Bonsai: the Bargain Hunter

I mentioned in a previous post that I am not into buying shoes at full price. Well, I have a confession to make... I quite rarely buy anything full price. Apart from a few must-have pieces from my favourite brands, I have trouble bringing myself to buy clothes that are not on sale. And I have a very warped view of prices. Sometimes I'll hesitate over a $30 top, telling myself that it's an unnecessary extravagance. But then I'll convince myself that a $300 dress is completely reasonable. Here are some of my best bargains (all brand new and undamaged):

Sass & Bide dresses, $5 each from warehouse sale



Velvet jacket, $6 from Trade Secret sale


And my latest, Mimco bag, $120 down from $500 in recent sale

Characters

I realised that our house has become increasingly full of funny little characters. Looking at them makes me smile...

A special occasion dress...

My Sretsis 'Silver Heart' dress, from the 'Stolen Hearts' arrived in the mail today and all I can say is... WOW. The detailing is even more incredible than I expected. It's much more sparkly than I thought, with green and gold shimmery specks through the grey lace overlay. The sleeves are also more puffy than I thought, giving the dress a kind of vintage look. But the sparkly silver hearts add a quirky modern touch.

This is definitely a special occasion kind of dress, made for parties! I'm thinking either birthday, Christmas or New Year's for the first outing, all coming up in quick succession. I'm imaging it paired with either my Country Road grey vintage style low round toe pumps, or my Midas pewter almond toe high wedges. I can probably dress it down for winter with tights, my Mollini grey & black heeled brogues and a grey jacket.

Here are some pics I took to try to better convey to you its beauty:

Shoe steals

Guess who bagged some bargains on the weekend? As you know, I'd been on the hunt for some new summer shoes. I'd held back from buying either of the pairs I posted about previously because, well, because they weren't on sale. I'm very funny with shoes. I spend quite a bit on clothes but, for some reason, I don't like to splurge on shoes. This is what I like in a pair of shoes:
1. Comfortable
2. Go with everything
3. On sale

But while I was waiting for my ideal shoes to go on sale, I came across these two pairs (Nine West purple suede flats, $37 and Sportsgirl heeled clogs, $30). While the purple pair won't necessarily go with everything, and the wooden heeled ones will only be comfortable for short spurts of walking, for the price I think they're pretty spot on. I've workshopped some outfits as a test of their versatility (both passed) for occasions from bar through to BBQ.























































1, 2 & 4: Sretsis dresses

3: Country Road blouse, Mativeski velvet skirt - this is a beautiful silvery purple and I recently got it altered from knee length to mid thigh to make it more versatile

5: 'Hi There' Karen Walker blouse, Lover pants (from the new collection, they look huge but I swear it's the angle of the photo!)

6. Lover blouse and Tsubi skirt

Drumroll please...

Thank you so much to everyone who has followed my blog and entered my giveaway. Here is my Country Road hat containing the jumbled names:


And the winner is...

Congratulations!

Apricot + Giveaway reminder

I arrived home from my long weekend to find my Kiss and Makeup package awaiting me. It contained my first NARS purchases: Gina blush and Love Devotion lipstick. Together, they make for a perfect apricot complexion, which is my favoured make-up look. It will go perfectly with pretty peach dresses for Spring:

Alice McCall dress, an oldie but a goodie


One for the wish-list: Arnsdorf

I've noticed that Witchery have quite a bit in the peach/ apricot range at the moment, but unfortunately no styles that have caught my fancy. Hopefully there's more to come in other stores soon.

I also wanted to remind you of my Giveaway ASOS heart suspender tights. Enter by Wednesday night. There are currently only four entries so you are in with a strong chance.

The first of many...

Had the most fantastic long weekend at the beach, celebrating the first wedding anniversary with my husband. In February we will celebrate again, because it will be our 10th anniversary (of our first date). Two big milestones within a few months.

The weather was pretty dismal most of the time, but we made up for it in total relaxation - a massage package at the divine Noosa Spa, browsing around at Eumundi markets and lots of fine dining. Our favourite restaurant of the weekend was Season, recommended by the always-in-the-know Faux Fuchsia. We had dinner there and loved it so much that we went back for breakfast. Here is the view from our table:

It was a little chilly for us to succumb to the pool at our resort, but it did clear up to some beautiful weather this morning, just in time for us to take a dip in the ocean. As you can see, the water was very calm and we could just float about lazily, as was the theme of our weekend!

We took a lucky wrong turn on the way out to the highway and ended up stumbling upon a kite society gathering at a little beach near Coolum. We were so amazed at the sight of a huge lizard and stingray flying in the air that we followed them to their source. It was quite a spectacle and evoked feelings of childhood and giddy laughter. All in all, an envigorating experience.

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I dressed in beachy style, with mix and match pieces in tones of navy, blue, olive and neutrals. I made good use of some new purchases, including some tees from the Country Road sale and my new necklace from Thousand Island Dressing, that seems to go with everything. I glammed it up a bit more for our special Anniversary dinner, in a Sretsis dress that my husband bought me for my last birthday. It has a diamond print, which seemed appropriate for the occasion.




Blue tee:
Country Road
($15)
Necklace:
brand unknown
($22)
Jeans: JBrand


Stripe tee:
Country Road
($38)
Skirt:
Karen Walker




Dress: Sretsis
Brogues: Mollini

Shorts: Karen Walker
Sandals: Mimco
Handbag: Mimco










Here are some memories from our wedding: