young hearts be free tonight...

so. i have finally finally decided to come back to blogging. and i will try (honestly!) to keep some kind of momentum now. it's just too easy to give up sometimes...

anyway. at least i have something semi-interesting to blog about. i did a big shop (well, big for me) last thursday, so i have decided to share my treats with you :)

i started at the university of the west of scotland on monday and i needed some new clothes. 'need' is perhaps an extension, 'want' is definitely more like it! i decided to arm myself with just £50 (and a little help from student cards and staff cards!) and see what i could get on glasgow's finest shopping streets...

i got this beautiful navy polka dot skirt from said work, H&M, after running around all three stores in central glasgow. it was only in the last one that they had any left. normally the fact that something is sold out sends me running away from it, but i had a skirt just like this in my head and i couldn't go home without one! it's £19.99 full price, but staff discount managed to get it down to around £15, which is lovely! it's such a flattering length and shape, a good a-line just above the knee, and it's fully pleated, although the pleats are soft and not sharp. i also got a black polka dot t-shirt from H&M too, normally £7.99, around £5 for me though. i didn't picture that, it's only a t-shirt :) i wore this skirt on the first day of uni, with shiny new shoes and a black body, trying to look chic!


my next buy was this gorgeous blouse! i love it. i saw a very very similar one in new look a couple of weeks ago, and featured it in my article here, but i couldn't fathom paying £20 for a blouse. so when i returned some stilettos to primark, i was looking for something to exchange them for, and i found this blouse. almost a carbon copy, except with prettier sleeves, and in ivory rather than pink, which for me is definitely more wearable! it was half the price of the new look blouse too, so i definitely think i've got the better deal! i can't wait to wear this tomorrow with navy high-waisted shorts and the shoes i'm just about to post about...!

my next two buys were definitely my biggest bargains of the day, both from new look. i saw this dress while i was visiting a friend a couple of weeks ago and thought it would be perfect for autumn, with it being burgundy, having a peter pan collar/cape and a midi length, but i couldn't be bothered buying it when i knew that the store nearest me would have it! so i made it my mission to find this dress and i wasn't disappointed. it was originally £27.99, but what with it having £10 off and 20% student discount, i got it for around £14.50, almost half price!

isn't it lovely?! and then i found these shoes, which i wanted ages ago, even before i moved, but they were about £30 and i was poor at the time. i was wandering around glasgow and went into the much quieter (read:much shabbier) new look on sauchiehall street, which most people seem to ignore in favour of the really flashy new one on buchanan street. the downstairs isn't great, but the top floor is all sale stock, and has lots of stuff that sold out in other shops. including these black 'monk' shoes, reduced to £7! i was so pleased with myself, the only pair they had left were in my size!i also got little treats, like calvin klein underwear in tk maxx for around a third of the price, but obviously i'm not going to post that! the other things i treated myself too were the result of a friend deciding to buy me a bag and shoes from aldo for my birthday, neither of which i liked, unfortunately. so i secretly exchanged them and got a gift card (sorry love!) and decided to get myself things that would be used instead. i still haven't brought myself to tell her, hopefully she doesn't read this!! but anyway. i first got this gorgeous bag, which i wouldn't pay the money for myself because i simply can't afford to, but with a gift card it's always different isn't it? i completely fell in love with it, it's just the style i wanted, and the colour goes with everything, plus it's roomy enough for uni stuff. unreal! it's £40 in aldo, also in red and black and brown i believe!

the second and last thing i got was also thanks to my aldo card, and only affordable thanks to their sale! i needed a new pair of black patent brogues, as mine from dorothy perkins had a huge hole in the heel, so i was so pleased when i found these for the exact amount i had left on my card, £30! they are almost like old-fashioned show shoes, and still so beautifully shiny! i hate normal laces so i have threaded these with black velvet ribbon. they still need breaking in properly but they are just so lovely!

so that was my haul! not including the aldo goodies, i think i spend just over £50, which i don't think was too bad! i promise some outfit shots soon, can't wait to get back into this habit :)

have you bought anything new for uni?!

laurajayne
xx