The Shopping Diaries (4th of July Special): TJ Maxx, Nordstrom Rack, J. Crew, GUESS, Bath & Body Works

Hey all!

It has been about six months since I've last posted anything on this blog ><. I know I'm such a terrible blogger but I hadn't been inspired for some reason. I don't know. I feel like I'm going through this odd phase of not really knowing what I want or what I want to do in life, even though I enjoy fashion. I am attempting to get an online associate's degree in fashion merchandising from SNHU, so hopefully by taking these courses, I'll feel something that'll help shine a light on the path I want to take :). There are other personal reasons that have been plaguing me, but let's not get into that.

I must say that I have to give myself a pat on the back for not shopping in over a month. I would've liked to have extended that but the sales were absolutely RIDICULOUSLY good for the weekend holiday. The first two items were bought by my mom, but the rest was bought by me. Let's get into it! 

White Laser Cut Cover-Up: This was something my mom saw and thought was super cute (hence the reason why she bought it for me). To be honest, I don't go to the beach and I haven't swam in at least 5-6 years. This is supposed to be used as a cover up for your swimsuit, but when I tried it on, I thought I could still wear it with some leggings or a nude slip. I think this is a great, airy summery dress, especially for Hawaii weather. The cutouts are really delicate and feminine, which is something that I usually don't gravitate towards, or at least right now. It was originally $40 and TJ Maxx listed it as $24.99. The brand is Solitaire Swim.

Palm Island Shea Butter Soap: Once again, my mom found this and saw that there were two, so she got me one ^^b. The reason why she got these soaps was because the scent was freaking amazing! The scent is Grapefruit Ginger and while I don't like to eat grapefruit, it works as a soap. When I smell this soap, I think of a luxury tropical spa, a perfect setting for Hawaii I think! This was originally $10 and listed price was $4.99.

Embroidered Black Bralette (TOPSHOP): Nordstrom Rack was having their Clear the Rack sale, which was amazing because you got an extra 25% off of red-mark clearance items. So of course I had to check out the long lines of sales racks. Because I'm such a big fan of Topshop, I'm always subconsciously searching for their items whenever I'm here. Was I ever so surprised to find this bralette AND in a size 2! I definitely remember this from last year, but hey I have no problem getting it more than a year later for $11 (say wuuuttttt?!?!?). Yes, you read that correctly! This was originally $40, then was on clearance for $14.97, and with the extra 25% reduction, it was $11.34. I couldn't pass up this great deal hehe!

Hazy Floral Print Top (TOPSHOP): This was another amazing find that I almost missed. I had just gone down one side of the rack and thought that was it, but then quickly realized I had another section to browse and that's where I found this top. There was a sheer lavender floral peplum top that I was tempted to purchase too, but as a size 4, it was a little flowy and loose, which I wouldn't have minded, but I got a second opinion. That's all right because to be honest I felt more strongly about this top rather than the other. This was a size 4 and this too was much more flowy but it wasn't as loose. Another reason why I couldn't pass this up because it was exactly the same price as the bralette. This was originally $44, reduced to $14.97, then extra reduction to $11.43!

Black Straw Hat (J. Crew): I've been on the look out for a chic black summer hat to protect my face from the harmful sun rays. J. Crew was having an amazing sale. I usually don't go into this store because it's quite pricey, but they had an extra 50% off on their sale items. I must say there were a lot of cute items that I would've loved to take home with me, but I was able to resist. Plus, I was with my mom and she's a real Debbie Downer lol. Anyways, this hat was on sale for $24.99 (orig. $34.50), so this meant I only paid $13.40 tax included for this hat! I was incredibly happy and now I own something from J. Brand hehe :P

HW Bleached Cutoffs (GUESS): I went into Guess the previous week and my eyes immediately zoomed to this pair of shorts. I just really loved the bleached effect and I already knew that Guess high-waist shorts were the perfect pair of sexy-cute without being desperate if that makes any sense. Plus, they covered the bum, which is the most important part! I hadn't purchased it then, but I did end up getting it! I consider these mid high-waist because you can still see the belly-button, so I need to pair it with some mid-length crop tops to balance it out since I don't like showing a thick band of stomach. If it's just a sliver, then that's fine for me :).

Simple White Wallflower Burner Plug (B&BW): My last stop was at B&BW because I needed another wallflower plug since mine had burned out. I think that's the one annoying thing about these things is that they easily burn out after using 4-5 wallflowers. That's about how long mine lasted. I don't mind repurchasing these because I think it's a better way to scent your room instead of using candles (tho now I have a butt-ton of candles that I still need to burn lol). I don't mind burning candles every now and then, but having to not worry about fire hazards is really convenient. I was tempted to buy the cute plugs with the sailboat or koi, which were $8.50, but I figured if these don't have major longevity, there's really no point. I love simple white items so this was perfect. I had a 20% off coupon off one regular priced item that my mall was having for the weekend, so I applied this to my purchase. The simple plugs are about $4.50, so I ended spending $3.60.

Here ends the shopping haul for the weekend. This was an eventful 4th of July weekend if I do say so myself. I went to the driving range for a bit and spent the rest of the day in Kailua to wait for the fireworks display, which was really lovely. You can catch a video clip of the fireworks if you click onto my instagram. Then the next day was shopping with my mom. The day after that, I saw How To Train Your Dragon 2 with my dad. While I wasn't into the first movie (actually I never make it past 10 minutes), I thought this was really good. There were some heart wrenching parts that I wasn't expecting, although for the first half hour or so, I kept on thinking how did Hiccup lose his foot since I never finished the first movie lol. But overall, great movie.

I do hope to continue blogging. I had prepared some other pictures for future posts, but never got around to it. I'm hoping now that I'll be inspired to post more. And if I'm feeling really adventurous, I may post in my cooking section if this one recipe that I'm going to attempt to try works out! I won't say what to keep it a surprise, but if it fails, I'll mention it in a future post :P

Thanks for reading!

Lauren

The Shopping Diaries: Forever 21 Waikiki

Hey all! Welcome back to another addition of the Shopping Diaries. Funny thing is that I had been thinking of trying to make it a resolution of mine to not shop for clothing before going to Vegas in April (I've got tickets booked, so it's official!!! XD), but obviously I break my resolution within hours -_-. If anything, I really like the pieces I picked out hehe! As if that's enough of a justification.

After I had gone to F21, I always make a trip to Brandy Melville because I might as well if I'm paying for parking. I really fell in love with this gorgeous cranberry long knit cardigan that I really wanted to buy, but the $55 price tag was stopping me from getting it. Perhaps if I had gone to Brandy first, I probably would've gotten it. But ugh, it was really hard to part ways with it, especially since I feel red hues aren't really me but this cardigan really worked with it. If it's still there the next time, I think I will get it so that I can use fate as an excuse lol.

Sorry for going off on a long tangent and let's get to my picks from F21!

Flowy Beige-Yellow Specked Top: I'm not sure if you can see the yellow speckles throughout the top, but it's there! Anyways, I first spotted this on a mannequin and it was paired with some grey lounge-inspired pants and I totally dug the look. I couldn't find the pants, but I found the top. It has the slightest bit of detail to still pass as a basic and what I love about basic tops is that you can pair it was a statement necklace. This was $15.90 and an XS so I figured I should get it :P.

Maroon and Black Striped Crop Top: I've been looking for more crop tops to play with and I thought this would be a good one to add to the collection. It's not ridiculously short or tight, which I really like, but I'm still not sure if I want to keep this one. I'm like 60-40 on returning this top. Maybe it's because of the red, which I seem to have a problem with the color lol. The quality is really good in my opinion and it was only $10.80. So we'll see...any opinions?

Gold Geometric Bib Necklace: Now I've been dying to get my hands on a piece like this but I had never found the right one. I love the simplicity yet it really draws the eye. I think this would look fantastic with any collared top or a low scooped top so that it rests nicely on your decolletage. And it's not bad for $6.80!

Gold Charmed Chain: I wanted to get more gold chained inspired necklaces and I found this one! I'm a sucker for anything that is remotely European inspired, especially if reminds me of the U.K. I like the mix of fleur-de-lis charms and Victorian-esque coins. Once again, it'll be great to pair with a basic top, like the one from above, or with collared shirt.

And that's it folks! I'm still on the fence with the crop top, but hopefully I can make up my mind by Saturday since I usually go out on those days. I might take it along with me and if I find something different, I can do an exchange. But hmmm...usually if one is not sure about a top, it's best to return it right? If you don't seem to like it, you don't really need it? Advice please!

Thanks for reading!

-LAUREN

A New Year, A New Effort...starting with 福袋 (fukubukuro) ２０１４ feat. Spiral Girl

It has been such a long time since I uploaded a post on my blog. Looking at my post list, my last post was at the end of September. I don't really know what happened that made me lose interest in posting...actually it may have been due to my obsession with the Game of Thrones series and I abandoned everything to read the books lol. I'm reading the fifth book called A Dance With Dragons and interestingly enough, I'm having a difficult time getting through the book. 

Anyways, I'm trying to get back into blogging again so I'm therefore making it  resolution of mine to do so. And what better way to start of the new year with a fukubukuro purchase! I was incredibly happy that I was FINALLY able to snag a Spiral Girl bag since I failed to get one last year. This is what the bag looked like:

It was a pretty huge bag! What's also great is that it's a good reusable bag with a zipper on top. This was the $50 bag that had a value of $200, which is absolutely wonderful. I ended up adding the original prices of everything in the bag and it came out to more than $300! Maybe next year I'll try for the $100 one hehe. To be honest, I thought this bag was worth it because of the great stuff that they put in here and I liked 90% of it. So here are the items!

Striped Neon and Heather Grey Peplum (MIIA): Yes, I'm kind of over the peplum trend, but honestly, peplum shapes look flattering on me. I really like this one because it's not so form fitting. It reminds me of this other peplum that I have from Free People and I kind of prefer this style over the form fitting style. I had seen this on the rack during early summer (?) and I had really liked it but I wasn't about to pay $49 at regular price. In the end, it still found its way back to me :).

Light Grey Shift Dress: Looking at it in the bag, I wasn't sure if I would like it. I'm not a major dress person at all since I prefer separates. But after putting the dress on and adding some pieces from my closet, I felt much more comfortable and made it more appealing to my eye. I would love to show you all how I would style this dress. Perhaps I can do a lookbook? The material is quite thin, which makes it quite sheer. I need to find a slip that will go well with this dress before I wear it out!

Hot Pink Cami Dress (Spiral Girl): This is probably my least favorite piece because it's definitely not my style of dress at all. What I'm thinking of doing is cutting it into a top so that it could be used for layering as an under piece to something or other. Or I might give it away lol.

Light Grey Dolman Top (muse muse): I may or may not have seen this when this was on the rack, but when I tried this on at home, I fell in love with it. I've always appreciated the draping effect of dolman cut tops on me, so to add this to my closet was an absolute delight! I love the neutral color, which will definitely make it flexible piece. The material is a little heavier than usual, but the feel of it is luxurious.

Lace Detailed Dress (muse muse): This was definitely an iffy piece to me while I was browsing through my bag. I thought it was going to be one of those boxy dresses that would look way too big on me. I ended up loving it a lot. It kind of had this Free People boho feel to it, which I like a lot. If you look carefully, a slip was included in my bag as well, but it seemed to be sold as a separate piece. The slip alone was $39 and the dress was $89. I got really lucky because the dress was really sheer and the color of the slip blends in nicely with the dress. I don't know if the people who put the bag together put these two pieces together on purpose, but if not, I'm super lucky!

Floral Leggings (Royal Party): I don't have leggings of this sort in my collection, so it's nice to have one handy for the upcoming spring season. To be honest, I've been really boring with my legging collection and picking out monochromatic patterns or just basic black. Hopefully, this will inspire me to add a bit more color to my life.

Neon Yellow Tights (Royal Party): And if that doesn't work, I'm pretty sure these tights will do it! I need to figure out a coordinate where I can wear these tights without it standing out so much. I'll probably need to research some inspiration for this piece ;)

Fabric Chandelier Earrings (Spiral Girl): Now these I'll definitely have to give or sell because I don't have pierced ears nor do I plan on piercing my ears. I wish I had gotten a necklace, but I'm not complaining with all the other awesome stuff that I got!

And that's the end! I'm absolutely ecstatic with this bag since it was quite worth it despite not liking one or two things. I'm already looking forward to next year's batch. I wish we could have semi-annual fukubukuro events hehe!

Thanks for reading!
-LAUREN