splurging

student funding finally came through (yay!) so i was finally able to make a trip into town and treat myself to some new lovelies. i could only make it in for thursday's late-night shopping, so i had to be content with being shoved around aberdeen by an abundance of screechy pre-teen chav girls... those girls are everywhere!!

even though money is in now, i'm still trying to save for christmas and my pre-christmas break, so i spent most of my limited shopping fund in primark this week, oh dear! primark really isn't as bad as some people make out, if you look hard enough you can find some brilliant (and cheaper!) copies of topshop clothes among all the really shoddy, threadbare stuff you can also find. i don't really ever buy whole outfits in primark; if you don't want people to know you shop there, the best idea is to only wear one or two pieces in an outfit, and mix it up with more expensive stuff, or at least more expensive-looking stuff. but i was a mission this week, and managed to find some really good bargains. i was looking for more high-waisted skirts and i came across three in primark that i couldn't say no to, especially when i saw their price tags.. i bought two of the same, but in different colours, obviously. these blue and black button-up skirts were only three pounds each, as i remember!

the pictures don't really do the blue skirt justice at all - it has a really nice dirndl shape to it, and the colour is a lovely blue. not something i would usually choose, but i've made so many outfits up in my head using that skirt as a starting point! i haven't worn the black skirt yet, it looked fine in the changing room, but on closer inspection at home, i realised that it was practically see-through in normal lighting! still, for only three pounds i can afford to line it before i wear it!

(black skirt, £3 primark. blue/grey skirt, £3, primark)


i thought that would be all my purchases, along with some nice thick tights, when i spotted this adorable striped skirt under a pile of jumpers. it's got a really lovely nautical feel to it, and i love the detail of the layered skirt at the bottom of the dress, and the lovely shiny buttons! and it was another bargain, also at a wonderful £3!!!! i was especially pleased because the original tag had £15 written on it, and some lovely person at primark decided they would change that!

(nautical skirt, £3, primark)

sorry again for the bad picture quality, i took them in a rush with bad lighting! it's such an eye-catching skirt that the rest of the outfit doesn't need much fuss, i found this looks great just with a plain white vest and a navy cardigan, and some fantastic navy blue tights!

i never normally buy so much in primark but i really was pleased with myself this time. i saw some fantastic things i might have to buy on my next visit, including a wonderful, heavy grey winter coat, with fantastic large buttons and a really flattering shape, and a navy blue chiffon dress, covered in gold brocade..

i rounded off my wonderfully thrifty shopping excursion with a trip to gap. not somewhere i would usually head for a bargain, but my head has been turned by gap's amazing sale lines. back in july, i bought the most beautiful oversized black leather bag in gap, originally £80, but they had reduced it to £20, sheer luck on my part! something like that will never go out of fashion and will last me for years! with this in mind, i headed down there in the hope of finding something nice to save for my holiday to gibraltar in december, and they didn't disappoint. after a quick rifle through the sale rail, i found this brilliant navy blue checked linen maxi dress. a maxi dress really isn't something i would normally go for, they are so generic and overworn during summer, but this one really looked different and had a lovely cut and fit to it. i checked the tag and it was originally £45 at the start of the summer, but was now only £6.99!! so cheap for something so heavy-duty and good quality, the linen is really heavy and lined really well.

(linen maxidress, £6.99, gap)

the last purchase of the day was perhaps my favourite, i am so in love with it! while still rifling through the sale rail, i found the definitive skirt, the one that pushed all others away! this gorgeous cream patterned skirt has a wonderful shape to it and is a lovely soft cotton, and is lined really well too, so no worries about transparency! it has a drawstring waist, not in a waynetta-type way though! it's just so you can wear it as high or as low as you like, and it will still fit as if tailor-made. this little beauty was also once very expensive, at £35, but i bought it for the bargain price of £4.99!! even the lady on the tills was stunned at how lovely it is! my pictures do none of these clothes any justice, but rest assured, they really are beautiful!

(highwaisted skirt, £4.99, gap)

a word of warning for gap clothes though, i normally find i need to buy clothes in there a size or even two below what i would normally wear. i am normally a size 8-10, and both of these items were a size 6, something i never normally buy in any other shop. will definitely post pics of outfits soon!!