Winter warmers

Yesterday in between meetings at work I decided to go back to H&M and have another look at the jumper I spotted during my visit this weekend but I had another jumper grab my attention. This lovely fuzzy number is not really the sort of item I would usually pick, especially because the colour is so different from what I'm usually comfortable with but I was in a mood for experimenting and for the last few days I've been trying to convince myself that I can do with a little bit more colour this winter and this jumper came at the right time.

I decided to balance it all and get back to my usual black and grey comfort zone, with a new scarf that I picked up at the men's department, there's nothing that puts me back more in my comfort zone than a warm men's scarf?

The perfect backpack

It seems like the last two season have thrown me into some kind of time-travel mood, the return of 90's fashion trends has thrown me into a nostalgic journey back to my teens, a period of my life that most times I would rather forget. But now , suddenly I find myself falling for all sorts of 90's trends I just couldn't work in my teens. One of these trends is the return of the backpack, in my teens it was my mum that used to dictate what backpack I'll be carrying to school and while she did her best at finding a good combination of cool and practical , I still wanted something more exciting to carry my books in. 

Alas, my school days are long gone, and for years I didn't think again about the backpack days, not until I moved to London and had to figure out the best way to carry all the junk I usually carry in my handbag on my train journey to work. I kept losing everything in my giant tote, I could never find my oyster card when I needed it, I kept thinking I lost my wallet, my phone and what not. Eventually my good old tote bag broke under the stress of carrying all my junk,so I decided to try a smaller bag which I just couldn't overload with junk, that didn't work out well at all as I couldn't fit all of what I wanted and then I saw this beautiful backpack at Fenwick, a department store I can never actually afford to shop in but love to visit for some window shopping. 

Surprisingly this bag is slightly more costly than my usual budget but was still more affordable than the usual designer handbag prices, at the time I still couldn't afford it and by the time I did it was sold out. The sales assistant offered to take my details and contact me if the bag is ever restocked, I left my details and forgot about this bag, but last week I got and email saying the bag is now back in stock , it's been a long long time since I got to treat myself with something nice so I thought it's about time I make a bit on an investment and buy a new practical handbag and what can I say ? It was probably the best purchase I made in a long time. I'm really happy with this bag, it ticks all of the boxes for me, roomy but not big enough to keep losting all my stuff, it's also comfortable to carry and has enough pockets to help me easily take out whatever I need without having to rummage through my bag and above all it probably embodies all of what I wanted in a backpack when I was a teenager with a little bit of extra sophistication.

Matchy-matchy

Last week I wrote about H&M's new brand &Other Stories and as I had the opportunity to visit the new store in London last week I decided to write about my visit to the store and what I got. 

I visited the store last Friday when I was in London, I didn't actually get a proper look at the store as it was opening day which meant it was extremely busy and hectic. 

The store itself is huge and beautifully laid out and I think the best thing about it is that it acts as a 'one stop shop' where you can stock up on pretty much everything from lingerie to beauty products and obviously clothing, shoes and accessories. 

As I mentioned I found it hard to actually get a proper look as it was quite busy on the day but I did manage to pick up a couple of items I saw on the site and wanted to get a feel for before buying them. 

I picked up a passport holder and a small wallet (each £19) both are part of a collaboration with designer Clare Vivier, both well made with soft colourful leather and plenty of space to pack all of my junk. 

The two other items are a bit matchy-matchy as well , a chunky chain link necklace and a bracelet which caught my eyse as I was browsing the site before visiting the shop. I absolutely love two of them, but then I'm a sucker for chunky metallic items so it's not a surprise I was drawn to those two. 

As for the clothing, I feel like I wasn't really able to have a proper look around because it was very busy but since I had a look at the website I knew what I wanted to try out and managed to sneak to the changing rooms to try a couple of those items before the queues became impossible. However I had a hard time figuring out the right sizes. I decided to pick a few different sizes to see what works best. The first was a skirt which I saw on the site and really liked, I picked the skirt in UK 12, 14 (EU 40, 42) as I really couldn't determine what the right size would be. I also picked a dress which I could only find in sizes 34 and 38 (the 38 looked huge but I decided that it would be best to try it as 34 seemed too small) and two t-shirts in 38 and 40.

The skirt in size 40 was quite tight and looked really small and 42 was actually too big which was quite surprising as it seemed like a giant difference so I decided to skip the skirt and move on to the dress, I first tried the UK 10 (EU38) , I thought it was way too big and made me look like I'm wearing a tent so I tried the UK4 (EU34)  thinking it would be too small but the fit was just right, however the length was way too short in my opinion and as I couldn't find the dress in 36 I decided to try my luck and order it online.

The T-shirts again were a little confusing , I tried both in size 40, one was too big and the other too tight but at this stage I was a bit too tired and decided to leave those to my next visit. 

Overall , I was quite impressed, the variety of accessories and clothing is amazing and everything is really well presented and aimed at making you want to pick pretty much everything and drop it in your shopping basket. I also like the fact that there are items to fit pretty much every budget and as for the sizing , I suppose it might just be me as I always have issues with varying shop sizing charts so and found this to be quite confusing but now I'm waiting for my dress to arrive so once it's here I might be able to give some more insights on the sizing but overall I'm really happy with my picks so and actually really looking forward to my next visit in London so I can hopefully visit the shop when it's a little less busy. 

My sweet little valentine

This isn't a valentines day post, it's been here and it's gone , that's pretty much what valentines day is for me . However, some things that never seems to go away are the endless valentines related marketing ploys and yours truly is here to admit her defeat and fall , like a deer caught in the headlights I've fallen for one of those tricks.

It all started when my friend who suggested we should pop into town for coffee, she had some stuff she needed and I needed a break. What she didn't tell me is that she needed to buy some over priced moisturiser which meant we ended in one of the department stores in town. While waiting for my friend I was hounded by the sales assistant probably because I strategically placed myself next to the Chanel perfume counter. within seconds I found myself being quizzed about how I spent valentines day (at home in my pyjamas, thank you) and whether I got anything nice (no, but you get where this is going ...). The minute she heard about my valentines misfortune, she started to recite a list of special offers and promotions whilst gently clutching my hand. Within seconds I fell for the oldest trick in the book , the one that was created in the name of love to empty your pockets. Since love isn't really my business at the moment, the only love I felt was for that bottle of Chanel perfume I was holding. After hearing the wonders of the latest post-valentines promotion I felt a little suffocated, the sales assistant had everything planned, she carefully checked my loyalty card points and cheerfully proclaimed that the amount of points I have along with the store's discount means I can get almost 50 percent off on my favourite perfume. What can I say? I was sold ,and to make things worse I decided to add a few extra pounds and treat myself to some nail polish, all in the name of love! Writing this I feel like an idiot, I mean, a good discount is a good discount and maybe if it wasn't for valentines day I would have had the chance to buy my favourite perfume, but then I ask myself did I really need that? Was there a way for me to avoid it? I really don't know but next year, around this time I'll remind myself to stay away from perfume counters and overly sympathetic sales assistants who are just waiting to suck me into the valentines marketing ploy.

Monday surprises

There's nothing that makes me happier than getting a package from home , but I really wasn't prepared for what my mum put in the package I received this morning. When she told me a couple of weeks ago she's got a really special surprise in the post for me I was hoping for some sweets and snacks from back home but when I opened the package I got this morning I couldn't believe my eyes. The package included some of my favourites sweets but tucked neatly under layers of wrapping paper I found this Zara jacket and the Iro skirt I was planning to buy in the sales but decided it would be a little bit too much for my budget. I was so surprised with the contents of this package I almost felt like crying. Luckily I'm going to visit my family next month so I think I'll have to think of a nice way to pay back my mum for those insanely expensive treats she packed for me, she also let me on a little secret about where she found this skirt on a very heavy discount and promised we'll take a trip to check out the place when I'm on my holiday next month.

Minimal Metal

I mentioned in the past that I like to keep it simple when it comes to jewelry , I have a few items which I usually play around with, some day I'll go for a few chunky bracelets, on other days I'll go for the two silver chain necklaces I have and usually I'm quite happy with that but I really wanted something basic and minimal so when I came across this necklace and ring at COS , I knew I found exactly what I'm looking for. The necklace is really small and looks delicate over a dark solid coloured top and the ring is actually the complete opposite , it's quite big and noticeable but I think those two are actually a perfect match that would be a great little finishing touch to a simple and casual outfit. 

Whistles Blues

I've been looking at some of the new items on the Whistles website earlier this evening and whilst I was kind of bummed because I really can't afford anything from there at the moment. I think a look at the site made me develop a new affection for anything that combines blues, greys and blacks. Greys and blacks are easy to pull off  most of the time but I never thought of trying to add a little bit of blue into the combination and after checking out the Whistles website I'm thinking it might actually be a great way to inject a little bit of colour into my outfits which I seem to be repeating again and again recently. I know it's sort of a no brainer but I guess sometimes it takes a while for something to catch my eye. I remember I mentioned in the past that I usually find it hard to wear blue and always doubt myself when I end up wearing anything in that colour but maybe learning to play with dfferent shades of blue can be a great a way to inject more colour into my black and grey outfits and it might make me feel more excited about trying to add more blue items into my wardrobe, or at least try to work around with those I have sitting there right now.