The Shopping Diaries: Fighting Eel

Hi all! I suppose this is more of a collective haul from one of my favorite boutiques here on the Islands. I've mentioned them in a few of my previous hauls, but this is, of course, Fighting Eel. I really like the easy, breezy, beachy resort-like design that is very versatile for both day and night. I think many of their pieces would fit nicely into any girl's closet, regardless of their personal style. The quality of the clothes are always on point, and as long as you follow washing instructions, these pieces will continue to look great! And, they are a local boutique too, which makes me happy to be supporting local designers in Hawaii :)

The pieces that I'm showing you today have been from recent purchases. I try to wait for some sort of sale before purchasing hehe, but it's all worth it!

Slate Grey Tie-Dye Cold Shoulder Top (Ava Sky): I got this top at their Downtown location. I think this is my favorite tie-dye color out of all the others that they made with this collection. This top has long billowy sleeves, kind of dolman-like, that has a cut-out which exposes the shoulders. I don't exactly remember what sale I got this from, but I think it was about 25-30% off. I was deciding between this top and another top in the same pattern, but the sleeves had this nice caged detail along the length. I found this top to be more flattering on me, which was my decision for choosing this! How I style this piece is really simple: I just pair it with my light-blue wash Leigh denim from Topshop and my faded black Lita boots from Jeffrey Campbell. Perhaps I should make a lookbook as well with these pieces?

Dark Smoke Tie-Dye Pant Porto (Ava Sky): I remembered exactly what these pants were called because the first time I saw them on IG, I was determined to get them someday! I also got this at the Downtown location at the same sale as the top above. I've been dying to get into the laid-back pant trend because while I think denim is really comfortable, sometimes you just want to wear pants that makes you feel more at ease. I would describe these pants as easy-lux because you feel luxurious without trying too hard. These pants are really versatile when creating an ensemble. My go-to look with this is my white crop tank from Topshop, a thin black cardigan from H&M, and my cut-out buckle boots from 2020 ave.

Purple Stalactite Pendant Necklace (Katrina Cordova): I love Fighting Eel's taste in jewelry. I think they pick out really nice pieces from different local vendors. My boyfriend was asking me what I wanted for Christmas, and nothing came immediately to mind, but I did remember seeing on IG that that day was the last day for 25% off of all jewelry. I decided I wanted to check it out because I had been admiring many of the pieces from this designer. I immediately took to this one because of the pretty purple color. I was debating between this one and another one on a much longer chain because the other had a larger piece of the stalactite and the purple was more dominant. In the end, I chose to go with the more delicate version because I thought it would be more versatile to wear, especially with a shorter chain.

Half Sleeve White Top (Allison Izu): My boyfriend also gifted me this top as well! After picking out the necklace, I browsed around the store to see what was new and I saw this top. Anything white always catches my eye. From the nice drape at the ends to the mesh strip down the middle on both the front and back, this is a great example of easy-lux. The designer is also a local designer who specializes in petite women like me hehe. The smallest size at the Waikiki location available was a Small. The fit was really good, but I wondered whether an XS would fit even better. I was able to try on an XS at the Kailua location a few weeks later, but I ended up keeping the Small because I thought it looked better even though the XS was technically a better fit. I wore this on Sunday with my Dark Smoke Tie-Dye pants, a long gold chain necklace with a triangular pendant from PacSun, and my 2020 ave boots.

Sky Blue Tie-Dye Kimono (Ava Sky): The great thing about signing up with FE's email list is that you receive many great one-day deals. This was one of them! First, they had 30% off the entire store on Dec. 22nd, then 40% off the entire store on Dec. 23rd, then 50% off of Ava Sky items. I missed the first two days (shucks!), but I took advantage of the last sale because that was freaking good! I had one of those credit card gift cards for Christmas (to my defense, I didn't know it was an Xmas gift until I opened it >_>) and I thought this'd be a great opportunity to get the most out of it. After realizing I already had two versions of this dye print, I chose this sky blue one in kimono form. The material is fantastic as always (it's made out of 100% Tencel) and the sleeves and length don't completely drown me. I plan to wear this with the next top listed with some faded high-waisted skinnies from H&M ^^b. Oh yeah, this was already on sale for $64 and with the 50% off discount, it came out to $32 and my gift card was for $30 so I only paid $2 :P.

White Tank w/ Mesh Side-Panels (Allison Izu): To kill some time before my grandpa's funeral, my mom and I had lunch at Mei Sum in Downtown Honolulu and we ended up walking around. Not many shops were open on Sunday, but I knew FE was open hehe. They were having an extra 30% off of reduced prices. Of course, I checked out their sale items and I found the tank version of the top I got for Christmas. This is an XS and despite how the XS fitted for the half-sleeve top, this one had a much more looser fit. I was surprised that my mom offered to buy this for me lol but I wasn't about to turn her down :P. This was originally $60, the sale price was $50, and with the extra 30% off, it came out to $30 :). I would simply style this with a pair of white jeans since I'm a sucker for an all-white ensemble and for a pop of color, I'd use the kimono from above and maybe my nude wedge sandals from ALDO.

I hope you all enjoyed my selections from Fighting Eel. If you live in Hawaii, please support our local designers and if you don't live on the Islands, they do have shipping options! Also, you may find some of their pieces at other boutiques on the Mainland. Here is a list of their sites:

Fighting Eel: http://www.fightingeel.com/
Ava Sky: http://www.avaskyhawaii.com/
Katrina Cordova: http://katrinacordovadesigns.com/site/Main.html

I hope everyone has a wonderful day and see you next time!

- Lauren

The Shopping Diaries (Fukubukuro 福袋 2015): Spiral Girl

Hi all!

I come to you with a special Fukubukuro post. Translated as "lucky bag," this is a traditional Japanese event where on the first day of January, stores put their products in a bag and have different denominations such as $50 or $100. The products inside are at least double the worth of the price you pay (i.e $50 = $100+ value). The catch is that the buyer doesn't know the contents of the bag until after the purchase. Most people are like, "why would you pay a good amount of money for something you don't know what you're getting and may not like in the end?" Well, I think that's the excitement of the tradition: not knowing what you're getting! Plus, even if you don't care for some of the items, they can end up as gifts for another occasion :).

Living in Hawaii, we are exposed to many different traditions and cultures. We are really lucky to be able to experience them as well, which is why we get to have Fukubukuro! They only did Fukubukuro at Ala Moana, our biggest mall on Oahu, and the Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center in Waikiki. Mind you, not all stores participate, but there's always a list of stores posted a few weeks beforehand. Many high-end stores like to participate, such as Gucci and Neiman Marcus. I was only able to get the Spiral Girl bag, which I'm happy about, but I did want to try to get my hands on a different bag like Michael Kors or Kate Spade, but the lines were ridiculously long. Nevertheless, I think Spiral Girl always does great bags (they are a Japanese brand to begin with!) and I usually like most of the things that I get. They only had $50 bags this year. Last year, they had options because I had gotten a $100 bag. To see what I got last year, you can click here!

Anyways, let's get into what I got!

Fake Swoosh (Wesley): This was a kind of interesting one. The shirt has an athletic style to it, which suits the emblem. It is a heavier feeling cotton top. I'm not sure how I would wear this one...probably with just some black skinny jeans and perhaps a patterned throw-over of some sort, preferably floral. I would like to attempt to do a look-book with these pieces. If I'm able to coordinate these pieces well enough, I'll definitely post!

Black Sheer Semi-Overlay White Tank: When I first saw this piece, it immediately made me think of one of my friends in Japan! I felt like this was her style or I've seen her wear something similar before hehe. I could always pair this with denim, which is my go-to basically every day, but I'd like to try something different. I have a few ideas that I would like to try out with this later on.

Off-Shoulder Sweet Dress: My initial reaction when I see dresses is a slight cringe. Dresses have never really been my thing. It's not that I hate them, but I always prefer separates. I did try this on and it did look cute. I have to be in a bit of a girly mood to wear it though hehe. I would simply pair this with black opaque tights and my platform MJ from Vince Camuto. Just simple and sweet.

Sleeve-tie Tee w/ Neon Green Inset: I didn't know that I had to tie the top ends of the sleeve until I tried it on! Taking it out of the package, I thought it was some sort of weird 3/4 long sleeve lol. The great thing about a lot of Japanese clothing is that it comes with something to wear underneath because of their conservative culture. To be honest, this actually became my favorite piece from this bag. I have the perfect coordinate in mind too for it. It utilizes a pair of shorts that I bought last year in April, but have never worn ><. But hey, I found something to match it now!

Blue Spaghetti Bodycon: This was definitely not my favorite because I would never wear a bodycon dress. I don't think I have the body for it, and that's fine by me lol. If you see my previous Fukubukuro post, I received the exact same dress, but in a bright salmon color. I think I ended up selling that at Plato's Closet or donating it. I really have no use for this unfortunately :(. 

Overall, I think it was a great Fukubukuro! 4/5 is not a bad score and the value was marked at $150+, so it doesn't make me feel bad at all. I wish we had a summer Fukubukuro as well like in Japan. Perhaps with the success and excitement from this year, it might catch on as a semi-annual event.

Thank you for reading and see you in the next post!

- Lauren

The Shopping Diaries: Black Friday 2014

Hi all!

I know this is waaaaay overdue for a Black Friday haul post, but hey, better late than never right? :)

I'd say that this past Black Friday was really enjoyable because I felt that the sales were really good this year. I know some people say otherwise, but as an annual partaker of the tradition, I do believe the sales at the stores that I went to were fantastic. So here are some of my finds!

Victoria by Victoria's Secret: Honestly, I have way too many bottles of perfume, BUT, it's hard to leave without taking advantage of the 50% off deal. Plus, I'm a big fan of VS perfumes because I think they do them very well and they have a good range of scents. I think I have the body spray for this one from a previous purchase, but I decided to go with the perfume because I really like the scent. The description says that it has "Red berries, Victoria Rose, and Creme Brulee," and I think it's the red berries note that gives it that citric tang that I like. I got this for $25 for the 1.7 fl. oz.

Tocca Handcream/Rollerball set and Tarte mini set: For the second year in a row, I failed to get my hands on the Philosophy facial wash T-T. At least I was able to get my hands on the other two things that I was interested in! I became a fan of Tocca scents from the previous year's $10 set. I was happy that this one included two different scents that are both lovely. The two scents are Giulietta and Stella. I think I favor Stella over Giulietta, but as I said, they are both lovely! As for the Tarte set, I've always wanted to try one of their amazonian clay 12-hour blushes and I thought this was a good opportunity to try it out. Plus, I get to try their mascara and lip gloss of which I like both!

Navy Blue Trousers (GAP): This was one of my steals of the day. I had reminded myself that I've been on the hunt for trousers that hit at the ankle and were well formed to my legs. I'm 5' 1'' so it's really hard to find trousers that fit me well. Gap was having 50% off the entire store, and I had remembered that the Ultra Slim Crop Pants in petite form fit me really well, but unfortunately, they didn't carry that size in-store, which is really odd for a store in Hawaii where there are a lot of Asians lol. Anyways, that style is available online (which also had the 50% off deal), so I ordered myself a pair in black. I decided to give the sales rack a go since I was there already and came across this pant. This is the Slim Crop in OOR and I thought why not try it on. I was surprised that the fit wasn't that bad! The length was quite good for regular instead of petite and, due to the material, the fit was good as well. This was originally $54.95 and the sale price was $29.95, then with the extra 50% off, I only paid $15!

Mid-Crop Black and White Striped T-shirt (Spiral Girl): I haven't really been shopping at this store as much, but they had a whole bunch of sales and I decided to pop in for a bit. I was immediately attracted to this because of the monochrome and the simplicity of it. I like these types of boxy mid-crop tops and I was glad that I was finally able to find a style that I liked. I had been debating about getting something similar at Brandy Melville, but I like something that has more of a drape rather than the form-fitting style that a lot of crop tops have. I think I got this for $20? I think the regular price was $29.99.

Mung Bean face mask, et. al. (The Face Shop): By the time I got to the Face Shop in Ward Center, they had 20% off the entire store (earlier hours had 30% and 25% off). I originally went in there for a gift for someone and I decided to get a few things for myself ;). Not pictured was a black charcoal face wash that I really enjoy using with my konnyaku sponge. I really like any cleansing product for the face that has black charcoal because your skin comes out feeling really nice and clean without it feeling super dry. Also, I got this mung bean face mask, which is great for purifying pores. Of course, whenever you go to any Korean skincare store, you always leave with some samples!

Cedar Street Large Monday in Black (Kate Spade): This was a Christmas gift from my mom to me, but I included this in the post because of the good Black Friday deal! It was 25% off the entire store, and while I'm not too familiar with the sale patterns at Kate Spade, it seems like these bags don't really go on sale as these are one of their most popular bags and it's in black. I've been loving small crossbody bags, and I'm happy to have found a classic bag in black in a flexible style. This bag is great for daytime shopping or for a classy night out. The slimness of the bag doesn't allow for the user to stuff all kinds of junk inside and limits you to the essentials, which is great weight-wise!

Monochrome Graphic by Joe's (Nordstrom Rack): I had seen this a few weeks back and I was immediately attracted to it as you can probably tell why hehe. It was on the clearance rack for $84 I think, and I really didn't want to spend that much despite it being on clearance. But, I came here the day after Black Friday and it was still there! And the clearance sections had an extra 25% or 30% off, so I was like hmm I'll try it on for kicks. The fit was fantastic, especially the length, so that left me feeling like ugh, it's still $60 but then again, it's Joe's Jeans and I know they fit incredibly well. Nevertheless, I don't regret getting them!

High-Waisted Black (Nordstrom Rack): I happened to find this in the clearance rack as well. I had been keeping an eye out for high-waisted black denim and I was excited to have found these. I love the vertical zipper detail and that it is a proper high-waist fit. This turned out to be only $13 after the extra percentage off the lowest price!

Thank you for reading this post! I always enjoy Black Friday shopping. I can't believe this is the sixth year that I've done this. It's such a fun experience and I look forward to this year's as well.

Happy New Year's everyone!

- Lauren

Feeling a bit lost

Hey! I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Year's. I feel awful that I fail to post on this blog even though I have about 4 posts in draft form, most of them being hauls from Black Friday and other instances. I believe I said this last year in the beginning of January that I would pay more attention to this blog, but that obviously didn't happen. Once again, I hope to get inspired and post more!

These past few months have been really difficult for me. My grandpa, my last surviving grandparent, passed away on December 4th and it's been extremely difficult for me to heal from this. He was one of the few people in my life that fully supported me in anything and he never criticized me on my decisions, which I really appreciated. I felt like he was one of the only people who ever understood me. I loved him unconditionally. It is only I who lives in his house now, along with his dog. It doesn't bother me that I'm alone. I'm an only child, so I'm kind of used to being by myself. It just feels lonely without my grandpa if that makes any sense. I'm not really sure when I'll ever recover from this loss. I feel like I won't ever recover, but I'm hoping that I'm just feeling this way because it only happened recently. I've been looking information about the grieving process, and it seems that while there is a basic cycle, it varies depending on the person. I do have major bouts of sadness that hits me multiple times a day. Usually during the evening is when the crying and the sadness hits me the hardest. To be honest, I think there has been improvement in my grieving as the pain has slightly lessened, but it is still extremely painful nevertheless. While I can't see the end to this, I hope that I can heal in this year and that the depression goes away.

I'm sorry for how depressing this post is. It's really hard to feel festive and excited about the new year when all I feel is emptiness and emotionless. But, to uplift this post a bit, I'm happy to say that I've started an Associate's degree in Fashion Merchandising through Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) online. I've really enjoyed my first two quarters so far and this coming Monday is the start of the third quarter. I had a lot of credits that I was able to transfer, thus only having to take 9 courses to complete this degree. I must say that I've only had a wonderful experience with online schooling. From the professors to my student adviser, they have been nothing but supportive and kind, which really changed my view on online classes. I thought that because you don't see people face-to-face, the teachers wouldn't be very interactive because we're only communicating via the Internet. To be honest, I've had more interaction with my teachers and student adviser than when I was taking physical classes at my home university. It feels nice knowing that the teachers get to know you and your style of learning. I actually wish I had more quarters to take!

Anyways, I hope to continue blogging and uploading the wonderful finds around Hawaii. As I'm typing out this post, I feel good getting things off of my chest, even if it's talking about different things besides the passing. I know it's common knowledge that in order to heal from a tragedy, you have to talk about it, but I feel that by talking about other things helps me to get my mind off of it. Because if talking about the tragedy is only going to continue my feelings of depression and despair, then I fear I'll never heal. But, if things like blogging about fashion and immersing myself in my interests is going to help me, then so be it.

I wish everyone a prosperous New Year and I hope to see you in the near future :)

- Lauren

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