Meeting Ellie and She3

• March 13, 2013

This past weekend while visiting Kaitlin of For Love of Carrots, I gave my first ever Ellie outfit (click to get 20% off your first order) from their February collection a test-run during a barre class at She3 Wellness & Fitness Boutique in Fairfield, CT. To say Ellie (formerly pvBody) is a controversial company in the blog world right now would be an understatement. However, my experience has been mostly positive with both pvBody AND Ellie, so this review will reflect that, just as my pvBody review did.

I’m also excited to share my experience with the She3 barre class called the She3 Fit Method. I’ve done a couple barre classes at Physique57 and was excited to do barre again for the first time in awhile. Kaitlin was completely new to barre and we both appreciated a chance to try a new workout that while not necessarily our “typical” intense HIIT or heavy lifting, would still put us out of our comfort zones and test our strength!

She3 is absolutely gorgeous! The decor makes it such a peaceful, serene, accepting environment. That studio carpet was spotless and I have no clue how the owner and Chief Health Officer, Benay Rubin, keeps it that way.

The instructor, Nora, taught our mixed level class in a manner true to its name. Our fellow students were both beginners like us and super-experienced (a kind, helpful woman next to me was in teacher training!) which gave me something to aspire to for sure! Nora also performed the exercises with us and took walks around the room to adjust each student. At one point when I was lying on my back with my legs crossed indian-style in the air (like an elevated pretzel) she came by and pushed on my legs, opening up my hips and inner thighs. I would definitely hire someone to just do that for an hour. The stretch was incredible!

I typically take a cardio-heavy spin class on Sunday mornings so doing a barre class instead, and not “making up for it” later by going to the gym, was a big step for me! I felt satisfied with the workout Nora gave me – it may not be standard cardio, but barre is HARD. I could not even make it through the entirety of some thigh exercises and had to stop and take breaks. I enjoyed the nice, long stretches we got to take between each body-group’s working portion and liked being able to re-center myself after working hard.

She3 (the SHE stands for Strength, Health, Empowerment) also offers health coaching and monthly empowerment workshops. The first strength class is FREE and it’s super easy to sign up online (no credit card needs to be given at all) so if you live in the area, I highly encourage you to stop by and try it off! I already have a gym membership so even if I lived in the area I probably wouldn’t buy a membership to She3 just because I’m cheap, but they do offer college student discounts and discounts for those who purchase higher quantities or unlimited classes.

Now you know how I performed in the barre class, but how did Ellie perform? I’m really excited to say that the answer is fabulously. Now, I must say the performance of the company prior to my receipt of the February outfit was NOT as fabulous. I sent the affiliate manager, Hope, my outfit choice on 1/28 and it did not ship until 2/21. I guess one of the items I picked was out of stock, but I was never notified of this until the outfit shipped. Hope did provide a tracking number which was helpful, but the sparkly pink package didn’t arrive until 3/7. For standard shipping, that seems long to me. Luckily I was not holding out to get the outfit by a certain date; Ellie was hoping for a review by 3/10, but after the delay Hope immediately gave me an extension to post any time in March – that is, if I wanted to post and be able to receive a free March outfit (this month’s collection is all black). Please note that Ellie does NOT require a positive review to get a free March outfit – just a review! My negative experience ends with this paragraph.

Now for the positive – to say I’m obsessed with the outfit I got MAY be an understatement. I chose the most unique (in my opinion) top of the February collection, the Peek-A-Boo tank. Its design reminded me of something I’d see at Lululemon but for $34.95, is certainly more affordable. Love that I can wear it with a cute sports bra…sometimes I hesitate to buy adorably printed sports bras because I wonder, who will even see this? The Peek-A-Boo tank solves that #fitfluentialproblem. It did come with an annoying long white tag, but I cut that off and the tag “stub” did not irritate my skin.

The bright Electric Love Capri leggings didn’t ride up or down during the class and felt extremely comfortable. They’re made of such a soft material and I kept them on from 9am until 3:30pm, after I was home and finally had a chance to shower. Just like the last pair of leggings I got from pvBody, I will definitely be rocking these post-gym at Daybreak Coffee Roasters on the weekends.

Now I will be honest and say the $54.95 price of the leggings is probably more than I’d actually pay for workout bottoms. It’s hard to ignore cheaper, readily-available options like the brand names offered at TJMaxx and Marshall’s. But the Electric Love Capri leggings performed extremely well and the color is perfect for my personality!

The chance to take another barre class meant a chance to once again use the official Physique57 socks I received during my BlogHer NYC trip in August…and they matched my Ellie outfit PERFECTLY! Matchy-matchy FTW.

I’m thankful to both She3 and Ellie for providing a fabulous Sunday morning workout experience! I have full confidence that the outfit is going to keep pulling through for me during my future fitness endeavors. Since I’m a member of Ellie’s affiliate program, I have a personal sign-up link you can use to get 20% off your first Ellie order! Let me know if you have ANY questions at all about my experience with the company.

Have you ever done a barre workout?

What’s your take on the Ellie “drama” circulating throughout the blog world?

I received my Ellie outfit free of charge but was not compensated for this post. All thoughts and opinions about the experience and my outfit are my own. I am a member of Ellie’s affiliate program and the link provided above for 20% off is my referral link.