Fashion - Pocketful of Joules

My First Stitch Fix Delivery: Help Me Decide!

A few weeks ago I kept seeing advertisements for something called Stitch Fix. I swear, the ads were stalking me… every page I clicked on: Stitch Fix. Stitch Fix. Stitch Fix.

Stitch Fix EVERYWHERE.

So fine, I finally gave up and clicked through.
And BOOM, they got me.

Stitch Fix is a personal stylist in a box. A PERSONAL STYLIST in a BOX!

You fill out a fancy schmancy style profile with all your stylish likes and dislikes (and your sizes). You answer lots of questions about your style, as well as preferences on what you’d like them to send – for example, I chose not to receive any accessories because I’m already drowning in statement necklaces. I also did a little extra work and built a board on pinterest so that my stylist would have a better idea of what I might like (click here to check it out).

After reviewing all your info, someone WAY more fashionable than me handpicks 5 items to send you. You try it all on in the comfort of your own home with clothes you already own to decide if you like anything. They even include a card that has styling tips for each item on how you can mix it up with other stuff.

You keep what you like and send the rest back in their supplied prepaid envelope. It’s that easy.

As for cost, there is a $20 styling fee for them to put the box together and send it to you. However, if you purchase anything from your order you use that money towards your bill. Also, if they hit it out of the park and you LOVE everything they sent, you get a 25% discount if you buy everything. So that you’re not totally out of your spending comfort zone, you set your pricing threshold when you fill out your profile.

So, now I need your help… I just got my box last night and I have three days to decide what I’m sending back. Oh and please forgive the crappy pictures — I got home from work at 9:00pm (I left the house for work at 6:30am, so it was a looooong day) and my husband was SO not in the mood to play photographer.

Here’s what I got:

black and white dress — Tart Holden Printed Swing Dress – $128.00

I was actually kind of excited when I unpacked this dress because I liked the feel of the fabric (it is heavy-ish but silky) and the print. However, when I put it on the fabric stretched in a really terrible way across the boobies area and the print just stretched out to WHITE/see-through. It was awful and there is no way I’m posting a picture of it on the internet!

green sweater — RD Style Frances Cowl Neck Chunky Knit Sweater – $58.00

I’m pretty sure I owned a very similar version of this sweater (down to the exact color of green) about 10 years ago from Banana Republic. I think the chunkyness of the sweater makes me look…well, chunky too. Thoughts?

Burgandy dress — Sanctuary Lanni A-Line Ponte Dress – $128.00

I kind of like this dress — it’s a dark burgundy color and would look nice with a grey suit jacket or black cardigan. I think I need to add some shapewear under it though because my tummy is not looking awesome right now. What do you think, is it salvageable or should I just send it back?

black shirt and purple pants — Mia Melon Paloma Striped Short Sleeve Cut-Out Top – $58.00 and Just Black Dark Purple Adora Ankle Length Jeans – $68.00

Here is a more casual look — the top is a nice weight black top with a little extra something fun going on in the back (check out the next picture). When I saw the pants (they’re a dark purple in person) I originally thought that there was no way in hell they were getting over my butt. But after some pulling, tugging and all-around cursing. They fit. Well, there’s a little bit of muffin top… but frankly everything seems to be a little muffin toppy lately. Here’s where I really need you to weigh in — is this too “young” for me? Should I give up on the skinny pants look? Here, check out another view:

black shirt and purple pants - back view — The back view of the black top.

Oh and this view is a little embarrassing, but is my butt just totally out of control? Like in a you-need-to-never-wear-them-again kind of way? And this picture totally wasn’t taken on purpose, I was in the middle of trying to show off the back of the shirt so I have lots of awkward turning-around shots. Nice, right. It’s almost like I’m a professional. Not.

Help me. Help me!! PLEASE help me! I’m thinking of getting the black shirt. Possibly the purple pants and a slight maybe on the burgundy dress… But, I also might just give up the $20 styling fee and buy nothing from this box. I still want to try another box though, so that I can give my feedback and see how the box choices change.

Feel free to use this snazzy voting tool or just leave your comments below. Thank you in advance for rocking my socks off.

By the way, this was NOT a sponsored post. I went looking for Stitch Fix, they didn’t come after me and buy my love with free clothes. My love actually can’t be bought with free clothes… well… maybe. Nobody has ever actually tried to buy my love with clothes before. I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t work though, unless you were Tim Gunn and you wanted to replace my entire wardrobe with your perfectly chosen items instead. *

Anyways, if you decide to click through on my special link and try them out yourself, I will receive referral rewards. Here’s my link. So thank you for anyone who chooses to click through and support my shopping addiction.

*Do any of you remember the TV show from a few years ago called “Tim Gunn’s Guide to Style”? I LOVED it and wanted him to come to my house SO FREAKING BAD to fix my entire closet/life/style. Tim… call me!

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!

Twice IS pretty nice

First off, I want to STRESS that this is not a paid promotion or advertisement in any way. I know that I make it pretty darn clear when I am compensated in some way for doing a review or giveaway (and only give good reviews to products that I actually really like), but I get a little gushy in this post. Okay, I get a lot gushy… but it’s just because I’m super excited about this website and I think you, my awesome readers, might like it too. In fact, the company doesn’t even know that I tried their service and decided to blog about it.

Ok…let’s move on to the awesomeness.

In the past I’ve shared my seasonal switchover process of packing up all my off-season clothes to make way for the next season. I do this partially because I don’t have a lot of closet space, partially because I like the space I have to be super organized so I can actually find what I’m looking for, and partially because it makes me furious to pull out something to wear that doesn’t fit.

Wow, that’s a lot of partially.

Anywho, at the end of every summer I pack away my summery dresses and skirts and bring out my heavier sweaters and tights. I usually end up with one bag of clothes that due to various reasons ends up being donated to the thrift store so someone else can pop some tags.

In the past, I had thought about consigning some of my nicer items. However, I never really felt like dealing with the hassle of taking clothes to a consignment shop and waiting to be paid a percentage of their sale. I was creeping on My Year of Fabulous one day and a reader suggested that Holly try out Twice clothing, an online consignment store.

When I clicked around the Twice site, I saw that they would send you a FREE bag so that you can send in your brand-name clothes to be consigned. Once they receive your clothes, they check them out and make you an offer. You can accept the offer, or decline and pay $5 to have your clothes returned. The reason I liked this more than your typical consignment store is that you don’t have to wait to find out if someone buys your item to get paid; they pay you and then deal with selling your clothes.

I decided to try it out for myself and when I switched from winter to spring I came up with 7 items to consign. There was nothing really wrong with the clothes; I had just bought some larger sizes to wear when I was in the early phases of my pregnancy. Everything was in great shape and the brands were all on Twice’s approved brand list. So I gathered them up, stuck them in the bag that Twice sent me (for FREE!) and dropped them off at the post office.

Within a couple weeks, I received an email offer of $25.00 for my clothes and chose to be paid in store credit since it gave me a little extra money. I then started stalking the site on a daily basis to decide how to spend my “found” money… and came across this shirt and dress:

I placed my order and within a couple days the clothes were delivered to my house. While I LOVED the dress and wore it one night at BlogHer, the shirt wasn’t exactly what I was hoping for. So I printed out a free return form, repackaged it and stuck it back in the mail. For FREE!

twice 3 — Here’s my Ann Taylor dress from Twice… I LOVED it, especially for only $24.95!

It was incredibly easy and I was really impressed at how quickly my money was refunded to my account. I’m definitely going to start including Twice when I sort through my clothes that I want to get rid of at the end of the season. While $25 doesn’t sound like a lot of money, it is nice to “find” some fun money to spend on myself. Also, I’m still donating a small bag of clothes to the thrift store… so everyone wins (and yes, I write off the donation on my taxes).

With the Fall coming so quickly, I think this is a great chance for you to try them out too. Right now they’re running a referral bonus where you can get $10 off your first purchase (for new sign ups that use my special link) AND if you decide to sell your clothes you can get an additional bonus payout of $10 in store credit. Here is my special code: liketwice.com/Ddm2y

Disclosure: I was not rewarded by Twice for reviewing their company on my blog. I reviewed their service because I feel like you guys might benefit from having an easy consignment option for getting rid of your old clothes. Or buying other people’s consigned clothes. If you decided that you want to click through on my special link, I will receive credits on my account (click here to access my special link) and you will receive money off of your order!

So what do you think, is this a company that you would use? Is there a website that you found that you’re totally in love with and gush about to all of your friends? If so, please share it in the comments!

I wish I was a Fashion Blogger

I love reading other people’s blogs. I guess that’s what inspired me to start my own blog. Well that and the fact that every time I’d tell a random story with arms flailing around, someone would inevitably say “you should have a blog!” Well, I’m nothing if not accommodating.

Actually, I’m not really that accommodating. I’m just kind of an attention ho and checking the stats on this little blog of mine is good for my ego.

Anyways, I love reading blogs about motherhood craziness, stories about clumsiness, DIY home décor projects, reviews of books that I never have the chance to read, and so on and so forth. I have a bunch of my favorite blogs saved on my gmail reader and visit them whenever I have a chance.

I also have a couple of those other blogs. You know, the fashion blogs. I wrote that in italics because you totally need to say it with whispered reverence in your voice. Kind of like how those hyenas said Mufasa in The Lion King. Try it: fashion blogs. See, that’s totally what I mean.

Fashion bloggers are WAY cooler than me. I’m sure that many of them are as sweet as pie, but I met a couple at last year’s BlogHer conference that caused me to immediately regress to feeling like that dork in middle school with the perm and braces. And yes, I totally had a spiral perm and braces at the same time because it was the late eighties/early nineties and I didn’t know any better.

I have two favorite fashion blogger’s that I visit on a regular basis. I’m not going to post them here because I kind of don’t want them to click back through and point and laugh at me. They are both impossibly cool and obviously have much, much better wardrobes than me. And better cameras. And they’re skinnier. I love reading their blogs though, because they always put together these amazing outfits from everyday pieces that look FANTASTIC on them.

Well, I wish I was cool like them.

I have what I’ll call a “lazy” wardrobe. I pretty much wear the same thing to work each day – black pants, a shirt or tank top and a sweater. Every single day. I mean, I look presentable… just not COOL. Frankly, it’s easy but pretty boring. In the summer I have a few cute work dresses, but when it’s cold outside I dress more for comfort and warmth.

I was going to include a picture of my in my normal "uniform" but couldn't find a recent full body picture. I did find this picture from 2010 though... — I was going to include a picture of my in my normal “uniform” but couldn’t find a recent full body shot. I did find this picture of me sitting on an egg from 2010 though…

When I’m not at work I’m either in my “I might leave the house” outfit of jeans (Gap), a t-shirt (Lucky), a hoodie/fleece (Under Armour or North Face) and boots (No idea, they’re super old and I love them). If I’m not leaving the house I live in the exact same outfit but switch out the jeans with yoga pants. That’s pretty much it. I do have a couple really pretty scarves that I throw on over everything, so maybe I’m like 1/18 cool.

I really WANT to be one of those saucy chicks that wear the adorable fitted skinny jeans, knee boots, three layered flowy tops that somehow make them look both busty and skinny and an artfully draped scarf… but I’m not.

Half the time I don’t give a darn that I’m not one of the fashionably dressed and the other half I’m totally jealous that somehow other working mom’s out there look so much more put together than me.

So, what’s your trick? Are you one of those ladies who always look adorable? If so, give me some tips! If not, what is your ‘go to’ outfit that you keep wearing again and again and again?