September Shopping

Despite a ban that I put on myself, I did some shopping this month :( I thought I'd share the (pretty) good deals that I found along the way.

I made a mental list of things that I really really wanted and I am proud to stay I stuck to it, despite some extras that happened to get thrown in to get free shipping along the way. Here we go:

1. Leather Jacket.
I knew I wanted a leather motorcycle jacket as opposed to a bomber jacket. I was dissuaded by the price points of most jackets (upwards of $250 for real leather)(FAUX leather ones were still approximately $150 at brands like Guess and Express) If I'm going to pay that much for a jacket, I want it to be real leather.
Guess Jacket: $128 at Macy's
Express (minus the) leather bomber jacket: $138 at Express

I had a hard time deciding between brown or black leather, but with some convincing from a friend I decided to go with a brown asymmetrical jacket during one of Hautelook's recent sales. I got it for $179, and although it is a splurge, I know I can wear it for years to come! While I couldn't find my exact jacket online, I did find this one from Piperlime that looks almost exactly like the one I ended up getting:
It is pricier at $378. I love the color Cognac, and it will look very cool zippered up with the asymmetrical lines.

2. Leopard Belt
I have yet to own anything leopard print, and I decided it was about time to try it out. This was was easy for me - I knew a belt would be a cheap way to incorporate leopard into my wardrobe. I got this belt from F21 last night during a mini-haul. I will say, it was VERY hard for me to find $50 worth of stuff to buy just to get the free shipping. I ended up buying BF three t-shirts from the Men's line just to fill up my cart!

3. Curb-link bracelet

I first saw a curb-link bracelet while perusing Atlantic-Pacific's blog. She linked over to where she got hers, but it cost something like $70. I have an unspoken rule that I won't pay more than about $30 for costume jewelry, so that choice was out. For the past month or two I've been constantly looking for a gold (tone) bracelet that fit the bill, but couldn't find anything affordable - only "inspiration" pieces:
YSL: $895
Marc by Marc Jacobs: $98

And then, ALL OF A SUDDEN, last night I came across TOO MANY affordable options to choose from! I ended up getting these from Forever 21 - So I could have both a gold and silver option!

Forever 21 Silver Curb Chain Bracelet: $6.80

Forever 21 Embellished Chain Bracelet: $6.80

(My plan is to cut off the strings that are tied around it, leaving just the gold)

And then I perused Etsy, and found THESE amazing handmade bracelets, that I had to have also! Doesn't the texture look like that YSL one from above?? The seller said she could even remove a link or two to make the bracelet fit better (great for petite ladies like me who have problems with almost all my bracelets falling off!)

Images via Allisprettyjewelry

As I said, I had to fill up my cart at Forever 21, so I also picked up two silky scarves (100% polyester but apparently silk-like) - one in a great jade green and one in red with leopard print. I also got a mustard skinny belt. We'll see what's up with those - I hope they work out because accessories are non returnable :)

4. HP Touchpad case

In case you didnt know, HP decided to opt out of the tablet game and had a serious flash sale on their Touchpad product a few weeks ago (maybe even a month?). My BF alerted me to the sale and we both got a 32 gb touchpad for $150. Seriously a good deal considering the iPad is about 600. Yes, there are some drawbacks to the Touchpad (crappy operating system, no HD camera) but really, I just wanted a cool toy. I don't need it to be a one stop shop for everything. And, Android is supposed to buy out the Touchpad operating system and revamp it - and with android comes cool applications! I really hope it happens (then I can watch Netflix on the touchpad!!)

Since I got this cool toy, I need to protect it. I decided I wanted something like a faux snake-skin or croc-skin case. FYI the Touchpad and the iPad 1 have almost the same dimensions, so iPad 1 cases should fit (according to forums online). I headed to ebay for mine - I ended up getting a faux croc skin case in black for less than $9 and free shipping from China. I'm still waiting on the package (said it could take up to 30 business days, YIKES!) but for 9 bucks you can't beat it!

The Inspiration:

Jimmy Choo: $595

I am really going to try to abstain from shopping for a while, but I think I won't have a problem - especially once these purchases get here and I see them in person!