Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Stylebook App Review

*My post does not contain a referral link.  This post is not sponsored by Stylebook App and all opinions are my own.

DILEMMA: When it's time to go somewhere, I enter my closet and then stare at everything. Then I try on item after item in front of the mirror, mixing things up to see what looks best. This is such a time suck! There has to be an easier way! What's a girl to do?

SOLUTION: There is an app for that!

Enter Stylebook ($3.99), an iPhone app I’d read about and been too lazy to try. (Taking pictures of every piece of clothing I owned seemed exhausting.) But the inconvenience of cataloging my closet seemed less frustrating than the hours I spend trying to find an outfit, so I dug in my heels and got busy. As I began the painstaking process of photographing my clothing, I realized that I actually did have a definable style but I was also keeping things that I didn't love so much... for what? UGH! So I made a decision: if I couldn't motivate myself to photograph and catalog the item, it went in the donation pile.
Stylebook has over 90 features that helps you organize your clothes completely, including a virtual calendar, packing list, style stats and inspiration. The first step is to add all your clothes to the app. This can get quite tedious and may take a while if your wardrobe is large, but it's a one-time thing. And besides, who says you have to do it all at once? I preferred to get it out of the way and just took an afternoon one Saturday and made it happen. After you're done, you can just add new clothes as you buy them. (I have some tips for this stage at the end of the post.)
The app has different categories: Closet, Looks, Inspiration, Calendar, etc. You take pictures and sort them into the different Categories/Sub-Categories. You can also search for them on your favorite shopping sites, right within the app. You can add or remove Categories and Sub-Categories to fit your needs. For example, I've added sub-categories under Tops for tanks, long sleeves and short sleeves.
From your closet you can then create various looks, very similar to Polyvore. You can then add the look to a calendar. Admittedly, this is one of my FAVORITE parts.

The calendar allows you to keep track of what you've worn and when. These looks can be added to the calendar so you can see exactly how often you are wearing one item of clothing, or exactly what you wore on x day. Another part of this app called 'style stats' allows you to see what you wear the most, what you've never wore, what clothing was the best value and more. And you can see if you frequently repeat certain items. I'm the type of person that prefers not to wear the same combination of items very often, so this is great for helping me pace out when I will wear a certain outfit again and in what situation I want to be seen in it.

You can shop or save items to a wish list from your favorite sites (all powered by ShopStyle).

Two of my other FAVORITE things about this App is that you can:

1) Add information about your closet item, including size, color, brand and price and
2) See your Cost Per Wear for your item! Oh I love that part.

There is also a packing list feature in this app. This allows you to add looks and items of clothing to trips which can really help with packing! This is perfect to aid with minimal packing. YAY! I travel often and I notoriously over pack!

You simply tap the “packing” icon and you’ll find four lists — New York, Los Angeles, Paris, London — though you can create your own by tapping “+ packing list.” To use a list, open it, tap “+clothing” or “+look,” and begin adding items from your virtual closet, which is divided into categories  (like tops, bottoms, shoes, bags) as well as types of looks (work, evening, formal, vacation). I prefer to use the “looks” section, because it allows me to group my clothes and accessories into outfits, creating combinations that save space in my bag yet allow me to still look great on my trip.

Could I do this by laying clothes out on my bed and trying them on? Obviously. But the app enables me to do so on the subway or when I'm waiting for the TV commercial breaks to end on Shonda Rhimes night. I can share my edits with friends and see clothes that may otherwise be hidden in my closet or storage without pulling them off hangers and shelves.

I have been adding items each time I make a purchase. I usually try to save the stock photo of every item I purchase. Then I'll add the details for each item. I know that my CPW will be lower than is shown because I have some items that I've worn in the past but won't be able to account for on the Calendar. But being able to keep track of that now is so awesome!

I really love this app. I have it on my iPad and iPhone; I mostly use it on iPad simply because of the bigger screen. The 'wifi accept' feature allows you to transfer items of clothing between devices so you can use more than one device, however I think having an online account and wireless and automatic syncing would be a more efficient way of doing this.

Overall I would say this is a really great app and definitely worth having. The only improvement I think this app could benefit from is better syncing, but other than that its near perfect! The features of this app are great and there are no similar apps of the same quality. Fantastic app, easy to use and nice design.

Tips for adding clothes on the app:

+ Find basics in the shop section of the app, as the photos will be better and it's easier to add them in. I added jeans, t-shirts, tanks and other basic clothes this way.

+ When photographing your own clothes, use a better quality camera if you can, then import the photos to your device because your clothes will look better. Use good lighting.

+ Use a contrasting background to your clothes so adding them is quicker as the background is removed instantly.

+ If you have an iPad, use this when adding clothes because it's so much easier with a bigger screen!

+ For new clothes, try and find a picture online and import that. Polyvore.com can be useful for this.

I have been looking for something like this for a while. I can't believe it took me so long to find but YAY! Stylebook is my new bestie!

xoxo

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