Friday, October 31, 2014

budget shopping with nokia

DSC04813 If you follow along on Instagram and Twitter, you've probably seen a few posts that have including using a Nokia Lumia phone. Nokia reached out a few weeks ago asking if I'd like to test out one of their phones, and see how it helps a blogger shop on a budget. In my phone-owning life time, I've gone from using a brick Nokia to having a RAZR (and yes, I thought I was super cool) to a Blackberry to an Android to now using an iPhone, so it was fun to see how much Nokias have changed since my first phone. Unfortunately this one doesn't have Snake on it (still probably the best phone game of all time), but it's been so much fun to play around with it. The tile formatting is super fun (and really customizable which is awesome!), and I really like how big and light weight it is. CR has referred to it as my "business phone" for the past few weeks since I do a lot of blogging background work on it, from taking pictures to answering emails to using certain apps to order clothes. 

As a part of the partnership, I was given a $200 giftcard to create a look on a budget, something you guys know I'm all about. I set off a few days ago to explore the new H&M and Forever 21 our mall recently opened. I haven't been in an H&M in a really long time, but I was pleasantly surprised - you can find some really great pieces there! Although I tried on a ton of different sweaters, I ended up walking away with this grey coat. I don't really have a heavier fall coat that isn't a winter coat (you know, for those 30-45 degree days we have for the next month until it freezes over for the following 5 months), so I was really excited to find it. It's thick while not being puffy, the sleeves are long enough on me, and the color is a great neutral that goes with everything. I also picked up a set of rings for under $6 - because while I love my real metal jewelry, sometimes it's fun just to play with a few different styles! 

I then stopped at Forever 21, which I've really distanced myself from in recent years just because the clothes never look good on me (although I'm so jealous of everyone who can wear their clothes beautifully because you can get some really great stuff there!). What I do love about them is their accessories though, so I ended up buying a really pretty cream and black stripped scarf. While I was there, I noticed that they have a verrrry similar plaid scarf to the Zara scarf from last year if you missed out on that and the Target version (and it's the cheapest option of all three! Is it bad that I want that one too?). 

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Tee: Loft c/o Nokia [exact]
Coat: H&M c/o Nokia [exact]
Rings: H&M c/o Nokia [similar]
Pants: Gap 
Shoes: Tory Burch [exact]
Scarf: H&M
Earrings: eBay [exact]
Watch: Michael Kors [exact]
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Disclosure: Nokia lent me a Nokia Lumia to test out, and gave me a $200 gift card to create a budget-friendly look. I was not paid for my opinions because they are not for sale :)