Shopping Spree! First EVER Primark visit! Part 3... Accessories & Beauty

*WARNING! Another looong picture-heavy post!*

Hello again lovelies! I promise that this is the last Primark post (for now hehe!) and I have in my humble opinion saved the best for last.

Jewellery. Handbags. Shoes. Cosmetics.... at this point in the Primark proceedings my funny mesh basket was so heavy that it was dragging on the ground (think Will Smith dragging the alien parachute across the desert in Independence Day and you get the idea) and I was beginning to panic about how much I had spent.

First stop on the final floor was jewellery and I made an immediate bee-line for the pretty pearls.

Earrings £1.00, necklace £2.50, bracelets £1.00

Oh-so-pretty! I'm sure that everyone has Primark pearls by now

so onto the next!

This is one of those two-in-one necklaces (£1.50) and I love it.

All credit goes to my amazing sister Olivia who patiently untangled this one from the others for me xx

Pink scarf £3.00. I love scarves. This one is so summery!

Large sequin floral shopper - £9.00

This is my handbag heaven!! Large enough to lose everything? Check.

Sparkly sequins? Check. Pretty floral pattern? Oh yes. SOLD.

Quilted heart cross-body bag £4.00.

I am loving cross body bags atm, and should have bought two of these.

It's currently my work bag :)

Quilted wide-fit flats £8.00

These look white here, but they are actually cream coloured.

(Excuse horrid carpet, it came with the house but it'll do for now!)

I only purchased one pair of shoes this time. The wide-fit section was miniscule and there were hardly any shoes left in my size! These shoes are so comfortable even during the dreaded first wear - I'm impressed Primark!

I have issues, yes indeed, with shoes, mostly centering on SHOE ENVY. If you've ever had it you'll know the torture.

My wobbly legs (see left sidebar if you're looking puzzled!) mean that I cannot just pick and wear any shoe I want. One basic requirement is that a Jo Shoe needs to have a strap... a mary-jane is ideal. Or in absence of a strap, a Jo Shoe needs to be pretty snug on the old heels so that it behaves and stays on my feet. Oh, and most importantly, a Jo shoe needs to look presentable. A Jo Shoe is not a granny shoe.

Then we can add something else into this mix. Yes, not only do my wobbly legs dictate much of my shoe-buying choices, but I have also inherited my family's wide feet. Oh goody. My friends can pick up any shoe in any style and like Cinderella, it fits perfectly. Granted, I have failed miserably on the Prince Charming front so far but I think you'll agree that denying such a girly-girl the shoe too is very bad form indeed.

So, it's very rare that I can find a shoe that I actually like enough to emit a mini-girly squeal (we've all done it) but these Primark bad boys are perfect. HURRAH!

If any of you lovelies have nice shoes Vs wide feet issues, I can recommend Evans shoes. They are the perfect width for me, and because Evans is a sister store to Topshop the shoes are much, much more fashionable than they used to be and you can find all sorts of gems on the website (and a few granny shoes too if that's your thang!). Evans are also fab if you have problems zipping up skinny minnie boots :)

And now onto the make-up!

To be entirely honest I almost couldn't get close to the (shockingly small) Beauty stand. Remember in Part 1 of my Primark posts when I remarked that the store was pretty empty? Well, it seemed that every female in Cambridge was on the third floor crowded round this stand. Mostly teenagers, but there were mums and grans too and it was just crazy. The stand had been stripped of almost every make-up item!

I really wanted to try Primark's version of Benefit's That Gal but couldn't see any aside from the grotty testers that had been well used and thrown back among a vast array of opened and tested make-up. My friend Lucie recommended the mascara as a perfectly good cheapie but that had sold out. How very annoying!

I saw some girls buying makeup that had obviously been opened and used. Yuck. Grubby makeup is not welcome here unless it's my own mess. (Note to Primark bigwigs: You really need to stock up on makeup and have a decent "tester" display!)

I did manage to get my hands on two interesting items that I had initially found in the mess. Amazingly I found some hidden riiight at the back that were minus grubby fingerprints and best of all still sealed!

I was very excited about this little beauty in particular:

Being a bit of a Benefit fan, I've had "10" on my wishlist for ever.

This is the perfect equivalent if you're on a budget!

(although in Primark's version the pink side is blush not highlight)

It even comes with a little Benefit-esque brush!

"The Happy Couple" duo bronzer & blush £2.50

Bobbi Brown's Shimmerbrick anyone?!

Primark's version, "Little Glow Cheek", costs just £3.00

and I got it in the lighter shade, Sun Blush.

I haven't got round to using these yet, but when I do I'll let you know what I think.

Have you tried these? I'd love to hear your thoughts on Primark's make-up range...  

xx

Shopping Spree: First EVER Primark Visit! Part 2... Clothing

*Warning! Picture-heavy post!*

OK, now that I have my local store review posted here, let's get onto my purchases! (I'm still trying to find a word for Haul. I'm not keen on that word.) I did manage to spend just over £100 so I'll skip over the MANY basic vest tops, tees, leggings etc and skip to my favourite bits and bobs!

Apologies for any creasing etc, these pics were mostly taken straight after they came out of the bags. First up:

Sundress - £7.50. Probably my favourite buy!

I love, love, love the little pearl buttons and Kidston-esque print!

Organic bird print tee - £4.00. How cute! 

I have a thing for long tops that I can wear with leggings and flats :)

This came with a plain grey vest too but I'm wearing it :) Aren't the bows sweet!

Pack of 2 vest tops £2.00

Floral longline top £3.50

Blue-grey studded & sequined vest £4.00  LOVE!

If there's anything sparkly or super-girly then I'm there!

I had to get the oatmeal coloured one too :)

Loose-fit dress/top £8.00

White linen skirt £9.00.

I bought this to wear to work on sunny summer days :)

So there you have it. Shiny new purchases from the latest Primark addict :) Have you found any OMG-I-must-have-that-NOW's in Primark recently?

Ooh, while I'm on the subject of Primark clothing, do any of you girlies find the sizing plain weird, or is it just me? Everyone had told me to go one or two sizes bigger as their clothes are cut small, but when I saw the clothes I just kind of guessed whether they would fit (I hate changing rooms. I should really just get on with it and try stuff on as I never learn!). And yes I know that it is so inexpensive, you get what you pay for, blah, blah, blah, that I maybe shouldn't even make an issue of it, but it has confused me somewhat.

As I'm among friends I'll be brave (heck, you know most of my other secrets by now haha!) and tell you that I am generally a UK size 12 (equivalent to a US size 10 or Medium). In River Island and Topshop I often have to go for a 14 but that's thanks to my huuugeee upper arms (swimming has made them worse!) and my ahem ... boobies :) I'm occasionally a size 10 in places like Next, but usually, yes it's pretty safe to buy a 12.

All of my Primark clothes are a 12 except the floral longline top which I got in a 14 because I wanted it so badly and there were no 12's left. Most of my purchases fitted perfectly but two items came up large on me. Yes, I mean you, white linen skirt which fell straight down! Oo-er!... and oh hello lovely favourite sundress which is so big that the elasticated back doesn't even touch my body! If that isn't strange enough, the size 14 floral top is quite tight on me!

The rest of the vest tops, cami's etc are all ok as they are pretty flexible when it comes to size, but the moral of the story is... changing room for Jo next time!!

I'll be posting Primark Part 3 very soon showing a few of my favourite things to shop for- bags, shoes and beauty items!!

(Sorry lovelies! Only I could stretch 3 blog posts out of one Primarni visit! I haven't been on a massive clothing spree for ages).

xx

First ever Primark visit! (And a blonde moment!)

I've just posted my first ever Primark related post!! But for some reason it's ended up somewhere else in my archive!! I think it's because I hit "publish" by mistake when I first started writing it ages ago! *BLONDE MOMENT*

If you'd like to read it, please click here. More to follow tomorrow!

Thank you :)

xx

Shopping Spree: First EVER Primark visit! Part 1... Cambridge store review

I took some much needed Annual Leave from work a few weeks ago and finally went to Primark!!

The eagle-eyed amongst you will have noticed that this post is a store review. Now I am the first to admit that it is a tad strange to review a Primark store!! I didn't intend to, this was going to be a post showing you all of my goodies but it just kind of evolved into a review so I kind of just went with it, hehe! It's all good fun and I like to do something different now and again!

Don't fear if this review post is not your thang, I'll be posting all of my favourite barganious buys very soon so keep your eyes peeled!

Onto the review business. My local store is in Cambridge, incidentally one of my favourite places on Earth - I'm so lucky to live close by. It's especially beautiful in summer. If you haven't been to Cambridge, get yourself on a plane, bus, train... and get there if you can (how many of you just thought of the Oleta Adams song, like I just did?!)

Anyhooo, I'm digressing... Cambridge Primark opened last year and it's MASSIVE. Here it is in all its three storey glory:

Interesting pics, huh ;) It's pretty darn huge and completely dominates one side of the street. I was so excited!

The general consensus from the more experienced Primarni shoppers among my friends (and let's face it, it isn't difficult to find one!) is that Cambridge is one of the nicer branches in my general area, and based on my single visit I'd have to agree. I had a touch of the old Primark on-a-mission-tunnel-vision but as far as I remember (I may well be wrong!) the ground floor was ladies clothing, the first floor was men's clothing, holiday shop, and accessories (bags, jewellery etc), and the top floor was children's clothing, homewear and shoes.

Aside from clothes as far as the eye can see, I remember walking in past the burly security guards (eek!) and thinking how clean the shop looked. That's always a Brucey Bonus to start with, yes?

The clothes were neatly arranged in size order and there wasn't any of that horrible "picked over, unfolded and discarded" naughtiness, even on the £1.50 basics tables. Just piles of neatly folded clothes.

One of my shopping pet peeves is clothes on the floor and there were NONE to be found here (my local H&M take note!). I was expecting to have to rummage and fight for clothes so that was a very pleasant plus point!

We (Mum, 14-year-old sister Olivia & I) visited on a Thursday lunchtime. Despite it being half-term, the store was not especially crowded. You could walk straight into the changing rooms (not that we tried any on...tsk) and although the till queues were long, they were well staffed so we didn't wait longer than around 5 minutes to be served. With the exception of one harrassed woman on the Returns counter (defensive much? We were asking where to find something, not complaining!) the staff were pleasant and polite which always makes for a pleasant shopping experience.

In summary, and bearing in mind that this was my first visit so I cannot compare, I can highly recommend Cambridge Primark to my blogging lovelies. Hurrah!

Oh, and there is a nice Patisserie opposite the entrance too with both interior and al fresco tables - very good for resting weary shopping feet ;) It was busy, but we didn't have to wait long for a table.

Some other pics of our Girls' Shopping Day:

Olivia sampling some chocolatey goodness from the Patisserie!

                             

A post-shop fashion show is always essential!

Store address: 62-74 Burleigh Street

                       Cambridge

                       CB1 1DJ

Phone number: 01223 300026

Opening times: Monday, Tuesday - 9.00-6.00
                       Wednesday - 9.00-8.00
                       Thursday - Saturday - 9.00-6.0
                       Sunday - 11.00-5.00

Store opening times vary around Christmas, New Year and Easter

For sustainable travel options to the Cambridge store, in conjunction with Cambridge City council, please visit http://www.primarkcambridgetravelplan.co.uk/

(store address info etc from Primark website)

Disclaimer: I was NOT asked to do this review, and neither did I receive any payment/discount etc. My opinions are all based on my own personal experience. To my knowledge Primark have no idea that I have written this, however if one of you Primark bigwigs ever happen to read this, I really, really ♥ your shop. Freebies would be wicked. (btw that was a JOKE!)