Cashmere, Fur & The Sales

What a week - hope you all had a lovely time over Christmas. Our first one in the new house was just perfect. Lots of family time, Christmas movies, too much food....and the sales! I'm not sure whether to be proud or ashamed of being in the queue for House of Fraser at 7.45am on Boxing Day...

but in my defence, I was looking for house stuff. I'm a huge fan of the Living By Christiane Lemieux range at HOF - it fits nicely with the art deco era of the house and it will work really well with the colours I've planned for the new kitchen. I picked up placemats, coasters, mugs, glasses and some towels. All in storage for a month or so until the kitchen goes in...cannot wait!

Clothing-wise, I had only one item on my wish list and that was a mid-length navy cardigan - very sensible :)  I found a great unstructured one in Mary Portas (not online). 100% merino wool for just over £30 - I'll feature it soon on the blog. The Mary Portas range is always great in the sale - I also bought this oversized knit in the ink colour way...love the zip detail on the neck. There's no doubt, the range is definitely aimed at taller women with apple figures but I find her tops & knitwear generally work on me.

I only stayed in town for a couple of hours on Boxing Day so on Saturday, I was itching to check out Next and M&S for my annual stock up on underwear and nightwear - can't bear to pay full price for lingerie or for anything you wear in bed. While walking through Next, I was tempted by the coats and shoes but I've already ordered a pair of over the knee black flat boots for £30 during my VIP slot last Tuesday, a coat from the Zara sale online AND  a second pair of over the knee boots from Zalando (blog research - won't be keeping both pairs), so I resisted.

But back to today's outfit which showcases one of my Christmas presents from Mr SGS. I've had a 100% cashmere jumper on my wish list for ages but they are just soooo expensive. What a treat to get this gorgeous one....it's a great shape for me as I don't suit traditional jumpers with waistbands. Great shopping hubby :) I enjoyed wearing it today with a fab little fur snood I got in the M&S sale on a slippery walk to Starbucks. I can't see the novelty of being so close to everything ever dwindling!


Coat & Hat - Trespass
Boots - Sorel (some reduced in the ASOS Sale here)
Jeans - Maison Scotch (past season)
Cashmere Jumper - Philosophy
Fur Snood - M&S
Black Cross Body Bag - Warehouse

Finishing with an outfit from last night when we were invited to friends (and now they're neighbours) for their annual Christmas quiz. It's our 3rd year attending and we joked that the last two were so good, we decided to buy a house on the same street to ensure we could stagger home this year...and stagger I did...but mostly because of the heels and the ice!

Black Jacket - ASOS (past season)
Black Sleeveless Top - Warehouse (current season)
Boyfriend Jeans - Gap (past season - current here)
Snakeskin/Suede Heels - LK Bennett Outlet

Not sure if I'll get a chance to blog again before New Year - let's see how this week goes. The workmen are back in the house again from tomorrow so I'm going to be looking for inexpensive ways to keep the kids entertained and out of the house. Fingers crossed for dry weather!

Ax

Keeping Warm on the School Run with Trespass

Long time, no blog - sorry my friends but I know you've all got more important things on your mind than fashion this month. In any event, I'm still living out of the suitcase I packed 3 weeks ago for a week at my Mother-in-Law's. A bit traumatic but actually it's lovely not having dressing dilemmas in the morning..I won't know what to do with myself when the wardrobes are finally fitted at the end of January.

So my last post before Christmas is to share these cosy new items from Trespass - they've been keeping me super warm on the school run...and have been an absolute blessing as I can't find any of my coats, hats, scarves or gloves, since we moved!

Although I'd heard of Trespass before, I had no idea that they stocked such a great range, including real down filled coats. The prices are competitive too - my boots, coat, hat, scarf & gloves all came in at less than £140.

I've harped on about real down filled coats before. In terms of warmth, they are streets ahead of anything with a polyester fill. This Snowglobe down filled coat is also unbelievably light - I honestly didn't expect it to be as warm as it is. It compresses down into a tiny little drawstring bag, making it perfect for travelling and for storing over the summer. The price point of just over £70 is excellent for this quality of coat and as well as being super warm, it's showerproof too. Size-wise, I'm wearing a Medium.

Now every busy mum should have a pair of snow boots in your wardrobe. They're ugly - no getting away from it - but they're incredibly practical and in the really wet and snowy days, will ensure that your good boots don't get ruined. These Trespass Floral Boots are a steal at just over £30. Easy to pull on and off and very cosy. I got a size 39 and I'd say they're snug so if you're between sizes, go up to allow for a thicker sock.

To finish off my cosy outfit, I added a hat and scarf set (the hat has a fab fleece lining) and some  amazing Crossover gloves. These are the first non-bulky gloves I've found that keep my hands properly warm and dry - highly recommended for any fellow Raynaud sufferers.

Huge thanks to the team at Trespass for keeping me warm on the school run for the past few weeks - I've tested the items well...including during a spell of chainsawing while clearing the back garden this week!

I was glad to bid the last workman farewell this afternoon (until Monday) and we're now looking forward to the first Christmas in our building site new house...it will be one to remember for lots of reasons :)
Wishing all of you - my lovely readers - a very Merry Christmas with lots of quality family time and great memories.

(my freshly undercoated front door - soon to be glossy red!)

Ax

PS - Extra 10% off Boden sale on this link - use G4Y4 at the till!

A furry skirt....

because that's the sort of sensible purchase you need to make when you've just moved house and are living in a building site. Well, I should clarify that the kids and I have done a runner to Granny's house and left hubby to live in the new place alone...but that's another story....back to the furry skirt.

So I was out getting supplies for the workmen when I nipped into Warehouse at Forestside and decided I needed something new for a few nights out over Christmas. But I wanted something that would also work in the daytime. Meet my new  furry skirt...

I tried it on first in the size 10 but it felt very tight & short on me and was creasing across the front of my hips.

Here it is in the 12 - a better length and more accommodating of a Christmas food baby.

Here's a close up of the fabric and a peek at a little cross body evening bag that I also bought. It's a blatant copy of the Celine Trio, which I love but can't afford. This non-leather version is perfect for nights out and is only £15.

There's also a coat in the same material which is a great alternative to all the furry coats out there at the moment as it's got the look but not the bulk, which has put me off buying one up to now. It looks better in the photos than it did when I was there but it could have been the exhaustion that skewed my opinion. Just one thing - the coat is only £20 more than the skirt...am I being unreasonable to think a skirt is 10 times easier to make than a coat and therefore it should be at least half the price??

Finally, I was reading in Look magazine about how we should all have a pair of sparkly jogging bottoms so I tried these..

So so comfy and looked ok but they were a bit tight on the calves for me and needed shimmied down too much.
Loved the subtle sparkle

I brought this top in just to have a plain black top to try with the skirt and ended up buying it...it's a lovely fit and has a cute detail on the back. This is a size 10. Can't have enough plain black tops and Warehouse do them so well.

Open Back Shell Top - £28

Finishing with what I was wearing - an outfit you've seen before but I'm working out of a tiny capsule right now so theres no room for creativity. I'm living in my Celtic & Co sheepskin boots at the moment as I can't find my flat boots anywhere and as for my Helen Bateman Billy Bag - well, it's been an utter godsend this past week or so...especially when we left our old house for the last time and I had to fill it up with all the randomness of the house, which included wires, bulbs, a bottle of bleach, sandwich bags and about 6 sets of keys we can't work out doors for.

Grey Fur Gilet - Next (size down)
Breton - Boden
Jeans - Maison Scotch (past season)
Boots - ℅ Celtic & Co
Handbag - ℅ Helen Bateman

Hoping I can squeeze in a post or two this week while staying at my mother in law's. I've finally found the holy grail of foundations and want to share it with a few of my winter skin savers.

Right - I'm off to bed to try out my nocturnal lenses for the first time. Looking forward to a day without glasses or lenses tomorrow - the first in 26 years. Will report back with a proper blog about these as so many of you have contacted me with questions. If you want more information in the meantime, full details are on the Gillian Gervais website.

Ax