Thursday, August 11, 2016

Saying NO to beauty has me saying YES to clothes........


So I have been trying REALLY REALLY hard to be well behaved beauty wise. It has ended up working splendidly for my wallet. Not so much for this blog. I have just gotten to the point where I can no longer justify beauty purchases. Other than repurchasing items I run out of, what do I possibly need? NOTHING. I have more polish, lipstick, blush, shadow, etc. than any person could use in a lifetime. And I just want to use it and enjoy what I have. I reached the point where I was simply getting stressed and overwhelmed with all the products I had not even tried yet that buying more no longer became fun. So with that said, I have been REALLY well behaved over the last year and have bought nothing that was not a restocking of, or a refill of a product regularly used. So over the last 4 or 5 months I have been working on de-cluttering my closet. I want to get to the point where my closet is becoming as stress free as my beauty closet. This somehow for me has somehow translated in to buying all sorts of new pieces. But I promise, I am now buying with purpose. It is out with anything that just doesn't fit me right. Out with anything that ALMOST works. Out with anything that will fit me if I just lose 5 pounds. And out with anything I cant blindly yank out of my closet and feel good in. I have recently bagged up multiple garbage bags full of clothes (yes, I have a LOT of clothes) and am trying to fill my closet full of perfect pieces. 


Eshakti is becoming a big part of that it seems. I am up to 13 dresses from them in my closet (and lets forget that I have 5 more en route to me. SHHH!!!). They just fit me perfectly. Custom fit clothing is pretty much the bees knees in my books. Especially when you are as disproportionate as I am. Now in my defense, I do need multiple wardrobes. My everyday work where is business. And then a casual weekends and evenings wardrobe. But I also wear dresses every Friday and Saturday night to synagogue and thats really a third set of clothing. And 2 dresses a week every week alone is a fair amount. Add to that my NYC wardrobe which is a dressier level of everything than here at home and I feel it justifies a large dress wardrobe. And by getting the dresses at Eshakti they are both inexpensive ($50-$100 a dress), and most importantly by customizing them it prevents me from needing to put a cardigan or a shell over or under every dress I buy. And the ability to wear just ONE piece is really making life so much more simple in the morning. 

So dress number 5 (is that what we are up to now?) in my what is apparently becoming a never ending Eshakti review series is the floral embellished colorblock cotton poplin dress. Above is how it comes standard. I dropped the hem from knee length to below the knee, upped the collar to a modified jewel neckline, and then added 3/4 length sleeves. Easy peasy to put on and to be out the door in 45 seconds. And oh yeah, IT HAS POCKETS!!!!!!!!!!!








Bracelet: Hermes Collier De Chien Earrings: Alexis Bittar. Shoes: Coach  Clutch: SamSara for Matt & Nat

Monday, June 6, 2016

Eshakti Take 3 & Take 4

Just in case you guys were not yet fully convinced as to how damn OBSESSED I have become with Eshakti, here is a bit of a hint. Dresses 3 and 4. Yes. I ordered 2 more. We wont even discuss that 5 minutes ago I ordered 3 more. But those ones I had shipped to my family in NYC. So it will be about 3 weeks before I am back there and can pick them up. Yup. That is me. FULLY Obsessed. But in my defense, I am so disproportionate that to find a dress that fits me without alterations needed is a literal impossibility unless its insanely a-lined or it has a ton of stretch. So these are a game changer in my universe. 


Both of these dresses are crepe. They are super light and perfect for summer and yet fully lined! And they fit me as perfectly as can be! I've already worn both dresses multiple times! The seashell one I changed up the neckline making it higher, went from elbow length sleeves to 3/4 and shortened the length up




Tuesday, May 31, 2016

Eshakti Cotton Poplin Colorblock Dress


So the above dress was the FIRST dress I ordered from Eshakti. As you all know by now, DHL (insert four letter expletives here) LOST the package. They promised me they would call me with an update last Monday which is now 8 days ago and, well, crickets. Eshakti on the other hand immediately said they would recut, remake and re ship the item for me. They were very clear that I should not have to wait weeks to hopefully hear from DHL to get my dress. And in less than a week from that point, the new one was remade, packed and in my hands. 


While I really couldn't get any great pics, I must remind everyone that I have a size 6 waist but that I have size 10-12 hips. NOTHING fits me that doesn't have a boat load of stretch to it and even then it usually needs alterations. I am appreciative that I have a great tailor with reasonable rates, but its so nice to not NEED him.


Now the dress fits me perfectly. I do have a few issues with it that prevent me from LOVING it. The white bottom is fairly sheer. So much so that I will need to wear a slip under it. Not a deal breaker, but slightly annoying. The other annoying thing is that this dress WRINKLES. Not like linen so that it will look like a wrinkled mess on you by halfway through the day. But enough that it will have to be ironed every fricken time I wash it. I was not too thrilled with having to pull out the iron (who even knew I had one??!!) but thankfully I like the dress on me enough that I might actually do that. That being said, I will think twice about what cotton poplin dresses I purchase from the brand again. There were two in my shopping cart I took out because they had too many pleats that would have been far too much of a PITA to steam!


Overall I am happy with the dress though. It fits me well, I actually kind of think its flattering on me (something I NEVER say) and its simple and neutral enough to have lots of options with it. I paired it with a Joe Fresh necklace and Kendra Scott elle earrings this time, but its black and white, so pretty much ANYTHING goes.


And I finally pulled back out my Jeanne Beker pumps. These were from the fall 2014 collection exclusive to the Shoe Company and for $80 at the time I figured they would be well worth the money and a go to shoe of mine. And as it turns out I think this is the 5th time I have ever worn them? Am I the only one who does that?




Monday, May 23, 2016

Eshakti Dress Review

If you are an avid blog reader like I am, you have probably read 2,356 reviews of Eshakti before. And I have to say I was very skeptical. 99% of the reviews were done by bloggers who had received the product free for review purposes. Now I am not saying that the majority of bloggers would let that reflect in the review, but it does always make me wonder. So I decided to bite the bullet and BUY a dress to review. Ok. I actually bought TWO dresses to review. One for me and one under my mothers account. And I have ONE of them to review today for you. The other one is not going to make it to me. 

Now for those of you unfamiliar with the brand, Eshakti is an online clothing retailer (mainly dresses). They ship out of India and are delivered via DHL (which almost prevented me from ordering in the first place) and surprisingly arrive quite quickly even though they ship from halfway across the world. My first dress which I have not gotten yet (I will explain that at the end) was ordered on a Thursday and the second dress ordered on the following day, Friday. And this second dress arrived 12 days after ordering. Now what makes this company any different than the 23,433,434,424 other clothing retailers online? This company CUSTOM CUTS every dress to your size specifications. For someone like me who has a size 6 waist and a size 12 hips this is music to my ears. Not only do they custom make the dress to fit your measurements (not just hips and waist, but you have to give about 10 measurements including the circumference of your arms!) but once you choose the dress you want, you then start customizing the STYLE! You can change the neckline (about 10 options), you can change the sleeve length (sleeveless, cap sleeves, inset cap sleeves, elbow length, 3/4 length, bracelet length, long sleeve) and then you can choose the length (mini, above knee, at knee, below knee, midcalf, maxi, or maxi plus 3 inches). You also provide your height so the dresses actually fall where they are supposed to. If you are super short like me (a hair under 5'3) long things drag on the ground, short things fall way too far down the leg or the proportions are just off. For my cousin who is 5'9 everything is too short for her. No issue any more. 

So this was the second dress I ordered. Its a knit dress and I wanted just a comfy maxi dress I could run errands in and that would just be comfy. 


I changed the neckline to the jewel neckline, moved the sleeves from elbow to 3/4 and made it a maxi. Now I do not LOVE the fit. I will be honest. I like my maxi dresses to be LONG and I was worried the ankle length would be too short and so I said I was 5'4 figuring I would want the extra inch. While the dress fits great and I will wear it, I do wish the dress was yet another inch longer. In the future I will say I am 5'5 when ordering maxi length. Again, the length is fine, and I will wear it (any shorter at all though and I would not have) but lesson learned. The knit is really really heavy. So much so it surprised me. The quality really did shock me. And while the sun was blazing and the pictures don't do the colour of the dress any justice it really IS the colour of the stock pictures. 



And of course, I have to wear my new Petra necklace with it. I am determined to get my wear out of it and I freaking love it!


Here is a better shot as to the colour of the dress. I am still off heels since my accident hiking in New Jersey 3 weeks ago so maxi dresses and flats seem to work.


Now the second dress I ordered was a cotton poplin. It was this dress:


I ordered it once more with the 3/4 length sleeve, changed the neckline to the same jewel neckline as the knit maxi I ordered and the length I put at just below the knee. The tracking worked for it right up until it got to Cincinnati (why it would go there to come to me, I have no idea??) and then it just stopped. DHL claims its Eshakti's fault because they mislabeled the customs form and put jacket instead of dress. But even if that is true, how does that cause the company to LOSE the dress? DHL has asked me to send them a picture of the dress to help them in finding it. I phoned eshakti back and the woman I spoke to (Nicole) was very helpful. She said its rare that DHL loses an item but when they do its weeks before they find it (IF they find it). She said it was not my fault and I should not have to wait for weeks to hear back and that they would recut and reship the dress. When ordering from the brand, you can follow your dress through the process. Pattern Creation, Fabric and Kit Creation, Cutting and stitching, Quality control and then finally packing and shipping. The redo of the dress is already done packing and shipping and should be shipped out tomorrow. Now screw ups happen anywhere. And everywhere. Its how a company deals with the screw up that tells me what I need to know about the company. I have been told if DHL locates the dress to tell them to return to sender. What more can you ask for from a company? I will keep you all updated when I get the second dress (formerly described as the first dress). 


Thursday, May 19, 2016

DevaCurl SuperCream Coconut Curl Styler


So while on a cruise my mom ran in to a slight problem. She found that her current haircare was NOT working in the super humid climate she found herself in. So her solution was to pick up the DevaCurl SuperCream Coconut Styling Cream (I can only assume at an American Sephora store, but who knows?). So being that I LOVE LOVE LOVE the DevaCurl Ultra Defining Gel I figured I HAD to try this. And what better way to try a product than to steal it from someone so you don't have to pay for it yourself?

Now, it was raining (actually SNOWING/RAINING) on this day and I got wet trying to take these pictures. That being said, I can say the product wasn't bad. My hair while damp in these pictures is really not frizzing out the way it normally would. But it also was kind of....... limp. All in all I certainly didn't hate the product. Had I bought it I probably would have eventually used it all up. Which in my world is a big deal. I am embarrassed to admit how many hair products get used once then given away or trashed because they just don't float my boat. So I guess in the scheme of things an OK product is pretty good in my book.


And because I am just so in love with the Lulu Frost Petra Mosaic necklace here is a close up of it. I drooled over it and put it in my shopping cart 1000 different times but could not at all justify $525USD for it. It did go down to $273 though at Neiman Marcus and well...... All I can say is the Club Monaco shirt I am wearing (with leather trim pockets at the hip) was a thrift store find I managed to score for $4 instead of its original $250. That balances out insanely priced purchases, doesn't it??


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