Back to work...

I am starting a new job tomorrow where the dress code is formal. Therefore I went out and got some items to better prepare my wardrobe for my new challenges.

Nude pump wedges from Primark for 12,00€. They are going to be very comfortable to wear during a long work day.

A black blazer from H&M for 29,99€. The blazer will go well with my many dresses - anything can look more formal with a blazer.

In H&M they have an offer right now: if you buy for over 30€, they will give you a gift card for 5€. As I had bought the blazer, I had a 5€ to spend and found this shirt. The shirt was normally 14,99€, but was on sales (mid season?) for 10€. So all in all I paid 5€ for it.

Believe it or not; even more stuff from Primark

So I start to see a pattern here; apparently outside of the Sales seasons Primark is the only place I shop! Good thing that the semi annual sales are coming up next month so we can get some variety from me!

Anyways, I was back in Primark in L'Illa Diagonal (twice this month!) and here are the pics of the things I got.

I'm going on holidays to a tropical island, so I wanted to get some beach clothes. This dress which also can be turned into a skirt was 10€.

I also got this beach dress, which I think will be very nice to put over the bikini after being on the beach. It also has the cut you see everywhere (short front, longer in the back) that must be the cut of the season. It was 7€.

I also needed new jeans (in general) and found these two skinny jeans. I couldn't decide on the colour so I got the darker as well as the light blue ones. The fabrics are quite light, and they look nice with the legs rolled up so they will go well for summer as well. 15€ per pair.

And then the shoes; got a pair of snake patterned ballerinas for 6€, a pair of espadrilles for 5€ as well as a pair of leather sandals with a small heel for 15€.

I also found this dress with a black belt and bottoms in the back, it was on sales for only 5€.

A scarf is always useful, summer and winter. This one is a mix of leopard and zebra pattern, it cost 4€

I also needed a small bag for the holidays and found this one with leopard pattern on sales for only 2€. I also got this new very clever thing; a bag organizer. Basically its for the oversized bags where you can never find anything cos they are lost somewhere in the bottom of the bag. The idea is that you put the organizer within the big bag and thanks to all its little pockets its again possible to find all your stuff. It cost 3,5€

And last but not least, just wanted to add a picture of my cat that represents very well the love I think most women have for shoes.. ;)

Stuff from Primark

I was back in Primark the other day (the one in the centre la Illa), and found different funny things as usual for very reasonable prices.

A couple of funny dishcloths for 1,5€ each.

A pair of very comfortable ballerinas for 6€.

Nail polish remover wipes (1,5€) - very practical when you go travelling and you need to fix or remove your nail polish!

New Primark opening in L'Illa Diagonal

Yesterday a new Primark opened in Barcelona in the shopping centre L'Illa Diagonal.
The shopping center is easy to get to; you can either take the metro on the green line to the station Maria Cristina or take one of the following busses: 6, 7, 30, 33, 34, 63, 66, 67, 78.


The store is located on the -1 (and -2) floor. This Primark is a much bigger than the one in Diagonal Mar with two huge floors. I was there on the opening day and the shop was full with people. Despite the crowd, it was very nice to that they offered me a new shopping basket (without holes!) and for once I could almost find all the sizes that I needed.

On the upper floor you can find clothes for women as well as shoes and accessories.


On the lower floor there is clothes for children and men as well as Home products.



I got mainly Christmas presents as well as some basics for me. As I was there for the opening they gave me this I heart Primark bag for free.

Second Primark in Barcelona (Cornellá)

Apart from the Primark in Diagonal Mar Shopping Centre, there is actually a second Primark in Barcelona. Well, almost - it is located just outside of Barcelona in Cornellá. Last year the new shopping centre Splau was built (just next to the new football stadium for the football team Espanyol) and in there you can find the Primark store.



The easiest way to get there is to take the Ferrocarril de la Generalitat (local train) from Pl. Espanya to the station Cornellá Riera (takes around 15 minutes). From the station you have to walk around 10 minutes to get to the centre. You can also go there with the metro, taking the blue line until the station Cornellá Centre.



This Primark is much bigger than the one in Diagonal Mar with 2.417 square meter divided on two floors. This means that it is much easier to see and find products and of course that there is a much bigger range of products to chose between. To my relief there was also almost no queueing for the dressing rooms or the till.

Apart from various Christmas present I found a couple of things to take home:

Dark blue skinny jeans for 10,99€.


Beige coloured dress on sale for 7€ (was 17€).

Visiting Bournemouth

A couple of weeks ago I visited the beautiful beach town Bournemouth, situated in the south of England.

All though I was there on business, I had to visit a few stores and found some nice accessories:


In T.K.Maxx I found these sunglasses from Lucky Brand, 9,99 pounds.


In Primark I found a zebra maxi scarf (3,99 pounds), a necklace with horses and a horse shoe (1,49 pounds) and a mascara (0,99 pounds).

Shopping on Oxfordstreet

I went to London for a weekend a couple of weeks ago. I honestly never do any thing cultural or touristic when I am in London cos I always manage to spend all my time on Oxford street and this time was no exception.

What I usually do is to start in Topshop where they have amazing clothes and you can spot the latest trends. Nevertheless, for my wallet its a bit too expensive so, I normally end up in the other end of Oxfordstreet in Primark where you can find similar stuff but for much less.

New in Topshop I discovered a mini cupcake sales stand and fish pedicure (seems to be everywhere at the moment).


To find on the ground floor with the accessories.


To find on the -2 floor.


On my down Oxfordstreet towards Primark, I saw that they are opening a Forever21 in London too! Can't wait to visit next time I'm there...


I visited Clarks and found these very practical (especially when its raining, which it of course was) and comfortable shoes. They had a sales, so they were reduced from 39,99 pounds to 24,99 pounds.

In Primark I got the following:


Summer dress, reduced from 10 pounds to 5 pounds.


Another dress, 10 pounds.


Some accessories: Blue ballerinas for 4 pounds, sunglasses 1 pound and shoes for the boyfriend 3 pounds.

Shopping in Primark (again...)

I also visited Primark in Diagonal Mar last week. Even though it can be a stressful experience shopping in Primark on a Saturday afternoon, I still manage to come out of the store with a bag full of clothes. This Saturday they had a lot of things on sales, and since it very cheap before sales you can really get a lot of stuff for nearly no money.



I got a couple of cardigans for 8€ piece.



Then I made some really great bargains with these things that were on sale. I found two basic turtle-necks (one in black and one with stripes) for 2€ a piece and a Wonder Woman t-shirt for € (reduced from 10€)

Shopping in London

I visited London last week, hoping to enjoy the sales. I think arriving over one week after the sales have started is a bit too late though and I ended up buying most things in Primark as usual..

I have to say that is has been 1,5 years since I had been to London and I found many new shops. It's like you find a selection of the coolest shops in the world and there are all there on and around Oxfordstreet; you will find most of the Spanish shops (mostly Inditex) such as Zara, Mango, Massimo Dutti, Bershka and Tezenis (was surprised to find a huge shop one of the corners of Oxford Cirkus), you have some of the Danish shops such as Vera Moda and Bik Bok, you have Japanese shops such as Uniqlo and other shops that I personally like such as Urban Outfitters, Dorothy Perkins and All Saints. As always I also visited Topshop on Oxford Cirkus - a great shop but did not find any must-haves this time. Nevertheless, I wanted to reccomend the new restaurant/coffee shop they got downstairs, called Eat. Healthy sandwiches and soups with an Asian twist. I got a vegetable-noodle soup with duck dumplings - yum!




Back to the shopping; I found a long blue skirt in New look, reduced to 10,00 pounds and then the rest I bought in Primark.




I got a long blue cardigan (12,00 pounds),


- a t-shirt (3 pounds), a black cardigan (6 pounds) and a small bag (4 pounds).

Some stuff from Primark

Went to Diagonal Mar (shopping centre in Barcelona) where you find the only Primark of the city - therefore I had to stop by and get some stuff preparing me for the fall.


Black leather gloves - 8 euros (60 kr.).


Black ankle boots, 8 euros (60 kr.)


Grey skirt with with straps. On sale, the label said 3 euros but at the till I only paid 1 euro!



Black jersey with puff sleeves. Same as the skirt, was marked as 3 euros, but I only paid 1 euro. Primark can really be ridiculous cheap some times, with these prices they might as well give the clothes away!

Penneys equals Primark

I was recently in Dublin, Ireland, the country of origin of Primark. The main shop in Dublin was easy to find as it was on the main street; O'Connell street. Nevertheless, in it's home country Primark has another name, which is Penneys. But when you enter the shop and see the products, they are all marked with Primark and they have the same products as anywhere else, so its basically the same thing.
The shop has 3 floors, but is quite small compared to the Primarks you will find in England. But I did manage to find a few bargains...

A grey jumper with embellished shoulders - on sale for 3€

Baggy jeans with an elastic band at the ankles - was 17€, on sale for 5€

Sailor type jumper with red buttons at the shoulder - 6€

Shopping in Brighton

I love to shop when I travel, or is it travel to shop... Either way, Brighton (UK) is one of my favourite cities do so. Not only does it has a beach, a good climate (for England) and a really open-minded a laid back atmosphere, you also find great shops there.

I also like to go shopping in England to observe new trends, which normally start in England and then move on to the rest of Europe. Yes, I know you can do this on the internet too, but I do enjoys tumbling around in shops and of course do some people watching while I am there.

Brighton has two main different "shopping scenes": Firstly The lanes and North lain, where you will find small, different, funky, retro, fashionable, 2nd and antique shops (as well as restaurants and bars). I guess you can compare with some areas of London, such as Camden or Portobello, but I personally prefer going to Brighton.
Secondly, the other main shopping area is around Churchill square, where you will find a shopping centre and around it many high street shops. All though I really enjoy walking around in the small lanes and finding small gadgets, I normally end up doing my shopping around Churchill square.

Now a list of the shops I visit the most when I go to Brighton:

- T.K.Maxx: outlet of designer labels. A great place to go if you have time and a bit of patience. They sell everything from clothes, accessories, beauty products to things for your house. The shop itself is a bit messy, but have a look at their web page, where you also can find great bargains. E.g. this CK handbag - was 100 pounds, now 50 pounds.

.

Personally I love the shop for its accessories; I have taken home several handbags and designer sunglasses from there, not paying more than 20 pounds per pair.


- Office: My favourite English shoe shop. It's not cheap, but the shoes are fabulous!

- Topshop: I rarely end up buying in there, but it's great for inspiration.

- Miss Selfridge: Tophop's little sister - same style and more or less same prices as Topshop.

- New look: English fashion and high street. Cheaper that Topshop, but more expensive than it was some years ago. Here you can find shoes and boots for no more than 20 pounds.

- Primark: Love the store in Brighton - 3 floors huge floors of accessible fashion. I always end up coming out with a bag full of things. This time I controlled myself and only bought the things you see below for a mere 16 pounds.




General spotted trends: new collections look quite similar to previous ones. Main trends which I saw in almost all the shops are the sailor one (everything is in blue - red - white, white stripes and anchor pictures) and clothes in light/pastel salmon colours.

Results of the Sales Shopping

As promised in my previous post; here some of the results from the January Sales.


One of my first purchases was this blazer with matching trouser from Zara, which I bought for the office (even though the blazer can easily be used as casual wear as well).
When is comes to outfits, it is always a good idea to buy them one of the first days of the sales, otherwise you risk not finding one of the parts in your size. Therefore, I would not call this the buy of the year all though it was reduced some.
Blazer was before 40€, was now reduced to 30€. The trousers were 30€ before, now was reduced to 20€ - all in all 50€ for the whole suit.

Also still during the first week of shopping, we went to Primark, which I have previously mentioned, had surprisingly good sales.
I found this purple winter coat. Was before 35€ and now reduced to under half price: 15€.











Last week I went to Mango, where I found this dress, also really good for the work wardrobe. Before it was 75€ and now reduced to 20€.
This year in they have had amazing sales in Mango!