Monthly Archives: May 2014

Anna Popovich Shoot

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I had the real pleasure of shooting for Anna Popovich last week for her new online collection. I will be doing an amazing interview with Anna soon so I will share it with all of you another day, but for now here is a sneaky peak behind the scenes on the day and some of the stunning items that will be available very soon. Anna’s only 26 years old and boy has this girl got incredible talent. I ended the shoot wanting every item that was on offer. Its so well made, fits like a dream and from a fellow fashion design girl I can tell you she has pattern cutting down to a fine art. Every item is balanced and so versatile. The finish is exceptional and the quality is truly amazing. The collection is high end without the massive price tag either.

Anna Popovich

Anna and Emily

Anna (right) has a brilliant business partner called Emily (left) she has a background in photography and corporate events with many years as a fashion journalist and PR before she joined forces with Anna in 2013.

Emily, who I have know for many years is exceptional in every way possible and so talented, now the two are together they are going to be unstoppable

Anna and Emily

The brand is fun..really fun, affordable and just darn stunning just like these two girls.

Anna Popovich’s entire collection is so easy to wear, beautiful, luxurious and for all women. Its sassy and will make you feel super cool, stylish and so in love with your own figure.

Inspired by the likes of Audrey Hepburn with grace, intelligence and beauty. The collections are magnificent and cut in such a way you can’t help feeling that you are a perfect version of yourself.

Sarah Bacchus

Now with this new range that is being added over the next few days….Yes girls…days, you won’t have to wait months for these stunning items to wing their way into your wardrobes.

Our brilliant model Lottie loved every singe item she tried on.

IMG_3868 Lottie Smith IMG_3979Lottie Smith

 Gorgeous key pieces that will make you just want to purchase loads of items every month. Anna & Emily make clothes that they want to wear and you will too! Classic designs that will never go out of fashion and you will be able to style for years to come.

 Sarah Bacchus

All done and it was the best day filled with fashion and fun, these girls are delightful to work with and I can’t wait to update my wardrobe with a few of the items we shot. Her online store is packed with delicious and wonderful looks you will just have to purchase. Head over now to the online store www.Annapopovich.com Make sure you follow them on Twitter @annapopovich come and follow me for more fashion and fun @sarahbacchus visit my Photography site www.sarahbacchus.com and to catch up with my blog head over to www.slbstyle.com

Lusardi: My Miracle… The Cream of Luxury Skincare

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Linda-Lusardi-image1[1]

When Linda Lusardi launches a skincare brand, you sit up and listen. Known for her youthful appearance and elegant style, it was inevitable that she would create a skincare range that reflects her personality… and Linda takes no prisoners when it comes to putting her name to a product, it has to be top notch. But this isn’t Linda’s first step into developing a skincare range, in fact, she launched her initial skincare range ten years ago, but this additional range was launched about two and a half years ago. When I asked why she felt the need to set her mind on a new skincare venture, she told me that it started just through the frustration of not finding anything for herself that was in the price range she wanted. With Ideal World (www.idealworld.tv), her team sourced the manufacturing base for La Prairie, Crème de la Mer and Bulgari in Switzerland, and using the same technicians and chemists, brought to the market products that were on the same level of quality both in their ingredients and packaging but at an affordable price point. But one vital ingredient is key to Linda’s range… edelweiss. Mixed with glacier water, hyaluronic acid and almond oil, it is a key ingredient due to its natural protective qualities.

Linda explained that because millions of pounds aren’t being expended for endorsement by a Hollywood celebrity to put their face on the products, advertising in glossy magazines and selling it in Harrods, she’s able to keep the profit margin down and bring it at a high street price that you would pay for a normal cream in Boots, but you’re getting a really luxury range with expensive active ingredients. The range was showcased at the Anti-Ageing Health and Beauty Show at Olympia in May, Linda told me “The women trying it just loved it, it’s just a divine cream and if you’re spending that amount on a cream now on the high street, then you’re not going to be getting the amount of ingredients in there that you’re getting in mine. On screen (Ideal World), I battle to try and say you’re getting exactly the same quality of product as those ones that are charging like £100 or £300 a pot, but it is hard to convince people that what they’re getting is the same, if not better.”

Linda has a strict daily beauty regime, at night to remove her make-up she uses the Caviar Cleanser and Radiance (£17.99 120ml + £4.99 P&P) and a hot large muslin cloth (sold with the product) which is slightly abrasive to the touch, exfoliating and cleansing with almond oil and beeswax as well as the caviar, glacier water and edelweiss. So it moisturises, cleanses and exfoliates all in one go, then applying Recharge Night Cream (£29.99 50ml + £5.99 P&P) and Restore Eye Serum (£24.99 15ml + £4.99 P&P). In the morning she doesn’t always use the hot cloth cleanser but might just use the cleanser on its own without the cloth, just to wake her face up and cleanse, then Eye Serum and Line Lift Serum (£24.99 30ml + £4.99 P&P), which both contain a tightening agent that really lifts the face and makes it plump up and makes it feel fuller, disguising the lines but still putting all those lovely ingredients in as well. An important product is the Outstanding Caviar Neck and Decollete Cream (£24.99 50ml + £4.99 P&P), which is used night and morning, perfect for tightening those important areas which are often forgotten. A swift application of 12hr Anti-Wrinkle Day Cream (£24.99 50ml + £5.99 P&P) and off she goes! Most day products have a UVA/UVB filter, which is very important for me, the sun is extremely damaging and this range makes sun protection a priority.

We remember Linda Lusardi as a former model, she is an actress, TV presenter… the list goes on, and recently appeared on ITV’s ‘Dancing on Ice’. She told me “I didn’t think I’d get to the show because I did break my foot in about the second lesson so I had a Beckham boot on for six weeks, I was filming Emmerdale, hobbling on my boot and then they said no, you’ve still got time to be in it, you’ll just have to catch up!” Linda made it to week seven, a braver woman than I! But would she consider ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ if approached? Linda said “Oh, I’d aboslutely love to do it! I’d love to be able to dance like that because I’m quite agile and I’d just love to be able to move in those beautiful dresses.”
Watch this space…

The complete Lusardi: My Miracle range is available exclusively at www.idealworld.tv
Linda is appearing as Fairy Godmother in Cinderella at the New Theatre in Cardiff later this year.

David Walliams Writes Book For Simon Cowell’s Son

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Apparently David Walliams loves teasing Simon Cowell so much that he wrote a book. David’s latest is all about Simon’s son, Eric. He apparently gave Simon fifty copies of the book, David Walliams presents Baby Eric, backstage at Britain’s Got Talent.

david walliams writes book

The cover is an illustration of Simon and girlfriend Lauren Silverman with their son.

The blurb reads: “Simon Cowell was the man who thought he had everything, until the day Baby Eric arrived in his life. This is the story of how Eric David Sinitta Louis-Walsh Cowell came into the world.”

A source told The Sun “He didn’t quite know what to say” at first but was then really touched. We wonder who Simon will give the other copies to?

Laura Bush: ‘First Ladies Don’t Deserve Salaries’

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In a C-SPAN interview for First Ladies: Influence and Image, former first lady Laura Bush, has said that first ladies don’t deserve to be paid.

Credit: Wikipedia

Credit: Wikipedia

“There are plenty of perks, believe me. A chef, that was really great, I miss the chef.”

She then went on to point out the sexist double-standard.

“That’s what we’ll have to come to terms with, Certainly a first gentleman might continue to work at whatever he did.

I think that the American public sees the first lady in very glamorous circumstances…I think what they may not imagine looking at the White House from the outside is that it’s actually a very normal life upstairs…The first lady probably, and I know I did, lays on the couch an reads a book. In my case, my cat would always curl up next to me.”

Cat Plays Jenga With Owner

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Alan Palesko from Austin, Texas, plays Jenga with his cat, Moe. Moe is very good at Jenga but tends to throw a hissy fit if things get too difficult. Uber cute.

Mansfield Park Still Least Favourite Jane Austen Novel After 200 Years

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Mansfield Park attracted just two per cent of votes in a poll.

Some things change, but sadly for celebrated author Jane Austen some things don’t.

A new survey by book recommendation website LoveReading.co.uk has found that 200 years on from its publication in May 1814, Mansfield Park is still Austen’s least-liked novel.

jane-austen-least favourite novel

The novel garnered just two per cent of a poll to find readers’ favourite Austen book.

The outright winner – with nearly 60 per cent of the vote – was Pride and Prejudice – the tale of manners, upbringing, morality, education, and marriage that featured the iconic Mr Darcy.

Second most-popular was Jane Austen’s first novel, Sense and Sensibility, followed in third place by her fourth book, Emma – the last to be published while she was still alive.

Peter Crawshaw, Director and Co-Founder of Lovereading.co.uk said “Since its first publication 200 years ago, Mansfield Park has always been a divisive novel — the Jane Austen equivalent of Marmite.

“But least liked doesn’t necessarily mean worst and even though the Pygmalion morality epic that is Mansfield Park doesn’t have the glamorous appeal of Pride and Prejudice it certainly has some resonance today.

“Perhaps it just needs a Hollywood makeover to finally get a popularity boost.”

Mansfield Park is noted for being the most controversial of Austen’s major novels

Published in May 1814, her third novel was praised by Regency critics for its “wholesome morality”, but has since earned the dubious distinction of being the most disliked among Jane Austen fans.

Many readers find the book’s protagonist, Fanny Price, too “timid” and “priggish” to be likeable, for example, with Jane Austen’s own mother, Cassandra, herself complaining that Fanny was “insipid”.

Heated debates about the novel’s literary worth have even spawned so-called ‘Fanny Wars’ on internet discussion forums.

Crawshaw added: “Discussions between Austen fans often get heated while discussing the literary value of Mansfield Park.

“Mansfield Park is quite a complex work in comparison to Pride and Prejudice or Sense and Sensibility, and this often puts readers off, as does the unsympathetic lead character, Fanny,”

Jane Austen, who lived from 1775 to 1817, is regarded as one of English literature’s greatest authors.

Her novels include Emma, Pride and Prejudice, and Sense and Sensibility.

The Bank of England has announced that it will feature Austen’s face on £10 notes from 2017.

The Sons – Relic | Music Profile

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Their New Single

Relic

The Sons to Headline First Off Axis Show

Release Date: Monday 9th June 2014 as a digital download

Relic is a heartfelt and gentle song that showcases singer Paul Herron’s accomplished vocal performance against a simple yet effective piano and guitar accompaniment, but the song’s lyrics come from a place of mourning for what has passed.

The Sons, an independent British five piece, draw inspiration for their alternative guitar pop from the likes of Crowded House, Wilco, Paul Simon and Fleetwood Mac.

Creating a current sound with a timeless feel, they are masters at coupling upbeat, catchy songs with rather dark, complex lyrics about the pains and hardships of life.

Having toured the UK & Europe extensively, The Sons have attracted a large and a very loyal following with fans fully funding the making of the band’s third studio album, ‘Heading Into Land’. This record hit the UK album charts upon its release in March 2014, marking a new chapter for the band.

The premiere single from the album, ‘Death Love Money’ was released in January 2014. To mark the release, The Sons invited everyone who pledged money toward the album to a free show at the historic Guildhall Theatre in Derby, England. More than two hundred people packed into the theatre to witness the band debut its new songs, with excited post-gig reactions exploding on social media.

Pregnant Farzana Parveen Stoned To Death By Own Family In Pakistan

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A pregnant woman, Farzana Parveen, has been stoned to death by more than 20 members of her own family in front of the high court of Lahore. She was only 25 and three-months pregnant.

The group included her father and brothers. They attacked her and her husband with batons and bricks. The attack happened in broad daylight.

Hundreds of women are killed every year in honor killings but public stoning is rare.

Police investigator Rana Mujahid said the woman’s father has been arrested for murder and that police were working to apprehend all those who participated in the “heinous crime.”

Another police officer, Naseem Butt, said she was killed because she married Mohammad Iqbal against her family’s wishes.

Her father, Mohammad Azeem, had filed an abduction case against Iqbal.

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, a private organisation, said in a report last month that some 869 women were murdered in honour killings in 2013.

Zia Awan, a prominent lawyer and human rights activist, said: “I have not heard of any such case in which a woman was stoned to death, and the most shameful and worrying thing is that this woman was killed in front of a court.”

He said Pakistanis who commit violence against women are often acquitted or handed light sentences because of poor police work and faulty prosecutions.

“Either the family does not pursue such cases or police don’t properly investigate. As a result, the courts either award light sentences to the attackers, or they are acquitted,”

Her husband survived the attack. Iqbal, 45, said he started seeing Parveen after the death of his first wife, with whom he had five children.

“We were in love,” he told The Associated Press. He alleged that the woman’s family wanted to fleece money from him before marrying her off. “I simply took her to court and registered a marriage,”

Parveen’s father called the murder an “honor killing” and surrendered after.

“I killed my daughter as she had insulted all of our family by marrying a man without our consent, and I have no regret over it,” Mujahid, the police investigator, quoted the father as saying.