Upon reading one of the glossy weeklies a few months ago, I heard about Cheryl Cole's upcoming shoe collection for the website StylistPick. I'd not heard of this site before and decided to check it out.
So what is StylistPick and how does it work?
It's a subscription website for shoes, handbags and jewellery that are tailored to you and your look. To start, you take a style quiz to help their team of 'A-list Sylists' to specially select items for you. This team of stylists then 'handpick' items from the store's stock and create your 'bespoke' showroom for you to shop from. Every month you will then have a new showroom available, again, suited to you style. Each item in the showroom is £39.95 and they offer free delivery and returns - an added bonus!
When you first sign up, you are free to browse your custom showroom, with no monthly charge until you buy your first item. But all is not lost, because once you make your first purchase, you are still under no pressure to buy each month as you do have until the 6th to 'skip the month'. This means that you won't be charged for that monthly period and you aren't limited on how many times you can do this either - phew!
The difficult bit is remembering to 'skip the month' before the deadline. But even still, if you forget, they give you one 'store credit' for you to use at any time in the future, against any item in the showrooms.
If you are thinking about joining StylistPick then check out their T&Cs and FAQs to make sure you fully understand the process first.
My StylistPick goodies...
I set up an account by taking the quiz and sure enough, got my 'bespoke' showroom - not all of which was to my taste (but thankfully you can still access all the items that didn't make it into your showroom).
At first I didn't purchase anything as nothing seemed obviously worth the £39.95 price tag. But last month, after reading Ekaete's Tangerine Dreams post on her Red Lips and Roses blog, I spotted the Rio shoes from Louise Roe's Collection...
As I had registered and not purchased straight away, StylistPick were a little keen for my custom and I had quite a few emails offering me my first purchase at a discounted rate. I was tempted, but my fate was sealed with another email offer of any item for £15 - that's cheaper than New Look!
Rio shoes - SOLD! Now, I originally ordered a size 5 that then went out of stock, so I re-ordered in a 6 and they also gave me a 30% off code, so I purchased the Miami jewellery set too and I have to say I am very pleased with my StylistPick bargains!
When they arrived in the post 3 days later, I was even more amazed at these beauties! The whole lot came in a big brown box, so I just thought it would be much like how ASOS package their deliveries. Oh, how wrong I was! Inside was a big black glossy StylistPick shopping bag and inside that was two beautifully wrapped up black glossy boxes. The shoes were wrapped in a black satin like ribbon and the jewellery in a glitzy gold one. I think I actually let out a small squeal of excitement! I have never had anything delivered like this before and brownie points have to be awarded for the sheer luxuriousness of it all.
I had to calm myself from literally ripping open the boxes.
The jewellery and shoes were both from Louise Roe's collection and style she definitely has! She's been spotted wearing all of these on the red carpet.
The Miami jewellery set consisted of three items - a gold/cream mosaic effect cuff, a gunmetal double flower jewelled ring and a gold chain and purple stone ring. The gunmetal ring is my favourite and got worn out the day it was delivered. It strikes me as being very French Connection, as does the cuff. I'm not sure if the purple ring is to my taste as much, but I have lots of outfits it will go with for upcoming Christmas parties. The cuff is lovely, but disappointingly a little tight on my chubby wrists. £27 is definitely at the upper end of what I would have paid for the set and I would argue they are not worth the original £39.95. The quality just isn't elegant enough to pay full price.
The Rio shoes definitely weren't a disappointment in any way! So worth the £15 but again, not the £39.95. In life, they seem more pale terracotta than the light orange/coral pictured on the website, which
suited me better and went perfect with one of my Warehouse print
dresses. They are suedette (not real suede) and made in China, which made me sceptical, but looking them over, they look pretty well made and seem to match all over - consistent colour, no glue seepage from any seams, even shaped toes etc. These also got worn out the day they arrived and I have to say, are one of the more comfortable pairs of heels that I now own. They may even get another outing for the second weekend in a row next week!
So in conclusion, I don't think I'll be buying from StylistPick at full price in the future, in fact, I've skipped December's already. I'm going to wait and see if I get any more offers through by email first or if they were purely because I was a first time buyer. Annoyingly, Cheryl Cole's collection isn't launched until December the 6th, so I suppose they are holding out on people not skipping this month in order to see what she has to offer.
I do doubt how 'A-list' their stylists are, and how much of your showroom ends up being randomly pre-selected as opposed to 'handpicked', so 'bespoke' might not be entirely accurate. But I am in love with the idea of the site and I have had a very pleasant shopping experience so far. How likely am I to purchase from them again? Very likely, I adore some of the shoe designs, but as I said, not everything is worth the full price tag.
Will you be taking the StylistPick quiz? What do you think of Louise Roe's collection? Will you be tempted by Cheryl Cole's?
