Recent Acquisitions: Thrift Store, Forever21, LUSH, The Body Shop, and More

It's been awhile since I did a round up of some of the deece purches (um, that's decent purchases for anyone NITK) (that's "not in the know," for all of those who weren't in the know) that I've been making over the last couple of months, so UM let's do one of those, EH?

(That wasn't a genuine "eh," I confess. I was being facetious.)

Here we go!

Shoppers Drug Mart:

Maybelline Color Show Gilded Rose nail polish - $3.99 (for .23 fl oz)

I showed off pictures of this polish in last week's nail polish post, plus a description of its fabulousness. Go there to read more.

LUSH:

Big solid conditioner - $12.34 for 124g (in the US, it's $9.95/3.5oz) 

Alright, this stuff is a bit weird to use, but I can't argue with the fact that it leaves my hair feeling nice and soft. The idea of a solid conditioner was completely new to me, so I made sure to get a full run-down of how to use the damn thing from one of the friendly LUSH store employees. There are a couple different ways to use this: 1) Moisten the bar a bit under the warm shower water, then apply the product directly to your hair by running the bar down the length of your strands. Massage the conditioner into your hair well, then rinse. 2) Break off a small bit of the conditioner bar and rub it between your hands, then use your hands to coat your hair. I prefer the second method, because the first method results in the conditioner bar being covered in stray hairs, which is just not attractive.

I've been using this conditioner in conjunction with the Davines Mellow Shampoo I bought back in May as well as my Kevin Murphy hair oil (both products are spotlighted in this blog) and it leaves my hair feeling lovely for days.

Here's what the LUSH site says about the product:

Big conditioner livens up dull, limp and fine hair with a jolt of volume and shine. It carries with it the beautiful fragrance of the vanilla, jasmine and tonka absolute to perfume hair while the sea salt goes to work building body. Extra virgin coconut oil and toothed wracked seaweed infusion soften and condition hair without weighing it down, while a squeeze of lemon juice and fresh lime add even more shine.

Forever21:

Blue flannel snap-button up - $23.80

I'm a sucker for a good flannel button up! Especially with autumn approaching, this one was a must! Makes me wanna throw on some torn jeans and hop on a hayride.

Lacy mint bralette - $6.80

This is the cutest damn thing. It's a super soft and thin bralette with a goose-bump style fabric detail and a lacy trim. Perfect to wear as a pajama top on these hot summer nights. The one pictured is obviously pink, but mine is in a pastel mint.

Hooded jacket: $41.80

This jacket is so me! It reminds me of something I would have owned in elementary school. It's lightweight, and isn't as doubly layered as it appears. The entire jacket isn't lined in the grey sweatshirt material - only what you see. There's a rope around the waist for cinching and snap buttons on the front, pockets and sleeves. So "fall in New England"!

Floral Sunglasses - $6.80

When my colorful turquoise sunglasses fell into the English Bay last month, I needed to run out to Forever21 for a replacement pair (... or two). These floral glasses have been on my face everyday since then!

Mint square sunglasses - $6.80

Big, mint, square and FABULOUUUUUSSSS! No seriously though, these bad bitches are actually maybe a touch too fabulous for me. They're pretty serious, size-wise!

Green and grey baseball style burnout tee - $9.80

Suuupuer comfy, this shirt has been a nice one to throw on for an evening walk or to run out for a quick errand. It'll obviously transition perfectly into fall as well.

The Body Shop:

Moringa Hand Cream - $10.00

I'd never been to The Body Shop before, but I heard from a couple of my local Vancouver blogging buddies that the Shop was having a pretty good sale, which made it seem like a fairly attractive time to check it out. I sniffed several of their hand creams before deciding to buy a small 1.0 oz tube of this handsomely floral smelling lotion. Made with cold-pressed seed oil from hand-picked moringa pods, this cream is lightweight and absorbs quickly. The scent is pretty potent though - and a little goes a long way.

Cocoa Butter Body Butter - $6.00

I've never really been a purchaser of body lotions or cocoa butter products, but the term "body butter" is pretty inviting, right? For $6, this seemed like a low-risk way to try out another product from The Body Shop, so after sifting through their bin of 1.69 oz body butters, the Cocoa Butter scent emerged triumphant. I've been using it sparingly on my shoulders, elbows and some stretch marks on my hips. Of course I'm not exactly expecting any magic to happen on those stretch marks, but the lotion most definitely leaves my skin feeling soft, without an overpowering smell.

Salvation Army:

You guys know I love a good trip to my local 4th Ave Salvation Army here in Vancouver. If you're in Vancouver and don't frequent this thrift shop, you CERTAINLY can't blame me. Ok, now bear with me here because several of these items are now no longer available for me to photograph because I've packed them away into boxes in preparation for an upcoming move. (I'll also explain that last sentence soon.) We'll start with the items I do have pictures of:

Thin brown belt - $3.99

Not too much to say about this should-have-already-owned-one closet basic. I needed one. Now I have one. And it fits perfectly.

Flower painting - $3.75

All photos were 25% off that day at my Salvay, so I took advantage of that sale and browsed through their awesome photos and paintings selection for a good long while. This painting is reminiscent of all the cherry blossoms that are all over Vancouver, which is why I liked it. I'll probably try to paint the frame white, because the salmon color isn't really working for me.

Tiny brown ceramic pot - $1.99

You can never have enough small ceramic pots, I always say.

Thrift shop purchases that I can't photograph because they are packed away:

• blue knit poncho/shawl (imagine this, except human-sized and only covering the chest/shoulder region)
• fuchsia, retro-looking sundress (which I might need to either alter in some way or re-thrift)
• book with healthy smoothie recipes
• random purple athletic t-shirt with sweat-wicking fabric (should be perfect for hikes)

Well I hope you've enjoyed this virtual trip down Shopping for Shit Lane. Any of these items make you wanna go spend some money on things you may or may not totally need?

FACEBOOK TWITTER PINTEREST INSTAGRAM

Recent Thrifting Scores

Ooooh hey, Monday. You came back. YOU ALWAYS DO.

Did you guys watch the Oscars last night? I had it on in the background as I was writing this very blog, so I saw a bit of the broadcast. Ellen is so funny - she really had me cracking up. That was a nice way to cap off the weekend.

I mentioned in a blog last week that a recent post-gym stop into the 4th Ave Salvation Army yielded some decent results for me. I wanted to share with you the three pieces that came home with me that day!

Grey American Eagle corduroys - $5.99

I've been looking for a pair of corduroy pants for a looooong time now, but it's been really hard for me to find a pair that isn't too baggy or too tight. These American Eagle cords looked too "THOSE COULD BE THE ONES" for me to pass up.

I don't reeeeally like trying on clothes (such a hassle, #AMIRIGHT?), so I kind of just eye-balled these cords in the store and decided that they would fit me well enough. Salvation Army has a return policy anyway, so no real gamble on my part. The pants did end up fitting pretty well, although they are quite low-rise. Can't go belt-free in these bad boys.

These material of these pants leans on the thinner side, so I'm also looking forward to wearing them in the spring and summer, when I can roll them up a bit and wear them with sandals and flip flops.

Taupe Razzle Dazzle sweater - $7.99

I LOVE this sweater. I kind of have a thing for big buttons (there may even be an upcoming post totally dedicated to them actually), and this light brown cap-sleeve sweater has two of them front and center.

I love the cozy high collar...

... and the two cute mini pockets in the front. 

I've worn this sweater a ton already - there are endless options for what kind of shirt you can wear beneath it, so you can dress it up or keep it casual.

Belvedere Vodka tree t-shirt - $3.99

I barely even drink alcohol, so I'm not tryna be a walking advertisement for vodka or anything, but I am a sucker for a nice tree graphic. The Belvedere logo was actually quite hidden on the shirt, so I didn't notice it on the sleeve till I was taking these pictures days later:

This tee is pretty big, so my plan is to rip the sleeves off Jersey-Shore style and turn it into a sleeveless workout shirt, since I like my workout shirts long enough to cover my bum.

All in all, this was another successful trip to the local thrift shop!

I've said it before and I'll say it again... the Salvation Army on 4th Ave in Vancouver is the bee's knees. The dog's tuxedo. The cat's meow. The bear's aviator glasses. (I made that last one up, but maybe it'll catch on?) Clothes, purses, books (including some great coffee table books), 90s music, furniture, shoes, tons of glassware and dish sets, clocks, knick-knacks, DVDs... and all well-organized and reasonably clean. Some Salvays or thrift shops can have sort of a dirty/unclean/stinky feel to them, but this particular one is quite a decently pleasant one to be in. I mean... I still wash my hands upon my return home from there. But I don't have to take a whole shower.

Do you have a great thrift shop near your home?

I'm not the only one who hates trying on clothes right?

I hope your Monday doesn't suck! Cheers :)

FACEBOOK TWITTER PINTEREST INSTAGRAM

Neon Jeans, Neon Nails

What? You don't have a bright neon yellow pair of jeans? I DO.

Last year Dave and I went to a Thrift Shop Party - a party where all the attendees were to show up wearing their most ridiculous thrift shop finds. At my local Salvation Army I happened to have found a pair of neon yellow H&M jeans that still had their original tags on them. Check out my thrift shop outfit from the party last year:

.  you want my neon argyle  .
.  but you can't have it  .

Yesterday was Halloween, as you know, and I had tentative plans with Dave to head out to a Halloween party. But just my luck, I woke up with a stomach ache that lingered for most of the day and even though dressing up and attending a costume party is on my Fall To-Do List, we ended up skipping this particular party. Had we gone, I would have dressed up in all neon, head-to-toe.  (You can see my neon costume from Halloween 2011 here.)  In addition to my neon yellow jeans, I have a fabulous neon pink shirt that I was planning on wearing.

Why am I telling you about what I didn't end up wearing last night? Because I painted my nails yesterday afternoon, just in case we did go to the party. So there's some serious neon on my nails right now. THAT'S WHERE YOU COME IN. Because you're here for nails, right?

.  bam  .

Have you ever seen Orly's Glowstick polish?? I've been enthralled by the idea of owning it for a couple of years now. I thought that my inexpensive Claire's brand of neon yellow nail polish was sufficing, but now that I've tried Glowstick, the Claire's neon might as well go into the garbage.  Glowstick is sooo much more pigmented, and I almost didn't even need a second coat to be opaque over a white base.  But I gave it one anyway :)

First I applied a base coat and a single coat of a white polish to all of my nails. The white base is a must when you are using neons - it makes the colors pop like whoa! For my left hand, I used Glowstick on my pointer, middle and pinky nails. On my thumb I used two coats of Orly's Truly Tangerine, and on my ring finger I used two coats of Love & Beauty's neon green.

Sidebar:  Don't mind my wonky middle finger nail in the above pics. When I file my nails squarely, the corners always weaken first and snap off at an angle like that. It's especially dreadful when it happens the day before my weekly nail polish post. Womp womp.

On my right hand, I switched things up a bit and used the Truly Tangerine on my pinky, middle and pointer; Glowstick on my ring finger; and neon green on my thumb. Truly Tangerine is seriously bright, isn't it? It's like traffic-cone bright.

And OH yeah - here are my neon nails posing with their neon jeans! 

Damn ladies!! Looking fresh 'n poppin!

I'm not ruling out the possibility of something Halloween-related happening this weekend, so there's still potential for the entire neon outfit to come together somewhere, somehow. Whatever happens, my neon nails will be ready.

Did you dress up and get buckwild last night? Tweet me your costume pics @akaBailey!

Find me on Facebook! ~ Holla @ me on Twitter ~

{Linking up with Friday's Fab Favorites, The Nail Files,  Halloween Link-Up, and What I'm Loving Fridays} 

Turning Shirts into Pillow Covers

An embarrassingly long time ago, I posted a thrift shop haul with a couple of button-up shirts from the 4th Ave Salvation Army and coyly teased that I was going to be undertaking a project with them soon.

Well that was over 2 months ago, sooo.... the actual definition of the word "soon" can go eff itself.

The important thing is that we're here together now with this project that I finally completed - turning a couple of thrifted button up shirts into small pillow covers. Best part:  No sewing skills or sewing machine needed!

When I saw this floral shirt on the rack in Salvay earlier this summer, its bright blue coloring and seemingly unworn print really stood out to me. Knowing that the shape and fit were nottt cute for actually wearing (it even had shoulder pads, for god's sake), it struck me as a perfect shirt to grab and use as a pillowcase for one of the two Ikea pillows that were back at my apartment, waiting to be covered.

Then I spotted the striped top and it was just bright and new-looking enough to convince me that it would be a good buddy for the floral shirt. Thus, my two future pillow covers were purchased and brought home to..... chill for a couple of months until I finally got around to doing anything with them.

Here's what I used to turn my shirts into pillow covers:

- two kråkris pillows from Ikea ($1.99 each)

- two complementing button-up shirts from Salvation Army ($5.99 each)

- fabric glue (I used Aleene's Fabric Fusion, 2 pens in a package for $5.99 from Michael's)

- scissors

- ruler (optional)

- pins (optional)

I ended up making each pillow cover differently - you learn as you go, after all! Or I do anyway, since I was almost entirely wingin' it. #IDoWhatIWant. Here's how I made the first one:

Step 1: Separate the bottom half of the shirt from the sleeves/collar half of the shirt by cutting across from about armpit-to-armpit. You can use your ruler here if you want to make sure your lines are extra straight, but they don't really have to be. Depending on the size of your pillow, you may need to cut higher up on the shirt to include more of the "chest/upper back" area. Unbuttoned, this will leave you with a long rectangle of fabric:

Step 2: Fold over and glue all four of the rectangle's rough edges to form pretty hems:

Step 3: Once all 4 sides of your rectangle have prettier hems, spread the fabric out length-wise - patterned side down/hem sides up - and lay your pillow into the center. Fold the left side's hem over the pillow, lining the button holes up in the center of the pillow:

You can pin the top and bottom hems together if you'd like - it may make the next glueing step easier or less messy for you:

Step 4: From here (focusing for now on just the left half of the fabric), pipe a line of fabric glue onto the bottom hem of the side that's closest to you, and then press the top and bottom hems together to seal the layers. Repeat this on the side of the pillow that's further from you. This should leave the entire left half of your pillow sealed into the case (as sort-of shown in the picture below Step 3).

Step 5: Repeat Steps 3 and 4 with the right side of your pillowcase fabric - making sure that your buttons line up with your button holes in the center of the pillow. 

And voila! Now you've essentially glued your pillow INTO your pillowcase, with the ability to unbutton the fabric to take the pillow out if you ever want to re-cover it or wash your pillowcase.

So that's how I did the first one... but I found a slightly easier way to make the second one. So I do hope you've read this far ;)

Step 1: With your shirt still buttoned, lay out your shirt flat, buttons side up. Cut across the chest of the shirt through both layers, approximately armpit to armpit. Keep the shirt buttoned together for all of the following steps.

Step 2: Separate the front of the shirt from the back of the shirt by cutting upwards along both of the side seams.  

Step 3: Create pretty hems on all four sides of both your top and bottom pieces of fabric by folding over the edges and glueing them with your fabric glue. Check as you go to make sure you're not making your fabric too small to cover your pillow!

Step 4: Lay out the bottom half of the shirt, patterned side down, and place your pillow into the center. Now lay the top half of the shirt atop your pillow, patterned side up, and make sure your buttons are straight down the center of the pillow.

Step 5: Begin glueing all the edges together, until your pillow is once again glued into the fabric with the ability to unbutton the fabric to remove the pillow. I took breaks between glueing each side, to give the glue time to dry and strengthen.

And there you have it! A totally bootleg but effective way to make your own pillow covers using some button up shirts!

So now when you see a shirt with pretty fabric or a cool pattern, but a terrible cut/fit, you can totally buy it and make your pillow wear it instead. Hoozah!

Have you ever made your own pillow cover? Are there any shirts you've been eyeing at thrift stores that would be great for this project? Let me know if you give it a try ~> you can tweet me a picture at @akaBailey!

Find me on Facebook! ~ Holla @ me on Twitter ~

{Linking up at Funday Monday, Tell Us Tuesday, Craft Frenzy Friday,  The DIY'ers, That DIY Party, and What I Learned Wednesdays}

Inexpensive Vancouver Thrifting

While I was away in Massachusetts, I tortured myself by reading all sorts of really fabulous thrifting blogs. By the time I finally made it back to Vancouver, it was only a very short matter of time before I was back in the Salvation Army store on 4th Ave in Kitsilano! (My obsesh with this store has been well-documented here on aka Bailey. If you don't know, you better get with the program!)

As usual, I was not disappointed and did not leave empty handed. Here's what I found!

My favorite find:

It's an Adrienne Vittadini handbag that I picked up for $12.99.  I don't know anything about handbags or designer names, but I could tell it was a quality bag just by its weight. I can't find this exact bag online but other Adrienne Vittadini handbags of this size appear to be selling for about $180-$220, soooo it seems I got a good deal. I love the brown tone - it will be perfect for autumn!

I'm a sucker for cardigans of all styles, and this loose-knit, grey-taupe Kersh cardy had me at "BIG ASS BUTTONS."

.  $7.99  .

Speaking of cardigans, this sleeveless Joe top  - heather grey with light grey stripes - will be good to wear with cardigans during the fall.

.  $3.99  .

I own so few items of red clothing that it usually leaves my wardrobe feeling totally inadequate around the holiday season. While I'm aware that it's not even officially fall yet, let alone winter holiday time, I still felt like this bright, royal looking red Request shirt needed to come home with me and be my holiday buddy. Not only is it a nice vibrant color, it also features a bejeweled keyhole cutout in the back with pretty ruby-looking buttons up the mock turtleneck. #EatYourHeartOutSanta.

.  $4.99  .

This small blue purse has no brand name or tags on it, but isn't it adorbs? For size reference, it's about 5" long (at the bottom) and 3" tall. I probably couldn't even fit my cell phone in it... but damn, it's precious.

.  $3.99  .

Thennn just last week, I was inspired to go find some great "coffee table books" (thanks a lot, home decor bloggers), so it was back to Salvay I went. The fact that I don't even have a coffee table is of no consequence here, so shut up.

It was my lucky day because they had exactly what I was looking for in their books section:  A book about Boston and a book about K2. Ok, so I wasn't looking specifically for a K2 book, but I was looking for a good mountain book... Um, I'd say K2 will suffice. Both books have really great photos inside of them, which is precisely what I was hoping to find. They were each $2.

And naturally while I was there, I had to check out the tops. 

This black short-sleeved Gap shirt looks like it's never been worn, and will look great with a pair of dark skinny jeans this fall:

.  $3.99  .

This sparkly (cough) Wet Seal (cough) shirt was another premature holiday-inspired purchase. 

I mean, come on. The sequins.

.  $4.99  .

Here's one more random thing - I bought this clutch a few days before I left for Massachusetts in late July because I wanted something gold/champagne-colored to use for the wedding. After scouring a few different shops on 4th Ave, I popped into In Again Clothing (a consignment shop) for the first time ever and immediately spotted this clutch beneath the counter display. It was perfect!

And as a bonus...

It's got crystals on the closures and it's lined with leopard! Holla!

Well that concludes my recent thrifting finds, but you know #BitchesBeShoppin and that I'll be finding more goodies soon enough. Stick around!

Want to read more thrifting blogs? Click away:

Thrifting Finds Lately
Second-Hand Rock Climbing Shoes
$20 Thrifted Chair
TONS of Thrifting Finds
Vancouver Thrifting Haul - Great Finds!
Poppin' Some Tags: Thrift Shop Challenge
Went Shoppinnnn': 4th Ave Salvation Army
Thrifting in Vancouver

Find me on Facebook! ~ Holla @ me on Twitter ~

{Linking up with Miscellany Monday, Funday Monday, Tell Us Tuesday, What I Learned Wednesday, Show & Share, and Give Me the Goods}