December 2013 - lululemon expert

My Last Post of the Year

This has been a very transitional year for me, but I hope I get to say that every year. I started this blog this year and am grateful for all of my readers. I began writing this blog with the intention to inform people about the marketability & investment value of Lululemon clothing. I have since posted about beauty hauls, nail polish and fitness, among other topics. I plan to continue to write about the things I love, with a continuing focus on Lululemon. I also want to share my New Years Resolutions with all of you and plan to write about how I’m doing with those.

In order to add a little flavor to this otherwise bland post I will share with you my Top 5 Favorite Pieces of Lululemon Acquired This Year:

Parallel Stripe Wunder Under crops.

Plum Dance Studio Jacket

Gratitude Wrap in Deep Zinfandel

Fluff Off Pullover in Surge

Fast Track Shorts in Twin Stripe Spry Blue/ Black

I can’t really put them in order, and I know my list mostly consists of pieces from the last quarter of this year, but I was bored until Plum came along. I really like the Fast Track Shorts because they hold my butt up and the large pocket on the side is big enough for an iPhone. Plus, the waistband is super comfortable and doesn’t dig in.

Parallel Wunder Under Crops were a must. The hype was a little unwarranted, but they really do make your butt look nice. I always notice how every time I see a cheap brand of pants, the stripes or pattern never lines up, but Lululemon takes the time to make sure the stripes line up. I appreciate that.

I absolutely love my Fluff Off Pullover in Surge, I even wrote a post about the gorgeous Fluff Off line and splurged a little. I loved seeing it on Fox Sideline Reporter, Laura Okmin at the Steelers/ Lions game on November 17th. Here’s a photo:

Laura Okmin wearing a Surge Fluff Off Pullover

I wear my Plum Dance Studio Jacket all the time. I love plum, it has been my favorite color Lululemon released this year and it’s a darker one, so I find it more flattering than the other colours I loved like Surge & Paris Perfection. Of course, I like the overall design with the hood & the thumbholes, the reversibility etc… But I also love the deep pockets and the length.

Finally, I have really been enjoying my Gratitude Wrap in Deep Zinfandel. I wear it around the house a lot. I think the color is gorgeous and again dark & flattering. I also bought a Vinyasa Scarf & Bang Buster in this color. I also really liked the Rose Herringbone printed Deep Zinfandel Scuba Hoodie & ordered it as well. The Gratitude wrap’s tight sleeves don’t bother me, except a little at the wrists, especially if I’m wearing a bracelet. But other than that the fit is very flattering. The versatility of this very casual piece is sure to find it’s way with me to class on many chilly days. The length is perfect for the more modest ladies, but it is fitted through the waistline, so it maintains a feminine shape.

I am so happy to write and watch my blog grow. I hope you all enjoy my posts & share your love of Lulu & experiences with me in the coming year. Thanks for reading!

New Items to Help You Spend Your Christmas Money!

I am so happy to see that the Track Tee made it to North America. I featured it earlier, when Australia got it & it has finally arrived! I have yet to see it in-store, but will add a fit review to this post if I see it. I am having a very hard time swallowing the price. $68 seems pretty high for a t-shirt made from *Seriously Light* Luon. Even though I’m 100% sure the Track Tee in Heathered Baroque Blue will look awesome with my new Bhakti Yoga Shorts, from my last post, I am also quite sure it will go to markdown. I just can’t see too many people paying $68 for a Track Tee, when they can pay $58 for a Swiftly Short Sleeve. Just my opinion. But, for those who are interested in getting one now, they come in black, heathered medium grey/ white, Fresh Teal & Baroque Blue.

I’m also happy to see the Bandit Track pants uploaded. I saw them in-store a couple of days ago, and I tried them on. They fit very similarly to my Work It Out Track Pants from last year. I found them to be a somewhat looser, true to size, but the pockets on the side stick out, just a little. It’s hard to tell on the website that the pockets stick out on the sides a little because in every picture the models have their hands in the pockets. I got the Work It Out track pants on markdown for $49. I think I’ll wait to see if these go on markdown & get them then, as well.

Last Year’s: Work it Out Track Pant in Dune/ Bleached Coral

This Year’s: Bandit Track Pant in black/ mini hyper stripe fresh teal

Finally, an item I am willing to buy at full price:

The Inspire Crop, specifically these:

Inspire Crop in micro macro stripe black soot/black

I haven’t seen these in-store yet, but there’s still a full size-run online, so there’s no hurry for me to rush out & buy them.

What Lulu are you most excited for this New Year? Or does nothing intrigue you? Let me know in the comments below!

My Holiday Haul and Bhakti Fit Review too!

Hello again! I’m happy to report that my friends and family know me well enough to know that I love Lululemon & that they can’t go wrong with a pair of Wunder Unders or a No Limits tank. So, I wanted to share my holiday haul with y’all!

Santa was very generous this year- although the bottom three items were purchased by me, yesterday. In my haul: Angel Blue & Paris Perfection LS Swiftlies, Ziggy Wee Plum September & Pretty Pink Slalom Stripe Flow Y Bras, Pretty Pink Slalom Stripe Pacesetter skirt, Plum Speed Tights, Scuba Hoodie *Vest, Scuba Hoodie in Pop Petal print, Scuba Hoodie in Parallel Stripe, Wunder Under Crops in Parallel Stripe, 105 F singlet in heathered Lavender Dusk, Bhakti Short in Baroque Blue, No Limits tank in Plum & Surge/ Inkwell

What did you get for Christmas?

I also wanted to include a fit review for the shorts.

Fun Fact: A very basic definition of Bhakti is that Bhakti is a Sanskrit term that signifies an attitude of devotion to a personal God.

I bought these for summer and for vacations to hot places. I don’t practice hot yoga often enough to justify buying these shorts, but I do get hot easily. These shorts are made of *Seriously Light Luon and they certainly are light. I love that they have a liner to make me feel secure (I won’t ‘fall out’ of them, so to speak), but the main body of the short is light enough that I could wear it in the hottest summer weather and I would have a higher level of comfort than can be obtained even by the ever-popular Speed shorts. The inseam on these is 2’3/8, while the speed short is 2’1/2, so these are actually one eighth of an inch shorter than the Speeds. I found them to be true to size and I can’t wait to wear them this summer.

I did not buy, but did try on the new Bhakti jacket and loved it, but I can’t justify another jacket right now. I found it to be fitted and think some people may want to size up, for comfort.

Did you like the Bhakti shorts & jacket? Let me know in the comments below!

New Goodies for the Holiday Season

I found this in a Product Notification:

Parallel Stripe Black / White Wunder Unders

I think this is a pretty nice pic of the new Parallel Stripe Wunder Unders

From another PN:

I thought this was a super cute picture of all the different colours of Savasana Socks. They’re made of Merino Wool & sure to keep you cozy this season.

Savasana Socks in white, black & deep zinfandel — Savasana Socks in angel wing, black & deep zinfandel

Ooooh! Angel Blue Studio Crops, I hope they make pants!

I know the Passage Sweaters have been selling out fast. I am excited to see a new colour:

Passage Sweater in Heathered Medium Grey

That’s what I got for ya for now!

What are you most looking forward to this holiday season? Lulu or otherwise, let me know in the comments below!

My Overall Impression of Barre, as a Newbie

I’ve decided to get back into fitness and in order to achieve some of my goals, I signed up for Barre Method classes. I think Barre will help me tone my body, while the yoga I currently do helps lengthen my muscles. I also consider yoga to be a spiritual activity more-so than a physical one. Not that yoga doesn’t challenge me, it does. It’s just not nearly as intense as the overall conditioning Barre entails.

I also said that I would give a review & provide my impression of what happens during Barre after I had taken a few classes. I have been to Barre 6 times since my last post and have gotten a pretty clear picture of what to expect every class.

Every time I walk in the door, the instructor signs me in. This is important because they do try to learn your name. If you’re performing an exercise correctly during class they’ll say “Good job, *InsertYourNameHere*” It gives the class a more personal feel. And everybody seems happy to be there.

First we started with a small warm up without weights, lifting our arms and legs. Then we grabbed our weights. I have been using the lightest weights, since I’m a newb. We did exercises that worked every muscle in our arms. Then we sat down and did a few stretches. Then we approached the bar and worked on our legs, standing, doing various exercises that mostly involved double loop resistance tubes that look like this:

We would wrap one side around one leg, and the other side around the foot of the other leg and pull with that foot. Standing on one leg for that long was probably the most difficult part. I have been trying to keep the weight on the inside part of the standing foot, it helps… a little. Then, between switching legs we sat down and did some stretches. All the while energetic dance music is playing in the background. It was almost entertaining. If I hadn’t had been in so much pain already, I may have been genuinely amused. After evening it out, and completing the other side, we sat down beside the bar, holding it for stability, and used our “seat” muscles to lift ourselves slightly off the ground, one side at a time. Then it was time for ab work, but not before doing a few more stretches. There were quite a few different abdominal exercises with and without the use of the bar. One such exercise involved squeezing a ball between my thighs while doing sit-ups.

Finally, a 2-minute Superman back workout & a few final stretches to round out the final part of the class before everyone gets up to clean their mat & put away their instruments of cruelty (weights & resistance tube).

I found the instructor to be very attentive and understanding of my newbie status. They even came over to correct my form! Everyone else was really friendly too. And there is so much Lulu Love in those classes. About 75% of the girls in these classes were wearing Lululemon including the instructors.

My main critique is that on the website of one of the more popular Barre Method studios they say that it’s OK if you aren’t tiny. I’m not tiny, but I’m not plus-sized either. However, I AM really out of shape and I could have used some suggestions on how to perform easier versions of many of the exercises we did. I didn’t receive any suggestions for alterations for the first five classes I went to. Then, one day a girl who was plus-sized DID come to Barre. First, I want to say: Good for her. I find it rather intimidating, so I was really impressed by her courage. But the only time I ever heard any instructor offer suggestions for alternative ways to perform exercises was when she came. I used MANY of these suggestions.

Side note: If I ever wake up one day & decide I’d like to be intimidated by the beauty of other women I’ll go to barre, first thing!

One other thing that bothered me was that the instructors are constantly saying “you’re almost done, push through” or “finish strong” or “this is your last chance to work *insert muscle group here,* give it your all!” None of these statements are true. The classes are very challenging, the whole entire time. There is no reason to give me false hope about the workout being almost over, especially with no clocks nearby to tell me the truth.

That said, I do enjoy a good challenge- so I’ll keep up the classes for now! I have 14 left on my pass!

UPDATE: October 11, 2015

I was re-reading this post, and just want to say that I did end up completing that 20 class pass, and purchasing another. I completed that pass (so, 40 classes in all), but did not purchase another. I actually like, but don’t love, Barre. I just never got good at it. While I do enjoy a challenge, I think it’s safe to say that I need to feel results as well. I just don’t think I ever got better at Barre, and I think I’m going to wait until I’m in better general condition before I get into Barre again, but I’ll keep you in the loop!

Don’t Be a Unicorn Thief

About buying & selling New With Tags Lululemon items on eBay

Hello Lulu Lovers everywhere. I am writing to make a public service announcement regarding selling New With Tags Lululemon items on eBay. I’m not writing about those of you who bought something a long time ago, and just forgot about it in your closet, then realizing it was still there decided to make some extra cash on it- that’s fine. This post is for people who buy very popular items on Lululemon.com when they are first released, with the explicit intention of reselling them. I’m also not talking about people who live no where near a store & don’t want to pay return shipping if they think they can make a few bucks on the one extra size they bought. I’m talking about people who do it for a living. A good example is Top Car Broker on eBay. She always has tons of NWTs items on eBay. Always highly sought after, future unicorns, for above retail. Don’t know what a unicorn is? Check out my post on Lululemon Slang.

These often sell out on Lululemon.com in a matter of hours. For example, she currently has listings for 22 Gratitude Wraps, which just came out on Monday and sold out completely in two days. She currently has them listed for $170.94, each. They retailed for $118. They definitely would have sold for that, and I think it’s wrong to use information acquired in the community (she belongs to many of the chat groups) against the community itself. However, Lululemon does have the right to refuse to sell to her, if they want to. I’ve heard of them refusing to sell to others for various reasons (they return too much, they sell on eBay- like she does, they buy too much in different sizes), or so the buyers (customers) say. Lululemon never issues anything in writing, the customers just are no longer able to process orders online, then they call GEC and they just say something vague. They are still able to buy in-store, but you can’t buy the quantities in-store like you can online, particularly with regards to markdowns. I think TopCarBroker has a friend with a yoga studio, or a strategic partner store (I believe they receive their merchandise at a discount) and then she resells it and they split the profit OR she does just order online and for some reason Lululemon does nothing to stop it. I have no doubt that they know who she is and what she does. I know that my account would be flagged if I spend 2500 on Gratitude Wraps. Which is why I wonder how it is that year over year, she gets away with it. I regard it as taking advantage of the community, others may see it as a business opportunity. Those of you who do: Please start, this will create competition & perhaps it will run her out of business. Thank you.

I know there may be people who disagree with me, but I hope you can see it from the perspective of a true Lulu Addict & if you can’t that’s OK too. Just leave your opinion in the comments below. Thanks for reading!

UPDATE

I wrote an update to this post. You can find it here.

Gratitude Wrap Fit Review

Today, I had to go to my local store to try on the Gratitude Wrap. I missed out on them last time & I had to see what they were all about.

Here’s a pretty picture I found in a PN:

Heathered White Gratitude Wrap & Winter Orchid/ Deep Zinfandel Vinyasa scarf

I’ll start at the top & move down. First, the collar is fantastic and can be worn all the way buttoned up, or with the first one or two undone. It’s tres chic! It’s fitted across the chest when buttoned, and flares out all the way to the bottom. The arms are really tight. I stayed true to size, but both my size and my size up felt tight in the arms, so I decided that sizing up was pointless. The one thing that sort of bothered me was that the threads where they sewed the buttons on were un-trimmed. It makes the garment look unfinished and cheap. I’ll be cutting them myself, to the best of my ability, but it would have been nice if everything looked tidy to begin with. I do love the two pockets, they’re perfect for throwing your hands into on a cold day. The cinch at the bottom is a cute detail, but I probably won’t be using it. I find the fit flattering overall, and I went home with a Deep Zinfandel Gratitude Wrap, and a Paris Perfection Bang Buster. Because we all know I need more Bang Busters.

Anyways- I hope y’all get a chance to grab one- they’re super popular & selling out quick!

Some Goodies From Australia

Here are a few things I noticed in Australia. I’m sure we won’t get everything I saw, but I’m hoping for a few things to reach North America.

Since this is the Summer line in Australia, I’m not 100% sure the In A Flash Singlet will make it here, but there are a ton of items in the Clear Mint color. Quite a few have already been uploaded. Speed Shorts in Clear Mint are in Australia, so hopefully those make it here.

These Core Kicker Crops have already been uploaded in solid black. I really like these in the Assorted Stripe Bleached Coral/Inkwell.

I love this Track Tee in Clear Mint/ Surge. I really want to try it on.

Again, this stuff is on the Australia side, so I really HOPE we get it, but you never know. The 105 Singlet is coming in Clear Mint too, so we might not get the In A Flash Singlet. I am looking forward to try on the Track Tee. I hope it comes here!