The H&M Bubble Necklace and Other H&M Finds

So last week I went to H&M as I was looking for a Minnie Mouse tee for my daughter to wear at her birthday party and H&M usually has great and inexpensive girls clothes featuring Minnie, Hello Kitty and the likes (if you go back to my previous post, you'll se that I found the perfect tee for her party, that she wore with a tulle Gap skirt).
Of course I was sidetracked by the women summer collection that they had just received. When a retailers put out clothes that cost less than $10 I almost feel a moral obligation to try them on, especially if they are summer clothes where the fabric is less important than, say, in winter knits and coats. Plus, I have a few H&M sundresses that lasted more than the much more expensive JCrew ones so I am always willing to give H&M clothes a chance, if I like the colors and design.
There was a lot to try on but I tried to limit myself to stuff that I actually needed for my summer mini-vacation in the Caribbean (we are going to a wedding in St. Marteen in July, post coming soon). I was specifically looking for a cover-up. My main criteria when buying a cover-up are 1) it has to be long enough to cover my butt and 2) it has to be in a breatheable and lightweight fabric and easy maintenance (I really don't get the concept of a silk coverup. Who wants to go on a beach covered in silk?)
I also prefer tunics or separates to dresses, for the simple reason that a tunic is something that I can wear over my swimsuit if it gets chilly or I had enough sun exposure while I am kind of uncomfortable sitting on a beach chair in a dress, I feel reckless, like I have to go somewhere.
The favorite coverup that I own is the JCrew Oxford cotton tunic from two years ago (really, the easiest and softest thing to throw on a swimsuit) but for this trip I was looking for something more exotic and colorful. And I found this,for only $24.50:

This could easily be Boden. It also comes in a different, lighter colorway with a cream background and green and pink flowers but I preferred this one becaus I don't aanythink=g like this. I am wearing a size 2 here and even if I could ave sized up to a 4 I took the 2 in case I want to wear it in the city over jeans or leggings (which, I am sure, it's not going to happen).

But I couldn't leave the following dress behind, for only $15. It is a very easy dress not only for a vacation but also for the playground and the stripes look very fresh. This is a XS (I am almost always a XS in H&M):

Last purchase, a graphic tee that I bought (mainly) to wear on the plane to my vacation. I love a tee that puts me in the mood. These were only $9.50, they come in an array of colors (including a beautiful turquoise) and are very flattering. For some reasons I am drawn to the navy. I am wearing a S:

And now the great find I was talking about the other day. The first day I went to H&M I picked up a copy of their magazine and saw a necklace that was a dead ringer for the old and popular JCrew Bubble necklace, in a very summery turquoise color. So I came back the day after looking for it but they told me that it was sold-out. Well, it was my lucky day because while I was exiting the store I saw a lady who was taking the clothes off the manniquins in the window and she had just took the necklace down. So I asked her if it was on sale and she gave it to me (the cashier couldn't believe my luck, she said she had wanted it for herself and couldn't get one). I have the real one in the soft violet color and I can tell you that it's a very good knockoff, especially for $12.95:

I put them side to side so you can see the difference. The stones in the Jcrew one are more multi-faceted (which gives the impression of a smooth round surface) and slightly bigger, but from afar the look is the same (remember, you are not buying a $150 necklace, you are buying a $13 one):

Here is on me:

If you can find one, I really reccomed this necklace.
Have you been to H&M recently?

I Am Back (With a New Dress)

I am back! Sorry for the long absence, I din't meant to disappear for so long and in fact I had started to write a post last Wednesday to let you know about a great find but then Blogger went on strike and then I got really too busy with my daughter's birthday party. I still can't believe that she turned 4 and the baby and toddler years are definitively gone. She turned into this beautiful little girl who amazes me every day with her unbiased vision of the world.
The party was on Saturday (day of her birthday) and even if it was held in one of the city venues specialized in kids birthday parties (namely, a gym), I wanted to wear something a little special. I changed myself three times and in the end I settled for the lady lace popover (the new one that I exchanged and didn't make it here for mother's day), white matchstick (probably not the best choice for a kid's party as some cake landed on them) and a statement necklace by Madewell (from last year). The necklace was a nice touch on the lady lace sweater. Here we are at home, after the party, with our special guest (the party had a Minnie Mouse theme, as my daughter LOOOOVES Minnie Mouse):

It was really a nice party and she had a blast. Even if I hadn't ordered a special cake, I did a good job at decorating it with some of her Minnie Mouse toys:

She got to wear her Minnie ears for the cake and I had bought paper mouse ears for the other kids and they all wore them. It was really cute!

Here is the only picture of me at the party, where you can see the necklace:

From a party to another, I went to a grown-up birthday party yesterday night and I wore one of my last purchases, the merino confetti-striped sweater dress. I bought it on sale with free shipping but without extra % off and I have to say that it is totally worth not only the price that I paid for it but probably the original price (of all the overpriced things at JCrew, this one strikes me as almost underpriced). I had never tried it in store so I went with my regular XS. Now, it is really a beautiful dress but in case you are interested and watching for a popback you have to know two things before pulling the trigger. First, this dress is short, which I hadn't anticipated as I don't remember anybody making negative comments re. the length. As you know I am only 5'2" and it hits me way below the knee. As far as it is still flattering (and it is, as it fits me perfectly) I don't mind but taller ladies should know.
The other thing that you have to know is that it is VERY heavy in sequins and there is no way that you can wear this baby in daytime or without an occasion IMO. It isn'y an everyday dress and the sequins all over the sleeves make it difficult to put it on/take it off without a few sequins coming loose in the process. So if you have sequins OCD, this is not for you.
Here are the IRL pics. It was pouring yesterday and I had to take the subway to go to my girlfriend so I wore it with tights, TB peep-toes and a windbraker (that has also the function of covering up the sequins in the subway. As I said not a day dress and not really a subway ride dress either):

Close-up on the sequins (which are a dark pewter color):

May is a particularly busy month here because both my daughter and my husbands are May babies (their birthdays are ten days apart) so as soon as we are done with one birthday there is another one coming up to organize (not that I am complaining, there are worse occupations than organizing birthday parties), so my posts will probably be sporadic.
But I will definitively blog about that great find before it's too late (hint: it's H&M) and a few other things that I ordered/bought recently.

Do you have or are considering the confetti sweater-dress?

Mother's Day Weekend Outfits

Good morning! I hope that you had a great Mother's Day and that you got to celebrate with your mom if you are not one and with your children if you have been blessed with motherhood.

It was a very busy weekend for me. On Saturday I took my daughter to a birthday party and then we had friends over for dinner with their two girls (aged 3 and 6). I don't usually dress up when we invite friends over but this girlfriend is always dressed up to the nine, so I made an effort and wore my Calypso dress that you have already seen here. Since refraining from shopping is a lost cause, this year my pledge is to wear everything that I buy with a target of 0 clothes with tags on at the end of the season (I am proud to say that I am almost on track).
This Calypso dress is the perfect dress for hosting a dinner party, it is very comfortable to wear and it won't distract you from entertaining your guests. I simply accessorized it with a sparkly bracelet. This bracelet looks like the real thing but it is a $10 Forever21 (I have to thank Gigi who had blogged about it back in the day):

We had really a good time (including my daughter, who collapsed around 10 after playing dress up all the evening with my friend's girls. They were so, so cute, the three of them).

The day after was Mother's Day and even if I didn't get to eat breakfast in bed as many of you did (I just can't delegate coffee-making), I had a very relaxing day. Now, I had already showed you what I was planning to wear (my lady lace popover and my new factory pencil skirt) but UPS screwed up my Mother's Day outfit. Long story made short, my lady lace had a flawn (a problem with the stitching around the neckline) and because the thing wasn't cheap, even with the 30% off, I decided that I wouldn't suck it up and on Thursday morning I took it back to my store where they took good care of it and reordered one for the same price and with free overnight shipping to boot so that I would get it in time to wear it on Sunday. The package was out for delivery on Friday so I was sure that my outfit was saved but for some reasons UPS missed me (ie they didn't deliver it and rescheduled for today. Thank you very much UPS, today is two days too late!) By the way, this is the second time that they miss an overnight shipping delivery, which makes me think that they can't make it in one day as a general rule.

In any case the result of the ordeal was that I had to come up with another outfit for Mother's Day brunch. Luckily it was very hot yesterday so I would have probably been sweating in my merino popover. I had my mind set on wearing a pencil skirt and my summer pencil skirt choices are very limited (I have three including the new one). In the end I picked the flower pastiche one and paired it with the very cheerful retro shell in popsicole pink (that I hadn't the occasion to wear yet since I bought it on the JCA when it was still fp online and in stores):

The shoes here are the Cate slingbacks, because this pencil skirt is loooong so definitively looks better worn with heels. But then I came to my senses and realized that heels weren't a viable choice for the day (that involved walking ten blocks to the restaurant and back, at least), so I changed them for a pair of flats and topped the outfit with a Jackie in champagne:

My daughter and husband had a little surprise for me. My daughter had drawn a beautiful Mother's Day card for me:

and they had framed a picture of the two of us to add to our wall of frames in the dining room.
Here we are outside the restaurant, after lunch (as you can see it was hot enough to wear the retro shell alone). BTW, if you watch the Real Housewifes of NYC, this is the French spot where Sonia and LuAnn had dinner with Brian (the painter) and LuAnn's boyfriend (whose name escapes me right now) a few episodes ago (it is my husband's favorite restaurant in the neighborhood and they have a great terrace):

As I told you I have a very busy week ahead so unless I have something very timely to let you know I will probably disappear for a few days and be back at the beginning of next week with plenty of pictures.
Have a nice week!

More May New Arrivals Try-Ons

First, a big THANK YOU to Dinster of Shopping on the Fly who awarded me with a "Versatile blogger" award. Dinster's blog has quickly become one of my favorite reads, in particular I love her writing style and sense of humor and I feel like we have the same cultural references even if we grew up in different continents. Plus, our daughters share the same name, so there must be some sort of connection between us. Check out her blog if you haven't yet, fun guaranteed!

Now I should return the favor and pick another 15 bloggers but my blog reading list is very short and she has already picked many of those that I consider my favorite bloggers (Gigi's, DaniBP, shopwithm). I will only add two to the list:
Dina from My Superfluities that you all know probably (she is such a sweetheart) and Summerilla from Sum Sunshine who took a break from blogging a while ago but is now back and more stylish then ever (and she's getting married!)
I will tell you seven things that you don't know about me the next time (I have to think about it!)

Today I wanted to share with you a few fitting room pics that I took in different trips to the B&M in the last two-three weeks. I have been suffering a little bit from try-on fatigue so each time that I went into a store I only tried an item or two (as of late I'm going in mainly for the super-crazy deals in the sale section). But now I have enough pics for a post so here you go.

The first (and oldest) item that I tried on is the Linen Tessa top which is a linen version of the Tulip cami. This top is beautiful and very summery. Also, the construction is simpler than the Tulip cami (it doesn't have the ruffles or panels of fabric on the front so it doesn't flare out like the Tulip) and should be more flattering on more body types. However it is a little bit more low-cut than the Tulip IMO, as you can see (my Tulip doesn't show the cleavage). This is the 0 in the modern red colorway:

On another trip I tried the Seersucker pencil skirt. As you should know by now, this skirt has an exposed zipper in the back. I thought that I had taken a picture of the zipper but I didn't. In any case it is set on a white gros-grain and it goes well with the style of the skirt IMO (it didn't bother me at all). This is a 0, fits TTS:

The top that I am wearing in these pics is the Ink-dip popover in african violet. Looooved it (especially in this color). It fits on the small side, this is a 0 and it was a little bit short (unfortunately I had tucked it in so you can't see but I definitively thought that it was a little bit short, even if not too much):

Another new arrival that I was curious about (even if I don't need it in any way) is the Eyelet derby dress in the beautiful jade color. This one didn't work on me at all (I can't pinpoint exactly what doesn't work, maybe the length?) This is a 0, fits small IMO:

The next is the Beatrice blouse in the muslin color. I like this color best but I don't like that it is so sheer than you can see the straps of my bra and everything that is going on with the cami (it looks messy). This is a 0 and I preferred the fit of the 2 actually (the 0 was pulling a little bit on the chest):

By the way, I looked up the fabric tag because there was some confusion about this being poly and not silk as advertised. The shell is 100% silk and the cami that is attached to it is 100% poly (go figure).

The next one was a surpris love, the Summer plaid sidewalk shorts. I don't need any "city" short but these are lovely (I guess that the are too short for work attire but they look polished). Thy fit TTS, this is a 0:

The last one is the Perfect shirt in suckered gingham in a light blue color not available online. As I mentionned yesterday I wanted another suckered gingham shirt, in this particular color, so I was happy to see that it was offered in store. You can compare the fit to the factory one that I ended up buying (see my yesterday post). This one is numerically sized, so it is more "perfectly" sized. But other than that, really there is no difference between the two IMO. This is a 0 (I am wearing it with the No.2 pencil skirt in deep cobalt, which is a quite dull color IRL (even if not as dull as in these pics, my camera has some issues in picking up bright colors). The skirt in a 0 was too long on me (I would need a Petite in this one) and the overall look is very "secretary going to the copy machine" (not a good look on me), I know:

That's it for today. Did you see something that is on your wishlist?

I hope that I will be able to do another post this week, but I am going to be very busy next week. My best friend is visiting from Italy and at the end of the week my daughter turns 4, so I will also be busy with the last party planning details. In the meanwhile I want to wish a great Mother's Day to all the mom's out there (in case I disappear)!

A Lady Lace Popover and Two Factory Items

Good morning! First, I noticed that I have a few new followers so I wanted to welcome them to the blog and also thank all the "old" followers that are still reading this blog.

Back to business, yesterday I received an order that I placed last week during the 30% off promo and because in that order I had two factory items that don't get many reviews, I thought that I would do a post about them.
The two items are the Factory double-serge pencil skirt (tem # 37415) in golden mustard and the Factory perfect shirt in suckered gingham (in the bright hydrangea color). The other items in my order were the lady lace popover in heather grey and the gingham Sonoma shorts and will also see those.

I was mostly curious about the pencil skirt. I had a pencil skirt craving but didn't want to spend $100 on one of the pencil skirts currently available on the main website so I settled for this factory version of the double-serge (that costed me half the price). What decided me was this "golden mustard" color that looked on my monitor as a gorgeous warm yellow (as opposed to the citrony yellow of the No. 2 pencil skirt, that is not for me).
The color didn't disappoint in real life. It is a very sunny and warm yellow, similar to the "honey" color, perfect for summer (not at all mustard-y IMO). The 0 fits well but it is a style with darts and the darts create sort of a pouch on my tummy (also the fabric is a little bit textured, like the double serge from 2009, and lighter than the no. 2, so it wrinkles much easier as you can see in the pics). I prefer the straight version without darts, but I think that for the price I am going to keep it because the color is really unique. This is a 0 and it is almost knee-lenght on me (I am wearing it with the lady lace popover in a XS. That's actually the outfit that I had planned to wear for Mother's Day, weather permitting):

Here is with the suckered gingham skirt tucked in so you can see the construction of the skirt. As you can see if you zoom on the third picture, it has the two seamings that run in the back like last year double serge (I know that this was a deal-breaker for some):

Now, re. the suckered gingham shirt, I saw (and tried) the one that is currently in the stores and retails for $72 (I mean this one that comes in more colors in stores) and the fabric of this one is virtually the same. But the fit is much more relaxed/oversized as you can see (IT IS NOT the perfect shirt fit). The sleeves in particular are super-long on me (I ordered a XS):

However, since I am planning to wear it in a very relaxed/casual way (with sleeves rolled up and jeans/white pants), I am going to keep it because I paid only $35 and I know that the other one will take forever to go on sale. And I NEED another suckered gingham shirt ;-).
When tucked in it is really cute. Here I am clearly having "gingham overdose" (but I kind of like it):

The Sonoma shorts were a little bit of a gamble. I ordered a size 0 knowing that the 2 would fit better as I had tried them in store. The 2 was sold-out but I wanted to take advantage of the 30% off and because final sale is temporarely in a limbo I decided to try out the 0. They aren't too small and if I can't find a 2 for an even exchange I think I will be fine with them, especially in the summer with a tan.

All in all I am happy with this order and the fact that there was no final sale was a huge plus.
What do you think? Should I return something in your opinion? Any question let me know.

Weekend Outfits (Another Kind of Kate Blue)

Good morning! Wow, what a weekend in terms of news. First the fairy-taily Royal Wedding and then Osama. It was kind of fortunate that the news of Osama Bin Laden's death arrived at the end of the weekend when the excitement for the wedding had already winded down a little bit so that it didn't upstage Will and Kate. I think that everybody felt a little bit English during the wedding and that would haven't been possible if the Osama news had come earlier because it is such an emotional moment for the American nation (but seriously, why all that suspence before President Obama's speech? I thought we were going to war with Iran at the best or that an alien spacecraft had landed on Central Park).

In any case the Royal wedding mania translated here in my wearing an outfit and choosing a nail polish that were sort or a tribute to Kate Middleton (pre-Duchess of Cambridge). We also took our daughter to a princess birthday party yesterday (my daughter was dressed up as Cinderella and the birthday girl was Aurora from Sleeping beauty), which was a nice way to wrap up a weekend that had been all about Royalties.

This is the outfit that I wore on Friday. The dress is a silk Calypso dress in a gorgeous shade of blue (similar to the shade of Kate's engagement dress). I bought it in the winter but before the crazy Calypso sales when you could get it for $25 (I paid around $55 I think). If it popbacks (it's called the "Gurka dress") I really reccomend it, I had tons of compliments on it. But, caveat: it is VERY short (almost too short on ME) and it is probably the reason why it lingered in the sale section for so long. Other than that it is really well made, especially the incorporated belt (so much better than a drawstring, once that you get the hang of it):

I wore it outside with my Lighthouse cardigan (which, by the way is $19.99 in stores!):

Yesterday at the birthday party I wore the Carly ruffled dress from last year, paired with a Jacky cardigan in dark charcoal (donated by a friend) and a BR tassel necklace:

OK, let's talk about the BR necklace. The price that they asked for this necklace ($39.50) is CRAZY. I almost ordered it with a 30% off but then I happened to see it in store and I thought that it was a joke. It is much smaller than I thought (for the price I was expecting something bigger) and flimsy. I ended up adding it to my cart as a ride-along when I placed an order for my daughter last week (love that you combine Gap and BR in the same order and get free shipping on any order totalling more than $50) and I am happy with the price that I paid ($9), but seriously I think it is worth $3 or $4 (it appears to be sold-out on the website right now but I think you can still find it in stores). And you thought that Jcrew jewelry was overpriced!

Back to Kate, when I went for a pedi on Friday (wearing the Calypso dress) I was immediately drawn to a Essie polish called "Aruba blue". I am a nail polish dummy, so don't ask me if this is new or which collection is part of. All I know is that I had to take a bottle with me for future summer pedicures (that day I went with a true red because I had planned to wear a pair of black peep-toes with a black polka-dots dress to go out for dinner on Saturday night and I needed something more classic). I also have a pair of TB Thora sandals that ae exactly this shade of blue (I apologize fo the somehow blurred pics, my camera can't focus very well):

The next time I will show you the polka dots dress (I forgot to take pictures).

How did you celebrate the Will ad Kate's wedding?
On another note, I have now enough fitting room pictures to do another "new arrivals" post. Stay tuned!