Birchbox: December 2012 - Page 6

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Quote:

Originally Posted by MissLindaJean 

What's this brouhaha with Urban Outfitters? Never did more than browse, since I don't like their offerings..but am curious to know why the anti UO stance from some of you ladies.

I wasn't sure what it was from either. I did a quick google search and the wikipedia page sums it up pretty well. Check out the product controversy section: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_Outfitters

Quote:

Originally Posted by MissLindaJean 

What's this brouhaha with Urban Outfitters? Never did more than browse, since I don't like their offerings..but am curious to know why the anti UO stance from some of you ladies.

 

Now that's a $5 word I haven't see in a while! ^~

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by MissLindaJean 

Interesting.. I don't shop at UO, but see where folks are coming from, especially with a few of the points made in the first article. As for Forever21, they're cheap and disposable. That sums it up, not a bad or good thing, just is. Plus, I can't imagine anyone thinking they're cutting edge and so advanced in trends. There's a few different stores/companies that do nothing more than copy..or should I say be inspired by?... designers and large labels. These stores just churn out cheap imitations of the actual trends and pieces, but mass consumers love and buy into it.

For me, personally, the specific things they've done I'm against is the "Eat Less" shirt supporting pro-ana and transphobic greeting card thing. A lot of it may be just poor business decision after poor business decision, but we all pick and choose what matter to us individually, right?

I totally agree with you that especially in the US, there's a shopping-hoarding problem. Instead of buying quality clothing that will last long, we're desperate to have ever season's latest trends for the bottom price. People are going to consume it either way, which is why I posted the thing about the UO polishes. XD; I mean, they're going to get bought up either way so might as well let some MuT ladies know about them if they want.

I would love to get nailpolish. My one hope though is that they do Chirstmas classly. not an over the top sparkles green and red explosion in my birchbox. I wouldnt mine Christmas things but no over the top things.

Quote:

Originally Posted by katie danielle 

You can't link both boxes to the same account. And I think the best way to avoid duplications would be to do 2 completely different profiles, which I've done and I still receive duplicates. I don't think you can really count on anything but not receiving duplicates for the same profile. Other than that, it's a crapshoot.

Thank you!!!!!!

If I could afford to make any sort of investment in clothing, I probably would. For now, my largely Forever 21, H&M, and TJ Maxx wardrobe will have to do.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MissLindaJean 

Well..I'll not be giving UO any of my money now..but they were never that appealing to me to begin with... There's quite a few obnoxious controversies surrounding them. Seems like a lack of regard and tact on their part. They fall into the any PR is better than no PR category..
Regarding trends and such, we all like being stylish, but I agree. I'm trying to rework my wardrobe now with investing in better quality staples..classic and timeless pieces every woman should have. I buy trendy items and pieces, but the focus is for me to find clothing I can mix and match for years, with a few trendy accessories to be "current." I have friends who waste tons of money buying whatever seasonal pieces are hot, then relegate the purchases to the back of the closet to never be seen or worn again. If they don't split seams, fray or fall apart in the meantime lol... I'd rather have a smaller wardrobe, with great quality pieces and a few pops than a large ton of polyester, nylon, and odd material.

On top of ripping off designs which is bad enough in itself, my biggest issue is that they financially back anti-equality groups, while putting up this front of being a cutting edge trendy place to shop. They sell pro-gay merch, and make campaign donations to candidates with staunch "family values" <- this term kills me. 

I am fine with whatever opinion people or companies hold, but their promote one thing do another is disgusting. $$$ i guess. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by gypsiemagic 

On top of ripping off designs which is bad enough in itself, my biggest issue is that they financially back anti-equality groups, while putting up this front of being a cutting edge trendy place to shop. They sell pro-gay merch, and make campaign donations to candidates with staunch "family values" <- this term kills me. 

 

I am fine with whatever opinion people or companies hold, but their promote one thing do another is disgusting. $$$ i guess. 

Warning:  Political rant ahead.  Spoiler:  I'm somewhere to the left of Willie Nelson.

ETA:  Whoops, this quote got cut so that it made it look like I might be disagreeing with gypsiemagic.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Totally agree.  I just put my ramble behind a spoiler box because of certain words I used.  Also, whoo, I held out until my *six hundredth* post before I let my leftie freak flag fly on this forum!  That's a record for me.

Quote:

Originally Posted by queenofperil 

If I could afford to make any sort of investment in clothing, I probably would. For now, my largely Forever 21, H&M, and TJ Maxx wardrobe will have to do.

I used to shop at F21 a lot but lately not so much and it's mostly because I find their prices too high for the quality of clothing they're selling. Sometimes I'll have the patience to comb through racks and walls of clothing to find a piece or two that is decently made and worth the money  but most of the time I walk 3ft in the door and I just walk out (same for H&M). Now I just wait for sales. I'd say the majority of stuff I have is from J.Crew and none of it was purchased at retail price. I've kept every single piece I've bought since 2005-ish (save for a sweater that was attacked by moths :-( boo ) and they look great. I would never pay retail there because the prices are obscene and even if I think it's quality clothing, a sweater is never worth $300 to me.  So, I wait until that sweater is discounted (usually two or three times) and buy it when they have a "take an additional 30% off" sale and use my student discount on top of that. Last purchase I made I got a silk dress that was originally $188 for under $30 and a pair of wool pants that were originally $90 for under $20.

Edit: Investment pieces don't have to come at a high price. I'm by no means an expert shopper, but quality clothing can be found at F21 prices :-) I don't even mean just at J.Crew - I love the store, but they have crappy stuff sometimes too.

Quote:

Originally Posted by tinkerbll695 

 

I used to shop at F21 a lot but lately not so much and it's mostly because I find their prices too high for the quality of clothing they're selling. Sometimes I'll have the patience to comb through racks and walls of clothing to find a piece or two that is decently made and worth the money  but most of the time I walk 3ft in the door and I just walk out (same for H&M). Now I just wait for sales. I'd say the majority of stuff I have is from J.Crew and none of it was purchased at retail price. I've kept every single piece I've bought since 2005-ish (save for a sweater that was attacked by moths :-( boo ) and they look great. I would never pay retail there because the prices are obscene and even if I think it's quality clothing, a sweater is never worth $300 to me.  So, I wait until that sweater is discounted (usually two or three times) and buy it when they have a "take an additional 30% off" sale and use my student discount on top of that. Last purchase I made I got a silk dress that was originally $188 for under $30 and a pair of wool pants that were originally $90 for under $20.

 

Edit: Investment pieces don't have to come at a high price. I'm by no means an expert shopper, but quality clothing can be found at F21 prices :-) I don't even mean just at J.Crew - I love the store, but they have crappy stuff sometimes too.

Same here, I'd say 95% of my wardrobe is JCrew (outlet and kids stuff gets really cheap) and Nordstrom Rack (befriend your sales associates! I know which days they do restock and markdowns at my local NR)  

But, admittedly, I hardly ever follow trends and the one or two F21 items in my wardrobe just stick out like sore thumbs. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by MissLindaJean 


Oh, please don't take offense. I'm not trying to shame anyone, I'm guilty of such things myself. Plus, I'm not on a disposable income. For myself, I'm trying to consciously make an effort to buy better quality pieces for myself, which sometimes means I walk out with one or two pieces, as opposed to a whole outfit. But my fewer pieces won't need to be replaced as quickly as the cheaper ones and feel that saves me more in the long run.
I shop at anywhere from second hand stores to Macy's or whatever is close to me. I'm a sucker for sales and can't remember the last time I paid full price for any clothing or shoes. Plus, one has to shop within one's budget..but that doesn't mean I have to be suckered into buying every knock off piece in the store that resembles the latest spread in a glossy mag.

No offense taken. I was just saying that I'm poor, haha. Sometimes you do have the money to buy either a few quality pieces or a lot of pieces that aren't great quality. I literally never have enough money at any given time to buy more expensive investment things. Like, at one point, I seriously had one pair of jeans and no income to speak of. So when I got a little bit of money for something, I couldn't justify saving it to buy a pair of better quality jeans at some point down the road. I also just like to buy crap, so that really doesn't help. I've gotten better at this kind of thing when it comes to makeup, though. I won't just run out and buy something because it's a dollar and I happen to have a dollar. Now I research the hell out of products before I buy them. I watch so many Youtube beauty gurus that I'm pretty sure it could be classified as some kind of freaky addiction. I'm kind of proud of myself for not just buying any random makeup thing anymore just because it looks pretty or is on sale.

That went off on a tangent. Sorry. :/

the main reason I shop at F21 is cuz of my butt, seriously I have a big butt, not huge, but big enough that some pants will fit it half way, and F21 has cute pants that fit my butt nicely, most other stuff will have pants that fit me, but they look like old lady pants and I'm 21, I don't want to be wearing that! So yeah, I shop at F21 cuz of that, I had some skinny jeans I loved so much, that I ended up not being able to wear them cuz they were totally worn out XD

Eh, I've learned to accept that almost everything I buy is going to come with some sort of guilt attached.  I try to pick and choose my outrages, since there is a lot of stuff to get outraged about. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by meaganola 

 

Warning:  Political rant ahead.  Spoiler:  I'm somewhere to the left of Willie Nelson.

 

 

Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show)

The part that got me to cut off all purchasing at UO was when I came across something the owner said (which I naturally can't find now) where he rather gleefully made a comment about how *thrilled* he was to take money from his left-wing customers and give it to ultra-right-wing groups/people.  I got the impression that he was most happy about the fact that is was money that the customers no longer had to donate to the causes they actually believed in.  I find him absolutely reprehensible, despicable, repugnant, and probably fifteen other adjectives I can't think of at the moment.  If I find out the president and founder of a company donates proceeds from his business to a politician who campaigns on the argument that homosexuality is *the exact same thing* as bestiality (which this guy does), that company gets crossed off my list of places to shop, especially if that company deliberately markets to the very people that politician is trying to legislate out of existence.  I have far too many friends who have become suicidal over being convinced that they deserve to die because they happen to be gay.  These aren't poor business decisions.  They are shrewd, calculated, callous business decisions.

 

ETA:  Whoops, this quote got cut so that it made it look like I might be disagreeing with gypsiemagic.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Totally agree.  I just put my ramble behind a spoiler box because of certain words I used.  Also, whoo, I held out until my *six hundredth* post before I let my leftie freak flag fly on this forum!  That's a record for me.

wow.  I didn't know that.  While I normally prefer shopping at thrift stores (where I'm from people get rid of absolutely everything - even new with tags, and for me it's just simply more fun), there goes me ever wandering into another UO!  Ick!

do any of you ladies know of good quality plus clothes that dont cause a fortune?

my fashion bug closed a few years ago (now they are completely going out of business) so i started shopping at lane bryant even though its wayy more expensive i figured better quality wow was i wrong... my fashion bug stuff lasts years lane bryants clothes start looking worn/hems coming out within 2-3 wears!!!!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Angelalh 

do any of you ladies know of good quality plus clothes that dont cause a fortune?

 

my fashion bug closed a few years ago (now they are completely going out of business) so i started shopping at lane bryant even though its wayy more expensive i figured better quality wow was i wrong... my fashion bug stuff lasts years lane bryants clothes start looking worn/hems coming out within 2-3 wears!!!!!

While not plus, I found some awesome stuff at TJMaxx/Marshalls/Ross.  I got a dress that was normally 95 bucks for 24.  I found it when I was down the shore where people don't normally get super nice stuff (therefore it wasn't picked over).  I saw a lot of great stuff in the plus sizes though.  Sometimes it doesn't hurt to check it out and see what you can find.

EDIT: I really can't type sometimes!

Quote:

Originally Posted by JimmyJazz 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Angelalh 

do any of you ladies know of good quality plus clothes that dont cause a fortune?

 

my fashion bug closed a few years ago (now they are completely going out of business) so i started shopping at lane bryant even though its wayy more expensive i figured better quality wow was i wrong... my fashion bug stuff lasts years lane bryants clothes start looking worn/hems coming out within 2-3 wears!!!!!

While not plus, I found some awesome stuff at TJMaxx/Marshalls/Ross.  I got a dress that was normally 95 bucks for 24.  I found it when I was down the shore where people don't normally get super nice stuff (therefore it wasn't picked over).  I saw a lot of great stuff in the plus sizes though.  Sometimes it doesn't hurt to check it out and see what you can kind.

Also not plus, but the Nordstrom Rack by me always seems to have a nice plus section. : )

i was at a nordstrom rack once.... styles were weird.... im not an instyle kinda girl... i hate layering lol

i like to put on one shirt... and a pair of pants..... it has been sooo hard to find simple things the last couple years all shirts are made extremely thin just so you have to buy 2

Angel - do you have a Kohls near by?  They sometimes have some cute stuff on sale.  New York & Co also has some nice stuff that can be dressed down or up.

last time i went to my kohls they had 4 racks of plus lol

i know they have jr plus online but not in stores last i checked

you ladies are all wonderful i love you all!

Wow! Came to check out news about BB and came to find political rants...Can we please keep to the topic? Not everyone has the same views and no need to taint the BB forum with such. No offense meant, but this has no bearing on the box at all. Isn't this what mods are for??

Quote:

Originally Posted by JimmyJazz 

Angel - do you have a Kohls near by?  They sometimes have some cute stuff on sale.  New York & Co also has some nice stuff that can be dressed down or up.

I really wanted to like NYCO especially since they were having a 50% off sale pre-BF and 50-70% on BF but everything was just so ill-fitted for me. Even beyond that, the cut of a lot of clothes felt like it was "older", if that makes any sense. >:

Quote:

Originally Posted by parisnicole1989 

Wow! Came to check out news about BB and came to find political rants...Can we please keep to the topic? Not everyone has the same views and no need to taint the BB forum with such. No offense meant, but this has no bearing on the box at all. Isn't this what mods are for??

If you don't like the political rants, that's fair, but then don't read them. Many were prefaced with "I don't shop at ___ because ___". It was perfectly on topic with the conversation since we were talking about the CC holo nail polish in the BB store not being shipped right --> UO dupes for those colours --> why people don't shop there. That's no less thread-jacking than you policing people on what's an acceptable topic to talk about. If you don't want to contribute to the topic, you don't have to but it's similarly unfair to tell people they can't talk about it.

I wasn't "policing", I came to check in and had to wade through several posts of non-related (IMO) topics. There are other threads for political rants.

cant wait for decembers box!

There may be valid points with the going off topic, but that's every month and we probably all fall into that guilty category. Our conversations deviate and shift constantly until we actually have boxes in hand and we still digress at times. Eventually the conversation always goes back to the thread origination. People sometimes interject questions about things and they get answered by other members..

A lot of commentary would be deleted/edited just because it didn't necessarily pertain to the thread. Skim through and tune out what you don't feel is necessary/helpful.  It seems unnecessary to blatantly censor/edit because someone doesn't want to see something. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kyuu 

I really wanted to like NYCO especially since they were having a 50% off sale pre-BF and 50-70% on BF but everything was just so ill-fitted for me. Even beyond that, the cut of a lot of clothes felt like it was "older", if that makes any sense. >:

 

 I find some staple pieces there.  I never find a whole wardrobe when I go there.  But I have some lovely dresses that have become a staple when traveling. I also found a cute trench coat there.

  I like that they recognize nurses and we get a little discount if we bring our IDs with us.  

Quote:

Originally Posted by JimmyJazz 

 I find some staple pieces there.  I never find a whole wardrobe when I go there.  But I have some lovely dresses that have become a staple when traveling. I also found a cute trench coat there.

  I like that they recognize nurses and we get a little discount if we bring our IDs with us.  

Aww that's really sweet. I'll have to pass that on to my friend. She's going to graduate nursing school this year and she's like lol wardrobe shopping time! She wanted to buy stuff at F21 but I have to give it to NYCO, at least their pieces seem well-made and higher quality.