Author Tries Nadine West
I've done two style boxes from ThredUp in this blog, so I thought I'd branch out to try another. I kept getting ads for Nadine West, and they do claim to be one of the more reasonably priced ones, so I went with them.
I got my first package today. It was delayed, but they assure me this shouldn't cause me to get charged and I still have three days to try and return the items. Did they do better or worse than ThredUp?
Read on to see.
First impressions:
I was immediately more excited about this order than my ThredUp box because at a glance the items did all seem like something I'd wear.
Nadine West's packages are smaller than ThredUp. I think ThredUP includes ten items per box. Nadine West only includes 5. They also advertise as sending "outfits" rather than random items, so the idea seems to be that the items are curated not just to your profile but to go with each other. They also let you select your price range so that you don't get an item you love but can't afford.
ThredUp also includes a lower price range, but their items are thrifted, and as I've stated before, I often do not feel the items are reduced enough for being pre-worn. To me, second hand should be a hefty discount from retail, not just 50% or clearance level prices. The fact that Nadine West was offering me items that were the same price as ThredUp, while not being used, was a plus (not that I mind used clothes. Honestly MOST of my shopping is Goodwill these days. It's just that I expect used to be far cheaper on average than new).
So how did that hold up?
Let's go item by item.
The package slip calls these "leggings" but to me they are very obviously athletic pants.
The price is a reasonable $21.99.
I like the color. The "cut out" detail on the legs is kind of cool, but they weren't a great fit for me for a few reasons: 1. I'm addicted to pockets in my yoga pants. I have found multiple brands that do yoga pants with pockets, and that's now all I want.
2. They look too much like athletic pants to be worn "dressed up," in my opinion, which means I would only ever wear these to work out, and I don't need more work out pants at this point.
3. I have short legs. Full length yoga pants often tend to bunch up on me because there is just more fabric than legs to stretch over the fabric.
(black tank top is mine. I think I got it from Goodwill.).
The next items (let's do two at once) was this gray top for $20.99 and this necklace for $19.99.
The top is okay. I think it's a little too loose. While I do like tunic-style tops, this one didn't feel like it was doing me any favors, and while the cloth was nice, I wasn't excited about the color.
The necklace was fun. I tried it on with like four or five different of my own tops, but none of them looked right with it, so I couldn't imagine myself ever wearing it.
My favorite piece in the box (and the only one I ended up keeping) was this sweater.
It's $24.49.
Initially I was kind of disappointed because with the top from the shipment, it made me look kind of frumpy. However, when I swapped out the formless shirt they sent me, it looks super cool with a basic black top. I ended up keeping the gray sweater and I've worn it with a lot of things that I already owned. It's cool to wear either tied up or loose.
Overall, even though I only kept one item, I liked my Nadine West experience more than my ThredUp one. The lack of a styling fee (which means if you return everything, you get charged nothing) is admittedly a big part of this.
There are other issues I have with ThredUp, and I recently got another box with them that I'd like to break down to explain more in depth, but over all I'm not particularly happy with that box, and my two (yeah, I've also gotten another Nadine West box since then, but I'm slow to post)
Also the delayed posting does let me verify that the in fact did not charge me in spite of the late shipping. When I emailed them, they even offered me a discount if I did decide to keep the full shipment, but that obviously didn't happen. If you'd like to use my referral code to get a $10 Nadine West credit CLICK HERE.