Fitting Room Review

Yesterday I took the day off to recoup from the hectic business trip I had over the weekend. And by recoup, I might or might not mean shop...

I stopped into Ann Taylor Loft with the intention of trying on this dress after seeing it reviewed on several different blogs:



ATL Woven Ruffle Neck Dress
{here}

I actually remembered seeing it in store when it first came out and while I thought it was cute, it didn't immediately call my name. But, after seeing it reviewed on Proudly Petite, To Brighten My Day, and Petite Mom & Little Peanut, I thought it deserved a chance.

Here's how it looks on me in a 00P:

 Pros:

• Pockets. I love me a good set of pockets!
• I liked the color combination of the white and natural linen plus the linen has a very subtle metallic sheen.
• Waist location was were it was supposed to be.

Cons:

• The reason I wasn't immediately drawn to it still holds true on: it's just a bit "country" for my taste.
• The ruffle was a bit overkill for me; I felt a little top heavy.
• It's not super apparent in the first picture but the dress was too large all over. It's more obvious in the last two pictures where you can see the extra fabric above my bum.

Here are a few more showing the issues with fit:

Verdict: back on the rack!

Even though I stopped in to check out this dress, I of course had to do a walk through of the rest of the store! My local store has an incredibly small petite's section so the browsing went fast. I checked out the sale section (which is even more pathetic...) and was pleased to find this top which I had seen several weeks earlier on a mannequin and thought it was super cute:

ATL Dolman Sleeve Drape Top
{here}

I was lucky enough to find both the Warm Iron (pictured above) and Shadow Gray in XXSP to try on (this was totally my lucky day: the tiny sizes are ALWAYS gone!).

Let me just tell you ladies. Love. Pure love.



Picture of the "V" seam on the front. It's nearly invisible when the shirt is relaxed. I have my arms stretched all the way out...the things I do for you dear readers...

Pros:

• Super soft
• Gorgeous colors
• Incredibly comfortable.

Cons:

• Zero. Sersiously. I will be living in these.
• Wait...there could be more colors...

Verdict: Bought both at $20 each (originally $50)!

Dressing Room Review

Happy Monday lovelies! Over the weekend, I popped into Ann Taylor Loft looking for the make-up bag I featured here and while they didn't have it, I did find several petite items to try on in the sale section that were an extra 40% off. While I told myself I wouldn't be spending any more money on clothes this month after I purchased these dresses since they were a teeny bit of a splurge, I couldn't resist going in. After all, I was just going to try them on...

First up is a dress that's made it's way around the petite blog world. Tried on in a 00P:

Floral Sheath Dress
{here}

I've seen this dress look quite cute on several bloggers but for me, this was a total miss. The fit was large in the back, waist and chest, and the color was less than flattering on my pasty skin. Also gave me sort of a baby bump. NOT GOOD. The pattern was cute and I loved that it had pockets but ultimately I left it for another buyer.

Next was this very similar dress to the Floral Sheath tried on in a 00P as well:

This dress doesn't seem to be available on the website anymore so I unfortunately don't know the name of it but the cut is very similar to the one above minus the pleating at the neck and the pockets. The fabric on this one is sort of a metallic jacquard. The color was more flattering but again, it was quite large overall. The top picture shows me pinching a good inch and a half on one side alone. This dress went back on the rack as well.

Finally we have this pair of pants and shirt:

Striped Boat Neck Sweater in Light Guava | Marisa Versatile Slim Crop Pants in Steel Grey
{here} | {here}

Citrus colors were all over the runways in pre-spring shows and have made their way quite nicely in mass retail stores. I've picked up a few pieces in these shades already and I'm loving them! ATL hardly had any of these sweaters left and sadly, the smallest size they had was a SPS which you can see it quite large. I needed a XXSP but could have dealt with a XSP, but alas, online only has larger sizes left and the closest store that had my size in stock was several hours away, so I had to pass. The crops reminded me a lot of the ATL Scuba pants and the J Crew Minnies, both of which have found homes in many petite's closets. However, while I can't attest to the Scubas, I've tried on the Minnies and they ran large in the crotch, plus the word on the street is they stretch out with wear, which is too bad since I love the cut and color options. I own two pairs of slim fitting crops in black and white from FCUK and I love how they make my legs look so when I saw the Marisas in grey, I grabbed them. I tried on a 00P and thought overall the fit was quite nice. The length is a few inches too long but nothing my tailor couldn't fix. I did try them on in a 0P just in case (sorry no pics) and there was a good inch and a half waist gap so I went back to the smaller size.

Ultimately, I purchased the Marisa Crops which retail for $69 and I picked them up for $31. I think I can justify it :)

Retail Therapy Thursday

I know I sound like a broken record by now with all the "I've been so busy"s and "will get back to posting soon"s. Yea, I'm kinda tired of it too. I've really been wanting to do more OTD posts but I've found it's kinda hard. I know a lot of you photograph your OTD's on the weekend in preparation for posts on upcoming days of the week, and many of you take a quick shot in the AM before work or whatever outing and even many more take them once they get home but I haven't quite found my groove yet. AM pics are not going to happen because I'm literally walking in 2 minutes before work starts everyday as it is and after work, we have about 2.5 seconds of daylight left so it makes trying to freshen up and get pics in before the natural light is gone pretty much exhausting. Although I might be saved once day light savings hits in the next few weeks. I haven't tried the weekend way so perhaps this is my calling.

Moving on to my favorite day of the week: it's Retail Therapy Thursday!

Here are the pretties I bought this week:

JB by Julie Brown Bullseye Geometric Jersey Dress
{here}

JB my Julie Brown Melanie Dress
{here}

I have desperately been seeking a cute jersey tunic type dress ala Lilly Pulitzer but never quite found one that wasn't A) 2.5 million dollars, B) too short or C) just plain ugly. I happened to stumble upon the selection over at Bluefly of these pretty options by JB by Julie Brown and it was love. Originally just over $200 each, the dresses were marked down by nearly 50% plus they had a code for Shopstyle searchers of $40 off $200 plus Ebates had 3.5% cash back. This was a no brainer.

I'm so excited to add these two summery dresses in punchy prints to my closet! Here's hoping they fit; eek!

Retail Therapy Thursday

So it's really been far too long since my last post. My internet has been down all week and work, again, has been crazy. It seems like the last thing I want to do when I get home is write up a post. Bad blogger, bad!

It's time another edition of Retail Therapy Thursday! Woo-to-the-Hoo!

Here are this week's buys:

Forever21 Leatherette Access Belt
{here}

Gasp! Leatherette?! Yea, well, it's F21 and it's the only chocolate brown belt I could find that fit my waist. Side note to you tiny ladies out there: this belt fits super small!

ASOS Scallop Detail Shift Dress in Coral
{here}

I've been stalking this dress now for a few weeks waiting for the US size 2 to come back in stock. It will for about a day and then it's gone again. Luckily I snatched it up just in time! Love that tomatoey coral color this has going on and those sweet scallops? Gorgeous!

Lulu's La La Love One Shoulder Dress in White and Pink
Available in a select few colors and sizes {here}

I actually purchased this exact same dress last year at TJ Maxx in Navy and LOVE it. When I discovered Lulus carried the same dress (Lulus has their tag sewn in instead of whatever mine says) I was thrilled. They come out with new colors every few months (along with staples like black) but they sell out super quick. This time around I was able to snag one in white and hot pink (looks more coral in this pic but its a nice bright pink...honeysuckle even???). Since these colors aren't available on the website anymore, I did a quick search online to see if anyone had posted them and wouldn't you know, Princess Sassy not only posted this dress, but posted the pic above; the exact colors I bought! Great minds think alike.

I also bought a great pair of stud earrings from World Market (random?) that are a great color; like if jade and turquoise had a baby...I tried to find a pic online but no go.

That wraps up Retail Therapy Thursday!

Things I Will Not be Wearing on New Year's Eve

About a month ago I purchased a few dressed from Victorias Secret as possible candidates for New Year's. From the reviews of VS I've done recently, it is now clear that their clothes just do not work for me. They either A. Don't fit, or B. Are poor quality. Well sadly I got hit with reason "A" this time around.

Here are the dresses I purchased which (or course) look great on the models:
 

VS Ruched Crewneck Sweater Dress
{here}



VS Banded Bottom Dress
{here}

Both options would have been really cute for New Year's but I had my heart set on the sweater dress because I loved the pattern. I purchased the snake print dress really for work and I liked the colorway.

Here are the pictures of me wearing them:

The length was good on this dress and could be adjusted a bit because of the ruching. The sleeves were a little long but the pattern helped hide the extra fabric. It's hard to tell in the photo but this dress is cut funny. The seams that go along the side actually twist to that the right one ends up in front right between the legs and the left one ends up in the same place in the back. It made the dress sort of rise up in the part making the dress a little risque. I also could FEEL that seam in the most unpleasant of ways on my back side. There was also tons of extra fabric around the torso as illustrated in the picture on the left. Overall it just wasn't flattering so I'll be returning it.

Here's the second dress:

 

As you can see, the actual color of this dress is WAY off of the pic online and I hated it. The fit was also bad. The top portion was cut a little large with no real definition in the bust area so the girls got a little lost and the length hit me at an unflattering spot. This one will be going back as well.

Since these were a bust and I'm a procrastinator, it is now Thursday and I still don't know what I'm wearing...guess you'll find out!

Pantone Color of the Year

As many of you probably already know, Pantone recently annouced their 2011 color of the year to be honeysuckle. When I read this, I'm not going to lie, I did not know what this color actually was. I had visions of my youth spent perched alongside the fence in our front yard, pulling the delicate strands from dozens of honeysuckle flowers to get to the tiny, sweet droplet of nectar inside. From this happy memory, I thought perhaps the color was cream, as that is the color of a honeysuckle. Cream? Really Pantone? Thankfully, I was very wrong! Honeysuckle is apparently a very lovely shade of pink. Like fuchsia but brighter perhaps?

All that to say, I was reading Design Darling the other day and she posted this image from Patterson Maker:

SWOON!

What a pretty combo: bright pink and leopard! The dress is pretty basic but I was loving that purse! After about 90 pages of back reading on Patterson Maker's tumblr, I had no luck in locating this picture and thus ended the search for the clutch. I love leopard as much as the next girl, but it has to be a specific kind of leopard. It can't be too realistic, more of a playful illustration, as perfectly captured by the clutch above.

Since I can't source the pieces from above, I put together a collection of options:

Day Dresses by LA Made
Clutches by Asos

I'll take the bow-shoulder dress and leopard and black clutch stat!

Happy Monday!