Scary Time of Year

Less than two weeks to go before Halloween and as it falls on a weekend this year there are lots of opportunities to dress up and go out. Once again I ordered my costume on-line, www.buycostumes.com, but I did check out a few stores just to see what's out there.

Queen of Halloween is a temporary store set up at 416 queen St W, Toronto (416-504-8086) offering a limited number of mens, womens and kids costumes as well as accessories. I wasn't thrilled with the costumes as they seem to have the same ones that everyone else carries but their selection of Carnival/Mardi Gras masks was amazing! If you're in need of fun, false eyelashes check out their bin of assorted lashes marked at $2.99 a pair!

Party Packagers has to be my favourite place for Halloween merchandise. They have practically EVERYTHING you could image and more. Once again, not impressed with seeing the same costumes, but if you're having a party, go all out decorating your house, or need a few accessories to complete your costume this is definately the place to go. I can't remember half of what they have but here are some notable items listed by category.
Outside decorations: tombstones, coffins, skeletons, rats, body parts, gargoyles, fog machines (fog fluid, machine cleaner), bubble fogger and my ultimate favourite - skeleton flamingos!!!!!!

Indoor decorations/party supplies: blood spattered table cloths, gelatin hand and brain molds, test tube shot glasses, goblets, banners, centre pieces.

Costume Accessories: swords, shields, angel wings, halos, an amazing selection of hats, masks, wigs, boas, scars, scabs, fingernails, make-up, beards, sideburns, jewellery, gloves, stockings and of course scary contact lenses (wolf, zombie, cat, vampire to name a few).

Deblins Linens

I recently did an afternoon of shopping on Orfus Rd and stopped into Deblins to pick up a new shower curtain liner. They are offering 20% off all bathroom accessories (towels, mats, shower curtains, tooth brush holders, etc) during the month of October. They have some great, new bathroom sets.

Vaughan Mills

I was able to take advantage of the free shuttle to Vaughan Mills before it stopped running for the year (it's only offered May 1st until Sept 30th). Here are just a few highlights from that trip:

First stop was the huge La Senza store. They carry both new merchandise and deeply discounted "older" merchandise. If you're in need of a sports bra and don't want to pay the usually $50-$60 that most places charge, you're in luck as LaSenza has them for $9.99. I even got one for $5.99 as it was the last one left in hot pink. They carry a good range of sizes, A-E cup. I also picked up a couple of cute tees, that I think might be pj tops, but I don't care (see photos below).

The Laura store carries all three of their lines (Laura, Petite, Plus) and had summer tops marked down to $19.99 and dresses for $39.99.

Danier had a large portion of their merchandise marked down and it was hard to resist not buying one of the many beautiful jackets.

Guess was offering an additional 50% selected merchandise.

Town Shoes Outlet's deal was 25% off the purchase of a second sale item. They carry ladies shoes up to size 11.

Style Sense had ladies shoes as far as the eye can see. Lots of recognizable names: Madden Girl, Rocket Dog, Guess, Dollhouse, FLY London, Via Spiga, Tods, Stella McCartney, Betsey Johnson, Dolce & Gabbana. I actually touched a pair of $2,000 Diors - they were beautiful! They also had a great selection of boots and handbags.

The one disappointment was that Liz Claiborne was closing down. They only had about eight racks of clothing left in the store and everything was pretty much picked over.

Another Sample Sale

Toronto Sample Sale (TSS) is having another blowout taking place October 20th - 22nd (10am to midnight). Mens and womens designer clothing, as well as womens shoes, accessories and handbags will be available from 40-80% off such names as Paige, Diesel, Sinful, Affliction, William Rast, Roberto Cavalli, Prada, Dsquared and lots more.
Location: Le Parc Banquet Hall, Ballroom #3. 8432 Leslie St. Thornhill ON. www.Torontosamplesales.com

Toy and Book Sale

Samko & Miko's annual fall warehouse sale starts Saturday, September 24th in Toronto and Richmond Hill. Get huge discounts on brand name toys and books. You'll find toys from Mattel, Hasbro, Fisher-Price, Hot Wheels, Playskool, Barbie, Crayola and more!
Locations: Toronto - 77 Fima Cres; Richmond Hill - 60 East Beaver Creek Rd
see www.samkosales.com for hours
The Hamilton location will be be open Dec 2-5. (270 Longwood Rd S)

Cotton Ginny

Cotton Ginny seems to have undergone yet another transformation as I noticed from my recent visit to the only location left in Toronto. They are offering a buy one get the second one havlf off on already reduced (red ticket) merchandise and 50% off the regular price of cotton/linen items. The sale is in effect from Sept 10-13th and applies to in-store purchases only.

Puma Warehouse Sale

Mark your calendars now for the upcoming Puma Warehouse sale taking place Oct 8th to Oct 11th.
Where: International Center, Hall 46900 Airport Rd, Mississauga, ON

Designer Shoe Sale

Save up to 80% off women's designer shoes such as Franco Sarto, DKNY, BCBG, Enzo Angiolino and many more. All shoes $49, sandals $39, boots $99, leather bags $49 or less.
When: Sept 23-26
Where: International Center, Hall 46900 Airport Rd, Mississauga, ON
Times: Thurs/Fri 10am - 9pm, Sat/Sun 10am - 6pm

Sample Sale

Save 40-80% off designer clothing for both men and women. Coach bags for 50% off.
Some of the labels you'll find there: Rock Republic, J Brand, Seven for all Mankind, Citizens of Humanity, Affliction, Diesel and Sinful. Don't miss the selection of bags from YSL, Jimmy Choo, Alexander McQueen, Versace, Dolce & Gabbana, Christian Dior and many more. The sale is on for three days only!
When: Sept 16th to 18th.
Where: Sheraton Hotel, City Hall Ballroom, 123 Queen St. W (across from Eaton Centre, Toronto, ON)
Time: Thur 11am – Midnight, Fri 11am – Midnight, Sat 11am – 10pm

Revlon Warehouse Sale

Revlon and Johnson&Johnson are having their fall warehouse sale from September 14-19. You can save up to 75% off cosmetics and health and beauty products such as Aveeno, Olay, Lubriderm, Tylenol, Huggies, Schick and Carefree. You'll also be able to find great deals on Cambridge towels, Dickies medical scrubs, designer fragrances and jewellery as well as clothing by French Connection, Levi's and Haggar. With Halloween just around the corner, why not check out their discounted children's and adult costumes, wigs, makeup and decorations all at 50-70% off retail.
Location: International Centre, 6900 Airport Rd, Hall 4A, Mississauga, ON
www.saleevent.ca for more info

"Nude" Nails

Sometimes I buy a nail polish simply because the name appeals to me (I do have to at least slightly like the colour). I couldn't refuse the new OPI for Sephora colour made just for Canadian stores - Going Nude, Eh? It's a very pale beige colour which doesn't appeal to me but works great as a backdrop to nail designs and decals. Not the easiests of colours to apply, it goes on rather streaky even with base coat and only doing thin layers. It's also not very forgiving if you smudge, dent or ding your nails before they fully dry (the high humidity was probably why it didn't dry as quickly as polish usually does). I would definately leave the application of this to the pros next time and ask to have interlocking C's drawn on my thumbs and "quilting" on my pinkies in black or deep navy blue. The photos below show two coats of polish with a topcoat. Nail decals are from Claire's.

AVEDA Sale

Image my surprise when I found out AVEDA was having a makeup sale! I didn't think AVEDA products ever went on sale. They are offering 50-80% off the retail price of makeup and skincare products (bronzers, lipsticks, shadows, brushes, etc). I've never tried any of their makeup but I love their Hang Straight for hair, which they have discontinued so I'm covetting my bottle of it.
Where: 210 Lesmill Rd, Toronto (Leslie & 401)
When: Wed, Aug 18-20th from 8:30am to 6:30pm; Sat, Aug 21 from 9am-3pm

Dusk Deals

Whenever I passed Dusk Deals on Queen St West it was always closed and a for lease sign hung on the bars across the entranceway so I was never quite sure if the place was still in business. I'd stop and look in the window at the interesting merchandise and wish it was open. My wish finally came true and the last time I passed by it was open and I had time to go in, check things out and try a few items on. They have an interesting range of clothing for both men and women. There's t-shirts, tank tops, bathing suits, pajamas, shoes, accessories, Goth clothing and a small display of Emily Strange merchandise (LOVE the cat face patent leather clutch!). Almost every item in the store has a coloured dot on the tag and this represents the discount they'll take off at the cash register (red=40% off). The tank tops I bought were originally $18 each and both had a red dot.

Great news for curvy girls, they have sizes 16 and 18 in some clothing items and 1x-3x in the

tank tops!

Let's Talk Nails

Received my September issue Elle Canada last week and was very excited to see the ad for OPI's fall line called Swiss Collection. Twelve colours are in the collection of mostly jewel tones and I will definately be checking out Diva of Geneva and Yodel Me on My Cell.

Today I received my Sept issue of LouLou and they had an ad for Essie's fall collection based on fashion. Limited Addiction and Velvet Voyeur are the ones catching my eye but I have a feeling In Stitches probably looks better than the colour sqaure in the ad.

I tried Chic Prints (Sephora by OPI) design appliques a while back and was impressed by how easy they were to apply. These are based on the Minx nail designs that you can have professionally done in a salon and last from 7-10 days. Chic Prints are adhesive strips that you can apply yourself and last 1-2 days. The design I chose was skulls which ended up being a little disappointing as the skulls were only on the thumb and big toe sizes (you can do a mani or a pedi with them). As much as I liked them, half of them only lasted about 5hrs, but I think the fact that 3 of those hours were spent in the pouring rain at a concert probably has a litle something to do with it. Next time I'll put the $20 towards the $40 cost of having Minx done as they last longer and offer many more designs.

Soxxx

I usually stick to white sporty crew socks or black ones, but I couldn't resist the super cute Betsey Johnson ones I came across in the Bay last week. On sale for $4.95 for 2 pair (reg $18) I treated myself to every design they had. Love the "wink" ones with their metalic lips. With I heart Betsey Johnson on the soles and cute little heart clips holding each pair together, the attention to such little details makes these socks stand out.

The Hot Sox in the cupcake print were a steal at $2.19.

Pretty Up Your Laptop

I decided to stick to basic black when I purchased my laptop months ago, but had grown board with looking at the shiny ebony surface. As I was passing by Rafters the other day, I noticed some decals they had and went in to check them out. At first I thought they were wall decals but upon further inspection they turned out to be for laptops. I couldn't resist getting one as they were on sale for $3.99 (regular $6.99). Rafters only had three styles in stock and of course this is the one I chose.
(Ignore the reflection of the flash in the middle at the bottom - this is the best photo as it doesn't show the few bubbles I was unable to smooth away.)









It was fairly easy to apply, can be removed and there's a grid on the liner sheet it comes on that allows you to cut the decal so it can fit 11.6" and 13.3" laptops. Uncut, it perfectly fits a 15.6".

Cosmetic Warehouse Sale

Revlon and Johnson&Johnson are having another warehouse sale from June 19-27. Save up to 75% on cosmetics, body and hair products, up to 80% on men's and women's fragrances, up 70% on French Connection clothing, 70% off Haggar clothing, and get great deals on Cambridge towels.
Location: International Centre, 6900 Airport Rd, Hall 4A, Mississauga ON
Hours: Mon-Fri 11am to 8pm, Sat 10am to 6pm, Sun 11am to 5pm

Sunglass Super Sale

Anders & Flynt Opticians are closing their doors so that means savings of up to 80% off, PLUS an extra 10% off on Sunday. All frames and sunglasses are 50-80% off! The sale is on from June 18-20th.
NOTE: cash only
Location: 2215 Steeles Avenue West(2 lights west of Dufferin) Toronto ON
Times: Fri-Sat: 12pm - 7pm; Sun: 12pm - 5pm

Guess

GUESS is offering 50% off already reduced merchandise. Head out to your nearest GUESS store to see what they're offering and make sure to check out the wallets and purses. You won't be disappointed.

Danier Factory Outlet

Danier factory outlet locations have leather jackets starting from $99 and they're offering 20% off clearance items. The sale runs from June 17-20th.

Niko Cosmetics

There are 2 days left in the Niko Cosmetics warehouse sale (June 17 & June18). Save up to 90% off this 'made in Canada', hi-def mineral make-up. Their skin care and organic hair care line is also available.
Location: 233 Carlaw Ave, Suite 405, Toronto ON (entry code #098)

I Heart Winners

From June 17 to June 20th Winners is offering an extra 20% off clearance merchandise at the following select stores: Spadina, Bloor St, College Park, Front St E, Scotia Plaza.

Attention Latenight Shoppers

IKEA is having a midnight madness sale on Friday, June 18th (Canadian locations only, excluding Quebec) from 8pm-12am. I've attended a midnight madness sale before and they usually have a group of items reduced in price and then every hour they offer 50% off one selected item. Even if the "special sale" item is of no interest to you, watching the frenzy of people converge on the sale bin is definately interesting to watch. It doesn't hurt to be eating a warm cinnamon bun while doing so either.

Lileo Sale

This store in the Distillery District is offering up to 50% off brand names such as Free People, Sass + Bide, Nike, Stone Island, Rag & Bone pluse many more. Sale begins Friday, June 11th.
Location: 55 Mill St, Building 35, Toronto ON

Designer for Less

Toronto Sample Sales are having a major summer sale, offering 40-80% off retail on Diesel, G-Star, Sinful, Coach bags, J-Brand and more. The sale runs from June 24 - 27 at the Sheraton Hotel, 600 Hwy 7 E (Leslie & Hwy 7), Richmond Hill.
Hours: Thurs 11am-midnight; Fri 11am-midnight; Sat/Sun 11am-10pm
Thursday June 24th to Sunday June 27th

Shoppers Optimum

Effective July 1, 2010 Shoppers Drugmart is changing its rewards system. They've come up with yet another chart on how many points you have to redeem to get a certain number of dollars in merchandise. Check it out and decide for yourself if it's better than the current system. I'm thinking they were still losing too much money (for their liking) using the system they revamped about two years ago so now it's a little more challenging to get "rewards".

CG BOGO Sale

OK, what do all the acronyms stand for? Cotton Ginny is have a buy one get one 1/2 price on all red ticketed items. The sale ends June 14th so stock up on summer items this weekend!

JJ & T Company

JJ&T (check out the photos of the purses and jewellery on their Facebook page) are closing their doors so everything is 50% off. They have great purses from Concubine, cute embroidered wallets, lots of glittery jewellery and unique wristlets. As tempting as the purses are my eye was actually caught by a few pieces of jewellery - the Eiffel Tower necklace, crystal encrusted key pendants and the colourful cupcake necklace. Hurry in while the selection is still good!
Location: 674 Yonge St, Toronto ON

Sunglass Safari Tent Sale

New 2010 VERSACE at 25% off, new 2010 RAYBAN at 30% off, new 2010 GUESS styles as low as $39, ESCADA up to 70% off and lots more!! Cases included with all sunglasses.
When: June 9-13, 16-20 and 23-27
Location: 2601 Matheson Blvd. E. #3 (near Renforth & Eglinton) Mississauga ON
Hours: Wed-Fri 12-7, Sat 11-4, Sun 12-4

Another Getoutside Sale

This time they have Puma's starting at $19.99. Hundreds of pairs! The sale starts June 4th and runs until June 6th only at the uptown location at the 3456 Yonge Street, Toronto ON.
Hours: Fri 10am-8pm, Sat 10am-8pm, Sun 11am-6pm.

Designer Clothing Sale

Save up to 60% off retail on such labels as Anthropologie, Lululemon, Marc Jacobs, Missoni, Benetton and Club Monaco. The majority of the items on sale are from Betsey Johnson!
Location: Gore Vale Ave (just east of Trinity Bellwoods Park, north of Queen St W)
Sale runs May 28-30 from 11am-6pm.

Triumph Warehouse Sale

From June 2-20 Triumph is having a warehouse sale where you will find lingerie priced from $4.99-$9.99. There will also be other specials priced at $2.99.
Location: 57 Northview Blvd, Vaughn ON (beside Staples).
Hours: Mon-Fri 11am to 8pm; Sat 10am-6pm; Sun 11am-5pm

Stock up on Tees and Tanks

Reitmans and Smart Set are both offering t-shirts at 2 for $24. Both have a great selection of colours to choose from but Reitmans offers tees in three different necklines - scoop, v-neck and rounded. But, Smart Set has really cute tank tops for $16. My favourite is the rose one. I also spotted this rose print, fully lined skirt for $40.

Getoutside Sale

Imaging gettings Vans for $19.99. If you're a fan if this shoe brand you must check out this sale happening May 28-30 at the 3456 Yonge St (Toronto) Get Out Side location. There are hundreds of pairs and tons of selection.

Jones New York Factory Store

Take an additional 30% off the lowest ticketed price of everything in the store! Only valid at JNY Factory Stores (St. Jacobs Factory Outlet Mall & Sunrise Shopping Centre). A great way to stock up on both casual and business summer clothing.

Scratch and Dent Sale

Kitchen Stuff Plus is having a scratch & dent sale May 29 & 30 from 10am-4pm. Save up to 90% off due to slight scratches/dents, missing pieces or imperfect packaging. Some of the items available: kitchenware and glassware sets, furniture display models, kitchen gadgets, frames, cookware, garbage cans and more.
Location: 100 Toro Rd (near Keele and Finch)

One Day Designer Furniture Sale

One of Ontario's largest wholesale importers are opening their doors to the public offering discounts of up to 60% off retail pricing. Here are just a few of the items you'll find there -leather sofas, ottomans, bedroom sets, dinettes, vanities, mirrored accent pieces.
When: Saturday, May 29th; 10am-5pm
Where: 114 Railside Rd, Toronto ON
cash, VISA, Mastercard, AMEX accepted

Z Boutique

Seriously, if I had typed Zellers sale would you have read this? Zellers has some cute maxi dresses by Jesser on sale for 30% off the regular prices of $29.97-$34.97 (sale ends May13th). They also have some great work out wear - Sportek Platinum - priced from $12.97. My favourite item is the criss-cross sports bra for a very reasonable $19.97. Zellers also had some great one piece bathing suits as wells as mix and match tops and bottoms.

Toronto Sample Sale

Toronto Sample Sales are having their spring designer clothing sale. Save 40%-80% off designer denim and clothing for men and women from such names as Rock&Republic, Seven For All Mankind, Affliction, Diesel, Sinful, Ed Hardy, True Religion, Hudson and more.
The sale takes place May 7 11am-midnight; May 8 11am-10pm; May 9 11am-10pm.
Location: 600 Hwy 7 East, Sheraton Hotel (in the Vaughan Ballroom) Richmond Hill ON

Cosmetic & Fragrance Warehouse Sale

Lisa's Cosmetics/Fragrances Inc. is featuring Elizabeth Arden cosmetics and skin treatment products at up to 80% off at their May warehouse sale. Also available: Red Earth Cosmetics; Neutrogena, Aveeno, Pantene, L'Oreal and Olay products; designer fragrances from such names as Armani, Bvlgari, Chrisian Dior, Calvin Klein, Oscar de la Renta, Vera Want and Yves St. Laurent.
Location: 1380 rodick Rd. (rear of bldg), Markham ON
May 7-10 and 14-17. Hours: Sat 9-6, Sun 10-6, Mon/Tues/Fri 10-8.

Parasuco Warehouse Sale

Stock up on women's Parasuco jeans, t-shirts, tanks, leather jackets, pants, summer dresses and more. The sale is only on for 4 days and you can save up to 80% off.
April 29 to May 2; The International Centre, Hall 6, 6900 Airport Rd, Mississauga ON

XXI Forever

While reading the recent issue of LouLou magazine I was excited to see they have gone back to doing a section (actually, one page) of plus size clothing. One of the items shown was from Faith21, the plus size line that XXI Forever carries. I checked out the website to see if they are actually carrying the line in Canada and lo-and-behold, they are! Only in selected stores of course and they seem to be mostly located in "the burbs" so I put aside an entire afternoon and ventured out to Fairview Mall to see if the items in the store were as nice as the ones shown online. I'm pleased to say that it was worth the trip and I spent quite a bit of time trying things on. The Faith21 section of the store is small but they have managed to pack a lot of merch into the tiny area. I can't list everything great they carry but here are some of the items I really liked and ended up trying on: multi-coloured strapless cotton sundress $27.80, dark denim jeans (in petite length!) $13.50, an a-line top with a racer-back and the 'T' was covered in ruffles $18.80, satin kimono-styled dress $27.80, black/white checked halter dress $23.80, metallic gold leopard print skirt $15.80, black v-neck top with silver metallic embroidered roses $29.80, cotton and lace blouse $27.80, black chiffon tunic with embroidery $33.80 and they had the most awesome pair of open toed booties for $31.80 and the size 10 actually fit but the heel was just a bit too towering for my liking - but they did look fabulous with jeans!
Now if they would just carry the Faith21 line at every location, curvy girls would never have to over pay for clothing at Addition Elle/Penningtons ever again!

Mini Shrek

Yes they did! The OPI Shrek edition colours have come to Canada and they have done a box of 4 minis! Unfortunately, they didn't include the dark purple (Funky Dunkey) or the dark green (Who the Shrek Are You?). The mini packs are available for $16.50 at Trade Secrets.

Cooks Rejoice

The All-Clad, KRUPS, Rowenta and T-fall warehouse sale is taking place on May 1st from 9am-5pm. Save up to 75% off such items as toasters, fryers, expresso machines, cookware, food processors and more!
Location: 345 Passmore Ave, Scarborough ON (west of Markham Rd)

Shrek Your Nails

OPI has come out with a line of six colours in ode to the Shrek 4 movie (yes, they're actually on #4). The colours are purple - Funky Dunkey, pink - Rumples Wiggin', green - Who the Shrek Are You?, yellow - Fiercely Fiona, light blue - What's With the Cattitude? and dark blue - Ogre-The-Top Blue. They are all cream formulas, no frosts or shimmers, and are perfect colours for summer.

Warehouse Sales

Sales Gone Wild - March 18 to 28; save up to 75% off shoes by Tretorn and Puma; get $19.99 mens dress shirts from CK, DKNY, Kenneth Cole, Sean John; Dri Fit golft tops from Izod for both men and women; $5 ladies Parasuco tops. 3085 Dufferin St, Toronto ON (Dufferine/Lawrence).

Revlon/Johnson&Johnson sale - all products up to 75% off; men's & women's apparel from Haggar 70% off; fine fragrances; Cambridge towels; Dickies apparel. March 16-21; 6900 Airport Rd, Hall 4, Mississauga ON. www.saleevent.ca

Jean Warehouse sale - up to 90% off jeans and tops from Bench, Guess, Buffalo, Parasucco, Mavie, Silver Jeans and more. March 17-21; 4069 Gordon Baker Rd, Scarborough ON.

Shopping in Las Vegas

Let me start out by saying that I think my two favourite stores in Vegas were Walgreens and CVS. Crazy, I know, as neither sells clothing (souvenir tees don’t count) but they are both the ultimate places to get junk food that’s not available in Canada. Two items I had on my “to buy” list were chocolate Chex and cheese Combos (not the pretzel ones). Imagine my surprise when I found 5-6 different flavours of both not to mention three flavours of Pringles I had never seen before – Dijon honey mustard, all dressed nachos and buffalo wings! I was even more thrilled when I was able to get Diet Coke with lime, Butterfinger and Max 5. Still regretting not buying a second bag of Combos. Did I mention the Combos were not the tiny snack pack and they only have king size chocolate bars in the U.S.? And forget about finding small bags of chips, it’s nearly impossible.

Staying on the topic of food, I made sure to visit Vosges in the Forum Shops at Ceasars Palace. Gourmet chocolate bars at their finest. Of course I picked up my favourite Red Fire bar but also bought Goji Berry, Gianduja and Mo’s Bacon (yes, chocolate with bacon flavour).

My new favourite (clothing) store has to be Hot Topic. There’s one in the Fashion Show Mall and another one in the Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood. Thanks to my Vegas partner in crime I was introduced to this awesome store that apparently has opened a location in Toronto but they haven’t updated their website yet to say where it is and the sales associate couldn’t remember which mall it was in (I’m working on finding this out). Hot Topic carries tees, lingerie, novelty items and jewellery. Most of these products are tied into TV shows or movies. They had a huge collection of Alice In Wonderland merchandise for the upcoming movie and I went crazy for all of it but limited myself to three t-shirts. Most of the tees were priced at $24 or less and I knew they’d be at least $10 more + 13% sales tax back home so I couldn’t resist. The Red Queen shirt has card suits printed on the back, the Drink Me shirt has a drawstring at the bottom and looks great with a short black skirt. They were having a sale on most of the lingerie at the time as well as buy one get one half price on jewellery. The stand-out item for me was the four pack of Tru Blood that came in glass bottles (quite heavy) and was priced at $30.

I made sure a visit to the Las Vegas Outlet Center happened so I could shop at Lane Bryant. Not as many great items this time around but did get some good deals on the things I did end up buying. I bought a great black and white print dress for $38 (reg $54), two sparkly tees at $19.50 each (reg $26.50 each), a pair of footless tights were $4.75 (reg $9.50) and a basic beige bra for $22.99 (reg $34). You cannot get “larger” sized bras in Canada for less than $40 unless you happen upon a really great sale. At the same mall I bought two pairs of New Balance running shoes for $81.06 (that includes tax) as they were having a buy one pair get the second pair half price sale. My friend bought two pairs of Nikes for $114. The store is called Back Room Shoes and they carry all brand name runners including Puma and Asics. The best sale I saw was the one going on at the Ann Taylor Factory Outlet store. They were offering 40% off everything in the store including already reduced items and new merchandise.

Frederick’s of Hollywood is the other place I have to visit while in Vegas and this time I stopped into the location at the Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood. This location carries a small selection of clothing as well as the standard lingerie offerings. Once again, I was able to get really nice bras in my size for almost half the price of buying them back home. The two ‘corset’ bras were $24.50 each and the reversible bra was a mere $14.99. I also purchase a leopard print reusable tote for $2. While at the Miracle Mile Shops my friend bought a pair of jeans in the Gap for $54 dollars which is a good deal as they are around $90 in Canada.

My second favourite clothing store was Bettie Page. The only reason I’m ranking it second is because all the dresses I tried on didn’t fit. If you love the pin-up look you’ll love this store! The sexiest dresses, beautiful corsets, amazing framed prints and cutest tees can be found here. They have two locations in Vegas – Fashion Show Mall and Miracle Mile Shops. The FSM location had a sale room of dresses and the biggest dressing rooms I have ever seen.

My friend wanted to stop into Tiffany’s at the Bellagio to pick something up for herself. It was my first time in Tiffany’s and I must say these people know what customer service is all about!

A trip to Grand Avenue Stores for souvenirs rounded out the shopping experience. This is the place to get CSI tees and Vegas souvenirs. There’s a small booth at the back of the store that sells tattoo print tees where I got the purple, waffle shirt with sparkly wings on the back, on sale for $19.99.

Cross Border Shopping

Heading to Vegas and hoping to get some great deals at the outlet malls! You can follow my Vegas adventures on Twitter @cherrycherryTO.

Bargains Galore

Most stores are having big sales right now to clear out their leftover fall/winter merchandise and make room for spring arrivals (Many of which have already arrived – I can’t remember seeing so many short sleeved t-shirts in stores in the middle of January!).
Below are a few standout items I came across on my recent ‘day of shopping’. Sadly, the only thing I ended up buying was a pair of pantyhose.

Forever 21 – tattoo printed tees, sweaters and hoodies for under $35 (regular price).

H&M – hot pink, faux rabbit jackets for $20. These were very impressive as I thought they were real fur when I first saw them but a quick “petting” made it very evident that only polyesters/acrylics were harmed in the making of these disco throwbacks. They also had racks of tank tops and cotton sundresses for $7 and $10. Not on sale, but of note, pink heart-shaped, lace lingerie bags were a mere $4.95 and angora blend knee socks were selling for $17.95.

RW & Co – very cute ruche neck, cap sleeved t-shirts for $19.50 (that’s the regular price) and a good selection of colours.

Blue Marine & Co – selected items reduced by 20%-50% (mostly Ed Hardy and some Juicy Couture).

Garage – slim fitting, cap sleeved (do I see a trend here?) tees in either v-neck or round neck 2 for $14.

Jacob – I’ve never shopped here before so I was not aware they had a lingerie line. Though not overly impressive, they did have satin lace-up corsets in red or black marked down to $49.99. They also had a set of three wristlets for $28 that came in metallic or phone snake skin.

Aldo Accessories – large jewelled bracelets and cuffs were 2 for the price of 1 with most of them originally priced at $29.99 each.

Lucky Brand Jeans - 60% off the lowest ticketed price. They had some really pretty embroidered cotton tunics.

Zara – I have to admit that I’ve never been impressed by this store. I find they’re overpriced for the quality they offer, but they are having a major sale (almost every rack had a frenzy of people around it). I did spot a black cotton bustier top with gray polka dots marked down to $19.99 and a cute, red short-sleeved, leopard print sheer blouse for $9.99.

Winners – though nothing that caught my eye was on sale, the prices were all great as per usual. The Winners I went to had a very impressive lingerie section. I nearly didn’t make it out of this section to look at other items, there was just so much to check out.
They had such lines as Hot Kiss, XOXO, Marilyn Monroe Intimates, Doll House and (plus sizes) Delta Burke and Miss Behavin’ by love affair. A few bras that caught my eye were the red sequined number by René Rofé for $14.99 and the two by Playboy Intimates – a black number with ruffled straps and a black satin/purple lace one, each priced at $14.99 (regular $30) and of course both discretely sporting the bunny logo in rhinestones. $50 silk scarves and $11 knee socks by Ed Hardy were fun and colourful finds.
Every now and again Evian does limited edition bottles and Winners had the lacy look ones by Christian Lacroix for $12.99 per twelve bottle case.

Super Sales

Jones New York Factory Stores are having in in-store warehouse sale. You can save up to 80% off the original ticketed price on all fall and holiday fashions. They are also offering 20% off new arrivals. The sale ends January 27th.

Cotton Ginny is offering great deals on their fall and winter merchandise. Depending on the original price of the clothing you can get 2 items for $15, 2 items for $25 or 2 items for $35. You can also pick up 3 items for $15 from last years spring/summer lines.

I Love OPI

Last year I cleaned out my nail polish collection (three year old polish is not pretty) and decided that I would stick to buying only OPI polish due to its quality and the amazing range of colours they offer. I'm always on the lookout for when their newest colour range will become available and this week was doubly rewarded (sort of). They have come out with an Alice In Wonderland mini pack containing four colours - multi glitter, blue glitter, coral (they call it red, but it's not) and metallic red. Today I saw an ad in a magazine for their new colour range inspired by Hong Kong. This collection contains a little of everything - blue, green, orange, red, pink, mauve, gold and white. It will be available February 3rd.
the Alice colours are pictured below (one photo shows off the glitter better)

Disco Queen

For those who like to glitter but not leave a trail of glitter behind, sequined tank tops are the way to go. Wear them under a blazer or cardigan in the colder months and on their own in the warmer months. Fairweather has patterned and solid coloured tanks priced at 3 for $20. For those just wanting to add one to their wardrobe, Designer Depot has patterned ones for $10 each. I like that the patterned ones mirror the same image on the back sans sequins.
(other desgins available: butterflies, tiger, peace sign, jaguars)

Sending Flowers or Not

My favourite alternative to sending flowers is Edible Arrangements. They're just as beautiful as flower arrangements but you get to eat them instead of throwing them out after a week or two. This is a great idea to send to people just home from the hospital with a newborn or recovering from surgery as it's a ready made snack they can grab out of the fridge and enjoy. I have recently discovered another alternative to sending flowers - PopFlowerShop. These brightly coloured blooms are made of dirt-resistant lightweight polypropylene plastic made from recyclable #5 plastic. They're the perfect item to send to someone in the hospital as they are cheerful, low maintenance, fragrance free and hypoallergenic.

William Ashley Sale

William Ashley's two retail locations are now having their big annual sale. You can save up to 70% on brand names such as Royal Doulton, Noritake, Wedgwood, Mikasa, Waterford and more. Stock up on half price china and silver place settings. Open stock crystal stemware and most gifts are 40% off. Sale ends January 31st.
Locations: Square One, Mississauga ON & 55 Bloor St. W (Manulife Centre), Toronto ON

JNY Factory Outlet Sale

Jones New York Factory Outlets are having their January clearance event. Get 50-80% off the original ticketed price on all winter items.