Memorial Day Sales Online...

Although the Aussie dollar has lost some ground against the US dollar, the conversion rate is still pretty good, and with many American retailers having amazing discounts and offers for the Memorial Day long weekend, it is a great time to shop. Here is a round up of some of my top picks:

• American Eagle and Aerie have 40% off everything and $25 express shipping to Australia.
• Express also has 40% off everything.
• Victoria's Secret has 7 for $26 on a range of panties.
• Macy's has between 10 and 15% off everything.
• Hollister and Abercrombe & Fitch have $10 shipping to Australia.
• Forever21 has an additional 30% off sale items, and many other items reduced.
• Bloomingdales has 30% off many designer handbags.

Unfortunately, not all sites offer discounts to international shoppers (such as Gap/Banana Republic/Old Navy, Crate and Barrel, and Pottery Barn to name a few) so be sure that you choose your shipping location and currency to Australia to make sure you are able to use the discounts shops are offering.

I picked up 4 items of clothes for around $100 AUD including shipping from American Eagle, so am looking forward to them arriving soon!

What did you buy in the Memorial Day sales? Do you prefer to shop online or in stores? What are your favourite American brands?

Rag & Bone Newbury Vs Vince Camuto Hadley

As you know from the last post, I have purchased both a pair of the Rag & Bone Newbury boots and the Vince Camuto Hadley boots, which are an imitation of the Rag & Bone Newburys. As someone on the Vogue Forums told me when I was debating the real versus the steal (having already shelled out megabucks for the Acne Pistols only a few weeks ago), I would probably end up getting the real thing in the end anyway, which I did do before the steals even arrived! And besides, how could I not have a pair of boots named after one of my favourite places in the world? (Being Newbury Street in Boston, oh how I miss that place!).

I have worn the Vince Camuto Hadleys to work for the day but I have not yet worn the Rag & Bone Newburys as they only arrived yesterday. Although the VC Hadleys are probably the best knock off version of the Newburys I have seen online, I have noticed some differences. And so I present to you my review of the real V steal, the Newbury V Hadleys:

Hadleys (in sand nubuck) box and Newburys (in deep brown leather) box.

The shoes in their boxes. The inside of the Vince Camuto box is pretty cool, with the hot pink lining. The Hadleys came incredibly well packaged - each shoe in its own plastic bag, and each shoe stuffed with paper and plastic shape holders and foam padding. The Newburys came with no internal packaging or shape holders, but do have a dust bag.

Standing up straight, the Newburys are slightly taller than the Hadleys. The half seam around the toe is slightly further from the toe on the Newburys than the Hadleys. 

From the back, you start to notice the differences. The Newburys have a slightly higher heel (which is a noticeable difference when wearing them), and they also have a concealed zipper whereas the Hadleys zippers are completely exposed. 

The Hadley heel is more an unfinished heel - it is rough to the touch and has a pebbly look. 

The Newbury heel, however, is more finished and glossy and is smooth to the touch.

If you look carefully, the Hadleys have a bit of a buckling/bulging on the sole where the shoe is stitched together along the vertical line. The Newburys don't have this buckling.

The sole of the Hadley (left) is a non-slip synthetic sole, whereas the sole of the Newbury is leather. 

The inside of the Hadley is non-leather, and you can see that after only one day the insole is starting to peel off the heel of the shoe. For the price, I would expect better.

The inside of the Newbury is leather lined. Hopefully after a day of wear the insole doesn't peel off the heel!

Zipped up, it is easier to spot the exposed and concealed zippers, (Hadleys have a Vince Camuto logo on the zipper pull and Newburys have a Rag & Bone button on the leather tab of the zipper pull). This is the most noticeable difference between the real versus the steal.

On, there is enough room so your legs aren't being cut into. These are all taken with a thin sock but I think leggings or thin jeans should get inside, especially if you have skinnier calves.

VC Hadleys on. The material is really soft!

On, the Newburys seem to have a similar shaft circumference as the Hadleys. Possibly marginally smaller, but not noticeable. Certainly more roomy than the Acne Pistols!

I think the buckling in the leather around the front of the foot there is just because they're new and stretching.

Verdict
-I am happy that I purchased the nubuck suede ones in the cheaper Vince Camuto brand (and have learned that Vince Camuto is the original owner and creator of Nine West, one of my longest favourite shoe brands and I find their quality very good), as this type of material can get ruined quicker than regular leather. I purchased the VC Hadleys off vincecamuto.com for around $160 with shipping (they retail for $159 USD but I found a code for 20% off which effectively negated my shipping costs to Australia) and I purchased the R&B Newburys off Shopbop for $495USD and free shipping. Both arrived within a week and both were well packaged in their shipping boxes.

-The Newburys look and feel a bit more high quality and sturdy, from the materials used to make them to some of the construction details. I was disappointed the insole of the Hadleys had peeled away after one wear.

-The Newburys seem to run a little small. I am always an 8 in shoes and these were bordering on short in length around the heel, however once on and standing it is not noticeable. I had a mini panic attack yesterday when I tried them on with thicker socks and they were a little difficult to zip up as my heel was hitting the back of the boot! However, walking around the house I'm not sure I would want the 38.5 as I think I would be slipping around inside the boot. The front of the foot of the Newbury is a little tight, however I think it will stretch after a couple of wears.

-I love the colour of both pairs of boots. The Hadleys might transition better to Spring, however worn under jeans they can look a little country and western. The deep brown of the Newburys is really unusual and a different take from your regular mid or tan brown boots, or black boots - since I already have the Pistols in black, I thought it would be silly to get the Newburys in black too!

-The heel height mat be a little high if you are planning on wearing them around for a day on your feet at work, especially if you regularly wear flat shoes to work (as I do, since I work in a casual environment). There is a real noticeable height difference between these and the Pistols, which are definitely manageable for a day on your feet whereas these a day is about enough. Doable, but about the limit.

-The Hadleys are a pretty good knockoff in terms of style however I think in the long run the Newburys will give more comfort and hold out longer.

-Shop around for shipping costs and discount codes! The Hadleys come in around 3-4 different colours whereas the Newburys come in well over 15 different colour and material combinations. Watch the falling Aussie dollar and shop smart - it seems as though if you want to purchase something from the US, you're best to do it before the dollar falls even more!

Let me know if you have either of these boots or like them. Do you prefer ankle or calf/knee high boots? How do you wear your ankle boots?

Spending Online and Avoiding Work...

I've been a lazy blogger. It's been a month since my last post. I have been super busy at work and haven't really had anything to blog about, but now hat I'm getting to an even busier stage of work (where I basically have to work all weekend for 4 weekends straight) I'm doing anything I can to avoid work. I work better under pressure, anyway.

Yesterday, I went to have my hair trimmed at Rokk Ebony in Mentone. I've now been to this hairdresser three times after finally deciding to give my old hairdresser the flick for getting lazy and expensive. My current hairdresser at Rokk Ebony is only $18 more than the independent place at Waverley Gardens in Mulgrave, and she is doing a way less lazy job.

A few weeks ago, I finally purchased the Acne Pistol boots in black:

Acne Pistol boots in black, $570 AUD, from Acne Studios Armadale

I ummed and aahed about these boots for quite awhile and then on a quiet Saturday afternoon I took myself down to Armadale to try them on, as I was concerned after reading reviews online about funny sizing. I'm usually a pretty straight 8 in everything, so didn't feel too concerned, and even though I have a bit of a wide foot, this isn't usually an issue in boots. I don't have the skinniest legs and when I first tried these on they were pretty tight around the tops of the boots, but they have stretched nicely and are much more soft now that I've worn them a handful of times. I was concerned with buying online from smaller 'shops' or sellers as they might be fakes - how much cheaper can you get before the item becomes a fake? And I justified the purchase by the fact these would be versatile as they would go with anything, which they do. They are great for work where I'm on my feet throughout the day, and the heel height is not at all noticeable. However, sometimes I worry they look a bit dorky. I was also a bit upset when I wore them with a skirt and tights to work last week and everyone commented on my great $10 skirt from H&M but not my $570 boots! These boots have a pretty narrow shaft opening so there is no way I'm tucking any pants into these boots at the moment - not even ponte pants - but tights work well. I kind of scrunch my skinny jeans over the top of them so some of the zip is still on show.

Then I had the Rag & Bone Newbury boots in the back of my mind. They have a higher heel which might not be practical for my line of work, however they look so nice and they apparently have a slightly larger shaft opening than the Pistols. After much searching and looking at many knock offs, I decided that it would be silly to buy two pairs of uber-expensive ankle boots in the space of 3 weeks, so purchased these:

Vince Camuto Hadley boots in sand, $125 USD (using coupon code for 20% off) plus $30 shipping, vincecamuto.com

I LOVE the colour and these seemed like a perfect substitute. After some research, I also learned that Vince Camuto is the original owner of Nine West, one of my favourite shoe brands. Purchased!

Of course, I couldn't stop thinking about the real Newburys, and even though they are made in China, I still wanted. I considered (and tried to make myself do so) waiting until the Vince Camutos arrived and I tried them out at work for a day to test the heel height before splurging on the Newburys, but I eventually decided to get these in deep brown after seeing how good they look on Miranda Kerr. Obviously I don't have anything close to the same figure as her, but they are such a good colour and not like any other colour boots I have that I decided to buy. I really wanted some grey suede ones but they were nowhere to be found.

Rag & Bone Newbury boots in deep brown, $495 USD, shopbop.com

This is my first ever Shopbop order. I was hoping they were available on Net-A-Porter because I've heard about their nice packaging, but they weren't. And just to prove to you all how nice these boots will look on, here's that picture of Miranda Kerr in hers:

Ooooh, shiny. Ooooh, stacked heel.

The ladies in the office at work always laugh at how much stuff I get delivered to work. I don't deliver to home because there's never anyone to collect the orders and getting to the local post office from work before it closes is basically impossible. So now there are two pairs of very similar style boots in different colours to arrive at work - hopefully this week!

I was on a shopping ban after buying the Pistols, and now I'm seriously on one. My husband spends all his money on PlayStation and XBox games, so why can't I spend on nice boots?! I'm sure all three will last me several Winters.

What are your latest shoe purchases? Have you got any bargains? Do you prefer the look of the Pistols or the Newburys? Would you settle for knock offs or do you have to have the real deal?