Expensive mistakes

[lurkingfromhome]

I am looking at myjumper in despair. I coveted a sparkly V-neck boxy jumper from the White Company for ages but could not being myself to spend £85 on it. Saw one on Ebay and somehow (was I insane? drunk?) ended up in a bit of a bidding war and paid £55 for it. Tried to see it as a bargain (really, £55 is not exactly a giveaway, is it?), but...

Ten minutes after I'd worn it for the first time I had four giant pulls in it as the cat jumped on top of me, and it would appear to be made of the type of fabric that pulls and catches like buggery if you so much as look at it the wrong way. Got several more catches in it that same night just with my nails.

The second time I wore it I spilled mustard all down the front. Of course it's a hand-wash-in-cold-water-only garment, because of the shape and the sparkly bits. And you're not allowed to rub it. Or put Vanish on it. Or wring it out. Or dry clean it. Soaked it in cold water. Did the stain come out? No. Tried again in warm water. Still there.

So I am now looking down at my lovely £55 jumper that I have worn twice and that is covered in pulls and has indelible mustard stains on the front. Marvellous. Naturally things I have bought off Ebay that cost a tenth of that are still going strong. Would anyone like to make me feel better by confessing similar expensive wardobe errors?

Oh, these stories make me cringe, I'm too tight fisted with money. But I do have a tendency to buy very nice wool house socks and wash/shrink them so that the cat has something warm to put on when she comes in - I'm just a giver like that...

Washing a beautiful £90 cashmere jumper in the machine (Hey all my other cashmere/wool jumpers has been fine after machine washing) As chinley put it, it would only fit a doll when it came out!

Can't remember make but very expensive shoes for honeymoon - worn once but metal decorative plates over the top of toes absolutely sliced my feet never worn again :(

Karen millen fake suede jacket circa £400 10 years ago - wore to works Xmas party and after 2 hours watched in horror as dance floor of pissed idiots all lurched my way with drinks of red wine, beer etc- covered the whole jacket as they fell into me and jacket was specialist dry clean only and nothing came out even after paying the £25.00 to get it done!

There's more...just got to remember!

I've never forgotten my favourite cashmere socks, left in a London hotel ten years ago.

Other typical expensive mistake: Buy item, wear it once, realise it looks bad and I don't actually like it - can't return because didn't save receipt + it has been used.

thank god all of my angora goats hair socks are still in one piece and keep my feet warm of a winters night

Mulberry scarf from DH as a gift I asked for - £100 and have worn it once it's lovely, it really is, but I just don't suit the colour of it, it makes me look dead.

Hopefully this autumn I will make it work.

In the days before children, expensive creams and cosmetics that I just never got round to using or didn't suit like Eve Lom cleanser and moisturiser, countless chanel, lancome, ysl, estee lauder nail polishes, lipglosses, lipsticks, foundations. I must have spent thousands hundreds over the years. Luckily I have stopped reading beauty mags, I am so gullible... and vain.

Expensive shoes (don't know name) worn twice and on second outing a drunken older woman fell and trod on my foot leaving a purple footprint bruise on my foot and a dirty black boot print on the cream fabric detail of shoes.
A couple of years ago my mums mistake was saying she needed to use up creams and not telling me which. I stayed over after a drunken night and smothered the best part of a tub on my face like a face mask...the cream was well over £100.

I'm feeling much better now about my new boots - I tried them on with thick socks, bought them, wore them and now realise they are too big unless I wear them with walking socks!
Gorgeous black Moda n Pele shoes that were so high I could only stand in them, too small post pregnancy, ditto nice black boots from Bertie.
Cashmere jumpers all destroyed by clothes moths.

Ah I do like this thread! More premium cosmetics/creams/ snake oil than you can shake a overpriced stick at. My worst is a pair of Christian Louboutin Lady Lynch patent shoes with ridiculous 25 inch heels that I can literally do no more than stand still in and any kind of breeze and I'd be flat on my face as the angle I have to stand at to stay upright seems like some kind of attempt to defy the laws of physics bloody things have never been worn and cost £400 last year. Could swing for the sales assistant in Harvey Nics that convinced me they were fabulous dahhhhling!

A pair of stripey designer PJs which I loved until my friend said "like in a concentration camp?" and they were exactly like that!

I think you need to get ebaying the Loubs Crazy and put the money towards a handbag!

25 inch heels? That's over 2 feet high. I'm sure not even Loboutin has got a pair of shoes that high

Oh loads [embarrassed]

Recently shrunk a Peruvian Connection cardi by being too lazy to handwash.
Other spectaculars are usually as a result of PMT or PND shopping.

DH just reminded me of an Escada coat I decided I needed shortly after DD was born. It was HIDEOUS! Why I thought horizontal stripes were a good look post-baby I do not know. I've burned all photos of me wearing it and got rid of the coad as well.

I was taking the piss glitter, they are actually 5 inches, obvs not 25!

And defs could do with ebaying but just not a great fan of the site as seem to have loads of people assuming things are fake! You are right tho proceeds could go towards a new bag or the jimmy choo glitter courts I've got my eye on

Not too awake yet ;) I would love some but have nowhere to wear them and live on a steep hill too. Prada have some beautiful pink suede shoes in right now but I can't justify the £540 just for coveting them at home.

Way too much to count. Lipsticks mostly but heaps I've bought and never worn because it didn't fit or looked bad and I never took back.

Numerous items of clothing wrecked by ayis.

Red prada handbag from Dh. Its just so not me.

Oh and various prada and hugo boss she's eaten by the dog.

I accidentally hot machine washed a much coveted brora jumper from the sale....only got to wear it twice, now it is horrid and too small and too woolly.

Most of the things I buy turn out to be expensive mistakes for one reason or another. Things get ruined in the wash, get spills, are uncomfortable, don't fit, don't suit me, cost a month's salary and spell fashion death months later, shall I go on?

I've stopped buying stuff and have never been happier. I'm no richer though, because I spend all the money I've saved on holidays

suburbandweller my neighbour bought a designer coat just after having her first baby and it ended up too big. She had it altered and you can't tell. I think it cost about £30, but worth it for something that dear that you never wear.

I have about 30 bottles of perfume, which is definitely a waste of money because it would take me a lifetime to use them up and some of them have already started to evaporate :( I haven't bought one for years and thought I was doing really well, then DM gave me more for my birthday, bless her!

The most annoying is Estée Lauder Private Collection, which I LOVE, and which has almost totally evaporated.

Boots for £250 from Karen Millen, which wore through the toes after a few weeks. I got a replacement by arguing furiously (they treated me as if I were scamming them and insisted on having a cobbler look at it, who pointed out that they were badly made). Replacement went through the toes ever quicker.

I am still angry about that (and about paying silly money for boots, I guess).

Not expensive on their own - but dresses from ASOS own brand range. I always think they look lovely in the pictures, get them and find the material is too thin/cheap/still or the cut is wrong, and still somehow assume if I keep them they will magically start to resemble the pictures. It hasn't happened yet!

Posh cashmere jumper (Brora?) I bought after reading that's where Nigella gets hers. It's ugly as fuck, no shape at all and makes me look like my granny. I spilled hot candle wax on it, but it came out beautifully without leaving a mark. Why doesn't that happen when it's stuff you love?!

Note to self, never buy:
Overly expensive shoes
Expensive make-up
Cashmere jumpers
Don't collect perfume

In other words, the opposite of what all those mags/style blogs have been saying