London Haul- Primark, Forever 21, Victoria's Secret and Disney Store

What's a trip to London, without a little bit of shopping? 

When myself and Meg were in London we took it upon ourselves to buy so much stuff that we defiantly didn't, did need. 

Let's start with Primark. The Oxford Street Primark is both the most wonderful place, and the worst place. Wonderful, because of how much stuff they have there, and compared to my local Primark they have a hell of a lot of stuff. But its also the worst place, because of how busy it gets, and how cramped it gets, and how many clothes are thrown all over the floor. But me and Meg managed to look past all that and got some really cute bits. 

Starting with this pale green Summer dress. It has mesh parts on the straps, waist and hem of the dress. The back is also really pretty because part of it is cut out, but not the annoying kind of cut out where you can see half your bra. So I'm looking forward to wearing this in the Summer months.  

Pale green mesh dress- £13

For someone who hates birds (and believe me I do), I just couldn't help myself. It's so cute and for £3 it was a massive bargain! 

Flamingo canvas- £3

Primark's selection of plasic cups/ thermal cups is wonderful. I'd have them all if my Mum would let me. This cup will be perfect for me when I want to transport drinks during the Summer in my car. Plus its Frozen, so its super cute. 

Frozen cup- £2.50

Frilly socks are my weakness. I have a whole draw full of them, but whenever I see a pair its like; 'Well I haven't got this shade of purple'. But the ones with the sheep on are flipping adorable. 

Stripe frill socks- 75p
Sheer sheep socks- £1.50 

I'm someone who hates to have bare feet, so in the Summer pop socks become my best friend, because if you can't rock your cute ankle socks with your pair of shoes, then pop socks are my second choice. So when I saw these Lady and the Tramp ones I had to have them. 

Lady and the Tramp shoe liners- £2.50

Bit more Disney, because this is primarily a Disney blog after all. Plus I've been searching for these for ages. I love this style of Primark pyjama bottoms, because they are super comfy and cosy, and they have fitted ankles.  

Frozen pyjama bottoms- £7

Keeping with the pyjama theme, I picked up this pair of floral print shorts for the warmer weather, plus they were only £1. Bargain. 

Floral print pyjama shorts- £1 

They had a wide selection of shopper bags when I was there, they had a few Disney ones as well. But this one made me chuckle, and I thought it would make a good beach tote bag for when I go to Spain. 

Mermaid shopper bag- £1.50

Moving onto Forever 21. 

They had some lovely clothes, but nothing that I really looked at and thought 'I need that now', so I only picked up two jewellery items. One being this adorable little gold bunny necklace. Its really delicate and the rabbit reminded me of Peter Rabbit, so it was too cute not to buy.  

Rabbit necklace- £6

Then the second thing I brought was this princess crown ring, it is so damn pretty and looks like it should cost a lot more than it did. So Meg and I both got one. 

Meg's nails looking far more magical than mine

We then went to Victoria's Secret and they had a special offer on their fragrance mists, usually they are £13 each, but they were three for £24, so I got two and Meg got the free one. 

I spent forever trying to find the perfect scents, and these two were my favourite by far. Coconut Passion, smells how its sounds; of coconut. Then Pure Seduction is a mixture of red plum and freesia, and it smells SO GOOD. 

Victoria's Secret fragrance mists- £13 each, but discount meant
they were £8 each 

I've saved the most Disney for last. No London shopping trip would be complete without going to the Disney Store. We went to the Oxford Street one, and I show the store in a little more depth here. 

My birthday is coming up, so Meg was kind enough to get me one of my presents early, and that was the Alice in Wonderland soft toy doll. She brought me the Cheshire Cat for Christmas, and now I have an Alice to go with it. 

Alice soft doll- £16

When I went to Disneyland Paris in 2013 I brought a Lady soft toy, so I only felt it was right to buy a Tramp to go with her. 

My room is slowly turning into a five year old's room. 

Tramp plush- £18.95

That was everything that I brought from London, I am now saving the pennies for Summer.

Well attempting too. We will see how long it lasts. 

Cheerio!

Hannah

Autumn treasures- A September Charity Shops Haul

So as mentioned in a previous Charity Shop haul, I was thinking of doing these once a month, so over the month of September I have kept aside all of the wonderful things I've brought from Charity Shop's, so I can show you. Lets crack on with it! 

I'll start with two tops I brought, one being this lovely grey, sleeveless, square neck top, originally from River Island. I love the lace details on the neckline and hem, and also the cute rose pattern all over. It's quite long so I plan to wear it as a dress with black tights and some cute boots or dolly shoes. 

£3 from Sense 

Then the second top I brought was this adorable cat print top, with a double peter pan collar, which I love! It was originally from Primark. 

£3.80 from Cancer Research 

Moving onto knit wear, I brought this really funky, vintage-inspired cardigan. Its a size 16, so its really comfy and over sized, it has shoulder pads and really lovely gold buttons all the way down. I have a feeling I'm going to love wearing this in Autumn. Its originally from Marks & Spencer, so really good quality. 

£4.80 from a local charity shop

This is probably one of my favourite purchases this month, because I can not tell you how long I have been searching for a jumper like this. For about the past three Christmases I've been looking for the perfect Reindeer Christmas jumper, and now I have found it! 

£4 from Cancer Research 

I also bagged myself a coat which I was so chuffed with as it was a total steal! I saw a coat from Matalan, which I fell in love with, but it's £40, and be to honest I don't particularly need a new coat, but when I saw this one I thought it looked very similar and couldn't help myself! It's this gorgeous tweed patterned, double breasted coat, and its like a dark purple colour mixed with bits of grey. It's originally from a brand called Cotswold collections, which when I looked it up is a brand that makes really classic clothes, and its quite expensive. Some of the coats on the website were £179 and more, so considering I got this coat for £5 I think I got myself a massive bargain there.  

£5 from Havens Hospices

I picked up this basic denim-look skater skirt, originally from Topshop. I think skirts like this are perfect basics that are good to have in your wardrobe, because you can wear them with so many things. This one is from the Petite section, which is good for me as I'm quite short, so its a great length on me. 

£3.50 from Havens Hospices

Another Topshop bargain was these almost tartan print leggings, with a zip at the side, and they have little turn ups at the ankles. They are high waisted, which I love and will be perfect for Autumn and they are also super comfy. 

£3.50 from Cancer Research 

To feed my scarf addiction I picked up two more this month, one being this lovely silk looking pink scarf, with purple flowers on, and also this thicker dark green one with red and blue flowers on. 

I did a whole post on how I style hair scarves, so if you haven't already, you should check that out! 

http://hann31bann.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/how-i-style-hair-scarfs.html

Purple scarf- £1.50 from Havens Hospice
Green scarf- £1.50 from Saint Francis Hospice 

I found a pair of shoes, which never usually happens, as I never find ones I like and they hardly ever have size 4's, but I saw these and thought they were lovely. They are a brogue, lace up style with a heel. I've been looking for a pair like this for a while, so when I saw these for £7 I couldn't pass, especially since they are brand new! They were from Peacocks originally. 

£7 from Cancer Research 

Once again I've managed to go a little bit book crazy, but I've very nearly collected all of Cecelia Ahern's books! So I added 'Girl in the Mirror' (£1.50) and 'The Book of Tomorrow' (£1) to my collection. I also picked up two Roald Dahl books; 'Matilda' (75p), as its a childhood favourite, and 'The Witches' (50p) because I've never read it. Then finally another classic, 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' (50p). 

All from assorted Charity Shops, including; Saint Francis Hospice,
Sue Ryder and Cancer Research, 

 I also picked up two crafty books; one being Christmas Crafts, which I'm really looking forward to looking through and picking stuff to make, and also a book about different fabrics and tips on how to use them with dressmaking. This one will be especially handy when it comes to sewing.

Dressmaking book- £1
Christmas Crafts- £1.25
Both from a local Charity Shop

Keeping with the idea of dress making, I brought this McCall's dress pattern. The dresses looked fairly simple and they also reminded me of the skater dresses that were in Topshop a while ago. 

Then I also got a couple of Christmasy vintage-looking tins. Not sure what I'll keep in them yet, but I thought they were cute. 

Penny Bazaar tin- 50p
Other Christmas tin- 75p
Both from Sue Ryder
Dress Pattern- £1.25 from Havens Hospices

Then finally my last Charity purchase of this month has got to be my favourite and most precious. For those of you who don't know I am a massive Beatrix Potter fan. I love her books, her artwork and just everything about her. I've started to collect Beatrix Potter figures, so I was soooo happy when I spotted this Tabitha Twitchett on the shelf! She was £22, which some people could argue is expensive for a charity shop, but she is an original 1961 Beswick England figure, and on Ebay I've seen others going for £48 and over! So I was very chuffed with this find! 

£22 from Havens Hospices 

So another very successful Charity Shopping month! Be sure to let me know down in the comments if you've made any bargain buys this month! 

I have another non-charity shop haul coming soon, so look out for that, but till then...

Cheerio!

Hannah

The diamond in the rough- August Charity Shops Haul

So here I am with, you've guessed it another Charity Shop Haul. I just can't stay away recently!

 But when I've been finding such fab things, why would I want too? 

I'll get cracking with one of the first things I brought this August and its this khaki green flowery jacket, originally from Henry Holland! I couldn't believe my luck, he is one of my favourite designers, so to find one of his jackets for a mere £8.99 was amazing. 

Charity Shop- YMCA 

Staying with jackets, I found this Topshop blazer, which looks like its only ever been worn once. It looks basically brand new, the pockets are still sewn together, so I imagine someone must have brought this for a specific outfit and only worn it once. I was so chuffed to get a Topshop blazer for £8.99 when they can retail from £38- £68 in stores. 

Charity Shop- British Heart Foundation 

I found this white doubled breasted skirt from Topshop, and this one still has the Topshop tag in, so it is literally brand new. I found it on the reduced rail for £1.70! Total steal considering it should have been £35 in store. 

Local Charity Shop

Another BRAND NEW Topshop garment that I found while on my travels was these green sequin hot pants. They're amazing. They are so sparkly and amazing, I can't wait to wear them out! On the Topshop label they were originally £40, but I only paid £4.50. I couldn't believe my eyes. 

Charity Shop- British Heart Foundation 

The last brand new garment I got was this gorgeous dress from Miss Selfridge, I have a 21st birthday party I'm going to coming up, so this dress will be perfect for that. Originally it was £45 and I got it for £6.50! 

Charity Shop- Havens Hospice 

I found another pair of shorts, these ones are from Primark, they are denim and they also have the most gorgeous paisley tapestry pattern on them. In stores these might have been around £6-£10, but I got them for £2.50. I think this will be my new fab shorts for Autumn, and I'll probably pair them with black tights, some little ankle boots, and a slouchy cardigan.  

Charity Shop- Havens Hospice 

Then the last clothing item I got was this lovely blue and white striped dress from Primark. All Summer I've been searching for a nautical looking dress and I found this one and I love it! It has gold buttons on the top, with a little collar and two pockets as well. In Primark it might have been around £10- £13, but I got it for £5.49. 

Charity Shop- British Heart Foundation 

Moving onto books and little knick knacks, I found this cute make-up bag with like a vintage globe print on for £1.50. Because you can never have enough make-up bags, right? 

Charity Shop- Cancer Research 

I found this beautiful Beatrix Potter's Tailor of Gloucester mouse figure, which is actually a money box, but I'm not going to use it as that, as I think it is far too pretty. The Tailor of Gloucester is one of my favourite Beatrix Potter books, and has some of my favourite artwork of hers in it, this mouse in the shoe being one of them. It came with the box and everything, and is in perfect condition. On the box it says that it is originally from Past Times and should have been £24.99, but I only paid £10. I'm plaining on collecting Beatrix Potter figures, I already have another Tailor of Gloucester mouse, and a Timmy Tiptoes Squirrel, so this has made a great addition to my now growing collection.  

Then I got this rose tin for 50p, because I think pretty and vintage looking tins are a great way to store your make-up and other bits on your dressing table and in your room in general. 

I then seem to have gone a little book mental, I brought 3 Cecelia Ahern books, two of which I do in fact have, but my copies of Where Rainbows End, and P.S I Love You are both totally wrecked, so I've had to throw them away, so I found new copies to have! Then I also got The Time of my Life, because I've never read it and Cecelia Ahern is one of my favourite authors. 

I brought The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, because as a play I know its won loads of awards, so I thought I could read the book. 

The Diary of Anne Frank is a book I have wanted to read for ages, but I've never got round to it, but now I finally have a copy so I know I will. 

The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe is one of my favourite books, and I actually had this copy when I was little, but I seemed to have got rid of it, which was really sad as the cover is so pretty. So I was really chuffed when I found it for 50p. 

Then finally I found this Worlds Best Fairy Tales book Volume 1.  I actually already have Volume 2, so now I have both, and they are just classic fairy tales with lovely old fashioned pictures, which I love. 

Charity Shops- Local, Dogs Trust and Cancer Research.
All books from 50p- £1

And that is all my recent Charity Shop finds, maybe I'll start doing monthly hauls? As recently I've been finding such fab things. 

Have you found any hidden gems recently, let me know in the comments! 

Cheerio! 

Hannah 

'One man's trash is another man's treasure'- Recent Charity Shop Gems and Tips

So for anyone who didn't know I am a massive lover of Charity Shops, I think that not only are they a good cause, but you can also find some hidden gems in them as well. So I thought I'd share some bits that I've picked up recently, and also some tips that I find useful when I shop around as well. 

Tip 1- You need to have an open mind! Don't go in there thinking 'oh everything in here is old and smelly, I won't like it', because a lot of the time they do have some really quite modern stuff from places like Primark, River Island, New Look and Topshop! I've even brought things before and they have still had tags on. Plus what you can think is that you will wash it before you wear it yourself. 

Speaking of modern makes I got these two Summer tops recently, the mint green top which has Seagulls and boats on is from a make called 'Limited Collection' which I believe is from Marks & Spencers, but correct me if I'm wrong. It's such a lovely colour and perfect for the Summer. Then I also found this Summer vest top, which was originally from H&M. It is navy with Daisies all over it, and it has hook and eye fastenings down the front, which was a different look, rather than buttons. 

Mint Green tie up top from Havens Hospice- £3.50
Daisy print top from pdsa- £2.99

This next top I got by a complete stroke of luck, because where the staff in the shop put clothes out throughout the day my Mum caught sight of this top just as a lady had put it out on one of the rails, so she snapped it up quickly as she thought it would be perfect for a character I'm playing in a show in September. The character is Mrs Wilberforce from the show The Ladykillers, and the lace detail on the neck is so fitting its fabulous. But I'll wear this in and out of character as I think its a lovely top. This top sadly doesn't have a label in so I don't even know where its originally from, but I think that sometimes makes it even more special and unique. 

Lace top from Havens Hospice- £4

Tip 2- Don't always just look in your size. What I tend to do is look in all the sizes, depending how much time I have, as you can sometimes find some really lovely bits in sizes a couple of sizes bigger than your actual size. As where different shops have different sizing systems its always good to look.

For instance the other day I was looking at all the sizes and came across this adorable Elephant printed shirt. It was in the XL section but when I tried it on its no bigger than a size 14, which suits me as I like my tops a little roomier for my bust at times haha. It's just a long sleeved sheer shirt with silver buttons all the way down, and little round silver studs on the collar tips. Again this doesn't have a make inside, but I can imagine it coming from a little clothes boutique that isn't well known, since I've not seen this print before. 

Elephant shirt from pdsa- £3.99

 When I saw this in the shop I imagined wearing this tucked into a black skater skirt, or a pair of chinos, or something high waisted, so as to define a waist as the shirt is quite loose fitting. 

The print is just so adorable! 

Tip 3- Look everywhere! Yep that's right, everywhere. In all the little cubby holes and shelves, you never know what you may find. 

I found this lovely Vintage looking tapestry clutch bag, it was hidden among lots of other bags but I spotted it and knew I needed it! I think its so beautiful and once again where it probably is Vintage I bet no one else will have it. 

Clutch bag- £3.99

Then when I was rummaging through a basket of bits I found this actual Cath Kidston shopper bag! I couldn't believe my luck. Its only made of thin material, so not the well known shiny oil cloth Cath Kidston  bags, but this would probably retail for around £4, and I got it for 50p! Bargain or what? Plus it meant I could carry the rest of my bargains in it, rather than use a plastic bag. Nice and eco-friendly.

Cath Kidston bag from Havens Hospice- 50p

Tip 4- Don't underestimate the shoes. Being a shoe lover I always look at the shoes, but very rarely do I buy any, one because they never usually have and in my size, and two I'm a little funny when it comes to shoes, because with clothes you can wash them and you know they are totally clean, where as shoes are very hard to get, in my words 'completely fresh' haha. But in this case I found some very cute shoes, and what do you know they were brand new! They were from H&M and they still had the labels on and you can tell they hadn't been worn at all. They are just some lovely nude/pink lace up brogue styled shoes. I also got this pretty navy and white striped scarf, as I'm really into the whole Nautical style again and thought this would be perfect for that style. Its from the brand TU, which is the clothing brand at the super market Sainsburys.

Shoes- £5
Scarf- £1.50

Then the last thing I got was this beautiful Vintage broach, with a rose in the middle and then an almost gold frame around it. I thought this would look cute on a blazer pocket, or even on a shirt collar.

Broach- 75p

So there are some things I've picked up recently, so my final and 5th tip for Charity shop hunting is to have fun and don't expect to find amazing things every time you go in one, because sometimes you won't find anything, then sometimes you'll find tons of stuff, its literally just pot luck and is like a treasure hunt. But that is the fun of it after all, buying little gems at super good prices and also doing your bit for charity, what could be better?

I'm off to Spain in two days, so I'll be uploading my 'What's in my holiday bag' post tomorrow, but till then...

Cheerio!

Hannah

'A very merry Unbirthday to you!'- Some birthday bits

So as I've mentioned previously my Birthday was back in June and I just wanted to share some of the lovely bits I got. Just as a disclaimer I am not bragging in any way, I am sooo grateful for all the lovely things I got. Plus I really enjoy reading and watching people do posts and videos about what they got for their Birthday, so I thought I would give it a shot. 

I've only included Fashion, Beauty and Disney bits as I feel that's most relevant to my Blog.

I'll start with my favourite present, which is the Blue Fuji Instax Mini 8 Polaroid camera. I have wanted to get one of these for ageeesss, so I was super happy when I opened this. It came with 4 packs of 10 Instax film, and a wrist strap. Its just so cute! 

Moving onto clothes, Mumma Drake was so on point (as usual) and got me some gorgeous garments from Topshop, New Look and Miss Selfridge. 

Starting with Topshop I got this beautiful powder pink crop overlay lace dress;

It looks so 60's inspired, which I love!

I got this lovely orange and lilac patterned print folklore shift dress. It has two pockets on the front of the skirt which is super handy, and I think that because of the colours it can be worn in Summer, and then you can add layers over it for the Autumn as well.  

I wore this dress to my Birthday meal at TGI Fridays

This is the last dress from Topshop and its this lovely pocket overlay tunic dress in an orange colour. Its made from such a lovely fabric, and I've saved this dress for when I go to Spain in a week! Eeeeeppp

Then to accessorize the dress, my Mum matched this gorgeous Tribal inspired necklace and cute multi coloured scrunchie with it. 

It all looks so good together, Mumma Drake the fashionista!

From New Look I got this amazing cream lace Kimono, with a fringed hem. What I really like about this is that the sleeves aren't too long. So they don't get in the way.  

Kimonos are such a Summer staple at the mo! 

Also from New Look I got these fabulous black chunky heel caged sandals, with gold buckles. My Mum originally got me a size 4 (which is my normal size) but since this style of sandal are so enclosed they didn't fit, so I had to get a size 5, so they actually fit now! They are soo super comfy, and I think they look cool with cute ankle socks, or just on their own. 

Last clothing item I got were these amazing pink floral printed trousers from Miss Selfridge. I spotted these ages ago with Mum, and once again I've saved them for my holiday. Does anyone else do that? Save clothes purely so you have new clothes to wear on holiday? Or is that just me? Haha.

No Birthday is complete for me without getting socks, some of these are from my Mum, then the rest are from two of my friends. 

Both Pug pairs are from Topshop
Black Pomeranian pair is from River Island
Then the two frilly pairs are from Dorothy Perkins

From some of my friends I got some lovely beauty bits, mainly from The Body Shop as that's my fav. 

I got a Strawberry girft set from my friend Hannah, which included a mini body mop, shower gel, body butter and body polish. 

My friend Elise got me a selection of Bodyshop bits, one being this Passion Fruit Body Butter, which smells delicious. Plus the colour is fab 

Lauren got me a Barry M nail varnish, which is a sparkly pink colour, and a little body lotion. Then I got 4 lip balms from the Bodyshop which were, Watermelon, Strawberry, Raspberry and Passionberry. Once again they all smell delicious. 

Then between Grace and Lauren I got several mini Soap ad Glory products, which I love as they smell so good and make your skin feel so nice. I did steer away from Soap and Glory products as I wasn't sure if they tested on animals or not, but after doing some research I found that they don't! So I can now stock up on Soap and Glory! Woooo

I love the packaging of Soap and Glory products. 

Now to end on a bit of Disney. I entered the 21 Century back in May and got an iPhone so my Mum brought me a couple of cute Disney cases, so I can swap between them. 

I love them both so much.  

As you can see I have the Princess one on my phone at the moment, I just think its brilliant. 

So there is a few of the lovely bits I got for my birthday. Once again I'm not bragging, I just know how much I enjoy reading and watching things like this and thought I'd have a go, I'm so thankful for everything I got! 

Anywho I'll be uploading my 'What am I taking to Spain' post in a few days, so look out for that! 

Cheerio! 

Hannah