At the end of last year I won a contest on Instagram… yes I do sometimes participate and I do sometimes win 🙂 And this time it was quite a unique price!! Read on to find out all about it…

I have been in Paris many times before and occassionaly I have bought some fashion overthere. But when I do buy clothes in Paris, it is always in the larger stores of brands that are known to me.

So when Paris Shopping Tour did an IG contest at the end of last year (November it was I think), I really wanted to participate as the price was so much fun: a guided shopping tour through the capital of fashion… unfortunately without shopping budget, but the experience in itself seemed good enough to participate. You can imagine how glad I was that I was the winner of this fab prize!! I could invite two lucky ladies to join me, so I asked my sisters and we would make a day out of it… just the three of us.

On the website of Paris Shopping Tour you can find out more about the different tours they offer: luxury, boho, with or without a car, half a day or a full day,… there are tours to anyone’s taste and budget!

 

The weeks before our tour, I had a very good contact with Diane Lepicard, the owner of Paris Shopping Tour. As she wanted to get to know us a bit better, we had to fill in a questionnaire in which we had to answers questions about our favorite brands and styles and of course we could mention the maximum budget we wanted to spend. That way, she could adjust the tour on our wishes.

Unfortunately a couple of weeks before our daytrip to Paris, my one sister hurt her foot, so she couldn’t join us, but my daughter stepped up as a willing replacement 🙂

So after a stroll in the Marais and lunch at Kong’s (of which you can read more in a later travelpost!), my sister Cindy, my daughter Charlotte and I met up with Alexandra, one of the fashion experts of Paris Shopping Tour.

Alexandra was very friendly and very knowledgable about fashion and she took us to different boutiques in a neighbourhood of Paris which was new to us: Rue Saint-Etienne Marcel and surrounding streets. This neighbourhood definitely wasn’t overloaded with tourists which was really nice for a change!!

We visited several beautiful boutiques in which we were given tips by Alexandra and the shop assistants, but we never ever felt obliged to buy stuff (of which I was a bit afraid of at first).

In the end I only bought a stunning pair of earrings and no clothes as it was so very hot to fit. My sister  bought a ring, a coat and a dress (she did find the courage to try on stuff!) and my daughter bought a jacket and a silk blouse.

After the tour, I was contacted again by Diane as she wanted to know of course how I had experienced the tour. Again, the contact was really nice and smooth.

Below I list my pros and cons:

Pros

• Advice from a fashion expert. We had the lovely Alexandra Diaz to accompany us.
• The tour was situated in a neighbourhood of Paris which was new to us.
• The neighbourhood wasn’t overloaded with tourists so we could shop at a leisurely pace.
• We didn’t feel obliged to do purchases.
• We were shown brands and boutiques we didn’t know.
• The contact with Diane from Paris Shopping Tour before and after the tour was very friendly and easy.
• Our fashion expert, Alexandra, was fluent in French and English, so we could communicate easily.

Cons

• We did the three hour tour and that was just a bit short.

We really had a fab experience with Paris Shopping Tours and I could recommend it to any fashion addict!

Love, Kathleen

A piece of art!