{ the jaunty magpie }

The Magpie's object of affection has long been finding the perfect pair of brown Oxford shoes, but given my current situation, I chose an imaginary shopping spree over an actual one, much to the silent relief of Mr. Magpie. I chose to take Piperlime on the latest Online Wardrobe Test Drive, where the Magpie leaves the confines of her own Jaunty closet and browses an online store and sees how it is to navigate their site and find everything a bird needs for an entire outfit without leaving the site. 

Even when it's not x-number of days till Christmas/Hannukah/Festivus, I have often used Piperlime as my go-to for getting my shoe fix. Recently they've started selling handbags, accessories and clothing. They carry brand names outside of their family of stores (The Gap, Old Navy, Banana Republic), so Piperlime has become almost like a mini department store. Their designer brands include a variety of popular favorites including Kate Spade, Kenneth Cole, Fossil, and Miss Sixty. They also carry some of my personal favorites for shoes like Sam Edelman, Dolce Vita, Pour la Victoire and Seychelles.

The nitty-gritty of "likes" for Piperlime: free shipping/free returns (for Xmas delivery, free standard deadline is Dec 17th, so anything else is Express or Next Day if ordered by the 23rd), plenty of brands to choose that are on-target with trends, their product search is both user and wallet-friendly (there's a 'less than $50' option), the all-in-one shopping cart with family stores like Banana Republic is a nice bonus if you want to tack on other items to the free shipping party, overall a thoughtful and pleasant shopping experience -- Piperlime's site is beautifully designed and they do a nice job of packaging each order. Your item is shipped with their custom wrapping and box, which I personally love. They way they present style trends like magazine spreads make the whole site very appealing; they really want customers to buy into a certain look or theme. I wish I could find a "needs some work" comment, but overall Piperlime has really done a great job of organizing its inventory and creating a friendly online environment to browse each item.

In the raiding of Piperlime's retail closet, the Magpie came up with a wishlist of quirky and fun wearables for an imaginary day of being out for an afternoon in the city. {1} Tigers Eye cocktail ring by House of Harlow 1960, {2} Owl Spot Top by French Connection, {3} Staten skirt by Trina Turk, {4} Bretta Poet Tux Jacket by Theory, {5} cotton cable knit tights from The Gap (a wee cheat; Piperlime didn't have tights), {6} Open Up Oxford pump by Nicole {7} Single Strand Off-Set Flower Necklace by GS Lillian {8} The Sak convertible crossbody clutch by Silverlake The damage to one's wallet for this whole outfit and accessories would be a hefty $967.47 total, not including shipping or tax. As I said before, this was a virtual shopping spree!