As you saw in my birthday post last week, I made another purchase from eShakti. I saw this dress a while back, but I kept talking myself out of it - I mean, I need another party dress like I need a hole in the head. But I just couldn't stop thinking about it! The rich burgundy color, the tulle overlay, the baroque embroidery, the relatively low price point. Eventually I caved, and decided that since I was turning 30, I guess I did need a special birthday dress.
Now, I've ordered from eShakti before, and it was a great experience. The custom sizing was perfect, it arrived sooner than I thought it would, and the quality of the dress was top notch.
This time I opted not to get custom sizing - the listed measurements were pretty close to my own, and I didn't feel like doing all of the measuring required for it. In retrospect, I really wish that I had gone for custom sizing. The dress is slightly larger than the measurements on the size chart (not by that much; maybe an inch at the waist, less at the bust), and while it's not huge on me or anything, with my shape I prefer that my dresses be pretty fitted through the torso. The dress was both a little boxy on me and a little short waisted. I actually took it to a tailor to see about having some alterations done, but just having the waist taken would have been $85 - significantly more than it would have cost to reorder the dress and get custom sizing. Lesson learned, I guess.

Although of course you can't see any of the fit issues in these photos...

It is a really beautiful dress, though - no complaints whatsoever about the quality. The base is a comfortable red cotton, with a silky (not scratchy) tulle overlay. The embroidery is nicely done and perfectly symmetrical. The hidden zipper struggles a little bit at the seam where the bodice meets the skirt, but that's true of pretty much every dress I've owned with a hidden zipper. Like, I get why they exist, but I still hate them.
EShakti has a status bar to let you know how far along your order is, which is pretty great in a lot of ways - no wondering when it's going to ship out, because they tell you right there. However, I do want to note that they told me it was supposed to ship out on the 22nd, and it ended up shipping on the 26th - not a big deal in my case, but something that other shoppers might have an issue with.
Overall, I'm really happy with my purchase. It was interesting seeing what the experience of ordering from them as a normal customer (vs. a reviewer, I mean) was like.I'm pleased to say that, aside from the slight delay in shipping, it was just the same.
Another item that I ordered recently were a cropped cardigan and a pair of Re-Mix shoes from Trashy Diva. They were having an amazing sale (50% off of sale items), and I'd had my eye on those shoes for ages, and the only pair left was my size, and at that point it's basically fate, right?

Well, there's a reason you haven't seen them on the blog, yet - I never got them. Cue the sad trombones.
It was actually a really frustrating experience, unfortunately. Not because of Trashy Diva, who offered me pretty great customer service, but because of UPS.
I'd been keeping a close eye out for their arrival, so when I got home from work one evening, I was excited to see that the package was marked as delivered. I thought that a signature was required, but I wasn't too bothered by the fact that the package had apparently been left, since it would save me a trip to the UPS Store to pick them up. I went outside and looked around for it, thinking that they might have left it behind the stairs or something like that, but there was nothing. I texted my neighbors to ask if they'd seen it, but no luck.
The next day I called to open a ticket on the missing package. I thought maybe they'd accidentally marked it delivered and that it was still on the truck or something, which is something that one of my coworkers had had happen to her. After all, I've never had a package, even one left out in the open, go missing from my house before, and I'd gotten home about 15 minutes after the package was supposedly delivered.
I was told that they'd reach out to me once the investigation was concluded; I waited my 8 business days, then a couple more, before I called them, and was told that the investigation was closed and that I'd need to reach out to Trashy Diva for anything else. They wouldn't discuss it with me in any way.
To make a long story slightly shorter, three investigations (TD kept asking them to reopen when wouldn't make a definitive conclusion) and two months later, UPS decided it wasn't their fault because I hadn't specifically requested to have all of my packages require a signature. Which I didn't even know was a thing. So now I'm out about $100, and just writing this up has annoyed me all over again. Either they left it out in the open on my porch instead of making even a token effort to put it behind my front gate, or some UPS driver figured a package from Trashy Diva might make a great gift for his stripper girlfriend and was very disappointed to see that it's fucking grandma clothes.
Trashy Diva wasn't at fault in any way, and they really did do their best to try and get the issue resolved. When UPS refused to take responsibility, they gave me a 50% code to use (full price items only), which is pretty thoughtful, although I don't know if I'll use it before it expires.
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I have to admit, I've been kind of spendy lately. I've had some extra money, so I took the opportunity to finally buy some things that I'd been wanting for a while as well as some spur of the moment treats. I'm pretty OK with that; I'm still saving money and paying down my credit card, so it doesn't feel excessive.
That said, I'd like to be saving a little bit more than I am, and I feel like buying new clothes has become a crutch that keeps me from having to get creative with my styling. It's really easy to just go out and buy a new something or other when you're not feeling inspired by what's in your closet. It's challenging, but more rewarding (at least in my opinion), to restyle a piece that you've worn often in a way that feels fresh, or to pull an item out of the closet that you've found difficult to work with in the past and find a way to use it in a way that you love.
I know myself, and I know that just saying "I'm not going to shop" is basically a recipe for failure. I do want to challenge myself this summer, though, so I'm putting two limitations on my shopping - no buying things online, and no buying new clothes. There are plenty of great thrift, vintage, and resale stores in my city, so why not doing something good for both my wallet and the environment? And also for my blood pressure, since I can't have any issues with UPS if I don't have anything shipped.