If you went clothes shopping with me, you would notice a trend in the things I collect to try on.  Most of the items are navy, black or gray and I don’t stray far from jeans and a cute, but comfy shirt, scarves and jackets.  I always feel a little out of my depth; trying to find what will fit, flatter and be current, yet age-appropriate, funky, yet professional.  I worked with Ella, a stylist, a few months ago and that helped a lot.  She didn’t push me into a new style or buying a bunch of clothes.  She just showed me how to wear the clothes I had.  I’ve slowly been adding new pieces to my wardrobe and have been trying to step out of my comfort zone a bit.

So, when I received an e-mail from Golden Tote about working with them, I figured that would be a fun way to step out of that blue/gray/black/jeans/tees zone.  I had heard about them through other bloggers.  The idea is that you create a style profile with Golden Tote.  For $49, you select one item and they curate two surprise items for you.  For $149, you select two items and they curate the remaining 3-5 items for you.  You can see the details of how it works HERE.

I must admit that the idea of someone, anyone, picking out clothes for me sight unseen was really out of my comfort zone.  I’m really particular about how clothes fit.  With some trepidation, I selected my items and ordered my tote.

I must admit, the girl in me who loves presents was really excited to see what was in the box.

I’ll start with my picks.  The first one was a belted gingham shirt-dress.  They included a card to show how they would style it to make an outfit.

The dress fit great, although it’s a little short for me to wear without leggings or thick tights.  I styled it with a long sweater as they suggested and it was comfy, but still looked stylish.

And it looks super cute with an apron!  This might be my “workshop outfit.”

The next piece was the Francophile top, which I also picked out.  I liked that it looked like a t-shirt with dress-shirt details.

I don’t have wide-legged jeans, but I paired the shirt with jeans, a scarf, bangles and boots like they showed on the card.

I can see wearing this shirt a lot.  Again, it’s comfortable, but doesn’t look boring or frumpy.

This shirt was a surprise and definitely my favorite of their picks.  The fabric is soft and comfortable and the neckline is embroidered, which adds a nice detail and look of quality.

Another one of their picks was something I would never had picked for myself.  I looked at it with skepticism, but tried it on anyway.  It is really comfortable (are you seeing a trend, here), but unique.  Both Kriste and Jeff gave it a thumb’s up, so I do think I’ll wear it.

Out of the six pieces I received, four were winners.  The other two, unfortunately didn’t fit.  One was a dress that was too big and the other was a sweater that was too small in the sleeves and the color wasn’t right for me.

There are a couple of options in a case like this.  First, you can return the entire box for a full refund.  That way, you can try it and see if you like it without a no-refund commitment.  If you get a box full of goodies you love, you’re good to go.  If you only like a couple of things, you can return it.  The other option is a Golden Tote trading group on Facebook.  If you have one or two things you don’t like, but love the rest, you can offer up your unwanted items for trade on the board.  I was going to do that in this case, but I decided to give those items away to people who liked them.

So, what’s the verdict?  This is definitely not how I would do all of my clothes shopping, but I think it’s a really fun way try some different styles and clothing items with your wardrobe staples.  It’s a great cure for a wardrobe rut.  The items I picked are still available as a part of the February tote and new options will become available in March.

Having just lost some weight on the heels of whole30, I enjoyed swapping out the paint clothes and playing a bit of dress-up today!

(Thanks, Kriste, for playing photographer for me.)

Disclosure: I was sent a Golden Tote ($149 value) in exchange for this post.  I thought this would be a fun thing to try and share with my readers.