Hi everyone
I can’t believe it’s been a whole month since I last posted on the blog. So much happened in the meantime: I got pneumonia, again, I went to Las Vegas and WordPress release its 4.5 version with major editing and publishing tools improvement!
My trip to Las Vegas
Let’s focus on the most fun bit: Shopping in Las Vegas. I went there two weeks ago for a big work conference. The blog post about my new job is long overdue, I know. The conference started on the Monday with pre-conference activities on the Sunday from 4pm. I arrived at 9.40pm on the Saturday and my sister who lives in Phoenix, 45 min flight away from Las Vegas, kindly offered to come and meet me so we could catch up and spend some quality time together. 16 hours all up. Better than nothing.
Quality time for us two is mainly about chatting and sharing how we feel and how we manage our similar busy lives with our 2 children (who are the same age), both jobs in tech and both with very handsome (I know they are reading) fairly ambitious and successful husbands. We’ve always been really close but have been living in different cities since I was 17 and on different continents since I was 19.
The other activities we really enjoy together are eating and shopping. With young kids, going retail therapy is not something we can indulge in often. When we get the opportunity to escape from the rest of the family, it’s so much fun: we have similar body types (no waist/ muffin tops), we are honest and trust each other’s opinion, I know the latest trends and she knows the most comfortable brands.
Shopping in Las Vegas: where to go?
Before my trip I started doing a bit of research and found the following
- The Fashion show: regular fashion mall across the street from the Wynn hotel where my 3 day conference would set place.
- Las Vegas South Premium Outlets: closer to the airport, 15-20 min drive from the SLS Hotel where we stayed.
- Las Vegas North Premium Outlets: that’s where we ended up going as it was only 10 min cab from our hotel
- eBay.com: I ordered a couple of Ninjago items there a week before leaving: a cool backback and a T shirt for the kids, to be shipped to my hotel in Las Vegas. When you live in Norway, not only do you get charged a lot for shipping from the US, plus you need to pay 25% tax on top when the total order is over 350Kr (35 euros). Here is what I got for a mere $15:
What did we buy at Las Vegas North Premium Outlets?
Here is the full picture of what I bought, not including what I also got for my husband!
- Polo Ralph Lauren: I have always been a fan and a loyal customer of their outlet stores and online shop. Got a few basic T shirts and a pair of flip flops. All $19 each 🙂
- Tommy Hilfiger: when we got inside the Tommy Hilfiger store, we were blown away. So many cool outfits, patterns, designs, colours! It made Ralph Lauren look so boring with their same old classic polos, hoodies and jumpers. Even their colours didn’t seem to have changed much from seasons to seasons. At Tommy, we spent a lot of time and I scored the two dresses, the cardigan and the duffle bag that was offered to me with 50% at checkout: how could I resist a $25 Hilfiger gym bag??? In fact I had my eyes on a similar shaped Country Road bag as it feels very exclusive since they only ship to Australia and NZ but it was 89 AUD and I couldn’t get it shipped to me anyway
- Clarks: is famous for their comfy shoes. Little did I know they had pretty feminine shoes too like these burgundy suede mary jane shoes below. $40 after mark down, 7cm heels but with cushions everywhere. I am able to walk 15 min to work in those without suffering at all!
- Banana Republic: I’ve been loyal to the brand since I discovered the complimentary personal shopping service at their Champs Elysees store in Paris. The personal shopper was able to find outfits that suited exactly my taste, body type and my budget while the whole experience was awesome. I would go with my mum or my sister, and they could relax in comfortable armchairs sipping cold drinks in a spacious private dressing room when not trying on outfits for themselves. Here at the outlet, it was very cluttered, the clothes didn’t seem to be of great quality but I desperately needed a pencil skirt. After watching Suits and House of Cards, I know I had to have a pencil skirt. We were running out of time so I picked that store, asked around and found a pencil skirt with so much discount it cost me less than $20.
- Cole Haan: my absolute favorite. I discovered this brand thanks to my sister and her husband. Cole Haan is a luxury brand designing fashionable shoes using nike air soles! Their shoes are reasonably priced compared to Louboutin (who isn’t?) but also compared to all your couture designer brands like Gucci, Prada, Ferragamo etc… and the comfort is miles away from those high end brands. So I got two pairs of peep toe shoes: one with wedged heels and one more formal in patent leather with high heels. I was able to attend a 4 hour event standing up without suffering too much. How sexy is that heel with the golden monogram detail? Last but not least: they were on sale, down to a mere $96!
And below is my sister total outfit to attend a wedding in Phoenix: dress and cardigan by Tommy Hilfiger, Navy peep toe wedges by Cole Haan.
How to get to Las Vegas North Premium Outlets?
My big advice is to use Uber rather than normal cabs for the following reasons:
- Tips are included with Uber
- Cabs in Las Vegas charge you $3 extra if you pay with a credit card
- Uber charges you directly on the credit card you saved through the app, no need to fumble for money, wait for change and receipts
- Uber rides usually cost me less than cab rides for the same distance.
From the SLS hotel, on a Sunday morning with no traffic it cost me $8.40.
TIP: I had no 3G connection at the shopping center so had to use Wifi at Starbucks
Hope this was useful and that you will enjoy your shopping in Vegas as much as we did. We only got to spend 3 hours there, we wish we could have stayed double that!Feel free to share your best bargains or favorite brands and outfits!