Bicester Village is a designer outlet just outside of Oxford and it is easily one of my favourite places to shop. There aren't many places you can go in the UK and get designer goods at a discounted rate and I am talking legit designer, not just Ted Baker or Michael Kors, I'm talking Gucci, Prada, Saint Laurent, Dior and all of the major designers you can think of except Chanel. Even if you don't like designer brands they still have some great mid range brands and plenty of beauty stores. I have been looking forward to going back to Bicester since my last visit.
Visiting Bicester
Travelling from Bristol to Bicester isn't always a short journey. I always take the option to go through Swindon and when you hit Swindon there is always traffic. This causes a bit of an issue as I like to be at Bicester first thing in the morning so that I can hit the shops whilst it is quiet and head home as it gets a bit busier. On this particular trip my friend and I ended up booking hotel rooms near Bicester and travelling there the night before. I am not a morning person so this was absolutely perfect for me.
We stayed in the Holiday Inn Express in Bicester which is a literal 4 minute journey to the village. If you wanted to you could definitely walk to Bicester Village from the hotel. The hotel itself is brand new and modern, you can literally smell how new it is. I did check out my friends room (we had separate rooms) and they were identical, they were just on opposite sides of the hotel so you don't have to worry about getting a bad room. Considering it isn't the most luxury of hotels it was the perfect room for an overnight stop just so we were closer to Bicester; the bed was comfy, the bathroom was incredibly clean and made by the massive shower, and overall it was very clean and tidy. I imagine as the hotel ages it won't age well but it was a lovely stay.
We did get breakfast with our booking and they put on a continental breakfast. I had a croissant and a coffee but we had plans to grab breakfast at Bicester. The breakfast did look good and you can load up on whatever you want which is perfect for getting ready for a big day of shopping. If you are looking for somewhere to stay that is convenient and clean, try the Holiday Inn Express.
Making our Way to the Village
After a reasonable nights sleep (I'm not great at sleeping in places that aren't my own bed) I got up and we made moves to the village for opening at 9am. The best part about staying in the hotel was that I was by myself. Over lockdown I have been in a house with my family and to be honest it has been a bit much so it was great just to be on my own for once, it doesn't happen very often but it was a much needed escape.
Anyway at 9 we were in the car and made the 4 minute drive to Bicester Village and headed straight to Farmshop for some breakfast. My Mother and I usually opt to go to Farmshop for Breakfast so I thought I would introduce my friend to it. I had the incredible waffles but I was a tad disappointed as it didn't have the Cherry compote on it this time instead it was mixed berries which wasn't as good. My friend had Eggs Royale which looked amazing! As soon as I saw it I was jealous. Once I had loaded up on sugar and caffeine, it was time to hit the shops.
Shopping
My rule for Bicester shopping is to walk along the village once before buying anything major and on my second trip down the village I pick up the items I have been thinking about. Farmshop is conveniently placed at one end of the village so it makes easier to do a full walk. Near Farmshop is my favourite The Kooples and they had a couple of pieces I liked from a previous season however I needed to walk away and think about it just in case, didn't want to blow my load in the first store. Off-White now have a store opposite The Kooples and it is beautiful. They had some great pieces but nothing really stood out to me. The next store was where my first purchase was made.
Since my last trip to Bicester there is now a Beaute Prestige International store which is the Bare Escentuals version of the Estee Lauder Companies store. It contains brands like Nars, Bare Minerals, Shisedo, Serge Lutens and more. I have seen Alexandra Steinherr speak about this store and I was intrigued to see what the store would hold. If I am honest the only brand that I was really interested in was Nars and they had so much Nars that I kind of felt overwhelmed.
Somehow among all of the products I noticed that they had the Afterglow Lip Balm in Orgasm which I love. My mini tube fell out of my bag in the work car park and had been run over so whilst I could I thought I would replace it. The lip balm was £13.80 instead of £23 which is a strong saving and it is in a red/gold tube. I am guessing by the colour scheme that this was a limited edition for Chinese New Year, either way I am just happy to have this product back in my life.
I didn't expect to find anything in the Coach store as they quite often have the same items in there every time I go in but they did have one thing that caught my eye which was one of their face masks. A lot of brands have started to create face masks due to the Pandemic and even though it is no longer mandatory to wear one, I feel more comfortable wearing one so will continue to do so. Even in the dream world were masks aren't a thing, I still plan to wear one when I am ill so I will keep the masks I've bought.
I really didn't need to buy another one but I couldn't pass up on this cute mask from Coach. I love the little Dinosaur (Rexy) that features on a lot of the Coach products and I thought it was so cute that they had included it on this mask. This mask wasn't discounted but I loved it which made it worth it and to be honest this isn't even the most expensive mask I own. It looks quite thin but there is a little pocket on the back so you can put a filter in it. I can't wait to start wearing this one. You can buy this on the Coach website if you do like it.
After continuing to make our way down the village, popping into stores, the next place I bought something was the Anastasia Beverly Hills pop up. I thought it was quite full circle as the last time I went to Bicester they had an ABH pop up and there it was again. There was only one thing I was going to purchase if they had it and they did, the Norvina Palette.
I have been eyeing up the Norvina palette for quite sometime but it didn't seem worth spending £46 on but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to buy it with a discount. In Bicester the palettes were £30 which is a significant price reduction. They also had the Modern Renaissance palette, Soft Glam and Riveria which I already have and love. I thought the Norvina palette would be a great addition to my collection thanks to the soft pink and warm brown tones.
The only store I wanted to go to next was Mulberry. I had it in my mind that I was finally going to treat myself to my first Mulberry but it needed to be the perfect bag for me. We walked in and they had the bag I have wanted for YEARS! There it was, at the front of the store, the Lily bag in Rosewater. The only issue was that it was in the medium size rather than the small which was the one I wanted. After checking that they didn't have the smaller size, I really needed to walk away and think about whether I was going to treat myself to the bag. I had the money saved but it was a lot! I also didn't know how I felt about the size so I took a couple of pictures to look back at and decide.
Whilst considering whether to get my bag, we went to the Estee Lauder Companies store which is usually my favourite shop but I have to say I was quite disappointed this time. There was only one brand that had anything I was interested in and that was Jo Malone London. I am always happy to see products from Jo Malone at a discount and they actually had some of the most recent Blossom collection and I ended up buying a 30ml of Yellow Hibiscus. I didn't get the chance to smell Yellow Hibiscus when it was in stores as it was out during lockdown but when I smelt it in Bicester I loved it. Before going to Bicester I finished a 30ml bottle of Frangipani Flower so I needed to replace it and I managed to do that with bit of a discount, very happy about that.
As well as buying a small fragrance, I also bought a candle from Jo Malone and it matches a candle I bought in the outlet in Gunwharf Quays. In Gunwharf I managed to get one of the City Collection candles in my favourite scent Peony & Blush Suede. This time I managed to get the London candle which has the scent Pomegranate Noir. I love these two scents and I really love the patterns on the City Collection candles so I was pleased to be able to get another one that I really love and the one for the city of the country I live in.
We continued to walk along the village stopping in stores and my friend bought a few bits but I waited until the second walk along to pick anything else up. A trip to Agent Procovateur is always on the cards when I go to Bicester. To be honest they never really have much in there and usually you can pick it up cheaper on the online sale but they do always come up trumps when it comes to finishing sets I haven't completed.
On a previous trip I managed to get a thong to go with the Robyn Set and this time they had the Suspender Belt to go with the Kaylie Set that I bought for my Birthday this year. The set is gorgeous and the belt was going to finish the set off perfectly but at £45 I really had to think about it so I walked away and ended up going back for it. The sales assistant was lovely until she tried the size 2 on me and said it was a bit snug. There is no way I am a 3 hun. I got my size 2 and was on my way.
The final stop was always going to be Mulberry. My friend was telling me to get the bag, my heart was telling me to get the bag but my brain was telling me that it was a lot of money. In the end I decided to go for it. I had saved some money, enough to get the bag and I took the plunge. The sales assistant was lovely and so patient with me which made me feel a bit better about buying it. She let me inspect the bag even though it had just come out of the wrapping and was really friendly. I can't rate her service anymore highly.
With my dream bag now in my hand, I was chuffed and incredibly poor so we grabbed lunch and then made our way back to Bristol. I had such a lovely time and the whole experience was great. If I were going to Bicester again I would definitely consider saying at the Holiday Inn Express as it meant I didn't have to get up at the butt crack of dawn to get there. I am supposed to be making another trip to Bicester soon so you might be seeing another post a bit like this one, just perhaps with less spending and there definitely won't be any handbags.
Overall Experience
I have never had a bad trip to Bicester. I have a talent so even if I am not looking for something I can always sniff something out that I want. I have to say in general I wasn't loving a lot of the stock in Bicester at the moment, especially from the beauty stores. Normally I could spend a fortune in the Estee Lauder Companies store but I really didn't see anything I wanted other than the bits from Jo Malone which was disappointing.
Another issue was the shopping restrictions. A lot of the stores seem to have ditched their digital queues, except Dior. Apparently Dior's digital queue was full and they wouldn't let anyone else in the store even though it was dead. The same thing almost happened when going into Louboutin but the sales assistant kindly let us in. It was just a bit annoying as I really wanted to look in Dior but couldn't.
Despite these two minor annoyances I still really enjoyed my trip to Bicester. I was very pleased to see the majority of people wearing masks even though it is no longer mandatory and I have to say I felt very safe. I cannot wait to go again soon this time with my Mother.
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