I got a bit carried away again during my birthday month (again). I think pandemic + stress + the excuse of my birthday let’s me get more carried away than I want.

What I Bought

Tiered Felted Blouse from Olive Clothing: I was influenced by Brianna on this one. I saw her version of it in black on Instagram and I instantly fell in love. I had never heard of Olive before but they are a family-owned business from the UK. They don’t market themselves as ethical but they do have a corporate conscious statement and take their ethical responsibilities as a brand seriously.

Small Lot Co. Mary Jane Shoes in Rust: Instagram influence hit again and I purchased these shoes after seeing both Erica and Brianna talking about them. I’m impressed that these shoes are made from upcycled cotton canvas, dyed with plant based dyes, and have natural rubber soles, so theoretically they are fully biodegradable. Overall, their shoes are just super cute. I wanted to get the Indigo ones as well but decided on the more neutral colored ones and see if I like them first before diving in and buying two.

Valextra Bucket Bag: So this is my birthday present to myself. Ever since I let go of my Celine Sangle Bag (review here) I’ve been wanting something similar but less heavy. At first I was thinking about the small Celine Sangle but it really wasn’t doing it for me (especially since I still want to be able to carry a good amount of kid stuff). When I saw this Valextra Bucket Bag with contrasting outer pocket I just knew it was what I’ve been looking for. I talk about it here in a weekend ramblings post.

Doen Chysanthe top and Henrik Vibsvok pink dress: I got this secondhand from Linda via her Insta shop. I’ve been wanting to try Doen for awhile now but haven’t found anything in my price point that was also of 100% natural fibers. Well I was super happy to find this 100% silk Chrtsanthe top at a really good price. The pink dress was kind of an impulse add-on, but I also love it!

What I Was Gifted

Verlein Ana Bag: Veronika, the founder of this brand out of Prague, emailed me out of the blue and kindly asked if I wanted to try out their bag for a review. Verlein reminded me a lot of another high-quality yet reasonably priced bag brand and so I was very excited to try them out. And let me just say, I was not disappointed! I reviewed the Verlein Ana crossbody bag last week.

The Curated Teddy Coat: I’ve been loving the coats from The Curated for awhile now but could never quite bite the bullet. But when there was a 25% of promo code for the Last Chance items, and since they weren’t bringing back the Teddy Coat, I asked my mom for a bday gift and lucky me she said yes (I wonder if I’ll ever be too old for a bday gift from my mom lol). Anyway I’ve been eyeing the Teddy ever since I saw it on Kristy (but hers is a different style in a different color). I love the fact that it’s made from all natural fibers (no polyester plastic in sight!). I hope it’s still cold enough in California to wear it next month. Or I’ll just save it for the summer in SF 😆.

What I Resisted or Returned

I’m not sure how I even ended up on the COS page but I really wanted to get this matching sweater skirt and top in a ribbed boucle texture (seriously it looks so dreamy). But I resisted because mostly I can’t wear this in Hawaii so I’d have to wait until I get back to Cali and who knows if it’ll still be cold enough for the outfit in April. Also COS isn’t somewhere I usually shop since (to me) they are pretty much fast fashion (as they are the older sister to H&M). So I’ll just dream from afar.

But like I mentioned in my Insta, I did let myself have my annual Zara browse where I bought some things to try on from Zara (their fitting rooms are closed). But I ended up returning everything (as usual). Not to sound like a complete snob (but I know I will), I just don’t have the patience to suss out the “good” quality fast fashion stuff anymore so I don’t ever find anything decent which I know will last.

I also bought and then returned the Madewell Balloon Jeans and texture cotton top. It was fun to go in-person shopping and try on clothes in the store, which I’d been holding off doing since it’s not an essential activity. But in the end when I brought the clothes home and really assessed whether or not they suited me, I had to say I was “meh” about them. So back they went (but I will do a quick review of the Madewell balloon jeans compared to my current fave Agolde 90’s jeans soon).

Okay I’m really going to have to rein in my shopping because I’m not sure how I’m going to be able to take everything back to California. I might have to do an Insta closet sale before I go or else pay for extra shipping 😆