No matter how much time you spend sourcing out that perfect special something for everyone on your list, sometimes when it comes to receiving gifts, your cheery "Ho Ho Ho's" turn into woeful "Oh No No No's!" This installation of our holiday gift guide reveals those ill-chosen gifts that absolutely without-a-doubt must go back to where they came from. We hope we can relieve you of some guilt involved in returning these gifts, because when you bling them back, you'll find a much better use for the cold hard cash than letting those less-than-savvy styles slowly decompose in your closet.
1) "UGG"ly boots: Though whoever bought this gift probably imagined you wearing these boots in all sorts of unfriendly weather, for all practical intentions, Ugg-boots and their offshoots (that means you too, Mucklucks and Emus!) have long since been ruled out as acceptable footwear. They might keep your tootsies toasty, but unless you're living in an area that gets three feet of snow on a regular basis and you can spy elk passing by your window, we would advise returning these fuzzy monsters and using the cash to buy a much more practical pair of booties.
2) Flashy and Trashy: We know you love your friends, but sometime their fashion sense may be a bit ambitious for your taste. This winter, make your closet happy by blinging back anything that is a little too over the top. No one wants to pull a Posh Spice, or even worse--a Britney, by revealing too much skin. Also to be avoided is anything that takes the trends too much to heart. This includes anything from jackets and dresses with too much metallic, to shoes and handbags with too much patent leather, to anything with a too high waist. Taking "mom pants" to a whole new level are these jeans by Cheap Monday's, and more reflective than a solar panel is this trench coat by Gwen Stefani's line L.A.M.B., both of which you should bling back without a second thought.
3) Knock-Off No No's: More than anything else, anything that smacks of a knock off has got to go. Though a fake Louis Vuitton handbag is easy to spot, some other knock offs are a bit more subtle. House of Holland is a sassy label that has made its mark by creating bright t-shirts with equally colorful quotations on them in bright bold lettering. The clever catchphrases have inspired other companies like Urban Outfitters, Top Shop and Forever 21 to follow suit with somewhat less witty sayings. Try to avoid these soon-to-be forgotten fakies.
Also, as any good accessories guru knows, a piece of jewelry with cubic zirconia is one of the
biggest fashion crimes one could ever commit. If you find yourself
being gifted a piece with CZ as a present, you can politely (or
sneakily) return it for a more tasteful option, such as a piece with
rock crystal, Swarovski crystals, or other semiprecious stones such as freshwater
pearls. In the event of this fashion tragedy LupRocks already does most of the searching for you, providing for you a selection of Fashion Jewelry designers with much nicer options in our crystal and semiprecious stones categories.
We hope you liked our Bling it Back edition of our holiday gift guide! Check back for our third and final installment, with just the tips to help you go green, and save plenty of green by finding a brand new home for your less than perfect gifts.