Review: Doo-lally.com

Earlier this week I wrote a post about the And Mary range of jewellery that I discovered on Doo-lally.com. In fact, I loved the range so much that I proceeded to order 2 of their necklaces, which Mr. Postman delivered to me this morning.

As expected, the necklaces are gorgeous – but that’s not the point of this blog post. No, the purpose of this post is to give a well-deserved pat on the back to Doo-lally.com.

As it’s a relatively new website, you may not already be aware of them. Indeed, this was the first time that I’ve used the site myself and I’ve got to say that the whole experience was excellent.

• Range: Clothes, bags, shoes and accessories with a young and fun feel.
• Navigation: The website is well-laid out and easy to navigate.
• Payment: Simple! All major cards are accepted and you also have the option of PayPal.
• Delivery: I received my order within 48 hours, by courier no less! AND there was no extra charge for delivery.
• Packaging: The items were exceptionally well packaged.
• Goods: The goods were exactly as the pictures and descriptions on the website depicted. If anything, they’re nicer in real life.
• Returns: Though I have no intention of returning my beautiful new necklaces, Doo-lally.com provided me with a return form, just in case.
• Best of all: It’s a 100% Irish website, which is something that I’m always pleased and proud to support.

Value for money: 10/10

Yours in style,
Caroline

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Journey to StyleOdyssey.com

Fans* of my Facebook page will have heard me mention a groovy website called www.styleodyssey.com in recent weeks.

* I always feel a bit silly using that term - it makes me feel very vain!

Style Odyssey offers a huge selection of vintage and "pre-loved" clothes under the following guise, "if you love it, we'll list it"!

Well, I love vintage clothes so, as you can imagine, this website is to me what The Cave was to Aladdin.

The site is extremely well-organised and offers a vast catalogue of products. Crucially, the photos and descriptions are excellent but it was the quality and selection of wearable styles that impressed me most; a jumble sale it ain't! Clearly, there is a critical eye running the show over there and it shows.

Check out this gorgeous pale pink frilly chiffon vintage shirt for €48, which is bang-up-to-date with this season's penchant for nude colours & romantic lines.


And what about this 90s polkadot dress which has an unbelievable pricetag of just €32!


Or this sumptuous Chanel silk scarf, in pristine condition - again only €38. Chanel! For 38 quid!



Have I convinced you yet? If not, go check out www.styleodyssey.com for yourself!

Yours in style,
Caroline

Beautyqueen.ie for Gifts

Birthdays. Like buses; you wait for ages and then 3 come along at once.

Or 6, as is my case at the moment!

For some curious reason, all but 3 of my friends celebrate their birthdays in April. I can't imagine why I seem to gravitate towards Arians but there you go. Anyway, time is pressing on and I need to think out buying gifts for the birthday gals.

Now, I pride myself in being "creative" with my gifts. I'm not one for buying a bottle of wine or stuffing cash into an envelope (much as they would like I'm sure) - however, with 6 birthdays to tend to over the next 3 weeks, creativity is giving way to practicality. I'm looking for gifts that are pretty, useful, and, where possible, I like to support Irish.

Which brings me to http://www.beautyqueen.ie/, a new Irish website specialising in beauty gift sets. If your friend likes perfume, then you're bound to find value on this site. They also are delving into Glo Minerals make-up and are doing a roaring trade in fake tans (St. Tropez & Tantastic included). With free delivery on all orders over €20 and a free gift with all orders over €100 you can see why this is a rewarding site to use.


Have a peek and see what you think. As I say, it's lovely to support local Irish business. Even lovelier when it's just a click of a mouse away.


Yours in style,
Caroline

What if the Shoe Doesn't Fit?

I'm just after catching a very interesting interview with Glendon Lloyd - CEO of http://www.tszuji.co.uk/ - on the Seán Moncrieff radio show on Newstalk.

Fed up with the 'shoenami' (geddit!) he faced every time he opened his wardrobe, Lloyd set up Tszuji, a web-based company offering quality shoe storage solutions.

I have a chronic OCD approach to wardrobe organisation, so when I heard a mention of shoe storage I immediately galloped over to the laptop to have a gawk at the goodies on offer on http://www.tszuji.co.uk/. And I wasn't disappointed! The site is extremely impressive - offering a vast range of clear shoe boxes, storage racks (free-standing and over-door), handbag storage, heel protectors and insoles, with the added comfort of a "100% satisfaction or your money back" guarantee.

I was particularly fascinated with the Rakku Shoe Wheel (pictured below), which stores up to 30 pairs of shoes. This product retails at £64.95 (ex. delivery) and is available in either black or silver. There are discounts availabe for multiple purchases (up to 4). Regardless of whether you own 1 or 10 or 100 pairs of shoes, I strongly recommend that you store your footwear carefully i.e. in a cool, dry place and protected from dust. If you're very good, you should stuff them with newspaper to preserve their shape, and clean them after every wear (following the manufacturers instructions re. leather, suede, patent etc.) so that they are ready for their next outing.

Back to Tszuji, my only criticism of them is the name of the website - it took me 3 or 4 tries on Google before I got the spelling right. Nonetheless, the destination more than made up for the bumpy journey, so to speak, and I have earmarked at least 3 items which I will be purchasing as Christmas gifts.

Yours in style,

Caroline

I love 'LOVE Aprons'

If you are looking for a stylish Christmas gift for a style-conscious cook, then check out Clodagh McKenna's LOVE Apron range on http://www.clodaghmckenna.com/.

The selection includes three 1950s-inspired aprons (red, green and black/white print) - and new to the range is a navy vintage-style half-pinny.

The aprons cost €35 each and the pinny is €25.95. The price includes the fabulous colour-coordinated packaging pictured in the iddle picture above.

These aprons are stocked in selected stores nationwide (including Carrig Donn) as well as on Clodagh McKenna's website, http://www.clodaghmckenna.com/. I recently purchased a selection of these aprons from the website and I was delighted with the service and speedy delivery (Mr. DHL arrived on the doorstep less than 48 hours after I submitted my order).

Yours in style,

Caroline

Outnet Giveaway...Outed!

Fancy getting your hands on this Marchesa silk-chiffon dress worth €3,416? Now that caught your attention didn't it!

One of my favourite websites, http://www.theoutnet.com/ is

giving away this beauty in an on-line competition this week.

If you fancy your chances at winning, fill out an entry form on http://www.theoutnet.com/giveaway/199?cm_mmc=Email-_-GiveawayU90-_-Marchesa091111-_-INTL. Hurry though as the closing date is this Friday, 13th November (lucky for some, don't you know!)

Yours in style,
Caroline

Waist Not, Want Not

Waistcoats, waistcoats, everywhere I look there are waistcoats. I’m not talking about ‘dapper gentleman’ ones. No such luck. I mean ladies’ fashiony waistcoats. Flicking through Grazia and the like, it appears that you’re at nothing this Winter unless you are sporting a woolly torso-toaster…

.. or a teeny, low-cut denim delight…

So who can wear this style?

CHOOSE IF... the top half of your body is smaller than the bottom half. A slim-fitting waistcoast can balance out your proportions, aswell as drawing attention to your neat upper half.

AVOID IF...the top half of your body is busty, boxy or large on top avoid this style as it will do absolutely nothing flattering for you.

Conclusion

Waistcoasts are hard to wear, in my opinion. Unless you have quite slim proportions, they can make you look bigger than what you are. Also, they can be quite ‘boxy’ and therefore don’t always enhance womanly curves.

All in all, I think this trend is best left to the youngsters (i.e. anyone who wasn’t around for the original 1980s experience).

Which reminds me, there is a photo at home somewhere of me in 1994 (old enough to know better) looking a fright in a massive REVERSIBLE waistcoat…denim on one side and thick brown chord on the other. Imagine! Of course I wore it with the mandatory Levi’s 501s. *Shudder*

Moving swiftly back to the present, if you really want to ‘get waisted’, check out http://www.asos.com/ where they have a plethora of styles.

Yours in style,
Caroline

Snap Happy!

I’m a divil for staking photos; I always, ALWAYS have a camera in my handbag for impromptu snapping.

I’ve recently upgraded my 'snaparatus' to a (deep breath) Panasonic Lumix DC Vario DMC-FS12 12 Mega Pixel camara. And what a great little product it is too - even for a technophobe like me! It's easy-peasy to use and the picture quality is phenomenal.

The only problem I’ve encountered is that the file size of each picture is obviously huge (between 4-5MB each) so I’ve had to resort to http://www.picresize.com/ when uploading to the internet.

My thanks to the lovely man in Currys, http://www.currys.ie/, who recommended it. Plus, it was on sale too at €179!

Yours in style,
Caroline