The Look for Less: Lilly Pulitzer vs. Mossimo

One of the most popular items from the recent Lilly Pulitzer for Target collab were these cute pompom trimmed  "Upstream Dream" print track shorts. Sadly, they sold out quickly at $24, as did just about everything else from the collab. But you can still get a similar look - at an every more wallet-friendly price - with these Mossimo blue print shorts with crochet trim for just $17.99.

Last-minute Mother's Day Gifts from Target...

While perusing the aisles at Target yesterday, I found some items that would make great last-minute Mother's Day gifts (for those of you who haven't done your shopping yet!). They'd also make nice birthday, hostess or "just because" gifts for the women in your life. Clockwise from left:

• a Smith & Hawken Lavender Calla Lilly Grow Kit, on sale this week for $10 (regularly $12.99)
• a fresh-flower arrangement in a colorful box. Target has brought these in this week just for Mother's Day; look for them displayed on the jewelry cases and near the checkout stands for $19.99
• the Sonia Kashuk Bath and Body Collection: pick from an array of fragranced products like shower gels, perfumes and body lotions, priced from $6.99 to $19.99
• Merona scarves for just $16.99. I tried to capture the detail here, but my pic doesn't do them justice. These scarves come in a variety of prints (stripes, geometric, even cute little fish!) and have fun detailing like topstitching and pom-poms. 

And the winner is...

The winner of my latest blog giveaway - for the Lilly Pulitzer for Target hair elastics - is reader "Mixed Up Chromosomes"! Her entry was picked by the random number generator over at Random.org. Congrats to the winner; I've emailed you for your mailing address, and as soon as you sent it to me I'll send you your prize. And thanks again to everyone who entered and for reading my blog!

The Look for Less: J Crew vs. Sam & Libby

Super-simple, flat sandals are all the rage right now. In fact, I did another "Look for Less" post last month about a similar style. The versions shown here have two straps and are a bit dressier than the athletic slides I profiled before. The big difference is that the pair shown on top are by J Crew and will set you back $78, whereas the pair shown on the bottom are by Sam & Libby (at Target) and cost just $26.99. Personally, I prefer the Sam & Libby ones with the two varied straps - one in shiny patent and the other in faux-snakeskin.

Reader Giveaway: Lilly Pulitzer Hair Elastics

Hello readers! It's time for another reader giveaway as an expression of thanks to all of you who read my blog. This time I'm giving away a little bit of Lilly: a set of 3 Lilly Pulitzer for Target hair elastics. The one in the middle even has the cute gold pineapple charm on it! 

To win, all you need to do is leave a comment on this post along with your email address by midnight on Thursday, May 7th. This giveaway is limited to U.S. residents only (one entry per person, please) and the winner (picked at random) will be announced on Friday, May 8th. Good luck!

The Lilly Leftovers: What's Being Returned

Have any of you out there scored any returns from the Lilly Pulitzer for Target collab? Now that we're at the 2-week return window deadline, it looks like more and more items are trickling back into stores. Here's what I'm seeing the most of:

  * The jumpsuit shown here. I think there must be fit issues with it. Plus, it's made for tall gals, so most women will have to hem this to wear it.
  * The outdoor blankets. I'm wondering whether folks expected this item to be softer; in reality, it feels like a heavy tablecloth.
  * The outdoor string lights. I've seen many sets of these.
  * Clothing in Plus Sizes. This is kind of to be expected as Plus Sizes were only available online, so shoppers were taking a risk by guessing at sizing as they could not try these on in store.
  * Children's clothing, Again, probably returned due to fit issues.
  * Nail files. I've seen countless of these things. I'm not sure if they've been returned, or Target just ordered too many of these and they didn't sell well.

Cute commercial, but something's missing...

Have you seen Target's new commercial featuring action figures from the upcoming Avengers: Age of Ultron movie? Cute, right? But even I - not an Avengers expert by any means - noticed something "off" about it right away, in that not all the Avengers were included. Most notably, the female Avenger - Black Widow - is absent. And apparently this is a big deal in the comic book community. As one reader has informed me: "There has been an uproar about this issue for a while on comic book, Marvel, Disney, and movie sites. They believe that no one wants Black Widow toys as girls aren’t interested in toys and boys don’t want a female action figures." 

This is indeed a hot topic; Variety posted an expose asking why Black Widow merchandise is missing, and MSNBC has reported on it. Even my local paper - The San Jose Mercury News - picked up on the story, and now actor Mark Ruffalo (who plays The Hulk) is demanding more Black Widow merchandise.

The bottom line is that Disney and Marvel - for whatever reason - are choosing not to manufacture very much Black Widow merchandise, perhaps because they don't anticipate as much demand for it as for the "boy character" products. However, a Black Widow action figure already exists. And, it's sold at Target. Which circles back to the original question: why didn't The Bullseye include Black Widow in their cute commercial? Target has posted a "behind the scenes look" at the making of the commercial, but it still doesn't answer this question.