Tiara King's Blog: Jewel Divas Style, page 72

FASHION STYLE: The Kaftan King is Back!

Following on from my last post I have been nothing short of obsessed with kaftans this year. While I’ve been having issues with clothes I’ve bought on eBay this has been the only way for me to get them, and I get them as inexpensive as possible. Even asking for discounts or doing a best offer. The majority have all been under $100 and I save where I can.

Here are the latest additions to the King’s Closet and all are from eBay.

Top left: Multi, $89.95 | Top Right: Multi, $115.50 

Bottom Left: Green, $45 | Middle: Blue, $115.50 | Bottom Right: Multi $34.45 (I know I said I wasn’t buying black clothes any more but I consider this multi coloured. Sadly, it was far brighter in the listing pics than in real life, so this one has been delegated to be worn around the house.)

Next up are the ankle length kaftans I’ve bought, all gorgeous, all from eBay. I’ve gone a bit animalistic with these.

Left: Red, $67.50 | Middle: Multi, $80 | Right: Multi, $71.75

And here are the last two ankle length, a gorgeous multi coloured crystal covered blue and pink creation for $135 and a drawstring multi coloured kaftan dress for $100.

I love all of these and will slowly wear them as time goes on, even through winter with tights underneath and my faux fur vests over. Just because they’re kaftans, doesn’t mean you need to stop wearing them over winter.

Will you guys be wearing yours over winter?

STYLE FAILURES: Badly made purses that fall apart from melted glue

I really hate it when you buy something and a few years later it all falls apart.

I bought this gorgeous blue purse about ten years ago in a chain store in my local centre, and a few years ago I went to use it and found half the stones had fallen off because the glue had melted. I pulled off as many as I could but some just refuse to budge. Until I can do that and clean it up, I refuse to use it.

The next failure is this piano purse I bought about 5 years ago on ebay. I’ve been using it for my iPod for the last couple of years and this year noticed that the material had begun to crack. Upon closer inspection I found it too had rotted with its glue and apart it came. I bought a few others with it and so far they are fine, looks like it was just this one that went kaput.

Thankfully, I had bought this cheap pencil/storage case year before last and knew that it would be used for my iPod eventually. Looks like eventually came sooner than expected.

Have you guys ever had glue melt and articles fall apart on you, regardless of where you bought it from?

MY STYLE: Tropical Missoni and Snakeskin

OUTFIT #1
TOP: Kmart, $8 from 2012
PANTS: Millers, $18 from 2014
SHOES: Kmart, $19 from 2014
JEWELLERY: Chain stores and ebay

OUTFIT #2

TOP: Missoni for Target Australia, $35 (on sale last xmas), 2014
PANTS: Millers tropical, $18 from 2014
SHOES: Spendless Shoes sandals, $30 from 2014
JEWELLERY: Jewel Divas Fleur De Heart set, chain store rings.

FASHION STYLE: Kimonos and How I Style Them

When I started thinking about posting my kaftans and kimonos, (and since I dramatically bought about 15 kaftans in the first two months of 2015 alone) I figured my kimonos needed their own post.

Some call them capes or blouse jackets, to me they are kimonos, either way, they’re all the same structured item. At the moment I have seven. A dismal amount compared to my kaftan fetish I know, but once my fetish is done it will be on to kimonos. Of course, sticking to the colour rule I set myself for the year I will be on the hunt for multi coloured ones and I have a few Camilla kimonos/capes in mind for my birthday.

Below are just some of the ways I’ve styled four of my kimonos.

All of my kimonos below came from Millers. Yes, I constantly mention them and it seems that the majority of my clothes over the last couple of years have all come from Kmart or Millers. I buy on sale as much as possible and always score a bargain.

Top left: Pink: $13.95 | Top right: White: $20 | Bottom left: Multi: $35 | Bottom right: Animal: $10

These next three came from other stores, which I have no problem buying from as long as I get a bargain.

Left: Black: Alley Fashion, $24.95 | Middle: Green: Kmart, $8 | Right: Blue: eBay, $5.37

As I’ve talked about previously, eBay is a great place to buy things you can’t always get in your local stores but it does come with issues. The blue and pink star came from Asia and the arms are a bit small. So either I slice them open or lose some weight, and because of this problem, and since it rather pales in comparison next to the others, it may be ending up in the material box at the end of the year. Especially once I get some Camilla capes.

Once my kaftan buying is over I cannot wait to track down some more kimonos. Of course they have to be special and ones I can wear with most things in my wardrobe. Be bright and colourful and definitely unusual. Whether long or short there will be more added to the collection.

TODAY’S LIFESTYLE: After Six Months We Finally Have a Fence!

Over the last few years our side fence, which is over twenty years old (we’ve been here 20 years and it was here before us) has slowly deteriorated to the point it was no longer vertical. Since we live in a Housing Trust home we can’t do everything ourselves so in July of last year I finally rang up (after years of being told we could get it replaced) and said we need a new fence.

You can read about the saga here.

I waited seven weeks for someone to come and clear up the piles of sheet metal, made several phone calls, including to head office to file a complaint before anyone bothered coming to do anything. All they did was drag it all five feet to the right and pile it up. Shit, I could have done that myself if I knew they were never going to take it.

Because they didn’t bother putting the quote in when I first rang and because the next door neighbour owns his home and he had to pay half we didn’t end up getting the fence until January of this year. They didn’t finish it off by adding the fence topper that covers up the sharp edge, no, couldn’t be bothered adding that on. Here are some before and after pics.

At least we have a fence now and a fairly good one at that. The neighbour took the old metal and filled up his hole with it and the rest got thrown out I suppose.

The Housing Trust are lazy bastards, they took three weeks to do our bathroom in April of last year and we went without showers for for about ten days. They still haven’t bothered to finish it and someone came around to check on it in February, TEN WHOLE MONTHS after it was completed. Even he was disgusted that they hadn’t finished, and even more disgusted when I told him the crap job they did.

MY STYLE: Jewel Tone Kaftan and matching jewels.

OUTFIT

KAFTAN: Ebay, last year, $110.
PANTS: Millers about 2004.
SHOES: Spendless Shoes sandals, $30, still available.
JEWELLERY: Jewel Divas ‘One Perfect Sunday’ bracelet stack (left hand), Gloss earrings and necklace, eBay bangles, Lovisa rings.

MY PERSONAL COLLECTION: New Black clothes and Gold Multi coloured jewels

These black tops I managed to score before/during/after xmas, considering the theme of two of them. All are from Millers, of course, and all were under $16.80. They are lightweight and have some stretch and perfect for warm to hot days.

Crystal tank for $10. Owl $16.80. Rudolph and the xmas tree weren’t available in my local store before xmas so as a member and follower on Facebook I saw that they had after xmas sales on and the tops had been marked down to $8 each. PLUS Millers was offering 30% off ALL items and that made these two tops $5.60 each. Yep, $5.60, how much of a freakin bargain is that!!!!! Rudolph is studded while the owl and tree are silver and gold foil print.

Now, I bought the AH.MAZE.ING necklace on the left on ebay in November for $23.63 and wore it several times over xmas. I didn’t realise until after I’d worn it that there was an extra blue piece down the bottom and that put the necklace out of balance so I removed it.

The set on the right I bought the earrings first, although I should say, I got them for free with some sale that was going on. I later found the necklace in another store and got it for $12. Still haven’t worn them so I should find something to match to them being neon they will work well over summer. I LOVE my bargains!

STYLE FAILURE: Ebay, Kaftans and issues with buying online

I recently showed you this kaftan that I bought on eBay. I loved the look of it in the pictures, the seller claimed it was new and it reminded me of a lolly wrapper. Plus, I only paid $10 plus $7.95 for shipping. Bargain I thought.

However! 

When I received it and opened up my parcel ever so excitedly, I quickly tried it on, only to discover the front hem was full of holes, one of the arms was stitched up, and once removing it, the neck had pulled apart and had a hole too.

Not happy Jan!

I received it on the 27th of January and quickly emailed the seller about all of the holes. I waited for a reply but didn’t get one so opened a dispute in the Paypal resolution centre on Saturday 31st. I received no reply, nothing from the seller until the 12th of Feb when I received a full refund.

As it is, I’m going to have to do a new hem not only on the bottom but down the sides as well and somehow fix the neck.

As much as we all love buying clothes and buying from a reputable online store it can also mean problems, the sad part about this is that the seller said nothing about the holes. That leads me to believe one of two things. 1 – she knew but didn’t mention them for fear it wouldn’t sell, or 2 – she didn’t even bother checking it over and so didn’t mention the issues because she didn’t know about them which is incredibly wrong.

Before I started buying on eBay back in 2005 I read books by professional sellers and they tell you implicitly to put all details and flaws in the listing so that people can decide for themselves. But so many do not do this and many people get stung.

Years ago I sold a black lace bolero from a department store called Myer. It was roughly a size 18 and I thoroughly checked it over. It sold and I sent it off. The buyer left me negative feedback basically the moment she got it, at around 4pm. Apparently it “was not a size 18, did not come from Myer and didn’t fit her”.

I was shocked to my core that she had left bad feedback instead of emailing me. The next morning at 6 am I had an email from her claiming “there is a hole in it, if you refund my money I will change the negative to a positive”.

WHAT.THE.F@#K!!!!!!

I went ape shit on her, emailing back that it had no hole and she clearly didn’t see one the night before when she so thoroughly checked it over to leave negative feedback in the first place, so no, she wasn’t getting a refund. She harassed me for weeks until I finally contacted eBay and filed a complaint.

But get this. A few weeks later I’m scrolling through and found the black lace bolero for sale AND she used my exact picture, which we all know is against eBay rules. So instead of contacting her I filed a complaint to eBay and they removed her listing. She then contacted me and whinged that I should have told her and that she didn’t know she couldn’t use MY picture. And guess what, in her listing, there was absolutely no mention of any holes. What a bloody lying sod!

Thankfully I got my money back this time but have had to open a dispute in Paypal many times. Sadly, I’ve also never received my article or my money. That’s the worst about some people selling on eBay.

MY STYLE: Rocking Orange and Red Sequins

OUTFIT #1
TOP: Kmart, $8, from 2014
WAISTCOAT: Target, $12, from 1992
TIGHTS: Target, $26, from 2010
SHOES: Kmart, $19, from 2014
JEWELLERY: Samantha Wills earrings, necklace, rings and one bangle, all from eBay. Mystery bracelet from eBay.
SUNGLASSES: eBay for $1.56

OUTFIT #2

TOP: Kmart, $10, from 2015
KIMONO: Millers, $35, from 2014
PANTS: Millers $16.95, from 2008
SHOES: Spendless Shoes sandals, $30 from 2014
JEWELLERY: Lovisa earrings and rings, Groove necklace, Acoustic Stomach animal bangle, ebay bangle, eBay rose red set.
SUNGLASSES: eBay for $2.25

MY PERSONAL COLLECTION: New Pink and Red clothes, jewels and accessories

Before xmas every year I like to stock up on bargains for the house. Simple tank tops and shorts that will get me through the next summer or two. 

Below left: Kmart tank, $6. Middle: Kmart silver print Aztec tank, $6. Left: Best & Less rose pink studded tank which my sister bought me for xmas.

I also love sparkly tops and managed to find some for me to wear every xmas instead of just my xmas tanks.

Below left: Kmart, $10, crystal stones on front. Right: Millers “All I want for xmas is diamonds” top, which was already on sale and a further 30% off from that made it $5.60. God, bargain city! Ant the currant sequinned treasure, a soft red tank from Kmart for $10.

Now onto the good stuff.  Jewellery.

The gorgeous pink earrings are from Lovisa, on sale for $5. The ring came from a clothing store for $2.95 in the xmas sales. I made the bracelet set because I didn’t have enough pink and blue jewellery, lol, costing me $4.02. God, cheap! The AH.MAZE.ING Pegasus brooch I purchased on eBay for $14.11. I have a tonne of brooches from years ago and rarely buy or wear them now, but this one got my attention and I just had to have it.

My red jewels are also xmas jewels but ones I made. A simple bracelet stack where I made one long string of beads which can me worn as either a necklace or bracelet doubled over four times. I love these beads and they make for some great xmas bling. Total cost, $4.18.

I also managed to obtain the most amazing pink leather cowboy boots, brand new, never worn (just tried on I think) from an op shop for $49.25. They are pink, my size and fit perfectly, how’s that for a score! I bought the Katy Perry velvet bag that came free with the Killer Queen 100ml bottles for $6.25 the same time as the boots. I had originally gotten the 50ml bottle with the free purse so now I have the set.

This is how I styled my boots. With my line dancing galah fringed shirt and black sequinned skirt.