Product Review: the Flower mosaic embroidered tunic (aka the Cozumel tunic)

Before revealing my mystery purchase, I wanted to post a quick review of the Cozumel tunic in case you are considering ordering it. I don't remember why everybody refers to this tunic as to the Cozumel tunic, since the name on the website is Flower embroided mosaic tunic. It must be what the store ticket reads (mine disappeared so I cannot check).

Anyway, I bought this top at the Collection store event organized by Summerilla two weeks ago as it was the only new arrival that was already on the selling floor that night and it was on my wishlist. I bought the shadow color in XS without trying it on, as I didn't have the time to try on but didn't want to miss the opportunity to buy it with the 20% off that they were offering for purchases made during the event.
As far as I can remember it is the first time that an item sized XS-L comes in petite sizes and that should have been a warning sign. The (regular) XS was HUGE on me (I didn't even take pics because it was so low cut that it was indecent) so I reorder in a Petite S (they honored the price).
After trying it at home I also changed my mind on the color because the pretty embroidery was a little bit lost in the shadow color (it was overall very dark).
This is the petite S in pale lilac:



Because it is shorter than the regular size but still big (especially around the armpits), it gets boxy:




It is very sheer and still low cut (although not as low as the XS that almost uncovered my umbilicus), so I would say that unless you are going to wear it all the time with a cami and/or a cardigan, it is not meant to be worn in the city. It is a bummer because I loved the color (the embroidery is in the same color than my crystal buttons, aka bling, cardigan):



But I really don't need something that I can only wear on an island (I hate wearing camis), so back it went. Sizing further down wouldn't have worked anyway because of the boxiness. I would say that this top will work better on tall gals with a long torso who can get away with their regular size. If you are a shorty, definitively order a petite in this top.
Summerilla, who also bought this top that night and as you know is much taller than me, looks great in it in this post.

Have you ordered or considered this top?

Outfits with the "Pastiche" Pencil Skirt

I apologize for being a bad blogger: I had promised to write a post a day this week but I am suffering a little bit from BOB (blogger's outfits block, as the always super-stylish blogger from A Bigger Closet so precisely put it in this post. Basically I was a little bit tired of taking pictures of my outfits and then I started to think that maybe my readers too were tired of seeing my outfits. Add the fact that my daughter napped very little this week (today is the first day that she's making me the gift of a decent nap) and the fact that I indulged in watching some movies and my favorite shows on TV (Glee and the Real Housewife of New York City) instead of blogging and here we are.

But there is nothing better than a great new purchase to put BOB to a rest and give the tired blogger a renewed energy to try outfits in front of the mirror with a camera. At least, this is the effect that the Pastiche pencil skirt had on me.

Boy, I love this skirt. If you have been following this blog for a while you now that I don't usually wear pencil skirts (in fact I have a very few) because of my pretty casual lifestyle. Initially I didn't care much for this "pastiche" print on the shirt, cardi or the skirt itself, even if I own the scarf where the colors are slightly different. I thought it was a little bit too much and not at all my style. By the way, because JCrew apparently wants to educate his costumers by using "big" words, I played the game and looked up the meaning of "pastiche", that I vaguely knew was related to a form of art. Well, in case you didn't know, a pastiche is more exactly "a piece of art, music, literature, etc. which intentionally copies the style of someone else's work or is intentionally in various styles". Still, I didn't see why they would call this print "pastiche" exactly and what it was supposed to be imitating. The answer is in the website description of the cardigan in the same print: "One of our favorites of the season, with a fetching watercolor floral print (it reminds us of a work by one of our favorite Impressionist artists—and it's exclusively ours). Strangely, out of the seven items currently available on the website in this print, only the description of the cardigan provides the explanation for the "pastiche" in the name. Now you can let your imagination free and try to guess which artist they are talking about (could it be Monet?) I find kind of funny that they wouldn't say the name, like there was a copyright or a secrecy that they are afraid to infringe, like when they say that their cashmere yarn comes from a famous mill without saying the name.

But I digress. I started to have a second look at this skirt when I saw how they styled it in the catalog, with a green utilitarian jacket. That isn't the classic interpretation of a pencil skirt (that's one of the reason why more and more people turn to Jcrew, I guess) and it looked like something that I could wear in my everyday life. I became a little bit obsessed with it (actually with that look from the catalog) and when I heard that it went on sale I asked my PS to put one on hold for me (luckily she had one). I contemplated to order a P2 (my regular size in pencil skirts) but it was still FP on the website and the 0 available in store wasn't too big or too long (just a little bit), so I picked it up yesterday.

As everybody says, Jcrew knows how to make a pencil skirt and I think that the cotton textured ones, like this one, are particularly flattering and slimming.
You can certainly do ladylike, as it is a pencil skirt. This is my interpretation of ladylike, with heels and a cropped cardi:



The tee is the rosette tee from last year in shell and the cardigan is the new version (just arrived in stores) of the crystal-button featherweight cotton cardi in a color that to me looked identical to the desert brown (but the color code says DMU which I always thought was dark mushroom but doesn't remind me of a mushroom at all in this case):



What I really like in this skirt is its versatility and the fact that it goes with just about any color but navy/blue and black.
This is my take on the look in the catalog, with a camp shirt from a few years ago:



You think you have nothing to wear with it? It looks good with a plain tee:



Actually it looks even good with another "flower" tee. What a surprising "pastiche":



This is the Applique flower art tee, that went recently on sale and apparently is currently sold-out on the website. In my opinion is one of the best tee that they have made this season, very flattering and summery, but it was just too expensive and I waited for it to go on sale before buying it:



Too much? You can partially hide the flower under the same camp shirt and add a belt:



And you know what? You can even do blue with it after all, if you have a denim jacket (in this case the safari denim jacket from last summer):



I think that this might be a pencil skirt for those who think that pencil skirts are not for them. If you happen to see it in your B&M you should give it at least a try now that it's on sale. I personally think that the print is more stunning and less overwhelming in the skirt than in the shirt or cardigan.
Do you own this skirt? Do you like the "pastiche" print in general? Please share