Ruffles, Rhinestones, J. Crew Tilda and Elle

What do those four things have in common?  A whole heckuva lot.  That's what.

I was shopping last month (sorry, I know - I'm only about 30 days behind schedule here,) when I happened upon this great find.  When I was working at J.Crew, customers loved the Tilda Rhinestone top - we could barely keep it in the store!

Elle has upped the ante (yay sleeves!) by providing its' consumers with an almost exact duplicate of the Tilda Rhinestone Top (yay price!)

or on a real live human being (me! and a darling Lauren Conrad polka dot dress for $12):

While the quality difference is there (but not by much,) the style is the same minus four things:

1. sleeves (I am a huge fan of sleeves, for modesty and because darnit, aging has not been kind to my upper arms!)

2. the rhinestones do not wrap completely around the collar.  If you wear your hair up, people may notice this.

3. I can easily fit into a size 4 at J.Crew, but I'm squeezing into a size 8 from Elle (but my pride can handle it for this price difference!)

4. It's less than 1/3rd the price!

Kohls also offers it in a classic oxford stripe (but I don't really like it.)