Tis the season (to get thrifty)

The holidays are always a tough time because there's so many good sales, but it's also the time when I feel like I should only be buying for others.  Every year is a struggle because I find that some deals are just too good to pass up.

I have a love-hate relationship with Forever 21, I know it's weird.  I love that the store allows you to try a trend at a relatively low price, but I hate that the store rarely has sales and doesn't allow returns.  On top of that, my local XXI is two stories with escalators which sounds wonderful, but is really just incredibly overwhelming and messy. 

However, when I got an email from them letting me know about the 21% off they were offering for Friends and Family this past weekend, I decided to go in to look for a leather jacket I had seen on their site.

studded leather jacket | forever 21, $37.80

This one was on sale for 50% online Black Friday weekend, but I hesitated to buy because I like to try jackets on first and I hate paying for shipping. I didn't think I'd be able to find this in store after it disappeared from the web site but as I scoped out the first floor, I found the jacket in black and white. After debating on sizing and color, I decided on the black in medium.  With the F&F discount the jacket was $29.86.  I love the gold zippers and studs on this.

left: striped relaxed slub top. right: union jack baseball tee.

I'm a sucker for striped knit tees. They're so easy to layer or wear with colored pants and matching jewelry and I always think they look nicer than a tshirt.  So, it wasn't a hard decision to pick up this one in Royal/Mint ($8.53).  One of my friends loves anything Union Jack so I teasingly sent her a picture and she quickly convinced me to buy it.

I also went thrifting and found some real gems.

Linking up here today!

close up of detail

I was super excited about this sheer green blouse.  The top is loose fitting and I think it would look fantastic tucked into a gold sequined skirt for the holiday season.

appàrenza top | thrifted, $3

Next was an interesting find -- do you ever wonder about the previous owner of thrifted clothes?

These were besides each other on the rack, one still had the tags as shown above.  I'm curious as to why someone bought two of the same $40 shirt at Express and then took it to Goodwill.

sleeveless top | thrifted, express - $3

sleeveless top | thrifted, express - $3

These will be great under cardigans until it's warm enough to wear them alone.

ikat ruffle tank | thrifted, $3

Grabbed this tank to pull on as I tried on a cardigan and ended up liking it better than the sweater.  It's bright and fun and will also be wonderful under cardigans until it warms up again.

patterned knit tee | thrifted, talbot's - $3

Overall, a pretty great thrift haul that I'm very excited to style.

Have a good one!

Nicole