Monday, September 7, 2009

Outlet Shopping Bargains Justified & My Friend is Mystified!

My friend Jen once told me that when it comes to shopping I am capable of justifying virtually anything. You know how it is, you go out for a sandwich, pop into Awear and see two pairs of jeans you love which come to €60 but only buy one so you convince yourself you have “saved” €30 by only buying one whereas, in reality, you have spent ten times the cost of the sandwich you went for and are still hungry! Makes sense to me, not so much to Jen!!




Well, I excelled myself in that department this weekend! I went to the Kildare Outlet Village with the specific intention (ahem!!) of just getting some Cath Kidston oil cloth. I love Cath Kidston’s quaint and cute designs and they had a lovely red oil cloth with white stars on special for €12 per metre. It was just the thing I needed as a table cloth for my dining table and is very me! Although with all the red ‘touches’ going on in my home the living room / kitchen are starting to look like a tomato exploded in there. I just love red interiors though and this is a really cute – and practical – touch which will liven up dinner time no end!



So I set off for Kildare with every intention of being a good girl and limiting my purchases to the oil cloth and fifty euros extra – max! – on other goodies I might ‘just happen’ to come across while there!! There are 70% discounts in many of the shops so it was always going to be difficult. Despite my best intentions before I ever got near Cath Kidston I had made a bee-line for my favourite place in Kildare Village, the Calvin Klein Underwear store. They have lovely stuff and really good bargains. I am something of an underwear fiend – I don’t have an underwear drawer, I have to confess that I have a small trunk of stuff! I got a lovely bra and knicker set and four other knickers all for just €32. I knew that was a bargain but when I got home and looked at the tags I worked out that the original prices on them came to €129. Now that is a saving. I think you would be mad to ever pay that price for undies, even if I had the money I wouldn’t pay it, but it is great to get excellent quality stuff for a bargain price!



Next I hit the Cath Kidston store and got the oil cloth. Of course, I just had to have a look around the shop while I was there. It is all so reasonable in the outlet, with excellent value compared to their normal prices. And everything by Cath Kidston is so pretty and girlie that I just love it! As well as the oil cloth I got a gorgeous, baby blue make-up bag with colourful flowers all over it (€10), a red and white, fully equipped, first aid kit that is far prettier than the usual green but just as practical (€6), and a cute sewing kit that my sister has been looking for for a while but couldn’t get in the shop in London where she lives (€8).


I tried to be good and avoided lots of shops – Coast, Levi’s, Molton Brown, Myla, to name a few – but couldn’t resist Ted Baker. To be honest I found some of the ‘discounted’ prices still quite high but was thrilled to find a hugely discounted fabulous blue leather wallet with adorable silver oversized clasps on the purse part. It is really adorable, I am thrilled with it! But surprise, surprise the bargain of the day was bagged by my mam. She got a lovely red top in Monsoon for just a fiver down from €48!



So I admit I spent more than intended, not the first time that has happened, but I got excellent bargains and good quality stuff which I will get loads of use out of. I am already using the wallet and have my make-up bag in my handbag today (no time to do the face before leaving the house this morning, not the first time that has happened either!!)



Special mention has to go to my own bargain of the week which is a candy pink tulip skirt with an exposed zip at the back for just €8 from Dunnes. It is really flattering, incredibly comfy and I love the bright colour (it also comes in a lovely green, by the way). I am wearing it today with black opaque tights (where’s our Indian summer?) a black silk t, grey cardi and cute snake-skin t-bar flats I got a while ago from Marks & Spencer. It is a shame it is so autumnal already but I am enjoying merging into a heavier wardrobe. I find it so much easier to dress for autumn/winter than summer.



So, yes, I have done a fair bit of shopping this week….but the skirt was super cheap...and the Calvin Klein stuff was such a bargain I couldn’t pass it up…the wallet was too cute to turn down…and I had been looking for a first aid kit for the flat for a while, honestly! Hmmm, come to think of it, maybe Jen is right, I can justify anything when it comes to shopping!!!

Big Fashionista News!!! For all you Sex & the City fans who, like me, are dying for the next installment from Carrie and her girls (not to mention her shoe collection!), take a peek at the following link for images of the second movie, on location in NYC!  http://www.sexandthecitymovie.org/satc_images.html

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