Texas Shopping Spree for 3 days in Austin

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Hello, Darlings! So as you all know I’m a shopaholic and love doing hauls! So this summer I went back to Austin, Texas and went shopping there at Lakeline Mall and The Domain. Now I knew I wanted to go on a big shopping spree in Texas but I never anticipated that it would be 3 days! My budget was the $80 I had in cash plus the total of gift cards I had which ended being $20. However, I went over budget on Day 3 purchases by $20 and ended up spending a total of $120 in my 3-day shopping spree. Personally, I don’t think this was very bad because I’m very happy with everything I bought and there are stores I bought from which I couldn’t get in my locality.

Where to Shop for Clothes in Austin?

The Domain and Lakeline Mall! These are my all-time favorites for places to shop. If you’re looking to stay out of the heat and stay indoors go for Lakeline Mall. If you’re adventurous and want to shop all day like me then go ahead and head down to The Domain! There are so many stores at The Domain it’s literally a heaven for shoppers. And the place isn’t super crowded like a city so it’s enjoyable! Plus there are many restaurants around when you’re looking to take a shopping break.

Day 1 of Texas Shopping Spree: Shopping at Lakeline Mall

This mall is just your typical indoor mall, nothing special about it. We just decided to go to get a swimsuit and it was closeby to where we were as we just finished watching a movie.

Francesca’s: Francesca’s was having a semi-annual sale and I just walked in casually to see if there was anything I would like on the clearance racks. I ended up buying this cute pink leopard print top. It was close to $16 and had a perfect summer design to it. Plus I barely find pink tops so this was something to add a color punch to my wardrobe.

Hollister: I had a $5 gift card at Hollister which I wanted to use. I walked in and saw jeans for $14. I really like Hollister jeans and none of my current jeans fit well. So even though it’s summer I decided to go ahead and buy it as a future winter investment. With my student discount and a gift card, I ended up paying around $10 with tax.

H&M: I have never shopped at H&M because they don’t have one at the mall I regularly go to, but I had made plans to go swimming so I went there to buy a swimsuit set. I figured it would be good since their clothes are cute and cheap and I never really go swimming anyways. It was a struggle to find my size but I found something that fits me (though not my size it was a size 4).

It was a matching black bikini set with white polka dots, although I did buy the pieces separately. I was shocked by the price of it. It was $30 after a 15% coupon I used! I was expecting it to be no more than $20 which is why I bought my swim set at H&M over Aerie. I ended up returning it luckily as my swimming plans were canceled. This saved me in the future shopping expenditures that I enjoyed way more than the swimsuit.

Day 2 of Texas Shopping Spree: Shopping at The Domain

The Domain is not your ordinary shopping mall. It’s shopping HEAVEN! 303 acres and has also expanded recently. With nearly every store you can name and even multiple franchises of store brands within the Domain itself. And dining experiences for your in-between breaks. Completely outdoors and works perfectly with the Texan Weather. I went to H&M and returned the swimsuit I bought.

Madewell: I was super excited to shop at Madewell! I already checked out their clothes online and knew exactly what I wanted to buy when I walked into stores. I got an amazing deal when I came here. The item I wanted was on clearance, they had my size, it fit well, and it was on 30% sale. I spent $15 at Madewell which is exceedingly good for a store of its nature.

MAC: I have walked into a MAC store in India before but I had never seen an American one. It felt no different surprisingly. As a makeup lover, I thought it would be cool to own something from MAC because all my makeup was from the drugstore or Sephora. I decided to pick their minis to keep my budget low. I decided to buy lipstick despite having many of those! I felt like MACs lipsticks were something special to them so I went ahead and bought a mini Ruby Woo for $10. Ruby Woo is a very popular red shade so I figured it would be something nice for me to try out and experience.

Target (not at Domain): This is on the way back to the place I was staying at. I had a $5 Target gift card so I wanted to treat myself in the beauty section of Target. I bought a Neutrogena Hydrating Mask for my upcoming plane ride to India and Vaseline Hand and Nail Cream because I was low on my current hand and nail cream. Nothing super special but this Target stop was like a nice self-treat which was a total of $6 without tax.

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Day 3 of Texas Shopping Spree: Shopping at The Domain Northside

We went back to the Domain to explore the new side of it called the Northside. There were different stores here and it was a new experience for us which I also really enjoyed.

Brandy Melville: I had no clue they had this store here! I had always been wanting to try it out as it’s kinda a special store for people like me who are slim and petite. I didn’t really like the tops here. They were all really form-fitting, tight and like crop type style. I did really like the skirts so I went ahead and spent $29 on a plaid skirt. Now I knew I needed to buy something to go with this because there was nothing good in my wardrobe to fit it so I had to make an additional shopping stop 🙂

Sephora: So Sephora is not on the list of shops I was going to go to. But I saw one and I had to check it out. And we all know what happens when you walk into a Sephora! So I got myself an eye cream from The Inkey List. I could have possibly bought more but I was trying VERY hard to control myself. I spent over an hour there helping my friend figure out what she wanted to buy. There were things I wanted to buy but I hadn’t bought a top for the skirt I got at Brandy Melville so I controlled myself. The eye cream was $9.99 + tax so I used a $10 Sephora Gift Card and paid the tax in Cash

Nordstrom: So I didn’t want to spend a ton of money on this top that was going to go with my Brandy Melville skirt but surprisingly Nordstrom seemed to work out. I bought a bodysuit which was basic and grey for $14.

And that brings my 3-day shopping Spree to an end! I spent a total of $120 including gift cards and my budget was $80 without gift cards so I think overall even though I did go over budget I did very well. I absolutely love everything I bought and there isn’t a single regret from that shopping spree (except H&M which we fixed!)

I did visit Altar’d State at the Domain and I really liked their clothes but their prices were not within my range so I couldn’t buy anything. So I thought next time I come to Austin I will save up extra money to shop there but it turns out we have one where I live so I can just shop here! Brandy Melville, MAC, and Madewell are really far from where I live so Austin made shopping special to me.

There are definitely a bunch of other stores I wanted to buy stuff from and check out but I couldn’t as they were out of budget (mostly Domain) And there are stores I did not buy anything from just cause I didn’t like anything there (mostly Lakeline). I visited Lululemon, Ted Baker, Altar D’State, Lucky Brand, American Eagle, Aerie, Aeropostale.

I was so dead by the end of day 3 and I had to plan myself to make sure everything fits in my suitcase back to Boston! Thankfully no issues cause I packed light and I brought fewer clothes with me. I wore my Francesca’s top on Day 2 and the Madewell top on Day 3 so things worked out perfectly! I think doing a shopping spree in a new place is definitely something exciting everyone should try.

Tips

1. Make a budget and leave some leeway for crossing it.
2. Make sure you account for the local tax (Austin Sales Tax = 8.25%)
3. Suitcase planning is a MUST. Make sure everything you buy can fit in your bag. Or if you are willing to buy another bag and pay extra on your plane might as well buy all you can to make that extra bag worth the price.
4. Watch what you splurge! New places can be tempting to splurge so take a minute and pause and think can I get something better back at home! I had to ask myself in Francesca’s when I bought the top if I could have got this at home and would I still buy it even if it weren’t in the clearance rack. I justified myself because I don’t own much pink and I thought the strap design was something unique.
5. Enjoy yourself! Show off your stuff and cherish what you got! If you can’t get something this time then get it on your next trip!

I hope you guys enjoyed this spree post and let me know your thoughts in the comments! You can see pictures of the H&M swimsuit I returned below and if you want to see pictures of what I bought checkout my June Wardrobe Update!

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