This Week's Mini Haul

After getting some good news on Thursday I was in the mood to celebrate so I decided a few little treats were in order.

Like a lot of other people, when I feel like buying a few little things/ need a new outfit/ want a specific item/ any other wardrobe situation  and don't really fancy breaking the bank there is really one place to go that will tick all of the boxes. The clouds parted, a beam of sunshine shone down through the rain and illuminated the doors of Primark! Hallelujah! Maybe not as dramatic as that but it is in my memory.

The shops are in the awkward 'getting rid of the last of the winter woolies and having to hang them on racks next to Summer dresses and straw hats' stage in the season right now (although I reckon Primark kind of always have that going on, it's part of their charm) so I went in with an open mind and a limit of only a couple of things (one would obviously need to be a dress, but that goes without saying since Primark are the kingdom of the £5 magic dress).

The first thing I found was a pink denim shirt with studded spike detailing on the collar. Phew! Now, this shirt clearly has a lot going on and is not for the faint of hearts (or wardrobes) but I couldn't stop looking at it and decided to pick up one to run it past The Boy for his opinion. The Boy is going through a 'customising everything that isn't nailed down with spikes' phase right now (and this isn't a criticism - he really is rather good at it) so it was no surprise really that the shirt got the thumbs up and an enthusiastic nod (the highest of praise). For £12 I decided to give it a go and plan to wear it tucked into a black skirt or over a dress.

Next up was this most excellent McQueen-esque bag for a mere tenner! Ever since my faithful Lulu Guinness bag bit the dust (*sob*) last Autumn, breaking after two years of loyal service I have been on the lookout for a new everyday/ work bag that it big enough to tote all my rubbish essentials around in. I have other bags but they are brightly coloured and printed and sometimes all a gal really needs is a big black bag - a more stylish version of a bin bag if you will! This guy fit the criteria and was immediately hired. No more interviews, the position has been filled!

I really like the embossed black-on-black skulls - you can never have too many - and the size was just perfect. I had to giggle at the fact Primark were marketing it as a 'Weekender' bag - I consider it an everyday bag, but I'd love to show the head dudes at Primark what size of bag I'd consider to be a weekend bag!

It will never fully replace the Lulu Guinness-shaped void but it will certainly do for now.

I also bought a grey and black striped dress that I'd had my eye on when it was full price (£13) and now it was marked down to £7 so I snapped it up. Unfortunately it has to go back due to sizing issues but hey, you win some you lose some!

After hitting the 'Mark I headed over to Boots and ended my little purse-friendly splurge with a new blusher. I had been keen to try Nicola Roberts' Dainty Doll range for some time now but never got round to it. Boots currently have 1/3 off of the range and so I decided this would be a good time to try it. I opted for shade number 2, called My Girl. It's a sweet, cotton candy pink colour and I will be writing a separate post about how I have found it to be after testing it out!

 
All in all, a happy little haul that didn't cost much!

Have you treated yourself this week? Got your eye on anything nice? Feel free to comment below! 

Thanks for reading!

Back in the saddle

Well hello there! As promised I've come back to the bloggerverse with almost a year of absence. I don't expect there to be many of you lovely people left here waiting for me but a big hi-five and thank you to those of you that are still here! 

Now that the distractions that were taking up my attention are over I can return to this blog with the energy and ideas that it deserves. As you can see, I have been doing a little spring cleaning - out with the old and in with the new. New layout, new design and - most importantly - new content. 

In my absence from blogging I have been sporadically reading blogs I admire and taking the odd mental note here and there to help me when I eventually retuned. This new blog isn't perfect but it's on it's way to being what I want it to be. I had previously been making do with what had been immediately available instead of thinking outside the box and making more of an effort (ironically something I always encourage in others but had stopped doing myself). Things like picture quality, using social media and networking with other bloggers had taken a total backseat and I feel like I have a lot of catching up to do. Bloglovin', Pintrest and #bbloggers chat over on Twitter are things that I have been aware of but haven't had the time or (sometimes) know-how to get involved in. So, one step at a time I will get involved instead of silently standing at the side of the playground. If you have any tips or handy hints to help me along the way or can think of anything else I might like please get in touch by emailing me at misswestendgirl@hotmail.co.uk , tweet me @misswestendgirl or feel free to leave a comment below!

Any thoughts are welcome and appreciated! 

I have updated my 'about' section of the blog so you can see what kinds of things that I will be blogging about. Not too much has changed in that respect since i was last here but as this blog has evolved over the last few years I feel that it is important to say what I am all about and the blog too. I don't want to pigeonhole myself into 'just fashion' or 'just beauty' (etc) because I like too many things and want to blog about all of them. I guess 'lifestyle blog' has a wider spectrum of what to expect content-wise so until I think of a better description we can stick with it for now. I have also updated it to reveal a little more about me personally too - I think it is nice to know a little about the person behind the blog and most of the other blogs I read have that quality so it is one of the main changes content-wise that will start to show. 

I'd also like to (in the future) look at maybe organising giveaways and things like that but that is something that will come later, once I have the rest figured out! 

I'm looking forward to getting back into the swing of things and hope you'll stick around with me to see how it goes. 

Thanks for reading!