Zatchel update and a few more savings...

So after my failed Zatchel purchase on Sunday, I sent their Customer Service guys an email expressing my disappointment and asking if they would honour the purchase.

I didn't hear back from them and put it down to them being super busy putting through the orders from their birthday flash sale. But I finally got an email from them on Wednesday apologising for the website problem, and for taking so long to get back to me, and also informing me that they have put my order through at sale price and the bag will be with me as soon as production and delivery allows.

So this beautiful barrel bag will be with me soon - thanks Zatchel!

Saving - £22.50

Last week when I got an email through from Topshop launching their sale, I was really disappointed to see that the dress I had bought for our friends' upcoming wedding had gone into the sale at £20!

1. I paid £42 for it!!
2. I hadn't even worn it yet!!

It was hanging up in my wardrobe with tags still on. By the time I came around to try and buy it on sale on Topshop.com it had sold out. My colleague went into our local Topshop on her lunch break on Friday and picked me up a 10, but mine was an 8 and they had sold out, so she came away empty handed. I know it's only a £22 price difference but that's a lot in my shopping budget!

So when I was on my way home from my spa break this week we popped into Leeds city centre and hallelujah there was my size 8 dress in their Topshop sale. I bought it for £20 and I'm planning on returning the original dress with its receipt on my lunch break on Monday when I'm back at work.

Saving - £20

As you know I bought this beautiful Marks & Spencer blazer last week when browsing for a jacket for the wedding.

It was £55 and I have no idea why I thought it would go with the dress I bought for the wedding, I think I was secretly just thinking of an excuse to buy it!

Well the other day we finally received our £25 M&S gift voucher from Sky for signing up to their broadband and phone at the start of the year. So next week I'm planning on returning this jacket (once I've found the receipt...) and buying it again with the voucher.

Saving - £25

So saving £67.50 this week really can't be bad! It's obviously worth the hassle of scouting the items out and returning the originals to the shops. Any effort for a bit of saving is good by me!

Dans

Pick of the week #8

 

1. Ochre tailored jacket - £55 Marks & Spencer
I spotted this blazer when out and about on my lunch break last week, and fell in love with it. It fits like a glove and is so flattering. I was hoping it'd go with the dress I bought for my friend's wedding - it doesn't, the colours clash too much - but there's no way I'm taking it back! Perfect colour for Spring and Summer.

2. Rose vermeil knot earrings - £25.00 Azendi
I LOVE Azendi jewellery and was so upset when our store closed down. It's J's birthday next week and I bought her a pair of these earrings in silver from their online site. I just couldn't resist to get myself a pair in rose gold too!

3. Framed kiss lock purse - £22.00 Warehouse
I clocked this purse whilst shopping for a present for my colleague at work. I love it so much but I also love my current Topshop black quilted purse that DC bought me a couple of Christmasses ago. This is definitely on my watch list!

4. Toggle link bracelet - US95.00 michaelkors.com
I found this bracelet on the US Michael Kors website and fell in love with it. Anything Michael Kors is good by me!

5. Combination dress - £45.99 Zara
I really love finding a gem in Zara, and I'm hoping to find this in their store at some point next week. I love the colours and the fit looks really flattering for my body shape.

Dans

Girl in need of a dress

I have a friend's wedding coming up in May, and another one is September that DC is best man for. I have only been to one wedding before and that was kind of a last minute thing that I just threw on a dress from the back of my wardrobe for.

This time, I thought I'd better plan in advance. I thought seems as we're heading into Spring (although it's snowing outside today) that the shops will start to stock more dresses that will give me lots of lovely options. But I'm wrong, because at the moment I can't seem to find anything!

I don't even know what look I want to go for; so at the moment I'm just looking for some inspiration. I fell in love with this Warehouse dress that I found on ASOS - it was actually in Warehouse not too long ago before it dropped into the sale and disappeared all together. Now it's out of stock on ASOS too so I don't think I have a chance of getting my hands on it. Isn't it pretty?

I also spotted this dress yesterday while having a quick look around Marks and Spencers. This is from their Limited range and it looked great on the hanger / mannequin but not so good on me (I seem to be having that problem a lot lately!)

 

So I need to continue my search and hopefully something will catch my eye soon. The danger with searching for a particular item for a particular date is that I always seem to find so many other things along the way and end up spending far too much than I originally intended to! I also want to try and buy something that I can wear for parties or a night out into town - I'm tired of buying one off things that I never get out of my wardrobe again because they are too fancy.

 

Whilst I was in Marks and Spencers, there were so many things in their Limited and Indigo range that caught my eye - I'm sure the other shoppers thought I was going mad with all of my 'oooh'ing and 'ahhh'ing.

 

So I think I did pretty well yesterday to walk out of Marks and Spencers empty handed but I do feel tempted to go back and make a purchase or two! I think M&S are really improving on their clothing ranges, targeting all different ages of women and men and moving a bit further away from the 'old lady' stigma which most of my generation I suppose attaches them to. The only thing I would say is that some of the pieces are quite expensive, but then I guess I probably wouldn't think twice about spending that much money in Topshop or Zara, so perhaps it's about time I gave M&S a chance! And isn't it always slightly satisfying when someone is impressed with your top / shoes / bag and asks you where it's from, for you to answer with "Oh I found it in Tesco / Sainsburys / Clarks" ... or is that just me!

Dans