About $100...from Head to Toe!

I love when I get a magazine and there is an article about fabulous finds for under $100. I excitedly turn to the article to see what I can get for a steal...only to find that the "great deal" under $100 is nothing more than a tank top for $99, a belt for $75, a pair of shoes for $89.99...and so on.

Before you know it, you're staring at an outfit that costs hundreds and hundreds of dollars. No longer such a fabulous find for under $100, is it?

I always wished that magazines would do a section on how to get a fabulous look for less. With that in mind, Princess and I set out on a mission...every month we plan to find two outfits that cost around $100 for everything...clothes, shoes, accessories...everything.

This month, we will be bringing you one outfit for work and one outfit for weekends.

Everything we show in our outfits will be things that are currently in stores (anything that gives us an excuse to shop!) that you can go out and pick up for yourself. This way, you too can have a fabulous outfit for around $100! Wherever possible, we will provide you links to the outfits as well.

If you don't care what your outfit looks like or if you don't actually like the clothes you are wearing, you can easily find an entire outfit for around $100. However, Princess and I only wanted to buy things that we would actually wear in our daily lives. So, dear readers, we set out on a hunt to find our fabulous, affordable outfits. While the search took a little time and a lot of legwork, it was well worth it! We found two fabulous outfits to share with you this month.

Our work outfit came out to a grand total of $106.93. The outfit consists of a fabulous grey shirtdress with a heathered grey camisole underneath. Pair this with purple tights, black suede wedges and a braided pearl necklace with a black ribbon closure and you have one fabulous, and frugal, work outfit that looks far more expensive than it costs!

Our weekend outfit came out to a grand total of $72.97. The outfit consists of an amazing black flyaway sweater with a white camisole underneath and fitted grey bootcut cords. We paired these pieces with a four strand long necklace in silver tones with peachy/pinky stones and a pink ribbon closure. To top off the outfit, we added sequined black ballet flats. This chic and incredibly comfy outfit can be worn to work or on weekends...and no one will ever believe you spent so little on it!

Enjoy our looks for September!

Wear to Work:

The Dress:

The Tank:

The Necklace:

 

 

The Shoes:

The Tights:

Wear on the Weekend:

 

 The Sweater:

The Tank:

The Necklace:

The Pants:

The Shoes:

Fabulous Femmegems

My Collection

In August 2003, Princess and I were attending the wedding of a mutual friend (my friend from college, who became her roommate in law school). I was wearing a plain black (and fabulous) dress, but felt that I needed a fabulous necklace to complete the outfit. I was looking for something in a jet black bead or maybe a red. But, I had been looking for a little while and hadn't found anything I liked.

Princess came to visit me in New York City and, since she is the Accessories Princess (or the guru of all things sparkly and fabulous, as I like to think of it), she decided to help me on my mission. We hit the pavement and began our whirlwind shopping trip. We decided to stop at Henri Bendel. While 99% of the time, I can't afford Henri Bendel, and certainly couldn't in August 2003 when I had just finished my masters degree and was frantically looking for a teaching job...which, as we all know, is not a high paying profession, the store is fun, so we went anyway. If you haven't been, next time you're in New York City, give it a walk through.

Bridesmaid Necklace

Much to my surprise, there was a fabulous little jewelry stand called "femmegems." Here there were strands and strands of beads (most of which are semi-precious stones), where you could make your own design, have it strung for you on the spot, and walk away with something new, fabulous and beautiful. After checking out the beads, and some pushing from Princess, I decided on a strand of rose quartz beads with a large, teardrop shaped rose quartz pendant. My wallet was $75 lighter, but I was 110% happier.

Bridesmaid Necklace

It was at this moment that I decided that if I ever got married, I wanted to get each of my bridesmaids femmegems necklaces in their favorite colors. I would often come back to Henri Bendel and stalk the femmegems table. The following year, I purchased my second femmegems necklace--bright, turquoisey blue chalcedony with an opalescent triangle-ish shaped pendant. Another $75 later, I went home with my new, beloved creation.

Bridesmaid Necklace

In the winter of 2006, I got engaged. I had moved out of the city over a year prior, but I planned on taking frequent trips in to the femmegems stand at Henri Bendel. To my chagrin, the stand no longer existed there. But, I found the femmegems website. At that point in time, their website was rudimentary and, clearly, very new. They had very few strand choices and nothing that I wanted for my bridesmaids. So, I emailed the company. I got in touch with Rachel--one of their designers--who worked with me for quite a while throughout the process. I gave her my price point and, in return, she gave me 9 beautiful necklaces in an array of colors. I wanted to keep them all...but that would be selfish. I did, however, get to keep one.

Bridesmaid Necklace

A week before my wedding, my maid of honor dropped out of the wedding. Since she was no longer part of the bridal party--or even attending the wedding, for that matter--I kept her necklace. It is a beautiful, unique creation--yellow chalcedony in small teardrop shapes--some frosty, some translucent and shiny--in a flowery pattern. Her set also came with earrings--yellow chalcedony drops with two colors of stones on them. This rounded out my collection of femmegems necklaces.

Bridesmaid Necklace

Every once in a while (ok, every time I wear one of my necklaces), I get the itch to buy another one. I'll be honest--it's not as fun as when I could stare at the strands of beads, the most beautiful ones calling to me and saying "Make me yours!" But, the end rush is still the same. A beautiful bauble--timeless and elegant--that I designed. While the pieces can be pricey, they can also be affordable. The lowest I spent for a necklace was $50 (and I won't tell you which one it was!!), the most was $110. They can get up to hundreds of dollars, depending on the stones you pick. But, believe me...for $75, it's totally worth it to design your own necklace.

Bridesmaid Necklace & Earrings

Femmegems will also take your old strands of beads that either have broken, are no longer in style, or with which you just don't know what to do and turn them into something fabulous.

I wore one of my femmegems necklaces today (the blue one). Not only did my coworkers and students compliment me all day, but when I was out to dinner with my parents tonight, my father--who is usually oblivious to all things fashion related--commented on how beautiful my necklace is. Granted, he's seen it a number of times without commenting before, but it is certainly an amazing, stand out piece that I will wear for years to come.

Bridesmaid Necklace & Earrings
(Reversible Necklace--you can wear it with the clasp in front or back)

 So, I encourage you to check out the photos I've included here, tap into your inner designer, go to the femmegems website, and make yourself your own fabulous piece. I know you'll love yours as much as I love my collection of femmegems pieces!

A Colorful Find

Actually, Two!

On a recent shopping trip with Budget into Old Navy, I started to peruse their accessory display. I should state that no matter what clothing store I enter, I always have to check out their accessories before leaving the place.

It seemed as though they upped the amount of accessories and the styles of accessories that they offer to their customers. While digging through a glass vessel, I came across two bracelets in a style that I had been searching for. A macrame bracelet with beads, but all the bracelets I had been finding were $50 and up... and frankly I am not going to spend that amount of money on a thread bracelet with beads!

So imagine my pleasant surprise (and Budget's for that matter) when both bracelets, which were on sale, totaled less than $6. That way I didn't have to choose, I got them both!

They are a great add to a jeans and t-shirt kind of day, adding a splash of color if need be.

Sometimes it pays to do a little digging before leaving a store. You never know what you're going to find!

I Would Have Worn Those 50 Years Ago...

Here's a little vignette to get you shoe lovers out there smiling!

On Tuesday, 9/7/10, I was standing outside my doctor's office rummaging through my purse. It was the end of a long work day, I was tired, and I couldn't find my iPod that I had just thrown in my bag. While I was standing on the sidewalk, I heard someone yelling things at me. I looked up and saw two old ladies (in their 70s/80s) in a car, with their window rolled down.

The "Fabulous" Shoes

These women were pointing at my feet and yelling, "Your shoes are fabulous! Fabulous!" I smiled and yelled back "Thanks!" The driver then said, "I would have worn those 50 years ago!" We both had a good laugh and she drove away.

Amazing how a good pair of shoes can brighten not just your own day, but someone else's day as well!

Where it All Began...

In the fall of 1981, two small girls met at nursery school. Nearly 30 years later, these girls are still the closest of friends...and are about to embark on a cyber journey...better known as this blog.

So, you wonder, how did it all begin?

It began over milk and cookies on a nursery school mat. These two girls quickly became inseparable (in fact, they looked so much alike as kids that their parents would often mistake them for one another...especially because one was rarely found without the other), running through sprinklers, fending off monsters in the basement, envisioning their teen years through the lives of their Barbies (including the many weddings of Barbie and Ken), consuming tubs of ice cream, and dancing to all things fabulous...especially The Bangles, Madonna and Paula Abdul. These girls quickly conquered the mean streets of their suburban New Jersey shore town. When these girls needed to escape from the rigors of their daily lives, they found solace in the game of dress up. However, the highlight of this game? Shoes. True story.

For both of us, some of our earliest and best memories come from Accessories Princess (working her way to Queen) and Budget Bradshaw trying on shoes in Budget Bradshaw's mom's closet. When our feet were too little to fill the shoes, we'd don our wigwam socks (several pairs if necessary), put on the heels, come down the stairs, and put on a play for our brothers (who didn't find this as fun as we did) and our parents, who filmed us (much to our chagrin in our later years...in fact, Princess is still trying to bribe Budget's mom into burning these videos).

Us Today

One of the things we remember most from this time period (other than the copious amounts of ridiculous plays we put on...and, we're still waiting for our Oscar for best short film), are our favorite pairs of shoes. For Budget it was a pair of deep purple snakeskin heels; for Princess it was a pair of white leather heels. We can safely say that THIS is where our love of all things accessories (for Budget, especially shoes) began.

We're channeling that love of accessories into an online blog, dedicated to all of you--the working girls, the girls on a budget, the girls who simply want to look fabulous while not spending a small fortune. Here we intend to share our best buys, our favorite accessories, our tricks for saving a few dollars and where to find the greatest deals out there--all the while letting you in on what's going on in our lives. We hope you have as much fun reading our blog as we intend to have creating it.

In the end, we hope that we get more followers than our parents and our brothers (who like the plays of our youth, will be subjected to following this blog)...and, we hope that we help some of you to become Budget Bradshaws and Accessory Princesses yourselves.