Christmas is nearly here and the number of shopping days left is decreasing at an alarming rate… Even more alarming is the fact that Christmas is on a Monday this year, meaning that there’s even less time to get parcels delivered. Apparently the number of missed parcels this year will reach record numbers, and The Telegraph even claims at at least 12 million parcels will go missing this Christmas… Blimey! If that’s not a reason to do your Christmas shopping yourself I don’t know what is…
I mentioned previously that my mammoth search for a new office chair ended at Wayfair – they have such a great range of products, all at different price points, that there’s not much need to look elsewhere. AND, everything is free delivery in Great Britain. Loooooove it!
Wayfair acts as a shopping aggregate site, so instead of you searching Google and jumping in and out of dozens of retailers to find that one perfect item, Wayfair searches them for you. (In fact, Wayfair offers more than eight million products from over 10,000 suppliers across furniture, home decor, home furnishings and goods categories.) Plus, there are always great deals and sales going on, so the next big buy needn’t be too painful!
Just like many of the huge tech companies that dominate the web today, Wayfair has a familiar start-up story – two friends, Steve Conine and Niraj Shah, founded the company in 2002 in a spare bedroom, selling stereo racks. From that small idea, grew Wayfair, which has reached $3.59 billion in net revenue in the 12 month period ending March 31 2017. Now, that’s what I call crazy successful.
After Wayfair sent me my awesome chair (which you can see here), I decided to comb through the site to bring you some of my picks for the best bargains available!
This foldable Malibu Wooden Bench is 80% off (£170.09 from £858.50) here. I love a good bench, and the fact that you can fold this one and store it away… genius.
Last week I was in London for work at the same time as the Beulah London sample sale started! I’d never been to the Beulah store so I decided to take an hour out for lunch to pop along to visit. Here’s a spoiler:
West Quay is such an awesome place to shop and eat – and over the summer, it just got even better, thanks to the SummerDine promotion. From now until the end of August, there’s going to be a host of offers and discounts at loads of the centre’s cafes, restaurants and food kiosks – handy for those summer holiday shopping trips!
To take advantage of the offers, you can download WestQuay’s brand new mobile app, PLUS, which contains exclusive discounts across the centre’s large range of retailers. Amongst the offers currently on the app are 20% off Ed’s Easy Diner, kids eat free at Harry Ramsden’s, and a free original glazed doughnut (my favourite!) at Krispy Kreme with any purchase.
Ed’s Easy Diner in the food hall at WestQuay Shopping Centre, Southampton. Monday 20th May 2013.
Head on to http://www.west-quay.co.uk/events/summerdine now to find out more about the app, how it works, and how to download it. You can also collect an offer booklet from the Customer Services desk.
There are so many amazing shops and restaurants at West Quay, I couldn’t possibly list them all for fear of missing out on one of my favourites (although… hey, John Lewis and Wagamama come pretty high on the list… And don’t forget to pop into Hotel Chocolate for a free sample of their latest new treats… And I always have to see what’s on the belt at Yo! Sushi… And, I simply have to try out the Handmade Burger Co. soon too…) To find out more about West Quay, head to their site here: www.west-quay.co.uk.
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You might have noticed my slight obsession with the Duchess of Cambridge – she’s one of my favourite style icons, and I’ve always had a soft spot for the royal family. So I’m very happy to scoop up any Kate purchases I come across when they’re brought to my attention by the lovely community over at What Kate Wore’s Facebook site!
One of my favourite ever shoes that Kate’s worn are the Corkswoon wedges – designed by the American label Stuart Weitzman, they were sold in Russell & Bromley stores here in the UK for a short period. Unable to get my hands on a pair, I plumped for the copykate Myra wedges from Hobbs, which retailed at £125. Thanks to a variety of reasons, I was only ever able to wear these out once, when I went to a Greek restaurant last year.
Needless to say, I loved them, but being a perfectionist, I couldn’t help but jump to it when I saw that Russell & Bromley had made the wedges available again to buy! At the price of £255, though, they’re over twice the price of the Hobbs Myra wedge, so in the interests of retail science, I decided to do a side by side comparison! But first, here is the epic story of how I got my wedges…
The Corkswoon wedges – as they are called in the US – have been renamed to ‘SW COCO’, and I found out from R&B’s Twitter account that they were available again for the new season. (Also available in a pretty silver shimmer colour too!) Unfortunately, by the time I got myself organised (three hours…) my size (7/40) had sold out. I decided to take a chance and ordered the 6.5 but they were too small. So, I signed myself up to receive updates when my size is made available again. Every morning at 9am I’d get an email to say my shoes were in stock, but after checking, they were sold out again, leading me to believe that there was massive demand that R&B was keeping up with by getting in new shipments everyday. It turns out I was hilariously wrong, as I eventually emailed them to ask them if they could put a pair aside for me as an exchange. What had been happening was that the email system was telling everyone who was on the list when a new size came in, even if that wasn’t the size they were after. In fact, there were no new shipments and they weren’t expecting any more through(!) BUT, they checked their inventory and found a pair in Mayfair for me. I rang the store right away, and they were able to post the shoes out to me. And so, they arrived today. And thus ends the tale!
Now for the comparisons! Hobbs Myra is on the left, and Corkswoon/Coco is on the right:
As far as I can tell, these are the main differences: the colour of the navy on the Coco is deeper and more even. The nap seems to be shorter, which gives it a tidier appearance. The cork differs slightly – the Myra has a more spotted finish, while the Coco has a series of lines… (I tried to look up to see if these have a special name but I couldn’t see anywhere that they do!) When it comes to fit, the Coco actually fits me much better than the Myra wedge. The back seems to be higher, although the Myra wedge has a nifty piece of cord at the back which helps to maintain grip. Finally, the most obvious difference is the cute gold SW button at the back of the Coco wedge!
If you’d like to see all the pictures in high res, you can visit my Flickr set here. You can also see another comparison between the Myra wedge and the Next wedges that they did last season which were a good match for the Coco wedges here.
As I don’t need both pairs, I’m going to be selling my Myra wedges – they’re size 7/40 and if you’re interested just email me using the contact tab above! As they fit me better than the Myra wedges, I decided to keep the Coco, but I honestly think that the Myra wedge is a fantastic replikate, especially considering the enormous price of the originals. The Cocos are nicer, but twice as nice…? I’m not certain!
What with work, socialising and shopping, I’ve barely had time to blog recently – but don’t worry, because that is set to change! Back to regular posting, and back to my weekly bag ‘n’ shoes posts, too!
Meanwhile, here’s a taster of the sales goodies I’ve been hauling in over the past month – some of them are much coveted items whilst others are ‘I-can’t-resist-a-bargain’ impulse purchases…
I have a weakness for glitter, gold and French Sole, so when these Henriettas went in the sale for half price (£60) I couldn’t resist. The navy ones were also on sale for the same price, and I told myself that I was being restrained by not buying both… Then at the weekend, my husband and I happened to go into a French Sole store where they had the navy (bottom left) in my size, so I claimed another pair as a Valentine’s Day present! Just have to wait until February to wear them, but I’ve been taking them out of the box to admire them every so often…
The Mulberry gold dress in the centre was down from £495 to £75 in Bicester Village, and I couldn’t believe the price tag at first. It’s a beautiful shimmery soft gold, very pretty indeed.
Another Bicester bargain, this Alice Temperley scarf was just £22 and has a lovely neutral shade to it.
The dress on the far left is a green wool dress from Cos, which I first saw at the lovely Lilac Pages blog. I love the shape and so I stalked it until it went on sale on Christmas eve. It actually didn’t arrive until early January though!
Another ‘patience is a virtue’ purchase is the Great Plains Palace Wrap coat. I have a picture of this pinned to my noticeboard by my desk and was eagerly awaiting the sale. When it was reduced from £140 to £110, I gave up a little bit, but then it was reduced to half price and I snapped it up immediately!
These Mulberry signature heels are divine, and although I was really after the flats, I consoled myself with the high heels and bought the McQ by Alexander McQueen suede biker flats on the right as well…
The central green Anya Hindmarch clutch is the bargain of the century for me. Originally on sale for £595, I found it at Bicester for £50. It plays ‘Deck The Halls’ and is adorable, but sadly, you can’t even fit a lipstick inside it! I’m happy with spending £50 on it though, it’s very quirky.
Finally, the bottom right purchase was my final and most extravagant. A half price exotic tweed large Lily in flame from the Mulberry outlet store. I saw this bag months ago on a style blog and fell in love. It’s also been carried by Jennifer Lawrence – and who doesn’t love a bit of J-Law in their wardrobe? Anyway, it’s probably my favourite Mulberry bag to date, and I’m thrilled I managed to scoop one up.
So, have you been shopping in the sales? Pick up any bargains? Let me know!
You guys know I’m a bit of a Burberry girl at the moment, so when I saw the new festive collection (complete with gold packaging) as part of Burberry’s new beauty range for Christmas, I pounced right away! I bought Trench Kiss (which is available as a lip mist all year round) and Soft Gold as a nail varnish. I’m saving the nail varnish post for tomorrow, but first, here’s the lovely packaging it comes with!
Love the postcard and the beautiful little gold card attached to the bag! I’m overflowing with Burberry bags at the moment, because the lip mist and nail varnish came in separate ones. Who’s complaining? Not me!
Anyway, Trench Kiss is a very neutral, nude colour, with a gentle, moisturizing finish that’s very sheer. It’s £22.50 and available from the site here in a regular silver edition, and here in festive gold. I am so impressed with the finish on Burberry’s lip covers and lip mists. They slide on like a dream, and feel gorgeous on your lips.
Check out the rest of the Burberry beauty Christmas range here, and come back tomorrow for my nail varnish post! (And check out my post on other A/W 2013 Burberry nail polish here!)
Is there anything more delicious than a factory store dedicated to your favourite brand (and, of course, I must mention, a brand worn by the Duchess of Cambridge herself!)? I don’t think so! You might remember I visited the French Sole warehouse sale last October, and came away with five pairs of gorgeous shoes. So, when I heard that there was to be a permanent factory shop, I made plans to visit as soon as I possibly could. I was skeptical that it would be as cheap as the warehouse sale – because, why would it be, when it’s a permanent installation? – but it turned out to be even better than I hoped!
The French Sole warehouse shop might look unassuming from the outside, but inside it’s a bargain boutique that looks amazing, and is full of drop dead gorgeous shoes at rock bottom prices. You can purchase a pair of metallic silver or gold fold up flats for £10, and the bargain bins are full of sample shoes priced at £20 (but these are mostly 37s, I believe). The shoes on display are just £25 each, and boots cost £40! At the warehouse sale, flats were £20 and quilted flats were £40, so I think, on balance, the shop is cheaper by far. With these crazy prices, no wonder I came away with a couple of amazing pairs! Okay, maybe more than a couple… Maybe six…
I’ll be revealing my gorgeous purchases one by one over the following weeks – I’m calling them my ‘holiday collection’, because I came away with sequins, velvet, lush green, vibrant red, bows and jewels! Here’s a small sneak peek:
The French Sole factory store is open every Friday from 10am to 4.30pm at Lambs Farm Business Park, Basingstoke Road, Swallowfield, RG7 1PQ. They get fresh deliveries every week, and carry end of lines, discounted styles, press samples, factory samples, and catwalk shoes. They also carry London Sole shoes, which is the company’s name in the US, so don’t be put off if you pick up a London Sole pair – they’re the same shoes, same company, just a different name! The shop takes cash or card. And, there’s a very nice farm shop just up the road where you can have lunch if the fancy takes you – or if you want to make a day of it, pop into Reading city centre, which isn’t far at all!
Some small words of caution: you really need to visit this store in person to try these shoes on properly, unless you have a twin sister with the same sized feet as you – who somehow has such sisterly love for you that she’ll sacrifice up her bargains to pass along (I don’t think so… Am I right, girls? Ha!). I came away with shoes in sizes 39, 39.5, 40 and 40.5. French Sole shoe sizes vary from model to model, and with factory samples, you can never be 100% confident with your usual size until you put them on! I truly don’t think you’d save money trying to get someone to pick some up for you, as £25 is only a bargain if the shoes actually fit… Also, there are no exchanges, returns or refunds, as this is a factory store (this is very common policy for these kind of discount shops).
All of this information was correct at time of writing, but I can’t guarantee that the prices or opening hours will remain the same – if you have any doubts, contact info@frenchsole.com for help!
Food, Fashion and Fitness 