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Monday, July 7, 2014

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