Dress: Zara (ugh, can’t find it! similar ones below) • Bag: Hat Attack • Shoes: Jack Rogers

Hi Wednesday, it’s me, your best friend, Helen! Do you ever buy something and think wow, I nailed it? Yep, that’s how I feel with this Zara eyelet dress! First off it’s Zara (aka affordable) and secondly, it fits as if it was custom tailored for me! I usually navigate away from Zara because I thought their XS ran large, but I guess I was wrong! Must have mixed them up with H&M or Forever 21 or something… well, won’t make that mistake again!

There’s so much to love about this Zara dress! My favorite detail is the conservative cutout right around your rib cage, but I also love the generous ruffles that go from the front to the back of the dress, and of course the eyelet fabric! Gosh the list goes on…the fit and flare of this dress, the length, ah! I love it!

Since I’ve started blogging I’ve kind of stopped trying stuff on in the store. I buy a bunch of stuff, bring it home, try it all on, see how it works with my accessories and other pieces already in my wardrobe, and then I decide what to keep and what to return. I actually am so much happier doing it this way! I know a while back I surveyed you guys on Instagram and it seemed like the majority of you would be interested in dressing room try-on sessions. Sorryyyy, I know I haven’t been good about doing those, BUTTT that’s not exactly the reason I brought this up. I brought this up as a suggestion to you! Try it out, see what you think! As long as your credit card can handle carrying a couple hundred dollars for a week or so (until you get around to returning what you don’t want), then it’s totally worth it! Honestly, I think I am way more mindful about my purchases now than I used to be and that translates into being much happier with what I end up ripping the tags off and keeping!

For instance, when I first got into blogging I was buying stuff left and right for blog shoots. Looking back through my closet I definitely made more than a few questionable purchases. Am I really going to wear this again? Was it really worth all that money? And sometimes, what was I even thinking! Did anyone ever say you can’t think on an outfit at home for a week or two? Leave the tags on, try it on a few times, and then decide whether it’s really something you can see yourself wearing over and over again or if it’s just something you’re lusting after.

Okay anyway! EXCITING NEWS TIME! I finally got accepted to Reward Style, which is an invite-only influencer platform to help monetize your blog! I don’t think you’ll notice anything different around here, but I wanted to share it with you guys because this was a goal I had for myself since day 1 of starting blogging! I had no idea I’d be able to achieve this goal after blogging for only 9 months, but alas, here I am!

For those interested in the process, I applied ummm I think 5 times and was rejected the first four. The first few times I applied it took weeks to hear back from Reward Style, but the fourth time I applied I got rejected basically the next day. Then I met a blogger through Instagram, Ashton Pyron,  she’s awesome! I reached out to her, learned a lot about how she was doing so well with engagement and along the way asked if she would be so kind as to recommend me to Reward Style. And she said yes! I bet that it was Ashton’s referral that got me accepted to Reward Style the fifth time around. There are just so many bloggers and influencers out there, which is why it’s so competitive to get accepted to this platform!

Basically the moral of the story here, if there is one, is to keep on trying! Don’t give up, but more importantly, don’t let it get you down when you receive rejection. Because let me tell you something, you get rejected a lot in the blogger space! And that’s okay! Just take it in stride, stay positive, and put your energy towards the next pitch or next goal or whatever! Eyelet dress options below!