Blog Archive

Fashion, style, beauty, hair, health, fitness, life issues, lifestyle, home, garden and anything else that matters to the woman in her prime of life.

Summer roses

Our spring order of roses has just gone in the ground.

Gloire de dijon rosePlanting more roses always fills me with hope.

Summer linen

After a winter bundled in woollies, it's great to be in summer clothes again

My new linen dress is just gorgeous...

Goodbye Guy

It's a friend's funeral today

The late Guy Kewney was famous in his field, but more importantly, he was a very nice man.

Make up for glasses

A few make-up tips for those of us who wear specs

If you wear glasses, you're already drawing attention to your eyes, so it makes sense to make the best of them

Gainers - no gain, it's a pain

For one subsection of society, gaining weight is the ideal situation

When is some weight too much weight?

Reducing meat in your diet

If you want to cut down the amount of meat in your diet, follow these handy tips

Not everyone has it in them to be a vegetarian, but cutting down meat is relatively painless.

Pre-nups - for or against

The Supreme Court is set to rule on pre-nups, which the English seem not to like but are acceptable in many other countries

What will change if prenuptial agreements become part of English law?

Another Photoshop disaster

Demi Moore is anatomically very strange, if these pictures are to be believed

thumbnailYet another example of Photoshop gone laughably wrong.

A chemical cocktail on our skins

The average UK woman wears 500 different chemicals every day.

ChemicalsSadly, parabens are a hard thing to avoid in beauty products

Spring clothing revamp

When the season changes, it's time to assess your wardrobe and buy to fill the gaps

Boden thumbnailJust a few new purchases each season can vamp up your whole wardrobe

Evening t-shirts

Jess Carter-Morley reviews the latest evening tees

No, they're not new, love, but they are handy

Queen hosts fashion glitterati

Sad to see that the fashionistas are mostly so badly dressed.

The fashion pussycats put on their best togs to visit the Queen

Lip plumpers are a pain in the neck

The latest technique for pouty lips involves surgery on your neck muscles.

What price a pout?

Yet more bad Photoshopping

British actress Gillian Taylforth has either got very odd proportions...

thumb...or the art editor's been at her.

Debenhams to deliver internationally

The store also introduces a 'collect from store' function

Debenhams online is extending its service

Back with a vengeance

Well, not so much a vengeance as a whimper, but back at least.

A hardware upgrade has had me away from blogging for a while, so now I'm playing catchup.

Dressing to look thinner

There are times when most of us want to shed a pound or two visually.

Here's a bunch of tips for looking thinner in what you wear.

Conquering clutter

Space and light should be the mantra.

According to Terence Conran at least...

More airbrushing nonsense

Advertisers certainly don't want to give up the power to screw us over without us knowing.

Ralph Lauren thumbnailThe false beauty brigade are coming out in strength to oppose the labelling of retouched images.

AIDS now the biggest killer of young women

Male violence against women is a leading cause of AIDS.

When women cannot negotiate safe sex without fear of violence, AIDS is bound to spread.

Selling a house in the current market

If you're trying to sell your property, you could do worse than follow these basic tips.

Spruce up the property and be polite to potential buyers.

Reversible clothing

If you're boarding a plane any time soon and want to just have carry-on luggage, think about reversible clothing.

reversible skirtOrvis ain't cheap but its reversible clothes are beautifully made and highly wearable: buy right, and you could wear most of what you need for a week-long trip.

Store cupboard standbys

Trust me to invite people over when we haven't done the shopping this week.

For a menu whipped up from what we have in stock, I'm quite pleased with tonight's offering.

Terrible Photoshopping

No wonder women feel so bad about themselves when they're routinely presented with images like this.

Redbook's cover girl has been squeezed, stretched and smoothed to within an inch of her life

London Fashion Week

London Fashion Week has so far been curiously grown-up, which is very good news for the over-40s babe

Nicole Farhi thumbnailA palette of black, camel and grey prevailed at London's Fashion Week, but the mood was in no way sombre

Monochrome beachwear

For maximum versatility on the beach or in town, the over-40s babe could think about a monochrome scheme this summer.

damart maxi thumbnailIf you stick to black and white, any pattern you choose will look crisp and fresh this summer.

Vintage dating advice

I just loved this article on dating, from 1938, which I found on Digg. Read it and laugh your ass off.

Fings ain't what they used to be. Thank God...

Diamonds from Damart

The Damart catalogue has one or two bits that are worth a punt

Summer shopping is always a bit of a nightmare once you hit 40 but Damart have some decent things on offer for the warmer weather.

Time were 'ard

Seventy years ago, Britain introduced food rationing and for the first time, everyone had enough to eat.

My family had never had it so good.

Vamp up your bra

A little embellishment can liven up the most boring bra.

bra thumbnailI started by adding a bit of bling to my Doreens...

Alexander McQueen dead

One of Britain's most talented designers appears to have killed himself

Lee McQueen found dead at London home

More snow!

Well, they said snow. What they didn't say was 70kmph winds, blizzards and six inches of the white stuff

It's a white world in the Orne today

Cosy kidneys

Damart has a range of supports for keeping your back warm in winter

If you didn't manage to snap up a chauffe-reins from Lidl when they were in stock, there's always Damart...

Ten top lingerie tips

If you're a male buying lingerie for a female for Valentine's, here's some food for thought

lingerieRemember this is for her and not you...

Oops - technoluddite

Just when I thought I'd got the hang of this interwebs thing...

People like me shouldn't be allowed email...