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

TSD Vegas Edition: TOPSHOP

All right lovelies! Get ready for my first clothing haul from my Vegas trip! The first place that I went to was, of course, Topshop at the Fashion Show Mall. It is basically the Motherland for me when it comes to fashion. I love the how British fashion is so quirky and funky and I feel like I don't see that a lot in American fashion. Topshop was having another major sale like last year when I first visited them. Amazingly, except for one item, I got everything on sale! I felt so proud of myself because last year, I think I only got one thing on sale and everything else was regular price yikes! I think my total spent at Topshop was under $200 so I give myself a pat on the back :P. Anyways, to the fashion!

LOVE Monogram Gray Jumper: This was the first thing that I picked up when I entered the store. I suppose a lot of their "winter" stuff was on sale and this jumper caught my eye. It's simple yet funky, giving me a 90's feel. Even though I live in Hawaii, this will come in handy for those cool nights. Also, I'm jetting off to San Fran at the end of this month, so I'll bring this along!

Sheer Floral Lace Crop Top: I love that Topshop has petite sizes since I'm only 5' 1" and that their smallest size starts at US 0 (regular sizing starts at US 2, which is fine in most cases). The size 0 was a great fit, but I wanted a little more length and size 2 did the trick! I need to find a black faux leather high-waist skater skirt with this to complete the look hehe.

Monochromatic Checkered Shirt: This was one of the tops that I picked off the rack and thought that it may or may not look good. My opinion totally changed when I tried it on. I thought it was super chic and cool. It's sheer so you need a black bralette. Another thing that I love about the print are the vines weaving along the front buttons and the sleeves. It's subtle and slightly camouflaged, which I really like. I wore this out this past Saturday with a pair of black leggings from H&M.

Checkered Floral Singlet: Here is another top that I wasn't sure how it would look on me, but once again, when I tried it on, I thought it looked adorable. Plus it helped that I was wearing a black bralette, which completed the look. I love the mix of geometrics and floral. Also, this will be fantastic for those muggy days when you still want to look cute without too much effort ;)

Striped Polka Dot Floral Shirt: That was a mouthful wasn't it! I was a bit apprehensive just because it seemed so busy, but I knew that it would look totally awesome because the mix of prints was just too cool and they really gel together. This was another petite top and this time I got it in a size 0. I've never had a long sleeve top where the length of the sleeve was perfect. I plan on wearing it this weekend! Also, I'll be starting OOTW posts soon so you all will be able to see it on a human form lol.

Blue & Red Mini Check: I had tried this on during my first visit to Topshop, but I returned the next day and decided to try it on again with the intention of getting it this time. It's a long sweater, which covers your bum, so it would look cute with a pair of tights. I think I was a bit intimidated by the print, which is why I didn't get it at first, but when I tried it on again, I thought it would make for a cute geek chic outfit. Also, it was $12 on sale (regular $56) so I just had to get it, even if I really wasn't into it!

White Floral Lace Bralette: This was the only thing that I didn't get on sale, but it was $24 so it wasn't too bad. All my bralettes were black, so I was searching for a white one. Luckily I came across this. I was also happy that I could fit a bra underneath comfortably since it didn't have any shape or support. I'm not busty by any means, but it's good to have shape hehe.

I hope you enjoyed my first post-Vegas haul! Next up will be from Zara!

Thanks for reading!

-LAUREN

The Shopping Diaries: Pineapple County Waikiki

Hey lovelies!

I went into Waikiki during Easter weekend for a quick Nature Republic run (I will definitely make a post about my skincare routine from them!) and to check out the new spring colors from nails inc. at Sephora. After doing so, Jason still had time left on our parking meter. Not wanting to waste it, I decided I wanted to go check out Brandy Melville since they moved from their Ala Moana location (I wish they hadn't done so :( ) but they were closed that day for Easter. So we walked back towards the direction of our car and Jason said I should browse Pineapple County since it had been a while.

Seriously, I don't think I've gone into Pineapple County since my bestie left for Japan a year ago, but I was surprised that they had rearranged the store to not make it look as cluttered and they had renovated the second floor, which I think looks really nice. I noticed that a lot of their stuff was now more on the expensive side, but they still had a selection of reasonable items. So here is my PC haul!

BRAND: Bear Dance

The first thing that I picked up was this basic black bralette. With the surge of muscle tees and sheer tops, bralettes are becoming something of a necessity. What I really like about this bralette is that it is already padded like a regular bra, which is great for someone like me who is quite small chested lol. The straps are not adjustable but it turned out to be a perfect fit for me! 

BRAND: Cecico

The next thing that caught my eye was this vibrant blue ombre knit. It looked like to me something what a guy would wear, but feminine enough for me to wear. I got this kind of cool, edgy feeling from this top, especially with the distressed holes on the side which you can faintly see in the picture. The material is very light-weight so it makes it comfortable enough to wear in Hawaii.

BRAND: Rock Rose Classic

I found this in the sale section for only $10! When I first saw this, it reminded me a lot of Brandy Melville since they do similar knits. Even the design of the name tag was extremely similar to that of Brandy hehe. The silhouette is very much like a loose, boxy dolman shape. I would definitely pair this with the Bear Dance bralette from above!

BRAND: Nissi Jeans

While I was trying on my clothes, Jason suggested that I try this on too. I had seen it as we were coming up from the first floor, but I didn't really bother checking it out. If it caught Jason's eye, then I knew it was actually something really good lol. The cute floral print is perfect for spring/summer and with this sleeveless light-blue top that I got from Spiral Girl, it's a great coordinate! The only downside to this pant is that there are no pockets, which I realized when I tried to put my phone in a pocket haha.

I hope you enjoyed my PC haul! Expect more hauls in the near future as I will be jetting off to Las Vegas in a week and to San Francisco in a month. To check out the Pineapple County website, click here!

Thanks for reading!

-LAUREN