We know we've been extremely quiet; we've switched jobs (so much happier it honestly defies words – but so much busier!), and we're trying very hard to stick to our non-shopping pledge. That being said, we still like to provide a bit of a service, and save everyone else the trouble of checking all the sample sale sites to see who has what this week. If you need an invite, email us here. Just, please, don't email us thirty seconds before the sale starts. Preparation (and a properly functioning F5 key) are absolutely crucial when it comes to getting the best selection. Trust us. This is how we bought several Foley + Corinna bags, and lost several pairs of Ray Bans.
Here, in our humble opinion, are the best sales this week:
At Gilt:
-Women's Final Sale – Accessories. Just the list of designers is enough to make us drool – but we would need to book time in our calendar to catch this. These sales tend to sell out in a matter of minutes. We're excited for Marc Jacobs, Dries Van Noten, and Kooba (we know, we know). Friday, 7/10 at noon EST.
-Incase. We're a safety nerd who uses a Mac and owns an iPhone. We'll rearrange meetings to make sure we can check out the Incase sale on Thursday (noon, EST). We really love their products. And if we get bored? Women's Final Sale is the same day and time, as is the G-Shock Special Edition sale (not for us, necessarily – they make good gifts for clumsy fellows)
We'll check out the Halston sale tomorrow, but for us, it's like seeing Renaissance art. We can appreciate it – it's just not our taste.
At Hautelook:
Hautelook has been seriously disappointing – Gilt is quickly becoming our absolute favorite sale site. The most exciting Hautelook sale this week? Eh. We're hardpressed, but maybe Plenty Frock! by Tracey Reese (Friday at 11am EST) or Mario Badescu (Monday, July 13 11am EST. Honestly)
That's it. Yikes. Hautelook used to be so GOOD, too!
We'd love to tell you what's at Rue La La this week, but they've apparently closed the site for now. We do appreciate how receptive they are to site crashes, but we do wish they'd just commit and upgrade servers or bandwidth.
Beyond the Rack is like the cute cousin to all these big girl sites – they're getting there. Nothing to rave about – an upcoming Prada sale (blergh, as far as we're concerned) in a week – but they've got potential.
Our tips for successful sample saling: Log in early. Add to your cart early. Check out as quickly as possible. Store a credit card number if you're comfortable with that sort of thing. If it's truly THAT good of a deal – you'll be able to eBay whatever you don't want. We hate to suggest shopping now, thinking later – but don't dawdle unless you're comfortable missing out. And if you are, well. In our case? We wouldn't buy it
-LB