The Fine Details of Christmas Fashion

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They say you shouldn’t sweat the small stuff but, when it comes to fashion, I disagree.
As regular readers know, this blog is all about those little details that make a difference to your look.
 
This time, I’d like to pass on some tips for Christmas fashion as you get prepared for all those parties. A bit of thought can make all the difference to an outfit and let you shine like a star come the festive season – and here’s how.

Stunning headwear from Batcakes Couture (search on etsy)

Stunning headwear from Batcakes Couture (search on etsy)

One of Janine Basil's Christmas hair clips

One of Janine Basil's Christmas hair clips

How to wear accessories
 
When deciding on how to accessorise your look, model your outfit in front of the mirror and see where your eye is naturally drawn. Normally this is either towards the neck or the waist.
If it is towards the former, highlight the area with a necklace; if it’s the latter, accessorise with a carefully-chosen belt and select an understated piece of jewellery to wear around your neck.
 
The biggest mistake you can make is to wear a flamboyant necklace and belt as these will compete for attention. Your body frame is also important when it comes to accessories. If you are petite then keep to smaller scale items but if you’re tall then choose bolder designs which you can carry off with ease.
 
Don’t forget the handbag; an inspiring collection of funky and classic designs is available at MCM – the perfect way to accessories this season.

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Festive make-up
 
Experimenting with make-up is one of the most fun parts of dressing up and Christmas is no exception. This is the perfect time of year to go glam with glitter - powdered glitter looks fantastic on eyelids and eyelashes so why not give it a go?
 
The trend this year is for metallic eyes. You can opt for a dramatic appearance à la Giorgio Armani with darker hues or choose lighter colours with a metallic sheen for an elegant touch.
 
Lips are simple; matte, dark berry colours are this year’s favourites – what are you waiting for?

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This has been a snazzy guest post for Harrods.

OMG Star Wars Onesies. STAR WARS. ONESIES!

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Find Me a Gift score highly on the very cool gift rating once again with these Star Wars themed onesies. They sent me the Boba Fett onesie, as my husband is a mega-Star Wars fan and he's his favourite. It arrived the week I was in hospital, and my husband was sick too. He was so excited to receive it, he says it miraculously healed him* 

*healing powers of onesies not proven by science

Its great quality, sweatshirt type material rather than a fleece that would end up bobbling. The Boba Fett design is £34.99, and if you have a few other gifts to buy for Christmas, and you spend over £50 you get a 20% discount.

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Maybe Darth Vader is more your type of guy. The Darth Vader onesie is on offer at £29.99

The Storm Trooper onesie is also on offer at £29.99 

I think my husband, who incidentally swore he would never wear a onesie, would happily wear any of these for sleepwear for ever more.

So don't rely on The Force to guide you to your Star Wars fan's last minute Christmas gift, let The World of Kitsch send you off happily to Find Me a Gift. Check out the other Star Wars merch they have there too.

Check your size

Check your size

WIN A Large Cookies & Caramel Chocolate Wreath from Hotel Chocolat Worth £21 !

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I don't often hold competitions on The World of Kitsch, but when the delicious people at Hotel Chocolat offered a prize for me to give away to my readers, I couldn't resist picking this HUGE chocolate wreath. I have one, worth £21, to giveaway to one of my readers.

I'm using Rafflecopter, which is the standard bloggers' giveaway tool. It's fair and randomly picks a winner for me. Hotel Chocolat will then send you the wreath directly, should you win. 

Later in the week I will be reviewing their Christmas range they sent me to try. Oh my goodness, they are something else. The plastic bucket of Quality Street seems so inferior after you've had your taste buds introduced to Hotel Chocolat goodies.

Oh my. I wish I could enter my own giveaway 

Oh my. I wish I could enter my own giveaway 

Visiting Santa at Castlecourt, Belfast

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Yesterday after school we visited Santa in Castlecourt in Belfast. He and his elves were very jolly. We chose to have the photograph made into a snow globe to bring out year after year. Details of times are available on the Castlecourt website.

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If Getting Glasses Was a Computer Game, This Blog Post Would Be Your Walk-through Guide to Specsavers

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So you've never needed glasses. You've reached your thirties and suddenly reading the on screen TV guide is becoming a bit tricky. They must be making the writing smaller, right? You notice you're squinting to read signs, and in turn some unwanted lines are appearing from nowhere around your eyes and on your nose. Could it be you need glasses? 

You tend to think everyone knows what an eye test involves, but maybe you don't if you've never needed one. This is a dummy's guide for you. How a visit to Specsavers in 2013/2014 goes. Which tests will your peepers be put through? Is there any uncomfortable or painful parts to the eyesight measurement? What about choosing frames? What are the options involved there? 

I visited my regular Specsavers Store in the Bloomfield Centre, Bangor, Northern Ireland, where Melissa from Freshwater PR talked me through and took photos for me, Emma helped me choose frames and Stuart the store's director and optometrist provided the actual test. 

So where do we start?

Gerard putting my eyes through their paces

Gerard putting my eyes through their paces

Your first stop is a darkened room with two machines. The first you rest your chin on, and put your head against a bar. You look into the machine and it gives a basic reading of whether you are short sighted or long sighted. Next the same machine tests the pressure in your eyeball. This is to check for any potential illness or disease related to sight, rather than dealing with eyesight strength.

This part is the only bit I'm not keen on. The machine puffs a tiny bit of air at your eye to record the pressure, and the 'pop' of the air coming toward me always makes me jump away from the machine! It's in no way painful, nor uncomfortable, but it's a natural reaction to move away from the air.

In the same room, the optician's assistant uses a different machine to take photos of the back of your eye. Again you just put your face against a machine, there's a bright light, and that's it done.

Next comes the official optician part of your eye test, in their room. That's where you read lines of letters through some funky looking robo-specs, like I'm doing in the photo above. Stuart will ask a series of questions and do visual tests to pin down what your prescription strength of lenses will need to be. All in all this takes around 10 - 15 minutes, and again there's no uncomfortable tests, or pain involved.

This part is actually like a computer game. I haven't got any cheat codes for the answers though ;-)

This part is actually like a computer game. I haven't got any cheat codes for the answers though ;-)

The last test is in another darkened room. You repeat the test for each eye, and wear a patch over the eye you aren't testing. The machine gives you a red light to focus on. Whenever you see a green light in your peripheral vision, you press a button. This tests you don't have any blind spots. It only takes five minutes. This tests isn't necessary every two years when you go for an eye exam, it's just done every so often.

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Now it's the fun part, picking your frames. There's a really great buy one get one free on in Specsavers, and you can mix and match between normal glasses and prescription sunglasses, so that's what I did! 

There is a wide price range of glasses to suit all budgets, and Specsavers also cater for NHS patients with free eye tests and free glasses for those on certain benefits or tax credits.

Emma helped me choose frames that were right for me. Not only in style, but frames that fitted my nose properly so they would be comfortable. 

Back at the desk with my Replay designer specs, and Red or Dead prescription sunglasses frames picked, Emma used one more machine to check my pupil alignment.

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Finally a measurement is taken so the glasses can be fine tuned to perfectly fit on your ears and nose without slipping or poking. 

Your glasses are then fitted with your lenses, and you can pick up the finished pairs an hour later.

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I really love my new glasses, they are totally 'me'. Specsavers are also giving out golden tickets with an offer to buy another pair of glasses from their £69 and up ranges for half price. It can be used any time over the next six months, so I'll be popping back in for a second pair after Christmas.