America Haul

At the end of July and into the start of August, I was in America for two weeks and had the most amazing time (If you'd like to read about it click here). I went with the intention of spending quite a bit of money but I was more restrained than I thought I could be, given that a lot of things are cheaper across the pond when you take into account the conversion rate. Still, I bought a few bits and thought I'd share them with you.

I'm one of those people who will go into boots, stare lustfully at the essie nail polishes and how dazzling they look, pick one up and think 'do I need to spend £7.99 on one nail polish?' and proceed to place it back and walk away feeling glum. However, in America we went to target and they had so many essie polishes. AND they were $7.50.. converted that's around £4.80! So I thought, I'll grab this chance and get two! I picked the colours 'butler please' (don't you love the names they give them) -which is a very vibrant royal blue colour- and 'e-nuf is e-nuf''- a bright corally pink. I cannot wait to try them out.

I went to a mall in New Jersey with my friends and was shocked by how expensive the clothes seemed! I found the most amazing dress in a shop I can't remember the name of now, but it was $54! That seemed a bit extortinate really in my opinion. However, I went to a shop soon after that called 'Love Culture' (I think) and bought this top. I never seem to have enough basic, casual t-shirts and thought the stripes on this were very classic and easy to style. This was a mere $6.95 or thereabout. (I can't find the link for it sorry).

At the airport, I was in a little tourist type shop and at the till, I found this little treat- the Burt's Bees Replenishing Lip Balm with Pomegranate Oil. I've ummed and aahed about buying a Burt's Bees lip balm for ages now but in the UK, I've always thought they're a bit pricey for a lip balm (can you tell I don't really like spending unnecessary money). This was about $4.99 (£3) so it worked out cheaper buying it there. I've used it every day for the past week now and love it- it's very nourishing and really hydrates my lips. Can't say I'm too keen on the smell of it though.

As I've mentioned many a time before, musicals are my number one love in life. There were tonnes of stands around New York with pictures of musicals like the one above, and one of the musicals that I'm desperate to see is 'Once'. I've seen the film and it's incredible, but I bet the show is just mezmorising. So I bought this frame with the picture in for $5, meaning I can now gaze at it every day.

With my family, I went to this amazing book store called Barnes and Noble. It had tonnes of books, DVDs, games, magazines, stationary and gifts. It was so fun to just look around all the different sections and have a glance at loads of books. I found this cute decorative quote ornament in there. It's very shabby chic and very me, and since I'm so into performing arts, it's quite applicable to me in my everyday life! It was only about $8 as well. It has pride of place on my set of drawers in my room now.

 Also in Barnes and Noble, on an overcast miserable day, we decided to buy some films to go back to the house and watch. My Mum, being the wise woman that she is, insisted on getting 'Dead Poets Society'. I had never seen this, nor had either of my brothers, and it turned out to be an incredible film- well worth a watch. 

I said I wanted to get 'The Host' which I saw at the cinema and fell in love with! You can tell it's by the same author as twilight -*cough* two guys in love with the same girl *cough*- but it's such a great story and Saoirse Ronan is perfect. 

(We knew when we bought them we wouldn't be able to play them on the TV in the UK, some technical thing, but we can still play them on laptops and plug them into the TV.. so doesn't really matter!)

When mooching around Cape Cod, we went into a surf shop where I thought 'there'll be nothing in here I'll like'. But then, out of the corner of my eye, I spotted this beauty. It's from Billabong, never a brand I thought made such pretty items. I bought this to wear on my birthday and wore it for around 10 hours and felt so comfortable and floaty. The top part is a very soft cotton that looks a bit like a bralet. It has adjustable straps which came in very handy as I'm quite small. The floral pattern was what drew me in. It's so beachy and summery and very very me colours. AND it was $49.50 (£31)!

The final thing I bought is this dusky lilac/ pink/ beige cardigan. It's very slouchy, soft and cosy and I can tell it will be worn to its bitter end. It's from American Eagle Outfitters and I spotted it at an outlet mall (the best creation ever might I add), tried it on and was so snuggly and warm that I had to buy it. This little treasure was $33 (I can't remember what the RRP was sorry), which is around £22. I was one happy girly after that purchase.

So that's everything I bought in the US of A! I had intended to buy some MAC make-up at the airport in duty free.. but can you believe it. THERE WAS NO MAC AT AN AMERICAN AIRPORT! I was most disappointed. Still, it means I can use the dollars I had left over, convert them back to pounds and buy some here (shopping spree alert. Expect to see another haul in the near future).

Thanks for reading and have a lovely day whatever you're up to :)

Charlie x

DISCLAIMER- I don't do hauls to brag. I do them because a lot of people (including me) enjoy them. Everything here was bought with my own money.