fashion | primark haul (+ a few bits from topshop and h&m)

Yesterday I had a HUGE day of retail therapy and thought I'd share my new purchases (which I am so excited about) on here. I got some really good buys mainly from Primark, but also Topshop and H&M (and my Topshop online order just happened to arrive today, so I'll include that in this post too!).

When it comes to Primark, it always seems that whenever you go in there, you'll either find absolutely nothing you like or you'll want to buy the whole shop. I had the latter when I visited my nearest branch of the store yesterday, and whilst I feel very sorry for my bank account right now, my wardrobe has had an overdue Summer update, and I could not be happier with my purchases.

I also visited the Topshop sale and picked up a really cute item (keep reading to see it - I promise I'll stop rambling in a bit) and something else really nice in H&M. As the title promises though, this is mainly a Primark Haul, and I always love reading these or watching them on youtube a few days before I plan on visiting a Primark, just so I can have an idea of what's going to be there. So what follows is clothes available in Primark at the end of June 2013. Here goes:

The first item of clothing I found was this gorgeous pair of denim overalls for an amazing price of £17. Whilst that does sound a little pricey for Primark, I saw an identical (ish) pair in Topshop afterwards for £55. So I think I made a good purchase here.

The dungarees are a dark denim with silver buttons and distressed detailing in the legs. They're quite vintage-looking and look absolutely gorgeous on, although they're very gapey around the back area - I find this is the case for most Primark clothes though. I'm planning to wear these with crop tops, and I'll put a jumper on underneath for when I'm wearing them on chillier days.

Then I found this really cute burgundy long sleeve crop top with a white heart pattern. It's very soft and comfortable, however a little large for me because the smallest size they had was an 8. I think a tighter fit would look nicer, but the top was so adorable and for only £4.50, you can't really say no.

This tie-dye maxi skirt is really light and comfortable, looks very pretty on, and is great for those Summer days that have a cool breeze. It's a sort of black and grey mix of colours, and comes with a thin black belt. I'd probably style this with just a plain black crop top and denim jacket for casual days, but you could probably dress it up with a black blouse and leather jacket for evening meals out. Just add some grey jewellery and you're looking flyyy. This skirt was only £10.

The next item I got was this casual pair of shorts for just £3. They're black with white piping and a white drawstring. They have an elasticated waist and are sooo comfortable. Normally I wouldn't buy something like this, like, ever, but I'M GOING TO CENTRE PARCS NEXT WEEK (eeeek) and my sister has informed me we'll be doing lots of badminton and swimming - both of which require shorts. So I picked up a pair of these in a size 8 and I'm very happy with them (mainly because every time I see them I'm reminded of my holiday plans and YAY excitement). 

These jeans are probably the best find I made in Primark yesterday. You know how lately, Primark have been copying a lot of Topshop's clothes? Well these are, in my opinion, an (awesome) imitation of Topshop's vintage Joni jeans. I've wanted some Joni jeans for absolutely agesss, and at £36 I couldn't really afford them - so when I found a copy of them in Primark for just £10, I had to get them. 

I find that Primark jeans are always a bit too tight, so I went a size up and so did my friend - make sure you try these on in store, and bring a size up from what you usually wear to the changing rooms with you (you can thank me later).

You can wear these with just about anything - oversized tees, crop tops, blouses, bralets. Roll up the bottoms to wear with creepers or keep them down when pairing them with loafers (which brings me to my next find...).

Firstly, let me apologise for the state of these. I only bought them yesterday but yes, they're already dirty (tut tut Fran) because I wore them to a party last night, where apparently, the garden was quite muddy. Ah well.

These are mock creepers - black all over with a flatform and black laces. They look sooo cute on, although it takes you longer than you may think to adjust to suddenly being an inch taller. These shoes were only £12, which I didn't think was too shabby.

This is a gold and black necklace with 4 different chains, each with different decorative sort of things. Overall the necklace boasts small crosses, peace signs, white skulls and triangles. I fell in love with this as soon as I saw it - it's very grunge and could be worn casual or dressy. At only £4, you can't go wrong.

The second necklace I got was this silver arrow one, which I'd previously seen in a Primark haul on youtube. It's sort of belly-button length but adjustable, and I prefer it to be breast-bone height. At only £1 in the sale and the feeling of being Katniss Everdeen whenever I wear it, this was an amazing buy.

Then I found my favourite jewellery buy from Primark, like, ever. It's basically a complete copy of those necklace sets you see in Topshop; really grunge, slightly vintage, and fabulous for festivals. This set was only £2, whereas it could be something like £12 in Topshop, so this was yet another great buy. The first necklace is silver with a silver stencil cross; the second is a gold chain with a turquoise shark tooth type pendant; and the third is a silver necklace with a silver bird.

These earrings are a henna hand design, and they're quite large (the hand is around 2.5cm long) so probably the largest pair I own as I rarely wear big earrings. These ones however were too cute to say no to, and were £2, so a great price.

I've wanted to buy an ear cuff for about a year now, but have never been brave enough - until I saw this cute set. The ear cuffs are all silver, but one has a blue bead and then a silver feather, one just has a silver feather, and the final one has a silver triangle/icicle type shape. The set was only £1.50.

And that's the end of the Primark part of my haul! As you saw, I got so many great buys - I'm really impressed with Primark at the moment - they're right on trend and are putting their own spin on popular items. I know the fact that they are imitating a lot of Topshop's clothes is a bit of a talking point - a lot of people say they shouldn't, because it's not as good as Topshop and Primark's versions are of a lower quality. In my opinion, it's a good thing, because it means people with a Primark budget can afford Topshop clothing. And as for the 'lower quality' thing, by the time my Primark items will be worn out and no good anymore, it will be time for a new wardrobe anyway! I'd rather have that than spend £40 on an item of Topshop clothing and then only be able to wear it a few times. Go Primark!

That being said, I am of course a huge lover of Topshop (I'm so hypocritical, right?). They constantly have beautiful pieces, and whilst I never really look to them for basics, I do buy more statement-y pieces from them. And so follows my Topshop Haul:

I'M SO IN LOVE WITH THIS BLOUSE.  (You may have guessed from the numerous photos). Okay, at this point I'm going to let you in on one of my shopping success secrets - when it's sale time in Topshop, don't go to the main store which is always choc-a-bloc with girls and everyone is really snooty and hogs the clothes rail. Instead, run to the nearest Debenhams and locate their Topshop section. IT'S NEVER BUSY. And you can grab fab items like I did with this blouse/shirt thing (I never know the difference).

It's a white chiffon material and has white lace inserts with buttons on the sleeves and back of the neck. It's so delicate and pretty and I just fell in love with it. It was originally £38, which I probably would not have paid, but I got it in the sale for just £18, which for Topshop, and such a pretty piece, is amazing.

I'm going to wear this with my fake Joni jeans that I mentioned earlier, but you could also wear this with leggings, skater skirts or high waisted shorts. The good thing about it being white is that you could put any colour jewellery with it; the bad thing about it being white is pretty obvious - I'm definitely going to have to wear this with caution.

My next (slightly cheeky) buy was also an amazing find in the Topshop sale. I found this really pretty, pale pink lacy bra in my size (never heard of before in Topshop stores for some reason) for only £5. Whaaaat. Excellent. Only bad thing was that it was a male shop assistant behind the till, and I got a bit embarrassed.

Shop assistants at Topshop are so clever. It turns out that the conveniently placed jewellery rack plastered with half price stickers was actually not coincidentally placed next to the queue you'll spend at least 5 minutes standing in - someone thought of it as a sales technique.  And guess what? It works. I'd be annoyed that I fell for such a trick, but I picked up a 9-pack of Topshop earrings for just £4.25, so I'm actually pretty pleased. I wont describe each and every pair to you, but I will tell you that they're all very very pretty and my favourite pair are probably the top left - cream circles with a bronze edge. 

(This is where my Topshop online order begins - the sale part continues though).

I got this black pleated midi skirt in the Topshop online sale for just £15. It's really light, has slits up the side, but is made up of a front piece of fabric and a back piece of fabric (which is why there are slits) however they overlap so the slits only show when you walk. FYI, if you're ever planning to show your mum your ballet dance and it has multiple pirouettes in it, do not do it in this skirt. Polite reminder to wear shorts or a small tube skirt under this item.

The fitting of this skirt is a bit strange however. The only size left in the sale was a 4, and I took a gamble - and it fits perfectly. I find this is the case with most Topshop skirts though - the waist always seems to be too big (my size 6 skirts are quite loose around the waist). If you're intending on buying this skirt or a similar one, I'd recommend getting the size below, but try it on first just in case! Also, this skirt was described as 'midi' on the website, which I always assume to be kind of mid-calf length. When wearing it though, it only just comes to the bottom of my knee. Nevertheless, I really like this skirt - its very comfortable and really pretty.

The next piece I ordered from Topshop was this crop jumper. It's a speckled black colour, the sleeves are turned up and also cropped, and the hem sits higher at the front than the back (about belly button height). It's extremely comfortable and very flattering, however I ordered an 8 wanting it to be slightly oversized, without realising it's an oversized fit anyway, so it now looks a bit odd on me. Still, at £10, it was a good buy.

This could be worn with just about anything, but I'll probably either wear it with my imitation Joni jeans or a black skater skirt, and then dress it up with brightly coloured jewellery.

The last thing I ordered from Topshop was this AWESOME DINOSAUR T-SHIRT.  It's one of their Tea and Cake brand tops, it's a crop top, and oh my goodness its just so cool. At first I wasn't sure - was this as awesome as I thought it was or was my love of dinosaurs deceiving me? But after asking my friends' opinions (one of whom insisted incorrectly that it was a dragon's eye - how dare he?), I realised I was not mistaken - it's a cool tee.

It's really comfortable and quite casual - the hem looks like its just been cut off with scissors - but in a good way. I'm not particularly sure what I'd wear this with - probably a grey skater skirt, or black leggings and a leather jacket. But at £10 and a feeling of superiority and power when wearing it, you cannot go wrong with a dinosaur t-shirt.  

And now for my one H&M item:

I bought this beautiful black crochet dress from H&M for £14.99. A black dress is a wardrobe essential - you can do absolutely anything with it; dress it up, dress it down, wear with a leather or denim jacket, and as I'm going Redfest in just under a month and thought the dress was quite festival-ly (crochet dresses are everywhere at festivals at the moment), I was really eager to buy it so I could wear it whilst seeing Bastille (yay yay yay).

And that's the end of a VERY lengthy haul! If you're still reading, congratulations, you should win an award or something. Seriously.

Love always,

Fran xox