The £10 Outfit

Yup, a whole outfit for ten English pounds. 

Admittedly it's easier to dress for less at this time of year, what with all the sales going on and the soaring temperatures meaning a simple dress and sandals will suffice, but still! £10 for everything! God bless Matalan and their amazing dresses from £5 event.

I snaffled this frock and the same style but in black and white polka dots for £5 each. What a bargain!  I was super duper keen to get my hands on them and they were disappearing fast from the website so I placed a hasty online order, erring on the side of caution and getting them both in two different sizes as I wasn't sure which would fit best. I'm pleased to report that their Click & Collect service works like a dream and their refunds process in store is super duper fast and friendly, even when you pay by Paypal.

They haven't paid me to say any of this btw, I'm just really pleased! It's such a bore when companies take about 9 years to refund you when you know perfectly well they've received the returns parcel or try and charge you for delivery to store. I like my shopping to be as hassle free as possible and any company that makes it easier for me will definitely get my repeat custom.

Yay sleeves! You know me, I love a good dress even more when it has sleeves in it.

Bargainous dress - Matalan
Pretty sandals - Chiara Fashion

Shoes and Sparkle

Huzzah!  I have new shoes.  New red shoes to be precise.  

I asked for your advice a couple of weeks ago when I was pondering what type of Converse to choose for my first pair.  Well, the replies were clear on one thing - you all loved Converse and I was about the only person in the world who didn't own a pair.  Not any more though!  There was some sound advice about going for a pair of solid coloured high tops, so I took that and chose a lovely red pair.  Black would have been sensible, green would have been too obvious (I can't have green everything) and white or cream is just asking for trouble where I'm concerned - they would soon have been an attractive shade of dirt.  Red it was.  I do enjoy a bit of sassy colour on my feet.

The jumper was a holiday purchase when we popped into Harrogate for a spot of shopping.  I wasn't going to buy it.  Honestly, I wasn't.  It was lurking on a sale rail but there was no reduced price sticker on the label and besides, I never buy burgundy things.  I don't suit them; I'm too pale.

I am a notorious sucker for #wardrobezoo related things though and that made it worth taking up to the till to check if it really was on sale or not.  It turned out that it was and that, combined with the lure of glittery gold owls, proved too strong for me to resist.  I'm so easily pleased.

Little detail on the back of the jumper

Jumper - M&S Limited Collection sale
Skirt - Warehouse
Socks - Primark
Converse high top trainers

Oh, and did I mention that they're amazing and I love them?  I will probably end up with about eleventybillion pairs now.  Just you wait and see.

Black and Gold

Yup, I wore gold sequins to work this week.  No-one batted an eyelid.  Whether that means they're just used to me by now or that dress codes don't mean much in our place or probably both, I'm happy with it.  I couldn't cope with having to have a whole separate wardrobe full of clothes for work.  I begrudge spending money on sensible things as it is - having to fork out for boring workwear would be a step too far.  And what would it to do to my lovely colleague who likes to start her day off by having a look at what ridiculous thing I've got on if I sat at my desk in black polyester and plain heels all the time?  She'd find it as deeply dull as I did.

I don't like dull.  I like impractically decorated shoes and monster tshirts.

Jacket - c/o French Connection
Tshirt - Hero and Cape
Skirt - H&M sale
Boots & gold flecked tights - Marks & Spencer
Ring - Dorothy Perkins sale

I'm so pleased with the tshirt.  As soon as I saw the monster peeking out from behind green tissue paper, I knew it would be good.  I had some slight issues with the previous tshirt I ordered from Hero and Cape - nothing to do with the quality, I just have too short a neck for a high round-neck collar! - and had to alter it a bit to suit my funny shape, but this one is great.  They've expanded the product range and the new fabric and cut options are perfect.  And the beauty of it being a small company is that the personal touch is there and they're happy to swap designs and tshirt styles if you ask them.  Not that I needed it with this one, but it's always useful to have the option available.

Chloe and I were tshirt twins way back when and when I spotted the new moustachioed monster design, she was the first person I had to go "Have you seen it?!" to.  She is a woman of excellent taste after all.  Naturally we ended up expanding our twinny collection and both bought it.  Doesn't she look lovely in it?  Ah, to be that slim...

The Porridge Jumper

Sometimes you find an item of clothing that you know does absolutely nothing for you and you just don't care.

Meet the porridge jumper:

I was actually looking for something entirely different in Primark at the weekend.  Well, perhaps not that different, seeing as it was a grey, oversized jumper, but as I was doing that can't-find-what-I'm-looking-for-so-must-stomp-around-the-entire-section-mocking-the-vile-clothes-instead thing, I found this lurking at the back of a rail of size 6 and 8 versions.  The Liverpool Primark is terrible for doing this: either they think everyone is really skinny and order accordingly or no-one is skinny and so they end up with loads of tiny clothes.  Either way, there's hardly ever anything in my size.

And this isn't.  It's about 3 sizes too big but I like it even more for that.  I made Char try it on for comedy value and it drowned her so much it was longer than her actual dress - quite amusing!  It's amazing though.  So warm and so comforting that it's like sitting in a big bowl of brown sugar porridge.  Who cares if it's not that flattering?  Not everything in my wardrobe needs to be.

Jumper - Primark
Skirt - Tesco
Shoes - Dorothy Perkins sale
Belt - Dubrovnik market

The only bad thing about this beauty is that it's so big and so snuggly that I'm likely to fall asleep whilst wearing it...