Bettie Page Clothing Store Trip

Recently, my mom and I took the 7 hour drive from suburban Chicago to Minneapolis for the sole purpose of hitting up the Bettie Page Clothing store in the Mall of America. We were crazy and headed straight for the mall, shopped until we couldn't anymore, then headed to the hotel for dinner and sleep, only to head home first thing in the morning. Never making a trip like that again! Two nights next time.

I tried on a bunch of stuff, but didn't have much money to play with. I took pictures of most of what I tried on, but I think I missed one or two. I got sweaty. Note that what follows are cell phone quality pictures taken in a poorly lit fitting room.

I tried this dress on because my co-worker Rhonda really liked it. I wasn't a great fan of it on the site, and despite the huge smile, I liked it even less on. (Honestly, I think was just so excited to be there in the presence of all those beautiful pieces!)

BPC calls it the Side Effect dress. It can be found here and is currently $120.

I LOVED this skirt, but it weighs about 5 pounds. Not ideal considering it's the beginning of summer. I strongly considered getting it, but passed.

BPC calls it the Classmate skirt. It can be found here and is currently $85.

I grabbed this skirt because I figured I might as well try on everything (or at least half of everything). I fell in love with it once I put it on. This is one of the pieces I ended up getting. The print is a cute tropical style with little parrots. It's lightweight and the lining fabric is so lush that it feels cool (temperature) on my skin. A great buy for summer, and it will still work with tights.

BPC calls it the Fly Away skirt. It can be found here and is currently $73.

At one time, I wanted this dress in green SO BADLY. I'll admit, I'm glad I never got it. It makes my shoulders look round and droopy, and me look short in general. Also, it weighs about 10 pounds. If it opened in front, it would make a great coat. Needless to say, I didn't buy it.

BPC calls this the Secretary Circle. This looks like full-length sleeves, but I can only find a 3/4-length version online. Don't know if that's a fit thing or an actual thing. It can be found here and is currently $130.

I didn't want to take too many "touristy" shots while I was in there, but they have a TON of stuff that isn't on their website. They have clothes from other brands, accessories galore, and all kinds of random Bettie Page paraphernalia. I impressed one of the salespeople by recognizing these handbags as Lux De Ville just by looking through the glass. They also have shoes. So tempted by the shoes.

In the end, I purchased this outfit. There isn't a fitting room shot of the sweater because I got a different size than what I tried on. It is their Pullover Sweater, and has limited availability in their outlet here. I purchased it for $30, but it looks like it's $28 now.

Unrelated to the store itself, here are a few more pics from the trip. (click to embiggen, they aren't as important!)

An amazing cupcake from the Mall called "Mad Cow." It is a dark chocolate cupcake with cream cheese frosting and those lovely chocolate pieces.

Dinner at the hotel restaurant. Mozzarella and basil stuffed chicken with strawberry sauce, plus mashed potatoes and fresh cooked veggies. So good.

 Stuffed bear in a restaurant in Tomah, WI, where we stopped for lunch on the way up.

And finally, my shopping outfit! All ModCloth except the leggings. (Sorry, my mom cut the shoes out of the shot)

Dress: Hepcat Dress in Licorice

Cardigan: Charter School Cardigan in Peacock

Shoes: Luxe on the Lake Flats

Leggings: Old Navy

Mani Monday: imPRESS by Broadway Nails Review!

Hello lovelies!

First of all, I'm sorry I'm late! The last several weeks have been full of moving and power outages and other general calamities, and I haven't been able to update. But I recently qualified for and received a free VoxBox from Influenster, and I had to pop in and share it with you!

The box I received is the Spring Fever VoxBox, and it's absolutely, 100% FREE. If you've used subscription services like Birchbox or Ipsy, it's a lot like that (but again, free!). You do have to be active on social media and write product reviews to qualify, but I think it's worth it.

So, back to the review! One of the products in the box was a press-on manicure kit from Broadway Nails called imPRESS. Now, I am really not a fake-nails girl, folks. I was a nailbiter for years and still sometimes struggle with it, so since I was finally able to grow out my natural nails, I have been a bit protective of them! I don't do acrylics, I keep them protected and fairly short to avoid breakage, and try to go polish-free sometimes to let them breathe! So when I saw these press-ons in my box, I was less than excited, to be honest.

But these are actually pretty good. To put them on, you just wipe your natural nails with the enclosed alcohol prep pad, find the correctly sized nail for your fingernail, peel off the backing and press it firmly onto your nail. That's it! No dry time, no waiting between coats, and way fancier than anything I can do with a nail art brush. They adhere really securely to the natural nail without glue, which makes things super simple, and feel like an extension of your own nails. After a day of wear, you almost don't notice them at all. And so far, they've held up wonderfully through washing my dishes, doing my laundry, and clicking away at my keyboard for hours typing an 8-page paper!

So those are the pros, and now I'll dish about the cons. The color/print they sent me, called Holla!, is pretty far from my style, but they're not psychics, so I won't hold that against them! The product is actually good enough that I might try them again in a different shade or pattern more suited to my tastes. They also come shaped into squares at the tips, which is not my favorite nail shape. The good news is that they are easily trimmed with normal fingernail clippers (they behave much like natural nails in texture) and are long enough that you can get away with trimming if you want or need to. I trimmed mine to a more rounded shape that I felt more comfortable with, because when I put them on without trimming, I felt a little like a lady of the evening! Not the look I'm going for.

Untrimmed hooker nails. Excuse me while I go and turn some tricks.

Here is the mani after I trimmed them to a more natural shape: 

Ahh, much better.

Another con is that on the second day of wear (today), the color has begun to wear off of the tips just like conventional nail polish. I feel like if I really loved the pattern/color, I would be really sad! As it is, I'm not too attached to them and am thinking of using the opportunity to paint over the color with traditional nail polish, to see how that would work. Even though the original color of the press-ons has started to chip off, the nails themselves are still tightly adhered to my nails, so I'm thinking, why not just leave them on a bit longer and paint right over them? So I might do that, with a darker, opaque color for maximum obscuring of the original color.

Boo, tip wear.

Because I like to end on a positive note, these really were a perfect fit, size-wise. You really can't see any of my natural nail peeking out anywhere. imPRESS actually includes 24 nails in 12 different sizes, so that helps! I was able to find a nail size that looked pretty natural for all of my nails. If I hadn't told you, do you think you'd be able to tell that they're press-ons? I think they could honestly pass for nail stickers or stamping.

Closeup of the great fit.

These are also really great for me this week, since I just broke a nail and it had to be trimmed very short. These hide all that until it grows out a bit! Oh! And did I mention bottle is super cute? :) It's modeled after a traditional nail polish bottle, and is recloseable so you can keep the unused nails in for next time! How handy is that? (Teehee, handy, get it? :) )

So that's what I thought of the imPRESS press-on mani from Broadway Nails! How do you feel about press-on nails? Would you try these?

-Cattie

Note: This product was sent to me for review purposes from Influenster. This is my honest opinion about the product. I did not receive compensation (other than the product) for providing this review, nor was I under any obligation to produce a favorable review.