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Life of Colleen
Sundry thoughts and product reviews
posted by Colleen Shirazi
2009-04-25
at 10:36 PM (Pacific)
Was home sick for two days...with one of those weird colds from Hell, the kind I used to get all the time in Washington State. One staple of the Pacific Northwest is Sudafed (or the Costco version, at a better price).
Whilst guzzling generic Sudafed and painkillers, I suddenly had a lot of time on my hands, and thoughts began to meander toward...our economy. Sure, there's an extremely ugly side to it; but in the long run, it will be interesting to see how it turns out. I feel it's like much of life. If you can last through the crappy parts, you end up on a higher plane.
When I was growing up (pre-Internet of course), if you wanted to shop for clothes, you went to New York City. :) Okay, some people actually did go to New York, but the rest of us had to settle for local department stores. There were Leggett and Smith & Welton, along with the prosaic (and now defunct) Monkey Wards, Sears, J.C. Penney and the like.
At the time I was constantly bitching why I couldn't find clothes similar to those in Seventeen magazine. There was some truth to it--"conservative" is too pale a term for 1970's Norfolk, Virginia--but, in retrospect, I was a lousy shopper. I "couldn't find a hooker in a whorehouse"; there were good clothes about, I just had no strategy.
So--even as b & m choices morphed from a mix of local stores and chains to...chains...and women coast-to-coast began to wear exactly the same clothes...simultaneously, a million online stores opened up. And just as the clever women of decades ago had their sources, and always looked smart while the rest of us clearly shopped at Monkey Wards, it's well to develop your own small list of where to go, for what.
While I was home, I started poking around on the Net to see what could be found locally. I actually like online shopping, in a deranged way--combing customer reviews of the item, trying to find someone with my body type--I think they should ask your measurements, for writing reviews. They are anonymous reviews after all. Shouldn't they ask for height, weight, and bust-waist-hip measurements? It sounds horrible, but wouldn't it be more helpful than your age range, which they do ask?
It should be voluntary, but I'll wager women who shop online would be more willing than not to share their measurements, because that's what's crucial to buying something you can't try on.
Yet, online shopping alone gets to be expensive. And so, in this early 2009, random, Google-flavored, Sudafed-induced stupor, I discovered four new places to shop for clothes locally. Hm. Not bad.
This is stellar when you're sick:
According to my mil--if you have a runny nose, you need to drink much more water.
I'm one of those sad sacks who loathe drinking water, but I like plain hot water or hot tea. The Yogi ginger tea is surprisingly tasty, despite its herbal ingredients; it tastes overwhelmingly of ginger. The other components merely pop the ginger and keep it from going bitter.
At first blush, Sundance Catalog's Riley Linen shirt would appear yet another heartlessly-priced Sundance offering, however attractively presented. But I've seen it in person, and--in that uncanny sixth-sense o' Sundance, there is something to it. It's engineered...to be wrinkled.
Now, I don't care about wrinkles on my face (I know, I should care), so I'd hardly wish to care about wrinkles in my clothes. Though I am one of those freaky people who don't mind ironing--I'm not particularly good at it, but I am competent--it is time-consuming. This shirt struck me as being impossible to iron; you'd ruin the effect.
It's something I've sought, for quite a while...on travel-clothing sites and others...crinkled clothing, or items otherwise designed not to be ironed.
Garnet Hill Button-Front Scoop-Neck Tee review, part 2.
Garnet Hill came through with their free exchange policy, and I now have two of these shirts. Definitely, your bust size determines which size to order. I tried the Large, ran it through the dryer (even at low heat, most cotton items shrink one size when tumble-dried), and came up with something wearable. If you're really stacked, I have to question if even the XL would work or would pull across the bust.
You need a camisole under it; these guys are not kidding. The white one I got was more ordinary than the Dusty Aqua, and part of me rather wishes I'd gotten either Graphite (dark grey) or Paprika (the peppy burnt orange one), but this is a top you reach for when it's hot. For me, white or off-white is far more versatile (mix it with any summer-weight skirt or any pants).Labels: garnet hill, product reviews, sundance catalog, wardrobe
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Troika 2
posted by Colleen Shirazi
2009-03-27
at 2:10 PM (Pacific)
Hmmm...I have employed way too many exclamation points in my blogger titles, as of late. Oh well. Let's do a bit of catching up, shall we?
Mederma Review, part 2
(see Mederma review, part 1)
I used this faithfully on my scar the recommended 8 weeks--December and January--then got lazy. The scar had faded after that time, but hadn't miraculously disappeared. Hence I have been applying Mederma, since much of the tube remains, whenever I can remember or find the time to do it (it's been pretty sporadic).
Currently--end of March--the scar has all but gone. I checked in the bathroom mirror under electric lights, with a measuring tape. At 3 feet away, the scar can barely be detected (no makeup). If you were good, and bothered to apply concealer, I doubt it could be seen at all. It is next to perfectly flat; only very slightly raised where the cut was deepest.
This was a cut that took nine stitches to close. I think this is a good product and certainly worth trying. (Best price I found was at Costco.)
Garnet Hill Button-Front Scoop-Neck Tee
I bought Dusty Aqua and White, when they were on sale.
I'd like to say I was bitterly disappointed, but it wouldn't be entirely true. On the Garnet Hill website, the tops are described thusly:
"Trim and slim in a stretchy rib-knit of soft pima cotton, this updated basic is finished with jersey-knit banding at the scooped neckline, button-front placket and elbow-length sleeves. Imported.
This is a slim-fitting style. For a relaxed fit, we recommend that you order up a size."
O-tay...but, perusing the first several pages of customer reviews there, the consensus appeared to be the tops ran true to size, or else ran big. I'm thinking now this is a sign...oh hapless online clothing shoppers...that the top is true to size, or even runs a tad large, if you're built medium to petite, bust-wise. If you're not, forget about it; that's when you need to order one size up.
I mean, according to the sizing chart, the Mediums I'd ordered should have worked for a bust of up 39 inches (size 10-12). The white one had three distinct gaps over the bust, where Dusty Aqua fared better at two lesser gaps--which would have only gapped more, given the washing instructions:
# Machine wash cold, gentle cycle, with similar colors
# Do not use chlorine bleach
# Tumble dry low
# Cool iron when needed
Then I noticed two of the iridescent shell buttons (nice, btw) on the white shirt were flaking off at the back. Clearly the button QA folks had taken the day off when that shirt went down the inspection line.
The blue shirt's buttons seemed a skosh rough on the backs, but at least they weren't flaking off.
Now, the good news. The Dusty Aqua was to die for; the ideal muted greenish blue, more subtly lovely than pictured. The material was nice and soft, lightweight, not overly thin.
The neckline was too scoopy to work as is; you need don a camisole or tank. I think it looks nicer that way though, as it would look blah with a high neck.
The sleeves looked best on me folded up once. (They with long, willowy arms could likely forgo the fold.)
All in all: nice shirts. Dressy enough for casual Fridays or the weekend, when you want to be comfortable without looking like a slob. But I suspect (without having tried the Large yet) your sizing decision should be based almost purely on the size of your bust. The rest of the shirt was not particularly slim-fitting imo.
Garnet Hill does free exchanges. I'm confident the replacement shirts will be just right.
The Animals
Eric Burdon, I love you. Although, for the longest time, I thought of the Animals as having made American music...beautiful, slow, heavy, a sublime singer up front and a real band. Hearing it now...the odd factor is Alan Price's keyboard playing on some of the songs. That sounds quite English to me.
And speaking of that, how about this song with a charming English accent? (Or you could spin the original.)
Labels: garnet hill, music, product reviews, skin, troika, videos, wardrobe
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Garnet Hill coupon code
posted by Colleen Shirazi
2009-01-10
at 7:51 PM (Pacific)
$10 off any $50 purchase
$25 off any $150 purhcase
$50 off any $300 purchase
Code: G8KMENT
You can also try this (it hasn't been working for me lately):
Code: G7KMENT
http://www.garnethill.comLabels: coupon code, garnet hill
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