For someone who loves to shop online – especially to window shop when my schedule is crazy – I’ve always found it hard to believe that some of the world’s biggest brands weren’t online. Can you believe Zara online only just launched in Canada last month? Seriously though, I am completely addicted to online shopping and here is why: while living in London, England I had zero time and zero money for shopping. With what teeny tiny money I did have for new clothes, I wanted to know who out of the high street stores (Topshop, River Island, Next, COS, etc.) had the best stuff, at the best price, in the small amount of time I had to shop. Trolling up and down Oxford Street could take hours, days even, and the shops were huge, so I needed to know exactly what I was looking for when I went in stores to try something on.

I am a little too impatient to deal with waiting for an order to arrive, only to find that something doesn’t fit or isn’t what I expected, and have to send it back. Like I said, I often use it as a tool to window shop across all stores on high speed. I target the items I like, and hunt them down in the stores with an extreme focus (allowing for no distractions) so I’m in and out as soon as possible.

When Zara‘s online store officially launched in early March, I wasted no time surfing through it and this is what I bought: a white cropped top (I am obsessed with white tops even though I spill something on them every time without fail), two laser-cut leather skirts (not pictured) and these silver sandals. Fortunately, Zara has a great return policy that allows you to either take items that don’t work out back to your nearest Zara location in person, or wrap them up and ship them back. You also have one month to do so. Because of this, I went a little e-cart happy and clicked in a few more things than I would normally buy.

My parcel then arrived super quick – two or three days later maximum – and although the awesome leather skirt sadly did not fit in either size I ordered, it was extremely convenient to take both to my nearest location and get a refund. Luckily I’m still with a great new not-so-basic top and sandals that are bound to become part of my spring/summer wardrobe essentials.

Have you checked out Zara’s online store yet? Let me know what your experience was like!

What I Wore: sunglasses by Lanvin from Tokio7, velvet blazer from Club Monaco, crop top from Zara, skirt by Cynthia Rowley, bag by 3.1 Phillip Lim, shoes from Zara.

All images by Rebecca Ramsdale

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