style

2019 Winter Sale Favorites at Bloomingdale’s

January 29, 2020 By Kat

Bloomingdale’s has their winter break sale going on through this weekend. In case you don’t have time to scroll, scroll, scroll, I wanted to curate a list of items that I think are cute! I have not personally tried these items, but these are ones that I would select from their sale. Available sizes may be limited. Note that an additional 50% discount is taken off when clearance items are added to your bag. YES!

Disclosure: I am an affiliate for Bloomingdales.com, so I may earn a small commission on purchases you make through these links.

Eileen Fisher System Scoop Neck Tank

Aqua Belted Crossover Jumpsuit

Baublebar Mini Kiera Earrings

Likely Camden One-Shoulder Gown

Cole Haan Slick Wrap Coat

Good American Off-the-Shoulder Top

Aqua Cashmere Long Open Cashmere Cardigan

Blanknyc Suede Moto Jacket

Ted Baker Gateshd Wool Twill Baseball Cap

Aqua Snakeskin-Embossed Crossbody

Blanknyc Cropped Faux-Fur Jacket

Aqua Curve Dolman-Sleeve Jumpsuit

Aqua Striped-Cuff Sweater

Aqua Half-Zip Sherpa Faux Fur Jacket

Lysse High Waist Faux Leather Leggings

Free People Santa Clara Waffle-Knit Tee

Lysse Plus Pearl Trench Coat

French Connection Sophia Balloon-Sleeve Sweater

1.state Sleeveless Blouson Cutout Dress

Nookie Tyler Scuba Midi Dress

T Tahari Combo Pleated Maxi Dress

Hope that helps! Do you have any favorites from this list?

My Picks for Holiday Dresses 2019

December 13, 2019 By Kat

‘Tis the season to be getting all dressed up and going to holiday parties. But if the thought of “What to wear??” sends you in a panic mode, here are my picks on 12 fun, sparkly, and elegant holiday dresses you can wear.

Disclosure: I am an affiliate for Nordstrom.com and BCBGMAXAZRIA, so I will earn a small commission on any purchases you make through these links. I have not personally tried on or purchased these dresses, but have curated this list of items based on my personal preference and hope that they are helpful to you.

Dress The Population Ruby Strapless Sequin Party Dress

Dress The Population Lillie Long Cape Sleeve Minidress

Xscape Off The Shoulder Velvet Party Dress

Women’s Dress The Population Zoe Sequin Embellished Sheath

Eliza J Crystal Cuff Drape Back Dress – This one has a sexy draped back!

Rachel Rachel Roy Isabella Velvet Dress (Plus Size)

Reformation Nicola Silk Midi Dress

Xscape Caviar Bead Long Sleeve Body-Con Dress (Plus Size)

Xscape Strapless Velvet Gown

BCBG Single Sleeve Mini Dress

Vince Camuto Popover Dress

Veronica Beard Kendall Ruched Stretch Silk Satin Dress

Some only have a couple sizes left but I loved the look of them, so hopefully they spark some ideas for you on what you can wear to your upcoming holiday parties!

Disclosure: I am an affiliate for Nordstrom.com and BCBGMAXAZRIA, so I will earn a small commission on any purchases you make through these links.

Allen Edmonds: The Presidents’ Shoes

October 9, 2019 By Kat

You’ve heard how great shoes can make the outfit. And to look like a classy guy, check out the shoes from Allen Edmonds.

In fact, this brand is American-made and worn by many past Presidents for their inaugurations, which include Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. They wore the Park Avenues.

The shoes are well-made. You can tell by the look and feel of them that they would last you a long time. More about the quality of the shoes here.

Here are some photos from inside their store. I went with Vince, and he ended up boxing up his sneakers and literally walking out with a pair on his feet! More photos on that below.

He tried them on…

And fell in love with them.

Look at that smile.

Perfect photo-op with the Stanford Shopping Center logo in the background too

Another close-up of the beauties.

They also have casual sneakers too! Great for looking good at work in Silicon Valley.

After admiring all the shoes, we checked out. Vince bought shoe trees as well.

Then we headed to dinner! Date night in his new shoes.

He was happy and walked with an extra spring in his step.

Alright, hope you enjoyed reading about this shopping experience with Vince!

To check out the shoes, visit Allen Edmonds or find a store to go in-person.

If you need style help for your wardrobe and you’re based in the Bay Area, email me at styledbykatkuan@gmail.com and let’s talk.

A Beautiful and Versatile Wardrobe with The Reset

August 27, 2019 By Kat

I was wandering around the Valley Fair mall the other day, and my eyes did a double-take when I passed by the storefront of a new shop called The Reset. I hadn’t noticed it before, but the clothing in the window and the big signage about it being a woman-founded and Bay Area brand caught my eye. I went in to check it out.

First of all, the clothing and displays and design of the place is beautiful – in a very elevated, clean, and chic way. The color schemes are very harmonious and soothing.

For some background, the brand The Reset was founded by Maria Peevey. Her concept of a “Reset” is a way to take the stress out of dressing by having a good foundation to your wardrobe with these timeless pieces.

They can easily be mixed and matched with the rest of your closet and for whatever occasion is at hand. Plus, when you have good foundation pieces, you don’t need a huge wardrobe. With less choices, it’s easier to get dressed in the morning. This is essentially the idea behind a capsule wardrobe. I love the ethos behind the brand and how they want customers to feel effortless and confident in their style.

These outfits on display are so cute. Great for every day wear or when you want to look cute. Totally my style.

More great basics. I spy a leather jacket. 😉

They also have some cute loafers on display! (I keep using the word cute because that’s how I feel about everything in the store!) These shoes were created by a different female founder, Ana Del Bosque of the Bosque footwear brand. She was also there in the store that day!

What’s neat about these leather shoes is that they can be worn TWO ways – as a loafer or as a slide (if you collapse the heel). See below, as demonstrated by Elecia Tyson. She is a fashion stylist working at the store and was telling me about the shoes. My mind was blown when I saw both ways.

Here’s another close-up of the shoes.

At the front of the store, there’s also these bracelets with an empowering message! Yes!

Here’s a look inside the dressing room too. Nice that they offer some heels to try on the clothes with.

You know what else I found out? It was their first day open at the mall! How cool! They originally have a store in SF and they’re opening up some new ones too. See locations here.

Alright, hope you enjoyed this post! If you like the styles pictured here, you can check out The Reset online. Get $25 off with my referral link!

Similarly, Ana’s shoe line Bosque is available online as well. Hooray for local female-owned brands!

If you liked this post check out related articles:
Birdies: Cute & Comfortable Flats
Trying Out Rent the Runway
Rocksbox Jewelry Subscription Box
Fun Eyeglass Frames with SEE eyewear
Rothy’s: Shoes from Recycled Plastic Bottles
Style Makeover Videos By Me

Rocksbox: 3 Pieces of Jewelry Shipped to You Each Month

July 23, 2019 By Kat

Renting clothes is becoming more commonplace. It allows us to wear new clothes without having the expense and clutter associated with it. And now the same is being applied to jewelry – with a jewelry subscription service called Rocksbox! This is my honest review of the service.

When I had first heard about Rocksbox through someone’s Instagram stories, I was so intrigued! With Rocksbox, you pay a monthly $21 fee to receive 3 pieces of jewelry shipped to you in a box. You build a style profile and add “stars” to the items that you like, which give them an idea of what to send you. They ship you 3 pieces at a time, and when you’re done, you ship them back. Then a stylist selects your next three items.

You can purchase and keep the items if you like, or you can simply wear them until you’re ready to return it for a new box of jewelry.

Here are some snapshots from the experience as a first-time user. These are from their style quiz where they get to know what type of jewelry you have and what size you are.

They allow you to browse their entire collection of jewelry and encourage you to “star” your favorite items (to be added on your wish list) to earn an initial $5 credit.

I starred the bracelet with the snake head on it – Taylor Swift vibes!

Each item has the price displayed if you want to buy it outright, but it would be free (aside from your monthly subscription fee) to rent.

Once you’ve starred a bunch of items, you wait to get styled!

Based on your wishlist, a stylist will select 3 items for you in your first box. They have emails to build up the anticipation too (see below). When your stylist has made a selection, they give you a sneak peek to see what those items are – in case you want to change them before the box ships to you.

These items were selected for my first box.

I didn’t really like the Ava Rose necklace they suggested, so I swapped it out for a different one. Certain items that I liked were not available for renting, (I guess someone else was renting them at the moment), so I settled on this Kate Spade necklace instead.

Then the box ships!

This reminds me of the Domino’s pizza tracker when you order for delivery, haha!

And then finally it arrived! I was so excited!!! It was wrapped so nicely too.

First item: a bracelet with a knotted detail on each end of it. It’s nice that it’s adjustable to fit my wrist, which is on the smaller size. I though it looked cool, but it looks a bit plain on its own, so I feel like it needed to be worn with multiple bracelets in a stack – which I didn’t have.

Second item: a ring. It looks cool on the website, but when you look up close, it’s actually some sparkly stuff on a black piece of rubber or something? I thought it was gemstone, but it looked weird / cheap in person unfortunately.

Third item: a Kate Space necklace. I chose it because I thought the pretzel shape was fun. But for some reason, when I tried it on, it wasn’t that exciting. It looked okay.

The note they included in the box was a nice touch – a personalized note from my stylist and a list of the items and pricing. You can use your $21 monthly credit towards your purchase, and if you buy all 3, you get a discount (similar to StitchFix clothing subscription, if you buy all 5 items).

Even though I could have gotten a discount on the items, plus my $5 credit from earlier, I wasn’t too enamored by any of the items, so I didn’t purchase any.

Also I kept the box for about 3-4 weeks and even then I didn’t wear any of the items.

So even though I was initially excited about Rocksbox and setting up my style profile, I felt meh about the service. The concept is cool, but I didn’t really like the jewelry pieces. I prefer picking and buying my own from other brands. They didn’t have the brands that I like to wear. And maybe this sounds weird, but I didn’t want to wear rented earrings because I have sensitive ears. So I could only have selected from the necklaces, bracelets, and rings. Oh and my ring size is pretty small too – 3.5 so most standard rings aren’t available in my size.

Anyways, it was several reasons layered together led me to my decision to ship back my box and cancel my subscription.

Too bad! I wanted to like the subscription box and have new jewelry every month, but it didn’t work out for me. Back to the old fashioned way of buying jewelry! 😉

If you want to try your luck at Rocksbox, check out this free trial link that I found online (not my referral code, haha):
Try Rocksbox

Transformed by Kat: Alice Shares Her Story

April 24, 2019 By Kat

Excited to share the latest client before & after photo!! This is Alice and she shares her styling journey below.

“For the last quarter century of me dressing myself, I’ve stayed with the tried and true (and boring) uniform of a (probably black) shirt and jeans. Once a year I’d force myself to go to the store and if the item somewhat fit, I’d buy it. Being overweight didn’t help this relationship I had with “fashion”.

I didn’t want to wear clothes that drew attention to me until Kat showed me the possibilities. She completely changed the game for me by helping me realize that beautiful, well made clothes didn’t have to be super expensive and that dressing well didn’t have to be uncomfortable.

In fact, the new work pants she helped me find are more comfortable than yoga pants! I honestly haven’t felt so comfortable, beautiful, and most importantly, confident, in my own skin since I was a kid. Not to be dramatic but a whole new world has been introduced to me and I can’t wait to explore it.”

Thank you so much for sharing, Alice!! You are glowing and I couldn’t be happier to see your confidence shining through.

#styledbykatkuan #transformedbykat

Thrift Shopping at thredUP IRL Stores

February 6, 2019 By Kat

In recent years, I’ve been hearing more and more about a company called thredUP which started as an online website for people to sell and buy secondhand clothing.

A couple years ago, I tried out Poshmark, which is another website to buy and sell fashion. I tried to sell a bunch of items, but had little luck – I sold one item. While buying things from Poshmark was tempting, I wasn’t sure of the quality of the items from the photos. It seemed like a lot of hassle to deal with an individual seller if I ended up not liking the item.

Meanwhile, I heard about how thredUP started opening up stores – called thredUP IRL (“in real life”). <~ Millennial talk lol. They had a pop up shop in Walnut Creek in the Bay Area, but that’s pretty far from me. Then another one popped up in Los Gatos and I was considering going there. But then one day, I was walking down the street in downtown Burlingame and saw that thredUP IRL had popped up there! I was excited to walk in and check it out.

It was a small store but the merchandise on display was very well done. The outfits they had picked out for the mannequins and on the wall were very cute and made me want the items!

Heart eyes for that black and pink Kate Spade purse!

So you basically browse the store and the racks, and then try stuff on! Everything has a thredUp tag on it with the discounted price. They have a range of brands available – from affordable ones (JCrew, H&M, Ann Taylor) to more designer brands. They have jackets, shirts, dresses, jeans, pants, shoes, and more. This store only had women’s clothing at the time that I went (in October 2018) but you can find the other types of stuff like kids clothing on their website: ThredUp.

I would also say that the quality of the items are pretty good. Many of the items look new or are in very good shape. thredUp is highly selective about what items they accept, which makes it easier for shoppers browsing their inventory.

Clothing is organized by color, type, and size

Once I picked out a couple items, I headed into the dressing room to try them on.

Right away, I loved this maroon faux leather jacket! It looks badass, especially with the quilting detail on the shoulders. It fit perfectly as well – snug!

The best part was that it was only $14.99! Yes! Thrifting for the win!

I didn’t have as much luck with the other items. They didn’t fit as well, so they were meh. I didn’t get them.

So in the end, I decided to take home the maroon jacket. Woohoo, what a deal!

I had a great experience at the thredUp store – the staff is very nice too! There are other discounts as well (see below). If you sign up for their mailing list, they’ll also email you when they have in-store sales.

After your visit, they may send you a survey about the in-store experience where you can also score some free $$ credit to use in the stores!

So the summary is if you’re looking for some trendy items at a lower price point, I highly recommend you check out thredUp online or in-person at their stores! Shopping secondhand is great for the environment as well!

Next up, I’m going to order a kit so I can send in some of the clothing I no longer wear and see if I can get cash/credit for them. Whatever they don’t accept will either get shipped back or you can choose to have them recycle it for you. I’ll let you know how it goes! 😉

Check it out for yourself – get $10 off on thredUp online with my referral code!

Or check out their store locations here. I’ve been to the Burlingame location and the Stoneridege Mall location in Pleasanton (pic below).

Happy shopping!

Shoes from Recycled Plastic Bottles: Rothy’s

December 10, 2018 By Kat

The shoes that I see women everywhere wearing are flats from a brand called Rothy’s. They’re very distinctive in how they look.

This brand is based in SF and has re-purposed over 20 million plastic bottles into shoes. It’s incredible! The shoes are created with a 3D knitting machine so they are seamless.

I can vouch that they are by far the most comfortable flats I’ve worn, and are my go-to flats these days.

They have round-toe and pointy-toe styles. They also have loafer and sneaker styles too. I would possibly consider a sneaker style, but I’m very happy with my black pointy-toe flat because it can be dressed up or down with a casual outfit or with a more business casual look. Sometimes I’ll throw this pair of flats in my car trunk if I need to change my shoes when I’m out and about.

If you have wider feet, you could order half a size up. But I find that it runs true to size – I have size 5.5. Some people order 2 different sizes and then just return the other pair. The insole is removable too, so you could replace it with a different shoe insert if you need to.

They have solid colors and also some more funky patterns if you want something more bold. For more ideas on how these shoes look, take a look at their Instagram for style inspiration.

Also, it’s machine washable! More detailed instructions on their FAQ page.

They are more pricey, but I think they’re worth the investment for how often I wear mine. Also, here’s a discount for $20 off your first order. (note this is not a sponsored post, this is just my friends and family referral code that they give all customers.)

There’s free shipping and free returns within 30 days. Or you can return the shoes in-person to your local Happy Returns location (i.e. Stanford mall or Valley Fair mall in the Bay Area). See my previous post on Happy Returns.

They look modern and stylish and they’re comfortable, so I highly recommend a pair for your wardrobe!

Browse Rothy’s Shoes

rothys kat kuan — I’m wearing The Point in Black Solid

September Favorites

October 9, 2018 By Kat

These are my favorites for the month of September 2018!

1. Pur Water filter – 18 cup capacity.

2. Crest White strips

3. Everlane Cotton Box-Cut Pocket Tee – Muted Pink. I got size XXS.

4. The Untethered Soul by Michael Singer. I listened to the audiobook version.

5. KKW beauty

Nude Creme Lipstick – Nude 5

Nude Lip Liner – Nude 2

I also mentioned the EM cosmetics brand Rose Nude Infinite Lip Cloud.

6. Morning motivation YouTube videos

Just do a youtube search on “morning motivation.” Example: Live Your Dreams.

Thanks for reading and watching!

Keep an eye out for my blogpost soon about the author talk with Kevin Kwan from the book Crazy Rich Asians.

And register to vote if you haven’t already!!

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. I enjoy these items regardless and want to share them with you!

Returns for Online Shopping Made Easier

September 28, 2018 By Kat

The returns process for online shopping is such a headache.

EASY TO BUY, HARD TO RETURN

It’s so easy to get carried away when online shopping though. Sometimes I get so excited about a great deal that I forget to check the shipping costs, and much less, the return policy.

Only after I receive an item I don’t like do I look up the return policy and realize how annoying it will be. For example, for Gilt, it costs $9.99 to return something and get your money back, or it can be free to return something but then you get merchandise credit. I don’t want to buy things I don’t need (just to spend my credit), so I opted for paying for the return.

Getting the item mailed is another hassle: print the return label, pack it up, and then drop it off at a FedEx or post office location. Also, when I tried to return a pair of shoes in the original big box (which came with more items), the FedEx person told me I would have to fill the box with extra paper so that the items don’t shift around. Or pay them to fill it for me for $5.99. -_-

It’s such a pain to return these items that we may end up keeping things we don’t like, just to avoid the process. Or we avoid online shopping. Or sometimes I only buy from places where I can return to a physical store, but that’s still troublesome.

AN OPPORTUNITY

In any case, my point is that there’s definitely room for improvement in this process. There’s been so much innovation (like Amazon Prime) with getting fast shipping, but now we need something for fast returns.

HAPPY RETURNS

This isn’t the silver bullet, but I was pleasantly surprised to find out about a service called Happy Returns.

They only work with limited brands, the ones I recognize are Everlane and Rothy’s, but here’s the process:

You buy something online from a place like Everlane. The nearest store location to me is all the way in SF, and I do not want to drive to SF just to return a shirt. Instead, you can just bring it to a Happy Returns location, several locations in the South Bay – including Stanford Shopping mall and Westfield Valley Fair mall (a lot more accessible and easier to park at).

You go to the Guest Services desk and they’ll scan it and process the return for you. I even forgot my receipt, but they found the transaction. The service was a lot quicker and more pain-free than I expected.

To see if there’s a Happy Returns location near you, you can search here. And these are the supported brands.

Anyhow, I hope they open up more Happy Returns locations and that they also have more retail partners that they support!