Studying = Shopping

As Guava mentioned in her MDW post, I have been “studying” for my CFA’s the past couple of months. Last week right before the test, I took off from work, secluded myself and went to my Aunt’s house to study (cram). My only enjoyment while everyone was enjoying their MDWs was….shopping!

Gilt:
Gilt was offering free shipping on Memorial Day if you ordered from their mobile app. I snagged the following bracelets for only $46, all from Adia Kibur! The twisty rope one looked really cool on the website, but in person I kinda love it a little less. The white portion of the bracelet looks a bit too off-white. However, I think once I stack it with some other bracelets, the look will be a bit better.

Mikkat Market:
Just discovered this online store and I LOVE it! The style is very relax/chic. Everything is super affordable and there is free shipping if you spend over $100.

I really like this shirt ($39) because of its double panels. The back has a square-ish look and the overall fabric and structure gives it a very easy looking feel.

I’ve always wanted to try the mullet skirt ($37) look and thought this skirt would be perfect for the summer time. It’s very light and flowy and would pair well with any color top.

The twist in this dress ($52) is so cute/neat! The color of the bottom part is very feminine and the black top has a blousy feel to it.

I actually did not get this exact print but they must have sold out what I ordered because it is no longer on the website. This is a standard thick bandage skirt ($30). The print I ordered is a white base with thin black and grey stripes.

Possibly my favorite purchase from Mikkat Market! I love the pop of neon on this necklace ($26) and the length is perfect (it is also adjustable). Cannot wait to wear this out!!

HauteLook:
I rarely like to pay for shipping when I’m ordering stuff online, but Hautelook had a jewelry blowout sale and I have been absolutely obsessed with buying new jewelry lately!

Shelter Island Ring: bought from HauteLook for $12; available on Amrita Singh’s website for $20.

Amalfi Cuff: bought for $14; on website for $100.

Eloise Cuff: bought for $14; on website for $80.

Owl Stretch Ring: bought for $14, on website for $100.

Steve Madden:
I originally bought two pairs of shoes from Steve Madden, but they randomly cancelled one of my orders and told me it was sold out! I was pretty frustrated because if it was sold out then why was I able to order it?!!? I was also disappointed because the boots (Pembrook $48) I was going to order are on sale for such a good price. Unfortunately the color and size combo I wanted is no longer available.

I got these Chellaa sandals for $28! What a steal. I think the red color would be a great addition to a lot of my outfits. Can’t wait to wear these all summer.

<3 DiSh

Memorial Day Weekend

Bonjour, blogworld!

Memorial Day Weekend is one of my fave holiday weekends (besides Christmas and my birthday, duh ;]) because it signifies the start of summer! Cookouts, vacations, and sun – what more could you ask for?

This past MDW, me, my boyfriend & another couple drove up to Montreal for a quick getaway; it was my first time there. Montreal– about a 6 hour drive from NYC – is a beautiful heavily French influenced city in Quebec. The views were amazing, the Old Montreal neighborhood wonderfully romantic, and the food was mouthwatering. If I had to pick a few places as must-sees  in Montreal, it’d be the top of Mont Royal (what Montreal was named after), L’avenue for brunch (located in French Montreal; the food is out of the world good), and L’express for dinner (for some quintessential solid French grub). Nightlife in Montreal is supposedly on par with NYC/Vegas, but we started our night out way too late and all the good places were closed due to capacity! For my 3 day getaway, as DiSh pointed out via FB, I had a good amount of outfit changes – a girl needs her options!

I Started off my roadtrip with this outfit I wore straight from work (and DiSh requested I blog about ). Excuse the photos as I had to be my own photog!

White button up (Express), Polka Dot skirt (H+M! awesome find, received many compliments on it ), Belt (Ann Taylor), Wedges (Banana Republic).

Day 1 – Out & about in Montreal.

Blue & White Striped Cardigan (BCBG), White tank (F21), Printed Skirt (GAP – Only $7! Love the print and how it looks in photos), Wedges ( ), Cross-body bag (Juicy Couture).

Day 1 Dinner – Fancy French cuisine

Dress (from a NYC boutique called , love the cut-out back on this otherwise demure dress!), Nude Pumps (Pour La Victoire Irina Pump in Camel Patent).

This dress is so versatile and I absolutely love the bright orange of the bottom. Here it is being worn again with a gray cardi from J Crew for work

Day 1 Evening

Dress (purchased from an open air market in London, stumbled upon this dress and fell in love with its glitz and glamour. Wore it only once before on NYE 2011 and decided it was too pretty to be sitting in my closet. I recently stumbled upon a boutique in SoHoa nd saw nearly the same exact dress for $200! I probably only paid $40 for it).

Day 2 – “Hiking” outfit

Plaid shirt (old – don’t remember!), shorts + belt (Ann Taylor), shoes (Sperry)

Day 2 Evening

Top (Express), Black Shorts (F21)

Day 3 – my “I’m on vacation, bitch!” outfit

Top – (LC by Lauren Conrad for Kohl’s), White jeans (Zara), Wedges (Banana Republic), Leather Jacket (Hinge – from one of my earlier posts!)

Also wanted share some shopping finds I recently discovered:

1) This H&M blue skirt for $30 ($25.50 after 35% discount). I was looking for a navy blue skirt for work and found this darling number. You can’t see very well, but it is tiered with thin layers of a lighter material (the material makes a weird noise when walking though, haha). I had to round up TWO sizes from my norm because I didn’t want it to be super form fitting – darn you H&M and your opposite of vanity sizing. I wore it once for work already, but feel like it might be a little too big/boxy. What do you think? Yay or nay?

2) I found this dress at Urban Outfitters the other day – on sale for only $29. I’m a little indifferent about it right now, but picked it up because of the price and it’s fun yellow color. A little iffy about the length of the dress, as I would rather it be a complete maxi or shorter. Should I keep this? Help me decide!

Hope everyone had a fabulous MDW as well! I know DiSh was busy studying for her CFA – good luck work wifey! <3

<3 Guava

Electric Daisy Carnival

This past weekend at Metlife Stadium was the first ever EDC in NYC (or technicallyyy NJ). This was my first ever music festival and it was amazing! We went on Saturday and the lineup was so sick (Alesso, Calvin Harris, Avicii, Sebastian Ingrosso). However, besides the music the second most important thing is….clearly your outfit! I saw a bunch of half naked girls and people wearing some rando things. It was definitely a fashion show.

For me, I didn’t want to do anything too crazy, just neon colors! =)

I bought the shirt ($12.80) and shorts ($19.80) from Forever 21. They are sooo good for neon things! My FANNY PACK (!!!) is from Urban Outfitters ($29 but I got on sale for $26). I got a good amount of comments for getting a fanny pack from my friends but it was actually SO convenient for music festivals. I was able to use both my arms and dance without straps or anything flying around.

I also bought these light up rubber bumpy rings from Amazon (Pack of 12 for $6.97). They were perfect for the night time – especially in the videos we took of us all dancing around.

I bought a shirt for my boyfriend to wear to EDC and you can’t really tell that well in the above picture, but here is the picture from the website.

I think the shirt is so cheeky! It’s also super lightweight so perfect for a sunny day out. It’s online @ Urban for $24 but I got 10% off of my order.

Below are some of our pictures from the rest of stadium/day!

<3 DiSh

Dressed for the occasion

I don’t like pants. You cannot twirl in them. They are hot in the summer. You have to think about wear a top with it.

Dresses on the other hand are amazing. I very seldom wear pants!! I have about 30 skirts and 1092381905810 dresses. Most dresses I’ve only worn once and some dresses are still attached to their price tags. Recently I came across some really great deals on some new dresses.

This Silence and Noise dress at Urban Outfitters was only $19.99! Right now online it is $49.99 marked down from $69.00. This is why I have stopped buying things full price at Urban. Everything usually goes on sale and the quality of the clothes are average. The dress is a lot cuter in person, the material is silky and soft and the color is a romantic peachy color.

I also picked up this byCORPUS Crisscross dress at Urban as well for $19.99.

I would describe it as a skater dress – a little short but perfect for summer! You can also pair it with opaque tights for winter. Short and sweet. The dress is online for $54.00. I would suggest going to the Urban store near you and heading to the sale racks!!

The last dress I bought was from ASOS. I usually buy a couple of things from ASOS but only end up really liking one or two after they arrive and I try them on. This one I loved!

You can’t really wear a bra with it because it has an open back as well, but it’s so darn cute! They have it in pink and green as well but I think the black one looks the most classy since it is a bit revealing with the little cutout bow in the front. It was originally $72.72, but I ordered it for $25.45.

Since a lot of stores were having 40% off full price/sale items, I also picked up this pair of peeptoe pumps from J.Crew for $50!

This would go great with a simple black dress (like mine from ASOS!). Online it is selling for $198.00 and they don’t have the color/print, but the peach color is adorable as well. These pumps have a low heel (2 and 7/8), so they’re super comfortable if you’re walking around the city all day and they’re leather made in Italy! Such a steal at $50.

I’ll leave you with….accessories! Valerie and I just purchased a pair of DVF cat eye frame sunnies for $60 each on Gilt. I wanted pair of funky sunglasses for the NYC Electric Daisy Carnival (SOO excited!) and Valerie for her trip to Puerto Rico. We saw these on Gilt and decided why not! We’re both a bit worried about buying sunglasses online without trying them on, but they look so cute that we could not resist.

I found them online at this website for $100. It’s style DVF524S, if you want to try and find some at your local Bloomies or Saks!

<3 DiSh

Post-Shopping Ban Craziness

Hellooooo All!

After 5 months (but technically 3 months per HLP rules ) of putting ourselves on a shopping ban, we were released to the wild on 4/1! Since then, I have reacted like a sugar loving kid in a free candy store. Except, nothing was free. Let’s just say I might have to put myself on another shopping ban soon…but for now let me share some goodies

The Dolce Vita store in LES (149 Ludlow St.) is moving to a new NYC location – and as a result all items in the store are on sale + 30% off! Their last day is Monday & I was told that they need to get rid of ALL merchandise, meaning the prices may go even lower! Many of the things in stock are being sold for full price online – so get your tushie down there!

The famed DV shoe collection varied from boots to chunky heels to wedges to sandals. Whatever size you see on the floor is the smallest they have in stock – with sizes 7/8 being most scarce.

I started off trying on the Bryann in Grey, marked at $80 with an additional 30% off. They were cute, but I could not justify getting yet another pair of suede pumps…see the shopping ban did help me after all!  ;)

Also tried the Baxter T-Strap Sandals at $130 with additional 30% off. They were very very very cute but again, couldn’t justify paying $91 for sandals that weren’t very practical (i.e. w/ 5″ heels!)

Finally, I settled on a pair of Jeneva’s in desert. The shoes run a tad small, but a 6 fit me just fine. They were only $79, making them just under $56 for a sturdy pair of boots in a color that would be able to match an assortment of outfits! Winnn.

I also picked up the Nula dress for $84, retail price $121. It’s a teensy big at size S, but the tie up straps make it easy for me to adjust them. I fell in love with the print and the feel of the fabric, so despite the price I truly think I can get a lot of wears out of this one!

To round out my purchase, I bought these adorable Plush heart tights as well as the more practical Plush fleece lined tights – perfect for the abnormal drop in weather we’ve been experiencing lately. $6-9 each!

There are still some great finds to be had before they close up shop – so make your way over to DV before Monday!

OH! Also made good use of the Ann Taylor 40% off F+F deal for a pair of black patent perfect pumps! They had only 1 more pair left in my size – I paid a total of $95 for one of the most comfortable pair of shoes I’ve ever owned! I wore them out for the first time this past Friday, stood the entire night, and was able to walk back without ANY pain! They truly are perfect

Now – time for a rest for me & my wallet from all this shopping!

<3 Guava