See my Part I (Shoemint) review here.
Okay, Stylemint. Pretty good deals. I bought a cashmere sweater for about $22 and a top for $7.50. Overall, I'm pretty satisfied. Decent quality and decent prices.
Here they are:
The sweater is a bit big and not the best shape but for the price it can't be beat. At $22, it obviously isn't the greatest quality cashmere, but it's still very warm and will certainly be useful in the winter. It's a classic piece, so I can wear it for years to come.
The shirt fits pretty well and I like the foiled-sleeve detailing. It's enough to spazz up a shirt while still keeping it simple. It's not the best quality, but that's okay since it's a t-shirt. Also it was pretty cheap so yaye!
Pretty foiling!
In terms of sizing, Stylemint does this weird size 1, 2, 3, 4 thing. It's a little irritating because it doesn't follow conventional sizing (why don't they just do S, M, L, XL, etc like normal companies?) so it's not easy to figure out the right size. I got a 1 for the shirt (it's a little bit too just right so I could've sized up) and a 2 for the sweater (which is a bit big but okay for layering).
Overall, Stylemint is not a bad place to shop when it's on sale. But I think most of their clothes are not very unique or good-quality, so while there may be some gems during their big sales, you're better off looking somewhere else that won't charge your card every month once you start buying something.
First store review!
The Lowdown:
Name: Shoemint, Stylemint
Owned By: Beachmint - a relatively new company founded in 2009 I believe. Its lines include Intimint, Shoemint, Stylemint, and Jewelmint
Price Range: $/$$ (1.5/5) - Shoes start at around $80, jewelry starts at $30, clothes start at $30, intimates start at $35-$40 ish.
Quality: * (1/5) Meh. Not worth the full prices (at least for what I bought) and barely even worth the sale prices. For the shoes, avoid avoid avoid. You can get MUCH better shoes for the same or lower price.
Overall: Maybe the clothing on sale is worth it... but other than that.... pass. Especially since once you order, you have to remember to "skip" every month otherwise they'll charge your credit card.
The Full Review Part I:
So I had sort of had my eye on some things from Shoemint since I started subscribing to their emails. Some of the shoes are pretty stylish and not outrageously expensive, but still expensive enough that I didn't want to make my first purchases at full-price.
I was really happy then, when they had a huge sale. Boots and heels for $20 bucks? 100% cashmere sweater for less than $30? Yes, I'm down. So down.
And here's my review (Part II will have pictures and reviews of the clothing):
The shoes. Blergh. I got them each for $20 so I thought they would be good enough for that low low price but nope. The boots, no matter what way you put it, look ridiculous on me. Maybe it's because I have thin ankles, or because the toe is too rounded, but they look like... costume cowboy boots. It's definitely a no-no. And I was pretty shocked that the quality of leather was so bad. I've seen better imitations than these "real" leather boots.
Look at how the leather is curling near my right ankle! Bah, bad quality.
They are actually still selling these boots so if these pictures make you fall in love.. somehow.. here's the link. They are $40 now though.. merp.
As for the heels, they were supposed to be silver (they looked silver on the site) but turned out to be this... awkward grey-silver. It honestly just looked a bit dirty. And shiny. So so plasticky shiny. I really liked the shape of them but the color and quality was just... bad. Nope, it's going back.
Both shoes were terrible quality - they were all "leather" but felt like rubber or plastic. Disappointing. Not worth keeping even at $20 each, let me tell you.
So I'm returning all the shoes and keeping the clothes (which I'll review tomorrow). But, Shoemint charges you $9.95 to restock EVERY SINGLE ITEM you want to return. It's either that or you get all your money in the form of store credit, which you can actually use across all the Beachmint lines. I actually had a really awesome customer service rep named Rona that only charged one restocking fee so that was wonderful. I thought about keeping the credit but I don't think it's really worth it. I've heard their jewelry is meh, and while I liked their clothing, I'm not positive I can use the store credit for sale items.
So, I'm just going to eat ten bucks to restocking my crappy shoes, and retaliate by writing this review. I'm also going to delete my account because otherwise they'll be charging my $89.95 a month if I forget to "skip". Which most people, like me, probably will.
So, my advice is to skip the whole Beachmint series, even though some of their clothes may be worth it. As a plus, their customer service was very helpful and friendly, but that really doesn't make up for their mediocre shoes and annoying return policies.
Find more reviews about the Beachmint companies here (some were positive!): shoes | jewelry | shoemint | part II of this review
