All About Hand Painted Silk Scarves & Shawls

Mention the word shawl and what most people will think of is one of those coarse, knitted shawls like grandma used to wear. You remember? The triangular-shaped ones which were not exactly the picture of elegance and sophistication but served their purpose pretty well in terms of keeping grandma warm. Well, guess what? These have nothing whatsoever in common with the stunning silk shawls that you can buy today, except for the fact that the latter are also excellent at keeping you warm and toasty.

Full story >>

If there is one type of outing which is guaranteed to throw women into a quandary in terms of what to wear, it has to be a night at the opera. Perhaps because many people see the opera as being somewhat elitist, making sure that they do not show themselves up by turning up inappropriately attired is of the ultimate importance.

Full story >>

Let’s face it, any woman can look great when she glams herself up for a special occasion. After a visit to the hairdressers, applying some make-up and donning a fabulous outfit, we all scrub up pretty well and can make a superb impression on others. What really makes a lady stand out in a class of her own though, is not how she appears when attending these special events, but by looking immaculate when she goes about her normal daily business; when she’s doing all those very ordinary things like shopping and walking the dog.

Full story >>

Everyone loves a bargain, whether they really need to save money or not. There is just something about knowing that we have managed to get a few dollars knocked of that original asking price that fills our hearts with glee. Of course, sometimes we don’t even have to do any negotiating in order to bag ourselves a great deal. End of season sales can see prices slashed to a fraction of what they were. On other occasions we might be able to haggle over the price of an item, although this is rarely acceptable in the majority of large stores. There are times though, when even in chain stores you can negotiate a price reduction, and that is when an item is slightly damaged or shop-soiled.

Full story >>

Most of us ladies put a fair amount of time and effort into our appearance and, of course, we want the end result to be nothing short of immaculate. With hair beautifully styled, make-up perfectly applied and clothes fresh, clean and neatly pressed, we can face the world with confidence and in the knowledge that we are looking at our glorious best. If something is not quite right though, it is surprising just how much it can affect our self-assurance. A tiny spot or pimple that no-one else would even notice can make us feel like the Elephant Man, a bad hair day can leave us cowering in the bathroom and a small imperfection in our clothing can make us feel like a tramp and cause us to throw an almost perfect item into the trash in fury and frustration.

Full story >>

Pregnancy is such an exciting time, but it is also a period when there are just so many things to think about and so many plans to be made. In addition, of course, it is a time when your preparations for the forthcoming event are inevitably going to incur expense. Especially if it is a first child and you are starting from scratch, with everything from cots and car seats to teeny tiny clothes and feeding bottles to buy, the costs can soon start to mount up, a fact which often makes expectant moms feel slightly guilty about looking after their own maternity needs.

Full story >>

No matter what their natural proportions, all women have thin days and fat days – it’s just the way we are made. We suffer from water retention and pre-menstrual bloating and sometimes it feels as though we are inflating and deflating like balloons. One minute our clothes feel comfortable and make us look like a million dollars and the next they are stretched and pulled and wrinkled.

Full story >>

Birthdays and anniversaries are just two of those occasions when we sometimes like to go overboard and buy our loved ones something really, really exclusive to show them how much we care. Typically, we might spend days, weeks or even months trying to pick out that perfect something that we just know that special lady will adore, whether it be an expensive piece of jewelry or a precious figurine made of porcelain.

Full story >>

Walk into any department or accessory store and, in most cases, what you will be faced with are endless racks and shelves of identical, mass-produced items. For all the work that the designers of these goods have put into trying to create something original and inspiring, their efforts simply result in tens or hundreds of thousands of copies which are churned out in factories and used by numerous women around the country and around the world. Even the designers of the expensive brand-named accessories suffer the same fate as women everywhere catch on to the latest trend and rush out to buy the new Burberry or Chanel. Yes, mass production undoubtedly lines the pockets of these designers, but just how satisfying is their work? More importantly though, just how satisfying is it for the consumer to know that the accessory for which she has paid top dollar is just one of many and has been produced without loving care and attention to detail?

Full story >>

It is strange how short our memories can be when it comes to the weather. As we enjoy the blistering heat of summer, those bleak, wintry days and evenings become nothing more than a distant recollection, but when they do come around we have forgotten just how cold they really feel. As the stores fill with the latest autumn and winter fashions at the end of the summer season, often a part of us is still hanging on to the memory of those hot days and balmy evenings when we select our coats and jackets, and when winter really does arrive we find that we are less than well-prepared.

Full story >>