Monthly Archives: November 2011

J’Adore

22nd November 2011

My shoe obsession has become one of blogging’s worst kept secrets and when a lovely lady called Juliette sent me an e-mail last week I knew I was doomed.

Juliette has recently launched a French website for made-in-France bespoke shoes; Pictured above are my favourites from the gallery on the website www.dessinemoiunsoulier.com

 

“Dessine-moi un soulier (which could be translated as “Draw me a shoe”) was born a year ago, after growing in its founders hearts for a long time. Alma (25 years old, bubbly and eccentric) and Juliette (26, passionate and fashionaholic) decided to take a break from… Everything! To live a fantastic shoe filled adventure.

We were dreaming about creation, drawing our own designs, wearing very unique shoes that nobody would have except us… But we were also dreaming of quality, getting back to the old tradition of craftmenship.
So we have created a website where you can design your own women shoe, and that will be handcrafted in South of France. A fashion and ethic project with one goal: Quality Glamour Comfort.”

To find out how to create your shoe, prices, shipping … and all that important stuff, pay a visit to the website (which you can translate in to English) and have a read of the FAQ 
The shoes may not be every day affordable, but to have a pair that no-one else owns? Well, that’s kind of priceless!

xxx

Posted in shoes

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Be Kind (to your boobs)

22nd November 2011

WOMEN COMPROMISE HEALTH AND POSTURE FOR ILL FITTING UNDERWEAR

43% of UK women have never had their bra fitted

30% of women are not happy with their bust

71% of women in the UK have been up to 5 different bra sizes in their lifetime

Men and women agree that the buxom hourglass silhouette of the 50s is most admired (31%) over super-skinny look of the 90s

Research* commissioned by luxury lingerie specialist Rigby & Peller to mark its 50th anniversary, today lifts the lid on the women’s attitudes to their most debated feature – their bust. With 80% of the UKs women wearing the wrong sized bra, it’s no surprise that the research shows just under half (43%) have never been professionally fitted for a bra. But what makes that revelation even more interesting is the fact that over two thirds (71%) of women have been up to FIVE bra sizes in their lifetime** – with puberty, yo-yo dieting and pregnancy all part of the cause.

After five decades of helping women achieve a perfectly fitted bra to improve their health and well being, results showing that a third of all women (30%) are unhappy with the appearance of their breasts don’t come as a surprise to Rigby & Peller. This coupled with the fact that a third of women clearly avoid the purchase of new bras (34% have not purchased a new bra in the past 12 months) goes a long way to explain the love-hate relationship many women have with this part of their anatomy.

Encouragingly however, it seems that the fuller figure is still top of the wish list where both men and women are concerned. With both sexes opting for the hourglass 50’s pin up look (50%) over the super-skinny look of the 90’s (3%) it will come as no surprise that Marylin Monroe (31%) and Kelly Brook (30%) topped the charts as most admired celebrity silhouette.

Having been in the business for over 50 years, fitting women from sight alone and without the use of a tape measure, Rigby & Peller Owner Mrs June Kenton comments: “Breast sizes have increased significantly over the past 50 years with an increase in demand for smaller back sizes, however there is a common misconception that only large breasted ladies need to be concerned about a well fitted bra. No matter their size or shape we want women to understand how dramatically they can improve their quality of life and general well being by having a bra that is properly fitted and well made – it is staggering how many women stick to one size throughout their lifetime.”

Rigby & Peller caters for sizes from 30A to 48N, with the average Rigby & Peller bra containing 38+ components compared to just 16 in an average bra. In addition to lingerie Rigby & Peller also offers swimwear, sports bras and nightwear in addition to a mastectomy range and made-to-measure service. Visit http://www.rigbyandpeller.com/ for more information and store locations.

* Research carried out by Atomik Research 1,001 women and 435 men

** From the age of 18 (the average age a woman’s body stops developing)

And just look at spme of  the gorgeous bras Rigby & Peller have to offer!

I don’t live near a Rigby & Peller but I will definitely be going for a bra fitting in the near future. What have your bra fitting experiences been? Ever been totally surprised by what size you actually are?

xxx

Posted in Uncategorized

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dress down

21st November 2011

Next jeans, Matalan cardi, Peacocks tee and Betty London boots. Perfect attire for a Sunny Saturday lunch date and shopping spree with some of my favourite girls.

A chilled out weekend was the perfect remedy to a manic week. Another week at work and then I’m off for a week of Christmas preparations with my Mum…as nice as it’d be to jet off for some winter sun, a week at home getting festive, rounded off with a day trip to Birmingham is exactly what I am craving.

Speaking of Birmingham…must visit shops? Places to eat? General tips?

Happy Monday

xxx

Posted in life, outfits

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A Make Up Post

20th November 2011

I am by no means a beauty blogger, I’ll make that clear from the start! I love makeup, but over the last couple of years have spent less and less time trying new products and generally making much of an effort. Recently I’ve found myself getting sucked back in to it, and with all the buzz around a few new products, I found myself making a few lunchtime purchases.

Boots 17 Range is a brand I’ve grown up with, and I hate to admit, become rather snobbish about over the years. Recently they’ve hopped back on my radar with the release of the magnetic nail polishes (which I have, but haven’t reviewed) and the latest beauty buzz…BB cream. I was actually quite surprised to see my tiny, local Boots stock the BB cream; they so rarely get the new items in. They also had the new metallic eyeshadows, and with the lot being on 3 for 2 I grabbed the BB cream and two eyeshadows; the bronze and the silver.
I don’t know what I expected from the BB cream, especially compared to my usual foundation, but I do really like how it makes my skin look; smooth and clear. I picked up the light shade and due to my extreme pale-ness I half anticipated turning orange, but this wasn’t the case and I will be purchasing this again.
The metallic eyeshadows are lovely. Unlike so many cream eyeshadows they don’t crease or slide off during the day. I’ve been wearing the copper a lot, either on it’s own or as a base for powder eyeshadows. Again, I’d re-purchase and will probably pick up more shades.

A few other products I’ve been loving are L’oreals superliner crystal, which is my dream liquid eyeliner. The crystal effect is subtle; barely metallic and I love it for it’s slightly less harsh look.
Rimmel ScandalEyes has become my new HG mascara, the photos above showing just one coat of it. I’ve already bought a backup.
Blusher wise, I’m loving ELF studio cream blush in flirt. There was much outcry over the price of this, at £6.50 it’s one of their more expensive products, but it is hands down the most flattering cream blusher I have ever used!

What products are you loving right now? Which new releases must I try…and which should I ignore?
xxx

Posted in beauty, make up, review

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TAG! Innocent’s Big Knit

19th November 2011
“For the last 8 years, knitters up and down the country have been knitting little wooly hats to go on our smoothies as part of the Big Knit. For every hatted bottle sold, 25p goes to Age UK to help keep older people warm in winter.
We’d like to say a massive thanks to everyone who has dusted off their needles over the last few years and knitted us a little hat. We really couldn’t have done it without you. Especially since this year we’re set to hit the £1,000,000 jackpot for total monies raised by the Big Knit. Which means another 650,000 behatted bottles being sold in Sainsbury’s (from 2nd Nov) and Boots (from 9th Nov) to pass that golden million pound mark.”
This year, Innocent are upping the campaign and have introduced Hat Tag on their facebook page
Simply buy a bottle of Innocent Smoothie with it’s little wooly hat (they are seriously cute) and take a snap of it somewhere fun; it could be on a colleague, a pet, an inanimate object…the possibility is endless! Once you have your photo, upload it to the gallery and for each photo uploaded, Innocent will donate 10p to Age UK. Get your friends and family to vote for your photo to raise a further 5p per vote! Innocent will be awarding the top three photos each week with a box of smoothies, with the top photos overall winning an even bigger prize!

As well as all this, the favourite photos chosen by Innocent will be shared on their blog.

Innocent kindly sent me a box of smoothies + hats so I could experience the fun for myself. I took the smoothies in to work and made colleagues promise to report back with their photos… here’s what happened.

 My colleague, Gemma, truly got in to the spirit by taking her hat to see The Wurzels (a famed West-Country band) on the pier at Weston Super Mare. The hats had fun on the amusements, and thanks to Gemma’s determination, also got to meet the men themselves (the photo of the hat with The Wurzels is currently on the Innocent Gallery if you wanted to vote!)

Another fun-hearted colleague got her gorgeous dogs to pose for me. These are the most pampered pets I know, so it  was really fitting that they got involved!

Massive thank you to Gemma and Ron for getting so involved! Has anyone else taken part in this? I hope to see some fun Hat Tag action in the gallery soon!

xxx

Posted in charity

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