Two OOTDs and The Stained Glass Cardigan is Back

Hello everybody, I hope that your weekend is off to a good start. I don't have much time but I did want to say hello, so I will post the pics of two outfits that I wore this past week and also review very quickly the factory version stained glass cardigan that I bought before the holidays, in case you want to get it with the current 40% off.

The first is nothing to talk about, really, but it is just a pretext for me to proclaim again my unconditional love for the heather cobblestone color. I am obsessed with this color and I wore the cashmere turtleneck so much that I just bought the crewneck cardigan too (the price was irrestible). However, it is kind of difficult to pair it because it isn't exactly grey and it isn't brown, just a grey with some brown in it, if that makes sense. I couldn't really wear it with any greys (especially charcoal) until I tried it on with the faded cement toothpick cords from last year. For some reason this color picks up on the grey component in the cobblestone and makes it look more grey than it is. See?



The second outfit is more put together (meaning that I put more effort into it) while still being casual. The cardigan is the BR fair isle cardigan (worn over a cashmere shell in natural) and the pants are a pair of ripstop cargos from the summer (the receipt says "solid ripstop Anne pant") that I found at my B&M two weeks ago for $12. They had a rack of weird stuff from the summer, as if a truck from FS had just dumped its content in the store. Go figure. In any case, that was good for me because I have been trying to catch the safari pants in black on sale forever and these are pretty close, and the fact that they are not cropped make them weareable all year round.



The necklace is another great find. For the life of me I can't remember the name but I almost bought it this summer when it went on sale. Then I saw it in store and thought that it looked cheap. Well, at least if it looks cheap I can tell myself that it was cheap ($12 as well). The SA told me that it had been hiding in their basement for all these months and they had just put it back on the racks. It is a little bit tarnished but for $12 I will take it ;-).



And now the factory stained glass cardigan. I loved this cardigan last year when it was in the B&M but to me it was the perfect resort/summer cardigan and I was really bummed that it was made in merino (it is too hot here wear merino in the summer). So when I saw that they had made a factory version in cotton I had to have it. I ordered my Jackie size (a S) and it fits perfectly, even if it is not stretchy as the Jackie since it is 100% cotton. It is a weightlight cotton (some of you would probably find it flimsy) but that's OK with me. I just love this print and I am taking it with me on my next vacation in two weeks:




Did I mention that I bought these matchstick on a popback for $14? Sometimes popbacks ship and that was one of those case (I sized up from my regular size and they fit perfectly).

That's it. I will talk to you next week!

Belated Merry Xmas

A quick post to wish you a belated merry Xmas! I hope that you had a wonderful time with your loved ones and that Santa has been generous with each of you. I can't complain as my Santa this year took me to Jcrew on Xmas Eve and had me to choose my present! I chose a necklace that I had been eyeing but didn't dare to buy for myself and I must say that I wore it non-stop since I opened my gift box (even if I it wasn't a surprise, I did put it under the tree). Not only it's the perfect necklace to wear with festive attire but it also dresses up nicely with jeans+tee/sweater uniform.

In fact I wore it this morning to the Saks after Xmas sale (where we shopped exclusively for my husband. The 26th is traditionally HIS shopping day). This is my OOTD (that I am still wearing):



The mohair sweater is from Calypso and the jeans are the JCrew Vintage Slim in rustic wash that went finally on sale and I bought during the MUSTHAVE promo (I am wearing a 26, my typical jeans size). You have all recognized the vintage striped bateau from this spring, which is now on sale as well.
I don't see the necklace online (not sure if it is sold out or store only). The ticket reads "Crystal Venus Flytrap necklace" (EC8333) and it retails for $85 (it is still FP as of today, I checked). It is very bling-y and clearly tries to mimic the real thing but I really like it (I like that it is short and that the hardware is self-effacing so that you really only see the crystals):



We had the perfect Xmas Day yesterday. Besides the joy of seeing our daughter opening the presents (she really believes in Santa this year and she asked for a princess tent to play princesses with her friends), we had our best friends over for lunch and in the evening we even went to the movies to see "the creepiest holiday movie ever", Black Swan, that we both enjoyed. I can't even remember the last time that we went to the movies on Xmas Day, since usually we are stuck with my daughter. But as you know my MIL is here for the holidays so we are taking advantage. Thanks MIL!
Here is the outfit that I wore yesterday (the blouse is the plaid taffeta one from Talbot's, the cardigan is the Dulphine bling-button in black pine and the pants are the toothpick cords in navy from last year. The necklace is my Xmas present):



And as to wrap up a perfect Xmas weekend, it is snowing in NY today.

I will be back soon!

Saturday Housewarming Party Outfit

This Saturday we went to New Jersey (Jersey City) for the housewarming party of our friends who got married in Seattle last spring.

The party started at 4 to allow for couples with children to bring them. I really, really wanted to wear one of my newest purchases, the Tiered silk ruffled cami, which, incidentally, is a "hidden" item in the sale section. You have to type "Tiered silk" to find it, go figure.
When I tried this top in store last week I immediately fell in love with it. I felt very gracious in it, like a ballerina or a little bird. The color is black but only the wool panel in the back, grosgrain belt and straps are black. The silk charmeuse ruffles themselves are more of a midnight blue, which is a navy tinged of grey.
I haven't tried the dress but besides the fact that it is still FP I think that the wool all the way down in the back is going to be too form-hugging and maybe even sheer as it is kind of a lightweight fabric.
The top is very easy to wear IMO. It looks good alone with black pants/jeans (I am wearing last year toothpick in dark raisin rinse):



but is also super-cute peeking out from a cardigan or jacket:




In the end I didn't wear it because it was too dressy for the occasion (not to mention that it took us an hour and a half of public transportation to get there) and in fact the other guests were very casual. I wore my Talbots tee instead, with the Loft clear necklace from this spring. I always get a ton of compliments on this necklace and it's true that it's really pretty and unusual:



Our friends apartment is on the waterfront and they have an amazing view of the Hudson River and the NYC skyline on the other side. This the view from the walkway between the train station and their building:



I was carrying an Anthropologie bag with a present for our friends. I rarely visit Anthropology and I think that I have never made a purchase there (at least not clothes) but the last time that I have been there (in the summer) I saw in the home section these adorable Storybook romance dishtowels and I though that they would make a great little present for newlyweds (if for example you have not been invited to the wedding but you want to send something or, as in this case, you are invited to a housewarming). I was happy that they still had them in the store, they made the perfect present.

These are the last few hours of the 25% off card. I feel a urge to go outside and take advantage of it for the last time but I have spent way too much already and I am stuck home with a sick daughter AND a calf strain (that I have inflicted myself yesterday while playing frisbee in the park. Hopefully it will heal by itself but because of Columbus Day I couldn't even see the doctor today).

Have a nice week.

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!

End of the Week OOTDs (Wearing Color Against the Heat)

If you find yourself in a desert and you ask a bedouin (if you have the chance to meet any), he will tell you to wear black to protect your body against the heat (and even if this seems a counter-intuitive advice, because black absorbs light, just trust the bedouin in the desert because he knows better).
But when it's really hot outside I am suddenly in the mood for colors (sorry bedouin, I live in NYC and we have AC: no need to create an AC system with my loose-fitting black clothes and my perspiration). So I have been wearing lots of colors this week and I am going to share my OOTDs. Enjoy!

Wednesday, wearing an old Jcrew chino skirt (circa 2007), Gap tank and Jcrew necklace:



Yesterday night, date night with hubby (we went to a very nice reastaurant in the neighborhood with an even nicer terrace). Wearing the Jcrew Piazza dress in aqua, ATL necklace, Stubbs and Wooton espadrilles:




I had a melon Jackie in my bag but it didn't come out during the evening. It was so hot, even at 11 pm. I took a pic anyway:



Today. Wearing last year's JCrew pavillon pique dress with a Theory tubular cami:



And in all these pictures, wearing my OPI pedicure (as you see I like color on my toes too):



Have a nice weekend and stay cool!

Wedding in Seattle: Outfits

The wedding in Seattle that I have blogged about a while ago is coming up this weekend and I will fly out to Seattle on Friday. I have worked on my outfits in the meanwhile and want to share with you what I have decided to bring.

I have listened to your comments and looked for a cardigan to wear with the watercolor dress (in any case even in NYC it would have been too cold to wear it alone). I don't have a black cashmere crewneck (a no-brainer) and the only option currently available is the featherweight cashmere cardigan that is still full price. After trying different alternatives (including the Jackie in pink frost that is a perfect color match for the dress), I have settled for the Celosia cardigan in black, which goes very well with the style of the dress and also has the advantage of being very thick so that it should keep me warm. I am going to wear this to church, probably:





I think that the black Celosia is a nice option for those of you looking for an evening or dressy cardigan: the ruffles are elegant but not overwhelming. Before buying this one, I sold my other Celosia in cinnamon spice on the JCA Weekly Exchange because I didn't want to have many cardigans in the same style, especially ruffled. I think that I am going to wear the black much more often than the cinnamon spice.

For the evening reception, I have two options and I think that I am going to bring both and decide at the last minute.
The first option is to wear my BR cocktail dress with my BR velvet blazer from last winter and a BR necklace. I hadn't thought about it when I was putting it together, but it's a 100% Banana outfit, which, for me, is kind of unusual as I don't own a lot of Banana:





In pictures the dress is a little bit loose on the top but that's because for the life of me I couldn't zip it up and I didn't want to force and break the zipper just to take pictures of myself (that would have been silly, right?) The necklace is very sparkly IRL and I bought it along with the dress on supersale for something like $18, after seeing it on the adorable Slastena who highly recommended it.

The second option is more elegant in a classic way. It features an old dress by Caterine Malandrino that I had bought years ago at a sample sale and I was simply afraid to try on because I was sure that it wouldn't fit any longer. Well, it looks like I did loose all that baby fat after all, as it fits me again like a glove!
It's made in a double layer of silk chiffon and has a beautiful draping:




I think that it is maybe a little too serious for a friends' wedding but the advantage over the first outfit is that I am very comfortable in this dress and I can dance the night away without worrying about my ladies coming out (which is always a problem with a strapless). What do you think?
The only outfit that I haven't figured out yet is the one for the rehearsal dinner. The invitation says "Dressy Casual" and I interpret it as evening casual without jeans. So I was thinking of a pair of pants or a mini and a nice top, like the ribbon beaded one. Any advice?

If you have something to say speak now or keep silent forever ;-).

Stripes again and a ATL find (two, actually)

So I am on a stripe kick and I wore my camel tee again on Tuesday. I feel very elegant in this tee. Actually I feel like a mini-version of Jenna Lyons, who has been seen sporting this tee to parties and events everywhere (I don't get the same feeling with the pink one). I had my dangling disc necklace on from the midnight dress try-on and I really liked it with the tee, so I kept it (plus, it was completely tangled with my hair and I didn't have time to un-tangling it):



Speaking of necklaces, I stopped by ATL yesterday to check their current offerings (as you probably know they are running their F&F event, 30% off now through Sunday). I didn't find anything in the clothes department (I am not feeling the love for ATL this year, it's very deja-crew) but I got two necklaces that I really recommend to anyone.

The first is called Long silvertone paillettes necklace and retails for $39.50 (before the 30% off). It is a great necklace for the summer, very shiny and most of all silver-toned (and you know how difficult it is to find a silver-toned necklace). It is pretty casual and it looks great with a simple tee (but I also see it with a maxi-dress for example):



The tee that I am wearing here is the Linen-cotton soft v-neck tee in irish moss that I had ordered to wear with the Pastiche pencil skirt. I bought it FP as a ride-along but lucky me it went on sale a few days after, so I got it for the sale price (thanks to price adjustment) without the hassle of stalking the website (colors are selling-out quickly). I already have the heather grey one and I plan on buying more colors. I simply love this tee!

The other necklace is more dressy and I don't see it currently on the website. It is in clear Plexiglas and reminds me a little bit of the JCrew "chandelier" necklace from last summer, but without the huge size (and the price tag). I really liked the idea of a clear necklace like the chandelier (it goes with everything, right?) but that one simply didn't work on my frame. This one is VERY pretty on a dress, especially a dress with a bold print like the Lilly Pulitzer or Liberty of London ones where there is already a lot going on with the pattern.
Here is with the Piazza dress from last summer in the beautiful aqua color, bought for a few bucks last winter (which makes think that I should wait for the midnight swiss-dot one to go on super-duper sale):




If you want to call a store, the reference (SKU) for this necklace is 87208023 and it retails for $34.50.

Happy shopping!

The Mysterious and Disappearing Midnight Swiss-Dot Shift Dress (Advice needed)

I am probably not the only one who immediately liked this dress, mulled over it because a tad expensive ($145) and then, when ready to pull the trigger, wasn't able to buy it because it had disappeared from the website. I tried with the keyword search, but nothing worked (neither "midnight", nor swiss-dot", nor "shift"). Disappeared from the face of earth (or at least from that very little world called the JCrew website), I tell you. For a moment I thought that it had sold-out because the last time that I had checked on it, at the end of the 20% off dresses promo, only the size 4 and up were left. Still, a little bit weird that it had gone like that without leaving a trace.
Until someone on the JCA blog provided me with the style number (23993), which is the only way to pull it up. It was still there (in all sizes), only it had been misplaced somewhere under the man's section. Not that buying it had suddely become a lot easier, now that I had found it. As soon as I clicked on it, it would disappear from my cart. I told myself that at least it wasn't going to sell out if nobody could find it and I waited for the right occasion.
So last time that I was in store and I had one of those 10% off coupons that they gave away a while ago for providing the email adress, I ordered it from the red phone and my PS got me the 10% off on it (and free shipping because it was a full price item).
When it shipped I still couldn't believe it, but it arrived yesterday and I am happy to announce that this dress does exist!

Now, do I like it? It is certainly a nice dress and the fit it is much better than other shift dresses that I tried this year (like the portico dress). Really, I don't have any complain and it is very much my style of dress (it has a downtown vibe to it), but I wasn't carried away like I thought I would be and I am a little bit puzzled by my own reaction. Maybe it's because it's a little bit "dark" (duh, it's navy and black!), maybe it's because I thought that the fabric would be nicer for the price (while it is a cotton like the one that they use for the linings when they don't use poly, nothing extraordinary and actually a little bit ordinary), or maybe it's because I am a little bit shopped out and nothing excites me these days (which means that I am ready for a little bit of rehab again).

Anyway, I am going to show you the pics and I would appreciate your opinion. If you notice something wrong with this dress let me know. I think that I am going to keep it for the time being because it was so difficult to get it that if I regret it afterwards I don't want to go through ordering it again. I have to say that I liked it better once that I put on my TB Miller sandals as you will see in some of these pics (instead of trying it barefoot).

It is a little bit longer on me than on the model, but besides the fact that if I want I can have it hemmed, it is already a short length:



With imaginary heels:



The detail of the flatter-sleeve in a contrasting black crochet is really exquisite:



Here you can see the subtle shirring at the top:



Three-quarter view:



And a tentative to accessorize it with the dangling disc necklace (or whatever it was called) from last summer (which is the same necklace that I was wearing in the previous pics but wrapped around my neck):



Instead of asking if you like it this dress, I should ask you in which occasion you would wear it. I think that I DO like it but I can't shrug away the feeling that I really don't NEED it. There are many things that I don't need (do I need four striped tees for example?) but in this case I mean that I can't see when I am going to wear it. It feels a little bit too much to just stroll down the street with my daughter (and again, a little bit "dark") and it is a little bit too understated to be an evening dress or a party dress. The only occasion where I can see myself wearing it would be to go out for dinner in the summer with my husband and no baby. But again, how many times it is going to happen?

What do you think, keep it or return it?

JCrew Sample Sale: The Good

The JCrew sample sale in NYC has become a regular appointment for New Yorkers. I think they have been helding one every two-three months since the first one in January 2009. I went to that one and to another one this early fall, then I decided to stay away as much as possible because I tend to overbuy while I'm there and regret after. Also, as many have pointed out on the JCA blog, the prices are sometimes higher than final sale prices on the website (especially the shoes and the cashmere sweaters) and the general quality of the merchandise much lower (I'm talking about big holes, "sample" marked on the sweaters with a black marker etc).

However I was tempted to go to this one because they announced that they would have a lot of jewelry, some stock and also shoes (and I'm looking for some hard to find oldies). A friend of mine went on Tuesday at the opening and she said that it was worth it, so I went this morning while my daughter was at school.

When I walked in I was disappointed because they had only samples and there wasn't any current stock merchandise on the floor. Moreover, the dresses and the few jackets that they had looked like they had been around for at least a decade (they were all wrinkled) and were really unappealing. Honestly, thrift stores have stuff in better conditions. Second, it's true that they had much more jewelry that at the last sample sale and nicely displayed this time around, but a lot of them were charms bracelets and necklaces (including some very hard to find) and I'm not much of a charm person (but I know that some of you would have liked those and my friend bought many of them). I was hoping for some sparkle but they had nothing in the current styles.

So you would think that I left empty-handed. Well, after two hours of digging, I had a bag full of stuff. I found some pretty darn good deals, some that won't maybe look like a good deal to some of you but still are for me and a very bad deal (of course I didn't know that it was a bad deal until I got home).

Let's start with the good. Accessories were a good deal. Belts and scarves were $20 each and $30 for two. I got two belts (one is the skinny pyramid-studded in black that retails on the website for $36 and one is a plain black) and two scarves. The scarves are from the current collection and one of them is the very popular floral (aka potpourri) scarf in papaya. As you know I own it in the other color but I couldn't resist the fantastic deal (the only fault is that there isn't any Jcrew tag on it but, honestly, who cares). The other one is a fringed linen one in neon orange (I'm really liking this new shade). Being linen and fringed it can also be worn on the beach as a bottom cover-up (and the shade is very beach-y).

I also couldn't resist buying another two short-sleeved cashmere cardigans. I bought one in apricot last week during the 30% off promo and when I received it I kicked myself for not buying more and earlier when there were more color choices available. It was my first short-sleeved cashmere tee (I have an old Ralph Lauren short-sleeved cardigan but it's a little bit too small now) and it is just what I need to go through spring. Luckily I found a navy one (one of my favorite colors) at the sample sale and while I was at it I grabbed another one in natural (there were $45, pretty much what I paid last week on the website).
These are last year's (with the ribbed hems) and the fit is slightly bigger than this year's in my opinion. Anyway, now I can finally wear an outfit that has been on my mind for a while (I must have seen it somewhere because I'm pretty obsessed with it. If you have worn it and posted about it, let me know):



This is the natural one, with the floral scarf (I actually wore this to the playground this afternoon. The short-sleeve cashmere tees are great when it gets chilly at the end of a warm spring day like today):



I did buy two necklaces. One that I was pretty sure about because I regretted not buying it last year (I don't remember the name but you will recognize it as I think it still pops back every once in a while). Remember that I said that I needed a necklace to wear with my yellow merino boyfriend sweatshirt? Voila:



By the way, I had never noticed before that the beads are asymmetrical. If you own this necklace, can you let me know if yours is the same or if this is an irregular (not that I really care but I'm curious)?
The other necklace was an impulse purchase, but it's really growing on me and could be my best necklace purchase, after the crystal symphony. It's from a couple years ago, maybe summer 08; I remember the matching cuff but I don't remember the necklace (I wasn't much into custom jewelry back then). I tried it over the cashmere tee just to take the pic and it definitively has an outfit-transforming factor. I think that I'm going to wear it a LOT. The pendant is very substantial and in my opinion looks like real vintage jewelry:



The last thing that I bought and I'm happy with is an embellished tee (all the embellished tees were $25 and all the plain ones, including the few graphic ones, were $15 or 2 for $20). This one is one-of-a-kind, I think. The tag pinned on the inside says FA 08 but I don't remember it, at least not in this color. I like that it's in the same hazelnut color then the reindeer tee from this holiday season, but with another (non-holiday) embellishment (I'm not sure of what it is actually, a caravan maybe?):



I took a risk with this one because there was no mention of the size on the tag. I must thank my friend who pushed me to buy it. It is a little bit long and the neckline is a little bit low but otherwise it fits like an XS.

It is later than I though, so I will leave the bad for tomorrow.

What do you think of this purchases? Is there anything that you would have bought for yourself? Do you own one of the two necklaces that I bought? Please share!

OOTD: Grey, Silver and the Crystal Symphony

I wore this outfit this morning to run errands after dropping off my daughter at school. I really liked how the belt and the Crystal Symphony necklace brightened up the otherwise total grey outfit:





I hadn't worn the Minnies in a long time and they looked a little bit tired. So far I washed them in the machine, on a delicate cycle, but I might need to send them to the dry-cleaning the next time. Or I might need to buy a new pair (the navy or the denim ones) for spring ;-).

And now on the Crystal Symphony necklace. I always liked it but because I have a very similar one (actually more similar to the new colletto one, with round crystals) I couldn't justify to spend $98 on it.
One day in January (it was one of those lucky days) I walked into a store and saw it in the sale section. There was no tag attached but I obviously recognized it. I went to the register and asked what was the price. The SA had to look up the style number in the jewelry book and I saw that HE didn't recognize it because he was trying to find a match in the book for the thing that I was holding in my hands. I wanted to help and I told him (TWICE) "It's called the Crystal Symphony necklace" but he smirked at me (as to say "I know what I'm doing"). When he entered the style number, the price rung up at $19.99 and that was BEFORE the additional 30% off. Now, I hadn't seen it in a store in a very long time and the in-store sale prices tend to drop very quickly so, after asking him if he was sure, I promptly paid for it and when he informed me that it was final sale, I said "Yes, please, so you can't change your mind" (another smirk). A few days after, I saw another one in another store (with tags this time). The price? $69.99. And that's when I found out that the SA had made a mistake with my necklace, but I didn't feel too bad for my "stealing" it because I knew that I had done my best to hint him on the right direction.
That's how a crewless SA can help sometimes.


Happy Tuesday!

A DIY Project by JCrew

So I must confess that I placed a few orders with those fantastic no minimum Facebook codes. Nothing from the last or new roll-outs but some great deals in the sale section that I couldn't pass.

Among them I pulled the trigger on the Bubble Necklace in soft violet. Actually one of my best friends in Italy just turned 40 and I thought that I would offer it to her and, in case I really, really liked it (I have never seen it IRL), I would eventually order another one for me with another code.

I was quite impressed with the delivery times: no order cancellations (so far) and my first three orders shipped the SAME DAY. WOW Jcrew, I though, I forgive you for not sending me those beautiful earrings.

Well, I take it back. The packages arrived yesterday and inside I found exactly what I had ordered, but the bubble necklace came in 4 PIECES (5 to be precise):



Now, how can this be possible? It's like I have received a DIY kit, or an IKEA piece of furniture but without the assembly instructions.
At first I even thought that instead of going through the painful process of calling CS with what could seem like a big lie, I would accept the challenge and try to put the damn thing back together. I mean if I have all the pieces it shouldn't be so difficult, can it?
Well, I have compared what I have with the pic of the necklace and it doesn't make sense, there are stones missing and stones that are where they shouldn't be and one of the chain ends makes a no-sense loop (you can see it in my pic). It looks like someone at the warehouse tried it already and then gave up, put all the pieces in the bubble bag and sent it to me. They could have put a "good luck" note at least!
So now I have to call them and explain them the situation, wish me luck. I'm sure that they are going to send me another one with free overnight shipping but I'm upset anyway because I wanted to try it on me before ordering another one, I was afraid that it would overwhelm my petite figure. The only thing that I can say is that I LOVE the color, I thought it would be more "violet" but it's definitively pink.

I still have a libretto necklace in the dusty blossom color on its way. Let's hope that it's not another DIY project signed Jcrew.

The Crystal Symphony Necklace (Help me do decide)

OK, so after the uproar caused by my previous post, I think I deserve a chance to reedem myself. Let's make a deal: I'm going to show you the pics of the Crystal Symphony necklace with the dress that I have planned to wear tomorrow night for my bday dinner and you will help me to decide if it's worth it to wear it tomorrow and keep it or not. If you think that it really improves the outfit and makes a big difference, I will wear it and keep it (I swear, I got you, OK?). Otherwise, I will return it and wear something else, go in peace.
I hope that all the anons who criticized me in the previous post will read this one and comment, but I will outright delete any comment that I find offensive.

I would like to stress the fact that I don't have anyone to impress, it's just me, my husband and my closest friends (who are more into books and arts than into clothes), so it's all about my personal pleasure to make the occasion and the outfit special to remember.

Having said that, this is the dress that I'm going to wear:



I bought it at Intermix on Madison a few weeks ago and it's by a brand that I've never heard of (Marley, like the dog) but being sold at Intermix it must certainly be a very hype brand worn by I don't know who in Hollywood. The original price was $325 but I got it for around $100. This color and a few other ones were on sale, while the black and the electric blue (my first choice) were not. I tried the blue one but I didn't like it for $325 (and anyway I wasn't going to pay that much), so I got this color instead. I think it's very delicate and chic but it needs something to spice it up for the evening and that's where the necklace can help.

First, I tried it with the dangling pearls one, so you can see the difference:



Granted, it's not the ideal necklace to wear to spice the dress up but I don't have that many necklaces options (I have a "statement" necklace very similar to the Libretto one but it's too of a heavy one for this dress).

And now the Crystal Symphony. First, I didn't remember that the ribbon was this long:



But because of the ribbon, the lenght can be customized, so I would wear it this way:



And this is the effect of the whole outfit (sorry, I just noticed that I cut the shoes in the pic but as you can see in the first pic, taken at a different moment when I first tried it on, they have faux rhinestones that match the color of the crystals. They are very cheap shoes that I bought at Loehmann's for $25 but they look like $1000 Giuseppe Zanotti IMO):


So, what do you think? As I said in the previous post I don't have any other occasion to wear it any time soon but it's a beautiful necklace in itself that I would love to own (but I'm still bothered by the price).