J. Crew or J. Schmew? That is the question.
And the winner is….
….
…
….
B!!
Which I kind of predicted anyways. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, that’s okay! scroll down for the last post. For those that voted for A, never fear, I’ll have a post about strawberry cake up next week.
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Let’s start this post off with a story. Gather ‘round everyone. Don’t be shy. Gather ‘round.
Once upon a time there was a girl named Julie.
Imagine that!
Five years ago, thy maiden named Julie lived in a far off land called Wrightsville Beach, NC (WB for those in the know). WB did not have a J. Crew at that time. they do now that I, I mean Julie, no longer lives there. of course.
So, every time Julie came to visit her family in the bustling metropolis that is the City of Oaks that is the capitol of NC that is the home of NC State Wolfpack that is against-amendment-one and known as Raleigh, she would go to the mall where you could find things like an awesome Belk, Aldo, and J. Crew. On one trip, Julie popped into J. Crew and saw the necklace of her dreams. It was so unusual, so one of a kind, so something that no one else would ever have in a million years because who is crazy enough to pay full price for J. Crew jewelry.
It was a J. Crew bubble necklace!!!!!!!
Now, Julie would bet you like $5 that this necklace was $128 when she bought it, even though it’s now $150 on the J. Crew website. But whatever.
Julie felt so cool that she had this necklace. It was/is an awesome necklace. But then, THEN!!!! Julie saw tons of other people wearing this necklace. Say whaaaa? Are there people out there as nutso as me to pay a million (what it felt like at the time) dollars for this crazy necklace? I MUST MAKE FRIENDS WITH THEM, Julie thought to herself.
Julie soon realized that there were in fact people out there who were much, much smarter than she and they had not paid over $100 for a plastic necklace but rather bought a similar style on ebay. Damnit! said Julie to herself.
So, then one day, like two weeks ago, Julie decided that she too wanted a fake J. Crew bubble necklace. in white. after seeing this picture. duh.
So, Julie took to the internet and found a white J. Crew bubble necklace on ebay. for only $15 plus shipping. It was too good to be true. The necklace arrived from China in 12-15 business days and they lived happily ever after… almost. (cough. cough.)
By now, you’ve hopefully realized that the Julie in this story is the same Julie that writes this blog. If not, I’m sorry for you.
I’m about to break this necklace down for y’all mofrickas. Imma compare my Chinese J. Crew necklace straight up now tell me if you really wanna love me forever to the real one I bought for $128 (I SWEAR THAT WAS THE PRICE) five years ago from a real, live J. Crew store. As you read through this detailed forensic analysis, I should state that I had high hopes for this necklace as I figured there is a pretty good chance that J. Crew jewelry is made in China, so when ordering a “J. Crew” necklace straight from China (i mean…) it just felt right.
First, we have for you the two contestants… The orange once is a real J. Crew necklace purchased at a real J. Crew store with a real one hundred and twenty eight dollars. I swear. The white one is Chinese.
The first difference between the two is o-to-the-bvious. The white necklace has faceted cabochons (technical term for the white round circles) while the orange once has smooth ones.
See what I mean….
faceted (aka all those little flat surfaces across each round cabochon) for your viewing pleasure:
The orange one is smooth… major difference…
***Update: Props to Tall Girl Tales for pointing out that the navy and black J. Crew bubble necklaces do indeed have facets, but that alas, the J. Crew white one is smooth.***
Next major difference (can you guess it?)…
…is the bottom of each bead on the necklace.
The white one has a lacy filigree cap on the end of each bead and the orange one has none. Exhibit Fake:
Versus:
And the final nail in the plastic coffin is the chain. Granted, I wasn’t quite as big of a stickler for this one because my necklace is five years old so the gold color on my necklace could have easily changed ever so slightly because J. Crew does not give away real gold for one hundred and twenty eight dollars. However, dis beyatch don’t lie. Check it before you wreck it:
On the left is the Chinese chain and the right is the chain of the necklace I bought at J. Crew. Not only is the Chinese necklace a much yellower color, but it’s a much thinner chain.
My Overall Verdict: Guilty as charged!
The white one is fake as can be, but it’s still a cute necklace and I will totally rock it, and it was only $15 compared to $128 (swear). But don’t worry, I won’t pretend it’s actually from J. Crew. Also, I am 99 point 999999999 percent sure the girl in that picture way up there is wearing the fake version. You can almost see the facets and the lacy filigree caps on the bottom of the beads.
Power to the people.
