London trip

On Thursday me and my brother took a trip to London to do some shopping. It snowed the whole time but we had a really nice day! Although I wasn't really looking for anything I picked up a couple of tops from primark (one is in my DIY blog post) a moisturiser from boots which was free with a voucher from the boots card machine and some mac foundation.

We then met dad for a meal at Strada, I had a starter of some different meats, mozzarella and bread and then a sausage risotto for main which was one of the only things that didn't have tomato in! It was delicious and after we walked over to the theatre and had a drink and dessert at Pret before the show. We saw One Man Two Guvnors with Rufus Hound which was brilliant, I would really recommend it!

This was my first day out in London for months and although I was knackered at the end of it I'm really happy I was able to do all that walking and we had such a lovely day!

My new favourite outfit

I thought I would do something abit different in this post and tell you what my favourite outfit at the moment is! I wore this to have dinner at the Hermitage as its nice enough to look a little bit dressy.

The leather look trousers were £11 from Miss Selfridge, I took back my competition win top as it didn't really fit properly and then got student discount so they were a great price!

The white lace top was from a charity shop for £4 and is brand new from next with the label still on.

The jacket is my new favourite jacket! It was £23.99 from H&M. When I bought it there was a 20% discount with the myunidays app.

This studded bag was from Primark for £12. This is going to be my new uni bag as my river island satchel is falling apart!

February Charity shopping

I've seen a few posts recently about the money supermarket £20 challenge and thought it was such a good idea I decided to challenge myself. I originally planned to go into town and hunt the charity shops for a present for my friends birthday but ended up buying bits for myself and my cousins wedding gift!   I love the charity shops in Coventry as they are all quite near to each other and most of them charge reasonable prices for things unlike some of the shops at home which are very expensive! The charity shop (not including the tea set) and poundland bits came to £15 so I think I did pretty good!

The first thing I bought was from British Heart Foundation, this jumper is from primark which I never normally buy from a charity shop but I really liked it! It was only £3.50 which I thought was a pretty good price. I would wear this with the top in the picture below underneath it and some denim shorts and tights, in fact its gone straight in the wash so hopefully I can wear it tomorrow!

This top was also from British Heart Foundation and it was only £2.99. Its from Forever 21 originally which is a shop I love but the nearest one is in Birmingham which I don't get to visit as often as I would like! This top would also look really nice with my leather trousers!

When I saw this top I wasn't sure about it as it was a size 20 (I am only a 10!!) but I put it on over my top and its just baggy enough to look nice. I really liked the little brown suede on the pockets which makes it abit different. This top was £3.50 and originally from Dorothy Perkins but I found it in Myton Hospice.

This was also from Myton Hospice, it really caught my eye when I came in the shop and I expected it to be really expensive as it looks vintage but it was only £2.50! I have filled it with all my face products that I use in the evening to store them away neatly.

This tea set was the best find of the day by far! It was also from British Heart Foundation and was originally £25 but I offered them £20 for it and they accepted. I think haggling at a charity shop is find if you think the price they have is more than its worth. Coming home and having a look on ebay the teapots on their own new are starting at around £40! This is a gift for my cousin for her wedding as she loves Alice in Wonderland so I am so happy I managed to get her something she can keep. I just have to resist the temptation to use it!

The final picture is a few of the bits I got from Poundland. If you look carefully in there you really can find some good things. The white tub is acryic nail remover as Im having trouble getting rid of the end bits of mine! The moisturiser I thought I would give a try as it is for sensitive skin and I needed a new day cream. This mascara I have heard lots of good things about and I could believe it was only £1! Its a brown/black so I will use it for the day time when I dont want to wear much make up. 

Bargains

I haven't posted much on the 'clothes' side of my blog recently so I thought I would do a post about my recent bargains. The first is a t shirt from warehouse that I got from a charity shop! It was only £3.50 and is a size 16 but I like the baggy fit and the colours go with most things I already own. The second is a long sleeve top from primark which was only £8. I really like the two tone style and saw a top like it in Zara which had leather sleeves but couldn't justify buying it! If I do eventually buy some leather look trousers this top will also go with them. My final buy was this playsuit that was reduced from £15 to £7. The top part is lace and the bottom is a shiny material. It came with a bow belt which I have changed to a pink one to match my shoes. I wore it out the other night and was very happy with it, apart from someone having to unzip me whenever I needed the toilet!

Charity shopping

I also couldn't resist stopping at the charity shops in Stevenage whilst I was shopping, I was looking for a coat and you can get them really cheap if you look in the right places! I didn't manage to get one but I did get a nice gilet. It is a size 14 but fits well for when you wear jumpers underneath it. It is nicely modelled by my mum in the picture! There is also a great scene in the sex and the city film where Charlotte starts running again when she's pregnant in a white gilet (I found a picture!) and it looks so cosy to run in that I had to buy one, probably the worst excuse ever heard to by some clothes! This one was F+F and cost me £4. In the same charity shop I also got these butterfly platters to put food on for 50p. They are so funny I had to buy them and hopefully I will be able to think of a theme so I can have a party and use them! The spotty jar I got for the house in Coventry for us to put sugar in, it doesn't match the others but they are similar colours so they match in that way. It was only £1.25, there is lots of rubbish in this charity shop but if you root around you can find some gems and probably fill a house with crockery! The top was from another charity shop where I also bought a bag for my cousin. It is a size 18 which seems massive as I am only a 10 but i think it may have been shrunk. I plan to wear this top with some leather trousers which I will buy when I have reached my target weight! The top is from primark which I normally wouldn't buy from a charity shop but it was reduced to £1.35 so I couldn't resist!

More charity shop finds!

Last week I did some more charity shopping with my friend and after we were done she said 'you've bought something in every shop!' Not everything was for me but I found some great bits, some I cant post because they are presents for Christmas! These pictures are from things I have collected over the last couple of months from various Charity shops near me.

 The first picture is my suede shearling gilet which is by a brand called Faded Glory which I think is American. I've got  a bit of a thing for gilets at the moment and this one goes with so many things. Its also really warm surprising and only cost me £3!

The dress is from Topshop and was a massive bargain, it has a lovely crochet top and a floaty skirt. The tag said £6 but it has a small hole under the arm which I mentioned at the til and they reduced it by 50%! I was buying a few bits which helped but it shows its always worth asking. I would always haggle at a charity shop if the stuff wasn't up to scratch. 

This little waistcoat I haven't had a chance to wear yet, its from Primark which I wouldn't normally buy from a charity shop as its usually a similar price anyway. There was something about this, I think it was the colours, that made me buy it. It will definitely brighten up my very dark wardrobe!

I've never really like peplum tops as they don't suit my shape but this one i had to buy as it was buy one get one free in the shop! Its from George at Asda and is a size 8 which would normally be too small for me but after losing a stone (thanks Crohns!) it now fits well and is a nice smart top. 

The final picture is a white River Island top i got for £2. Its got tiny zebras over it and has a cute pocket to make it look more casual. It looks good with my new jeans and a gilet!