January purchases

January needed cheering up, and whilst I managed to avoid the majority of the sales, I caved in on a few occasions.  Asquith do fantastic yoga wear and their 70% off sales are excellent.  I picked up this bra top and cropped leggings.




My husband bought me a couple of wearable gifts; some thermal socks, and a nice bright pink pair of leather gloves.



I got fed up of looking at my PhD one day and as the sun was actually visible in the sky I suggested to my husband that we go for a drive and perhaps investigate a few towns we hadn't been to for their charity shop offerings.  My first purchase that day was a flamboyant '70s turquoise maxi dress.  Who cares where I'll wear it, it's so much fun!  The only other purchase that day happened to be another '70s vintage dress, a sort of kaftan by Miss Jeannie.  I picked up a slinky long gold necklace also.











Then, inexplicably in the week that my PhD chapter was due, I had a strong urge-to-shop and on a completely justified trip to M&S to buy knickers, I wandered into the sale section and came away with two pairs of boots and a full skirt.  I have wanted a pair of party boots for ages, and these sparkly silver ones ticked that box for a mere £9.26.  They also had them in a dark blue velvet (tempting).  Then the gold boots (£8.29) I thought would go with everything, and they are low heel so can be worn lots.  That was the justification there.  My husband can't understand why anyone (apart from vegans) would buy boots that aren't leather, and I agree that they don't last as long, but I have wanted metallic boots for years and I couldn't turn these down at the price.  One day I will find some lovely gold leather boots in my size and for a decent price, but until then these will do.

The had quite a few full midi length skirts in the sale, I tried some on and a few were shaped a bit oddly, and didn't hang quite right.  I also picked up a skirt which was almost exactly the same as one I bought years ago and eventually got rid of because it didn't go with anything.  See, I learnt my lesson there (only just).  I got this one instead (£9.99).

I ended up on the Warehouse website in a weak moment, and bought two pairs of trousers.  The first is a black ponte stretch pair (a step up from leggings though due to the thickness) that Warehouse did in collaboration with Pandora Sykes, the stylist.  They will be perfect weekend wear with a cosy knit or a breton stripe top.  I also bought a pair of red cropped trousers in the sale, and they are the closest to my natural waist that a pair of high street trousers has been in years.  Not 'high' waisted, but still very good.  They'll do for work.  I'm annoyed because although the red trousers were only £20, I paid £32 (full price, what was i thinking?!) for the black trousers, and the day after they arrived, the price dropped to £25.60.  I think I'm keeping both of these, but need to try them on in actual daylight first, so that will have to wait until the weekend.




Things I bought and sent back
This Mango skirt and top set, with polkadots and cocktails, was beckoning me since before Christmas.  I didn't like the price, so I waited, and got the whole set for under £30.  Alas, the sizing was really odd.  I bought the M/L skirt, which fit like a 10, which was fine, but then the S/M top was hanging off me.  The cut was really boxy and it just looked weird.  So, back they went.

The biggest thing I've bought this month though is... a holiday to Spain for early May, hurrah!