Haul – Shopping for London and Shopping in London

On preparation for visiting the Bloggers Festival, I was seriously suffering with ‘I have nothing to wear’ syndome, whilst wildly untrue, the days leading up to last Saturday said it was going to rain.

I threw away most of my tired autumn clothes last year, and haven’t got to the replacing them stage yet. So hit the shops to get some new bits and pieces (none of which I wore!). Turns out I didn’t need to worry as whilst it wasn’t raining, but it was rather grey – it was hot, and even in a skirt and tights I was boiling!

Naturally one can not simply visit London without doing some form of shopping – I met up with Rachwat, and we hit Lush’s Oxford Street Store, and I popped into a few other shops before and after too. So here’s everything I got when Shopping For Going to London (which I didn’t need or use!) and everything I bought whilst Shopping in London!

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Shopping for London

Topshop – Triple Row Gem Necklace (£10)

I love the look of Layered necklaces, but I don’t have any in my collection that are too suited for layering. I thought this was a nice simple one which would go with most outfits. I don’t normally pay full price for any topshop or ‘insert every similar shop’ jewellery as they go into the sale very quickly and tend to be heavily discounted, and what can be £18 is £4 a few weeks later. Quality can be so hit and miss on them which is why I don’t like spending lots, I did wear this Saturday and it’s already starting to tarnish – and I was careful to make sure I didn’t get any perfume close to it.

Oasis – Bretton Jumper (£35)

I don’t often shop in Oasis, as I often find that the prices are often a little pricey. I fell in love with this jumper when I spotted it and when I picked it up and felt the material I had to have it as the material was so soft and snuggly, a new wardrobe staple for autumn for me.

Dorothy Perkins – Gold Waterfall Cardigan (£18)

I spotted this on a mannequin and tried on the whole outfit, I resisted buying it all as whilst it looked good, I had things that could easily substitute in for the jeans and the top that went underneath. I’ve been wearing this a few times already and is a piece that easily transitions from summer into autumn. It looks nice with a strappy top, which I thought would be perfect paired with shorts for holiday. It also looks nice with a plain long sleeved white or black top too – so will bring me lots of use coming into Autumn and Winter. I’m fussy with fabrics with a glitter running through them as I tend to find them itchy – this was nice and soft.

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Shopping in London

Kiko

I got there a little earlier than expected for meeting Rachael, so I popped into Kiko (which is right as you come up from Oxford Street underground) for a quick browse. I got my hands on some of their long lasting eyeshadow sticks (£6.90 each), whilst the caps on them all look quite similar – they are different!

I also picked up a Volume Attraction mascara that was on sale for £3.90 as a lot of ones I have are on their last legs. I should be finishing up the ones I already have, but have already started using this – it’s good from the get go (I normally find mascaras need drying out a bit to work well for me).

I also picked up nail polish in ‘347 Dark Green‘ that was in the sale for £2.50, a beautiful deep forest green that’s perfect for autumn, I’m already wearing this so expect a post on it soon.

Because I spent over £25 I got a free Colour Definition Eyeliner pencil and Kajal in shade 04, it’s a beautiful deep royal blue – I never verge away from black, but have been meaning to, so I’m looking forward to trying this.

Lush

     

I met Rachael at the Oxford Street Lush Store to be emerged in 3 floors of lush goodness. It’s a very interactive store with bath bombs and some kind of shower putty making going off everywhere. We were greeted with a hand mask to wear as we went around, which was a bizzarre experience as we shopped with one rubber glove on for about 45 minutes! Whilst I do like the idea of lush bath bombs and have very very rarely treated myself to one, I’ve always disliked spending £4-6 on something which doesn’t make my skin feel any better. I opted for 2 bath melts (I have no idea what they are as I can’t find them on the website and they weren’t labelled) which are made of more nourishing ingredients. I’ve used the one on the left called Island…. something, and it made the bath feel much richer than a normal bath bomb. I also picked up a pink flamingo bubble bar which is reusable, I used this at the same time as my melt and it added a bright pink hue in the bath and made the bathroom smell like bubble gum. Whilst yes it added nothing to the bath, it is reusable and I think I’d get 3 more uses out of this at least.

Topshop – Ballet Flats (£16)

I wore the wrong shoes, heeled boots which are all day office friendly are not all day walking around London friendly! After the bloggers festival I wanted to cut off my own feet they were hurting so bad. I headed back to oxford street underground and dragged myself across the street to the nearest shop. Probably the least attractive shoes I could have purchased, but my god did they feel good!

Debenhams – Bikini in sale for £33 – Not Online

I was really struggling to find any bikinis online that had stock of my size, and anything that I found was either ludicrously expensive, or had no matching bottoms in the right size. I decided the easiest thing to do was to head to an actual shop and find something that fitted in time for my holiday (in precisely 20 days – eeeeek 🙂 ). I found out when I got to the till that it was in the Sale too so managed to grab this for £33 (a luxury for bigger breasted women).

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What do you think of my purchases?

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