Sunday, May 2, 2010

Google Adsense Pays off for Nola

A while back I told you about my adventure with Google Adsense, how I became enamored with the new advertisements on my blog as new shopping potential for myself, because I am always on the lookout for positive new online shopping experiences. I said I would share my good fixin's when they arrived and, my friends, they have arrived. They are from Nola, a women's clothing store located in the UK. I can't provide you a link to their website without their consent (which is sort of annoying), so I won't do that, however you can google shop nola in the UK and find them yourself. (Always make sure you read the fine print regarding purchasing and returns. ALWAYS check to see if a site is secure before you send your info out into cyberspace!!!) Nola carries some lovely brands like Sweden's whimsical Odd Molly, the Belgian contemporary Lino Factory, Denmark's feminine Container brand, and my personal favorite, the Danish bohemian Lysgaard Brand with its beautiful detailing, among others. Currently, you will find the dress I purchased right on the home page of their website:























It's a really cute smock dress that feels very current with the ethnic print and the way it sits off the body. It's flowy and breezy. I am very impressed with the quality. Honestly, I don't always buy quality clothes, but when I do they are in my closet for years. I wore a dress yesterday that I have had at least seven years and it just holds up....what can I say. I consider a dress 100 USD and over an investment and I also consider 100USD expensive. For that price I expect quality and I think that's fair. This dress was 69 GBP. At current exchange rates that's about 105 USD. Chances are, unless I find the bathing suit of my dreams that makes me look like Sophia Loren, it is the most expensive thing I will purchase this summer.








It was love at first sight on the home page where the dress was featured. It's like the proverbial moment you walk into a store and see the mannequin and said, "I'll take it!" and you walk home with everything BUT the Mannequin. Those are very rare moments for me because I am an outfit scratcher. Like a chicken loves to scratch for its food, so do I love to scratch for my outfits, picking a little here, and a little there and in my case never really going to the same place twice.
















I bought the two pairs of coordinating Lysgaard leggings at 15GBP each, and two Lysgaard scarves, one in turquoise and one in aqua green. The leggings are a lovely color and more like thin but not too thin tights than cotton leggings which makes them perfect for summer. I don't have or wear a lot of heels (they just don't suit my lifestyle, Victoria Beckham I am not), but I felt the above shoes from ASOS Outlet lent the same 70's spirit to the outfit as the electric blue/violet (hard to tell?)sandals on the model on the home page (I also feel like this is the direction shoes will be heading after this crazy binge plays itself out, more toward a conservative feminine tidy heel, even more so than what I have pictured here ). Once I placed the outfit on my bed I couldn't resist pushing the envelope with this print handbag I have had for a few years, a Christmas gift from a dear friend, which is the same viscose gorgette fabric as the dress.








I am completely satisfied with the qulity of all 5 items and in particular the detailing on the dress. I always need to wear a bra and I was worried that I would have to wear a strapless with this, not particularly fun in summer, but whoever designed this dress considered this so my bra straps don't show. I SOSOSO appreciate when designers are actually thinking about us. It is so uplifting, such a sign of respect to think about the concerns and to value the life of the people you are designing for. To not do so just drags the consumer down. Who needs that?























































Finally, I saw a little girl in church yesterday who had a similar dress on and she wore hers with black leggings and a grey boyfriend cardigan with silver sparkles and silver ballet flats. So the following outfit was inspired by her! Now, honestly, I don't have a silver sparkle cardigan, and if I did, I most likely wouldn't wear it because I am not a good candidate for a lot of sparkle being a soft summer.







So I just used my grey cotton boyfriend cardi from ASOS bought last summer. But I did try to work with something electric blue because I COULD NOT GET IT OUT OF MY MIND that the model on the home page had on electric blue/violet? sandals and that was a large part of my draw to the outfit to begin with, so I pulled out my very inexpensive and not so great fitting but yen satisfying and I love 'em anyway electric blue Boohoo skinny jeans/trousers (that I got for 10GBP) and I would wear this outfit easy... if I had someplace to go :). So there you go my sweet readers. It was a good shopping experience and I will shop there again. I just won't IMPULSE shop there, not at those prices. It will be a planned visit when I am not financially overextended. I am always cautious shopping online (and so should you be!) with new stores but this was a good experience. The products arrived packaged very nicely, and they were mailed out in a fair amount of time. They kept good contact with me by email. I am satisfied and I know I am going to love wearing this dress. It makes me feel very bohemian, very feminine, and very arty.




Now, how would you wear it? I would love to know. Would you wear it in winter?