It is perhaps ironic that I would decide to write about a personal shopping experience right after we have a post about saving money.  So, try to overlook that obvious irony while I share with you my experience about having had a personal shopping experience with Betty Beguiles.

In interest of full disclosure, I want to share that Hallie helped me with the personal shopping in exchange for me writing about it here at Catholic Mothers Online.  I was already drooling over the idea of having her do some of her matchy-matchy for me, and she was well aware of that.  Because I thought she did such a nice job with her personal shopping, I actually offered she could write about it here in exchange for nothing.  She was kind enough to offer that she put together an inspiration board for me instead.  Yeah!

We started with a questionnaire to help Hallie get an idea of what I liked and what I didn’t like. She then sent me a document with lots of options of pieces that she thought fit well into what I was looking for.  I was able to go through each item and tell her yes/no about each of them.  (I actually wrote quite a bit about all of them.  But, if you don’t have time for that, yes/no would suffice.)

After we narrowed the field, she got a sense for which piece I actually loved the best (a gorgeous pumpkin colored skirt), and so she went to work building an outfit to go around it.  We then had more discussions back and forth, and then Hallie was generous enough to actually added in a couple more pieces that would make it so that I could mix and match for a total of four outfits.

After the clothing was figured out, she went to seek out shoes and accessories to coordinate.  One of my favorite things was that Hallie mostly sought out the jewelry on Etsy.  I just love the handcrafted goodness that Etsy has to offer!

The thing that cracked me up the most was when she sent me shoe options and I told her that I liked all but one option.  So, for her to just pick what she liked best.  I did tell her that, however, one of them had made my husband raise his eyebrows and make some cat-like noise.  She told me, “Well, then that’s what we need to go with.”  She then compiled my inspiration board and sent me links to easily buy everything from the comfort of my own home.

I was thrilled with the cute options and loved how they looked so hip and modern, but also modest:

Super cute, huh?  I just love the outfits that she came up with!

Now, here’s where I, in interest of some more full disclosure, have to admit something.  I didn’t buy any of it.

I know.  Tsk, tsk me, if you want.  (And don’t feel bad for Hallie.  She makes her money from the actual personal shopping experience, not what someone buys.)

But, all is not lost, so don’t feel bad.  Here’s the thing — the whole experience made me realize some things about what things I should be looking for, and what look I was going for. Though I didn’t buy these clothes, I went out to some great sales at Kohls and JCPenneys and pretty much managed to buy myself a new wardrobe, which was badly needed.  (My closet was down to very few clothes and most were not particularly flattering.)  Plus, upon looking at my Inspiration Board, my Mom said she had two pairs of capri pants that she didn’t like wearing that reminded her of the ones on the board, so she gave them to me.

With Hallie’s personal shopping help, I knew what I was looking for, and put together things that I normally might not have thought to put together. I also decided to spend some money on some cute bracelets, as I realized that I always feel a little special when I wear a bracelet.  (Something I had never noticed before verbalizing it to Hallie.)

I am excited to report that I have been getting lots of compliments on my new clothes, and have had several people notice that I’ve lost a little weight.  (Except they all think it’s more than it is, because I actually bought clothes in a more appropriate size than what I had been wearing.)

Even though I didn’t buy the outfits compiled, I still think it would have easily been worth the money to help me focus on what I really wanted versus what I would normally buy. I’m so excited about my personal shopping experience, and I always love the opportunity to support Catholic businesses!

If you have a special event coming up or just need to refresh your wardrobe, and you’re really stuck about what to wear, I would definitely recommend checking out the personal shopping experience at Betty Beguiles!

Angie can be found writing about all the things that happen in between loads of laundry at Many Little Blessings.  She is also the founder and editor of Catholic Mothers Online and The Homeschool Classroom.  She works on blog designs and blogger networking at Tiny Owl, and has an Etsy shop selling her artwork, Just a Tiny Owl.

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