The Best and Worst for Shopping End of the Year Sales
This Christmas, I received some amazing gifts from my friends and family. To give everyone a quick overview, I got three pairs of shoes. The first pair are bootie from Zara that are literally my new favorite thing to wear. I was a little hesitant at first since the toe is super pointy and I'm completely anti-point when it comes to shoes, but these aren't as bad as I thought. They are super easy to walk in since there is really no heel. The second pair is some new Stan Smith sneakers, since my other ones were really dirty. I remember walking into Jeffery's searching for some. new ones and a woman there told me that it's a new trend to have your Adidas be dirty. Is that actually a thing though? I've never heard or seen it before and I thought I was pretty up to date on everything. The last pair of shoes that I got were slippers from Ugg for when I go to college. These are just the classic sheepskin slippers, but they have a little bow on top of it which is adorable.
I also got a Michael Kors purse which is my favorite thing. I am a huge Michael Kors fan and I get all my high end bags from there. My old one, which is also Michael Kors, is the only bag that I'll carry around with me when I'm going somewhere for a special occasion. I got it for Christmas two years ago, so they no longer have it, but here are some similar ones (there's also this one too). I guess you could say I'm a fan of the studs!
After just getting amazing Christmas gifts, I found myself tempted to look at online stores for the end of the year sales. I'm usually a huge fan of brick and mortar shopping because then I can touch and feel the clothes and am able to try it on before buying it, but today I felt like online shopping because I couldn't get out from under the covers. As I was looking online, I found a number of stores that had amazing deals. Some of them were stores that I always shop at, but some of them I have never actually shopped at before, since they don't have a retail location at the mall that I go too. One of the pros about online shopping is that there are a lot more stores that you are exposed to and it's not all the same thing. Below is a list of the stores that I think have super sales and some that don't have the best sales!
Good stores:
Tobi: First off, let me start by saying I've never shopped at Tobi before. I've heard all about it from friends and other bloggers, but I just wasn't that attracted to it because I couldn't try any of the clothes on and I had to judge it solely on how it looked on the model, but when I went onto it today, I was amazed at how cute all their clothes were and how awesome the sales were. The first item that went straight into my cart were these Joggers. I loved how they looked on the model and I felt like I had enough in my wardrobe that I could wear with it. I currently don't own any joggers, so I'm excited to see what these ones are like! The second thing that caught my eye was this bright Sweater. I love statement sweaters because they are so easy to pair with bottoms (i.e. funky jeans or striped pants). I think this sweater would look adorable with a pair of distressed boyfriend jeans. Speaking of jeans, this pair of Jeans are literally the coolest thing ever. I fell in love with the construction of the jeans, not to mention the price of them were super cheap! Going along with the denim talk, this Jacket has definitely got to be the most bad ass jacket. I love the fact that it's cropped because there is so much more that you can do with it. I also like the detail of the lace up grommets because that's trend is super popular. Last, but not least, I found this silk Skirt that is super cute. Silk is definitely here to stay and it goes with everything. I think this shirt would look super cool with a velvet or lace top for a night out. If you couldn't tell, I was super impressed with Tobi and would recommend shopping there for sales.
Zaful: Zaful definitely had some adorable sweaters. Just looking at this Sweater, you can already tell that it's going to be a cozy one. I think that the little swirl in it is super different and something that I haven't seen that much lately, and I'm always looking for clothes that are different. This Sweater definitely caught my eye because of the sleeve detail in it. I thought the criss cross and the fact that the arm flared out would be super cool with some basic blue jeans and my new booties. This top is definitely one to have. Although it's super basic, the ruffles on the sleeve and the turtleneck ruffle adds a lot to the top. It would go well with mutually any kind of bottom. I am particularly excited to wear it with my plaid checkered skirt that I bought from Forever 21 during Black Friday. The only disclaimer of buying from Zaful is that it takes a while to receive your order because they are based out of China and it takes a while for them to ship it out.
Free People: At Free People, I was amazed at all the markdowns that they had. Most of the clothes they marked down weren't very wintery, but I found a couple of pieces that I thought could work in this season. First off, I thought these Pants were the coolest, so I bought them for my mom since they were limited in size. My mom and I are huge denim fans, so I thought of her right off the bat when I saw these (they were basically screaming her name). I also loved this Belt because of how the chain goes down to the side. I've been searching for a belt that was reasonably priced, so I jumped at the chance to have one from Free People. The last thing I bought were these Jeans. I thought the graffiti on them looked super cool and I've never worn a pair of Free People jeans before, so I was excited to finally get a pair at such a good price for Free People.
H&M: We all know H&M is always reliable for their affordable priced clothes. Imagine a sale on top of that?! I found some really stylish clothes and shoes at H&M and I thought that they were definitely worth mentioning. I saw this jacket and it's a super stylish jacket to keep you warm this winter. I've never owned an H&M jacket before, but I have heard from others that it is very good quality. The burgundy red color was what made me like it so much since that is one of my favorite colors to wear in the fall/winter time. I also thought that these boots were super trendy and looked really high end. I'm not sure the quality of them, since I didn't get to see them in store, but from the looks of it they are stylish with just the right height for the heel. I fell in love with this sweater dress because of the material that is used for it. A lot of sweaters are now being made with that more heavier, blanket like material that is super soft. I have a similar sweater in the same color and same material and it is my favorite because of how soft it is. This last sweater is also a super stylish look. I think the arm is my favorite part of this sweater. I love how it's more of a droopy kind of look, so you feel more comfortable. I also thought the color was pretty too since it's a more neutral pinkish color, oh, and the fact that it's $7.99!
Bad Stores:
Aritzia: Aritzia is one of those stores that is constantly remaking the same kinds of clothes in the same kinds of colors. I was not all that impressed with the sales because they were not even really sales. The sale was going from $100 to $95, like this scarf. For someone like me, a teenager who makes $50 a week from babysitting, taking $5 or $10 off an item that is $125 isn't a good sale to me because I still won't really be able to afford it. Shopping at Aritzia is definitely shopping for quality instead of price, so when Aritzia has a sale, it's not really all that better unless it's like 70 or 80 percent off. If I was looking for a sweater like this, I would probably look for it somewhere else before buying it at Aritzia just because I've experienced it first hand where I find something exactly like it at Forever 21 for a much cheaper price.
Forever 21: As I've always said, Forever 21 is a hit or miss store. This time, it has to be a miss for me. I just wasn't that impressed with how the online store displayed all the sales stuff, it was kind of overwhelming for me. They had a lot of velvet tops and dresses on sale, some of which I thought were cute. I liked this dress, which is similar to the velvet dress from Urban Outfitters that I already own. The markdown for this dress was awesome.. $9.00!!! But I almost feel like Forever 21 is trying a little too much with the Velvet because that is basically what the entire first page is.. Velvet! Like take this Kimono, for example, I don't think it's really necessary to have it be velvet just because when I think of a kimono, I think of spring or summer, and you wouldn't wear velvet when it's warm out.
Lulus: I feel like Tobi and Lulus are huge competitors because of their similar style of clothing, so when I looked, I wasn't surprised when I saw similar styles, but at a more expensive cost. They had a lot of the same kinds of sweaters that Tobi had. I saw a lot of velvet tops at Lulus, which are always cute, but I just wasn't all that interested in them. Then there were tops like this which I would just never really wear. All of the sales stuff were more of stuff that I would never wear, which is surprising and disappointing because it's telling me as a consumer that Lulus is only marking down the clothes that people aren't going to buy.
Anthropologie: It's not that Anthro had terrible sales, but I just wasn't really impressed with what was on sale. I feel like they had more mixed styles on sale because they had everything from a spring maxi dress to selective faux fur coats on sale, but there wasn't much that I thought I really needed from there. Of course, Anthro has some of the best candles and other beauty products on sale. As I was snooping around, I put some clothes and shoes in my cart, just as a reminder for stuff that I thought were cute. I thought that this top was definitely a classy style that can only be found at Anthro. I also thought that this top was super festive and good for the holidays, but I didn't fall in love with it. The las thing I had in my cart were these boots that I thought were stylish and will go with a lot. Although I personally wasn't that attracted to what Anthro had on sale, that doesn't mean that you won't. The best thing about Anthropologie is that you are 100% paying for the best quality clothes.
Lucky Brand: The lucky brand online store was kind of a let down. They had some sales for the jeans, but all of the jeans were pretty basic ones and were all the same style. They all were the skinny, blue jean that you could get at a much cheaper price from somewhere else. I was hoping that they would have more of their unique styles on sale, because the material is a good quality and the style is good as well. The only pair of jeans that I thought were cute were these red ones because it would look cute to have a layering look with them.
