Love It Or Leave It: Camouflage Trend Fall 2013

Sanctuary Camo Chinos and Creature Feature Top

I'm really gravitating to these camouflage pants I found at Anthropologie on Grandville in Vancouver and had to bring them home to think about. With taxes they came out to about $150 which seems a bit pricey for such a trendy statement and I'm not sure I have enough tops to pair with it effectively. Shoes are covered with ballet flats and converse sneakers, but I feel like these may not blend in appropriately with my very casual style. I love how camo is looking paired with more glamorous items like silky black blouses and high healed booties, but I'm just not sure how I feel pairing them with Aeirie tee shirts or Lululemon long sleeve tees. 

The fit is on the generous size so I was able to go one size down and still get this relaxed look to them. I like that they are not a skinny jean as this makes it a little more casual and fresh. The print is pretty subdued and washed out, not highly contrasted like some younger versions of camo print. I'm 5'4 and the pant is actually full length on me ending just below my ankles. It really looks best rolled up, and since I have very athletic thighs, I like them rolled up a but higher than usual. I think the amount of lower leg that shows helps the proportions out.

The top was a pass for me. I think its adorable but I have a few other 'critter' print tees from anthro that I haven't worn in a long time. This one is not the correct size for me as it was all they had left and too small but I wanted to try these pants on with a tee. 

For now, I think I'm going to love these and maybe keep a look out for more suitable tops to pair with them. 

Fit Review: Finely Feathered Tank, Seychelles Good Intention Wedges, Pollination Tank, Kanoko Striped Tank, Side Tucked Tee

Hello old friends, it's been quite a long while since I've updated this blog. I've had a few Anthro finds over the past few months (tees and stuff) but nothing really grand has caught my fancy until now. I've been lured back into the Anthro web with this gorgeous Finely Feathered Tank which I found on my trip to Portland last month but sadly the only size they had was a 10. I searched and searched every Anthropologie from Pearl District to Seattle and no other store had this tank in yet. Once I was back in town I called my local store but they also hadn't seen this tank so after a few days of obsessively looking at it online for reviews I decided to order it (still waiting for mine to arrive since it was out of stock). When I stopped in store today I finally saw it again in person and got to try my size on (12) as well as the 10 I'd tried on before. All of the sizes in stock had the exact same print distribution with the bird on the side and on the back. It was identical from tank to tank and yet completely different from the one shown online. I do still love this tank and truthfully I think I prefer the bird a little more inconspicuous. Hopefully the tank I get from my order will be as nice as this one or better as far as the print otherwise I'll exchange it for this one. I found it TTS, maybe a bit large in the armholes but otherwise the size down (10) was a touch too fitted. I adore this tank even though I've been luke warm about the peplum tank trend so far. Surprisingly I don't find the cut of this peplum unflattering to my pear shape, probably because it's cut longer in the back than the front and is broken up with a monochromatic graphic peplum. 

Finely Feathered Tank

Left is my TTS 12 and the Right is the 10

Size 12

Pollination Tank

Roomy in the size 10. I liked this size. 

This is the other tank I saw in Portland and really loved but it's a bit pricier than I want to pay for it and I'm not sure the color/print will have longevity in my closet because of the bright colors. It was about $118 in store today so If I head back down to the states this summer I'll hopefully find this one marked down. I love the hot pink with the navy line drawn bees. 

Kanoko Striped Tank, Orange size L

This is another one I really liked today. The color is a super pretty peach and looks especially nice with my dark grey pants. The size I tried on, although I was thankful for the roominess in the tummy area,  was a touch too big in the arms. You'd definitely need to wear a racerback bra with this one. I'm wish listing this one in this size, I'd definitely get it on markdown. 

Side Tucked Tee, pink size L

This tee is really pretty and flattering from the front due to the ruching across the middle and the double layer of fabric on the bottom half (sort of a bubble hem) which you can adjust to hide mummy tummy. I really liked it from the front and wished the back had the same consideration but it's totally solid and single layered on the back so it showed a lot more flaws in the back (muffin top) than it does from the front. 

Seychelles Good Intention aka Fabriella T-Straps $49!!

And lastly, my score today were these Good Intention T-Straps, from Seychelles that I'm wearing in the pictures. Someone had ordered them online and returned them to the store so as soon as I saw them I snatched them up without even checking the size first because for $49 I'm not going to hem and haw over them. Luckily they ended up being just my size so I kept a vice grip on these as I walked thru the store.  They are TTS (9) and the leather is butter soft. I'm not a heels wearer when I can help it but as I tried on all these tops I totally forgot I was wearing these shoes they were THAT comfortable. I really don't need a pair of shoes but these go with everything in my closet and they are really comfortable...so what the heck, why not elevate my closet with a new pair of 'fancy shoes' that I can wear with jeans, crops or skirts. 

Annoyed: Striped Steps Socks Mislabeled.

Today I made the treck out to anthropologie to pick up some new long wooly socks that I'd been eyeing on the anthro website. I normally am really, really sensitive to wool except when it comes to my feet which seem to really enjoy the luxurious feel of wool. Anyways, I decided to splurge and picked these cute socks up based on the online product description (acrylic, wool, nylon, spandex) and when I arrived home and pealed back the price sticker the fabric contents are actually 65% cotton, 31% nylon and 4% spandex. Really annoyed! I'll likely be returning these and will have a better look around to see if they have any long wool socks in store.

Striped Socks Horizontal

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Many of you (all 16 of you ;p) have probably been aware of what has happened with the Anthroholic blog and her fraudulent personal shopping services. I feel a little bit out of place posting about this since I'm a very new Anthro blogger and I'm pretty unknown, but I have been an Anthro blog reader for a very, very long time and so I've been reading about all of the events and feel the need to reflect. 

I almost had a transaction with her a couple of months ago. She reached out to me when I posted an APB on an item. She had this item and was selling it at a reasonable price but she was being incredibly pushy about getting payment right away due to her travel plans. Something about her polite pushyness, her unwillingness to look at other solutions and her convenient and ready excuses about travel plans sent red flags to me. I desperately wanted this item but I did not feel good about the circumstances and so after sending emails back and forth for days I reluctantly passed and purchased this item on ebay instead for $100 more. I'm really glad I followed my instincts because until yesterday I felt really foolish for having paid more for this item on ebay.

I just wanted to say how impressed I am by some of the very honest and genuine posts that are being made by her betrayed blogger friends. It's hard to put yourself out there to readers and share your self in such an honest way, it's so easy to hide behind outfit posts and posts about 'things' in the midst of something so hugely betraying and very public. It's hard to take a stand against a friend when you see them behave in such a wrong, and totally incongruent to the person you know behavior. Especially when you don't have the full birds eye view of events and you really want to be able to give them the benefit of the doubt. I just want to say how much I respect the integrity of these bloggers and I respect their words.

These types of things happen in real life every day and sometimes we have a hard time seeing the ugly truth until it really hits us in the face and is too hard to avoid, and sometimes it's just a million tiny offences that never quite hit us in the face. It can make us feel bad and very jaded in people in general and that robs us of being able to experience other more genuine friendships. It felt really good to read these posts this morning and to know these bloggers are sharing their real selves and not projections of a fantasy they want us to believe. I may have had a change of heart about how I shop and my consumer habits but I have not had a change of heart about reading these ladies blogs. 

Some of the ones I've read so far:
Anthro Closet Chaos
The Top Drawer
The British Anthropologist
The Stylish Soprano
Effortless Anthropologie

25% Off Sweaters

My latest Lust Item and My Weekend in Seattle

Oh man. Oh man. My wallet is in trouble with this gorgeous Hampden Pea Coat. I love every little thing about it and will have to sacrifice much of my wish list items for this beauty. I just love the browns and oversized print. If only I could start this early in dropping Christmas wish list hints. 

Sorry I've been lacking in posts lately, my husband has been on vacation and he's been sort of cramping my Anthro drop ins as well as my free blogging time. We spent a weekend in Seattle though and he did allow me to shop at Anthro to my hearts content with the trade off that the rest of the weekend would be totally free of shopping so I was happy about that, especially when he broke his own rule and discovered the watch department in Nordstroms. He has a weakness for watches so all I had to do was sneakily mention that Nordstroms had a huge selection of some of his favourite brands and I was left to wander the store while he tried on each and every watch he wanted too.

At Anthro I tried on many, many items but settled on getting fall casual staples. I got the Banded Ripples Tee in purple (looks more maroon to me) and I got the Starred Entry Tee (again) in Grey and the Anza Cardi in Turquoise. Today I was able to get a price adjustment for the Anza Cardi since it went on sale this morning, which made me very happy. I also got the Aldabra Barrette finally. This was my 3rd time ordering the barrette after it getting backordered and finally the order went thru. This is my top favourite hair barrette of my collection and it literally holds all of my thick, course hair in a ponytail.  I also managed to find the Speckled Lotus Jaw Clip and quite love it. I have really thick, thick hair and since discovering how well made french hair accessories are and how well they hold all of my hair I've decided to collect them when they are on sale. Nordstroms also carries some of these hair clips by France Luxe but sadly they didn't have any of the bigger ones that I wanted or I would have gotten some more. I think ebay is also a good place to find these at sale prices. 

Thats all for tonight but I will try to post a fit review of all the tops I got tomorrow evening. 

Hampden Pea Coat

Did You Hear...? Roxy's Holding A Contest!

Roxy at Effortless Anthropologie is hosting two contests on her blog to win a healthy $250 or $100 gift card to our favourite store. I told her in my entry I was hoping to buy the Noon & Night Dress with the gift card but now that I see today's post about the blogger event she went to I've found some absolutely beautiful boots that look promising in the cuff circumference department for my 15.5" calves.