January purchases so far and Jaeger sweater and Levis jeans

Hi everyone!! Thank you all for your kind and lovely well wishes and comments that you've been leaving for me, they are so much appreciated and I hope to be able to visit you all soon with comments by return-I'm just getting over feeling ill and with working too blogging has definitely fallen by the wayside!

I am hoping to do the odd posts here and there as I can't publish regularly at the moment. I thought today's post would be ideal to share as it is mid month and gives a running diary on what I've bought so far this month. I've tried to just stick to what I said in previous posts and just thrift or buy items that I know I will love and make use of, the first being this mini cross body bag by DKNY. A black mini cross body bag has been on my list for ages and I've been looking for a while to find the right one-this one appeared at my local PDSA charity shop in the New Year and was a bargainous £3.99. It's as new and I've been using it virtually everyday for work as it holds my phone and cards and I wear it as I work:

Another purchase was from my local TU at Sainsburys on Sunday and is this lovely glass beaded 3 string necklace which was reduced from £10 to £3-a bit of a dodgy picture, but the colours include vivid purple, blue and green crystal style beads and all in all was well worth the money:

I also picked up these chandelier style earrings, also reduced to £3, which will be ideal for dressing up a tee and jeans outfit:

My next purchase was inspired by lovely blogger Michelle over at MyFashionable40s and whose style is impeccable and very covetable!! She bought her black pom pom hat from Warehouse last month but I was unable to find one in my local one and was pleased to eventually track down a similar one in Marks and Spencer in their Limited Collection section. It was £9.50 but as I had taken back an unwanted Christmas present which was £10, I can credit 50p off my other spends!

The next item that was found on the day of the DKNY bag find was this H&M faux fur black collar which was £2.49 from my local Salvation Army. A faux fur collar always comes in handy for day or evening and will jazz up any given jacket or coat and I've been mentally wanting a black one for ages too, so another item ticked off the list!

So a grand total spend to date this month of £11.98 for 5 items. I'm still looking for the elusive and perfect longline grey jacket but as I'm not thrifting regularly I guess I'll just have to be patient before the right one comes along! 

My outfit post is from Sunday in which I wore a thrifted Jaeger striped merino wool crew neck sweater, my new necklace, distressed by me faded boyfriend Levi's jeans and my new black patent trainers which were a Christmas present from my eldest son:

I cut the hems so they are frayed and also distressed the front with my cheese grater and scissors!

I do hope you are all having a great week so far and it would be great to know what you've been buying so far this month-have you got a great sales buy or have you bought a much needed/wanted item from your style wishlist?

Outfit Post: Fluffy Tartan & Leopardprint with an Unintentional Pout!

Hi everyone!! I hope you all had a lovely weekend, I didn't really get up to much, but I had a fabulous lie in on Saturday morning till past 11am- indulging in some Classic FM, two red velvet cupcakes and a steaming hot mug of coffee-courtesy of my boys as my breakfast in bed, well it's got to be done every now and then!!

I've been using some of my thrift budget to get leather boots re-heeled and coats dry cleaned in preparation for Winter.  It's great to buy new or thrifted items for this coming season but it's also important to look after what's already in the wardrobe and this helps to prolong the life of existing pieces and bring to life forgotten items that have languished at the bottom of the closet waiting to be repaired or professionally cleaned. I'm on at eldest son to put aside some of his wages to take a few jackets to the cleaners at the end of the month to save him wearing other jackets over and over again. 

Anyhow, my outfit for Saturdays chores in town was as follows:

My trusty black and white tweed coat that I thrifted a few months ago has proved invaluable and I'm wearing it so much lately. I'm also wearing my newly thrifted faded Levi's jeans and a couple of new items-a fluffy tartan Primark scarf which I totally love-it's so cosy and big and was just £5. I'm also wearing some Topshop leopardprint chelsea boots that I found on ebay last month for less than £20 and are like slippers, just so comfortable and add a fun pop of colour too! My grey sweater is a fairly new thrift find too and was from my local towns British Heart Foundation charity shop for just £3.99 earlier this month.

I had to add this photo, when I saw it it made me laugh as I was really not intending to do a 'pout pose' but as it's not too contrived I thought I'd show it, lol!!

I'm linking this post to the lovely Patti at NotDeadYetStyle for Visible Monday and the lovely Claire-Justine for her Creative Monday blog hop. Do try to check out both of these wonderful blogs, they are so inspiring and regularly share so many other creative and stylish bloggers from all around the world!!

Wishing you all a great week ahead- be warned, it's getting colder so wrap and layer up nice and toasty!!

Thrift Inspiration.....Faded Levi's Jeans for Autumn-and Beyond

Hi everyone! I hope your week is going well for you all-there was frost on the car today and apparently it is the coldest day of the season so far, but it's lovely when it's dry and sunny too! Today I am layered up in a vest under a long sleeved denim shirt with jeans (double denim!) and earlier when I was out I had my scarf and coat on. With yesterday's outfit I was in a short sleeved tee as when I'm working at the library I really get warm so as long as I wear a padded or wool coat then I'm good to go!

So as you can see, Tuesday's outfit comprised a black oversized tee by Primark, my leopardprint scarf that I bought last week and seem to be wearing almost every day, a  pair of newly thrifted jeans from a couple of weeks ago and my black ankle leather biker boots which are from Marks & Spencer also from last year:

I've been keeping my eye out for some faded light wash straight legged jeans for a little while now, so when I came across these Levi's jeans for only £1.50 in a neighbouring towns Sue Ryder charity shop they came straight home. I like the idea of wearing faded jeans in Autumn and Winter, it goes against my 'go to' black and indigo jeans and they are surprisingly a really versatile colour too- I'll be wearing them again with light colour sweaters, chunky knits and different shades of denim shirts:  

With Autumn and Winter settling in now, what colours are you gravitating towards this season? Are you a lover of darker palettes or does colour feature quite heavily in your wardrobe at the moment, I'd love to know!!

Wishing you all a great week and don't forget those layers!!

Levi's 501 Jeans and Whistles Tee- MyStyle Outfit Post

Hi everyone!! I've been wanting a pair of original vintage or retro 501 jeans for quite a while now and on the way home from the dentist last week I stopped at my local Sue Ryder charity shop for a browse-I'm glad I did as I found this pair of 90s slightly distressed ones for just £3.95.

The colour, fit and wash are just perfect for Summer and I couldn't wait to wear them- I teamed them up with my grey tee by Whistles (which as an Eiffel Tower print) and leopardprint flats from Primark. When you've nothing special planned, it's lovely just to chill in your favourite jeans and tee:

The price was great too as 501s are really holding their own pricewise so if you can get a pair from the boot sale or charity shop, I would really recommend you do so-size up too, to get that authentic boyfriend slouch and fit which is not only on trend but super comfortable this Summer:

The jeans sit at the waist and are straight all the way down and these ones are a longer length so really do need the turn ups!! They have been worn in to just the right point too, they are lovely and comfortable and have just the right fading and wash to them:

I am linking this post to the lovely Patti at NotDeadYetStyle.com for Visible Monday.

I do hope you all had a lovely weekend and wishing you a great week to come too!

Thrift Inspiration-denim shorts Isabel Marant style. Plus #bad blogger mention!!

I should rename this blog post #badblogger- I really want to firstly apologise for not leaving comments on all your lovely blogs and also very irregular posts too. In between not been very well, starting a new job and helping my mum with her upcoming house move, blogging and my newly found tweeting have taken a very big back seat. I have become more of a 'lurker', in that I am visiting your blogs and reading posts but not commenting, lazy and so enjoyable, but true!!

So in the spirit of getting back into the swing of things, I thought I would show you another of my latest denim purchases, inspired by this seasons offering by Isabel Marant at Matches:

Isabel Marant Alex shorts, £120 at Matches

I found these Levi's shorts a few weeks ago in my neighbouring town Sense charity shop, for only £1. They will be a really leisurely style to wear and inspired by above, I would like to wear them with a grey sweatshirt, of which I am still to find!!

Denim is still a major style obsession of mine-I find it so easy to wear and it never goes out of style whether its for winter, spring, summer or autumn.

I will try my best to leave comments with you all soon and I wish you all a really lovely week ahead too!

MyStyle- Denim new season pieces,Thrifted Levis and some Ralph Lauren

Hi everyone! Picking my magazines this month, I had to go for Company-not only was it a bargainous £1, but it is is also their Denim issue-with my current denim obsession I had to have it for some style and thrift inspiration!! I also have Vogue too, which pinpoints pale denim as a main trend this summer.

I've been after some key denim pieces for a while-namely a good fitting denim skirt, a pale denim jacket and a 'perfect' denim shirt. I've managed to find all these pieces this month all for under £20.

The denim skirt is a dark denim pencil style by Levis from the Sue Ryder charity shop for £3.95. It is a great piece which will go with a lot of items I already have in my wardrobe. I picked up this Ralph Lauren striped Breton tee at the Ralph Lauren outlet in Ashford for just £16.99, which will also be a main staple for this season.  

I also managed to find a really good pale denim shirt in Primark on Sunday-I was in there shopping for pillowcase and glancing in the mens section was this fitted, pale, long sleeved soft denim shirt which is £10 and is a great fit and feel-it can be tucked in or worn out, layered up or worn by itself:

My eldest son found this pale denim Levis jacket last week in my local Sue Ryder charity shop for £9.95, more than I normally pay but its a perfect fit and I love the colour-plus I'm happy to pay that bit more to charity if I'm happy with an item!!

So my denim obsession is nicely fulfilled and now I just need to bring out the hats and scarves for the cold spell thats coming!!