Happy Christmas fashionista followers! I hope you all had a wonderful day. We had a lovely family Christmas this year at home as my sister, who is a nurse, was working for a lot of the day. Believe me, I never ate as much! I am still recovering from the food coma, as I am sure, are the majority of people today. I received so many amazing presents, most of which I am keeping until we move into our new house (fingers crossed for next week). Today my mother and I braved the sales in Galway city. I had not seen St. Stephen’s Day (Boxing Day) queues like that in a few years! I actually queued for over an hour in River Island, but it was well worth it! I was disappointed to see a lot of negative twitter remarks regarding the sales today criticising those who went sales shopping and remarks that St. Stephens Day should be spent at home with family. Well, each to their own but personally I enjoy our family tradition of the ladies hitting the sales the day after Christmas. Shopping ’till we drop.

I wore this fab burnt orange woollen jumper which my sister kindly gifted to me for Christmas. I love the colour and how it fabulously clashes with my hair colour. I also absolutely love the New York skyline print! New York is my favourite place ever, and currently my fiancé is there spending Christmas with his family. Something about wearing city-inspired fashion really stands out to me. My individual style usually incorporates city style such as Parisian or New York designs. You might remember the Parisian Style-Alert blog post I did last May (Read it HERE). I have been living in this animal-style hat since I picked it up in Penneys/Primark about a month ago. Cosy is an understatement! I also wore my new slip-on Converse which I also received for Christmas. I have been lusting after a pair of these since my uni-days and was delighted to find them in my stocking along with tonnes of other surprises! Get a closer look at the converse on my instagram page (@boopfashionista). Wrapping up with a water-proof, fur collared gilet completed today’s look.

1. Wear flat shoes – this is key! You will most likely be spending a lot of time queuing or walking between stores so opt for comfortable flat shoes. Sales are not a time for glamour shoes!

2. Don’t get too cosy – If you wear too many layers you are going to have a stuffy shopping experience and think of the time wasted removing the layers in the changing room.

3. Check the returns policy in each store if you are unsure of a purchase. Around this time of year a lot of stores have a limited returns policy or an exchange-only policy so you need to be consicous of this.

4. Arrive early – especially if you have your eye on one particular item. 

5. Bring a large shopper bag as a lot of fashion stores don’t provide trolleys/baskets and believe me your arms will be exhausted carrying around your sales finds!

If you find your sales trip is unsuccesful don’t despair either try online when you get home or else return to the store in a few days. I have often found that people will return items after the first day of the sale so you might be lucky!

Were you brave enough to venture into the sales this year? Did you find any of these tips helpful?

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