celebration

top: Isabel Marant Yony

feather skirt: Michael Michael Kors

shoes: Marni

coat: Theory

necklaces: Club Monaco

I was getting ready to go out to celebrate the new year's eve....I got this Michael Michael Kors feather skirt on ebay for about $100 (retailed for $200) long time ago and planned to wear this skirt for the Christmas parties but didn't get to do so. I thought the feather skirt was fun and not really dated...so I could wear this to some kind of evening outings. The down side is the skirt is delicate and some feathers fell out. The weather wasn't that cold so I got to wear this Marni heels.....they were the last pair at the store and were 30% off. I was always afraid to wear them on the street but yesterday was okay, without tights would be much better.

New Year's Eve

~~~~~~新年新氣象~~~~~~

2011 was a bitter sweet year, it wasn't easy but made me see life differently. With the hardships along the path, focusing on the little positive things to make the journey much more memorable and a positive lesson. This blog is one of the positive aspects in 2011. Thanks to the people who encouraged me to start blogging....and your input on this blog.

Forum Street Style: Go Short or Go Skinny

I was featured at the Fashion Spot - Street Style...check me out ^_^

Forum Street Style: Go Short or Go Skinny

My Holy Grail - OIL

I would like to share a couple of the products I have been using.

Desert Essence JoJoba Oil
I have always had oily skin and when I was younger I had a lot of acne that lead to bad skin. I have to say Jurlique really saved my skin and it's very expensive but last for a long time as well. Since I've used Jurlique for a long time, my skin sort of got used to it and it just doesn't feel as amazing as before. But this is not the main product I wanted to share in this post. Few years ago, my skin got very dry in the beginning of the winter, I tried putting a lot of heavy lotion on my face and it just didn't do anything. Especially when I put the foundation on, the flakes of the skin just become so obvious. Thanks for makeupalley review and I bought a bottle to try and just a couple of days, my skin was no longer dry and flaky. I used it in the summer as well because jojoba oil is very similar to our human oil secretion and it actually balances out the oil on our faces. I recommended it to most of my family and friends, acne prone always told me they don't put oil on their faces. But I so far haven't had any problem with it, but the rest use the oil faithfully. Just a little drop added to my daily moisturizer and it just does wonders. Sometimes I use the jojoba oil as eye makeup remover, especially when the makeup remover couldn't remove all the mascara. I usually get it from Trader Joes for a little less than $8. Wholefood also sells it but double of the listed price at Trader Joes.

If you are interested in jojoba oil, read here.

Alterna Bamboo Kendi Oil/Mist 
Though I have oily skin but my hair is kind of dry and I have always wanted that shiny hair look. I've tried many products on the markets and found this HG hair oil. I tried both oil and the mist both are $24, I like the mist a little better. The oil is quite thick and may be I use too much so my hair does get smoother but I felt it weights down my hair a little (just very little). With the mist, I could use it after I blew dry my hair as finish touch up. But I don't do it with the oil, with the oil you really have to apply when the hair is damp and blow dry the hair. The oil smells amazing. I get them at skinstore.com, they have promotion all the time, I usually wait until they have promotion of 20% off and buy more than $49 to get free shipping. Only few states need to pay tax and it really works out great for me.

leopard + fringe

top: Isabel Marant Etoile Belina

shorts: Muubaa

shoes: Isabel Marant Mony

jacket: ICB

It's been cold lately but for the sake of my blog, I was willing to endure the cold for a couple of minutes. I love my belina so much and I decided to wear it again and paired with the Mony boots. Though I got this top on sale, it's still expensive for me....so I thought about cost per wear and decided to wear the top whenever I could. The shoulder design did turn some people away but I thought it's just so unique.

deals @ Yoox

Isabel Marant cropped jeans, all size available $268, get it here

Isabel Marant jeans, size 4,6,8  $268, get it here

Isabel Marant jeans in 3 different colors,  only, $178, get it here

Isabel Marant Franklin boots, 2 colors available most sizes are still available, $748, get it here

 My favourite cropped jeans for $288 unfortunately only size 10 left, get it here

stripes + leopard

top: Isabel Marant Etoile, Yony metallic top, get it here or here

skirt: IRO

jacket: ICB 

coat: Daniel Hechter

shoes: Isabel Marant Mony

belt: Zara

bag: Givenchy Pandora

scarf: inspired version from ioffer

I finally got to get a picture of this IM yony top which I got on the second marked down from NAP for $162 and it's $159 @ Barneys. It's so versatile which goes with almost everything in my closet. The fact that it has some metallic in the fabric makes it very chic in an understating way....I wore it to a party with leather pants. This top is cut quite small, I am usually a size 2 and I got it in a size 2 (FR sizing). I tried the size 1 which was quite tight on me, so I would recommend to size up.
This fur (on body only) jacket I got over 10 years ago for about $250 is still warm and stylish, no piling on the sleeves. I had it cleaned once and the store told me it's very hard to do so since the whole thing is not fur but partial and it took me almost a month to get it back. I actually saw something very similar at Barneys Coop at Soho but I couldn't find it online.
Lastly, this inspired (faked) leopard scarf....hopefully I didn't offend anyone. I think the original was very expensive and I couldn't bring myself to buy the real thing at the time (I finally bought a real one last winter) so I decided to buy 2 from ioffer. And actually I bought two more from a store on Amazon in two different colorways and they both were not as great as the original scarf. The one from the ioffer hangs better, because it has to do with the blend, the fringe is quite awful and the worst part is the logo, I wish it's without the logo and the leopard prints only. The one from Amazon has better fringe but I do not like the fabric blend, it just doesn't hang right...i found a nice one on NAP...check it out here.

zipper bracelet

I saw this bracelet/bangle from an email and browsed some more and found it at shopbop for $176. Actually I saw a couple more similar zipper bracelets on Nastygal.com for $12 but they were sold out. Like always I am late to the new things. I am wondering if this bracelet is a easy slip on or there's a hidden hinge somewhere....

what a wonderful deal...oops i meant gift

 

I wanted to buy a nice gift and the first time browsing was on gilt.com, tho the discount was very appealing but even after the discount the few watches that I really liked were still around $450 before tax and shipping. And I browsed some more and was looking for sale on Bloomingdale's, Neiman Marucs and Nordstrom and unfortunately there was no sale in the watch department. And I browsed some famous online discount store like Overstock, Bluefly, Ebay and Amazon and I finally found the best deal I could find at the time.

I found this watch (Emporio Armani) at Amazon, original price was $345 and I got it for $229 shipping and all fees included already. That's about 34% off. The seller on Amazon was WWRETAILERS and they carry many watches, click here. The one I got was sold out but there are other styles.

You can still get the same watch here for $235 but it's a different seller so I am not sure about shipping and tax. When purchase from Amazon I believe the warranty also came with the watch. Though it's too late to get it for Christmas but there are anniversaries, birthdays and Valentine's day.

Thank you for reading and have a very Merry Christmas!!

Isable Marant - Belina top

top: Isabel Marant, Belina

pants: Vince leather panel pants (ebay for 1/4 of the orig price)

shoes: Christian Louboutin (upper); IM dicker (lower)

I bought this top on net-a-porter international site on sale for about 35% off. I used the HK site instead of the UK site, i don't know why things were cheaper on the HK site and I did pay for the duty which was included in the total of NAP's invoice. I thought my saved more but when the final bill went thru it's more than the invoice, i guess it had to do with the exchange rate. Anyway, I still save more than purchasing from the US site. The top was completely sold out everywhere and  i got this in size 3 which i thought i could do a 2 best it's sold out. it does leave room for me to dry clean it with the possible shrinkage so i think size 3 works!!

good deals @ Matches Fashion

hello,

i was just browsing online shopping site, and found some great deals. but be aware that matches fashion is shipping from the UK, and shipping is $45 + very steep DHL duty...but i think the few things i mention below are still worth the fees. unfortunately i maxed out my shopping budget...or else i would have gotten them.

Isabel Marant shoes, available is size 6 and 7 only. for only $202. i believe they are from last year but these are HOT. get it here.

i am sure this pair was from the same season as the red one. they are available from size 6 to size 10. more versatile and only for $214. get it here.

this dress was also quite sought after when it first came out. only size 3 left and for $244. get it here.

floral + fur

dress: Isabel Marant - Etoile

shoes: Isabel Marant Mony

cardigan: Club Monaco

coat: Theory 

scarf: Theory

I got this dark navy floral dress at IM store NYC for 40% off, original price was $370. Thanks to the SA at the IM store gave me a call for the sale. The whole store was on sale but there were very few left in my size. This dress is size 2 and came with a fabric belt and I actually like this size...since IM cuts quite small.
I bought the coat together with the scarf last year, they both were 40% off at NM (Jersey). The coat was tax free but I had to pay tax for the scarf not sure why it's like that in NJ but it's about 6% instead of almost 9% in NY. I saw this same scarf in black this season and retail for $495 (I can't be sure) so it was slightly more expensive than last year's price tag. It's warm and very convenient to wear since I don't need to tie or do anything with it.
I think the boots really compliment the whole outfit. The fact that they go with almost any outfits, they looks so edgy and fun. Though I can't really wear them to any Christmas parties but anything else they just are my most favourite shoes this winter. 

cropped leather pants

Currently I have been obsessing about cropped leather pants....so I found two pairs I wanted to share.
This is Acne cropped leather pants I saw on Shopbop and now it's on sale for 30% off . It still is too expensive $938 + tax for me but I thought I want to share this news.

And I also found another pair cropped leather pants by Vanessa Bruno Athe with a more reasonable price at revolve for $514. Only size 2 and 4 left. Unfortunately I couldn't find any black leather cropped pants but I thought if you already had a pair of black then these two can really work well in your wardrobe.

I bought a pair of suede leather pants for 70% off last year and the inseam was 34-inch. I don't have legs that long and I thought about it for a while and decided to shorten them. I had a pair of leather pants altered before and the specialist only cut the pants short....so...I think "I can do that". And I did. I will show them in the next post.

Personal experience: I do find high end leather pants are better made, the leather is less prone to saggy butt & knee. I am sad to say....my Theory leather skirt also sagged at the butt area...it wasn't that expensive but it sure wasn't cheap. I would love to hear your experience with leather pants/skirts.

1 score, 1 loss, someone please grab them

With all the crazy sales going on, I managed to score a white simple top which made me quite happy.
This See by Chloe white blouse is on sale for $148, size 8 left only, original price was $370. I got the size 6 and I normally wear size 2. So if you are size 4-6...this should work for you.

And I thought I was going to score another victory but unfortunately leather pants are less forgiving in terms of sizing. My loss is your gain, size 6 (FR 38)  Vanessa Bruno leather cropped skinny pants. Original price was $665 and now it's $232. I will send them back tomorrow and hopefully they will be available in a day or two. I was tempted to alter them but thought it's just too much work and too risky, I will wait for the perfect one.

 

personal notes

I came to realize that the title of my blog is misleading and that was never my intention to do so. My definition of budget was in the goal of hunting good deals instead of focusing on high street fashion. My first post already set the tone of my blog.
Very few of my recent purchases were full retail price and I bought a lot of them on sale or on Ebay. I didn't mention each time of the same item I wear because I didn't feel I need to. I did introduce each item I wear the first time, how I found them and what kind of deal I got, and didn't feel I have to mention it every time.
I admit I love labels, especially the bridge brands, because of the minimal design and the quality of the fabrics. I also fall out of love with my clothes pretty fast so I felt buying them on sale would justify my "unfaithfulness" towards my clothes.
I have totally 5 pairs of jeans and two of them (dark wash) I got over 5 years ago and 2 of them (black) I got two years ago. And I just bought a new pair may be two months ago. I may buy quite frequently but I don't buy the same or similar pieces. That's exactly this blog is all about: buying something with some research and pay for the quality with a discount price. It's about buying 2 pairs of good quality shoes instead of buying 5 pairs of trendy shoes. It's about experimenting mix and match with same pieces from my closet instead of experimenting with what's the most on trend items.
This blog will evolve just like the way I change, my taste might change...just like the way I was so obsessed with Zara in the summer and now it's Isabel Marant.

Thank you for reading.

my old but great coat

top: Isabel Marant Mendy

skirt: IRO

shoes: Isabel Marant Mony

jacket: Isabel Marant Lexy

coat: Daniel Hechter

scarf: LV

It's kind of chilly this morning but I didn't want to bundle up. I picked this 12 year old coat that I got when I was in HK. I honestly am not familiar with this designer but it's French. After wearing this coat for over 12 years and I have to say the quality is excellent. There's absolutely no pills at all, it's light weight and it's warm with layering. I don't think I can wear this coat when it's 30 degree out but it's fine in the 40s with layering. I like the fact the the collar can be pulled up or down which gives a different look. I think the coat cost about 100 USD at the time....it's one of the best investment I've made over the years.