Boden Weekly Review Roundup: Belting Helps!

Good Sunday to all of you!

I hope your weekend has been fabulous, and that if you are here in the States, that you have tomorrow off.  (Rex has the day off, for which Mr. Dina and I are thrilled to bits over, no school run, wahoo!)

Also, Happy Thanksgiving Weekend to my Canadian blog friends!

I see that the coupon that Boden gave us to use has been popular (see my original post on it here--I have also linked to it at the bottom of this post).  I am thrilled that they let me share this coupon with you all...hopefully this kind of opportunity will happen again!

Sorry about the delay in the Review Roundup.  There isn't all that much on offer today, just a few reviews, but getting my own act together has been a bit of a challenge.  I was all geared up to get the post published yesterday, but I had one of my "the barometric pressure is dropping" migraine attacks, and though I took my medicine, it didn't take effect quickly enough for me to get the post published before we left the house for the day (we ran errands all yesterday afternoon).

Anyhow, here it is.  Enjoy!!!

Regular Boden:

Vanessa Dress.  This dress may actually be a Boden Limited Edition dress, but since it is from the fall line (in which they said the Limited items were dispersed throughout), I am calling it "regular Boden."  They have since reclaimed the Boden Limited Edition line and now have it as its own thing again, so had this dress been introduced two weeks ago, I suspect it would have been part of that line (as were its precursors, the Evie and Stella Dresses).

But none of that matters right now. :)

This dress is a size 6 Long.  I nearly went with a size 8 Regular, but after reading the few reviews and checking out the measurements, I decided the 6 Long was my best bet.

The dress looks most lovely with a belt, heels, and necklace.  I don't think this dress can ever be worn casually, with just flats and no jewelry.  (Although they did style it without the belt on the beautiful Helena Christensen, the dress looked far better on me with a waist cinching belt--hence the title of today's roundup).

Here it is unbelted.  It is fine, of course, but I would only wear it like this if I had a sparkly cardigan on top (I immediately thought of the showstopping knitted jacket as the perfect topper, btw).

The color is much darker and a deeper teal than it appears on-line.  I far prefer this deeper shade, it reads more elegant and dressy than the lighter aqua teal you see in the stock photo.  I also believe this teal is a more universally flattering color.  However, it begs the question...why would Boden knowingly keep the stock photo of the lighter shade up?  Hmm.

The long falls right to below my knee, but the waist is still right below the bust.  I think if your posture is not super-straight, it can appear that there is a belly because of the way the ruching is placed on the front of this dress, but in my opinion, it doesn't look horrible, and since I like curves on a woman who has curves (some women just have them, ya know?), I feel like this dress celebrates the lines of the more endowed but also creates visually lines of curves on women who are not so "curvaliscious."  ;)

This is probably the best shot of the color, but it still is not exactly right...it is still a wee bit darker and a tiny bit greener than it shows here.

This detail shot also shows the reason why I like the belt for this dress...right there at the waistline, the seaming is a bit puckered, and while that may only bother 0.07% of you all, it really bugs me.  Now I am not a crazy lady who will return it because of this (Helena's version has it to, for instance), but I am the crazy lady who will hide it through belting or covering (with a cardi or jacket).

Wanted to point this out to you all, just so you knew about it in advance of receiving it.


Vanessa Dress.  Most sizes are available in all colors.  Great price ($94) with the 20% off (since it is a stackable coupon).  Made from a silk jersey, so very lovely fabric suitable for work and dinners out.

Cable Knitted Dress.  Please do go to the original review of this dress for why I decided to exchange the original one I bought for this one. 

Finally this dress arrived (long, slow boat from the UK manned by barely functioning monkeys) in a size 6 Long.  What a difference three inches at the hemline make!  I far far prefer how this one looks on my shape, less ice-skater chic and more wintertime wonderful.

Belted makes a big difference, too, the dress looks much more like it looks on the model in the product shot, which was the look I was aiming for initially.

This dress looks okay unbelted, but I don't know that I will ever style it this way as I think it looks a bit too "grey sweater dress blob" to me.  The belt really does give the look that little bit of something something...


Cable Knitted Dress.  This one is proving to be popular, many sizes and colors are selling out, especially in the smaller sizes.  If you like the navy, it can be had at $82 (after the 20% is applied).  This grey is a touch more expensive.  The red is the most costly. 


Jersey Tea Dress.  Egyptomaniac gives us a look-see at this very pretty dress, styled impeccably with a pair of Frye Boots and a blush cardigan.



Bloomsbury Top and Ankle Zip Skimmers.  Lou gives us a whole outfit centered around these two beauties.  I quite like the skimmers with the cute peep toe heels.  :)


Wool Midi Skirt. I was e-mailed a couple of reviews from Margaret, a blog friend.  She writes of the wool midi skirt:

I really wanted to love these, but no dice. The skirt is either too long or too short. It hit on this weird place on my calf and made me look very squat. The skirt was also too straight, so it looked weird. The wool was very nice, though and it seemed like the pieces would have lasted a very long time.

Everyday A-Line Skirt.  Margaret also e-mailed a review of this skirt:

I am 5'4" and had to buy this in a long to get it to cover my knees. I got both denim colors and they are good and thick in person. The skirt is much less a line on me than on the model, though, like an just barely tapered straight skirt. Runs true to size. This skirt, with the button and zip closure will give you a bit of a tummy from a side view, unless you are very slim. But it's quite flattering from the front and rear, and I liked it enough to keep them.

Thank you to Egyptomaniac, Lou, and Margaret for their reviews this week!

I am going to leave you with the link for the 20% off (with free ship and returns) coupon.  Don't forget if an item was already reduced (like the Vanessa Dress), the 20% off is in addition to that, so it is a stackable promo, which is rare, and kind of awesome!  :)
20% off + free shipping & returns

(If you want to pass along the info of this code to your friends through your blog or facebook page, it is more than fine.  The more the merrier!)

I plan on doing a picks post for this sale tomorrow morning.  I had planned to do it early, but life happened instead.  LOL.  ;)  I also have an ootd post planned, so be on the lookout for that as well!