Chunky Thighs, Summer Clothes And A May 2017 Primark Haul

Whilst the weather in the last few hours has been more reminiscent of a tropical storm or the end of days, it's been hot and sunny in most parts of the UK this week, so at last it looks as though Summer 2017 has officially started. Like most of the UK this week, I opened  my wardrobe and started looking for something cool and more summer appropriate to wear, and rather unexpectedly I closed the door and came out empty handed. In pretty much every Primark haul and video this year I've talked about why I don't need to buy anymore summer clothes, and that is still true, I own plenty of summer clothes, at the moment I just can't get my fat stomach and thighs into them! Talk about disheartening! needless to say I had a good cry, and then I went online and ordered myself a few bits in a larger size, and in an attempt to save myself a bit of money I've made the decision to resume my diet on Monday, so I can actually get some wear out the clothes that I already own.

So anyway back on point - this a Primark haul post, and both of the trips that I made this month were before I realised that I was a bit too chunky for the majority of my bottom half clothes, so clothing wise this haul just included a few basics and a few bits and pieces that I loved on sight.

Yes more stripes, I'm slightly obsessed at the moment, and I'm embracing my love of horizontal stripes and I'm thoroughly enjoying breaking those fashion rules, even if there was something in the news this week, about the Breton stripe inducing headaches hmm! Anyway this was the top that I originally bought last month that was on the wrong hanger. It's an ordinary long line t-shirt in white almost slubby type fabric with a very thin black stripe, it was only £4 and thankfully this one fits perfectly.

Next up more black and white stripes, and although this one is described as a cami dress, on me wearing this as a dress in the UK, could lead to an arrest for exposure! On most people these are probably just a very decent length, long line vest, I already own a couple of these in plain colours, and they are really good for layering. This one is black with a thin white stripe and it was also just £4.

So yeah stripes are huge in fashion at the moment, and something else that is also pretty on trend is the slogan t-shirt, jumper or swimsuit. We all seem to be obsessed with words and quirky sayings, and it's a trend that I'm personally a fan of. Although I'm more obsessed with having French words emblazoned on my clothes (odd but in reality the French accent doesn't do a lot for me!) the odd quirky phrase in English can be a lot of fun.

I already picked up a slogan t-shirt in my previous Primark haul (read it here) and I couldn't resist this one especially since it was just £2.50! It's a tiny bit shorter and snugger than I would have liked but at that price you can't really argue. I'm in the middle of a coffee love in at the moment so this slogan was perfect "Coffee First Then The World".

The final clothing item that I picked up is actually from the swimwear and beachwear range. An overseas holiday is looking pretty unlikely again this year for various reasons, but if I was going I would definitely have taken a closer look and Primark's holiday section. Admittedly I probably wouldn't have been able to squeeze my ass in to much but they had some gorgeous things for not very much money at all. I did pick up one thing though, this off white, crochet, lace effect beach cover up.

Although I think that this intended to be worn on the beach or by the pool over a bikini or a swimsuit, I'm intending to use it as a layering piece over a plain strappy vest to give it a bit more interest and to cover up a little bit. I've bought a few cover ups in the past for exactly this purpose and I think that they look great over a pair of leggings or jeans, with a pair of flip flops or sandals. This was also just £4 and it comes in a few difference colours.

That was it for clothing but i pick up a few pairs of shoes, I originally went looking for the Prada and Valentino copies but they had long gone in the two stores that I went in to. If you follow me on Instagram (i'm @LouLou699 you'll know that I recently picked up a pair of gorgeous pair of metallic pink, cool rose gold, Converse, and I love them. There are a whole range of metallic Converse on the market at the moment and I want all of them. My low Converse are probably my most worn shoes at the moment and if I couldn't wear nothing else bar Converse at the moment I would probably be okay with that. That said they are pricey and as yet I'm yet to see any in this shade.

Okay they aren't the real thing obviously but they are pretty damned close, and I absolutely love the bright metallic teal blue colour. I'm an 8 normally in Converse but I managed to get these dupes in a size 7. At just £8 I think that shoes are a real bargain, and I'm definitely going to try and get my hands on the silver pair as well.

I'm loving metallic anything at the moment, and loving navy and blue and much as I do, these metallic, rope effect, espadrille pumps are perfect and they are ridiculously comfortable as well.

They had these in a few different colours and for just £4 a pair they really are a summer most have. The sizing is pretty generous so in this case I also managed to get a size 7 and with even a little bit of room to spare.

Although I'm trying to cut down on the amount of jewellery that I buy and instead actually start wearing some of the pieces that I already own, on my first trip which was to the Newcastle store I did buy a couple of necklaces. They are both in the bib style and this first one which was £3 features a mixture of gold tone and crystal set discs.

The second necklace is also in the bib style, and it reminds me a lot of the Egyptian style necklaces that you see in images and representation of the likes of Cleopatra. It was £4 and it's comprised of gold tone, snake chain, with semi circles in both gold and silver tone hanging from, to give the illusion of hanging spikes.

I mentioned in my previous Primark haul post that I wanted to have a better look at their new beauty products, and I managed to a good rummage, and whilst I was impressed with a lot of the products for the price, in all honestly I didn't really need anything so I stayed strong, and just picked up one of their new nails polishes.

There was a few of these and I was initially going to be a few of them but since my nails have gone down the drain again, I just ended up buying the one, the PS Holographic Nail Polish in the shade 2 Cute 4 U. I'm not sure whether or it, I would describe it as a true holograph but it's actually a lovely pearlised iridescent with a sprinkling of holographic sparkle. I haven't properly yet so I'm not sure whether or not it's a full coverage polish or whether or not you could use it as a top coat but purely in the bottle it reminds me of one of the limited edition Nails Inc Unicorn colours. This nail polish was £2.

The final thing that I bought was a home item, and as much as I'm loving Primark's cactus and flamingo love in at the moment, I'm running out of space for frippery, so I just bought a reed diffuser. A few people have been talking about the quality of Primark's reed diffusers lately, and since I did really like the last one I tried, I though I'd give this tropical, summer scented Mango and Passion Fruit one a try. It was just £3 and I have really high hopes for it, I just hope that it doesn't disappoint.

So that was my latest Primark haul, giving my rather rotund frame at the moment I think I'm going to be looking elsewhere when it comes to summery bottoms (video or blog post to come when I do buy something elsewhere though ), but I did see a couple of tops that I might go back for. In the meantime don't forget to watch the accompanying video below or via this link.



If you have any questions please leave me a comment below and I'll see you soon with another blog post x

Late August Primark Haul - Clothes, Beauty And More

Operation catch up resumes today with another haul. As I said before I've got quite a few beauty hauls coming up over the next few weeks but I don't want to bore you so I'm going to try and break it up a bit with some reviews and some non beauty related hauls.

Today I'm going to share a little or should I say largish, Primark haul with you. I've been feeling a bit mehh about clothes shopping lately but thanks to the new autumn and winter arrivals, I can at last feel my enthusiasm returning and as a result I picked up a few pieces that I'm really looking forward to wearing.

The first thing that I got is this ribbed Bardot style dress. I already got this in black in a previous Primark haul (have a read of it here) but this is the dusky pink version which was £8.

Although this is sold as a dress, on me it would be way too short, so I will be wearing it as a tunic, over leggings, skinny trousers or skinny jeans.

The next thing that I got is another dress come tunic, but I think I could probably get away with wearing this one as dress.

I love the paisley, floral print and I love the silky smooth fabric. I already have a tunic / dress in a different print but in the same fabric from Primark and I love. It has a such a light and airy feel, and feels gorgeous against the skin. This was £9 and I think it comes in a few different colours and patterns.

My name is Louise and I'm addicted to shirts and blouses! Over the past of couple of years I've fallen in love with shirts and blouses in a big way. One of my go to outfits is a bright or a patterned shirt and a pair of skinny jeans or jeggings. It just works for me and people always remember me for my gaudy shirts. I love my bright and floral print shirts but I fancied a bit of change so after seeing on a few blogs and instagram accounts, I decided to hunt it down.

For me this is very subtle but I couldn't resist the tiny, ditsy black and white bee (or are they wasps?) print. Primark shirts are never the most generous of fit on me and despite going for the largest size it's still very gappy and bursty so I'll probably be wearing this slightly unbuttoned and with a white vest underneath it. Still it was just £7 and I can't resist a cute print, speaking of which...

Another cute print and this time it's a navy blue vest covered in tiny white stars, I know we're moving into autumn but I wear vest tops and camisoles all year round, whether they're under shirts, jumpers or even cardigans. I like layering and this is a cute piece that I'll get a lot of wear out of. It was £4

Thanks to being ill so often and feeling permanently exhausted I have a lot of duvet days and I spend a lot of time in my PJs - I currently have 5 drawers full of nightwear but I just can't stop buying more, and especially love cute pj's like these ones.

I'm a huge Miffy fan, and I couldn't resist these PJ separates. The over sized, raglan style, stripey top was £7 and on the front it has a fluffy Miffy design which is super soft and stroke able.

I also got the matching legging style, cuffed PJ pants, which are £8 and are charcoal grey and have a white Miffy design printed on the legs.

That was it for clothing but I did buy one jewellery piece, these sparkly hoop earrings which were just £1.50.

You can't see them too well in either of these pictures unfortunately but they are basically just a gold tone hope, with 6 gold tone, rings which are covered in clear crystals, threaded through them. I'm trying to wear more exciting earrings and I think that these hoops work perfectly with the gold, and silver hoops that I normally wear.

Seeing as I was in the Newcastle store, I had a little look at some of Primark's new home wear additions and although there were plenty of things that I liked, I stayed strong and just bought a throw for my mam and some stationery. I love Primark's stationery selection and they have some lovely stuff at the moment, including the new collection from Gabriella aka VelvetGh0st but if your loving the copper and rose gold tone look at the moment then Primark is where you need to be. As well as some gorgeous hangers and coat hooks they also have a few copper tone stationery pieces and I couldn't resist jumping on the bandwagon with this cute set.

Packaged in a reusable craft style, organiser box. This set contains a slim ruled notepad, some drawing pins, some paperclips and some bulldog style clips all in a gorgeous rose gold. It also contains 5 pencils, with different words embossed on them including Plan, Own It, Boss, Believe and Because. At £5 this isn't the cheapest set you can buy but when you look at rose gold, and copper toned bits in other stores it looks like a bargain.

I said at the beginning that this wasn't a beauty haul but I did have a good look at the beauty section and I did end up buying a few make up brushes.

I've already bought a few brushes from this range at Primark and I have to say that I'm really impressed with them for the price. The brushes are good quality and the matte black and rose gold makes them look a lot more expensive than what they actually are.

I already own one of the PS Concealer Brushes but it's such a versatile brush that for just £1 I had to pick up another one.

I honestly can't remember if I already have this brush  but eyeshadow brushes never come in wrong so I also picked the PS Double End Smokey Brush, it has a rounded flat end and it has a thinner more pencil shaped end for more detailed application. This one was just £1.50.

The final brush that I got was the PS Precision Eyeliner Brush which was also £1. I'm trying to get back into wearing liner and I'm a real cream or gel eyeliner girl, I normally prefer a short, flat ended brush but I also use and love the Real Techniques silicone, thin tipped eyeliner brush. The tip of this brush is almost identical to the Real Techniques one which is nearly 6 times the price, so I'm interested to see how it compares.

So that was my latest Primark haul as per usual I've made a video to accompany this haul which you can watch via this link or below.



I'm definitely planning another Primark trip in the next week or so, so I'd love to know what bargains you've picked up recently, so leave me a comment or a link below and let me know xx

Another June 2016 Primark Haul - Home, Beauty And More

When it comes to shopping probably my favourite places to go in the North East is probably Intu Metrocentre. You have 100's of shops and eating places under one roof, there are plenty of places to sit down and the parking is free! I love it but sometimes you need a bit of a change so for the first in a ages last month instead of heading into the Metrocentre I went to Newcastle instead.

I don't get into Newcastle anywhere near as often as I used to so I thoroughly enjoyed both of my trips into the city last month. Although you can find a lot of the same shops in the Metrocentre, in Newcastle they're usually bigger and better! Case in point - Primark!

Although Primark's Metrocentre store is currently undergoing an expansion, Primark's Newcastle branch is without a doubt the mother ship! The first Primark in the North East, Newcastle's Primark is a A grade store, with it's four floors of budget heaven and even it's own Costa Coffee. My first trip was a bit of a rushed one but the second time round I had loads of time to explore and pursue the rails, and fill up my basket. Since I'd been to Primark  at least once already in June (read my post here)  I actually didn't buy an awful lot, but in this all be it late post I thought I'd show you what I did buy.

Clothing wise it was a bit of a fail, I'm feeling a bit mehhh about myself at the moment, and I don't really see the point in stocking up on summer clothes for what could be a non existent summer in the UK, so I only bought one thing and it was a real basic, a plain white vest. This actually came up on the receipt as a vest dress and I guess if you were a bit shorter than me, or if you are confident enough then you probably could wear this as a summer dress or as a beach cover up. Personally though I will be wearing this as a vest, all be it as a nice long line vest that covers both my tummy and my bummy! This was just £3.50 and it came in a few other colours.

For a change jewellery wise, nothing appealed so I moved onto to accessories and again I wasn't desperate for anything so I just picked up some more of these fabric spiral hair bobbles.

These were just £1 for 6 bobbles and they're quickly becoming one of my go to products for tying my hair back. There is no metal or anything that will catch on the hair, and the spiral shape just seems to hold the bobble into the hair, without it slipping. I love these and so does one of my cats, Tallulah, who thinks that they are kitty toys! hence I needed to buy some more to replace the chewed ones!

I also picked up a phone case. I recently upgraded to a lovely gold iPhone 6S, and I just wanted a case for it. I've ordered a few from ebay, which I'll show you in a separate post, but I just wanted something to tide me over until they arrived and this one fits the bill perfectly.

It's just a clear hard plastic cover, that's covered in large gold dots. It was just £3 and I think it works really well with my gold phone :) Some of the cases I ordered have arrived but I'm keeping this one one for the moment because my phone feels so protected and I love the look.

The major difference between the Primark in Intu Metrocentre and the Primark in Newcastle, is the size of the home wear section. If ever you see something advertised online or in a magazine, you can pretty much guarantee that Newcastle Primark will have it and at the moment Metrocentre won't.

The first thing that I looked at was the lighting and in particular the carnival style lights. I love the look of these and I always wanted a letter L, but all of the ones that I've seen were way too expensive, and the Metrocentre branch only ever had two letters, A and Z. They had a lot of different letters but I couldn't see an L, so I knelt on the floor and took every single one off the shelf and the last box I picked was....an L, it was fate!

This battery operated LED light, is really well made and made of a cream coloured metal. It was just £8 and whilst I still have no idea where I'm going to put it, it was meant to be, so I just couldn't leave it behind!

Fairy lights used to just be for Christmas but not any more, I love lights and fairy lights in particular, and I'm since I'm currently sorting out my office, come craft room, I thought that I'd buy a set of blue LED fairy lights to match in with the blue walls and the blue carpet. The room features an almost full length shelf so I think I'm going to drape these, somehow, along the edge of the shelf, we'll see though. This battery operated strand of 40 LED lights was £2.50.

There are three things that I really love home decor wise, lighting, cushions, and candles, and whilst I didn't pick any cushions up this time round, I did buy myself a candle.

I've had a love / hate with Primark candles over the years, but this one was love at first sight and at first sniff. The heavy weight mirrored mosaic votive is beautiful in it's own right, but when you smell the amazing Clementine and Peony candle inside, there was no way I was going to leave this one the shelf. I haven't burnt it yet so I can't vouch for the smell once it's burning but even without burning it, it has an incredible fruity scent, that literally makes your mouth water. This was £4 which is a bit pricey compared to most of Primark's candle selection but the holder is well made, heavy weight and reuseable so in my opinion it's well worth it.

Finally a took a look at the beauty selection, and surprise, surprise again it's way bigger than the Intu Metrocentre branch but unsurprisingly it was messy and it had been well ravaged and well tested. I wanted to have a closer look at the PS Pro line but the stand was smeared with make up and all the boxes looked as though they had been opened so I didn't bother! Instead I picked up some of my favourite face wipes, which are in new packaging but are still just a pound

and I also got a couple of nail bits that I'd been looking for including this pale blue nail polish, with pink and white nail art sprinkes, which was just £1.50

and a bottle of the PS Cuticle Oil which was just a £1. I'm an OPI Avoplex devotee but I go through it at the rate of knots, so I wanted something a bit cheaper to use along side it. This stuff has really, really surprised me, it really is that good, it smells nice and it absorbs pretty quality and makes a real difference in almost an instant. Mummy Lou also gave this a go, and I ended up having to get her one as well.

I really enjoyed having a nose around a different store, even if I did need a lie down once I got home! I didn't buy a lot admittedly but I did manage to pick up a few things that I hadn't seen in the Metrocentre branch, so I was still pretty happy with my haul. I've made a video to accompany this haul which you can see below or via this link.



Being a spoonie I definitely find it easier to shop in Intu Metocentre but I love big department stores like Fenwick and John Lewis, and I love the choice. and the options that you find in a big city. Wherever it is though I love shopping and as well as this Primark haul, I also bought a few other bits when I was in Newcastle including some bits from KIKO, and Tiger, which you'll hopefully be able to see in some of the many upcoming haul posts that I have planned, but in the meantime if you've got any comments on this Primark haul then leave your musings below and let me know x