Fashion - Pocketful of Joules

My August Wantable Fitness Edit

Last month I tried the Wantable Fitness Edit for the first time (you can check it out here) and liked it so much I decided to do it again for August.

How does a Fitness Edit work?
Here’s the quickie version – you set up your account by filling out a bunch of survey questions with your sizes and preferences for fitness clothing. Wantable charges a $20 styling fee and sends you 5 handpicked items to try on in the comfort of your own home. You have 5 days to decide what you want and clothing prices range based on your preferences between $30 – 70 per item. The best part is that your styling fee is applied towards your final purchase and you get 20% off when you keep 3-4 items, OR $30 percent off when you keep all 5 items!

Last month I received these Allegro Capri pants from Soybu and they have quickly become my favorite running capris!

A photo posted by pocketfulofjoules (@pocketfulofjoules) on Jul 31, 2015 at 4:11am PDT

Want to see what I got this month?

Item #1: Climawear T-Back Space Dye Tank in Rising Tide
When I ordered my first Fitness Edit in July, I put a note on my account that I don’t like tops that cling to my tummy. It makes me super self-conscious and I prefer tops that flow away a bit, even when running. So, I was pretty annoyed when I opened my August box and found this skin-tight tank top. I hadn’t repeated the note on my August order, but you would think they would look at my entire profile before styling me a box!

With that being said, I don’t hate this top as much as I thought I would. The material is nice and stretchy and I like the look of the t-back. I think the color and pattern also help to hide my tummy (in addition to my high-rise leggings). I just don’t know if I’d feel comfortable enough reach for it when getting dressed.

Item #2: Climawear Showstopper T-Back in Black
Hey look, it’s another skin tight tank top. Great. This one is so much worse with the super high neck that looks like one of my old swim team suits. Also, there are removable boob pads that are totally misplaced. Instead of being over my nips… they are up in my chest area, like some sort of warrior chest plate. I like the t-back, but that’s about it.

Item #3: Pink Lotus Performance Capris in Purple Green
My first thought when I pulled these out of the box were that they were super wild. I mean, I’ve been working my way up to patterned leggings but wowzers. Then, I tried them on a couple times and they are kind of growing on me. I like the solid pink on the sides of the legs and it helps to break up all that crazy pattern. I threw it on with one of my typical running tops and I can totally see me wearing this on my run.

Items #4 & #5: Rebecca Michaels Ankle Leggings in Mateo and Mono B Pink Space Dye Leggings
According to my pricing breakdown, the green and blue tie-die pair of leggings are usually $70 but are on sale for $35 this month. So, obviously I was hoping they would fit well and look great. Nope. They must be junior-sized because once I finally pulled them there was muffin top all over place. Because, when you’re putting on workout clothing you want to feel really bad about yourself. Obviously.

The second pair of leggings were cut full-length down to my ankles. I tried them on when I first opened the box and OHMYGOSH they were so itchy I had to immediately pull them back off. I refuse to put them back on again and it’s not even worth it because they looked terrible on me anyways.

Was Wantable’s Fitness Edit Worth It?
After loving last month’s Fitness Edit, I was so disappointed in this one. The stylist totally disregarded my preferences and sent me two skin-tight tank tops. I have $39 credit left on my account, which can cover the $20 styling fee and $19 towards an item. Or, if I decide not to purchase anything I will lose the $20 styling fee and will have $19 towards next month’s Fitness Edit.

So, help me decide which to do:
Option 1: Send it all back and lose my $20 styling fee. I’ll have $19 left over for the September box.

Option 2: Buy the blue space dye tank top for $16 ($20 from styling fee). It seems pretty flattering and maybe I can get over my tummy issues and wear it on my runs. I’ll have $3 left over towards the September box.

Option 3: Buy the Pink Lotus capris for $35. They fit well and I can see myself wearing them, they are just awfully expensive. Of course, with the credit I have they are ‘regular’ priced… so there’s that to keep in mind. Have $0 left over and cancel my Fitness Edit subscription.

Option 4: Buy the Pink Lotus capris for $35 and give the Fitness Edit one more try in September.

I have to return what I don’t want tomorrow, so leave me a comment below with what you think I should do!

Disclaimer: If you choose to purchase a box using my special referral link, I will receive a small referral bonus toward future Wantable purchases. Thank you to anyone who uses my special ink and supports my shopping addiction.

My ThredUp Experience

I’ve talked about my love of online consignment stores before and was a huge fan of Twice for years. However, Twice recently closed their doors… leaving an opening in my heart for a new online consignment love.

So, I decided to try out ThredUp to see if it would make the cut. Since I haven’t done my end-of-season clean out, I haven’t tried selling items to ThredUp yet. Instead, I browsed their stock of like-new clothing and ordered a couple items.

Tip #1: Browsing a ton of items can be pretty overwhelming, so I streamlined the process by creating my own “personal shop.”
I’ve learned over the years that I am super picky about my consignment purchases, so I typically only order brands that I KNOW fit me well. For my personal shop, I included J.Crew, Anthropologie and Lucky Brand in sizes 12 and Large. This way, all I had to do was press that button and everything that shows up is stuff I know will fit me right.

Tip #2: KNOW your Stuff.
I love J.Crew cardigan sweaters because they really do wear better than their cheaper counterparts. I’ve been wearing the crap out of my green version, so when I saw a similar blue cardigan pop up I grabbed it. It was just called “J.Crew Cardigan” but I knew that based on the 100% cotton material of the sweater that it was probably either the Jackie sweater (the J.Crew store version) or the Clare sweater (the J. Crew Factory version).

Here’s where it’s a good idea to know what you’re looking for… the Jackie cardigan typically sells for $65 full price and the Clare cardigan goes for $54.50 before sales. Much lower than the $110 retail price showing up on the ThredUp website. If you keep an eye on the sales, it is possible that you could get either of these sweaters for $30 – 40. The ThredUp sweater, which ended up being the Clare version, was marked at $29.49. I was able to use a new customer promo code for an additional percentage off my order… so the sweater came to just $17.70. By being an informed shopper, I was able to know that I was getting a pretty great deal.

Tip #3: Take a Chance.
I’d been looking for a simple, yet supportive, bikini top to add to my collection. When I saw that this orange version – also from J.Crew – was only $12.49 for an underwire style with halter straps, I took a chance on it and pressed “buy.”

With my additional promo code, the swimsuit top came to just $7.49… which is even cheaper than one from Target (for a much better quality). At that price, I figured that if it didn’t fit I wasn’t losing much. However, ThredUp offers free returns. So, it really was worth a try.

When the swimsuit top came in the mail I was shocked that it not only had the halter straps, but also came with a baggie containing the bra-type straps with their original tag still attached. WHAT A DEAL! You know what was an even better deal? The fact that the bikini top fits like it was made for me. I can’t wait to wear it on our last trip to the ocean in a couple weeks!

Both items I ordered had notes that there were “tiny flaws” on them… however after searching over them each closely, I can’t find a single thing wrong with them. I even wore my new blue sweater to work last week:

A little different silhouette then I’ve been wearing lately, but still on the black and white train this week. Super old wrap dress from #loft and new-to-me #jcrew sweater by way of ThredUp! #loftstyle #thredup #styleblogger #ootd #wiw @thredup

A photo posted by pocketfulofjoules (@pocketfulofjoules) on Aug 6, 2015 at 4:51am PDT

I have to say that for my first order with ThredUp, I was really quite satisfied. For a total of $31.18 I was able to purchase a classic cardigan sweater and a really well-made swimsuit top. There are certainly items on ThredUp that I find a bit too highly priced for a consignment item, but if you are an informed shopper you can certainly score some really great items for fantastic prices!

Would you like $20 to spend at ThredUp? I have a special referral promo code that will give you $20 towards your order.

Have you shopped online at ThredUp before? Is there a particular brand/item you always search for, like my addiction to J.Crew cardigans?

Disclosure: ThredUp provided me with a credit to try out their company and post about my experiences. All thoughts and opinions are my own. If you choose to use my referral link, you will receive $20 towards your ThredUp purchase and I will receive a referral benefit as well. Thank you to anyone who chooses to click through and support my shopping addiction!

Firmoo Glasses: Modeled by Travis…

I first tried out the online glasses retailer, Firmoo, in January when I ordered a pair of cat eye frames for myself (you can find the post here). At the time, I was super impressed with the quality for such an insanely reasonable price and decided that next time Travis needed glasses we’d definitely order an inexpensive pair for him.

I mean, his last pair of glasses were almost $400 and he’s not exactly gentle with them…

As luck would have it, Firmoo reached out to me a month or so ago and asked if I’d like to review another pair. Travis and I looked at all the frames available and thought that these were the closest to his most recent pair (that I love on him):

I entered in his prescription information from his last glasses order and within a week or so his new glasses arrived. The total cost of the order would have been $25.95 if we had paid for the order. That is about $375 cheaper than his other glasses for an almost identical look!

Now for the fun part, I told Travis that he had to “model” the glasses for my review…

Here is the ‘serious male model’ pose, also known as The Superman:

And here is the Angry Cat:

Then – of course – Jack wanted to join in on the fun!

Here’s the ‘serious like a Gap ad’ look:

And then I got two of my favorite daddy and kiddo pictures:

Hmm… maybe I should ask Travis to model for my blog more often!

Have you ever ordered glasses online? What is your favorite pose? I’m kind of partial to the angry cat…

Disclaimer: Firmoo provided 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).