• Home
  • About
  • Life
  • beauty
  • fashion
  • Hair
  • how to
  • Contact
  • Search

The Fashion Faux Pas of Gabrielle An unconventional fashion blogger trying to find her place on the internet

fashion•Life

Secondhand shopping during a pandemic

08/08/2020

On the 24th July 2020, the UK government introduced restrictive measures for shoppers where face masks were mandatory to prevent the spread of coronavirus – failure to comply with these new measures can lead to a £100 fine.

I, along with countless others, wasn’t sure why there was a delay in this becoming mandatory, but obliged as Aaron and I were itching to get out of the flat for the day – we hadn’t spent any time away from our flat since lockdown restrictions were introduced at the end of March, except for socially distanced catch ups with friends/family and walks around our estate, so getting back into our weekend routine of mooching around the shops, having a nice lunch and stroll was essential!

We decided to head over to Hitchin as it’s just a quick 10 minute drive away and a lovely place to spend the afternoon (it also has tonnes of secondhand/charity/vintage shops and I was itching to buy some kind of clothing – lockdown made me realise I barely wear any of the clothes I own anymore!)

First stop was to Boots to pick up a cleanser and perfume as I’d run out of both (well, I’ve still got a tiny bit of my Gabrielle by Chanel left but wanted to save it for a special occasion). Boots in Hitchin is quite a small store, so shopping socially distanced was a challenge at times (especially when you’re searching for the Benefit products and little old Mary decides to barge in front of you to join the queue).

The shop was fairly busy and well stocked – I was planning on picking up the No 7 clay cleanser that I got for my birthday, but thought I’d try my first ever product from Pixi (their Glow Mud Cleanser) as there was an offer on the whole range. You’re not able to test the perfumes anymore and the tester bottles have been locked away, so I had to make a decision based on the smells I could remember – Sweetheart by Ghost is a perfume I used to love when I was back at college and I saw there was a variation called Sweetheart Forever that I thought would do. We had to wait a while before we could get someone to grab it for me and as soon as I got a quick sniff of the sample bottle (navigating it under the mask was fun), we were at the checkout and on our way to the next shop.

Next up we headed to our favourite little vintage store and had a mooch around at all of the random items (Aaron was laughing at a set of old fishing rods whilst I was flipping through all of the secondhand clothes). I managed to pick up an old Ralph Lauren sweatshirt (I know, me and secondhand Ralph Lauren has become a thing and I’m not sure why or how I manage to find all of this stuff) and an absolutely gorgeous paisley/floral print dress from Topshop that was about three sizes too big, but I decided it would look great with a belt to cinch it in at the waist. The shop set up had been changed and a one way system introduced with hand sanitiser as you walk in the door (mandatory masks of course), but there weren’t as many people as usual, so I didn’t notice people sticking to this new one way system set up (although that doesn’t mean that they weren’t).

After this we decided to head on over for our first meal out together since the restaurants reopened (I’d already been out for a couple of meals whilst out on site visits for work, so this wasn’t really new to me). There’s a Cinnabar in Hitchin so we thought we’d go for burgers, which weren’t all that great if I’m honest, but the whole experience largely felt the same, if you didn’t take into account the large plastic dividers between each table and the fact they would only give little sachets of sauce instead of leaving a bottle on the table.

Mr Albon was not up for being photographed before lunch

Finally we went over to Scope and I managed to pick up loads of bits which I haven’t been able to picture, but I picked up a pair of trousers and three dresses – one of the dresses turned out to look shit when I tried it on at home which was a shame, but alas! This is what happens when you’re impatient like me and don’t try things on! To be honest this store is so small, it would be difficult to introduce a one way system around the store, but there was a plastic divider in front of the till and 2m stickers on the floor for shoppers to make sure they were keeping well distanced.

Overall, I was extremely happy with my haul and have been wearing pretty much everything I got since we went out.

Although part of me is glad life is slowly starting to go back to normal, I’m also worried for what that might mean later down the line as many people disregard the safety precautions, but nobody can say for sure what life is going to be like!

Have you ventured out since some of the restrictions were lifted and have you managed to pick up anything good? Let me know in the comments below.

Share this:

  • Share
  • Facebook
  • Telegram
  • Skype
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • WhatsApp
  • LinkedIn
  • Reddit
0

Covid-19 shopping experiencesecond hand fashionsecondhand shopping pandemicshopping during a pandemicwhat’s it like shopping during a pandemic

0 Leave a Comment
Previous Why I don’t shop with Boohoo anymore
Next How COVID-19 has changed my shopping habits

Related Posts

I've joined the world of YouTube!

A New Chapter

Would you buy a secondhand bikini?

Reader Interactions

Leave a Comment Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 2,682 other subscribers.

Archives

When the snow was beautiful and didn’t disappear When the snow was beautiful and didn’t disappear ❄️ what a week it’s been! I’ve been shivering away, heating on full blast and my dressing gown wrapped around me as I work this week - I love the look of snow but hate the cold! Had a day of hypochondria where I had a cough and was convinced it was Covid - but turns out my husband knows me best and that it wasn’t. And that’s probably the most exciting bit of news I l have for you all! How are you all doing?!
Hello all! I’m trying not to leave too much time Hello all! I’m trying not to leave too much time between posts as I have been in the last few months, so I think a couple of weeks is an improvement! On our way home from food shopping last week (highlight of the week!) we decided to stop by one of my favourite spots to take some outfit photos, where the majority of what I’m wearing is second hand (bag, jacket and jumper). I’m getting extremely stir crazy, but at the same time have turned into quite the hermit, I miss going out for lunch with Aaron, mooching around the charity shops and going out to do site visits for work - let’s hope this vaccine helps bring some normality!
And the final day of 2020 is upon us! I decided to And the final day of 2020 is upon us! I decided to make myself feel like I was going somewhere tonight by putting a full face of makeup on, with the intention of sitting on the sofa sharing a bottle of Disaronno with Aaron to see the new year in! We might hit up the kitchen, the living room and Aaron suggested the bathroom but I wasn’t sure 😂 what have you got planned for tonight? And Happy New Year to everyone!
And that’s Christmas over for another year (alth And that’s Christmas over for another year (although let’s be honest, 2020 may as well not have happened!) and I just hope to god 2021 is a damn site better for everyone! Since I’ve been attempting to cut out purchasing brand new clothing all together, bar a few items such as underwear and pyjamas, I’m hoping once Hertfordshire is out of Tier 4 that I can head to the shops and do some serious secondhand shopping and use the vouchers I got to buy myself some new beauty bits. How was your quiet Christmas and have you got any beauty recommendations for me? #hertsbloggers #fashionbloggeruk #ukfashionblogger #ukstyleblogger #hertsbloggerlove #sustainablefashionblogger #secondhandfashionblogger #petitebloggeruk #petitefashionbloggeruk #outfitinspo #mylookoftheday #ootdshare #ukfashionblog #petitestyle #hertfordshirebloggers #funkyfashion #ukfashion #ootdinspo #canon700d #canon #amatuerphotography #aspiringfashionblogger #aspiringblogger
Hello strangers! Thought I should pop on here and Hello strangers! Thought I should pop on here and let you all know I haven’t forgotten about this online world, I’ve just needed some time to myself after almost 5 years of continuous life sharing! I also haven’t been heading off anywhere glam or buying much to share on here, so today’s snap is a bit of a throw back to just before the first lockdown when I found this gorgeous wool blazer in @british_heart_foundation from @poloralphlauren 🥰 how are you all and have you managed to find any bargain secondhand finds?! ♻️🌿
I’ll be honest and say that I’ve completely go I’ll be honest and say that I’ve completely gone off of Instagram over the last few months and popped on here this morning for the first time in weeks to see if I could get back into the swing again. To be honest I’ve been so busy with work most days, that when it comes to having some free time all I want to do is slob out, watch something on the telly and do nothing - I spend most of my life on my laptop or work phone, that the last thing I want to do when I’m finished is churn out more content. But I’ve come to realise that’s okay - I don’t need to let my social media dictate how I live my life, or feel bad about the fact that I don’t have certain things, can’t go certain places or live a certain life - because social media (and especially Instagram), is where people showcase their best selves and not necessarily what’s going on off screen. I realised a while ago that jealousy isn’t going to get me anywhere; I might look at someone online and envy their life, but should be thankful (and am!) for the life that I’ve already got - there’s always going to be someone worse off and everyone has different goals or ideals in life, so there’s no use in getting bogged down when I can’t afford to go certain places, have certain things, when I’ll get where I need to be in my own time. I just need to carry on doing my own thing and not let the Instagram envy get me down ❤️
{GIFTED} Thank you so much to @kaolin.kiln for sen {GIFTED} Thank you so much to @kaolin.kiln for sending me these gorgeous earrings from her Etsy store - everything is zero waste and all packaging is 100% recyclable!  I hope you’re all enjoying the gorgeous sunshine and making sure your skin is well protected from the sun - you don’t want to end up tossing and turning because you got burnt and turned into a radiator in a day! We went food shopping and out to the in-laws for our weekly Sunday roast, so I’m now spending the afternoon keeping as cool as I can in the flat, readying myself for another week of work in the heat!
Copyright © 2021 The Fashion Faux Pas of Gabrielle · Theme by SheShoppes

Copyright © 2021 · Pathfinder for Genesis on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in