Back.. again. Birthday Bargain Shopping, and THE Dress!

Alright, so I might have lied a little bit in my last post by saying that I was going to be more active, but I’m almost done with my finals which means that it’s going to become a reality very soon!

I will be having a very refreshing break from my finals though, as it’s my birthday on Saturday! The only reason I am mentioning this is because… I obviously went shopping for the occasion!

Before I went shopping, I sat down and thought about what exactly it was that I was looking for. I ended up deciding that I want a simple dress that looked a little different from what I would usually wear. Additionally, as this birthday is my 21^st, I knew for a fact that something would either be spilled on or burn my dress in the celebration process (I’m very clumsy), and therefore I did not want to spend hundreds of dollars on a birthday dress. What does that mean? That’s right, another ‘bargain shopping’ post for Beirut!

I found my dress on Hamra, in a store called Duroc (I’m guessing because that’s what the bag says, but I’ll update it if I’m mistaken), it’s next to Starbucks. The funny thing is, it was the store with the worst display I have ever seen. I normally would not have gone in, but after looking at so many horrible stores with sad excuses for dresses (I tried on a white dress in one store, and it was completely see through!!) I was desperate enough to give it a chance. The front of the shop slightly depressed me, until I got to the back where the dresses were. I actually pulled out 6 great dresses to try on out of that little hole-in-the-wall. The prices are very reasonable, my dress was only LL 92,000, and my goal was to find a dress under $100 so that if anything were to happen to it, it wouldn’t be that much of a loss. I am very much considering going back for another dress that I really liked. So, I have a message to send: don’t judge a store by its window display; it is very possible that the old woman who owns it just has really bad taste.

On to the shoes! Another hole in the wall, or rather hole in the ground. This store is slightly more eye-catching on Hamra, it’s called Rubi and it is a store which sells bags, shoes, and faux bijoux. I saw a pair of shoes in the window and thought they looked amazing, and so I went inside. I have to admit, there are a whole bunch of “hooker shoes”, as I’ve heard them being called, but there is an equal balance of shoes that people would actually wear. I tried the shoes on and loved them. Now came the moment of truth, finding out how much it cost. I definitely wasn’t going to spend more money on shoes than I did on the dress, because I was more than certain that by the end of the night, knowing me, something would go terribly wrong with the shoes on my feet. Imagine my excitement when I was told that the shoes were only $50! Obviously, I bought them immediately.

Moving away from bargain shopping, I finally picked up the dress that I bought for my cousin’s wedding. (This is my proof that I have been very busy, as I bought the dress in April, and only picked it up last week). It is perfect. They tailored it to fit me exactly, and I love it even more that I did when I first bought it, so here it is!