Undershelf baskets

$8 Undershelf basket from the Container Store

I think these are great and I want some.
They hang off a shelf to create basically another shelf so you don't have to stack everything in your cupboard and then hope things don't fall when you reach to get the plate that's 3/4 way down.

You can get small for $7, med for $8, large for $9 depending on how big your cabinets are.
These would be good in linen closets and bathroom closets too.

Etsy Find of the Day: Crocheted pendant lampshade

$150 Seed lamp by Abigail Dace

I love the organic crocheted form within the rigid cube structure, and I think this is so neat.
It fits normal lights, so you can just take down your Ikea shade that you got after college and put this right up over the same bulb.

My one worry would be how hard it would be to change the bulb, but as long as you use CFLs you should be ok for a while.

The artist who made this also crochets a lot of other things like gloves and cushion covers, but the lampshades are the standouts

Check out this other one:

$150 Coccoon lampshade by Abigail Dace

This one has a more regular pattern but is still neat.

Double Handle Colorblock Tote Bag

$44.99 GAP Colorblock tote
Use code NEWYOU for 30% off, which would make this $31.50.

This bag is very nicely designed- it's more elongated than a regular tote so it holds more without taking over your whole body when you carry it.

I like how it's black on the bottom so you don't worry about getting it all gross when you have to put it on the ground.

The colorblocking is chic. It also comes in gray and pink or orange and tan. I think this one is the most useful.

The double handles (short for carrying with your hands and long for slinging over a shoulder) are so useful, and I love it when bags have that.

Clothing with Animals on it under $100!

More things with animals!

$62.67 ASOS Panther print shirt
Sophisticated and clean and still fun. This is the one I'd probably get out of this batch.

$54 A Wear goldfish pussy bow blouse
I like the little fish on this blouse and the placement of the pattern, but I wish it wasn't so sheer.

$105 ASOS Sequin cat dress
Cats are annoying, but some of you probably like this.

$52 Motel Zoe horse print dress
I like it when your clothes have whole cinematic scenes on them.

$45 AWear bird print tie waist shirt
Up close you can see that the birds are light blue, not just black.

$62 People Tree Zakee Shariff bird print dress
So many colors of birds!

For more animal things, look here:
Horse Print clothing
Revealing my weakness for prints with animals
Animal Plates
Kangaroo Pin
Animal Hats
Animal Photo Holders
Animal Bracelets
Moose

Etsy Find of the Day: Nutria Fur Coat

Do you know what nutria are?
They are mammals like rats or beavers that are currently invading a lot of our wetlands. So it's good to kill them! Read this NYT article.
There is a growing movement to use nutria as a sustainable or environmentally advantageous fur source.

Do your part by trying out this cheap nutria coat:

$89 Brown Nutria coat

You could even color your teeth bright orange so you match the animal it came from:

Too many cheetos, nutria.

Boyfriend sweater, grandpa sweater....

First there was the boyfriend look- shirts that are boxier and longer cut than the normal women's cut.
This cardigan will show you how its done:

$17.48 Mossimo boyfriend cardigan

Then there was the grandpa sweater, which was like the boyfriend sweater but with even more slouch and sleeves to roll up. They are chunkier and more woolen and textured than the boyfriend sweater, in general.
Check out this beaut for reference:

$28 Etsy Chronologie Vintage Grandpa sweater

So what's next in this line of trends?
All the cool people want to know what to wear next before everyone else adopts it.
Based on the above research, it looks like you should be wearing what older and older people do.
You heard it here first: the next hip thing will be burial shrouds!

Get in on the trend now and everyone will think you're a genius when they eventually get around to buying one!

$325 Burial shroud

This one looks pretty nice, no?
It's 6'2" so it should fit most people.
It looks great accessorized with herbs, as shown in this picture, but I think it would be great if you cinched it in at the waist with a skinny black belt. Right?

Also, Amazon has burial shrouds?! The more you know.
I wonder why no one has left a review yet....

Does employee happiness affect where you shop?

Retail Action Plan just released a study of who is working at our stores (other than the managers) and how happy they are.

Some info from the executive summary:

Almost 60 percent of the retail workforce is hired as part-time, temporary or holiday, and only 17 percent of workers
surveyed have a set schedule. The vast majority, seventy percent, only knows their schedules within a week. For workers with other primary responsibilities such as family or school, childcare and the pursuit of education become a significant challenge. Nationally, the number of retail employers who are working part-time “involuntarily” has expanded from 644,000 in 2006 to 1.5 million in 2010.

Of course, if you work part time, you don't get health care, and companies are trying to avoid paying those costs by rotating their workers enough so that they don't meet the mandated hours that require coverage.
 
Store like Abercrombie and Fitch, Forever 21, Uniqlo, Club Monaco, Tommy Hilfigger, and Target came out on the bottom for how they treat their employees.

Does that affect your decision to shop there?

I'm not sure if it will affect where I shop. Of course, I think people should be paid a living wage and given enough hours to support themselves, but there are so many other factors to consider when choosing where to shop.
For instance:
Should we pay more attention to this or to the company's environmental practices?
What about the quality of the clothes?
What about the cost?
What about the manufacturing and child labor?
What about whether they carry products tested on animals?
It's easy to knock stores off your list--there are so many justifiable reasons not to shop at most of the big name retailers we normally go to. It's harder to find viable alternatives.

I don't have a solution. The economy of scale that big retailers makes them unbeatable on prices even if they did adhere to the most stringent human rights and environmental guidelines, so I don't think the answer would ever be for people to stop shopping at them altogether.
Better laws would be a good starting point, but it's so hard and slow to get those passed, and non-unionized retail workers don't have the lobbyists or clout needed to combat the business owners who have a vested interest in knocking laws like that down.

Thoughts?

Etsy Finds of the Day: Vintage Folders

Work was more fun when it came in a folder with a superhero on it, right?

If I have to bring work home with me, next time, it is coming home in a little mermaid folder.

$1 Little mermaid school folder

$1 Batman school folder

$1 Batmobile school folder

$1 Catwoman school folder


Ahh how the 3 hole punches bring me back.

Clothes on sale at Bonadrag.com

Bonadrag.com sells cool avant garde clothes from a variety of designers.
Right now they are having a sale and I've bookmarked what I think the best deals are:

$57 Mara Hoffman twisted bustier bismuth dress
OMG this dress is awesome and the pattern is based on how bismuth's crystal structure looks under the microscope. It used to be $380 and it comes in 0, 2, 4, 6, 8.

$90 To Be Adored Velvet Kate dress
This one is silk and velvet. The top is a little sheer so watch out or wear a hot bra. It used to be $180 and it's in XS or M.

$45 Jeffrey Campbell cheetah platform clogs
I don't know when you would wear these, but when you did, everyone would compliment you. They were $180 and you can have them any size 6-10.

$52 Madison Harding Sugaree sandals
Suede braided platforms. Were $210 and available in 7, 8, 9, 10.

$17 Society for Rational dress keyhole tank
I like the chain on the back. Used to be $86, available only in L  :(

Organize your drawers! NOW

It's winter but I've been getting the Spring cleaning bug.
I reorganized the refrigerator shelves over the weekend, and I worked on my bathroom drawer.
One thing that I found I needed was small shallow boxes to keep things separate.

I ended up using some cardboard ones that used to hold jewelry and stuff, and you can also use extra ramekins or bowls from the kitchen if you have any.
Also!
You can use silverware organizers.

There are things just for this purpose, though, and I someday aspire to own them.

Here are some I liked:

$3/box Interlocking box drawer system
Each one of these boxes is sold separately so you can configure them how you want depending on what you are going to put in them. Then they all click together.

$5.99 Kusiner box with compartments
Clean lime green. This one comes as-is with different sized boxes and it's really cheap. Next time someone goes to Ikea, I am going to make them buy me one or two.

$5.99 organizer with 32 compartments
This one is good for things that are all the same size like socks or ties or maybe earrings.

$8.99 Eco-striped drawer organizers
There are a bunch of different options of sizes and compartments of these containers. They are all around $8-10.

Want more organization posts? Check out some of these older ones:
Grid-it
Ikea things
Controlling spices and nail polish

Etsy Finds of the Day: More wooden rings

For the first wooden ring post, go here

How cool are these burly wooden rings?

 $135 for 4 wooden rings

This Etsy seller, Wedgewood rings from Rochester NY, offers a bunch of different woods that have different tones and patterns.

$65 Gabon ebony and Cocobolo ring
I like the darker wood surrounding the center

$95 Asian satinwood ring
So shiny and the inside is lined with another wood.

$65 Walnut, maple, thinwin ring
Can you imagine how much work must have gone into this for only $65?

$45 Solid lignum vitae ring
This one changes color over time from the tan brown above to the greenish color below and the grain of the wood comes out more.

Etsy finds of the day

Two really expensive but nice things:

$15,000 Circular cabinetPretty pretty.
This is made from satinwood, walnut, and walnut burl veneer. So well-made.
I could see this in a fancy woman's floofy roccocco dressing room or in an elegant mid-century modern living room or den.

$2,880 Opal gold and dinosaur bone ring
What? Yes, the material that looks like petrified wood in those stripes is actually fossilized dino bone. No one can tell you that's not manly.

Dry winter skin? Sugar it up.

My friend Becca is a professional makeup artist and she has a bunch of great tips for dry skin.

Read about them on her blog here.

One of her great tips is to take the crappy moisturizer that you never use but are saving for some reason (I have at least 3 of these that I've tried and rejected or thought were the wrong weight for my skin) and mix some of it with brown sugar and rub into your face.

Sugar is a humectant, which means it attracts water to it. That's why sugar gets sticky instead of staying dry when you spill a soda or have a giant lump of sugar in the box instead of the grains it came in. The more you know.
Anyway, if you put it on your face, it will attract water to your face.
That's the whole deal behind the Fresh Sugar products as well.

$23 Fresh Sugar lip treatment SPF 15

Etsy find of the day: cutout art

$70 Kiss Silhouette by Tina Tarnoff
I really like this paper cut out scene. The artist does a bunch of romantic and intricate carvings, if you want to check out more

Zoya nail polish review

I got my first Birchbox  subscription package of makeup in the mail (review of that to come), and in it was a teeny bottle of Zoya nailpolish in Kristen.

I was excited to see it because I'd been wanting to try Zoya but you have to buy it online and pay shipping and I didn't know if it would be worth it.

They offer "color spoons" to try to counteract that, which is a thing where you pay 50 cents to get  stick that has the nail polish painted on it in the mail. WHAT? That is so dumb. Who would want that? They say they take the amount you spend on the spoons off your next purchase, but that is totally stupid. They should send out $1 samples of the real polish instead.

It's one of the "3 Free" line of polishes that doesn't have the bad chemicals in it. It's also vegan-friendly.

$8 Zoya Kristen
The color here looks a little more gray than it appears in person.
I'd call it a light blue with some lavender and gray tones.

I was really pleasantly surprised by the texture and coverage of the polish.
The first coat was a little streaky but went on smoothly, and then the second coat was creamy and solid and was all I needed.

It dried pretty quickly and has a very hard finish. I am always happy when my nails dry before I can smudge them.

The color is like one I already have from Urban Outfitters, so it's not the most useful addition to my collection, but it is way better quality than the UO one.

It's lasted pretty well, too. This is a pic of my nails after wearing it for 5 days, and they are still almost like when I painted them. You can see a little chip/hole in my middle finger nail.


 
I got a bunch of compliments on them, too.

Zoya: thumbs up!

Town Shop Sale in NYC

What could make you travel to the Upper West Side?
How about really cheap quality bras?

Town Shop has great salespeople who can fit you really well. You might be surprised at the sizes they end up giving you, but they know their stuff and you should just trust them. They know the brands and how the sizes change in each one.
They also have great swimwear. 

 Freya bathing suit- they come separately and tops are by bra size so they fit well




Don't be shy, at the store they measure you and basically look at you topless to size you up, but they are professionals and it's worth it.

What:  The Town Shop (known for its lingerie) is hosting a warehouse sale offering up to 90-percent off the original retail prices on top brands (Chantelle, Wacoal, Natori, Freya and more) of bras, panties, hosiery, swimwear, sleepwear and more.   
Where:  2255 Broadway at 81st St, Suite 314 
When: January 11 to 13.  Daily 11-6

Etsy find of the day: Salt and Pepper shakers

$9.99 Wild wood salt and pepper shakers

Check out that wood grain!
The pattern is so well-defined.
The silver tops are in just the right proportion to the tall bottoms, too.
These would make a good gift and people will think you spent a lot on them.

Menswear Sale at Rothman's

Rothman's, a menswear store near Union Square in NYC is moving storefronts and having a huge sale so they don't need to move all their inventory with them.

Stop in for deals on Ben Sherman, Original Penguin, Earnest Sewn, and more. Some of the brands are old-guy style, but a lot are fresh or classic.

Sample Sally has more details:
"Expect to find hundreds of styles of suits and separates from European brands such as Canali, Hugo Boss, Zegna and more.  Plus, moderately priced items from DKNY, Calvin Klein and more.  The store sent us photos and gave us this price list:  Hugo Boss suits (were $795-$950) are now $499; Hickey Freeman suits (were $1,495) now $699; DKNY suits (was $595) now $249; Calvin Klein suits (were $595) now $249; Hugo Boss dress shirts (were $115-$125) are now $79; Canali ties (were $125) now $79.

There’s also casual wear to be had such as 7 For All Mankind jeans (were $185) now $109; Earnest Sewn jeans (was $195) now $119; Original Penguin sweaters (were $79) now $49 and more.  The sale will go through to March 1st when the store makes the move to its new location."

Where:  Rothman’s, 200 Park Ave S at 17th 
When: January 6th to March 1st
Hours: M-F 10-7, Sat 9:30-6, Sun 12-6

I'm so goth, even my tissues are black

$3.49 Tissue Noir
Cry your black tears from your black emotions that live in your black soul and smear your black eyeliner and black mascara onto these black tissues.
Black.

Also, this is a good thing to give someone to tell them to shut up and get over themselves already, and that you're sick of them crying and being all emo.

Etsy finds of the day

$27 Vinyl bucket bag
Nice color blocking on this one, and the cinch belt is cool.

$75 Vintage Danish Modern pot stand
This is such a cute fondue pot and stand. I like the wood ball handle, which won't heat up even when the pot does.
Looks like candy or a toy!

$95 Vintage camel leather duffel bag
This leather looks thick and durable. The bag is designed so you can open a smaller zip pocket on top or the larger one with the U shaped zipper. It also has a side external pocket for smaller things.