Blog

Moving from conspicuous to conscious consumption and doing reviews along the way.  Find plenty of unsponsored reviews of Quince, Everlane, Grana, and Cuyana on the site!  I'm working towards a minimal waste lifestyle, and oh yea I love bags >.<

Ilana Kohn Review: The Eleanor Top

I’ve tried a jumpsuit from Ilana Kohn before (Ilana Kohn Harry jumpsuit review here) but I ended up selling it because it was just a bit too small (after some pandemic weight gain) and I found I never wore it. Plus it was made from a heavy denim material so it was a little too hot for everyday wear. But I was impressed with the quality and knew if I saw something from them again I’d try it out. Well I found this Eleanor top on the RealReal and snapped it up right away.

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Weekend Update/Ramblings

Anyway I’ve finally finished my 3 part series on “Tips for Starting a Blog” last week. What did you guys think? It definitely was a lot more that I had intended on writing. Sorry to bore some of you who have no intention of starting a blog lol.

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Two Days Off Clothing Review: Linen Kaneko Dress

As you know I’m a huge fan of the Two Days Off Haruko dress since it made my top favorite things reviewed post and my most worn in 2020 post (you can find my Two Days Off Haruko Dress review here). So in December I decided to gift myself with another couple of pieces from Two Days Off one of which is this Kaneko Dress in mushroom linen. I had seen Gina rock hers on Insta and I knew it was the dress I wanted to try next!

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Mansur Gavriel Mini Protea Bag Review: Is It Worth It & What Fits In It?

I first talked about Mansur Gavriel Mini Protea Bag in exactly this Biscotto color back in June of 2019 (I love how blogging has helped me keep track of things like this lol). Anyway since then I’ve thought about getting this bag off and on but never committed to purchasing it because I didn’t want to pay for it full price and I never saw it for a good price and in good condition secondhand. Well it just took a year and a half for Mansur Gavriel to put it on sale, and even though it’s not returnable I decided to take a chance on it since I’ve been wanting it for over a year. So was it worth the wait? Let me sum it up in a picture:

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Galentine's/Valentine's Day Raffle {Now Closed}

So I’m not one to celebrate Valentine’s day and much prefer Galentine’s day, but either day you celebrate (Feb 14th or 13th), I acknowledge the day as a way to take some time to appreciate your fellow woman/man. In the past I’ve done a giveaway to show my appreciation for you gals who read my blog or follow me on instagram, and who I’ve come to view as my friends. Well this year I thought I might try something a little different by doing a raffle to raise some money for the Loveland Foundation (a perfect Gal/Valentine’s Day non-profit don’t you think?).

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Tips on Starting a Blog, part three: SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and Google Analytics

Disclaimer: I am by no means an expert here and some of my info might be outdated since I last looked up this stuff (5.5 years ago when I started my blog). Please let me know if I am wrong on anything since they change up SEO all the time. And if you want to do further research there are a lot more expert sites out there about this topic. These are just my basic beginner tips:

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Ree Projects Review: The Mini Helene Tote Bag {Updated February 2022}

Ree Projects is an Amsterdam-based, Black female-owned business that produces beautiful bags made in Italy. I first found them on Instagram and fell in love with the unusual shape of this Helene Mini tote bag. After doing a little more research and reading their sustainability manifesto I knew Ree Projects is the kind of intentional brand I wanted to support. So I contacted Desiree directly when I saw that the color I wanted (this caramel one) was out of stock. Lucky for me they had one left in the warehouse at the time and I purchased it directly from her. This was early July of last year (I know this review is looong overdue). Now I see that her bags are more readily available (and a little less than what I paid for due to the Euro-USD conversion at the time). Purseblog even did a full interview with her here in October. Guess I know a noteworthy bag and brand when I see one!

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Weekend Update/Ramblings

After announcing my resolution to spend less time on social media last weekend (which I thought might be fueling my excessive shopping in January), I tried to be more mindful of my screen time in general. I’m glad I had tried this before over 2 years ago (read about that experience after reading How to Breakup with your Phone here). But it’s funny how those habits eventually degrade (for example I no longer have no phone zones left in my house) while others still remain but make no difference (like having my Instagram tucked away in a different folder).

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What I Bought in January

Ok so I kind of went overboard on the buying in January. I really don’t know where my willpower went. As I mentioned over the weekend I think it was a combo so sales and too much social media 🤦🏻‍♀️. And of course the sales didn’t help. But I’m definitely planning to do some low-buy months coming up to make up for it.

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Weekend Update/Ramblings

Hi guys! How are you doing? It’s been awhile since my last weekend update post (is this maybe the first of the year?). I guess I haven’t been compelled to write since nothing much has been going on with me personally, though I did feel a lot of doom and gloom since 1/6. But I have to say I work up on Thursday feeling generally relieved and lightened. I know there’s still a lot to work on and fix in this country but I can feel the hope again.

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Tips on Starting a Blog, part one: How to Start

{Update: This is part one. You can find part two about social media and monetization of a blog here. Part three is about Google Analytics and Google Search Optimization.}

As I start a new blog here (though of course not completely from scratch) I feel like it’s a good time to touch upon what I consider the essential steps of starting a blog. When I started this blog (formerly known as Temporary Housewifey), I really didn’t know what I was doing. So I went to a Bloguettes course in LA that helped me learned the basics (how to do simple photoshop things, learn about affiliate networks, etc.). It was a start but I learned so much more from just doing. So here are some things I’ve learned on how to start a blog after blogging for the last 5.5 years:

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Fairly Curated Values

This post is a bit like my mission statement for this blog, as in what does it mean to be “fairly curated.” And these are the goals I’m setting for myself and for this blog. I will try my best to adhere to these curation guidelines whenever I purchase something or review it on my blog. Of course I will mess up from time to time (or who knows, maybe a lot), but I promise to keep trying and I plan to use this post as my North Star, so to speak. So to be fairly curated, items must check at least one of these requirements (but preferably more):

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Beklina Review: The Matisse Criss Cross Platform Slides

I bought these Beklina Matisse Criss Cross Platform Slides back in November and if you follow me on Insta you’ve probably seen them a lot. I first heard of this small women-owned ethical brand from Erica (my number one enabler/tempter lol), but had seen her shoes before (especially her clogs and sandals). So when she had a November sale I couldn’t resist getting these platform slides in buff (with the 50% off sale I got them for $115 including tax and shipping—such a good deal for ethically made clog-type shoes).

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My Thoughts About 1/6/21

I decided to write a short blog post about yesterday’s invasion of the US Capitol Building by domestic terrorists because I didn’t feel like I could adequately express all my feelings in an Instagram post. Plus I didn’t want to just add to the noise and repeated re-posts (of things like the picture above). If you’re reading this long-form, stream-of-consciousness post then you’ll probably most likely forgive some political ranting from an unpolitical blogger.

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Unsponsored Arq Underwear Review {Updated July 2021}

In some cultures it’s lucky to wear new underwear for the new year. So what’s more fitting than my first review here to be about new underwear for the new year on my new blog? And what better color than green since it signifies better luck for this year than the last. Here’s hoping 2021 is a much better year! So what did I think of the much instagrammed ARQ underwear?

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Fairly Curated: Why I Renamed My Blog

Hi guys and welcome to my new blog name! If you’ve been following me for a bit, you know I’ve hinted at this name change for quite awhile now (I think it’s been over 2 years— I remember talking about it before Emi’s birth). Anyway I hope you were able to find me alright here and I haven’t lost too many of you guys in the name change (I’m not sure if you have to re-subscribe if you follow via email or RSS feed. Please let me know if you run into any issues!). It’s still just me writing the blog and the content will remain largely the same (reviews, reviews, and some personal posts).

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Happy New Year!

Happy New Year guys! We’ve made it to 2021! Every year I write a new year’s post and most years I feel like doing resolutions. This year, not so much. I guess it’s because I don’t want to add a bunch of expectations to the year since things still seem so uncertain. Well I do have one blog-related resolution: this year I will be changing the name (and the url—ugh gonna have to move everything)! Stay tuned for the name change! Also because of this I might be slowing down on the posts for now. But once everything is up and running I’ll be back to my regularly scheduled reviewing and posting.

Anyway I hope everyone had a safe and happy new year! Are you guys doing resolutions for 2021? If so please share! Maybe you’ll inspire me to make more. 😁

What I Bought in December

Well I’m ending this year of “What I Bought” posts with a bang. I definitely bought a lot of stuff this month and I chalk it up to sales, fatigue from resisting sales, and just getting caught up in that consumer frenzy that goes around this time of year. Ah well at least most of my purchases were from slow fashion brands and secondhand and I was good at not shopping for most of the year (well that’s what I’m telling myself to justify it lol). Without further ado here are the last things I bought this year:

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