As we alluded to on a twitter post, we're thinking our love affair with Rue La La is has come to a dramatic end. Generally speaking, we like them. They don't always have the best brands (really, who needs a Puma sample sale), and when they do have great brands, they rarely have great things. They're kind of the nice boy in the marching band version of sample sales.
We still checked them every day, and during a Helly Hansen sale, we happened to find a great winter coat for a great price. Our current winter coat has marks all over it, the pocket is tearing from the lining, and the poor inside has spots and rust stains from the metal coat-hanging bit. We ordered a coat from RLL, and here we are, 14 days later. While it had an estimated arrival date of, oh, Wednesday, it didn't ship until yesterday. The RLL customer service was dreadful – it wasn't so much that they didn't have information (which they didn't, but we don't hold them entirely at fault for that), but it was that any complaint was met with a weird, chirpy response to the tune of 'Oh well! That's what happens when you shop the 'La! Consider yourself lucky that we'd sell to you!'. We don't want a marketing campaign, we want to know when our coat is going to arrive. It finally shipped yesterday, so maybe we'll see it before the spring thaw.
And then we had the final nail in the coffin. RLL had a Ray Ban sale! How exciting! Sunglasses are a clearly documented favorite of ours, and we were quite excited for this sale. Good things! And cheaply! We hopped on the sale as soon as it started, and added 2 pairs of glasses to our cart. All was fine! The problem came in when we had to get our credit card out of our wallet. Apparently, while you enter your credit card information, the items in your cart are not actually held for you. Now, we have worked in shopping websites for our entire adult life. This is how we pay our bills. This is the absolute first time we have EVER heard of this process. Every other store we've shopped/worked for, once you're in the checkout process, the item is yours. Even the other online sample sale sites seem to work the same way – Hautelook puts a hold on the item while it's in your cart for 15 minutes, but if you're inactive, it'll toss it back out. It seemed rather surprising that RLL values the transaction more than the actual customer, and this teeny, unmentioned detail has pretty much killed any desire we have to shop with them.
We should say, for the shipping disaster on our coat, they offered us a $10 credit to our RLL account. The right thing to do would've been to credit our credit card for the shipping, but they've shown that they're not so great at customer service. We emailed their CEO (they encourage it, we're not one to usually email CEOs) with our issues about the Ray Ban sale, and we never got a reply. It's a bummer, but we won't shop there again. Hautelook, you're looking dreamier and dreamier.
So at "press time"—which is 1:38 a.m. ET, because this night somehow got extremely out of hand—we're about 90 minutes short of the "online trunk show" at Olio United, which we understand to be home to "socially-responsible designers and artists." Rather than the ones who are doing coke off the model's chest, which is and always has been thoroughly icky. The four featured designers are: Prairie Underground, Feral Childe, Modaspia, and She-Bible, for our collective reference.
We don't think we're welcome back in the state of Oregon anymore, so online it shall be. We'll check the trunk show out first thing in the morning, as we encourage everyone else to do—in the meantime, we totally love this Roberta Oaks dress, conveniently on sale: was $165, now $90
NOON: Gilt: Vera Wang Collection, Botkier, and Mosley Tribes
As always, email us for invites @ thumper at bunnyshop dot org.
That image above is of Guerlain's Vetiver, which may or very well may not be included in Hautelook's designer fragrance sale tomorrow but in the meantime is available at Sephora.
Great thread on eco-friendly cleaning products. I have been trying to do the organic/no crap makeup/hair/skin care as well. It is hard! I would love to know what people have tried and liked. It is hard to know because there are now SO many things to avoid. I wonder if in 25 years we will be laughing at ourselves, sort of like how I laugh at my mom who insisted on putting bran in EVERYTHING for a year when I was a kid, because it was the cure-all.
L.
We're convinced one day someone will discover that sunscreen gives you exactly the sort of ailment it is supposed to prevent. (Er, don't listen to us—we're just bitter because we always forget to wear it.) Anyway: indeed, and still, we go along with it, at least in aspiring to eco-friendly beauty products. But we're easily swayed (we're pretty sure we think of Philosophy as being organic because its packaging is black type on a plain background and that's it.)
We thought we'd point out here that Sephora now has a "natural & organic" tab that features, among many other products, this Juice Beauty Green Apple Antioxidant Moisturizer: "This nutrient-rich moisturizer combines a brightening complex of organic apple, lemon, and grape juices." Sounds delicious, no? And now that we have about $150 in gift cards at Sephora (thanks to their amazingly liberal return policy—never change, Sephora!), maybe we'll try it out.
We'd love to hear from people who are using organic make-up and hair or skincare. Fill us in on what's working! Or not.
We're going organic very, very slowly, and not to the extent that it would necessitate our not drinking Diet Coke anymore. Someday, when we find a the bottom of a rainbow and the attendant pot of gold, we're going to wear organic clothing all the time. Ooh, we're perpetuating stereotypes again, and unfairly, because there are plenty of organic fabric and bamboo textile things that are at least within the realm of affordability. This shirt above is not really one of them, but it is the cutest one we saw: Moral Fervor top, $150
This one, however, is a bit of a bargain: We're not sure why Loomstate couldn't put together a nicer, bigger photo, but this is $120 off! (Buy now, wear in May, etc.) Anyhoo, most of this site is on sale, so if you're looking for some eco-friendly clothing that will still provide for the buying of cranberries and fish and occasionally Cheez Its, we recommend Greenloop. Loomstate's organic cotton beach skirt, was $150, now $30
We’re totally annoyed that we’re becoming online sample sale shills, but we can’t not share: Ray Bans at Rue La La and Hunters at Gilt. As previous, email us if you’d like an invite: thumper at bunnyshop dot org. Ray Ban black metal aviators, were $99, now $49
I'm just wondering: Do you use any "green" household products, and if so, which ones? I'm sort of at sea with the whole thing.
Love, K.
Interesting! We do, but only because our lovely, lovely sublettor was nice enough to buy them when our toxic stuff ran out. We have Seventh Generation lavender dishwashing liquid, Seventh Generation paper towels, and perhaps the world's thinnest toilet paper. We plan on expanding to some Mrs. Meyers all-purpose cleaner as soon as we use up the rest of what we have. (It's a recession! Can't just be throwing stuff away willy-nilly these days. Or, er, any day.)
Now: again, because we believe that the group is nearly almost smarter than the individual (er, except when it comes to, say, making movies and stuff like that), we ask anyone who's invested in these or similar products to share your thoughts. There's a prize! Above: these gorgeous "Jungle" postcards from Prismera, made from 100% recycled paper. (We're thematic like that.) The winner of a set of six will be announced tonight-ish. (Tomorrow.) They are otherwise available here, at $15 for six.
February 1: It’s even better than the Super Bowl, unless you are from Pittsburgh, which we are not. When we say we are going to be there when the store opens, we mean it, because we have been looking for magazine holders, and these could not be more perfect! We were definitely hoping for cheaper than $9.99, but we’ve seen many less-cute ones for more.
The plates are priced more to our liking at $3.99 each.
And: cork placemat, $4.99. Not a single thing—on this page, anyway—more than $10. Hurrah!
