Tons of New Dresses!

So the new dresses I bought a few weeks ago from different websites have all started to arrive.  And now I've got 4 new ones!  I know I totally went over board, but hey, I can use all of them.

I really like this Calvin Klein side-tie dress I got from Hautelook.  The print is very different, and I love that I can wear it to work with or without a jacket over.  The material is very comfy too.  As usual, Calvin Klein sizes run really big, so I ordered an XS and it's still not a tight fit at all.  Wonder what size real XS people wear from there?

Here's what it looks like with my Calvin Klein suit jacket over:

And here are the screen shots I took from Hautelook, they show the details better:

Next up is this Costa Blanca Novara dress I got on Beyond the Rack :

I wish this dress was a bit looser on me because I like the style.  The belt it comes with is actually very nice too.  But I don't really like Beyond the Rack and I don't want to deal with returning stuff to them.  I actually only paid $2 for this dress anyway lol.  I had some credit from a long time ago that I totally forgot about, so I wanted to use them up and then not deal with this site again.  Although this time the shipping was significantly faster than the normal 1 month time frame I was used to before.

I like how this dress looks on the model since it fits her looser...

Ahhh... maybe this will be my motivation dress!  LOL!

Next, I bought another dress from Hautelook that is a babydoll / pregnant dress.  I like this one though. It will make a nice summer dress.  It's from Glam Vintage Soul, and it's called the Summer Embroidered Cotton Slip dress.

So this one is just very typical summer dress style.  I like the subtle embroidery on it though.  It matches my shoes exactly!  Maybe these pictures would show the embroidery details better:

 And last but not least, I got this Lucca Couture Swiss Dot Tank dress, also from Hautelook:

I actually think this dress also looked a lot cuter on the model pics than in person.  But maybe I just need to play with the placement of the elasticized waistband more and try to figure it out.  Because right now I think it makes me look rather shapeless.  I like the material and color though.  Regardless, this one was final sale.  But it was only $19, down from $70.

Hmm I think I now just have one more dress coming in the mail!  Haha.  Hopefully it will be a winner. =)

Baby Blue Multi Striped Cardigan

Wow, I finally bought something I like from Beyond the Rack .  I don't really like this site, because every time I order something, shipping is so so so slow.  I'm talking at least a month.  But a couple months ago I ordered this sweater dress that was pretty cheap, thinking I could wait a month or so for it to show up.  But months went by and then one day they just canceled my order saying they didn't have it anymore!  I paid for it with partial credit, so then I had to find something else to spend my credit on.  So I picked this Baby Blue Multi Striped Cardigan that I figured I could wear to work, and it was only $19:

I don't know what brand Baby Blue is, but it says the original price of this sweater was $78.  I had my doubts about that, but it's actually a really nice sweater!  The material is very soft, pleasant against the skin and it's a really cute fit!  I wore it to work today with a skirt and boots, but I also tried it on with pants and it looks pretty good as well!  I'm really surprised since I didn't really expect to like it too much.  This is 20 bucks well spent for sure!

Another Pair of Ray-Bans! Black/White/Red

I bought a pair of gold Ray-Ban aviators a little while ago which I love of course.  But coincidentally, the same day I bought those, Ray-Ban was on sale on Beyond the Rack.  I rarely see Ray-Ban on those sites and when I have seen it, the prices are not a whole lot cheaper than retail.  I really don't like Beyond the Rack much because they are soooooo slow at shipping (but they charge you right away), but I decided what the heck, I really do need a pair of these black/white/red aviators. 

So I was totally expecting to not receive them until November or something crazy like that.  But they arrived!!!  And they are fabulous.  Let's be honest, a girl can never have too many pairs of Ray-Ban aviators.

I spent like $98 total on these after shipping, and they are currently still on the Ray-Ban site for $139.  After taxes would've been around $150 if I bought retail.  So I saved about $50.  Not bad, that's a decent dinner. 

The half white half red frame is so cool, especially against the gray lense.  The red has the perfect amount of pop without being too out there.  My new hubby likes them a lot and decided to steal them so I have not had a chance to wear them really at all.  But these are definitely coming to Europe with us on our honeymoon next week.  I love it, we can share sunglasses!  I've always thought gay or lesbian couples have an advantage with regards to being able to share fashion pieces.  I love how Ray-Ban aviators are all unisex so we can share too!

Creme Brulee Torch Set!

I had some credit for a return I made on Beyond the Rack a long time ago, and I was finally able to use it.  I ordered from that site twice, and I really will try to not shop there much in the future because I can't take how slow the shipping is.  I think it takes minimum a month to receive something.  So only order stuff you can live without for a while.  Like my new creme brulee torch set I got!

Let's be honest, I am in no hurry to make creme brulees!  But I sure do love them.  In fact, I love them so much that I'm having a chef come to my wedding and make creme brulees for everyone instead of having a wedding cake.  LOL!  It will be awesome.  Who needs cake anyway, I rather splurge my calories on creme brulee and alcohol.

I used to have a creme brulee set with ramekins and a torch but the ramekins were much smaller and shallower.  I made creme brulee once, and I remember it was really really good!  And fun to torch the sugar!  But that was so long ago I don't even remember where they went.  This set came with 4 ramekins, all pretty deep.  So I'll have to try making some again!  They say I can also make melting cheese and meringue pies, etc. with them since they are oven safe.  This set was $29 and a pretty good way for me to spend my credit on, as I just wanted to use credit up without giving them more of my money.

So I was perfectly fine this time with the order taking a month to arrive.  I also ordered some pillows though in order to completely use up my credit, which I was hoping would get here earlier, but they are still not here yet.  So be warned, if you are going to order from this site, be VERY patient!

Paris Hilton Kara Open Toe Pump

I tried out Beyond the Rack a second time and got these Paris Hilton Kara Open Toe Pumps.  I ordered them on 2/22.  They were just delivered today.  Wow, that is SLOW!  Though I've read different reviews of Beyond the Rack saying that some people never receive their orders, or they get wrong item/ wrong size / damaged merchandise, etc. and could not get their money back.  I guess I should count myself lucky that I received both of my orders and they didn't mess them up... LOL!  That's pretty sad.  I did return one of the shirts I got from the Joie sale a couple weeks ago to them, and still have not received my refund.  I also emailed their customer service but no response.  Sooo... I think I might just skip the headache and call my credit card company to get my refund that way.  And probably won't shop on this site again.  I actually almost called my credit card company regarding these shoes I got today since it took soooo long to arrive, and also I didn't think I wanted them anymore, but here they are:

I ordered them in a size 6, my normal size, but they are a little tight.  I really don't remember why I bought these, because I'm not that crazy about them right now.  I think it was because I thought they looked like good nuptial shoes, and I thought they were bluer than they actually are.  Hahaha.  They were cheap though, I got them for $30.  They are high but because they have built in platform, they are comfortable.  I think I could find uses for them.  I'd rather keep them than to deal with the return at Beyond the Rack.  They'd look cute with a black dress.  But I don't think I want to wear them at my wedding.

Actually the shoes that I really want right now are a pair of nude pumps! 

Joie Stuff from Beyond the Rack

I made my first Beyond the Rack purchase a few weeks ago when they had the Joie sale.  I love Joie!  I always lust over the Joie section at Saks or Bloomingdales.  So I finally took the plunge and gave Beyond the Rack a shot.  The reason I hadn't until now was because I had read a lot of complaints from different people about BTR - for example, ordered items never arrive, returns aren't processed, can't get through the customer service, etc. etc.  I made the order about 3 or 4 weeks ago, just received them today.  So the processing time is rather long, and I never got a "item shipped" email from them.  But at least they arrived.  Lol.  They shipped from NY, so shipping time alone took almost a week to get here.

I ordered 2 things - the Two Face Hooded Sweater in Prime Rose, down from $150 to $55, and the Ruched Top in Oyster, down from $140 to $50.

I thought this sweater was kind of neat, it's got a little urban hip thing going on.  It's different from everything else in my closet.  It also came in white and black, I believe.  But I went with this prime rose color which is like a pinkish tan.  It's a good sweater to throw over a short sleeve shirt or tank top.  Though it's been so hot here the past couple days - over 80 degrees!  So I can't wear this right now.  What a bummer.  When I ordered it, it was like 50 degrees and I thought it looked cozy.  Lol.   I ordered it in a size S and it fits true to size and I like it on me.  The length is just right.  It's made of nylon, wool and angora.  The wool makes it slightly scratchy if I don't wear anything under it.  But I think it will be fine with a tank top under.  It's pretty warm too.

I then ordered this Ruched Top because I thought I could wear it under a jacket to work:

I also got this in a size S.  It's a pretty cute and girly top in person when I'm holding it in my hands.  The material is very soft and comfortable too.  But it looks horrible on me!  The chest does not fit right.  The bottom of the seam under the bust kind of sits 2/3 of the way down my boobs, and cuts them off weird.  They also look spread out towards the armpits and not supported well, even though I wore a moderately supportive bra under.  And I don't even have big boobs to begin with.  On me, it does not look anything like it does on the model.  I don't know if sizing up would have helped, since everywhere else fits fine.  So I'm thinking this cut just doesn't work on me.  It's definitely going back.  Oh well, I'm not too upset about this one.  It's an average looking top I can get anywhere else.  It was just one of those things where I was already ordering the hooded sweater, so I thought I'd add it along.  So now I will get to experience how the return process works with Beyond the Rack.  Should be interesting!  They did send me a return label along with the package, so I'm hoping it will be smooth!