Sam Edelman Sandals: Genna and Georgina

You know I love my Sam Edelman sandals... and my mom really pulled through on my birthday!

[ sam edelman - genna ]

[ sam edelman - georgina ]

[ image via chelsewears on instagram ]

Sam & Libby Keira Tall Gladiator Sandal with Studded Straps from Target

$27.99 for these awesome Sam & Libby gladiators? Don't mind if I do... 

Seriously. I just bought ALL the colors... and 2 pairs in brown... #hoarder

Everything about them is great, but I wish the black and silver versions weren't made with a shiny material. I much perfect the "satin finish" of the faux leather brown ones. However, I will deal... who knows when I'll need to dress up like a robot and need perfect shiny silver sandals!? Got it f*&^ing covered!

NOTE: I had a buy a half size up.

Sam Edelman Lisle Booties - Olive

Say hello to one of my absolute favorite pairs of shoes. Hello shoes.

Everything about the Sam Edelman Lisle bootie is perfect, except that the zipper clinks when you walk and I have yet to find a way to make it not happen (that actually doesn't bother me too much). I'm so obsessed with them that I own FOUR pairs. One in tan, one in black, one in olive (my favorite!), and wine (a very close second). Excessive? No. Why not? BECAUSE THEY ARE EVERYTHING.

If you've been reading this here blog or watching my YouTube videos for any amount of time, I'm sure you've seen these booties pop up in countless outfits... but I had felt the need to dedicate a whole post to them because they are being sold for a ridiculous deal right now and everyone and their mom needs to own them.

No seriously, my mom has a pair too.

Zara Leather Sandal - Nude

Excuse me while I quote vintage Britney, "Oops, I did it again..."

You may recognize these Zara heels from a previous post... but... they are different, I swear! It's totally rational to need the same exact shoe in both a nude and black version! Honest! Don't look at me like that! *looks up shopping addition inpatient facilities*

Zara Basic Sandal

Zara is just killing it with the heels right now...

[ zara basic sandal ]

Zara TRF Sandal with Buckle

I am ALL about ankle straps -- I find them to be incredibly sexy and feminizing. Plus, I find they make my legs look longer; and who doesn't love that? (A girl could almost forget she's just 5'4....) So here we go, another Zara heel that's not so comfortable, but looks so good the pain doesn't matter. 

Priorities, people.

[ zara trf sandal with buckle ]

Zara Leather Sandal

I obsessively stalked these Zara Leather Sandals and ordered them the second I got an email saying they were back in stock. 

Uncomfortable as shit, but fucking beaaauuutiful!

Getting Fit: Womens Nike Free Run 4.0

Hey, these are shoes... they count.. I "wear" them! It's time for me to get back into being a healthy, fit member of society. I used to play sports and run... and even spend time outdoors (what a novel idea).. but I've become quite lazy in the past few years. I try to avoid outdoors on the East Coast thanks to either really hot weather or really cold weather.... and I hate gyms... and I didn't own running shows... annnnd these are all excuses so I will shut up.

While my diet and lack of working out has not really negatively affected my body size/shape/etc... it's important to be fit just for my own general health. It really would be so much easier to get my ass on the pavement if vanity or an inability to fit into my expensive jeans were my motivations, but alas just the abstract idea of "health." What can I measure to see results?! Nothing! Borringg.

I PROMISE to never run a marathon (like everyone else and their mothers endlessly brag about doing on Facebook. My FB newsfeed is awful... what is it was marathons and mid- to late- 20 somethings and early-30 something people?!? Why sync it to FB?! I. do. not. care. that. you. run. around. in. circles.). And this probably marks the end of me ever talking about running and fitness because I find it very boring -- but my new shoes are cute, huh?!

[ womens nike free run 4.0 - $69.98 - $89.99 ]

Boutique 9 Justine Suede Pumps

I could give you a whole backstory about how I discovered an awesome pair of sparkly black Boutique 9 'Justine' pumps at my local Saks outlet and blah blah blah, but really... no one cares. Fact of the matter is these shoes are a great and look far more expensive than they are. I got my first pair at about 50% off retail and the two pairs I'm talking about now were both discounted as well. Dis bitch loves deals. Having said that, I HATE when people will buy something just because it's a deal. ONLY buy something if you LIKE it or LOVE it and it's on sale. I really hate deal chasing for the sake of deal chasing -- you're not saving money... you're losing it. You're spending money you weren't going to spend anyways. You only save money when you would have paid full price otherwise. *Drops the mic and steps off coupon code soapbox*

 [ boutique 9 'justine' pumps - $84+ ]

I'm having such a trouser/pants/bootie/pump/blazer phase right now that I just feel frumpy and unhappy in anything else. Given that, these Justine suede pumps are a favorite shoe of the moment. I'm really an all black errethang kind of girl at heart and generally prefer to relegate crazy colors to the lower half of my body (wacky pants or shoes) or on my lips (NYX - Shocking Pink, MAC - Lady Danger, etc..). Hence, where these guys come in.

They are slightly high for easy, comfy walking, so beware if you're not a heel girl. I've been looking for clean, simple, and colorful pumps for a while now and was even willing to settle for non-suede shoes.. but alas, my mission is complete. There are a few other colors I have my eye on -- the dark purple ones and a black suede pair to replace my ehh ShoeMint ones -- so my eyes are peeled for those on sale in size 7 in the future. Thankfully I had a Shopbop credit from a price matching credit I got a month back, so the pinkish pair only cost me ~$30 bucks and the blue pair was purchased from Zappos for ~$85!

WANT: Nordstrom BP. Trolley Ankle Boot

I have an insatiable obsession with ankle boots at the moment. I saw the Trolley Ankle Boot on Nordstrom's site today and naturally fell in love. I blame the Dolce Vita Jax boot. It's a gateway boot. I'm going to move on to harder, more expensive boots -- the kind of boots that need to be smuggled into the country. Before I know it I'm going to be found in a dirty gutter, overdosed on fabulous. She. was. so. young.

[ bp. trolley ankle boot - $99.95 ]

To Note: they look quite similar to a certain Topshop Ambush boot that I missed out on months back.

(but minus the seam on the front, so even better!)

Dolce Vita Jax Booties

 

[ dolce vita jax boot - $138 or $103 or $93.84... or less! ]

I've had my eye on Dolce Vita's Jax boot for months. I was discouraged from buying them due to their high price tag ($198 full price), but I recently finagled them for as little as $53 (explanation for the "for little as" terminology down below) and thought I'd share the process with you. Get ready for a long (read: boring) story. Click here to skip to the cliff notes, if you're not interested. However, if you like the show Extreme Couponers, then you're in for a ride! Here is a little insight into a typical online shopping process for me:

So... I googled and googled around trying to find the "Stone Nubuck" color (shown below on the right) in a size 7, but they were sold out all over. Woe is me. But alas, I finally found them, in tons of sizes, on Bluefly at a discounted price ($138 -- retail prince was $198 a pair). When I saw the "Camel" was also available in my size, I opted to order both and try them on at home with different outfits to help me decide. I would have been paying about $276 for two pairs of shoes (with their free shipping for orders $75+). However, I then remembered that I've tried on Dolce Vita shoes in a 7 before and found them too small, despite 7 being my size pretty much everywhere else. To ensure that I got the right size, I decided to put a big temporary dent on the ole credit card so that I could do an at-home try on.

Given this new development, the total now runs $552. Holy crap! But have no fear, I do this method of shopping a lot with a credit card that I pretty much never use and I don't worry about it because I end up getting all the money refunded back after I return the wrong sizes/colors. See Mom, that's totally responsible! If you're not from America, this type of behavior is just how we got in that whole financial, economic credit crisis we're in. Exhibit A. Right here. American materialist. But I'm a smart one! I swear! I get all the money refunded and then immediately pay off the credit card amount for the item(s) I kept (easy to do with 1 click because I have everything linked up online with my bank). I just prefer this to creating a giant hold on my actual debit account, with money that I may need for rent, sustenance (alcohol), and groceries. Some people have emergency credit cards for car troubles or vet bills, I have an emergency try on shoes at home card.

This particular day Bluefly happened to have a bonus running where if you spend $150+, you got $30 off your order. That brought my total down to $522 ($130 per pair, spread evenly). Still painful. I wasn't sure how the discount would translate considering when it appeared in my checkout it was not applied evenly to the items, it was just a -30.00 listed after 0.00 for shipping. If I returned pairs, would it apply the discount to those or to the kept pairs or would it be evenly dispersed?! It makes a difference! It could be anywhere from $138 a pair to $108 for one kept pair depending on how it applied the refund. I googled around for more coupon codes and I found one called FIFTY250 (not sure if this still works) that got you $50 off any order over $250. That would have been better than this $30 deal and brought my order down to $502 ($125 a pair, spread evenly). I tried entering in the code to see if I could get a double deal, but they wouldn't let me. I couldnt even use this code INSTEAD of the $30 off, so I had to wait until the next day when the promotion was over. I am not a patient person so this was essentially torture. I looked at midnight and the promo was still applied. I looked at 3am (I'm a night owl) because I figured the promo ended with CA time... no luck. I went to bed counting Jax boots and awoke to find my shopping cart discount free! Never thought I 'd be happy to see that...

Never one to call it a day on a coupon hunt until I've exhausted all my resources, I searched a little more. These are obviously the research skills that cost 40K for UPenn to teach me last year.... SAS... SPSS... huh?? The last leg of the extreme couponing journey brought me back to Bluefly's own website. As I have mentioned in my Guide to Online Shopping, many stores offer great % discounts when you sign up on their email list. Bluefly just so happened to have 25% off offered to new subscribers! Click here to be taken to the sign up page. So, if you take out that dusty TI-83, and run a few graphs and some slopes and play one of those games your smarter friend put on there for you, you can easily see this is the best deal. This brings the total to $414 and about $103 a pair. The one annoying thing I must note is that Bluefly makes you click through a link in their email to get the 25% discount so Ebates is a no go. Using an Ebates referral gets you back to full price.

THEN. The story doesn't end yet, you guys. It never ends. I will always play cat and mouse with stores to get the best deal. I saw an email in my inbox recently saying they were having a mystery sale and that TAKE40 would get you $40 your order. Curious, after having just days before done the whole shabang I wrote about above, I decided to have a peak and see what the new ~mystery~ price would be. Alas, cheaper!!! Boom. Planned to send back the ones I had ordered previously upon their delivery. Fresh start. It's go time. Now, the shoes were offered for $93.84 a pair and with the $40 coupon code discount the total came out to be $335.36 for 4 pairs (different sizes to try on and return, like I said). Now depending how the discount applies to the returned items since it was one of those discounts they deducted from the total and did not evenly apply to each shoe, I have finagled myself some Jax booties for either $93.84 (if the discount is deducted from the returned shoes only -- not likely!), $83.84 (if discount applied evenly), 73.84 (if the discount stays with the items I kept AND I kept both colors in the size that fit), OR $53.84 (if the $40 discount stays with the items I kept AND I kept only 1 color in the size that fit). I opted to keep the 7 1/2 (I was right about smaller sizing, since I'm typically a 7) in each color. Final amount spent? About $150 total, for a pair in each color. They separated out the discount, so it did not apply just to the shoes I kept when I returned the other size. The End!

Cliff Notes Version: Sign up for Bluefly's email list, keep eye out for sales, buy shoes for as little as $75.

They were on MYHABIT (and other flash sale sites too, actually) in mid-August (and I've seen them in October now too) and my mom, who had bought them in THREE! colors already frantically yelled at the screen, "Buy them in dark brown! Buy them in dark brown!" She really got into the flash sale mindset. In that same order, she bought the black version for me for about 79 bucks (thanks mom!). Now, that was a much easier, less intricate and obsessive purchasing experience... but I must admit I love the chase of finding a deal. The end result: I have three colors and she has four. Excessive? Probably -- but they are incredibly comfortable and versatile.

Honestly, I can't recommend these enough!! Click here to see all my outfit posts with them.

Steve Madden DYNEMITE

I recently picked up the Steve Madden DYNEMITE and thanks to a spring 30% off promotion (and an additional coupon code) I paid about 1/2 the regular price. Cha ching -- big savings! They look amazing with dresses, especially vintage ones, but warning: they are a liiiiiittle difficult to walk in as they are a pretty high platform. I needed a pair of simple, neutral shoes for the longest time, so I'm pretty happy with these -- especially the ~$50 price tag. I also found the lavender ones in my size on Overstock for a little more and scooped those up because they are a PERFECT color match for the watercolor-esque vintage dress I bought a while back and a similarly colored Marc by Marc Jacobs dress that has sat in my closet for years unworn.

Online Wishlist: Sam Edelman Ginger Gladiator Flat

My Sam Edelman gladiators are my FAVORITE pair of sandals I've ever owned and I have them in three different colors. They don't make that style anymore (they are from 2 summers ago), but you can get the Ginger flat on sale now (in multiple colors). I want!

WANT: Kate Spade New York Licorice Suede Pumps

If I was a well off, office workin' girl these Kate Spade New York pumps would be an essential for my work wardrobe (in red or navy). Someday, Chels... someday... Wait, cue my palms sweating at the thought of being out of grad school and responsible for the rest of my life. AHH! Quarterlife crisis.

What are you rockin' to work? Are you reading this at work? Bad employee!!

WANT: Coach Maleena Wedges

Coach Maleena Wedges. No size 7 left, woe is me.

WANT: Dear Golden Vintage Heels

Dear Golden Vintage, one of my favorite vintage etsy shops (well, one of my million favorite ones) has these great vintage woven heels for sale. I've gone back and forth about whether or not to buy em--I think they are great, but pricey (almost $190 with shipping) for what I'd like to spend on them. So for now, I will enjoy looking at them and wipe the saliva from my mouth every couple of minutes as I drool over them. What a mess I am.

Review: Senso Agnes

I had previously blogged about the Senso Agnes wedges and fell in love. When Solestruck had a 15% off sale, I decided to get em. I opted for both colors because I wanted to try them on and decide in person what color I loved and return the unwanted pair. It still is a tough decision, but part of me thinks I like the INSANE neon yellow/green the best. The neon yellow is smooth and the blue has more texture (as you can tell in the pictures). What color do you like best?
Unfortunately, they were uncomfortable and I decided to return them both. The blue felt like it fit better than the yellow pair, but both were loose around the sides and my foot felt like it was going pop right out of them even though they fit well and were tight when standing (look how scrunched my toes are!). The blue pair came with an ink smudge on it, so it made it pretty easy for me to decide to send the blue pair back. It's hard to let go of the other pair, but I just can't even fathom spending an hour in these wedges without being in serious pain! Beauty is pain, I guess. Goodbye gorgeous shoes, goodbye!

 Sniffle, sniffle. Bye Bye Senso Agnes! Writing this post only made it a little bit harder to let them go.

WANT: Senso Agnes

These Senso heels are neon, neon, and more neon.

Madewell Smokeswirl Espadrille

I wore these shoes on my graduation day (as well as many days since then) and I just absolutely love them. They are really comfortable and I feel very secure in them (no wobbly ankles). With graduation cash burning a hole in my pocket, I'm trying realllllly hard to convince myself not to get them in the denim style (excuse me, "bengali indigo") as well.

WANT: Theyskens’ Theory Velvet Pumps

VeronicaLovesArchie is one of my favorite blogs for amazing style finds. 

She recently posted these shoes, and while they are crazy expensive... they are still damn gorgeous!