I forgot this from Sunday!

I forgot to write about this gem I found at the Wetherby carboot sale.  It is an equestrian, coach hide bag with a tiny little saddle on it.  It reminds me a lot of the Dior bags of a few years ago but I love it because it is like that but totally original as well, you get the feeling that Dior copied one of these rather then the makers of this copying them.  Anyway it was £8 (knocked down from £10) and I absolutely love it.  

New favourite shop

I also bought this in the Hobb's sale.  I am not usually a Hobb's shopper but I must say that they have really upped their game with a Whistles-esque make over.  I spotted this a few weeks ago and when I saw the sale was on had to have it £59 down from £89.  I am also lusting after the matching dress and a few other items.  I love the quirkiness of this and wear grey cardigans to death so I will def get my moneys worth out of it.

Annoyingly I bought this before the sale and it now has £10 off.  I love the masculine cut with the feminine details of the twisted collar. 

This weeks buys

So this week me and me friend, HH, hit not one but two carboot sales.  The first was one in Glasshoughton.  This was EARLY (7am) and I was rewarded with a pair of cropped Prada trousers for my efforts.  They cost me the princely sum of £1!  Even better they fit perfectly, I just need to dry clean them and they are ready to go. 

We then set off to Wetherby carboot which is at the racecourse.  Now this is not for the faint hearted, first you need to queue to get in (70p entrance fee) and then it is massive. At numerous points we got to the stage of wanting to give up and go home as it was red hot (I now have a VERY red neck teaching me the importance of preparing for warm and cold weather!) but the thought of bargains ahead kept us going.  And boy did the sale provide.

Soon after getting in I spotted this....

Now this is a perfect example of why people get up on a Sunday morning and go hunting. My first thoughts were "That looks like a Louis Vuitton", then when I picked it up it was! My next thought is "Well she is going to want good money for that" and she said £4!  I nearly ripped her arm off for it.  So £4 later it is mine. A downside with carboot sales is that they are crammed with fakes, I am fairly good at spotting them and usually go by the thought "If in doubt leave it". This however has a suede lining, monogrammed zip pulls and is not one of the popular monogrammed fakes. I am pretty sure it is right.  Even better I just checked Ebay and one sold this afternoon for £155!  This is why I get up and go hunting - the treasure is just waiting to be found! 

Further finds today included these amazing mugs. I am so pleased with them, my heroin mug is a friend for life! So unusual and it just goes to show you never can tell what you will come home with! 

A normal post! Buys of the week

So after all my previous essays, this is what I want the weekly blog to be like.  My buys of the week:

A blue Frank Usher vintage dress for £6.99 from St Gemma's in Leeds.  St Gemma's is a hospice which does amazing work.  They also have a fine array of charity shops across Leeds.  It is a little tight across the bust but the detail is so beautiful I had to have it!

I have been after a white tuxedo jacket for a while.  This is not quite what I wanted but for £8.00 it is an amazing summer jacket, its by Autograph for Marks and Spencer and looks unworn. 

This weeks Ebay purchase.  I like the Carrie skirt for Whistles but at £120 I feel like its a one season wonder and that everyone has it.  So I put 'pleated skirt' in Ebay and up popped this beauty.  For £3.20 I really don't need it to last more then a season and can give it to the charity shop for someone else to love when I am done with it.  I am wearing it with a black tshirt and chanel ballet shoes (an Ebay purchase for about £100)

Finally I got this coffee set for £4.99 at the local Help the Aged shop. I love the cups so much, little tulip numbers in nude! Vintage amazingness (in the background Liberty tea cosy - Liberty is my favourite shop ever)

Best so far

So I thought I would give you a taste of my taste in clothing and show you some of the things that I have bought so far.  I can honestly say that I never buy anything unless I really like it so the £1 things are loved as much as the £200 things.  I imagine that some of you think that I spend too much on some things and that is fine but I do not really buy new, never hit primark for six sackfuls of things that I won't cherish forever and if I do splash out its usually a classic that I will wear for years.  It also keeps its value so if you do get rid you can get most of if not all of your money back. 

Anyhoo, to the good stuff!  I apologise for the photography, I need to get back in the swing of it. 

This yellow dress is a vintage 70's number that I got from Ilkley carboot a few weeks ago. It cost all of £1!  It originally had more white frills around the sleeves but it was a little too much so I removed them.  Its hanging on an original Warhol Chanel print that I got on my honeymoon, a lovely reminder of the best holiday ever!

Next is something that I waited a long time for.  It is a Stella McCartney dress from a few seasons ago. I wanted it as soon as it came out but it was a mind blowing £827 on net a porter!  (http://www.net-a-porter.com/product/30215).  So being the obsessive, crazy person I am, I bided my time and finally about 3 months ago - BINGO! - there it was on Ebay.  I feel that if you want something it is worth waiting for and I am not a slave to trends. It cost me £100 and will be worth every penny when I wear it to my friends wedding in a few weeks time.  In the background is my Timorous Beasties wallpaper http://www.timorousbeasties.com/ - also from Ebay. 

Finally this is the Lanvin dress from a dress agency in Manchester.  It was £230 but I knocked her down to £200 on it (unusual for me but it was too much).  I would not usually spend so much on something but once I had it on I felt amazing, like I was floating on air and that I did not ever want to take it off.  Its two pieces of raw silk a black grosgain belt. It was worth the money as I feel I will have it forever and have already worn it to a wedding.  There are many more nights out to be had in this beauty. 

This was a purchase from the same car boot the other week.  So soon after the Royal Wedding I felt I had to have it for my friends wedding (for which hats are encouraged) - £1 later it is mine, I will be wearing it with the Stella Floral number. 

Here is the best of the rest.  Highlights of all my purchases, including orange bag by Louis Feraud (£4 Charity shop find), satchel (£1 Carboot find), Wooden bag (£5 charity shop), Chanel basketball (£20 Ebay), Chanel sunglasses (£25 on Ebay), brogues (£20 ebay), skull print silk dress (£5 on Ebay), Stephen Sprouse bullet leggings (£20 Ebay), leather moschino skirt (£50 French Ebay), YSL pink trousers (£4 charity shop), Bloomingdales bag (£2 carboot) 

My all time favourite bracelet - £1.00 from a charity stall in York.  Its so much like a Lara Bohinc and I always get comments on it.  Underneath is Style A to Zoe by Rachel Zoe - I would recommend this book.  Its really great.  Style books are a favourite and I will blog the best at a later date.

Now this is something special, a Chanel duffle coat.  I found it on French Ebay (a regular haunt) and having only ever seen one before on Atelier Mayer for £1500 could not resist when I got it for £200.  However it is oversized and I only got it lately so it remains unworn.  I think I may need to sell it on, which will be a sad day. 

Finally, a selection of jackets including my favourite ever, my Luella biker jacket.  This cost me £40 from ebay and the YSL badge on it cost £15 from Ebay!  I wear it with everything and everybody wants it!  Behind it is a Victor and Rolf for H&M trench.  It is absolutely amazing and cost me £25 from Ebay.  This is a major recommendation, don't queue for high street/designer collaborations. If you are happy to wait then these can be picked up for a song.  Also shown is a studded leather jacket bought after seeing this seasons Burberry show, I have yet to wear it as its a pretty fashion forward look!

I know that a lot of people are funny about charity shops, car boot sales and second hand clothing.  More fool them - it leaves more of the good stuff for people like me!   These are my thoughts on each of them.

Car Boot Sales

This is where you get the cheapest finds.  You have to get up early, most of the sellers are already fed up by the time they have packed and unpacked the car and as its usually freezing most want to sell things as quickly as possible and get home.  This makes for bargains.  I am rubbish at bartering, being extremely English about such things I get embarrassed, so unless it is insanely priced I usually pay what they are asking.  I am lucky to have a friend who comes with me and we know what each other like, having an extra pair of eyes helps.  Always take a lot of change and a large, sturdy carrier bag as you never know what you may end up with.  

Charity Shop

Charity shops are a mixed bag.  I have my favourite ones which I frequent as often as I can as you never know when you will find something special.  I wont publish these as they are top secret and us thrifters keep these things close to our chest, we don't want to share our treasure!  The reason that I say that they are mixed is that the pricing between shops (or often in the same shop) is often insane.  Wealthy areas are usually the best but they are also much more likely to price highly.  Designer bargains are also often to be found in the most unassuming ones so you never can tell.  Personally I do not mind paying good money for designer goods from a charity shop, they are usually a lot less then a dress agency and its all for a good cause.  I also do not feel bad about getting bargains from them either as I spend a fortune over the year and I donate generously back. 

Ebay

Now this is where a lot of my money goes!  I consider myself quite an expert bargain hunter on Ebay but it is time consuming and not for everyone.  The downsides are that there are a LOT of fakes on here so you must know what you are looking for and obviously you cannot look at items before they arrive.  I have done a lot of buying on Ebay over the years though and if there are any problems with an item Ebay are very willing to sort it out even if the buyer is not.  With regard to fake goods, you really must know what you are looking for and do your research.  I have seen insane money paid for Chanel handbags that are fake and I am sure there are many women using them now who believe them to be real.  

If you are after a certain item:

• Take your time, however tempted you are - do not buy the first one you see.
• Use the advanced search to see what previous items have sold for.
• Do a saved search so that any new items matching what you want is emailed to you on the day it is listed.
• Use the International option for more choice but be aware of shipping costs and tax.  
• Think about how other people might describe things e.g. A Gucci handbag could be described as: Gucci bag, Gucci clutch, Gucci handbag, Designer handbag, etc.  
• Look out for are spelling mistakes the website www.fatfingers.co.uk was designed for just this. 
• Think about using a snipe - www.auctionlotsnipe.com is really good for making bids in the last seconds of an auction, this often saves you money.
• Also use a cashback website such as www.topcashback.co.uk - this is a recent find for me and I cannot believe I get money for buying things I would have bought anyway.

As I said it can be a complicated business if you are after a bargain but honestly even with millions of people looking it can be done!

Dress Agencies

I don't want to offend anyone here (on only my second post) but I have come to the conclusion that most dress agencies are miserable, over stuffed, over priced places to go!  This is mainly due to one that used to be in Leeds but I have been to Cheshire, Manchester and London ones and must say that there is a distinct lack of friendliness in the vast majority of them.  Being the intrepid bargain hunter I am though I choose to ignore this fact and carry on regardless.  I must warn you though that I use the word bargain in relation to original price for items, you still have to part with decent money to get these goods.  For example I got a Lanvin dress from a place in Manchester for £200 (after some bartering) but the original price was about £1000.  So if you have £20 in your pocket these places are not worth the journey but if you are looking for designer investments (The Lanvin is a friend for life) then go have a look.  

Hello

Thought I would start off introducing myself.  My name is Jenn, I am 29 and live in Leeds, in the North of England.


My main interests are shopping and football.  With regard to shopping this is mostly done on Ebay, at carboot sales and charity shops.  I find that you get a higher quality of item for the same price that you would buy new from somewhere like Primark and you won't see anyone else in the same thing.  I also love the fact that you cannot go in looking for something and you are constantly surprised by what you find.


Taking inspiration from Sharon Rose Pixie's blog I thought that I would share my favourite finds from over the years and then carry on with my new finds.  So thanks Sharon, you have inspired me.