Manchester Haul Details

When working in Manchester city centre, one must occasionally take a break and visit the shops!  Here's a brief of my purchases from my visit of 19th November.  Enjoy!

As usual, there is the customary trip to Primark, where I've picked up a good mix of neutrals that will go with anything.  I've also managed to incorporate my favourite texture of fake fur, as well as picking up something with animal print.  I've already styled up some ideas for these items and you will see them on Instagram over the coming weeks.

Accessories from Primark: Necklace £4, Bangle £3,Hair Clip £1.50

Accessories from Primark; Bag £3.50, Snood £4, Hat £1.50

Cardigan/Throw from Primark £14

Jumper with sparkles from Primark £14

Being in my 40's, sometimes Top Shop makes me feel old.  But this time I was in love with the place.  I think it is the time of year, all the beautiful sparkly christmas items are out now and the store just draws me in.  More animal print in here, plus I adore their jeans as they're so comfortable for my shape right now.

Top Shop; Jumper £35 Jeans £42

Finally I had been umming and ahhing about getting another pair of boots as I have 2 pairs already; my slouchy effect heels and my suede slouchy flats (see other photos).  But these had a bit of a biker edge to them, plus they were on offer.  I've worn them every day since I bought them, so they were clearly the best buy of the bunch.

Knee High Boots from New Look £26

Until next time.

October Haul At Next

Every once in a while I like to visit my local retail park and browse the shops.  Tonight I have been to Next and purchased a range of super shiny and super furry items!

I purchased a new fake fur jacket, three skirts of varying textures and pleats, a pair of new boots and some fabulous accessories.  I must apologise for the poor quality of pictures, but I am relying on house lighting at the moment.

First up is this lovely bolero style fake fur jacket in silver grey.  It feels absolutely gorgeous!  This is going to look great with skinny jeans and heeled boots, I reckon.

Next is a beautiful and lightly pleated shiny silver grey skirt.  It is absolutely gorgeous and the pleats give it a wonderful movement.

I love the effect on this skirt.  It has a golden bronzed look to it and if you look closely, the pattern is a crocodile effect.  There are sequins in the pattern which gives it that extra shimmer.  This will look fabulous as an alternative to just black.

 



This black skirt has even finer pleats than the silver number, making it swish when I move around.  It beats a boring plain straight skirt any day!

I then saw these burgundy (or wine) coloured suede effect boots, which I think will look awesome with some of the purchases above, or with skinny jeans again.  I'm even thinking how cool this might look with a similar coloured jumper and my white lacey skirt - watch out for a style up on that soon!

Don't you just adore these wonderful rose-gold effect accessories?  I think they're going to look amazing with a range of looks, not just what I purchased today.

 

Just in case you're wondering, this is what I went shopping in today.  The jumper is from Primark and it has spangly sequins knitted into it.  It was only £12 and comes in a range of colours from mint (shown) to pink and lilac.  It's teamed here with skinny jeans from River Island, boots from Miss Selfridge and a Primark scarf.


I also purchased some new sports socks for running, but you don't really want to see a picture of those, do you?


Shopping Details - try www.next.co.uk for online purchases.

Sequined Pencil Skirt - 887 247 145 007618 - £35.00
Foil Pleat Skirt - 949 193 131 000690 - £45.00
Black Pleat Skirt - 675 152 213 00253 - £35.00
Animal Faux Fur Jacket - 694 311 141 000911 - £35.00
Berry Pointed Boots - 946 189 683 000310 - £32.00
Sandblast Disc Necklace - 808 600 017 003650 - £14.00
Sparkle Disc Str Bracelet - 930 967 013 000133 - £14.00

If you're interested, I have added some photos below, showing the items being tried on.  Please excuse my socks!!!

 

 

 

The Primark Effect

I only went to Chester last Sunday for a walkabout with my husband.  We always go for a wander round the walls and for a brew stop somewhere in town (I'll blog about that another day).

I was only meant to be picking up some storage bags, but ended up spending a bit extra!

You can see the storage bags on the right, so I did buy what I intended to.  But I also ended up with 2 sets of 10 velvet effect coat hangers at £2.90 a set.

The lovely sparkly mint jumper was only £12.00 and the stud bag was £8.00.  You might recognise the style because earlier in the year I bought the white version and it appeared in many style spreads.  The necklace was £4.00.

To find your local Primark store click on the link below.

Primark - What's New

Information about Chester

Visit Chester

#AW14 - La Redoute Haul

For those of you living in the United Kingdom, recognition that summer seems to have finished early will resonate!  It is August Bank Holiday weekend and the temperatures are struggling during the day and dropping almost to freezing at night.  It feels closer to October than it does summer.

Looking ahead to Autumn and Winter, I decided to make some purchases from my La Redoute catalogue.

The first items to take my eye in the catalogue - berry colours!  These two cardigans with a biker theme are ideal for the rock chicks among us.  The skinny jeans are a lovely rich red colour and are going to look great with my biker leather from last winter.

For those that have been following me on Instagram, you'll already know I have a soft spot for animal prints.  However, I do my best to avoid the 'mutton dressed as lamb' effect by keeping it subtle.  I chose these boots, flat shoes and matching bag so that I can mix and match according to the needs of the event.

The .La Redoute Catalogue originates from France and epitomises the classic French styles you come to expect from the Europeans - that effortlessness they have, but they're not massive on quirky.  So if you love slick and clean lines, I recommend you take a look at the catalogue; also on the internet.  If you love your street style, however, I'd probably keep up with the likes of Topshop and Missguided.  I like a little of both - a little of what you like does you good!

Details from the catalogue.

Patterned Jeans (p19) - item no. 828.2374 - £29
Biker Cardigan (p64) - item no 763.8159 (dark red) or 763.5915 (black) - £19
Dual Fabric Bag (p184) - item no 946.9800 (black/zebra) - £19
Ballet Pumps (p184) - item no 944.4653 (black/zebra) - £25
Boots (p184) - item no 943.6910 (black/zebra) - £39

I wear size 10 clothes and size 5 shoes from this catalogue.

Autumn Is Coming

There's been a distinct drop in temperatures here in the UK and the long range forecasts show little prospect of decent weather returning for the foreseeable future. With that in mind, it seems a good time to think about the change of seasons.

When I went shopping in Manchester, autumn and winter were definitely on my mind. I created 4 style ideas from my purchases, so feel free to take inspiration and prepare for the coming onslaught of wind, rain, snow and general greyness!

This set shows my new jumper from French Connection & my new jeans from Zara. I've teamed them up with last winter's boots from Kurt Geiger.  The necklace is from Primark and the bracelets are h&m .

This spread shows my new h&m jumper to be worn with black skinny jeans and flats from New Look.  The bracelets are from Primark, one in silver & one in gold.

This look shows my other h&m jumper and my new snakeprint scarf from Primark. This time I've teamed them up with my light River Island trousers & snakeprint hitops from h&m.

Finally, my favourite look out of the 4 I think!  The new French Connection jumper is shown with an h&m shirt inside.  This comes with skinny black jeans again, my lovely leather stud shoes from Zara & Topshop rucksack.  The necklace is from Dorothy Perkins and the bracelet is Forever 21.

I have some more purchases on their way soon - winter is coming, but I'll be ready (unlike that John Snow)

Manchester Day Out

On Wednesday 13th August I popped on a train to Manchester, England.  Manchester is a lovely city with a great shopping centre.  Chinatown is a few minutes stroll from Piccadilly Gardens, where the big wheel is currently situated.  Not only does Manchester have mainstream shops in the Arndale Centre, there are also a few smaller havens you can visit, such as Affleck's Palace, where you can buy goth, vintage, fancy dress, records, bondage and much, much, more. Visit Manchester site has lots of useful information if you'd like to visit.

For my trip, I wore a top from French Connection which I bought in last winter's sale.  My skinny jeans are from River Island and my trainers are from Zara.  The scarf is from Primark.  The photo was taken in the Zara changing rooms.

I love Zara and it's simple classic style.  I know it is only August, but as the weather seems to be turning a bit cool it seems appropriate to take a look at the AW2014 stock!  This coat felt lovely - it is fake of course (I don't do real fur) and if I remember rightly it's £89.99.  I might have to order one online later in the year.  They also had stocks of these beautiful jade green necklaces.  Another consideration for the future.

Anyways, Had a root through the sale items, as I always manage to come across quirky patterned jeans, which seem to be a staple in my wardrobe at the moment.  The bottom left picture shows a fabulous pattern, but they were more cropped that I would have liked and they seemed to grab at my thighs a bit.  However the ones on the right fitted beautifully and were a snip at £12.99.

The top 2 photos show me trying on a jumper from the French Connection sale.  I couldn't decide on the size so went for the larger of the two, figuring it would look great with shirts worn underneath in the winter.  I also picked up another jumper with lace effect sleeves.  Both items were £24.00.

This photo shows the complete haul from Wednesday (don't worry, that's my cat, I didn't buy him and bring him home on the train).  Items were also purchases from H&M and Primark.  There seems to be a theme - anyone spot what it is yet?

Until next time :-)