So I went shopping at popular stores and I bought stuff that looks cheap. This stuff wasn’t cheap though, but it’s all out there for you guys to buy. So I think a lot of you probably have similar things in your closet that you’re still wearing. And I wanna share with you why I think they look bad and maybe what to look for instead.

The first up, I made my way to Nordstrom, which you guys know, I love Nordstrom.

I can find so many good things there, but I can find some really bad stuff too. So I wanna share at the top that inspired this entire video. I was just walking along and I looked over, and I saw this bad boy and it’s bad. It’s $128, so let’s just start there. Like this is not cheap.

It looks cheap though because of the color. The color guys, colors really do matter and I can be all for bright, vibrant colors and I can be all for neutrals.

But when it comes to this neon green color, it’s doing no one favors. I don’t care what your skin tone is, it looks bad on you and I think it just is a very cheap color. Not to mention the stripes.

Stripes can actually be a top that elevates you and makes you look really stylish, but I think it works so much better in the neutral family. So I recently shared these black and cream stripe tops and they’re very inexpensive from Amazon, but I think they look so much more expensive than this.

So this next one is shocking to me and honestly kind of confusing. So let me just start with the one positive to this top, and it’s the color. This is an example of a really pretty vibrant color that will enhance your features, but everything else is a train wreck.

So this is by the brand Free People, which Free People’s known for their really high prices, but everything is very high quality. Everything Free People, in my opinion, feels really nice. Except for this. Like, don’t buy this I this. I am shocked at this piece because it’s literally like a rag you would wash the floor with.

I mean, I understand things can be distressed, but this is everything you don’t wanna buy when it comes to distressing.

So the material is incredibly see-through, I could maybe get past that, but then the edging on everything extremely raw, also could be okay. But there are literal holes in this shirt like holes. And again, I know some of you’re thinking, “But Shea, you wear holey jeans.” And when it comes to jeans, if it’s done right, like I can be on board with distressed jeans, but I do not think it translates or works in a top, like this just looks like it’s an old rag.

And what’s odd to me is some of the shirts on the rack had this hole and some of them didn’t.

So I’m confused like is it supposed to be there? Is it not supposed to be there? The entire like asymmetrical design also makes it look like it’s just really misaligned and not sewn properly. So yeah, this is bad.

So this is also by the brand Free People. And it screams cheap to me for completely different reasons. This doesn’t look distressed at all. It just looks like it is incredibly cheaply made, which is very unusual for the brand Free People. So this was $128 and it looks like it should have been $17 from SHEIN.

So there’s a few characteristics here that to me, instantly look cheap. Number one, well, first of all, let’s just back up like what is this? Is it supposed to be a dress? Is it supposed to be a shirt? It’s a very odd length, so that’s just confusing.

But the cheap part to me is anytime something is kind of built-in, looks cheap. So this is a boxy sweatshirt on top and then there’s like this built-in kinda like button-down cotton material coming out and it’s the worst location. Anytime something like is cropped, or I don’t know, it’s like starts or comes out from this pregnancy spot, it’s gonna be horrible looking on you. Like I just really believe that it looks like kind of a maternity shirt and it does you no favors, it’s very unflattering no matter what. It’s just so boxy.

Not saying everything needs to be skin tight, this just crops you in all of the wrong areas. And then we have this shirt, which I think not only is very cheap-looking, I think it also is very out of style, like this particular swirly pattern with the colors, it’s just outdated. So I often see women that are maybe in their 50s, 60s, 70s, wearing like similar patterns to this. A lot of times it’s a lot more of a flowy top, but I do think this pattern makes you look outdated.

Not to mention with like the off the shoulder thing here, don’t love that.

But really again, it looks cheap to me because of the material. It’s kind of just like this really thin, kind of shiny spandex material. Honestly, it looks like a swim shirt, like that’s what it is. It looks like you’re wearing a swim shirt. Moving along to H&M, which is another one of my favorite stores.

Now granted, their price points are just a lot lower than Nordstrom, but ironically, sometimes when I walk into that store, I legitimately think their items look more expensive than Nordstrom. I mean not always, but it has to do with the colors they use and the patterns they choose, they’re really good about it. But this, not so good. This pattern to me just looks extremely cheap. It’s a very big pattern.

To me, this looks like something you could get at Goodwill for like $4. That sounds really mean, but it’s true. In general, I feel like smaller or more simple patterns can make a top look more expensive. And then likewise, this big bold leopard pattern.

I was kinda surprised to see this wrapped dress in this leopard pattern at H&M because I do think this particular leopard print is outdated.

But I do also think it also looks cheap. I mean honestly, the style in general, also very cheap. Like the wrap dress that you wrap in front and tie, I mean, I guess it could be great for like a swimsuit coverup or something like that. But usually, if I wanna wear something leopard, I go for more of a dainty pattern. As you probably suspected, I am in fact returning everything in this video.

So I will be keeping the tags on it all.

But let’s talk bags because expensive bags can look cheap and cheap bags can in fact, look expensive. So the main characteristic that comes into play when it comes to bags is hardware, cheap looking hardware, shiny hardware, more specifically. I think shiny hardware can show scratches and usually, the tone is just off. It just looks really fake.

And this is a great example, maybe on camera this looks way better, but in real life it looks super cheap and it looks all scratched up. This was $25 from H&M and I just think there’s so many other really affordable bags out there that look so designer, like the one I recently shared from Amazon, this is like the chef’s kiss. This bag looks so high-end to me and it’s totally not.

And then we have Macy’s, which I really don’t shop at Macy’s that often anymore. I was just walking through there and I saw that some of their denim, like their jeans and their shorts had some very cheap characteristics that I wanted to point out.

I’ve seen this all over, like I’m not saying this is just Macy’s, but this is a great example of a cheap looking pair of jeans. It is light wash, which I’m not against light wash and I’ve said this in the past, but sometimes light wash can have a tinge of like a yellow hue. It’s extremely subtle and probably unintentional, but I do see it in-person sometimes. Like it’s not coming up on camera, but in real life you see it. But more than that, these have contrasted stitching.

And sometimes I see it with white stitching or black, in this case, it’s like a Dark Navy stitching.

These jeans were like 50 bucks. So they’re not super cheap, they’re not super expensive, but this stitching alone brings it all down. And then we have these denim shorts, which I think if you’re going to wear denim shorts, you should either have them be a raw edge or a cuffed clean edge. This is doing both.

And not only do I think it looks really cheap, like the style is cheap looking to me, I do also think it’s an example of something out of style. So this is just my personal opinion. I feel like when it comes to denim shorts, everyone has their own thoughts, which is totally fine.

Just something to keep in mind. So this is from Express and I feel like a lot of you might like it, but I really do think it looks cheap.

So first of all, this is just a full-blown sweatshirt material, but it’s sewn in like a fancier way, which is a bit odd. But then on top of that there are gemstones glued on, which I don’t love that at all because the first time you wash it, sometimes one will fall off and the shirt’s just forever ruined. But I noticed on all of them on the rack, they are not glued perfectly. Like there’s certain ones that are a little closer than the other. And so my eye just goes to that.

It looks cheap. And this was $78, so keep that in mind. This was $78. Would you buy this for $78? Now you need to watch this video next where I share a lot of affordable Amazon items that look expensive.

So I’ll see you over there.

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