My January Stitch Fix: My Sweet 16th!

I’m so excited to share my very first Fix of 2015… which also happens to be my 16th Stitch Fix delivery. Can you believe it? Even weirder is that I’ve blogged every single Fix and OH MY GOD were my initial pictures terrible!

{For my new friends, if you’re wondering what a Stitch Fix is, please check out this post. If you want to know why I spend money to have a stylist send me clothes and whether I’m getting rich off these reviews, click on this one. If you’re wondering if I ever regret a Stitch Fix purchase, give a clickty click over here. If you’re feeling super stalkery and want to see ALL my Stitch Fix posts, you get on with your bad self and click around here. Okay, all caught up? Let’s join the rest of the class now…}

In the notes section for my January Fix, here is what I wrote: “Stylist Sara J again. I would still like to try the Loveappella Evie Draw String Funnel Neck Sweatshirt! We are going on vacation next month, so comfortable layering items for running around with a 3 year old but still looking fashionable would be great! Also, check out my pinterest — I pinned a bunch of new stuff with lots of notes.”

It’s funny, I was actually considering switching stylists before my last Fix because I wasn’t feeling like Sara J really GOT me any more… but then after she knocked my December Fix out of the park I decided to stick with her for another month. WOW am I glad I did!

Item #1: Loveappella Stanyan V-Neck Knit Top – $58
I actually have another Loveappella top from Stitch Fix that I love – the adorable chevron tank to from my June Fix. I can’t even tell you how much I love the stripes on this top and I crossed my fingers that it had that it had a looser drape that didn’t cling too much. I was pleasantly surprised that the fabric was almost like a sweater knit and the pattern carried over onto the shoulders.

Loveappella Stanyan v-neck knit top close up- Stitch Fix Review

Loveappella Stanyan v-neck knit top - Stitch Fix Review

For the first styling, I paired the top with my distressed skinny jeans and Frye boots for a typical weekend look. I like doing a little half-tuck at the belt to show off some shape while still letting the top be a bit flowy.

Loveappella Stanyan v-neck knit top 2 - Stitch Fix Review

For the second look, I untucked the top and paired it with a pair of bootcut jeans, booties and a long necklace.

Keep or Return? I really like this top! The fabric is heavy enough that I don’t have to wear a cami underneath to keep you from seeing my bra and it is just loose enough that I feel like I could have a big lunch and not look 3 months pregnant. What do you think?

Item #2: Pixley Messi Lattice Neckline Knit Top – $68
The top of this is super cool, but when I pulled it out of the box my first thought was how in the heck can I wear a bra with this?! However, the crazy lines of the top actually hide any bra you wear beneath it. Thank goodness!

Pixley Messi Lattice Neckline Knit Top - Stitch Fix Review

For the first look I styled it for a date night with a pair of dark blue skinny jeans, gladiator wedges, a long necklace and an adorable felt flower headband.

Pixley Messi Lattice Neckline Knit Top 2 - Stitch Fix Review

My stylist suggested wearing it with jean shorts… so I threw some on my PALE legs and stood out in 20 degree weather to take this picture. Yeah, I’m insane.

Keep or Return? Well, I like this top but feel like it is doing something kind of weird around my boobs in the second picture. This is my least favorite piece in the box, but if I end up buying everything it will be free. So… share your thoughts!

Item #3: Skies are Blue Benson Embroidered Trim Top – $48
If you’re a regular reader you may be thinking, “But Joules, didn’t you JUST get a Skies are Blue embroidered top from Stitch Fix last month???” Yes. Yes, I did. And I’ve probably worn that shirt a half-dozen times already because I’m in love with it… so I wasn’t mad at all when I saw this top in my Fix.

Skies are Blue Benson Embroidered Trim Top - Stitch Fix Review

This is my idea of the perfect weekend or hanging out without looking like a schlub shirt, so I put it on with my favorite distressed jeans and boots.

Here’s a close up of the pretty embroidered detail.

Skies are Blue Benson Embroidered Trim Top close up - Stitch Fix Review

Keep or Return? I have to say, I do love this top and I think this could be another frequently worn top in my collection. I think it would also look super cute with shorts on our vacation, since it is pretty lightweight. What do you think?

Item #4: Market & Spruce Elissa French Terry Striped Moto Jacket – $74
YAY, I actually have this exact jacket on my Pinterest board with this note on it: “I have no interest in getting ANY other moto jackets… but would ONLY make an exception for this one. I love the stripes, the fact that the “moto” look is subtle and the cute pockets and collar. YES please!”

The timing to receive this jacket is perfect too, since we will be going somewhere a little warmer for our vacation. My only concern was that when I would see it on other bloggers, it sometimes seemed so short and cropped and I didn’t really want that look.

Market and Spruce Elissa French Terry Striped Moto Jacket 2 - Stitch Fix Review

Yay, it’s not actually cropped short at all! For my first try, I threw the jacket on over a typical running around on vacation outfit (any guesses where?) with skinny dark jeans, a Mickey shirt and a comfy pair of Toms.

Here it is all zipped up with a fun scarf.

Market and Spruce Elissa French Terry Striped Moto Jacket 3 - Stitch Fix Review

Then, I dressed the moto jacket up a little bit with my sassy red skinny jeans, a black t-shirt and a pair of wedges. In hindsight, I should have added a necklace or two.

Market and Spruce Elissa French Terry Striped Moto Jacket - Stitch Fix Review

Keep or Return? I think this is super cute and I love that it’s a medium-weight layer. Is the moto jacket trend almost over though? What’s your vote?

Item #5: Loveappella Evie Draw String Funnel Neck Sweatshirt – $64
I’m not even exaggerating when I say I broke out into a happy dance when I saw this sweatshirt. I’ve requested it so many times and was almost resigned to the fact that I’d never get to try it out.

I even sent back the black sweater from my last Fix because even though it was cute and similar to this one, I STILL really wanted to try this one on. So, I am SO HAPPY that Sara came through for me! The sweater is so comfortable and is made out of a loose knit which would be great during the winter with layers, in the spring alone and even with a pair of shorts over the summer!

Loveappella Evie Drawstring Funnel Neck Sweatshirt - Stitch Fix Review

First, I threw it on with those same jeans and boots that keep showing up. However, I wear them ALL THE TIME, so I might as well see how this looks with the outfit too!

Loveappella Evie Drawstring Funnel Neck Sweatshirt 2 - Stitch Fix Review

For the second look, I dressed it up a little bit with black skinny jeans and knee-high boots. I was a bit concerned that the funnel neck would be a bit fussy and not lay right unless I styled it just perfectly… but really it flops into place and looks great with no effort at all!

Keep or Return? You’re going to have to pry this from my cold, dead hands. Unless you think I look fat in it or something… then you’d be required to tell me and I’d return it. What are your thoughts?

Help me!
Now it’s time for you to help me decide what I should buy! My ‘absolutely cannot live without them’ favorites are the v-neck striped top, the funnel neck sweatshirt and the embroidered trim top. I’m also really, really liking the moto jacket because I think I could throw it on over pretty much everything in my closet. The only item I’m not totally in love with is the tank top. What do you think I should buy????

If I do decide to purchase the whole Fix I will save $73 with the buy it all discount (in addition to my $20 styling fee credit). I also have $5 credit in my account left over from someone clicking through my referral link (THANK YOU!!!), so the entire box would be $214. Oh, and I didn’t end up buying the whole box last month… just two pieces.

I’d love to hear your feedback, so please leave me some comments below and tell me what you think!

 

1/20/15 Update: Thank you everyone for your feedback! I was SO CLOSE to buying this entire Fix, but after doing the Joules Purge and getting rid of everything I don’t fully LOVE in my closet, I just didn’t feel right buying that black top that I knew was going to drive me crazy with the weird draping around my chest. I also decided that I didn’t really need another moto jacket (even though this one is so freaking cute) because I have one from a previous Fix that serves pretty much the same purpose. I did buy the other three items though and love them all so much!

Disclaimer: This post is not sponsored by Stitch Fix, I pay for the $20 styling fee and any clothing I purchase with my own hard-earned money. If you enjoyed my review and decide to try Stitch Fix for yourself, the biggest compliment you can give me is by using my referral link. Thank you to anyone who chooses to click through and support my shopping addiction!

Psssst…Do you love checking out what other people received in their Fixes? I added quick links to every single one of my reviews on my Stitch Fix Reviews page!

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Boot Straps = Awesome

Remember a few months ago when I tried to figure out the boots + jeans conundrum with a few different pairs of boots? One of the suggestions I had come across was to buy little straps that connect your jeans cuff and go under your foot and hold them tight.

Well, apparently these magical things are called Boot Straps… and they are awesome.

When I got my new Fryes, my old trick of just shoving my pants into the boots wasn’t really working. They’d look pretty great at first, but over a few hours the pants would slowly work their way up and my legs would look kind of baggy and rumpled. Not really the look I was going for. So, I clicked over to Amazon, which is honestly where I go for pretty much everything these days (yup, I’m an Amazon Prime ho) and these boot straps.

I figured I’d give them a try and worst case scenario was that they didn’t work and I could tell you all not to waste your money buying them. Instead, they became my secret weapon in NOT looking frumpy within a couple hours.

The first time I tried to use them… well, it didn’t go well. I snapped them on my pants, shoved my feet in my boots and the stupid things slipped right off my foot and joined my pants in their ‘let’s crawl up the leg and make Joules look frumpy’ plans. Assholes.

I kept fussing with them and getting all sweaty because frankly my feet are kind of far away and I’m not that bendy. I figured out a little trick to make them work though so I thought I’d share it with you all and save you the hassle.

Here’s what the boot straps look like; just a little strip of elastic with two flat clips:

boot straps 1

First, clip one side of the boot straps onto the FRONT of your cuff. Try to get it an inch or so in front of the seam that runs up your jeans.

boot straps 2

Then, attach the other clip about an inch or so in front of the other seam. It may feel a little odd at first, but will feel normal after a minute or two.

boot straps 3

By clipping the straps forward like that, the elastic stays nice and snugly in the arch of your foot when you put your boot on – instead of slipping right off your heal. Once your boot is on, you can wiggle your foot around and everything will snap into place perfectly.

boot straps 4

When I take my boots off, I just un-clip my boot straps and throw them inside each boot for safekeeping. That way I always know where they are. I feel like someone crafty could totally make these for hardly any cost, but honestly it was worth it to me to just buy them online. Since I can use them with all of my boots, I don’t really feel like more than one set is necessary.

Have you tried boot straps before? Did you also have the issue of them slipping right off your foot when you went to put your foot inside your boot?

 

Disclosure: Pocketful of Joules is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.  Thank you to anyone who chooses to click through, every dollar helps keep Pocketful of Joules on the internet.

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Reviewing Firmoo Glasses

Over the weekend I teased my Instagram and Facebook friends with a sneak peek of my new glasses from Firmoo and now I’m happy to have the chance to share my full review.

I’ve seen online glasses places pop up all over the place lately, but felt like it must be one of those “if it looks too good to be true, it probably is” kind of things. I mean, we JUST bought Travis a new pair of glasses from the mall for somewhere around $400… so how could they possibly offer something just as great for less than a quarter of the price?!

When Firmoo reached out to me and offered a pair of glasses for me to review, I thought it would be a great opportunity to see if it really was all that and a bag of chips.

Since I wear contacts most of the time, I usually only break out my glasses before bed, early in the morning and during allergy season. I have a designer pair I like from a few years ago, so I thought that it would be fun to get some more “trendy” frames to play around with. I’ve wanted a pair of cat eye frames for ages, so I decided to finally try them out.

The Firmoo website has a ton of really cool and funky frames, but I narrowed it down to #F033 or #F038 because they both had the cat eye look I was going for.

I was totally unsure of how they would look on my face though, so I uploaded a couple pictures of myself and played around with the frames. First I tried a couple options with the #F033 frames:

F033 preview pics - Pocketful of Joules Firmoo review

Um. Yuck. They look terrible. I mean, I want a bit of a pointy corner, but these look really bad on me.

So then, I tried the same pictures with the #F038 frames:

F038 preview pics - Pocketful of Joules Firmoo review

Better. I mean, it’s still kind of weird to just plop a picture of a frame on top of my face… but these look kind of cute.

I called up my eye doctor and had them give me my last eye glasses prescription over the phone and went ahead and ordered the #F038 glasses. I figured if I hated them, I had three days to return them. Also, I was getting them for free… so I really wasn’t losing anything but my time.

Imputing all the information onto the glasses order was super easy and my glasses arrived in my mailbox about 2 ½ weeks later.

I gave my dresser a good ol’ windex job and took a few pictures for you:

Firmoo glasses - 2

Firmoo glasses - 1

Firmoo glasses - 3

I think it’s fair to say that I’m pretty darn impressed. The lenses are exactly my prescription and the frames are substantial without being irritatingly heavy on my face. I love the fun designs on the sides of the frames too. They fit great and Firmoo even included a little tool to tighten the screws if I ever need to.

Here’s my best “trying on glasses” pose:

Dorky glasses picture - Pocketful of Joules Firmoo review

Just kidding. I took a ton of pictures and this one was so dorky that it made me laugh… so of course, I had to share it.

Here’s a normal picture… I mean, as normal as you’re going to get with me:

Pocketful of Joules - Firmoo review

Kinda cute, right? The best part is that if I would have paid for them they would have only cost me $45.95! That is SO insanely cheap for glasses and next time Travis needs a pair we are definitely going to go with Firmoo.

I don’t know if they are going to hold up for years and years the way my designer pairs do, but for less than $50 I can get EIGHT different pairs of glasses for the price we paid for just one pair a couple months ago. Now instead of worrying over a glasses purchase because I’ll have to live with them forever, I can actually try something trendy without having a huge money commitment!

Have you ever ordered glasses online? When choosing glasses do you usually get something classic or go totally funky?

 

Disclaimer: Firmoo provided me with a free pair of glasses for review purposes; however all thoughts and opinions are my own. There are Firmoo referral links in this post and if you use my link I will receive a very small reward (even though the price will totally stay the same for you).

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