Bicester Village Haul - July 2013

This week my mum and I went for a girl's day out to Bicester Village, a discount outlet shopping village in Oxfordshire - north west of London.

Bicester Village has high end designer stores such as Dior, Jimmy Choo, Mulberry, Prada as well as the higher end high street stores such as LK Bennett, Reiss, French Connection and Hobbs. There are some really good bargains to be had and lots of shops to browse.

I really do love the carrier bags...

Today I thought I'd do a simple haul blog post to show you the pieces I picked up and how much I saved at Bicester Village. This will hopefully be useful to some people and give you a good idea of what you can get at Bicester Village, how much you will pay and more importantly how much you will save!!



My first stop was Jaegar. I wanted to purchase a plain white top to wear with skirts for work. I paid £20 reduced from £50.

Staying with clothing I also picked up this jacket from Reiss. The tag had been taken off but I paid £53 reduced from about £150.







 

In Hobbs I managed to pick up two pairs of court shoes. They are the exact same design, one in a nude colour the other in a patent black. They should have been £165 each but I paid just £50 each.

In DKNY they had a selection of these handbags by the front door at a bargain price of £35, reduced from £130. Unfortunately, the cashier got a new one from their stock room wrapped in plastic and it wasn't until I got home that I realised there was a security tag attached in side.

In Michael Kors I picked up some sunglasses for £59 reduced from £90, which included your choice of either a hard or soft case.

And finally in Mulberry I picked up a Tillie French Purse in silky snake print. I paid £135, it was reduced from £270.







In total I saved over £600 at Bicester Village and picked up some gorgeous pieces at the same time. Of course they do not have current season stock, but I tend to stick to staples when I shop at Bicester Village. There are some bargains to be had and it's a lovely place to shop and have a day out.

Have you picked up any beautiful bargains recently?
Keep well
Xx

Mulberry Somerset Tote

This is the last of my recently acquired handbags, although I'm heading to Bicester Village next week so we shall see how long that lasts.

This is my first Mulberry handbag and because I am a very lucky girl this was a birthday present from my Mum and Dad. I had no idea what my parents had bought me and my mum was quite mean when it came to wrapping - she decided it didn't need wrapping paper as the Mulberry carrier bag was sufficient (I have been obsessed with bags, including carrier bags since I was little!). Instead she put the Mulberry bag inside a giant Primark carrier bag and presented me with that instead.

When I opened it I was so shocked I had no way expected such an amazing gift. My dad, who was in a meeting at the time, got a rather garbled thank you voicemail message as a result!

So here it is, my first ever Mulberry... the Somerset Tote in Pebbled leather in Black.

It is in fact gorgeous. I love the shape because I can match it with a casual jeans and t-shirt but it sits equally well with a suit, blouse and high heels. It has silver hardware, which is fantastic - all my other black handbags have gold detailing. The handles are the right length to wear over your shoulder, even with a coat or suit jacket, or it sits equally comfortably in the crook of your arm.

The size of the bag is brilliant it fits so much in, it isn't quite a big as my Love Moschino (review here), but this is more of a handbag style and throw it all in type bag. It still fits quite a bit, I usually carry my Filofax, Kindle, big LK Bennett purse, my handbag kit, a water bottle, an umbrella, my makeup, my travel and building passes and my keys. It also has an adjustable strap on the sides to provide a bit more room, I have mine set on the middle setting.

The bag also has two pockets, one larger zipped pocket on the inside and one smaller zip pocket on the front of the bag. I haven't really used these yet but I'm sure they will come in useful if I ever use this for travelling, for keeping my passport safe for example.

Although it was a birthday present, I do know the price as it was on the tags which I always keep. My parents purchased this bag at the Mulberry store at Bicester Village at the beginning of April for £385, the original retail price of this bag was £550. This bag is definitely an investment piece, but you can tell the quality of the bag just by looking at it. It is by far the best quality bag I have ever owned and will easily last years. I can see that this will be a bag I hand down one day to my daughter/niece/granddaughter and will tell them how lucky I was to have wonderful parents like mine.

What was your favorite birthday present this year or do you have something on your wishlist?
Keep well
Xx