew denim pencil skirt and Urban Outfitters Dragonfly pendant necklace

And this (I also had the BR hat on but I cut my head off, duh!):

I really wanted a hat for this summer and I finally found one that fits my (apparently gigantic by JCrew standards) head. Also $27 is about the price that I want to spend on a hat that I don't know how many times I will dare wearing. It appears to be soldout on the BR website but you can find it in stores (and get it with 30% this weekend if you have a Get and Give coupon. By the way, they accept phone coupons, you just have to show them the email). I also bought the slubby striped roll-up tee in an olive color (store only?):

but I am not sure if I am going to keep it. Besides the fact that I have more striped tees than I can wear, I am not sure that I like the round hem on this one (I love the color though an I don't have a striped olive tee). Thoughts?

The Urban Outfitters dragonfly pendant necklace is another recent find. I had this store credit that was burning a hole in my pocket and they recently opened a store in my neighborhood so I popped in yesterday before pickup. I actually liked many things but this necklace was a standout. And it has a clock inside as a bonus. It is a good (and less expensive) alternative to the JCrew oval locket one (don't listen to the negative review on the website, it is beautiful for the price IMO):

Have a happy weekend!

OOTD With Mini-Me and a Few Try-Ons

Good morning! As you know I rarely post pics of my daughter but yesterday we ended up wearing almost the same outfit (it wasn't planned, it just happened) and we both found it very funny (she noticed herself that we were wearing the "same pants" and we were both wearing a similar striped top), so I took pics to post.

First, my outfit. You have probably already seen it (it features two of my favorite items, that are in constant rotation in my closet) even if I was breaking out my new pair of toothpick cords in champagne (I wore my matchstick in sea salt to death and I thought it was about time to get a fresh pair since the price is now more than a good deal). This is my only pair in this year version, with the zippers at the ankle, and I sized one up from the other three pairs that I have from last year (I figured that because they were fs and whit-ish, I'd better size up and have them gaping a little bit at the waist than look like a sausage, and I was right):

And this is with my mini-me, who is wearing Gap skinny cords (with ankle zipper!), Petit Bateau top and handmade cardigan (I took the pics with her before and I still had to wear my belt here):

In the afternoon after drop-off I stopped by the Collection store to checkout the new arrivals. The store was packed and I didn't feel like trying everything on, so I picked only a few things that really caught my interest. This year I am drawn to dresses more than usual, probably because my daughter is getting older and I have more freedom in my movements as I rarely have to carry her or even take the stroller.
So I picked up three dresses. I apologize for the rolled pants in these pics but I was lazy.

The first one is the beautiful Silk serenade dress in the lagoon blue color. Some of you have probably ordered the colorblock version that was very cheap during the last 30% off promo, but I didn't dare to order a fs dress that I had never tried on before (especially a colorblock one). In any case this is the 0. Needs steaming but fits TTS and beautifully:

The only thing that I find a little bit strange is the seam below the elastic waist (it looks like a crease in my pic but it's a seam and if you zoom on the website pic you can see what I am talking about). Besides the fact that I found myself trying to pleat it down like it was a crease, I don't have other complaints. It is low-cut so probably not appropriate for the office.

The second one I had I hopes for but it was a disaster on. It is a new short-sleeves cotton dress in a creamy colorway with red swiss-dots. It looked very cute on the hanger but as I said the fit was totally off on me. This is the XS and I would clearly need a XXS, but the XS was already too high-wasted on me so I didn't even ask for the size down. It is priced at $98:

You can see this dress also on dinster who agrees with me on the high-waist business.

The third and last one is the Cecilia dress, even if when I tried it I didn't know that it was on the website. This one deserved that I try it on properly and take my pants off ;-).
I thought it would overwhelm me with the full skirt doubled in the same cotton (a LOT of fabric here) but I fell in love, the 0 fit me perfectly even if it is much longer on me than on the model (I kind of like it better this way actually):

You can tie the sash in the front (it looks more like a party dress this way) and it has pockets:

What can I say about the color, orange it is just one of my favorite colors as you know (quite interesting, "retro orange" is more orange in this dress than in other offerings), but it also comes in white and black.
I put it on hold at the store but because we have a JCA event this Saturday I will probably order it with a % off.
You can also see this dress on AppGal (who liked it) and shopwithm (who disliked it. But look how cute the red dots dress looks on her!)

The last item that I tried on is a new schoolboy blazer in a madras fabric. I wasn't interesyed in this one but it was selling out and I figured that many of you might be interested so I grabbed the only one on the floor (which happened to me my blazer size, a 2). The fit is the same as the other schoolboy blazers, I just don't like this madras, personally (if I had to buy a summer schoolboy it would be the one with the scratchy sleeves)). Anyway, here it is (it retails for $168 if I am not wrong):

That's it for today. I will probably try more on Saturday. Any question let me know.

Animal Monday

Hello everybody! I hope that you had a great weekend and that you have transitionned seamlessly to DST (as for me, with a toddler around there is no risk to wake up too late).

I don't have any pic of the outfits that I wore over the weekend (it was a low-key weekend and basically I wore jeans and a casual top non stop). However, tonight is going to be an exciting night, for a Monday. We have a parents meeting at school (where we will be introduced to the painful process of applying to kindergarten in NYC) and because we had to call a babysitter anyway we decided that we would "maximize" the night and go out for dinner after the meeting. We booked a very upscale restaurant in the neighborhood and I am very excited (the last time that we had a romantic dinner was during the holidays. Sigh!)

The challange is to come up with an outfit that is appropriate both for the school meeting and the restaurant. I wanted to break out my moonbeam sequined jacket to the restaurant but it is definitively too blingy for a school meeting.
As you know I am not much of a dress person. Not that I don't like dresses but they are a little bit impractical for my lifestyle, so I don't have many, especially fall/winter dresses. But I have one dress that I truly adore and I never have the occasion to wear (in fact I think that you have never seen it). It's a Tory Burch leopard-print silk dress that I had bought a few weeks post-partum at a sample sale. Strangely this dress fitted perfectly my new "mom" body and made me feel like no baby had ever grown in my belly (not that that I wanted to forget, you know what I mean).
Because my body has changed in the last few years and I haven't worn this dress in a long time, when I took it out this morning I feared that it wouldn't fit any more (there is nothing worst than finding out that a piece that you love and had planned to wear doesn't fit any longer, especially if you haven't worn it as much as it deserved).
But it still fits perfectly, yay! It has a little vintag-y feeling:

I love the Tory signature faux buttons under the seam at the empire waist:

Because it is a little bit over the top, I am going to wear it with a Theory blazer at school to break the total animal-print look and then alone at the restaurant:

It is easy to accessorize with gold and bold jewelry. The chain necklace is actually a very cheap one that I had bought from a street vendor (it had a cheap-looking leather string interwined with the links but I managed to get rid of it). The result is not bad for a $5 necklace:

The shoes are made for this dress. They are Prada (iconic Prada, actually, I remember the buzz when these came out and the plethora of knockoffs that they generated. I always wanted to own a pair and I just love that you can find stuff like that on Ebay).
Well, apparently I managed to create a "zero Jcrew" outfit, which is very rare for me these days. As much as I love the Crew sometimes I feel like I am the living incarnation of a page in the catalog and it makes me feel good to see that I have other stuff that I can wear in my closet.
I hope that my husband likes it and won't want me to change. My daughter who was watching me during my "try-on session said "Mom, you can't wear THAT". But it wasn't a fashion statement because she added "It's too cold outside". So cute.

Do you have an animal print dress? Would you wear it as school?

Have a nice start of the week!