new hair of the dog / sample sale sundays

Nowadays my sunday fundays have a bit of a different meaning than they did in college...mimosas + crab cakes benedict, and in this case...shopping.

So far, I have been able to avoid sample sales since I've been in New York convincing myself that the hassle was not worth the charge. But this weekend after a stronger than usual mimosa, my friend and I got suckered into a Yumi Kim and Pinky Otto sample sale on our trek from LES to Nolita to Soho in search of a sunny outdoor patio.

Disclosure: I am a sucker for Pinky Otto & a deal. The East Village store's window display boasted a buy 2 get 1 free promotion a few months ago catching my eye while waiting for a table at Mud (awesome brunch and coffee). Hook, line and sinker. Two new dresses, a sweater and a necklace later and I vouched to avoid the store (at least until another pay check).

Enter sample sale:

I blame the heavy pour of mimosa at brunch for this indiscretion...

From everyone's reaction to the group dressing room, it occurred to me that a lot of people were also trying a sample sale for the first time. So, I wanted to share some tips I picked up for other newbie sample sale goers. 

I picked up a three quarter length sleeved, Yumi Kim dress, and a Pinky Otto maxi dress that were originally $300 more than what I got them for. Success!

yumi kim

pinky otto

Re: Tip #6 - My friend and I have decided we are not allowed to shop together anymore. We didn't take this advice and both ended up with a new dress from Pinky Otto. (But how cute are they?!) I am really loving three quarter length sleeves on dresses for this time for the year.

And animal prints, how cute are these foxes and red key hole belt!

Have you checked out a sample sale? Any tricks of the trade to add?

Here's Proof That Shopping Isn't Always Bad For Your Wallet

As you may remember, my friend came to visit from San Francisco back in November, and we spent a day shopping around Soho. We popped into Piperlime's new Soho flagship store (which is awesome btw), and lucked into a store event that asked shoppers to take pictures of items in-store and upload them to mobile fashion app, Snapette, to be entered for a chance to win a $500 Piperlime giftcard. Can you see where this is going? A week later, I found out I had won the gift card!! 

Which means I need your help! Seriously, please help. There are so many things to choose from at Piperlime. Do I splurge for NYE?

trina turk sequin dress | kensie faux fur jacket

Or spend wisely for work?

BB Dakota Skirt | Line & Dot Blouse

Sam Edelman Perry Booties | 213 Industry Jacket

Tinley Road Sweater | Hudson Jeans

If you have anything you either own or have seen from Piperlime that you love - please comment below and include a link! 

And if you haven’t heard of Snapette, you should check it out! It’s an awesome location-based fashion app that lets you check out what’s in stores nearby through your phone's GPS. I love it because I now don’t have to feel bad about flooding my Instagram stream with fashion photos while shopping (seriously I uploaded about 16 items from my recent shopping trip to Bergdorfs and by shopping I mean browsing), and it’s a much better mobile tool to use for inspiration when shopping than Pinterest.

Follow decor-eat on Snapette