Glistening Sheen: Singapore Sales Shopping

Good Day Everyone,

Shopping in Singapore is expensive! There’s no doubt about that! Almost everything is more expensive compared to back home in England. Singapore has many of the familiar high street stores that I would shop at back home including, Mango, H&M, Zara, Topshop, River Island, Accessorize etc. It even has some shops that we don’t get in England that I love love love spending time (& money) in, such as, Sephora (the temple of makeup lovers!).

However, as most of the items tend to be 25-50% more expensive than in England (and I begrudge paying a higher price when I know I can get the same item for significantly less money), I usually suppress the urge to shop until I go home for a visit. There is, however, an annual exception that I do tend to make and that is at The Great Singapore Sale. This is an annual sales event that happens each year typically at the end of May until the end of July when various retailers (clothes, electronics, household etc) will offer significant discounts and have their main sale of the year.

This year was a relatively successful year for me – the bargain hunter within me was extremely satisfied (haa haa!). Firstly, having lost a lot of the steroid weight I had gained (due to my arthritis medication) I was now keen to update my wardrobe and actually managed to enjoy the experience of shopping. Secondly, as I’m not working I had a bit (well a lot) more time to peruse the shops and finally shopping is a ‘colourful’ experience and I love colour!

So here I thought I'd share with you some of my recent purchases. Enjoy!

There was a time not so long a go that when you bought a top that was particularly see through it would often come with a matching coloured vest / slip or, even better, it would actually be lined to protect one's modesty. Unfortunately, this no longer seems to be the case. All three of the above tops did not come lined and are incredibly see through. Now I know I could wear a matching coloured spaghetti strapped vest but they can be quite clingy (not my thing, as I'm still carrying some steroid weight around my tummy). Fear not, I have managed to get the gold trimmed top and the peach blouse lined thus far by using a local tailor. Whilst paying for the tailor's services and buying the lining fabric hikes up the price of the clothing, I see it as money well spent as I will get a lot of wear out of these tops. They can be worn in the Singapore heat as well as layered with a blazer (and vest if needs be) when I come home for a visit, where the temperature is much colder. I am going to have a go at lining the beaded cream top myself (how hard can it be?!).

Now I've never been a fan of jeggings but whilst in Mango I saw these dark coloured jeggings and thought to myself that these look just like jeans (if you don't look at the waist band that is), but without the awful zip and button fastening, which I find can dig in to the stomach when you sit down as well as cause a bit of a 'muffin top'. When trying these on, I was quite surprised by just how comfortable they were. They even have pockets at the back like jeans. In fact, the only way people could tell that these are not jeans is if I wear a really short top, which as you can see from the photos, I don't tend to do. So I overcame the prejudice that I've held over the last few years (and much to my hubby's horror) bought my first pair of jeggings!

Given my 4ft11" height I often find that jeans / trousers are almost always too long for me unless I buy from the 'petite' range, where there is one available... Oh how I do miss Principles! Do you remember Principles clothes shop from England? They always had the perfect leg length for me in their petite range. Unfortunately, Principles became another casualty of the recent global recession :o( Anyway, I digress, I got both the jeggings and off white jeans shortened, again by my trusty tailor, for just $6 / £3 per item - what a bargain!!!

Below are my only two jewellery purchases and I can already envisage these necklaces going with some of the tops above. I love long necklaces as they look great with a feminine top, blazer and smart jeans.

Some of the above items are still available so if anything takes your fancy I'd move quickly.
H&M
Forever 21
Mango
Esprit

Below is summary of where I purchased the items from and the price rounded up to the nearest (Singapore) dollar and the approximate equivalent in British £.