Starbucks mobile order + graham creme frapp

So the very first time I tried the Starbucks mobile order, I ordered the wrong drink, and I didn’t realize it until a few weeks later. It wasn’t my fault though, because at that time all of the drinks weren’t on the menu (they didn’t even have a caramel frapp– which is my go to drink when I don’t like the seasonal drinks). I decided to try the graham frapp for the first time, but I didn’t realize that there’s a ‘creme’ version of every drink. I believe the creme version adds a lot of milk and not as much of the coffee or flavoring. So when I get my drink, it’s a whitish color. I know right then it’s not going to be good.

It literally tasted like milk with vanilla, sugar, and cinnamon. It wasn’t nasty, but as someone that doesn’t care for milk, it was too milky for me. When I spoke to my fellow Starbucks junkie coworker she said the same thing.
Starbucks mobile ordering:

The main thing with ordering from Starbucks, is that you have to have a giftcard to pay for it. You also need the Starbucks app. I’ve had the Starbucks gift card for a few years (I got one when they had a promotion- if you registered a giftcard, they gave you $5; they do that every so often) I actually have a gold card that has my name on it.

The actual card has my full name on it

You click on the upper right corner where it says order

1 more 🌟 before I get my free drink 😁

If you’re like me, and you have a bunch of drinks in the recents than you can click that & order it. Otherwise you can browse the menu.

Find the drink you want (or food apparently). I clicked on frappucinos because that’s basically all I get (unless my throat hurts, then I get the tea)

As you can see, tiramisu isn’t available. 😓

Various frapp flavors

You can edit any drink you get. There’s a bunch of different options to choose from.

I’ve noticed with this a fully customized drink is more than one that isn’t (duh). For example, in the red velvet drink they have, they have java chips, which I don’t particularly care for. So I attempted to order that drink the way it is on the secret menu. (white mocha, w/ mocha & raspberry syrup) and I think it charged me $.25-$.50 more. So I changed the amount of java chips from 3 to 1 & prayed for the best. I did change the drink a little bedside the app just has mocha and raspberry syrup– which would taste like chocolate covered raspberries.

I chose to show the options with eggnog frap because that is going to be my drink until Jan. I ❤️ eggnog.

Once you get your order together it will show you your total. You pay with your giftcard and it will tell you how much time you have before it will be ready. My store usually gives a 4-9 minute time frame. I think when we place an order the sticker comes out, and they put it in the line with the rest of the drinks. So now I don’t have to wait 30 minutes to order a drink now. Woohoo! 🎉🎉 if I order something like tea, I’ll order it as I’m walking there. It will be ready when I get there, since it takes two seconds to make tea.

I’ve done mobile ordering with Starbucks at least 7 times and only once have I had an issue. The Starbucks that’s close to my job is ALWAYS packed- something I’ve mentioned before. So with this mobile order thing I save a lot of time. One day, I think my second time using mobile order, I kept thinking someone is probably going to take my drink. I don’t know why I had that thought. I waited 5 minutes after I ordered, like I always do. When I get to Starbucks, my drink isn’t there. 😒 I waited 5 minutes, just in case…. Finally I ask the barista if they made my drink. Someone took it while I was walk big there. The problem with mobile order, is that they put the drinks on the counter where people are waiting for their drinks. So if you felt like being a shady individual, you could just take someone’s drink if they’re not there. Which is what that person did. In order to get a drink, I had to show my receipt (aka my phone. Thankfully I brought it with me) and I had to wait for my drink to be made. 😒

Going based on the baristas reaction, that has happened a few times.

One of the flaws I see with mobile ordering, is that you can’t use a reward if you have one.

My experience ordering from Polish brand Kostar

I am going to review my experience with the Polish bra company Kostar. There isn’t very many posts about the company. So this is going to be pretty long as I would like to make it as detailed as possible.

One day recently I was browsing through the Polish guide on ABTF & I decided I wanted a bra that Kostar was selling. Their prices were very reasonable. (I’m cheap, so I’m always looking for the cheapest option– which is a part of the reason I haven’t tried Comexim or Ewa)

But not only were their bras inexpensive, they also had a few unlined  bras, which is what caught my attention. It wasn’t a crazy amount of unlined bras, but it was 13 bras out of about 30.

Their bras don’t have names, they just have numbers. With some of the bras, the different colors have different numbers, but with some the different colors have the same number. The white bra above, was #302, but the same bra in black was #304. The black/white bra that I did guy were both #301.

They do sell bra sized bralettes, as well as matching panties & thongs, and maternity bras.

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I couldn’t find any information on their site about shipping to the US, so I had to send them an email. First, I sent them an email through their site (thurs 2/18). I didn’t get a response, or an email letting me know that the message was received, so the next day (fri 2/19), I sent an email directly to the email listed on their site. Biuro.kostar@wp.pl. The email I sent was both in English, and in Polish. I received a response two days later, 2/22, it was in both English, and Polish as well.

I took it upon myself to ask some questions, before it placed my order:

*what are the sizing increments between the cups?

*does a particular bra that they have on their site listed as ‘push-up’ also cone in a non push-up version?

*are the bands very stretchy?

This was Paula’s response:

This is the sizing chart she was referencing:

 

The the third paragraph in that email kind of confused me, so I just decided to go with 65e. I did keep my previous order from Melissa Dessous in mind (those bras were too small in 60e)

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I asked her about the shipping price she quoted (60€, which converts to $66). Her response was that the shipping costs were expensive, but there wasn’t anything she could do about that.

Shipping tangent:

I went to the UPS, Fedex, and USPS websites to calculate the shipping from Poland to NY, because $66USD is a lot. (I’ve ordered from China before, and with 3 day shipping through FedEx, I only paid about $25-$35.) This is what I got:

I assume the prices on UPS and Fedex are in zł, and USPS is in dollars. (I could be wrong though). So UPS cost a lot more than what I was chargeds $206-$141. FedEx has around what I paid, and the post office has a little less than what I paid (again assuming the post office is in dollars)

So I asked around, and a few people stated I paid a lot. I noticed in the email I was quoted a weight of 1-2kg, which is about 2-4 pounds. No way is three bras going to weight 2 pounds. So I checked the amount with the correct weight .3kg (what is in the actual UPS tracking info page)

Still comes up to more than what I paid, so I decided not to email Paula asking about that.

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She sent me a summary of my costs, before I paid, and the shipping came to 227PLN. For everything all together, I paid about $115. Not a bad price for three Polish bras, but literally half of it was shipping. I sent payment thurs 2/25, and the bras were shipped out fri 2/26. According to UPS, they should be delivered by the end of the day mon 2/29 (as of right now, 10:25pm 2/28 the last destination it shows is arriving at Warsaw on 2/27 5:39am. So hopefully I get it mon– this will be posted when I actually get the package to complete the experience)

These are the bras I ordered:

I can’t even remember if I ordered the white or the black, but it’s the same bra.

This is the initial bra I saw that made me want to purchase with Kostar

This is a picture that comes up on the same listing for that bra, but hopefully it looks like the above pic. If it looks like the pic below, I will dye it brown

This is the bra that I saw that was pushup that I wanted in a non push-up version

I love foal, so it caught my eye. This is the version I actually bought. It is padded. And it cost more than the push-up version. This bra isn’t actually on the site.

 

The below are another bra that I was interested in getting, but the more I looked at it, it reminded me of Cleo Lucy or a freya bra, and I think it would have the potential to cut in at the top. I really wanted the white one, but it was sold out.

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Sadly through no fault of Kostar, I still have not received my bras yet (3/1)

The original deliver date was 2/29

The package was stuck in Warsaw for 2 days. So I knew I wasn’t getting it on time. 😥 The date was rescheduled for 3/1 (the next day) by 3pm.

But by 9:41pm 3/1, I still have not received the package.

At 6am it was in the next state over.

It is so annoying to be expecting a package one day (2/29), and to still not have it the next day. Especially when you pay so much.

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I wake up to this: 😒😒

 

I’d contacted UPS, and they stated it was “stuck in customs”. I don’t know how customs work, but the tracking info never said anything about customs (or ICS)… The package was delivered today at 5pm. I couldn’t get to it, because I was at work.

I get home and see it. 😍

Pits heavily taped with Kostar’s own tape. If this went to customs, it was not opened. There’s no way they opened it and replaced the Kostar tape…

Inside the wrapping was a Kostar box

Inside that box was a smaller Kostar box (how cute)

And the invoice:

A closeup view. I was charged VAT (prices listed in Euros)

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The bras were inside the little box (they were not wrapped in tissue paper-not a problem for me)

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As of right now I haven’t tried any of the bras on. But going based on the way they look, I’ll say I think the floral bra may be too big, being that it’s a plunge, it may be okay. It does remind me of the Cleo Darcy (which isn’t a plunge), so the wires may be wide. I can’t tell with the other two bras, but I think one may fit, and the other would be either too big or too small. The beige looks bigger than the black bra. The quality of the bras seem very good.

 

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Is there there anything that I left out that you want to know? Comment in the message section.

Removing the wires from a bra

 This blog post is going to be about how the fit of a bra changes when you remove the wires.

I will be using my Impimi Nicole bra, and the original review for that can be found here.

I chose this bra specifically because the wires are extremely painful for me. Literally when I put the bra on this morning the gore was stabbing me. I love the color of this bra, but it’s virtually unwearable with the wires.

 

What I did first was get the sharpest scissors I have and gently go back and forth with one end of the blade, against the wire channel above where the wire is.

 

The wire didn’t slip out easily, so I had to use a little force.

 

As you can see, the wires are definitely in a plunge shape.

 

Once I took the wires out, the cup immediately widened.

Left side has wire, right side does not.

 

The width with the wire is about 5 inches

 

Without the wire the width is 6.5 inches

 

When putting the bra on after removing the wires I immediately felt a difference. For one, it was more comfortable, there was nothing stabbing me. With the wire removed there was nothing holding the cup into place, so on my bigger side the cup kind of collapsed. This bothered me very much. I found myself constantly touching my chest. It felt weird.

 

Here are some comparison pics

With the wires

Without the wires

 

You can see the cup is too small (now)

The cup looks a little lower without the wire.

 

The gore doesn’t tack.

This bra felt somewhat like a padded bralette. I’m not sure if I mentioned this, but I hate bralettes.

 

I don’t know what I’m going to do with this bra. I can’t wear it with the wires, and I don’t like it without the wires.

Ordering from Avocado

Ordering from Avocado is pretty straightforward, but I just want to talk about a few things.

 

What I did for my order, was I went to Collections’ and clicked on ‘Essentia’ because 1. That was the cheapest style and 2. It is their “basic” bra. When I looked for this order I wasn’t sure which style to get, so I went with my main Polish size of 65E.

Sizing

According to their size guide, I’d be somewhere between an E cup and an F cup ( my overbust being 87.63 cm. On a 65 band E cup is 86 cm, and F cups is 90 cm. If I went by their underbust measurement, I would have gone with a 60 band (and either an F cup or a G cup. The only time I really wear 28 bands is when I wear Freya bras. Before I ordered from Avocado, I did search around but most blog posts/reviews that I read were on women with breasts a lot bigger than mine. There was one bra for sale in 60E and going by the measurements it was too small, so I decided not to try a 60 band. I should have gone with a 69 band though, because the 65 felt rather loose.

Pricing

When I first heard of Avocado and went on their website, there was an option for pricing to be in złoty as well as euros. Currently on the website, the currency it s only in Euros. Last year when I was first thinking about the Essentia bras, there was a special “2 for 92,25”. I’ll just assume for the time being that it meant if you buy 2, they’ll both be 92,25zł, which equals about $23USD (each). The reason why I bring this up, is because the current price is 33,32€ which converts to ~$36. Maybe it’s just me, but I’d rather the pricing be in Zloty than Euro (it’s cheaper for us americans).

I bought 2 Essentia bras for 33,32€ each, which with the shipping (VAT was included) came to 78,76€ (~$87USD). On the day I bought these bras, I had an abundance of money sitting in my checking account, so I said ‘what the hay’. And didn’t think about the price. (Coincidentally I also bought 2 Ewa bras for around the same amount…)

Ordering times

I placed my order September 18th. Sept 19th I received an email stating that my order was processing. Sept 21st, I received an email stating that my bras were shipped. I received the bras around October 1st. So it took a total of 10 days (7 business days) for me to receive my bras once they were shipped. I live on the east coast, so that’s not too bad.

The packaging

Someone has mentioned this before, but once you open the shipping bag you are HIT with a strong floral-like scent. It’s very strong. To help you imagine the smell, imagine putting in a dryer sheet in a bag with bras. That’s exactly what it smells like. I’m not particularly sensitive to smells, but even this was too much for me. The reason for the strong smell is they put some sort of potpourri/bath balls in the bag. Don’t get me wrong, it’s cute, but very strong. If you have issues with strong smells, you may want to email them asking them to not put the scented balls in your package. The smell won’t come out of the bras until you wash them or air them out.

There was also a catalogue like booklet in the package. And on the very back of the booklet, there is pictures of some of the bra fits (with no description of the actual fits). I’m thinking it’s a somewhat older booklet, because the styles are ‘A H & K’, I don’t think there’s a lot of H or A styles on their site for sale.

The straps connect to the upper portion of the cup

The strap is connected to the lower outer portion of the cup.

The straps are attached to the upper portion of the cup, and there is a slight curve of the diagonal seam.

Returning

I debated for a few days as to whether or not I was going to keep the bras. But for the price I paid, I knew I wouldn’t be able to sell them without losing a good amount of money. So I decided to return them. I ended up paying $9 in return shipping. In the shipping bag, along with the bras there’s 2 sheets. One is like the order form, and the other is a contract that you fill out if you decide to return the bra. I wish I took a picture, but I didn’t think about it until today, days after I shipped the bras back. On the paper it states that you can receive your refund by a bank check/money order, OR directly into your bank account. Neither one of those options were acceptable to me, so I made a note that I would prefer the money be refunded to my PayPal account. I did put my info down for the check/money order option though. I don’t know if I’ll have an issue cashing an international form of payment.

I tried to print the return label via PayPal with the return address provided by Avocado, however Paypal wouldn’t let me complete the transaction, because the ‘region’ was missing.

Avocado
Ul. Pilicka 14
60-401 Poznań
Poland

I assume ‘Poland’ is the region, but since this is something I was sending back for a refund, I didn’t want to assume (and risk losing my refund because the package got lost), I emailed Avocado and asked them what the address was to send the bras back. This is the address they gave me

Avocado Lingerie

ul. Jackowskiego 15
60-508 Poznań

Wielkspolska

Whenever I get the refund I will let y’all know how it goes.

 

Based on how the bras fit, in conjunction with the price, and the lack of reviews in smaller sizes, I don’t see myself ordering from Avocado again.

I dyed the Portia/Princess hybrid

Original post can be found here.

I used Rit Dye in the purple color. As the water was boiling, I read the side of the bottle that says not to use it on polyester fabrics. I already had my mind set, so I was going to do it anyway. But I had a feeling that it was going to dye, because I the dyed a white dress with pink Rit Dye, and the back of it that had mesh, didn’t dye. So I crossed my fingers. I probably used more dye than I needed to, but I wanted to make sure that the bra came out dark. I really wanted to dye it brown, but I forgot to go to the dye section when I was there yesterday.

On to the pictures:

In the above picture it looks blackish, but it’s not. It’s very purple.

I believe the polyester warning on the Rit dye bottle was for the stitching, in my dress the stitching stayed the original color. And as you can see the thread is still white, as is the floral design and the lacing. Well it actually got tinted somewhat.

I don’t know if this occurred because I used hot water & dye on the bra, but the lacing is comIng undone form one area on both of the cups. Oddly enough, on both cups it’s on the right side (when looking at it).

Inner part of the cup

Band

The floral design

Underneath the floral design

The fit:

I don’t know if it was the dye, or it was the scorching hot water, but the bra shrunk. From my experience being a denim addict, I know that really hot water (too hot to touch) can shrink jeans.

so yeah, it shrunk, a good amount. Before I needed to alter the bra, now I don’t think there’s enough room to alter it. It shrunk enough that now it fits. The band, however feels really tight. I ordered some new extenders, so I’ll probably wait to wear this until those come in. Enough blabbering.

Right side

Left side

No gapping.

A little space in the upper panel on smaller breast.

Side view

I initially was going to make this a two part post, with the dye being one post, and the actual alteration another post, but I’m not going to alter it now.

What do you think?

Amazon prime order

I bought about 8 bras Wednesday night when Amazon was doing their prime day deals.

This morning I check the status of my orders and they’re ALL in the town next to mine by 5am and ‘out for delivery’.

I was doing a happy dance because *maybe* just maybe, I’d get them before I had to go to work.  So I kept checking every hour. But I know ups normally comes near my house around 12, 7 at the latest. 😒

I get this text just now.

It’s like 80 degrees outside. It’s not raining. It’s actually pretty nice out. So nice that I wish I didn’t have to go to hell, I mean work.

But I’m leaving for work in 20 minutes, so that: 1 I actually get there on time. 2   I have ample time to get some Starbucks and 3 return a bra. And getting Starbucks is like a 30 minutes thing. 😓

A word on my reviews

I just want to mention that a majority of my reviews are going to be how the bras fit when I try them on. A few reviews here and there will be how they fit after wearing them. I realize it makes more sense to do a review after I have worn the bra for a few hours, but some of the bras I’m not completely sure if I am going to keep. Some of the bras I know I won’t keep due to them not fitting, but didn’t/can’t return. 

Some issues don’t come up until you are actually wearing the bra– like right now the bra I’m wearing fit okay when I tried it on, and for okay for the first two hours, but later on the gore started digging in. As I’m typing, it is still digging in, but I’m too lazy to take it off. Some of the bras I can’t comment on how they fit after a few hours because I either didn’t buy them (tried them on only) or returned them immediately. 

When I can, I will update (with or without pictures) on how the fit of some bras are. 

Cleo Meg from Poshmark… 😒

I got the Cleo Meg 28e from poshmark today…

All I will say is, I am NOT happy with the bra. I should have went with my gut instinct, and not bought it.

This is a picture from the listing.

The top part of the pictures is how it originally looked. The bottom picture was added when I asked the seller if there was any fading there. She said ‘no that’s just the lighting’. When I looked at the second picture, I thought okay that could be the lighting. So I offered $11 for the bra, and she accepted. I actually ended up paying $16 because I had to pay shipping. Well, technically I paid a little over $2, because I sold one of my bras there and the money was available in my account.

I got the bra today….

I’ll let the pictures do the talking.

Close up. 😷

😷😷

Close up 😷

😷😷😷😷

So as you can see, this bra was not clean. And there was fading/discoloration on the closure.

When I messaged that seller she said the bra was cleaned right before it was shipped out (yeah right), and that if I wanted to return the bra, I could and she would refund me. 😒. There is no way in hell that bra was washed before bring shipped out.

It looks like there was a bunch of deodorant caked up on the armpit area, both on the inside area and the outside area. It also looked like there was something (deodorant perhaps?) caked on the bottom part of the gore. Why deodorant would be there, I don’t know. But it was gross. There was also some sort of animal hair embedded in the wires near the gore. Now, I don’t own an animal, and I don’t plan on it’s any time soon, but how does animal hair get stuck INTO your bra?

Me being the person I am, I hate going through the hassle of return, so I decided to wash the bra. This would have been the perfect bra to use a salad spinner on, but I don’t own one. So I used my nephews bucket (the same bucket I used to dye my princess/Portia hybrid bra). I filled if with hot tap water, a few drops of dish detergent (to get that grease and grime out), and some detergent. I sprayed the armpit area and gore area with this shout spray that I have. I put the bra in and swished it around, rinsed and repeated. I then rinsed the bra off with hot water, and then put hot water in the bucket with the bra, and let it soak for a few hours (I had a family gather in to go to). Came back, rinsed the bra with cold-ish water, and now it’s drying in a towel.

This isn’t dirty water, it’s water with HD detergent.

Melissa Dessous order

My Melissa  dessous bras came, yesterday. I had to wait to pick them up because I just missed the mailman yesterday. I was so anxious waiting to get to the post office today.

The bras came in a box.

Wrapped in some wort of pink wrapping fabric (it’s not tissue paper, it’s a lot thicker)

The bras are very beautiful & soft

Both bras are 60E, and while neither really fit, one of them I couldn’t close without using my extender!!! 😳

 

How I ordered:

Tue two bras I bought were in the sale section. You cannot put sale items in a shopping cart, you, have to email them telling them what you want. In my email I asked them if they shipped to the US, and if so how much was it. I believe I wrote them in English and below it had a Polish translation. Their response came back in English. The shipping cost ended up being around $15, so I paid $45 for 2 bras. The shipping took about 1 week, from the time it was shipped to the time it arrived.

Victorias secret Tropical Lace Bralette size S (D-DD)

*Additional pics can be found here.

I initially purchased these bralettes because I wanted the free blanket.

But I actually ended up liking the bralettes.

 

Thankfully these bralettes come in band AND cup sizes. Well, sort of. These are the sizes they come in:

XS (AA-B), S (AA-C), S (D-DD), M (A-C), M (D-DD), L (A-C), L (DD). So they don’t have the whole spectrum of sizes, but they have more sizes than regular bralettes. My preferred size would have been XS (D-DD), but they don’t make that size (yet), so I went with the S (D-DD). It was a good choice.

The fit:

It’s actually a good fit.

White:

 

Burgundy:

 

I did notice that after the first wear, it does seem to stretch out some– notice in the burgundy bra pics 3, 4, & 5, the bottom of the bralette isn’t touching my skin in certain spots. (The pics were taken on 2 different days)

The bralette is very comfortable. I wore it to work one day, and while I was at a red light, I started panicking because I thought I forgot to put a bra on. My breasts aren’t very big, and they’re self supporting, so I don’t know how well this bralette would work for someone with heavier/bigger breasts. I like this bra enough that I’d get more, but not for the $23 price. Not that $23 is a bad price, I just don’t want to pay that much for a bralette (or really a bra. I’m cheap like that.)

The bottom of the bra is actually very stretchy, so I really wouldn’t mind if they started making these bralettes in XS (D-DD).