Style Steal: Mulberry Bayswater Double Zip Bag

So once again, I've fallen in love with something completely out of my price range - this time, it's the Mulberry Bayswater Double Zip Bag. It is a ridiculously gorgeous bag, but its about $2,000, and I'm not in the habit of buying an item of clothing that is worth about a years rent of my apartment.

 

Luckily, Zara has an amazing bag that looks super similar called the Zara Office City bag!

 

 

The Zara Office City Bag is $90, which is still a little expensive, but in comparison to the Mulberry Bayswater Double Zip Bag its a steal. And, from what I hear its big enough to hold a laptop, so its the perfect bag for school.

 

Love,

 

Caro



What's in My Bag

I have been seeing "What's in My Bag" posts and videos around the internet for years. And now that I have my own fashion/style/whatever blog, I figured I would give it a shot. 

All right, so first things first: the bag. I posted this bag one or two weeks ago when I got it from Target, and this is the only bag I've been using since them! I am so in love with this bag, and I can't wait to use it for school in the fall as well. 

Next is my phone. Funny story, generally speaking I have this iphone, my Scottish iphone 4 (just as an ipod and for games), and my really old 80 gb ipod so that I can listen to music in the car without killing the battery on my phone.

And of course, I carry my wallet with me. Pretty self explanatory, I also got this wallet from Target a few weeks back.

This was originally a makeup bag that I think I got for free for subscribing to Seventeen a few years ago, but I just use it as a cute place to put pads and tampons.

I realize two mirrors might be excessive, but I didn't realize the portable hairbrush had a mirror when I bought it, and it doesn't work that well anyways. So these are just some little hair and possibly makeup tools (I really don't carry makeup around in my purse with me, especially just day to day) in case my face is not playing along that day. I also usually have a black scrunchie, but its currently in my hair.

Apparently I have some little socks that you use at the shoe store when trying on shoes if you don't have any socks on. This is from Sunday when I went shopping for my birthday presents with my mom and she bought me some shoes, and for some reason I've just left them in my bag. 

I wore this watch a few days ago and had to take it off for something, and it just got left in my bag.

And of course the keys. I have a set of house keys, with a million key chains, and a car key. I didn't put the car key on the key chain just because I share that car with my parents, and there are only two keys, so we just leave them on the table downstairs when we're not driving. Except I always forget and put it back in my bag because its a habit. I should probably put it back downstairs...

And of course there are some loose receipts. One of these is actually a piece of paper from my grandpa's doctor, because I took him to his appointment the other day. I try to put receipts back in my wallet and then get rid of them when I know I don't need them, but sometimes I'm in a rush so I just toss them in my bag.

And of course, what bag wouldn't be complete without some lip balm? I love this eos lip balm, I have the one in raspberry I think, and it is absolutely amazing. I got this from Target a few weeks ago when I got my bag and my wallet. 

Since I'm currently in California, I keep a pair of sunglasses in my bag in a cute little sunglasses case that my friend Jessey got for me. I have a few different pairs of sunglasses that I switch out, depending on what I'm wearing. So these are my vintage tortoiseshell ones, because I was wearing my new tortoise watch the other day.

Some gum I got at the airport. Pretty self explanatory. It keeps my breath minty.

And last but not least, my earbuds. I usually wear the squishy ones, but I lost one of the ear things the other day so I've had to switch to these standard apple ones for the time being.

And that, my lovelies, is everything that is currently in my bag. What do you guys keep in your bag?

Love,

Caro

Today's Purchases

So I did a little shopping today - I drove down to Urban Outfitters and Target. I was looking for a headband thing and a ring from Urban Outfitters, which they did not have, and a watch from Target, which again they did not have. Which made me sad. I've decided to wait for after to my birthday to decide if I want to order the watch (it is gorgeous, and exactly what I've been looking for, and only $15). But, while I was there, I picked up a few other things.

I got this gorgeous satchel bag from Target for $34.99. It is a beautiful deep navy color, and a perfect size to carry notebooks to class. I can tell I'm going to be getting a lot of use out of this bag, from airports to class to general day to day life. Did I mention how beautiful it is?

The other item I picked up from Target was this interesting wallet. I can't figure out if that animal is a wolf or a fox, but either way he adds a cool, unique detail to the wallet. And the great thing is it holds so much stuff! Unfortunately I couldn't find any links to this specific wallet on the Target website, but I found this similar one with a cute little elephant on it. 

I picked up these sunglasses from Urban Outfitters for only $10! They're super flattering on my face too, which is awesome, and they have a really cute subtle cat eye thing going on, which is a big trend in sunglasses this year. Again, I couldn't find a link on the Urban Outfitters website for my specific pair, but they have some similar ones here and here.

The last thing I bought was this pair of earrings from Urban Outfitters, on sale for $2.99. They are these pretty tiny dangling tulips (at least I think they're tulips, I'm not really a flower person). At the UO I went to they were having a sale on some jewelry, so I recommend checking it out because I absolutely love their jewelry. 

So yeah. That's everything that I bought today. Not a whole lot, but since my birthday is coming up and I had to spend some money last month picking up a lot of new essentials, (and I've been treating myself to a few things on Ebay), I'm trying not to buy a lot of things, or even go shopping really. Trying to save money, and all that. 

Are any of you guys saving money? Maybe for something special? Let me know in the comments!

Love,

Caro

My Love Affair with Ebay

For years I never bought anything on Ebay - I had gotten this idea in my head that it was super intense bidding on totally random objects from sketchy sellers, and so I was scared to give them my credit card information. A few months ago though, I took a chance, and ordered a really cute pair of shorts, and I have been in love ever since. So here is a list of five reasons why I love Ebay.

1. Ebay is a great place to find clothes or shoes that are no longer in stores. This is my number one reason simply because I am the type of person that will see a picture of someone from months ago wearing an adorable shirt, or a pretty dress, and I decide that I absolutely must have it.

2. Most of the time, the prices on Ebay are incredibly cheap. Of course, occasionally people list items as more expensive than when they were in stores, hoping to make a profit because you can no longer buy them anywhere else. And that, leads into reason number 3....

3. If you can't find what you want, or you've found it and the seller is asking way more than you want to pay, don't worry! Because Ebay is entirely individual sellers, the items for sale are constantly changing. If you don't find what you're looking for one day, you could very well find exactly what you want a week later. So don't give up hope!

4. When you finally find an item that you're looking for, after searching for a while and almost giving up, its incredibly gratifying. I think the biggest tip for finding specific items that I've learned is that most people do not the store's name for a product, and if its listed under the store's name then more people find it and it gets increasingly expensive.

5. The nice thing about bidding on items instead of just buying them, is there leaves some room for error when it comes to buyers remorse. You know, when you buy something and a few hours later start to question it, and maybe regret it? When you're betting on something, there is still the chance that someone else will come and bid higher. Besides, most of the time the prices are so inexpensive, that its okay if you don't wear it every single day, because you only paid a dollar for it, or something along those lines.

Love,

Caro