Cardiff's New Primark Store (and haul...!)

Hello there!

Happy weekend lovelies!

I hope you've got some fun things planned. I'm at a close friends wedding today and have been looking forward to it for months! It's a small wedding but a rather large party so I imagine it will be a lot of fun.

I've had a few shopping trips recently, although I'm pretty poor it has been such a long time since I've bought clothes properly that all of them seem to be falling apart. I mean I'm at the stage where some clothes are too big where I've lost weight, some have holes in where I've worn them so much and some just are NOT in fashion any more.

So when Primark opened their brand new absolutely fabulously big store on Queen Street in Cardiff it would have been a travesty for me not to go and check it out wouldn't it?

This was my first purchase and it was a steal at £12. I cannot believe that this BEAUTY of a top was ONLY £12!!!

Look at the beautiful details and stunning patterns.

This top might not be silk and it might not be hand sewn but let's face it, with this much elegance who on earth cares?!

Even the bottom hem of the top is edged with the same gorgeous iridescent coral sequins, and I love a bit of coral (read obsessed).

When I saw this gorgeous jersey maxi skirt next to it for a bargain £10 it was in the basket before I blinked. Even my mum was impressed that as of yet, i hadn't picked up a tshirt nor a black item of clothing.

A bit further into this new stores 5 floors (FIVE!) and I found this super cool navy and white maxi skirt with huge polka dots and thigh splits. This was the first maxi skirt I ever tried on and the polka dots with the thigh splits just sold it for me.
Spots are my favourite pattern and the splits allow me to move freely with a lovely breeze to cool me down.

Look at those splits! There's one on either side too so it helps to keep my modesty during a particularly sudden gust of wind.

So eventually the black tshirt related item did make it into the basket! But it must be acceptable when it's this cute right?!

I love American sports style clothing and this is so comfy and goes with leggings and jeans for a slouchy weekend.

This floral tshirt dress is also a comfy purchase, its very short on me as I'm taller than your average but its a very pretty print and I love the colours.

Who on earth doesn't love tshirts like these? Paired with jeans, denim shorts or just as a beach cover up I love a tshirt especially when they're as cheap as these.

I'm a huge super hero fan and this Wonder Woman tshirt is a new favourite of mine. It's a lovely baggy tshirt and is great for dress down days at work.

The Coco Cola tshirt is another great one, plain white tee with a simple logo. Simple is always best I think!

Who doesn't love a pair of sunglasses as happy and summery as these? They remind me of the frames that Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum wear on 22 Jump Street, loads of people had these on at Glastonbury in a myriad of colours. They just seem to go with everything due to the dual colours.

Lastly, at £3 a pair it would have been REALLY rude not to pick up at least a few of the colours of these pumps. The grey and white are staples every year for me but the floral and pink are new additions. £12 for four pairs of the pumps means that they can be worn to death and thrown out at the end of every summer. Let's face it, they always stink after a few months of wear and although you can put them in the washing machine they never turn out the same!

So what do you think of my buys?

I think the new store has a much better lay out that the previous store and a much wider variety of stock. They have allegedly taken on a total of 600 employees for this store so it's not surprising that it so much better organised.

I am almost certain I will be making many returns and have been on a bit of a shoe haul recently, a new post will be sure to make it onto the blog soon!

L xxx

Cabot Circus

Morning!

I had an absolutely amazing week off and did so much more than I thought i would. All those little things I planned on doing like sorting out my shoes, books etc have not happened at all!
Never mind eh.......I did go shopping with my mum to Cabot Circus one day and I had a bit of a haul at Primark!

I've been craving a holiday for years....the last time I went was a good 4/5 years ago so I'm really looking forward to some genuine sun. I'm planning on a trip to Thailand in November so need some new summer clothes and also have Glastonbury coming up. I don't expect to be keeping the clothes after they've served me at a festival and backpacking so I went straight for Primark, cheap and cheerful!

I picked up some shorts to start with, they go with everything and are easy to wear. The ones above were about £3.50 i think, so a really good price.
I have a pair of denim shorts already but another pair are always handy. These are a boyfriend cut with a bit of fraying detail and are a bit longer than normal so should deal with every situation.





No festival goer worth their tent will be there without some accessories....I've picked up this hat and the flower headbands/crown which I'll be featuring in an upcoming post as they're just too good for the money!





I know for certain that aside from shorts; dresses will be my go to whilst travelling, and so I've picked up a few cotton ones to be worn as cover ups.



The one above will be perfect for the beach and the dresses below are exactly the same just orange and white in colour (and a bargain £5 each!)

 



I love this kind of detail on summer clothes (broderie anglaise isn't it??!) its so lightweight and breathable.

That was it for my trip to Primark and I ended up buying a bikini in Next. The weather was AWFUL at the time and cold and rainy, so it felt really weird to be buying such a summery item but it was too good to miss and they had my size in stock....it was a sign!







I do love stripy things and the pink gives it an updated twist. Hopefully it will look good when I'm super pasty and when I've got a bit of a tan going!

Lastly I went to New Look and was obviously having a shorts oriented day...I couldn't resist picking up these two. The black and white patterned pair could be worn during the day with a floaty top, on the beach or out in the evenings for casual meet ups. The grey ones match the bikini perfectly! They were made for each other with the pink accents.

The bikini retails at £10 for the top and £6 for the bottoms.
The shorts were £10-12 each.

I had a lush day browsing with my mum and could have spent so much more! We both spent a good while in Aldo checking out the bags and shoes; there was so much we wanted we had to go and do a lap of the centre before returning! Why don't we have one of those in Cardiff?? They'd make a fortune!

What do you think of my purchases? Are you buying similar items for your holidays?

What's your number one item you'll be stocking up on this summer?


Do you have any travel tips for Thailand?

I cannot wait to go and experience a totally different country, especially those idyllic beaches from paradise!

L xxx

London at Christmas: Part 1

Good morning!

On Monday I went to London with my mum for a bit of Christmas shopping and soaking up the festive spirit; I mean where else would you go in the UK for the ultimate window displays and Christmas lights!

We had an amazing time eating and drinking and wandering around many department stores, I ached for 2 days afterwards from the amount of walking and the carrying of shopping!

I actually took so many photos that I've ended up having to separate them into two posts. The window displays and lights were so gorgeous that I had to take more photos and it would be a shame not to show them all!

We managed to get to Liberty, Selfridges, Harrods and Covent Garden all within a day which was a pretty great achievement considering we walked the majority of the distances. This post will be about Liberty and Selfridges as we visited those first.

I don't think the front of the Liberty store needs any introduction; it's a gorgeous Tudor style building in the centre of London amidst boring concrete blocks and its such a surprise walking around the corner to find it.

I love the details like the soldiers at the doors to the chocolate shop; you don't get that anywhere else!

In the centre of the store is the infamous hall where there is currently a Matilda display. I have had the pleasure of going to the show of Matilda and it was amazing; seeing this display taken from the show was a lovely reminder of how amazing it was, it's one of my favourite films.

There were tonnes of products in Liberty that I could have snapped up. One of my favourite things in all the world are books. When I saw these books lined up on a stand I couldn't help but take a photo. It's my aim in life to have a huge book case full of leather books and I have a large amount already hidden in a wardrobe waiting for me to move out. The Alice in Wonderland book I've seen many times online but I didn't realise you could actually buy it still!
I've added it to my Christmas list as they'd sold out in store and hopefully my mum will get it for me!

I did pick up a few chocolate bits from the chocolate store for presents and also a sneaky present for myself which I'm sure will be in a future post! I couldn't resist buying something as the bags are beautiful and free in England!

Selfridges was the next stop and we wandered there from Liberty stopping off in many shops along the way including Boots and Forever 21 where I was really naughty and spent money that I shouldn't have!

I couldn't help but take a photo of the sign; it is also iconic after the tv program Mr Selfridge.

Their window displays were amazing, all snow scenes with different objects that you can buy in store. My personal favourite was the snow globe with the Selfridges store inside, it's absolutely beautiful! Though for a window display I do think that maybe there should have been some fake snow flowing around the globe for better effect!

The window displays were out of this world, the YSL clutch bag tassle actually did swing as if someone was carrying it. 

I love how the swans were carrying bags on their backs like it was a normal thing to do!

I also couldn't believe that the Kitty Slippers ears actually wiggled!

All the displays were amazing and it took some fighting to get to the front of each window and take a decent photo! Lots of people obviously have the same idea.

For lunch we went to the food hall in Selfridges and had a house salad and a pot of tea:

It was the BEST house salad I've ever eaten and was worth every penny. After choosing what I wanted they take it into a metal bowl and mix it up with your chosen dressing and pour it back into your bowl.

It was so filling and the taste was out of this world that I devoured it and didn't need anything else at lunch which is a big surprise for me ha.

Have you been to Liberty or Selfridges yet this Christmas? Will you be going?

Have you tried any food at Selfridges lunch hall? What would you recommend for my next meal there? I found it so hard to choose!

L xxx

Recent Purchases

If you've been reading this blog for a while then you'll know that I've been jobless and therefore a little bit poor for quite a while now.

But obviously writing this and also being the spendaholic that I am I end up buying items that I mostly could live without.

Obviously I broke my spending ban again by going on a few little shopping trips and surfing eBay at home!

My first trip was into town and I ended up in Internacionale where I picked up a number of bracelets which were on offer, buy one get one half price.

For the past year I've mostly been obsessed wth make up, skin care and various other related products but my focus seems to have shifted recently to clothes, bags, shoes and jewellery!

I couldn't resist these bracelets, they look good together and with other items in my collection that can be added to any outfit to dress up/dress down

I loooooooove how shiny and sparkly they looked in the sun!
Definitely can't wait to be rocking these for the rest of the year, I love spikes and skulls and these were made for me.

They're currently all available in Internacionale and because of their deal (think its buy one get one half price) costs me about £8....bargain!

My next trip was to Matalan.

Between me and M we'd heard about their peplum tops somewhere along the grape vine and my mum promised she'd take me if I finished a part of my work. Incentives work ya know!

So I hastily typed my way to finishing the section of my diss and she took me there.
Funnily enough I text M whilst there to send her a picture of the peplums, where she replied saying she was also in Matalan but at home (which is a few hundred miles away!).

This was just too funny, not even spoken to each other all day yet happen to be in the same shop!

So here are Matalan's peplum tops.

I ended up buying the black and the white, though I wanted the maroon coloured one also in my store and the blue one M found in her store!

I was surprised as although they're less than half the price of the Topshop ones (coming in at £12 I think!) they're actually pretty good and fit really well.

I was also surprised that I liked the white one so much as I normally avoid lighter colours and expected it to be a bit see through but it wasn't at all.

In fact I forgot I took this photo in the changing room and here's what the white looked like on!

I think they're an absolute bargain and cannot wait to go out wearing them.

I also picked up some new leggings with zips on the hips (ooh!)

These are really thick and good quality, I only had to throw out my old ones as they went a bit grey after 2 years of hard core wearing so would definitely recommend these (£12 Papaya make in Matalan)

Also as if it was my lucky day these bags were right at the front of the store:

There were a few different colour combos but I picked up the navy and black one as I was instantly drawn to it whilst my mum struggled to choose between the camel and black, bottle green and black and the plum and black.

To be honest at the time these were down from £12 to £5 so I told her to pick up 2 and I can't even remember which one she actually picked up!

Definitely worth a trip down there if you're passing as there's some really good stuff there at the moment!

And last but not least my latest product buys (inevitably they exist too!)

I'm sure you're aware but both me and M have been struggling with our skin recently and having read much about Alpha H Liquid Gold we were both looking forward to trying it, but obviously skint students don't have much of a fund to use!

Eventually though the angry scars left on my face got to me and I found an ebay seller who had it for £25 with free postage so I instantly snapped it up.

After one use I've seen a difference and hopefully it will continue to improve (will be doing a full post on it!)

For those who don't know what it is, basically you use it as you would a toner after cleansing.

Pour some onto a cotton pad and swipe it over your face avoiding eyes and lips.

Then to let it work most effectively do NOT apply moisturiser, just eye cream if you want.

The main active ingredient in this is glycolic acid which helps to ward off any blemishes, heal scars and fight ageing, I was instantly won over by these multi tasking properties!

A full review will be up in a few weeks with pictures of the offending marks for you to decide if it was worth it or not.

Because of the acid effects, using SPF is a complete must so I purchased Avene high protection SPF for intolerant skin.

I've been meaning to get into using SPF and some of my moisturisers have it and others don't, so eventually I just bought this to be done with it and am hoping it doesn't cause me to break out having an extra layer on my face all day.

For £3 I couldn't help but want to see what the fuss was all about with the thermal spring water.

Me and M have had many conversations about it and whether it actually works and in a moment of weakness I snapped up a mini canister to try out whilst working at home on my dissertation. 

I'm looking forward to wearing and using these products asap!!

What have you been buying recently? Have you picked up any bargains?

L xxx