Hello there, Penny Darlings!
I hope everyone had a safe holiday weekend! I hope you admired a lot of fireworks, that there was at least one bald eagle involved, and possibly even a bonfire! If you’re still in the midst of a four day weekend – I hope you’re enjoying it! If you have a job that you had off yesterday and off tomorrow but have to work today – sorry dude!
If you missed my Practically Patriotic in Every Way Look Book – you can check that post here! These were my two fave looks by far! Both comfy, cute, affordable, and awesome!
I am writing today from the great state of New York in the Adirondacks! It has been a so far wonderful vacation! I am here with one of my oldest friends, Cathy, and I am missing Preston and Harvey like crazy! But unfortunately, as a blogger, there is no such thing as vacation! You just keep click clacking away!
So, if you are a member of the plus sized community, and LOVE fashion – you have definitely heard of the subscription service Gwynnie Bee.
I decided that I was going to try a friend’s unique code to get a free month trial to see if I liked it!
And a few things during this trial month.
#1 – I became an affiliate.
What does that mean? You can sign up using my affiliate link here! You get 30 days free, no obligation, and exclusive styles and WAY discounted prices from their retire shop, and I get to do cool things, get exclusive sneak peeks to share, etc.
So please, try it out, even for a month! Again – check my link here! Please feel free to share! It helps me and is totally fun for you! I have all kinds of bonuses, sneaks inside my closet, and promo stuff coming up! And if you end up hating it (which you won’t!) – it’s only a few clicks to discontinue the service. And if you use my link – it helps me out too!
And fun fact, I decided that I was going to try the free month trial BEFORE I decided to become an affiliate.
So here were my rules:
I would have the one-item-out-at-a-time plan.
I would wear the items within 3 days of arrival.
I would be diligent about ordering and returning.
I wouldn’t buy any of the pieces right away.
FIRST: They are a size 10-32 clothing subscription/rental service!
Item #1
Effie’s Heart Dolce Vita – Retails for $94
I wrote an entire post waxing poetic about how this dress is THE dress to beat and about how I have approx. 20 of them. And by twenty, I mean about 10. But I don’t feel the need to drag on here about how great this dress is!
As a person who is has VERY sensitive skin – I am glad that they wash their clothes in unscented, gentle detergent. The clothes have never smelled like anything and have always been immaculately clean.
And it’s a double bonus for people who are totally laundry lazy like me – they will clean, steam, and launder all items so you never need to worry about doing the laundry. That was honestly a huge selling point for someone like me.
Item #2
Effie’s Heart Wrap Dress. Retails for $98
This dress was amazing and I am WEEPING that I didn’t purchase it out of the closet when I had the chance. I may have them send it back again so I can buy it. Or see if it ends up in the shop. Argh. This dress is AMAZING! Don’t tell anyone, but I wore it twice.
And if you absolutely fall in love with an item – you can buy it for up to 60% off of retail. I absolutely did that with an item. Because, for sure, you’re going to fall in love with at least ONE piece.
And there’s no time limit – you can keep a piece out as long as you’d like! So if you get a dress to attend a wedding – you can keep it for two days or three weeks!
Item #3
This is a Rachel Antonoff top. She is an AMAZING designer. And lemme tell you – if I had thought further ahead – I would have bought this. I actually wore this to an interview and loveloveloved it tucked neatly into a skirt.
This, to me, is why I actually signed up to try GB. They have an outlet shop where they retire some of their older styles and you can buy NAME brands for under $50.
I bought an Effie’s Heart for $27, I’ve bought Cherry Velvet for under $50, they have City Chic, Eloquii, Triste, Lane Bryant, Melissa McCarthySeven, Asos, Rachel Antonoff, etc. There’s tons of brands names at DEEEEEEEEEP discounts. And ya girl loves discounts. But to be able to buy from the shop you must sign up! And you can use my affiliate link to do that here!
Item #4
This romper was probably my least favorite piece I got all month. I really wanted to love it. It was comfy, and casual, and cute – but I wore it on the MOST HUMID AND HOT day of June and it was a polyester fabric and ya girl was SCHVITZING like a mofo.
Another fun fact: some of their lines are exclusive! This is one of the only places you can buy Effie’s Heart in plus sizes and they release exclusive GB styles! Cherry Velvet and Eloquii often release exclusive looks too! And this is a Rachel Antonoff plus exclusive site!
Item #5
Eloquii Polka Dot Dress. This dress was a stretchy, almost scuba type fabric, which was surprising to me! I definitely expected it to be a crisp linen! But this dress was definitely a wear to work dress but it was also stretchy and hard to wrinkle. Both selling points.
Double Bonus: Free Shipping Both Ways.
They mail you a return envelope with the shipping label attached so that you can just put it back in the envelope, put it in your mailbox, and forget about it!
Item #6
Again, I don’t feel like I need to wax poetic about how amazing this dress is. It’s amazing.
I liked this particular dress SO much that I bought it out of the shop. It was the best $27 I ever spent! For reals! I am LITERALLY wearing this dress right this second.
Cathy and I are heading to this amazing coffee shop and bagel bar up here in the ADK! She’s out on a run right now! Oh my gosh, I actually just heard her coming up the driveway! I better wrap this up!
Items 7 & 8
Now, let’s be honest here for a second, I debated what I wanted to do with this information here. I had two more pieces! I had an ADORABLE blue peter pan collar dress and a cat sweater. Preston wasn’t able to shoot with me so I have NO photographic evidence of the last two dresses. That’s totally lame. But I wanted you to know that on the middle plan (the most typical!) – you can get approx. 8 new items a month or two new items per week. That’s a pretty high turn around. Perfect for ‘work’ looks or special occasion looks.
SO HERE’S THE “END OF BLOG” SPIEL!
The next few weeks have some awesome stuff planned! I have a how to have a self-care grown up slumber party, a post all about Eloquii, a trip to a spa, my vacation packing list, etc. And I have a really cute post coming up later this week – assuming all goes according to plan!
If you are at all interested in doing a collab or working with me – please feel free to check out my new Contact Me! page!
I have a SUPER exciting week of trying UnderSummers thigh irritation products. They got really high reviews so I’m testing them out for you!
I definitely want to do more His & Her fashion. Do you guys like seeing Preston more?
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Thank you for all that you do. You are truly extraordinary.
Love all you wonderful ladies (and gents!) out there!
How Very,
Abby❤
Penny Darling 