Thrift Find Stalking

This post could also be called “Researching the BeJezzus Out of my Thrift Finds”

It starts like this; I find something awesome at the thrift store.

I can tell that it’s awesome because of how it feels (or fits), but I’m not necessarily familiar with the brand. So, I do a quick google search while standing there in the aisle.

This just gives me a ‘heads up’ on whether it’s a fancy brand or something cheap that I shouldn’t pay a bunch for secondhand. {I’m not saying I’d never buy a less expensive brand, but if an item was originally $10, I’m not going to pay close to that to purchase it at a thrift store.}

In this case, I found a leather hobo handbag with the logo/name “Andrew Marc”. In a sea of plastic-y pleather and rigid cheap leather purses, by the first touch I knew this bag was something special.

Then, I did something that you typically NEVER want to do in a thrift store…
I held it up to my nose and took a big sniff.
I know, kinda scary.

But I was rewarded for my bravery… the bag smells like expensive leather. Like REALLY expensive leather. The kind I love from afar, but can’t actually afford.

So, I googled a little more to make sure I wasn’t wasting my money. The bag was marked “up” at $29.99… so I wanted to make sure I was paying up for a reason!

And that is when I fell down the rabbit-hole of internet stalking.
I just wanted to know MORE!
I like having more information about stuff!

According to Wikipedia: Andrew Marc is an American luxury fashion brand that originated as a leather goods label established in 1982.

Here’s where it gets tricky, every time I would click on a handbag from Andrew Marc, the logo on the bag would say “Marc New York by Andrew Marc” and not just his name with the “AM” logo. So, I dug and dug and dug a little deeper and it seems that anything marked with the AM Andrew Marc logo is much more expensive (especially the leather jackets), which leads me to believe that Marc New York by Andrew Marc is a diffusion line.

So, I put on my detective hat (I don’t actually have a detective hat, but if I had one, I’d totally rock it. Probably with a dress…) and fondled the purse again.

The leather is super incredibly buttery soft.
The chain is heavy and the clasps are in great condition.
There are no signs of wear on the inside or outside of the purse.
Each zipper pull is heavy-duty and has the Andrew Marc name on them.

These are all good signs that the bag could be worth paying up a little bit.

Then, I found this:

So, the brand is known for their superior leather and luxury products… that’s another good sign.

After a ton of searching, I found some other Andrew Marc bags with the proper logo, for sale on a few sites like Tradesy and eBay. All of them list the ‘retail prices’ of the bags between $450 – 650. Which sounds pretty awesome, but can I really trust random sellers to be honest? As much as I search, I can’t find any current Andrew Marc handbags on the big store websites, like Nordstrom, Saks, or Bloomingdales. Even the ones on the Andrew Marc website are all branded with “Marc New York”

Then, I turned my stalking up on high and looked through the Andrew Marc Instagram account. After scrolling and scrolling, I finally found an Andrew Marc branded handbag posted in February 2014.

Finally, I used the chat feature on the Andrew Marc website to try and get to the bottom of things.

Of course, after the chat I checked both Macy’s and Nordstrom’s again… only to find NO Andrew Marc bags with the proper logo.

So, I’m stumped!

The bag is gorgeous and great quality, so I’m happy to own it. I just wish I knew a bit more about it! Are you familiar with the Andrew Marc brand? Have I gone off the deep-end of my internet stalking?

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July Thrift Haul

I know, I know. There wasn’t supposed to BE a July Thrift Haul because I was doing No Buy July again. Last year I made it 20 days, and this year I went 25 days… so at least that’s an improvement!

{Pssst, you can read about my previous thrifting adventures here}

I had my every-three-months blood draw appointment for my cholesterol yesterday morning, and it has become a bit of a tradition to fast in the morning, do my blood draw, stop by Einstein Bagels for a coffee and a breakfast sandwich, then drop in at the Goodwill on my way back home.

I absolutely HATE needles and have a big clump of anxiety about the blood draw, so it’s kind of like medicinal thrifting.

Anywho.

I bought one thing: this adorable Lucky Brand dress.

I have quite a weakness for Lucky Brand in my casual wardrobe. They occasionally have some pretty fantastic sales on their website (not now though… and all their dresses are so gorgeous). I’ve also been able to scoop up a few Lucky items at TJ Maxx and Marshells over the years. Typically in the store, similar dresses go for $80 – 100-ish. At Marshalls, I might be able to score something similar for $40 – 50. I got this one at the thrift store for… $7!

This dress is made out of cotton and the bodice has three fabric colored buttons. I really like the elastic scrunchie waistband and – of course – the pockets! It is perfect for casual summer weekends at home, dinner at the beach, or even to throw on over a swimsuit. No regrets here!

Did you have any luck thrifting this month? Share your scores!

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My Boston Trip: Shopping Fun, Dressing Room Snaps & Thrifting Treasures

Before I went to Boston I received all sorts of great tips on where I should go, what I should see and what I should eat. And yeah. I didn’t really do any of that.

Instead, I sat in my hotel at my conference from 8am – 5pm and then walked back up to my room and sat in front of my laptop and worked on midterms from 6pm – midnight. Then, did it all over again. And again.

It wasn’t what I WANTED to do in Boston. But it was what I HAD to do… to get my midterms done. I just got my midterm grades back and at least the time was well spent… I got a 90% on one and a 99% on the other! Heck yeah!

I did have a little bit of time the day I flew in (Tuesday afternoon), in between midterms (Thursday night for an hour) and before I flew out (Friday afternoon). And I found some awesome deals… so let’s check them out!

I landed in Boston on Tuesday morning and wanted to enjoy the daylight before handcuffing myself to my laptop, so I decided to walk to one of the consignment shops on my list.

Boomerangs Consignment Shop (1407 Washington Street, Boston, MA). This was a small little shop with super nice people working there. There were some really high-end brands and the prices were relatively reasonable for consignment. I tried on a few items, but didn’t end up taking anything home with me.

On my walk back from the consignment shop, I saw a cute little store called Gifted (2 Dartmouth Street, Boston, MA). This store had all sorts of unique and cool stuff with handmade items by over 90 US artists. I spent lots of time just wandering around the two level store touching everything. I ended up buying a super cute salt and pepper shaker (I’ve somehow accidentally started a collection…) and two engraved bracelets:

The “Mama Bear” and “Actually, I Can” bracelets were exactly what I needed to power through my midterms! I’ve been wearing both bracelets every day since I bought them… I love them so much!

On Thursday, I saw that there was a consignment store only a couple blocks away from my hotel. So, after my conference ended at 5pm, I ran out to do a quick look before they closed at 6pm.

Castanet Consignment Shop (175 Newbury Street, Boston, MA). HOLY CRACKERS, this shop was amazing! The only drawback is that the majority of the clothing was very tiny sizes. They had tons of amazing brands, cocktail dresses, shoes, scarves. You name it!

I almost slobbered on this pair of sparkly Jimmy Choo heels. And then, I turned around and ran right into a whole table of Manolo Blahnik sandals. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!

The prices were also pretty darn good… so I kind of wish more stuff fit me! I did find a few items to try on though, a romper that totally fooled me into thinking it was a dress, a blazer and an amazing scarf. They had some great dressing rooms too, so I did snap a few photos.

I didn’t buy this one, but it made me laugh. I totally thought it was a dress… and then this happened. As someone pointed out on Instagram, I got “romped!”

Bird & Knoll Cinque Terre/Bella Boats Scarf, $49

When I picked this scarf up, I knew nothing about the brand. I just knew it was huge, beautiful and incredibly soft. The consignment shop had it originally marked at $78 and on sale for $49, so I did a quick google to make sure it wasn’t actually some cheapo brand and pulled the trigger to buy it.

When I got back to my room, I did a little research. Bird & Knoll is an Australian brand of cashmere and silk printed luxury scarves for women. I found this exact scarf on their blog from June 2015 and it was called the Cinque Terre/Bella Boats scarf and it has an image of the Cinque Terra (located between Florence and Geona in Italy).

Based on other similar scarves on their website, I’m going to assume that the one I purchased is also 20% cashmere, 80% model and made in Italy. The cost on their website is $335 AUD, which equals about $250 in US dollars.

Didier Parakian blazer, $35

I wasn’t familiar with this brand at all either. I liked the look of this blazer and it looked about my size, but the tag said 44… which is either French sizing for a US size 12 or Italian sizing for a US size 8. Since it fits my shoulders well, I’m guessing it is French sizing. It was difficult to find information on this brand, but I did find this website and it appears that the clothing are made in Italy, but the brand started in France and has “the exotic tastes of the Armenian culture combined with the chromatic sensitivity of Mediterranean cities and the elegance of the French style.”

Yeah, so I don’t think I’m the only one confused about the brand…

Anywho. This blazer was originally tagged at $44, but it was marked down to $35. My best guess at an original price would be $344 based on what came up on Lyst when I searched the brand.

After I left, I stopped by a nearby Anthropologie because they had a ‘sale on sale’ going on.

Anthropologie Adelina Embroidered Blouse, $52

I should be ashamed about the amount of clothing I took into the dressing room at Anthropologie. The location I visited in Boston had a HUGE sale section… and everyone on sale was an extra 25% off. I have no idea how I narrowed it down to buying only one item. I can say, that this shirt is the kind of special-fantastic-unicorn shirt that I love. It makes me feel so pretty and it looks adorable with jeans. And I love it SO MUCH. And there are pompoms on the trim. POMPOMS! Original price at Anthropologie was $118 and it was marked down to $69.95 and then down to $52 (find it here).

After my two stops I headed back to the hotel to do some more work and eat some dinner. On Friday, my conference ended at noon, so I packed everything up and decided to go… THRIFTING!

I only had time to make one thrifting stop, so I decided to go to a somewhat nearby Goodwill (1010 Harrison Ave. Boston, MA). It was a nice day, so I decided to walk the 1.5 miles there. However, by time I was done thrifting all afternoon I grabbed an Uber back!

This Goodwill was absolutely huge. Just going through the dress racks (that lined the entire back and side of the store) was exhausting. My arms were actually sore from pushing back dress after dress! I mainly concentrated my time on the dresses, tops, and skirts. Each category had their own area, but nothing was divided by size… so it was a free-for-all. There were only a couple dressing room stalls and people were hogging them, so I basically tried everything on over my clothes and hoped for the best.

After HOURS of digging through everything, I found 4 winning items:

Joie Silk Dress, $5

I found an almost identical Joie silk dress online and it retailed for $368. This one has a fun pattern, fabric covered buttons at the bust, and a drawstring waist. It was also marked as a dress ($8), but the lady decided it looked more like a tunic, so she charged me just $5 for a shirt! I’m thinking I might wear this one either over a pair of skinny work trousers, or paired with black tights and booties in the fall. I think this one might be the score of the day!

Boden Jersey Dress, $8

I actually own this dress in a purple print and love it, so when I saw this blue version for just $8 I knew I had to snap it up! This one is actually a size larger than the one I have, but the fit is fine on me. I love it so much and wore it to work already last week!

Eileen Fisher dress, $8

This one is a bit of a risk, as it has a weird floppy pocket on one side. I don’t know. I thought it looked kinda interesting. Similar Eileen Fisher dresses go for around $200, so I figured I’d give this one a try for $8. It did smell SO BAD of mothballs when I bought it… but two rounds in the washing machine and it’s smelling great now.

Talbots cardigan, $5.50

I really like the mixed stripes and ¾ sleeves on this cardigan. It’s perfect for work or weekends. I didn’t realize when I bought it that it has 10% wool though… so I’ll have to pack this one away until winter or I’ll sweat to death.

All-in-all, I spent about $27 to thrift 4 items with a total retail value around $778!!

So yeah, I had some great Boston shopping luck! Which item is your favorite?

 

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