OOTD (Medallion Print and Gold Accessories)

Last year Medallion print is one of my favorite summer prints. I had completely missed out on it when it was in store, but I put my hands on the blouse when a fellow JCA sold it to me.

I love pairing it with white pants and golden accessories. Here is my yesterday OOTD:



The bracelet is the rectangular links one from HO 2008. I bought it on super-sale last year on a tip from a JCA who had just returned hers to a store in the city. Well, I NEVER wore it as I always found it a little bit tacky. In fact the reason why I had taken it out of my jewelry box yesterday morning was that I was planning to return it. Sometimes I am like a drug addict who scouts his parent's pockets in search of money to buy his daily fix. The difference is that I scout my closet and the box where I keep my JCrew tickets (that I have recently updated from an Hermes foulard-sized box to a big shoe box, as my tickets where overflowing) in search of unworn stuff that I can return for a store credit. That's where my money is. In my closet.
Anyway, when I found the ticket I realized that I paid less than I remembered, so I put it on to try it one last time and it looked great with the outfit (I apologize for the Napoleon-esque pose, I obviously wanted to showcase the bracelet and I don't suffer from stomach pain as the great man):



Tacky looks definitively better with a tan.

Have a great day.

Birthday Wishlist

Hello everybody, I hope that you all had a great 4th of July! I am sorry for the lack of posts this past week, I have been busy with family celebrations and outings.
I have some outfits and final sale scores to post but first I wanted to share my birthday wishlist with you. My birthday is tomorrow and I have to pick my present. How nice from JCrew to offer 20% off jewelry just in time for my birthday ;-). When I woke up to the promo last Friday I asked my husband if he had bought me a birthday present (I knew the answer already), so he agreed that we should take advantage of the promo as he had no idea what to offer me. Now I just have to choose and I am running out of time as the promo expires tonight.

My first choice would be a long pearl necklace, because those never go on sale and I don't have any. But both the lady double-strand and the long pearl necklace have a ribbon-tie closure, that my husband dislikes (and I agree that if I could choose I would prefer to have a classic spring closure).
The opera-lenght pearl necklace it's a little bit too expensive and excluded from the promo, so not an option I think.
So in the freshwater pearls category the only candidate left is the Lady four-strand pearl necklace, which I saw IRL at the collection store and is very pretty (if not exactly long). With the 20% off is a good deal and a timeless piece, so the right occasion to buy it.

In the other categories (not freshwater pearls) I have a few picks, but not one that I am immensely in love with.
First comes the Crystal steps necklace. I must say that this one is MUCH more stunning IRL than on the website and I would have never considered it hadn't I seen it in store (on the website it looks like a re-edition of another necklace but IRL it really stands out):



My next choice is a bracelet from the Fenton/Fallon collaboration. Unfortunately it's excluded from the promo but it's maybe the piece that I'm currently loving the most on the website. It's the Fringe cuff:



However, the problem with this one is that I don't wear bracelets as much as I wear necklaces (especially one that is for the evening only), so I hesitate.

My last pick is a necklace from the sale section. Again, hadn't I seen it IRL on a girl in the street and then in store I probably wouldn't have noticed it but it's very sparkling and edgy, perfect to wear with a tee. It's the Crystal patch necklace, currently on sale for $69.99:



And finally, as a substitute for real pearls, the Twisted hammock necklace in the classic pearl color (I bought the pink frost one on sale but I didn't like the color, which is more yellowish than pink IMO, and returned it. However I like the pearl itself).
I will let you know tomorrow what I end up choosing but in the meanwhile I would like to hear what's your favorite pick among these and the website offerings in general. Plese share!
I have three birthday celebrations coming up (this evening with family, tomorrow at lunch with girlfriends and tomorrow night with hubby and friends) so you can expect a post with my birthday outfits for Wednesday. Stay tuned!

Statement Jewelry for Less

The F21 Family&Friends No-Minumum Free Shipping code (F21FRIENDS) expires tomorrow. I had a bracelet sitting in my cart since Gigi blogged about it in a post back in the summer (sorry I can't find the post any longer) and I perused the website for more jewelry. I have never bought on their website before because they have a 21 days store-credit-only return policy and a $75 minimum for free shipping (which is hard to reach!), but I thought that this time I would give it a try.

I ended up buying a few "statement pieces", all for less than $10 each:

1) Chunky Faux Perl Necklace, $7.80

2) Edgy Rhinestone Earrings, $9.80



3) Lace-Covered Rhinestone Bracelet, $5.80


And this is the bracelet that Gigi reviewed, the Cut-Out Rhinestone Bracelet, $10.80

I know that this one looks a little bit cheap in the pic but it looked stunning on Gigi and hey, it's $10.

There were many other interesting ones that I left behind (including the Chain Perl Necklace, lookalike of Jcrew "pastiche" necklace), If you have a little bit of time (browsing the website can be a little bit time-consuming), I really recommend to have a look and take advantage of this free shipping offer.

What do you think of these? Have you ordered anything from F21?

Happy Birthday to Me (with Jcrew Jewelry) - Part 1

As you probably know, this weekend was a very special 4th of July weekend for me as yesterday I celebrated my 40est birthday! I don't know what to expect from myself (I was half expecting to burst in tears or be completely numb or very irritable or sad at the best) but we spent such a nice and full day that there was literally no time to be in a bad mood (nor to blog), only precious moments to enjoy with my wonderful family. I would say that my family is my greatest life achievement so far (maybe one day I will also realize my other dreams). Too often we forget how lucky we are and I'm grateful to my husband for reminding me where real happiness is (in his own words: "in me and your daughter, not in Jcrew").

Having said that Jcrew also contributed to make this day special as I finally got my hands on some coveted pieces of jewelry that I had been eyeing for a long time.
Firs, last week I ordered the Palm-leaf necklace that went finally on sale for $99. It was a final sale item but I had seen it many times at the Madison Avenue Collection store (even if I had never tried it on) and I knew what to expect, or at least so I thought.
Along with it I also ordered the Chandelier necklace, on sale for $49.99. I wasn't sure about this one but it wasn't marked FS and I needed a filler to reach the $150 free shipping minimum, so I ordered as well.
The package arrived yesterday afternoon, just in time for my birthday. Inside the postage box, I found two nicely wrapped boxes:

I half expected to find a Happy Birthday note from Mickey (maybe I had given this information when I setup the account?), but apparently this is just the regular packaging for this kind of expensive jewelry. Nice touch Jcrew!
Inside one of the boxes, the palm-leaf necklace in metallic rose:

But once unfastened from the wrapping, I had a first disappointment. The necklace is lighter than I expected it to be. On one hand it makes it more weareable; on the other hand, it feels a little bit cheap and not as "luxurious" as you would think it to be for this price.
The second (and major disappointment) is that it is a defective item. As you can see in the picture below, one chain link is missing:

Now, to be honest with you, I think it would be very easy to fix (the only think that I would have to do is to buy the missing link), but I'm also questionning the necklace itself. I'm not sure that I LOVE it. It's one of those pieces like the BR Darion Luncheon Necklace (see my first post), that is a little bit overwhelming. Because it's defective, I think that I won't have any problem to return it in store, even if it's FS (worst-case scenario I will get a store credit). What do you think?

As per the Chandelier necklace, it's not for me (I plain don't like it). I took a pic just for the sake of the blog, but this is going back:


I should be upset that none of them works but actually I'm not because of two great finds that I bought on Friday. I will show you in the next post, stay tuned!