Dreaming of ShYOUs

Okay readers. I haven't updated in over a week for three reasons: 1) spring break 2) I'm starting a non-profit 3) I've been just dreaming of shoes. Boots! Flats! Heels! I've been dreaming of shoes, shoes, shoes! I've been googling and eBay watching this particular pair that my cousin so graciously received from her sister. She showed up at my niece's rodeo wearing them and all the horses just stopped in their tracks and neighed in approval! Okay, okay, so maybe it was all in my head but I'm loving these Coach Whitley boots from last season and despite their almost $400 price tag, they are out of season so hopefully I'll find them cheaper and I will not rest until I get them! I'm also loving the woven show look, and boy does Victoria's Secret have plenty of pairs online! Well, dearest reader, I have three papers to write so I must keep this short. Until we meet again... Happy Struttin'!

The world must be reading.....

The world of spring chickens must be reading this blog because much to my dismay, the dress that I shamelessly salivated over on Saturday and returned for on today (Monday) was sold out online AND in virtually every Charlotte Russe store in the metroplex. Trust and believe however that I'll be calling back everyday until it shows up in its shipment. But I suppose that means ya'll are getting some spring in your step and heeded my advice to go bolding into the land of happy, sunny colored garments. And I guess I can't be mad at that. But I'd love to be able to be proud of my loyal readers while looking cute my dern self! Oh well. I'll get mine and be less bitter soon enough. Okay, okay, I'm not bitter; it's just a dress. (Gasp. Is that a hint of maturity coming along?) I'll be shelling out the $28 bucks plus my little ol' taxes on it soon enough.

Spring Fever!

I'd love to apologize for not updating recently, but I simply can't apologize for frollicking in the sunny spring weather. SPRING IS HERE! And I've been camping, ripping and running and haven't had a second to think about my wallet, my closet or my style; all of the things that provoke me to write each time. The birds are chirping, the butterflies fluttering about and the daffodils beginning to blossom. So I suppose dear reader, that's it's time for you to blossom as well. If you're one of my loyal Mizzou readers, shed those god awful parkas we've been wearing and show some skin! (Tastefully of course!) And those of you from coast to coast and country to country (I'm international now, can you believe it!?!?!), you have a head start in getting that razor out to get those legs ready for spring! I wanna see you beautiful ladies in bright and cheery dresses. If there's a chance of rain, don't you fret! Turn that frown upside down, and smile at the chance to throw on a colored trench. Colored trenches are my favorite for spring and I favor pink or purple for this season, but who cares what I favor?!?!? Go blue! Go green! Go BOLDLY into the unknown! I've pulled for you two super chic, pretty cheap option from Old Navy. The dress is $15 and the trench is $50 which isn't exactly a "bargain" but it's bound to be good quality and if you think of it in PPW- price per wear, it'll all even out, bargainistas! Happy frollicking!

All my single ladies! All my single ladies!

Ladies! I say post this at the risk of being redundant... this may look alot like recent post "Couture/College Part 2" But I'm seeing a pattern happening more and more... High dollar shoes like Jessica Simpson and a counterpart that often times looks BETTER than the original at a fraction of the price. Someone in my dorm was so sweet as to give me a 30% off coupon to the GAP family of stores and thus, I headed straight to piperlime.com. Mama needed a new pair of shoes! I actually don't own a pair of brown heels with the exception of some fab wedges so I actually had a mission. I found the Steve Madden Vulture Oxford Booties displayed above and was smitten immediately. They were "on sale" for $59.99 but my coupon would take $18 off.... that was acceptable I thought and waited a bit for the timeframe when my coupon was valid. While waiting I decided to check my bff eBay and lo and behold! The pair of brown oxford booties with cute detailing, black laces and pictures from every angle... brand new in the box, shown below. Oh, you know what comes next. An astounding low price. $14. Yes, single ladies. FOURTEEN DOLLARS! Some of you eBay-phobes, like to shun my dear friend eBay because you think you have to to bid... But that's not the case. Some listing are "Buy it now" and you can pay with PayPal for a safe and secure transaction.


I post this as a warning. Just because it glitters, doesn't mean it's gold. Or the golden nugget, I might say. Think to venture elsewhere in the search for that perfect shoe or purse or trench. Stores like Old Navy put EVERYTHING on sale eventually. Be patient young grasshoppers and seek and you shall find.

Kingston Avenue Vintage. Total RO Alert!

I have fallen head over heels in love. 

With Kingston Avenue Vintage that is. (This isn't a romance site, it's a fashion site! Didn't you know?!?!!) KAV is an eBay store to whom I now pledge allegiance. I've never bought vintage before but stumbled upon this gem of a site and didn't think much about it. But an embroidered tunic caught my eye, and then another, and I let the bidding begin! I lost one of the tunics for lack of desire to bid again but won the second at a whopping total of $12.00. At only $12 I didn't quite know what to expect, but just a short bit after checking out the garment was in my mailbox and in my hands. Allow me to say, Cindy and Stuart at KAV are an example of why we should support the small business. How do I know they are Cindy and Stuart? Because they wrapped my dress up in ribbons and bows with a handwritten note thanking me personally for my business. They even drew me a cute little picture! Now, let me not contradict myself. Modcloth packaged their products well; albeit not personally. But the problem with my earlier post about Modcloth was that despite all the bells and whistles of the packaging the product was unacceptable. That was not the case with KAV. The dress was in immaculate condition, which an unexpected bi-colored base fabric and embroidery for the ages. I couldn't wait to try it on! I did shortly there after wearing the tunic as a mini-dress with a big, wide belt. Tre chic! Kingston Avenue Vintage won me over and I'd buy from them again and again! 

RO Alert! LAMA mama!

I'm sorry loyal readers! I've been slackin' on my bloggin! But I'm back... despite the gloomy cloud of doom known as: midterms! DUN-DUN-DUN!!!!!!! Speaking of midterms, I find myself on my zebra-printed macbook every second of my life. I fall asleep with my hand lingering over the keyboard. So, my baby bookie should be protected right? Why not do it in STYLE? Laptop sleeves are expensive these days. A soft black one that I had my eye on in the book store that was otherwise plain despite it's velvety pink lining was $30. Who's gonna see the pink but me? So... for thirty bucks, Mizzou still has it hanging proudly on it's shelf. Needless to say I was delighted when I found this laptop sleeve on LAMA designs. (www.lamadesigns.com). It's a quite little online store that has great stuff for your home, office and body. It was featured in Lucky Magazine in January and I slept on it (when it was on sale) but I think I might just have to cough up the cash for this stylish sleeve. Gotta protect our goods!

Couture/College Part 2

I recently saw Confessions of Shopaholic and of course loved it. But now, each time I get ready to type a sentence I feel so... dramatic! I want to tell you, sweet reader, that shoes are my favorite accessory because they can be fierce yet fun, sexy yet sophisticated and transform any outfit leaps and bound... hope that didn't sound Oscar-worthy! I'm notorious for throwing on a plain sweater dress with a contrasting yet cohesive heel and painting the town. (Or not, but... feeling fab enough to paint the town if said occasion were to present itself!). So this C/C is focused on the ever important and drool-worthy high heel. A true couture heel would be a Ferragamo (delicious!), Louboutin (sinful!) or Choo (classic!) but as college students $90 is a bit too much to spend on a shoe... thus, I've presented you with two comparable shoes. Both gladiator or cage look, both structured similarly. However, one is $39 and the other $89. Can you guess which is which?
Top or bottom?


The top one is Jessica Simpson Collection ringing in at $89 and the bottom, courtesy of flyjane.net (not .com!) was it's $39 counterpart. Honestly, all else equal I like the FlyJane's the better. I love the details, the edgy zippers, the fierce platform, and overall sleekness. What do you think? By the way, I know all my readers aren't college students. That doesn't mean that some of you (no need for red cheeks) aren't skimping on a ramen noodle budget. I understand champagne taste on a Kool-Aid budget. No problem! Maybe this feature should change from Couture/College to Champagne and Kool-Aid. Just bloggin'.....

Retail Me Not....[Not so] Recent Obsession....

I feel like I'd be depriving you dear reader, if I've been online shopping this week, getting discounts and not divulging such deliciously helpful information. I live in a college town and Columbia, Missouri doesn't exactly have the greatest shopping. So I look to the world wide web for my primary shopping source. I love to browse and "Window Shop" [in a different sense], but before I buy anything, I check http://www.retailmenot.com/.

Type in the store that you're opening your wallet to and there's a good chance that you can save a some dollars before you leave the site. Tom's shoes? 25% code! Victoria's Secret? Tons of codes! Just enter them in the "promotion code" or "coupon code" box at checkout and you just saved your self money in the form of cash off or free shipping.

It's almost a game for me (don't make fun!) to see how much I can get off.... bummer if I can get nothing but it never hurts to try!

P.S. Code "asoslook" gets you 20% off at asos.com!

Chat with Celeste!

For those of you just tuning in Dear Celeste is the advice column run by Bargain Beauty Baby. "Celeste" originally suggested that you send in an email at bargainbeautybaby@gmail.com. But now, BBB is pleased to announce that a chat has been posted at the bottom of the right column. If Celeste is online, shoot her a question! If not send it anyway and she'll get it as soon as she logs back in! She'll bend over backwards trying to find the answer if it's not just as simple as remixing your existing wardrobe or adding a little jazz to something already gorgeous. Dear Celeste is not an attempt to pass as the authority of all things fashion because that is NOT the case. Celeste can look a hot mess on any day of the week. We just have a knack for finding little stores and sites and looks for that special occasion that special person. Send a pic via email or a question via chat and I'll tailor that answer or concern to your style. Your look. Your gorgeous face. Did I say me? I meant Celeste. And besides, it doesn't have to be a right/wrong outfit query. It could simply be something like "Where can I find a good deal on oxford boots or Nike Shox?" Or "What's the difference between wet-look and liquid leggings?".

I might have failed you....

Lovely reader, I got three packages in the mail yesterday. Which is a record AND felt very much like Christmas. I tore through the first and found Marc by Marc Jacobs sunglasses that I "accidentally" bought myself for my birthday on eBay. ($40 less than retail). The second a gift from my significant other. And third- the black and white skirt from modcloth.com featured on February's "Not all cute things were born at Forever 21" posting. Despite the colorful tissue paper, neat packaging, $5 off coupon and free pair of earrings (nice, but ridiculously large- not my style) I'm almost insulted by the bells & whistles from ModCloth because the actual product that I paid $40 for was.... UNDERwhelming. What appeared to be a flowy skirt with a black background and vibrant white flowers online, translated to a faded looking almost iron-on like pattern when held up to the light in my dorm room that I eyed with borderline disgust. Unfortunately, I'm now eyeing this octupus ring but can't bring myself to order from them again. So I'm gonna leave it up to you dear reader. If you find something that you simply can't live without on ModCloth and end up ordering it, let me know how your experience is. Until then... my wallet is closed! Sorry if I led you wrong. I'll do my best never to fail you again....

Salivating Over....

I've told you: I'm into skirts. I think they're extremely underrated and can chic up any 'drobe or take a plain jane and transform her into a smart stylista with the right pattern and cut. Thus I'm salivating over skirts from ASOS right now. One thing I love about ASOS and I don't think I've mentioned this before but you can see each skirt and dress move, as they have a runway clip of each one. Countless times, I've decided not to buy something based on the way it moved down the special asos clip runway. (Indicated cheap fabric, or lack of flow, or ended up being straight up ugly on a human being).

But. These RO's are what I'm salivating over right now. Everything's under $60 which is quite more than I'm used to spending on a skirt. Actually double. My max is $30 but we can only dream. Speaking of dreaming, I'm dreaming about the "Bang Bang Boom" dress by Betsey Johnson and will never get to wake up from that dream and make it a reality because it's dang near $400. But anyway, I personally couldn't pull it off but I have some friends that could like the glamazons that they are. And might just be able to afford it....