Thrift shopping 101: Part 1; Costume jewelery

The other day my fiance and I went to Value Village; and I found this amazing dress for a great deal!



Detail: The dress was only $4.99, and the blue hand painted seed beads were only $0.99! Baby blues are a great accent w/ dark browns!




How can you get great fashion finds for a low price, without the guilt of buying slave labor?
Thrift stores, yard sales, and consignment stores are my favorite choices for cute, or funky clothes and styles.

What will you need?
A sense of adventure
An imagination
A few bucks!

I used to dread thrift shopping, it was a last minute option for me.
All I ever saw when I walked in were isles of old lady sweaters, and dirty old shoes. I practically refused to browse the isles, and just couldn't bring myself to try anything on.
Years later I finally let go, and realized that my pocket book couldn't take my trips to Macy's and Nordstrom's anymore. I also hated dressing like the rest of the population.
One of the great things about thrift shopping, is the fact that you can get a cashmere sweater for $5, and you can't even get a tank-top at JC Penney's for less than $10.
The upsides of thrift shopping; constant variety, vintage finds, and you always feel like your on a treasure hunt!
The downsides to thrift shopping; hip thrift shoppers like me knowing just how to get great deals, before Thrift-noobs get them!
But no worries, that's why I'm here, to tell you how to find amazing outfits, and get the good stuff before Lame Jane grabs your vintage sequined blouse.

Depending on the thrift store you go to, depends on the frequency of up to date clothing, or 80's belly-button smashing jeans. No worries, they all usually have a treasure hidden somewhere.

Creating your jewelery collection:
The first place to check for jewelry, is the wall-hanging section. It's usually all priced the same, and you can get some great bracelets, earrings, necklaces etc.
Start by checking every single hook holding the jewelry, just cause it looks shiny, doesn't mean its quality. You want to check for glass, and stone beads, and necklace pieces.
To do this; simply click the piece against your tooth, and if it feels dense, and makes a slight ting sound against your tooth, its probably glass or stone. This is an easy way to decipher between shiny plastic, and glass.

Pot Metal, and Silver:
Check whatever jewelry you are looking at, to see if there are any missing rhinestones, bent metal, or extremely flexible metal. You want to stay away from pot-metal(this is a very cheap and easily snapped metal, usually made in china, and coming from retailers like Kohls).

What to look for to determine pot-metal: The findings(round chain link like things attaching the jewelery to the hook, clasp, etc)are split, not welded, or easily bendable. This is a bad sign, because your jewelery could easily fall off, or snap. The color of pot metal is usually much brighter than that of silver, and instead of grey coloring, it has black coloring to mimic silver. Silver is usually dull, or grey, and it is a softer metal, it doesn't snap as easily as pot metal. Older silver has tiny scratches, and small dents in the metal. It usually heats quickly to the touch.

Pearls, costume jewelery, and big beautiful beads:
I myself don't really care if the pearls are real or not, they are a cool accent for some outfits. Although; an easy way to check if the pearls or plastic beads you found are real pearls, is another tooth-checking method; the teeth don't lie!
Roll the bead against your tooth, if there are dents or it feels slightly gritty, you probably found real pearls, or damn good fakes. Otherwise, if they are plastic, they will be completely smooth and round.
You want your beads to be dense, and strong, not hollow. Just tap them w/ your fingernail, and if it feels heavy in your hand, and there's no hollow sound, those are high quality beads. Also; if they are paint covered, or chrome covered, scratch them lightly w/ a fingernail to make sure no paint chips off.




Beaded necklace string:
You want to make sure when you buy beaded necklaces, that the string holding them together is reasonably strong, and durable.
Think what a mess it would be if your out on a date, and your necklace catches on something, and beads scatter everywhere!
To make sure the string is strong, first check how closely the beads are from each other, if there are tiny knots between each bead, this is a good sign; it means it will hold together well. Try the tug-a-rope test, and grab either side with your hands, and lightly pull to the opposite direction of each hand. If the necklace gives, I wouldn't buy it; if it stays firm, it has less of a chance of snapping randomly. Just make sure the string is thicker than fishing line. Inspect w/ a magnifying glass if necessary, to check if it is twined like a mini-rope, once again a good sign. Big round plastic beads are a fun way to accent almost any outfit!

Quality materials/beads:
Wood
Seeds
Crystal
Stones
Glass
Thick plastic beads
Silver/Sterling
Gold

The second place to look for jewelery is of course, the infamous glass display cabinet! Usually the items in the display cabinets are higher priced, and most of the time, incorrectly priced. A lot of the time there is some good vintage brooches, pins, and really high quality necklaces. On the downside they get in a lot of retail costume jewelery that looks really shiny, but its worthless. Thrift stores will often charge very high prices for these pieces because they "look new". If it looks like it just came out of the JC Penney's or Mervyn's Juniors section, it probably did.

If you are not a frequent retail shopper, I recommend visiting your local retailer(excluding Macy's and Nordstrom's)Try Kohls, Sears, Ross, TJ Maxx, Mervyn's, or JC Penney. These are lower-end retailers. Browse the jewlery section, and inspect the costume jewelery. You will note that some earrings are bent, or the clasps don't connect properly. Some of the necklaces have missing rhinestones, or broken chains. Make sure you make a mental note of the way this type of costume jewelery looks; so when you are thrift shopping, be sure to avoid this cheaply made jewelery.
This may seem complicated at first, but once you get the knack of it, you'll be a pro thrift shopper!

I hope these tips help Thrift Shoppers new to the scene, I also recommend an awesome in-depth thrift shoppers guide, that really helped me: Secondhand Chic: Find fabulous fashion at Consignment, Vintage, and Thrift stores: By Christa Weil
You can get this book at your local library, if they don't carry it, you can usually ask them to buy the book for you!

In my next blog I will cover the basics of finding high quality clothing, and where to look!