June purchases

I know we're actually in August now so this is well overdue, but where does time go?

Well, with me I'll be honest that time mainly goes shopping.  Shopping for food, online shopping, thrift shopping, window shopping, car-boot sale shopping, summer sale shopping, garden shopping, DIY shopping, travel shopping, present shopping.  You get the picture.

June wasn't too bad, I think I made some wise purchases, and threw in a few wild-cards to keep it interesting.  In Norfolk I bought a cotton 80s shirt dress (£4.99), a '50s veiled cocktail hat (£4), and a German traditional costume bodice (£6.99).  Yes, you read that correctly.  I knew what it was the moment I saw it in the shop, and had to try it on.  It's my size, though I'll need a padded bra to do it justice.  The shop assistant was very amused that I was buying it; apparently he had a bet on with the rest of the staff as to whether they'd ever sell it.  My husband said they hadn't factored me in.

Above: vintage '80s shirt dress, traditional German bodice, and a '50s cocktail hat

Also from Norfolk was a beautiful pink and green Seasalt dress.  It was £11.  Whopping pricetag for me, but the print is so pretty that I had to have it.  There was a whole rack of vintage and vintage inspired dresses in a charity shop in Diss, I became very excited, but most were alas not my size.

Above: Sea Salt dress

Back in Wales I found a fruity Wallis dress in the car boot sale for £4.  It's a tad shorter than I like to wear, but it's just so fruity and does nicely for summer.  I've worn it to work twice already.

Above: Wallis dress

I forget sometimes to buy boring sensible things, like neutral coloured camisoles to wear under things that are a bit sheer.  I remembered I needed some and made a conscious effort to look for them in the charity shops, and came away with two little tops for £3 total.  I also found two black tops in the bargain bin for £1 each.  The Miss Sixty black satin one has crazy sleeves, but I think I'm going to change the buttons.  The other one is just New Look or something, but I like the scallop collar.

Above: sensible tops, along with crazy sleeved top and scallop collar blouse

The final splurge was at a vintage stall in a street market.  I came away with a striped cotton dress for £5 that's a bit Princess Di, so I might lop off the sleeves and take the broderie off the collar.  Good length though, and pockets.  The other dress I found was a neon orange maxi dress by Carnegie of London.  £10.  It's got the most adorable white flower beading to the front.  It really is neon though, it's incredibly bright.  Definitely a holiday dress, I'd better book some flights somewhere sunny!

Above: Vintage '80s dress

Above: Carnegie of London vintage maxi

There was also the teensiest bit of proper shop shopping.  I have a pair of brown leather wedges from Dune that I've worn to death, and so I replaced them with a pair from M&S (£30).  To add a bit of perspective here, everything previously on this list I got for £50 total.  So, I'm a bit sore at having to pay £30 for a pair of shoes, but I have been looking in charity shops for years (I am not kidding) for another pair of wedges and I've just never found any ones that ticked the boxes in my size.  Oh, and that's a hairband from Primark, £3 (test purchase to see if the style suits me, to see it's worth me spending more on the one I really like in Anthropologie...).

Now, you might be thinking "where is she intending on wearing a German dirndl corset top?".

I don't know.  Perhaps to the shops...