September shopping haul

Poppy floral oversized tee: TOPSHOP

Yellow knitted high neck rib jumper & black felt bowler hat: TOPSHOP

Green cable knit jumper: ZARA

Textured knit snood, spike headband, dainty handcuff necklace, chunky chain necklace
& cross stretch bracelet: ASOS

Punctuation necklace, water symbol necklace: TOPSHOP

Nail varnish in Gypsy Night: TOPSHOP

Black coated bowling bag: TOPSHOP

Red checkered pyjama pants: PRIMARK

Hair do doodles notebook: PAPERCHASE

Neon nail varnishes: AMERICAN APPAREL

Black vintage Levi's shorts: HEARTS & BOWS via ARK (c/o)

Rolling Stone Rihanna poster: HMV

Wow, one can pretend they haven't spent that much money until they put it all in one haul post, but what the hell.  I was doing well by not spending anything (meaning I didn't buy anything in a few days) until I purchased the oversized floral tee from Topshop, and it kinda' just went down hill from there.  I have started university this month as a lot of you will know, so I now live in Manchester.  This means I now have a two floor Topshop, rather than the tiny little one in Burnley.  This can only end badly, I mean, I've already splashed twenty five pounds on a HAT.  Yeah, still not over that, but have been wearing it every day since to justify that amount.  I also went into Primark and bought something from there for the first time, EVER.  Now that IS a massive shop, and it took me about twenty bloody minutes to find some pyjama pants.  I'm hardly buying my outfits from there, but it's a start.
I was kindly offered by Ark to choose something from the Hearts & Bows range, and these shorts were something which I had my eye on for a while.  I am a bit picky with denim shorts, I like them to be at least slightly high-waisted, with the frayed hem, and I don't mind showing a bit of bum (it's only a bit of bum cheek, ladies, come on) as long as it's not with tights.  What's the point in wearing really short shorts, when you're gonna be wearing TIGHTS?!  Not a good look, but fortunately, these come just below my bum, so I have been happily wearing them with tights rather than having to keep them just for summer.  Great with a chunky jumper.
So yeah, these are my naughty purchases from this month.  And I may or may not have purchased a new sweater and pair of boots off ASOS, ahem...

But girl tonight you look so pretty

Green cable knit jumper: ZARA | Gold chunky chain necklace: ASOS |
Red daisy print dress, black bowler hat & black bowling bag: TOPSHOP |
Shoes: CONVERSE | Orange neon nail polish: AMERICAN APPAREL

As you can probably tell from this outfit and my last one, winter is quickly approaching, and my outfits are happy to adapt.  I've already purchased a couple of new chunky knit jumpers, including this one, and I can't wait to add more to my collection, in a variety of colours.  I have mentioned this jumper on the blog before when I included it in one of my 'Wishful Wednesday' posts a few weeks ago.  I think dark green is my favourite colour to wear in the A/W months, and this knit was only twenty pounds (whaaat?), so it was only a matter of time before I added it to my online shopping basket.  Thankfully I bought the biggest size available (a 'large') as the arms are quite fitted and on the medium they would have been too short.  I am so pleased with it, I was expecting quite thin material because of how much I paid, but it is quite thick and you definitely get your money's worth.  I have worn it numerous times already - with a black skirt or shorts - but today I decided to take another route and wear it over a red dress.  Now I usually avoid wearing dark green and red together because together it's a very Christmassy combination, but thankfully I think the daisy print pulled it out of this territory, so I just went for it.  I wasn't sure about this dress the last time I wore it as I wasn't sure there's many ways one could wear it, so I was happy to throw a jumper over it, giving me another way to wear this dress.  I think it would look amazing with the bright, yellow jumper which I wore in my last outfit post, too.
The accessories today are pretty much the same as the other day - the hat, the bag and my new favourite, statement necklace.  I can't get enough of this hat, I've been wearing my beanie quite a lot lately which is more of a grungy item, so it's great to take my style in another direction with this bowler hat.  I'm not much a bag kinda' girl, don't get me wrong I appreciate all different kind of handbags, but I'd rather spend my money on clothes and shoes whilst just having one bag.  Hence why my new one is PERFECT.  It's just like my last bag except in a black colour, and hello, black goes with everything in winter.  I am definitely over the whole pastels thing now and happily embracing the darker colours, so you'll be seeing this in pretty much every outfit post from now on.
Don't you just love my new neon nail varnish?  It has a bit more of a yellow tone to it in these pictures, but in person it's like WOW.  I've been lusting after the neon varnishes from American Apparel for a few months now, and finally I purchased them in this colour, the bright yellow and the pink/coral shade.  As I said the other day, the yellow's staying time is absolutely rubbish and how it applies is nasty (still an AWESOME colour, let me add), but I've had none of these issues with the other two.  I think they add the perfect pop of bright colour to any outfit, so I will be sporting these for the next few weeks, until the novelty wears off (if ever).
Hope you all have a nice weekend!  After two hours on buses yesterday night I am home for the weekend, my brother has already claimed my bedroom as his own (naturally), but it's nice to be back for a while!  Even if I have been gone for less than a week...

Acid

Yellow knitted high neck ribbed jumper, black felt bowler hat & black bowling bag: TOPSHOP |
Gold chunky chain necklace: ASOS | Black coated skater skirt: RIVER ISLAND |
Shoes: CONVERSE | Yellow neon nail polish: American Apparel

Oh, I am excited about this outfit.  And my new graffiti background.  And my hair (it looks so shiny!).  I should not be spending money on new clothes (really, I shouldn't).  But my uni had fresher's fair on Wednesday, and the fashion society Tweeted and Facebooked on Tuesday afternoon to say that they'd be looking out for people with 'cool, wacky clothes' on.  Cue me thinking 'Ohmygosh ohmygosh I've only brought dull, wintery items with me.  MUST GO SHOPPING.'  I originally planned to nip into Topshop (when do I ever just 'nip' into Topshop?  What was I thinking?!) and buy a funky tee at a relatively good price, maybe something around the twenty pound mark.  What did I end up buying?  Oh, a forty pound jumper and a twenty five pound, I repeat, TWENTY FIVE POUND, bowler hat.  Of course I bloody did.
So yeah, this jumper - out of my price range?  Probably.  Was it love at first sight?  Absolutely.  It definitely wasn't what I had in mind when I thought about what I'd buy - hello? It's a jumper! - but the vibrant, almost neon yellow screamed 'wacky' at me.  Seriously, it was shouting: 'OI, YOU!  YEAH, I KNOW YOU'VE SEEN ME, YOU KNOW YOU LOVE ME, WACKY WACKY WACKY, BUY ME! BUY ME!' etc, etc. 
Oh, and the hat?  Funny story.  I went off to buy some tights - yellow jumper in hand - and then planned to run to the till.  But on my way to the hosiery section I just FELL, head first (obvs), into this hat.  You can't make this stuff up.  And then before I knew it I had planned this whole outfit out in my head within a matter of seconds.  I couldn't just go and leave the hat now, could I?  No.  No, no, no.  So I took it.  And THEN I ran.
The neon nail varnish and the chunky necklace are both fairly new purchases, too (oh god someone stop me), but things which I've had my eye on for a few months.  Am really pleased with this necklace as it makes a statement despite its simple design.  I also really like the nail varnish as it looks AWESOME on, however its staying time is absolutely rubbish, and it doesn't go on that great either.  But oh well, you win some you lose some.
To conclude, I don't regret my out-of-control shopping trip, especially after seeing myself in this amazing ensemble the next morning, but then again, I don't intend to check my bank balance any time soon.