I succumbed to Boxing Day consumerism...

...and here is my Topshop sales haul:

Patent phone sleeve - £5. I saw it the other day while Christmas shopping, stroked it and put it back as I already have a perfectly nice turquoise Smythson phone sleeve - but for £5 this is fun, will make a change, and I love the colour.

Mid heel ballerina shoes - leather - £15. Any leather shoe at £15 is likely to attract my interest - but being on the short side, a mid heeled shoe in a ballerina style is an ideal combination for me. Will be good with crops for spring.  NB also available in snake print but alas not in my size...

Rhinestone shield earrings and curve bar earrings - they just caught my eye :-)  (I may keep, I may stash somewhere in my 'handy gifts for teenagers' department.)

Ladder stripe sweater in black - £12 - looks good over a simple vest top - revealing but still demure for the rare occasions I go out for dinner.

I am now off to look wistfully at holiday websites and wish I had the time, funds and wherewithall to escape for a rest...and when I've done that I shall be heading over to bathroom suppliers' websites to see if there are any bathroom bargains to be had - I am treating myself to a new bathroom in 2013!

Hope everyone has had a lovely Christmas.

More notes from (another) shopping expedition

As it says on the tin really, am very short of time, but just 'reporting in' from a shopping trip today. Mainly Christmas shopping (i.e. not for me!) but a few things I felt were too good to miss:

H&M sparkly top dress - really nice - £14.99 - bought? Kerching - you bet!!

H&M hessian sack.... er no wait, actually long knit tunic - for some reason I can't quite fathom - also really like. Bought. £24.00 - unsure why so much more than dress?

H&M zip front dress. Liked. Bought. OH decalres it tarty (?!). Ignoring him for the time being, naturellement - until I get YOUR verdict...!

H&M red crops. Similar to some from Boden which I never got around to ordering. Didn't get. (a) too springlike. (b) Bad fit at rear.

 Sparkly skirt from Topshop. Velvet fabric, stretchy. Should have been great.

But how annoying it is when the patterns don't match at the sides?!  Didn't get. Not terribly flattering over the lumps and bumps anyway I felt. Probably made worse by fact that tried on over trousers as was getting fed up / tired - so didn't give it my best shot!

Shopping ensemble (only included for benefit of decent lighting!)

Love the H&M dress - am out this evening and am wearing it :-)

A mixed bag (and why I'm 'in the navy'...)

Recently I have realised I should never have decided, or even considered, that navy was boring. I like navy and navy likes me. Just because it's dark and a fairly unexciting colour, is not reason to discount it!  I have recently seen lots of people looking nice in navy and thought - hmm that looks really good, why did I ever think it was a good idea to (while not banish entirely)  restrict navy?!

To this end (rebel that I am not) I today bought a navy jumper. A bargainous navy jumper at that.

I was in H&M looking for children's wares, and happened to pass this on the way in. It was £7.99 - yes you read right! - and frankly it would have been rude and uncharitable of me to have left it on the rail.  Even more so considering it is 50% cotton, (and 50% acrylic).  It's a nice long-line style, (tunic-like) and I know I will wear lots. Yes it's boring, but (sadly) - it's SO me!

Even better still....(oh shallow me)... they only had a size 'small' which I duly tried on, after many failures of hope over experience in the past - and it fitted perfectly!  Either the sizing was mighty generous (likely) or my half hearted diet is making progress (less likely).  Although, as an aside, and I know Sue from Susie So So is with me here - I eat far less when shopping. It just wastes valuable time. There you go - think of shopping as a work-out and weight loss activity and it's not so bad is it?!

Anyway - here's the jumper:

H & M - £7.99

Next it was back to investment buying.

I can't recall or not if I've mentioned what a big fan I am of The White Company. They completely 'get' what I want from clothes. Sometimes, not fashionable or exciting or 'on trend' - just wearable, good quality muted colours and classic shapes, updating the best sellers each season so you can buy more of what you love in a (hopefully) even better shape or colour.  I love them and could spend oodles in there. The furniture and bed linen are also divine, as are the toiletries.

Today I tried, loved and bought a beige (they call it 'mink') 'stepped hem sweater'. It's a basic relaxed fit, quite square, with nice fitted sleeves, which I think stop it looking too 'undone'.  90% wool and 10% cashmere.  £85.  Silly me, I forgot to use my 10% discount card, so will have to re-order it online and return the full price one. I've only just remembered about the discount card, such was my haste to buy this.

It will last for years I'm sure.

Today I also wore another White Company favourite, a charcoal grey 85% cashmere, with a bit of cotton and elastene I think, tunic from last year, which has cap sleeves and is great for layering. I wore over a black long sleeved Gap 'Body' t shirt (very fine, also great for layering) and Primark black cropped trousers which were about £9 or something back in the summer but are fine for all year round I'd say!  Oh, and finished off with my Topshop Millicent studded boots.

Finished the look with a sparkly black / bronze scarf which I bought in our local town for next to nothing a couple of years ago - either Peacocks or Internationale - or one of those shops which you tend to find in provincial shopping centres....was about £5 or similar and is fab. Just goes to show - investment dressing is all very fine - but never be a slave to a name or price bracket!

I mentioned my toe-nails the other day - and (just for you Avril!!) here is the rather amateur - though definitely an improvement on what they were - result.

Colour is Essie Rock the Croc:

Finally - hence the apt title of today's post 'Mixed Bag' - I must alert you all to this month's Marie Claire magazine which has a great freebie of a L'Occitane mini size hand cream. This really does sell in L'Occitane stores for £8 - so you it's well worth the £3.70 cover price. Also included is a random Dove haircare sample - which I can't vouch for - but the L'Occitane hand cream is brilliant. (I've already bought 3 Marie Claires...and counting!)

Shimmer star jumper, it was meant to be...

Sometimes you only truly realise you love something after it has gone.

A deep statement, with far too many levels to explore fully here.

As this is a (sort of) fashion blog, I will keep it very superficial and say that I bought, then returned, this Topshop star print jumper a week or so ago, and now I miss it and want it back - doh!  Will I never learn?

('Darn, I thought I'd escaped being owned by a madwoman...')

The fuel and parking costs will have practically doubled the cost. I think I'd better order it online this time.

I feel very foolish. It is just me that has mad capers back and forth like this?  Please don't tell me I am the only mad, indecisive one here...!

I am also very confused, as it didn't seem to work that well with my other clothes when it was in my possession, but I just really liked it. I seem to remember a while back I wrote a post called 'just wear what you love...'  and I suppose there are worse ways to decide on your clothes!  But (in my case, at any rate) it has the potential for a rather haphazard - or let's be polite, eccentric - approach to dressing yourself.

As long as no readers of this blog expect sensible, level headed capsule wardrobe advice, we'll all be just fine!

Armed with a credit note, into the breach I go

And my spoils: this rather attractive little bracelet from New Look (coming in at £3.99)...

New Look Gold Spike Gem Stretch bracelet....all of £3.99

Incidentally why is it, that when you have 'free' money (well a credit note, same thing) that it is so hard to find anything you actually want to spend it on?!  I still have £5.02 credit for Pete's sake....!

My new Zara coat got its first airing today.

Sorry about the appalling lighting on the photo below - see earlier post here for a better colour.

Zara down filled coat (not on website) but was in store today - £89.99

I decided to keep the 'greige' - despite returning to try on the slightly different navy style again.

Just to give you a flavour of the mental dilemma I go through when trying to choose between two coats... I will expound my reasons why I thought the navy (the version not bought, you understand) was so good.

Well yes, it is great, except that:
(a) I have so much navy already, my base layers are usually darker colours, and with a navy down jacket on top, I risk merging into one undulating navy blob; and 
(b) I am not sure I want a hood on show at all times

The greige has a hood concealed in the collar, but as I am no longer in 'walking in all weather with a pushchair' territory, I don't feel the need for a hood to be on hand at all times.  If you are in this territory however, then I would recommend the navy coat. The thing I did like with the navy was that the zip from the front simply continues up and around the hood - meaning that you can zip the front of the coat as high as you desire. (You could, in theory, zip the coat right up to the top, encasing your whole head in the hood: but unless you want to be a blind, undulating navy blob, it's probably best not to go for this look - unlike me who did in Zara just to amuse OH. Disclaimer: I am a loon!)

In all seriousness though, those of us who have braved all winds and weathers with hands otherwise engaged with pushchair / shopping / little hands etc - and who never have a hand free to yank up hood which the whistling head wind is determined to push back off of your head - the navy coat would be a godsend. You could zip up over the nose and just leave a hands-free spy-hole. Anyway, that's enough about zips and that particular navy coat which I didn't buy but can see so many reasons TO buy. (In another life.)

I also wore my new Topshop Millicent (partially) studded boots today.

(They seem to have mysteriously disappeared from the TS website but may be available in store. I got them about 10 days ago - £40.... bargain?!)

Probably not the best weather to debut a suede item... but they held up pretty well.

I see that Topshop are also now stocking a fully studded version (called Adios2) with a slightly higher block heel, but - as OH (my reluctant, uninvited style guru) advised me - these are 'too OTT'.  (Well he would say that, wouldn't he!)

Topshop 'Adios2' - £70

Underneath the greige jacket, was a Tesco navy skirt (not cord but soft cotton, will do for now) and a white swingy a-line style Jigsaw t-shirt. Mucho flattering.

Tesco soft navy pencil skirt - £14

The necklace is another Primark bargain (currently in store) and is rather good I think, ticking several autumnal, jewel-like, opulent boxes.

Primark - £4

Spot the difference

Here's where blogging (from a reader's point of view) gets tricky. Where do you draw the line between inspiration and slavish buying?!

Exhibit 1:  Me

Has Toast denim shirt (which probably cost small fortune). Admittedly had forgotten about, but that's a separate problem...
Sees bargainous New Look denim shirt on the gorgeous Beth from Style Guile.
Prefers bargainous New Look shirt.
Buys bargainous New Look shirt.
Now has two very similar denim shirts.
Drat.

New Look (left); Toast (right)

There's nothing wrong with my Toast shirt, per se.

But the New Look version has some nice touches, like the curved side hem and pearlescent buttons (poppers). It also has a more fitted shape. 

As you can tell, the wardrobe edit is hardly going to plan. I'm meant to be weeding out duplicates and unnecessary items - not accumulating more!

Here they are on - sorry for poor photo quality, hope you get the idea:

Toast version

New Look version

In other news, I think I will have to return the Topshop star print jumper. Love it. Love the feel of it. However, it... I don't know.... it just doesn't seem to work with what I have - which as you may have detected is my new rationale for purchasing - and keeping - items.  

Actually, that's not strictly true. It did work a bit better (was less starry) when I added a gilet, but I was unsure whether or not that was necessarily a good sign. I'll leave you with the photos:

Sans Gilet

Avec Gilet (by Musto, should anyone care).

One further purchase to report today. A bag from the New Look sale.

'Bella boucle bag' - New Look

Was cheap. Looks it (I fear) - on close inspection anyway. 

I do like the boucle fabric and the big stud-like clasp (me... studs.... bags... hmm, a theme...?) 

Anyhow, the white piping around the edge detracts a bit. But overall it's OK. For £6.

I'm stuck with it anyway, as I discovered today that New Look do not refund on sale items. Although I suppose I could always get a credit note, maybe then I could buy another denim shirt - why stop at two...! :-)

More studs....

Heaven help me, I bought another studded tote from Primark. This one is, possibly, subtler and therefore may be more successful than the earlier experiment here (which ended up being returned).

Here's the latest one, in all its glory:

I'm still unsure why I keep being drawn to these bags, but I guess for £9 it's a risk worth taking, although normally my philosophy is not to buy something purely because it's cheap.

Now, as if a studded bag wasn't enough, I also picked up some studded boots in Topshop. These are unbelievably comfortable, and being a practical creature these days (most of the time!) this swayed my decision more than anything. OK, the fact that they have the seemingly inescapable studs, and hence look reasonably 'with it' helps a bit as well I guess!  

The style is called 'Millicent' and here's the Topshop website link (have just seen they have good reviews on there, so maybe a wise buy):

And finally... a coat. I bought this in Zara and it's very warm, soft, light and snuggly, all the things I look for in a coat. Stye, you note, not being on the list - oops!  

I'm torn between this one (which is not on the Zara website) and another which I also tried on and which I think looks much better in real life (see lower down).  

I ended up buying the 'greige' colour as I have so much else in navy... but I wonder if it was a wise decision. Navy suits me and it's more practical - I may decide to change it.

The coat I bought

The coat I didn't buy

Decisions...decisions.

The leopard print

I have been having a small crisis over the Primark leopard print skinny jeans.

• Can a 40 year old woman really wear this look without channelling Bet Lynch? And...
• The skinnies are not so skinny, (obvious really on my chubby little legs - but there's still surplus fabric there) and that's before any stretch.  I'd sized up as I assumed Primark (being cheap) would not be generous in the sizing - more likely the reverse. I have no idea if that's normally the case. Hmm what to do - change for normal size or abandon altogether....? Any advice here?

I can't decide if they are hideous on me or not. Hubby said they looked better on than he expected (what kind of a backhanded compliment is that?!)  Cardigan - old charcoal/ smoke coloured Jigsaw chiffon trim (fished out at random so the whole look is not quite 'there').  Bag is my lovely Mulberry Mitzy. (Outlet bargain!)

Best thing is the bag!

Earlier in the day I had been wearing my new black Primark capris (bought yesterday) with a nude Primark vest and an old Topshop blush / beige voile blouse with a ruffled front. I love blush / beige and wear a lot of it as it works well with my favourites navy, white, tan and black and (dare I claim it) forms the basis of a good 'capsule' collection for me. Shoes are trusty White Stuff beige suede wedges. 

Capris - Primark; Vest - Primark; Blouse - Topshop (old); Shoes - White Stuff (old)

(Sorry the photos are a bit dark and blurry, unsure why - but they are a lot better that the so called 'enhanced' version iphoto offered me!)

Trusty White Stuff wedges from last year

Also below is a close-up of my bargain Asos gold leather sandals from my post the other day - £7 in the sale and still available on the Asos website here although only in smaller sizes now, I see. They have them in other colours too - see here. (I am considering getting the orange version as well as I like them so much.) 

Asos Fearne Gold Sandals - £7 bargain :-)