Sunday, April 19, 2015

Lilly Haul Part 2!!

I know, I know I shouldn't have gone back to Target but I did! I was super sad that I missed out on the makeup bags and the Essie nail polish this morning (since my Target didn't stock them) so I decided to make a trip into the big city to hunt for them! My plans were to do some online shopping to pick up those items, but of course I was thwarted by the fact that EVERYTHING was sold out!

I headed to the big store about 2:30 so I got there about 3:00-and I was still expecting pandemonium. Nope! Nice and quiet, but not much left. Kids clothes had one or two white tops and women's had 2 jump suits and one dress left. No accessories at all. Housewares was completely cleaned out-one hammock stand and one odd cushion left. It made me sad to see for sure. In the kids section a little girl was having a complete and total meltdown over the fact that the dress she wanted was gone. It was heartbreaking! She was such a cute little girl. 

I really don't think Target handled this collection well at all-especially judging from the number of listings on eBay right now. Greedy resellers took advantage of Target and are trying to sell the items for up to $350!! Ridiculous!! Target should have learned its lesson the first time around (with the Missoni collection). Lilly is such an iconic brand-Jackie Kennedy wore her clothes in the 1950s and 1960s! They knew the demand was going to be crazy and they should have made more stock and put limits on what people could buy. I'm sure the collection still would have sold out, but more customers would have been able to purchase the things they wanted and would have left the store happy. Honestly you can't expect people to practice good manners on their own, sometimes limits are the only thing keeping people honest! I was lucky with what I got and I'm happy with everything I purchased. I am sad that I wasn't able to get some of the online exclusive stuff or the stuff that my local store didn't have, but I was luckier than a lot of people. The stories of people sweeping whole shelves into their cart and getting into fights over the clothing just breaks my heart. I really hope Target learns their lesson for the next go round (or produces more of the Lilly)! This was supposed to be a 2 week event and Target claims that they planned for the items to be available for the entire 2 weeks! They should've known better and planned better!

Now onto my haul from my second Target trip of the day! All I purchased was makeup type stuff since that was all that was left!
Haul Number 2
Weekender-Happy Place 29.99 (yellow)
Valet-My Fans 29.99 (blue)
My Fans Printed Bobby Pins 5.00
Happy Place Printed Hair Elastics 5.00
My Fans Turban Headwrap 8.00 
Nosie Posey Printed Hair Elastics 5.00
My Fans Printed Elastics 5.00
Nail File Nosey Posey 2.00
Nail File Happy Place 2.00
Nail File My Fans 2.00

There were still lots of hair elastics left and several of each of the bags I bought. There were lots of nail files, nail polish and lipstick left. In fact it didn't look like ANY of the Essie nail polish had been purchased. I didn't buy any of it since it wasn't anything special-it looked like they just wrapped a tag around the neck of a regular Essie nail polish that said Lilly Pulitzer for Target. I expected a special bottle (maybe with a print) or something special. They didn't even have Lilly themed names! For 9.00 a bottle I'll stick with my OPI nail polish-I can find plenty of colors to match my Lilly dresses! The lipstick was the same way-nothing special about it at all.

The nail files are super cute, practical and cheap! I was surprised that more of them weren't gone! I love the adorable patterns on them. I plan on keeping one at work, replacing my worn out one at home and keeping one in my purse. They were a great buy! 

The turban headwrap is adorable! I saw a picture of a girl on Facebook wearing it and it looked massively cute on her! I thought it was more of a sweatband type thing but it actually covers more of your head! I haven't tried it on yet but I'm super excited to wear it. I will be a perfect way to liven up a boring outfit or add some Lilly to other outfits! The hair elastics are cute and once again I was surprised that more of them weren't gone! Each style I bought was fully stocked! They were a little pricey for elastics (over a buck each), and their quality doesn't seem super awesome. They are kind of thin and I'm afraid they're going to snap when I try to wind them around my hair. However, the pineapple charms some of them have are adorable and will match the zipper pulls of the dresses I got perfectly! The prints on these aren't very bright, in fact they look kind of faded, but I guess that's to be expected!

Let's talk about the bags now! I'm so so excited that I got them :) The blue bag is actually a hanging type toiletries bag which is awesome! I bought one off Amazon over Christmas and it's too small to actually hold what you need. 
Not this bag! It has tons and tons of pockets! You can even fit full size shampoo and conditioner in the bottom pocket! DH and I travel a lot so this will see a ton of use! The fabric is super thick and the plastic on the pockets is very thick! It feels very well made-much better than my other one!

The other weekender tote I bought just because I could pass up the print. I have no clue what I'm going to do with it, but I'm sure I'll find some use for it! I actually thought I would keep my full size toiletries in it, but now that I've discovered that they'll fit in the other bag I don't know what to do with it! Maybe I'll sell it on eBay for $100.00 (I kid, I kid!). 

The inside of the weekender tote! It has a zippered pocket on one side and two open pockets on the other. The fabric on this bag feels thinner than the other bag, but it still feels sturdy! Does anyone have any ideas on what to use this for? I'm not a big makeup girl and I don't use any tools on my hair, so I can't use it for that! Maybe I'll use it as a purse!

Overall, I'm most impressed with the housewares and the beauty sections of this collaboration. Read my previous entry to see my impressions of the clothing, but I can say I definitely prefer my vintage Lilly any day! 

A lot of people are saying that Lilly herself would be disappointed by the collaboration with Target. I definitely don't think that would be true-Lilly was slightly eccentric and not really an elitist at all. Yes, she was wealthy and yes her clothes are expensive but she kept monkeys as pets and ran a juice stand (when she had enough money to never work again). I think she would have reveled in the fact that ordinary people were gaining access to her clothes and she would be pleased by all the excitement her fashions were creating. It saddened me to see how many people had never even heard of Lilly (I'm a native of the South so maybe that's why I love her so much-she seems to be a Southern thing). I'm glad that more people will learn about Lilly and get exposed to her cheery prints-they really are the best thing to brighten someone's day! 
I highly recommend the book Lilly: Palm Beach, Tropical Glamour and the Birth of a Fashion Legend if you want to know more about her! You can purchase it below by clicking on the link (it is an affiliate link-help me make more money to buy Lilly clothes)! It's an awesome, in depth biography about her that really looks at who she was as a person rather than her company. It's a fast read and very informative plus it's filled with awesome pictures of early Lilly clothes! 



I'm also saddened by the lack of manners shown by some people in their greediness. Lilly definitely wouldn't have liked that! I just checked out ebay to see how many items were listed-there are almost 20,000 hits for Lilly Pulitzer at Target!! That's ridiculous-I'm pretty sure most of the collection is on there! Shame on these people for profiting in such a way! The only way to fight back is to not give into temptation to buy their things (even if you missed out in the store). Make them get stuck with the inventory! I saw this after the Missoni collection-about 2 months after the collection launched everything was on eBay for .99-people just wanted to get rid of it! If we make it unprofitable for them maybe they'll think twice about doing it for the next collection!
Seriously someone is trying to sell a MAKE UP BAG for $2700.00! I do love the hammocks but I'm not about to pay 500.00 for one (no matter how adorable they are)! 
People are trying to sell nail files for 4.00 (when I found plenty in the store). Plus, someone stole A SIGN from the store and is attempting to sell it for 2.75! Can you believe the nerve of some people??? This just makes my blood boil! How rude! 
People like this put a nasty spin on the whole collection and ruin it for the rest of us. I really hope Target listens to their customers (the actual customers, not the resellers) and puts a limit on the next designer collection so they can't ruin it again.
 Overall I'm pleased with what I got-sometimes living in the country has its perks (like less demand for Lilly!). I'll still keep shopping at Target and I'll still buy way too much Lilly but I might avoid ebay for awhile. I was one of the lucky ones with this collection and I got most of what I wanted so I'm happy. I really do feel heartbroken for everyone who didn't get anything. I also feel bad for the people complaining that they don't know what all the fuss is about or that we're too materialistic or that this collection cheapens their real Lilly-I'm sad they can't see the joy and the fun in stuff like this! 




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