eShakti Dress Review - Professional Workwear

 Happy Friday everyone! 

I know I said I would be bowing out of blogging for the next week but I have some time today, so I thought I would share a review with you.

Being a professional working gal, I find it difficult to blend a pop of bright color with professional work wear.  My clothing must remain work appropriate especially when meeting with clients.  Everyone knows I adore Lilly Pulitzer, but I can't wear all my Lilly dresses and Stephen Bonanno sandals to work.  This is just the nature of my particular job.  Case in point.  This Lilly dress (from Jubilee 2009) and Lilly McKims would be inappropriate for my particular job.  If you can wear this to work, I'm so happy for your ability to do so (I'm actually quite jealous!)

Does this mean my professional clothing should lack color?  Absolutely not! 

So on my quest to find professional, yet colorful and interesting work wear, I discovered eShakti.

eShakti's tag line is "You Design, We Customize."  A customer is never told an item is out of stock in their size as one can either choose standard sizing OR customize, sometimes even changing the overall style of a piece of clothing.

How does this work?  Measure your hips, arms, bust, waist and enter in your measurements when ordering a piece of clothing.  Then customize your sleeves to be long, short, capped, sleeveless, 3/4 length.  You can also choose the length of your dress or skirt.  All orders, even custom, arrive on your doorstep in seven days.  Their prices are also very reasonable.

The dress I chose is seen below.  It is a shiny, lightweight wrap dress with pops of yellow at a cost of $59.95 (if I recall correctly).  It wraps and ties on one side with buttons on both the right and left hand interior sides to keep the wrap in place.  I was very pleased with this feature as wrap dresses sometimes either have a hole through the dress (which often gets torn) or there is no holding place, causing the dress to fall lose and constantly be re-tied.  The buttons were also quite strong and large for flexibility in sitting and standing. 

It is a great dress for professional wear, in my opinion, and something different from anything else I own in my closet (including my typical color palette).  I do enjoy wearing this dress.

I am very pleased with the shipping time, which was seven days as promised, and the dress fit perfectly according to my measurements.  It is comfortable for all day wear and very flattering in the fit.  I received several compliments from ladies in my office with one actually going on the site to order some custom dresses for herself.

I only have two complaints and one is the length of the dress.  It is longer than I expected where I would prefer it to be above the knee rather than at the knee.  I also received this same comment from the ladies at my office, that the dress was a tad too long.  I did enter the height into the form however, either I didn't measure correctly or the measurement I gave was interpreted to be this particular length.  When I order again, I will take a couple inches off of my height for this purpose. 

(As a side note, I had Husband measure me, I would not advise doing this yourself.  I also read the directions given by eShakti on how to measure).

The other complaint is the bust area, which I'm sure is related only to this particular dress.  The dress wraps across the bosom a little too low (without bearing too much, here is a close up). It appears eShakti recognized this and to compensate, they added a button and buttonhole to close the area.  The button fits awkwardly and is quite noticeable, not being very well hidden.  I found myself fooling with it much of the day so it didn't stand out.  This was one of the other comments from the ladies in my office, that the button was quite noticeable and they wondered why it looked this way.  Someone recommended removing the button all together and using fabric tape. 

All-in-all, I am please with eShakti's selection and service and will likely be ordering from there for professional work wear in the near future.

Happy Friday Y'all and once again, Happy Thanksgiving!

Mixed Bag Designs Review & HUGE Giveaway!

 I have loved Mixed Bag Designs since I first posted about them HERE.  In fact, Ashleigh has become addicted to them as much as I have. 

They are colorful, eco-friendly, versatile, lightweight and much more stylish and supportive than the typical store brand reusable bag (i.e. Publix bags).  I get compliments on them every time!

Now, everyone knows my life if hectic.  Let's see.....

• four year old child
• I work full time
• member of Junior League
• I blog and sew in my free time
• sitting on the board of our local children's museum
• facilitating a Bible study
• Lallie's dance classes
• Body Back workouts

It's a lot!  So, in order to stay organized and considering my car IS my office (my job has me traveling 50% of the time), I have bags to keep me organized.  They are all Mixed Bag Designs and I really should have taken a picture of my front seat because I have.....drum roll please.....

 FOUR TALL TOTES 

....in the front seat, one for each facet of my life.  And when I get to my destination, I grab the necessary bag and take it with me.  No disorganization here!

So, when Mixed Bag Designs asked me to do a review and giveaway of their bags, I absolutely jumped at the opportunity!  I chose five items in varying designs to give everyone an idea of colors and patterns.

First, and obvious, I chose a new Tall Tote to add to my collection.  I love the tall, but skinnier use of this bag.  It holds all my file folders and books perfectly without them falling over or getting bunched up.  And since, they are skinny, they all fit on my floor in the front seat without falling over or being squished.

Next I chose the Foodies.  Lallie loves these!  They are bright just like her personality and she loves eating her Annie's Bunnies or turkey sandwiches for school lunch or for snacks on-the-go.  Plus, just wipe them clean and their ready for another use!  She even stuffed some miniature princesses in them the other day to take to Church.

The Fold-N-Hold is a wonderful design.  For the car trunk, for the laundry room, for the craft room.  Perfect for keeping the necessities within reach without looking disorganized and cluttered.  I mean, who wants to look at a bunch of detergent bottles on top of the dryer?  But put them in a stylish Fold-N-Hold and the clutter doesn't look like clutter, but like a decoration!  And then you don't have to hide everything just to drag it back out when needed.  It's all right there at arm's length!

Next, I tried the Drug Store Bag.  Now, CVS is one of my absolute favorite places to shop but I do so sporadically here and there when they have a great coupon deal.  Which means, I don't need a large tote as I'm buying relatively little (and sometimes.....female sensitive.....).  The Drug Store Bag is the perfect size for small purchases while keeping sometimes sensitive items hidden from view.  So rather than getting asked by a clearly non-southern uneducated in manners person if it's "that time of the month" (which yes, this has happened to me...multiple times, sadly), I get complimented on "why, what a lovely bag!"  Much more desirable don't you think?

Last but not least, my absolute new favorite from Mixed Bag Designs - the Hold Everything tote.  Did you happen to notice the folded blue/brown bag in my Fold-N-Hold on my dryer?

Y'all, this bag is absolutely HUMONGOUS!  It holds three loads of laundry for three people, plus towels and still doesn't fill up!  It's perfect for the boat for holding beach towels because it's waterproof.  AND the best part....when you're done using it, it folds up to as small and thin as a piece of paper!  It weighs nothing!  So instead of lugging around three loads of laundry plus a heavy, bulky and awkward laundry basket, I can carry it all in one hand and pick up other clutter on the way!  Perfect for the efficient parent!

In this picture, I'm holding a couch pillow and throw in this bag and it's still not full!  It literally "Holds Everything!"

Like what you're hearing.....well, here's the giveaway.

Mixed Bag Designs is giving away one of my readers a $75.00 gift card to be spent on ANYTHING on the website!!   Want to enter?  Here's what to do:

Put each entry in a separate comment!  If you don't, your one comment will only be entered once!

1. Follow Southern Living: Preppy Style
2. Like Mixed Bag Designs on Facebook HERE
3. Tell me your favorite bag and design from Mixed Bag Designs
4. Post about this giveaway on your blog and link back here in a comment.
5. Announce this giveaway on twitter and link it back here in a comment.
6. Tell me how you would use your new favorite bag!  Get creative, we want to hear those ideas!

The giveaway will end next Friday, October 7th at 5:00 p.m. with the winner announced on the following Monday. 

If you can't wait until then to get a Mixed Bag, use the code "southern" in the coupon code box for FREE SHIPPING!  This code is only good through October 12th!

Happy Friday Y'all!

Best Brush Ever

I'm always running across blogs talking about hair products, hair dryers and curling irons, giving reviews and tutorials.  However, I've never seen anyone talk about their actual hairbrush.  As I was fixing my hair this morning, it hit me that I've been loyal to one particular style and brand of hair brush since I was a freshmen in college.  I won't divulge how long I've been out of college, but it's been a while! 

I am from a smaller town in Kentucky and there is a mall, but back then it was not a mall with higher end retail and fashion.  So, when I first moved to Lexington, Kentucky and visited the mall there, I discovered Aveda.  I had never heard of it before, but they gave me a sample of their tea (which I bought), took home a few product samples and purchased this hair brush.

 

Since I have gone through at least 6 of these brushes (with proper maintenance and cleaning, a hairbrush can last quite a while).  By the time I'm finished with one, the wood is all beat up and chipped from my hair dryer hitting it and from travel and general abuse.  I've always vowed that if Aveda quits selling this brush, I will buy a lifetime supply of them. 

Now why do I love this brush so much?  It's thin, flat and lightweight, easy to clean and the bristles are just far enough apart, yet close enough together to deal with my fine and curly hair on a daily basis without ripping it all to pieces (yes, I have very LARGE naturally curly hair which I rarely wear.  I straighten nearly everyday.  I tried to find a picture but it's so rare, I couldn't find one!).  It's a special detangling brush that massages the scalp as well (and let me tell you, it does massage and it feels great!  Like you're in a salon getting your scalp massaged by the shampoo girl/guy). 

I will never buy any other brush for my hair.  And at $20.00, it's not a huge extra expense to pay for quality versus a $10.00 drug store brush. 

As a side note, I'm not saying drug store products aren't wonderful, I love drugstore products and will probably never buy expensive mascara (Maybelline Great Lash) or Powder (Cover Girl here). 

Do you have a particular brush that you just love and would recommend?

Happy Tuesday Y'all!