Colombo Shopping at House of Fashions

Before my first trip to Sri Lanka, all I heard about from my friends who have been to Sri Lanka was how great the shopping was. They told me, I would absolutely love it. They talked about clothes, jewelry and even dining sets. I came with really high expectations and a big luggage with 4 days worth of clothes rattling around, hoping to stuff it to the brim with all my purchases.

That's where I went wrong. My expectations were raised so high, I think no matter what I found, I would have found it lacking. My friends told me to make sure I visited two places one of them was Odel, a high-end department store chain set in an old house comparable to Rustans for both assortment and price, while the other place is called House of Fashions. House of Fashions is four floors where mixed in all the chaos are some branded stuff with cut tags. (If you're familiar with Manila, it screams Surplus Shop but ten times more chaotic without any fitting rooms too!)

During my first strip in November, after two hours of scouring every rack in House of Fashions, I came away with one shirt for Sofia, I got a Massimo Dutti tagged floral top with sequin accent for me, and one rash guard for baby Lukey. I think I got everything for a steal, but if you ask me if it was worth two hours of my life, I'd probably say No Way.

For this trip, since I now know what to expect, visiting House of Fashions was not even on my list. However, out of boredom, I went yesterday with my friend and his wife, just to see if I could find something to buy, without really expecting that I'd find anything.

It was the perfect strategy. I bought so much for so little money I was very happy.

Camaieu (French brand) tagged dress for me
750LKR (Php280 or SG$8.20)

I loved the lace neckline of my dress

It has a braided belt from the same material

I think it's a dress that can go from office wear to resort wear for Maldives with the correct accessories. So you can already guess what I plan to wear to work on Friday ;)

For Sofia I was able to get three really nice dresses
Good luck to Yaya (the nanny) in convincing her to wear them!

The white one is my favorite because it's so simple and clean

I love the simplicity of the straps, neckline and hem

Light blue dress with pink and lavender hearts

with a lavender bow that matching the trim

I could not resist this pretty floral halter dress.

It's backless so I got a smaller size. I hope it fits.

The dresses I got for Sofia all ranged in price from 550-450LKR (Php170-200 or  SG$5-6). The challenge is really in getting her to wear them.

I was also able to get some nightgowns for my mom and aunt with C&A (international fashion chain) tags.

Long nightgowns in light cotton material 

Neckline of the light blue nightgown

The white nightgown has a neckline with textured cotton and a small ribbon with rosette accent

My haul was so good for this trip, I even managed to find a FisherPrice toy for Lukey.

Lukey's toy is inside the laundry bag so there's an element of surprise for his mom
I am assuming of course that she follows my blog! Hahaha

Since I purposely did not put the price of the presents here, let me just give you an idea of my total bill. I was quite shocked when I only had to pay 3680LKR for everything! That's only SG$40 or Php1,370!

I think it was just a very lucky day. I'm not really keen on shopping for more clothes in Sri Lanka for this trip, I don't think I'll be able to beat that haul so I'll just save myself from disappointment and stick to jewelry shopping. Just Saying.

Since we're on the topic of jewelry again, I saw this in a store that I went to today.

2.95carat amethyst pendant set in white gold
Best Price US$150

I want!!! This is from Zam Gems at Cinnamon Grand Hotel. The Zam Gems branch at the Cinnamon Lakeside Hotel were selling me the same loose stones for US$4 a carat. Now, I want to go back and buy three pieces for a pendant and a pair of earrings that I can have set in Manila. That's my reverse incentive now to do my callanetics workout thrice a week for three weeks since I already got my blue sapphire jewelry.

If you find yourself in Colombo here are the places you may want to shop in:

House of Fashions

28 Duplication Road, Colombo 4

ODEL

5 Alexandra Place, Colombo 7

Zam Gems

81 Galle Road, Colombo 04