she sells sea shells

INSIDE: a book giveaway!!! and a $70 prada dress

Haaappy Friday and hope everyone is doing ok despite the sun’s best attempts to boil us alive! I am in Boston with family this weekend and I am genuinely thrilled that it’s only 88° (when I left DC, we were getting close to 100° 🙃🙃🙃).

I only have one announcement this week – but I am so excited about it!!! I want to do a lil giveaway just here on Substack to celebrate that ASTC three-month-iversary next week and that we are a 100+ strong community already!!! Seriously, so, so, so grateful for every one of you that’s here :)

And since we are all readers here… I want this to be a book giveaway! Here’s what I’m envisioning:

• Everyone who subscribes is eligible!!! Just like this newsletter so I know you’re interested pls!

• Bonus entry if you share this in a note hehehehehe

• Another bonus entry if you tell me your favorite summer 2024 trend thus far in the comments!

• For next Friday’s newsletter, I will pull a name out of a hat

And for the prize……. I will send you my favorite book with some lil fun reading accessories. For the winner, I’ll send either my top 3 or 5, and you can pick whichever one you want lol (they will be faves across several genres!) – and tell me your fave local bookstore so I can be sure to order from there!

Ok, now onto the good stuff :)

Get Thrifty

1. Pasta Lover Club Tee from Depop, $19

Is it a tee….. or is it my autobiography?? (And since I think this is gonna go FAST, I’m linking to what looks like the original graphic on Etsy and I think you can get it printed on a shirt if you buy the digital download/with permission??)

2. Wimbledon Cap from Depop, $75

Listen, I am unfortunately one of those people who started paying attention to because of Challengers oopsie. And now, I somehow have Wimbledon FOMO lol, I think mostly because I really like the merch tbh and, ofc, because of the living legend who is Coco Gauff!!!!!!

3. Prada Mid-Length Dress, Size 10 from Vestaire, $72

I really, really love a midi black dress to begin with (is there a more versatile piece??)… and I especially love a midi black dress if it’s from PRADA and less than $80!

4. Acne Studios Tee, Size 10 from Vestaire, $46

Ok, my hot take is that the sorta pseudo-grunge, band-like, Tumblr-vibe graphic tees that had a big moment in the early-to-mid 2010s are gonna be coming ALLL the way back, especially as we get closer – and this comfy Acne Studios tee ticks all of those boxes to me!

B.N.W.T.

1. Soft Lounge Tank from Skims, $28

It is NOT TOO LATE to shop the Skims sale!!! I personally love their basics so much but my wallet does not love the usual prices, so this bi-annual sale is a BIG deal for me lolol.

2. Mara Tailored Vest Squareneck Set Top from Abercrombie, $48

Oh, I am a SUCKER from a scandi-style Abercrombie set just like this one!! And don’t miss 20% off sitewide!

3. Print Quilted Tote Bag from NA-KD, $50

I am SO INTO the new Rita Montezuma x NA-KD collab oh my GOD. They did too good!!!!!! This bag literally hasn’t even been released yet and I’m obsessed (you can sign up to get notified when it’s released!).

4. Printed Detachable Sleeves Padded Jacket from NA-KD, $110

Ok, one more from the Rita Montezuma x NA-KD collab because this quilted moment can be a jacket AND a vest! We love a transitional weather piece!!

Spotlight ✨

First, we had coastal grandmother, then we had coastal granddaughter and coastal cowgirl and mermaid core… and now, we’ve finally come to the heart of the matter: we all just really like shells.

I did some quick Google analysis on trending searches – and, interestingly, searches for shell-inspired things have been pretty consistent over the last year EXCEPT for shell jewelry, which has seen a pretty massive surge ever since this past spring ⬇️⬇️⬇️

And brands are definitely catching on – and also probably steering the ship when it comes to shells at this point (god, this got SO nautical lol sorry). I personally feel like I’ve seen a lot of shell-inspo items coming from Anthropologie, ASOS, and Urban Outfitters specifically in the last few months.

And ofc, we’ve been seeing quite a few shells on the runway, especially for the 2025 resort looks. I highly recommend perusing the looks on Tagwalk, some of them are really, really cool!

All that being said, I went a lil crazy and found a TON of fun shell items (mostly from small businesses) lol – round-up (broken into general categories below)! If you click on the image, it will take you to my Notion page with all the links :)

JEWELRY

ACCESSORIES/HOME

CLOTHES

If you nab any of these and post them, please feel free to tag me!! Would love to see how you style them :)

Look at this Graph

As a big Lewis F1 stan, I simply HAD to include – all credit to the amazing @databutmakeitfashion!!

Something I want to try, inspired by last week’s newsletter, is doing lil polls and then taking the responses and making them into a graph the next week!! So the big question this week is…

Other Corners of the Internet

• It’s finally here… the Nordstorm Anniversary sale starts on MONDAY (7/15)! My mom and I are already starting up an email chain on our purchasing strategy lol

• Speaking of long-awaited news – season 2 of The Big Silly Trivia Game starts on Wednesday at 6 PM PT/9 PM ET!! I’ve missed the dolls so much during the hiatus, can’t wait to get back in the Zoom chat with them 🥹🥹🥹

• Apparently, we’re getting a new fashion game??? As a Covet and StarDoll alum (still love u StarDoll) who needs to also be playing a game when she’s watching TV, I personally can’t wait.

• I am obsessed with this idea, I think I’m going to start doing it next week lol

• This links section is accidentally SO nostalgic but did anyone else also think Aria from Pretty Little Liars had the best style possible?? And were we ok????

• Last week’s top links were the Sabine shoulder bag (SO many of you loved this one, lmk if you grabbed one!!!), the shell chain ring, and the classic kids clothing dilemma post :)

That’s all for now! Hope you all have an amazing week and I’ll see you next week for our book giveaway 🎉🎉🎉🎉