With summer comes patterns and flowery summer dresses. Which is why these clothes which are new in at Glamourous caught my eye. They are perfect for a little summer glamour. Guaranteed to make you stand out from the crowd. What do you think? What is your favourite piece?
Top to bottom: Tailored Trousers, £39, Dipped Hem Dress £30, Galaxy Shorts £70, Contrast Shift Dress £24, Bodysuit £15.
Online shopping is great, in fact the only bad thing about it- apart from the destruction to your bank account- is the absurd rise in postage costs. So when we came across the news that American Express are offering card holders free postage from the US we got quite excited. Sorry bank account, it is too good to resist.
Throughout June, American Express Cardmembers in the U.K. can enjoy free shipping and a hassle-free experience when shopping online at top U.S. stores and brands with a simple promotional code.
American Express has partnered with Borderfree to launch the U.S. Summer Sales campaign, which runs until 30 June, and is valid when using any American Express Card on orders of more than £70. British Cardmembers can take advantage of the offer by entering the promotional code AMEXBF when paying with their American Express Card.
The campaign includes a wide range of top U.S. brands, such as Bloomingdales, Neiman Marcus and Aeropostale. A full list of merchants can be found at the campaign website www.port51.com/amex .
In addition to free shipping, Cardmembers can browse online in local currencies, and see all taxes and duties up front at checkout. Shoppers will receive their merchandise within 10 business days and incur no additional fees upon receipt.
The promotion is valid when shopping online with an American Express Card, and when shipping to international destinations outside of the U.S.
Dads are being short changed when it comes to gifts, new sales figures from retailer Debenhams reveal.
Kids are spending on average £4 less on Father’s day gifts than they were last year, in 2012 the average spend for gifts was £16 and this has now dropped to a measly £12.
However, whilst Dads are still getting a rough deal, the retailer has seen a 7% increase in people buying Father’s day gifts compared to last year but are just being more thrifty.
Mums are still coming out on top; with the average spend for a Mother’s Day gift this year coming in at a generous £21.
Says Disa Blackburn, Head of Gift Buying at Debenhams; “It seems poor Dads are getting a raw deal when it comes to Father’s Day gifts and the gap in spending is only get bigger.”
“After years of Dad duties, such as being a living, breathing cash point and a 24 hour taxi service it’s time we make an effort at making our fathers feel special.”
“Dads are notoriously hard to buy for and our research shows that this is often the reason why they are forgotten – Mum’s on the other hand have a much more diverse range of gift options.”
Debenhams personal shoppers are offering complimentary Father’s day gift consultations and aim to give customers a helping hand when it comes to choosing the perfect present for their Dads.
It seems sons are the biggest culprit for not showing appreciation for their Dads, the survey revealed that men were much more likely to buy a Mother’s day present than they were to buy a Father’s day present, with 27% saying they bought a father’s day present vs. 53% for a Mother’s Day gift.
Women seem to be fairer when treating their parents, 56% buy Father’s Day gifts and 61% of women will buy a Mother’s Day present.
Topping the list of Father’s day gifts this year are:
1. Socks.
2. Slippers.
3. Pyjamas.
4. Aftershave.
5. Leather goods; wallets, belts etc.
Debenhams has also seen geographical trends in Father’s Day gift spending. People in the North of England are three times more likely to buy a Father’s Day gift than the south, and the average gift spend is much higher at £19. Hull has come out on top as having the biggest spenders.
Disa Blackburn continues; “We are predicting we’ll see a splurge of generous Father’s day shoppers this weekend, all Dad’s deserve a treat after all.”
Debenhams men’s gifting is available in all stores nationwide and online at Debenhams.com.
Father’s day is on the 16th of June and it is fast approaching. For those – like me- who have not bought anything yet I have put together a gift guide. It is a range of fun and different things for the most important man in your life. Feel free to add your own ideas in the comments below.
At Frost we reviewed Grant’s Family Reserve. Here is what we thought:
This whiskey smells great, full bodied. My first thought on trying this whiskey is oak. I then read up on it to find out it is matured in oak caskets. It is also malty, clean and complex. I can taste cinnamon stick, cloves, and nutmeg. We initially tried it without water and you really get the full flavours. With water it is just as enjoyable, and personally I found it more so because you could take it all in more without getting really drunk! This whiskey is a great blend. I really enjoyed it. It is sweet and fruity so it is right up my street.
Whether your dad is a discerning whisky lover or someone who enjoys the occasional dram, the Grant’s Family Reserve gift pack is the ideal way to say thank you and to help make this Father’s Day extra special.
Feeling inspired? Why not try something different this Father’s Day with one of Grant’s signature cocktails, the Grant’s highball.
Cocktail – Grant’s Highball
Made with the world’s favourite family owned whisky, the Grant’s Highball is an ideal aperitif or accompaniment to a meal and ideal for sharing with your dad.
Ingredients:
· 50ml Grant’s Family Reserve
· Ginger ale
· Dash of Angostura bitters
· Garnish with an Orange wedge
Fill a glass with ice cubes and add the Grant’s Family Reserve. Top up with ginger ale and add a few drops of Angostura bitters. Garnish with an orange wedge.
The Grant’s Family Reserve £16.49*, Grant’s Sherry Cask (MRSP £17.99*) and Grant’s Ale Cask (MRSP £17.99*) are available at Tesco, other leading supermarkets and off licences.
Visit www.grantswhisky.co.uk for the latest serve ideas
This Leather Men’s Wallet is from QVC. £20.16
Item no.759923
Emu Mens Romeo Sheepskin Slipper, £69.00, QVC.
Item no.153851
Skagen Gents Midnight Blue Dial Titanium Mesh Strap Watch, QVC, £102.00
Item no.674551
FREE ARCHERY LESSON FOR DADS AND FAMILY SWORD SCHOOL
This Father’s Day, Sunday 16 June, at Warwick Castle, kids can send their dads back to school – Knight School – for free ‘have a go’ archery and training in swordsmanship from the Warwick Warriors, in addition to enjoying mediaeval weaponry displays and the firing of the Mighty Trebuchet. From 10am until 5pm, all dads qualify for an archery trial with an expert archer at Britain’s Ultimate Castle.
Kids and their dads can immerse themselves in over one thousand years of stories and legends about knights, battles and sieges, and experience firsthand how it feels to handle ancient weaponry. There’s plenty for mums to enjoy, too, including:
Book online in advance for the best value entrance fees: adults from £17.10 and children from £11.70: check www.warwick-castle.com for prices and latest attraction schedule.
Maybe all your dad wants is a phone call.
Lonely Dads Hoping for a Phonecall from their Children this Father’s Day
Panasonic survey finds over half of British dads long for more contact with their grown-up children
Reports of middle-aged parents suffering Crowded Nest Syndrome due to the return of Generation Boomerang may be premature, according to a new study published ahead of Father’s Day. A survey of UK dads carried out by Panasonic reveals that 83 percent admit they miss having regular contact with grown-up sons and daughters who have left the family home.
A third of UK fathers see their adult offspring once a month or less, with five percent only seeing their children once a year at most. It seems dads can’t get enough family time, with 52 percent saying they would still like to hear from their kids more often.
Empty Nest Syndrome has historically been more commonly associated with mothers, but fathers who participated in the survey were keen to overturn the gender stereotype. Forty-six percent believe they miss their kids at least as much, if not more, than their mother does, and only one in three believes their mother misses them more than they do.
When it comes to keeping in touch, the home phone still reigns supreme; 68 percent of dads mainly use their landline to talk to their son or daughter. Of the many ways to stay in touch now available, dads agreed on which would appreciate receiving a new home phone as a gift. 42 percent rated the trusty home phone the best of the bunch, with 24 percent giving mobile phones their vote and Skype video calling trailing in third place with 10 percent.
The study shows that children are still turning to dad for advice, with petitions for help featuring in eight in ten of phone conversations. An enterprising 30 percent of children have taken the opportunity to ask for a loan during a catch-up, 33 percent have sought DIY guidance and 17 percent have asked for career advice. Oddly enough, they aren’t so forthcoming when it comes to their love lives, with just one in ten dads ever having been consulted by their children on affairs of the heart.
Free Massage for Dads at K West Hotel & Spa
Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day, spa days away. With all these treats for the ladies, Dads might be feeling a little neglected.
This Father’s Day on 16 June 2013, K West Hotel & Spa will be giving Dads the treatment they deserve with a free back and shoulder massage.
To claim this fantastic treat, family members need to book a two course dinner at the stylish Kanteen restaurant (priced at just £16 per adult and £8 per child) and lucky Dads will receive a complimentary massage voucher.
Get your Dad a copy of the Breaking Bad Boxset from Amazon UK. He will be eternally grateful.
Check out these great gift ideas from buyagift.com
Choose from nine of the world’s most renowned and respected supercars and enjoy the high-octane adrenaline thrill of your life with this amazing driving blast! Your adrenaline levels will soar as you take control of two incredible driving machines for 3 miles each, with options including the Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche, Aston Martin and Audi R8 – each effortlessly combining style, speed and unbelievable power! With six locations across the UK to choose from, this is your chance to discover the true power of the world’s most impressive beasts!
Treat yourselves to a unique tour of London with this helicopter tour over the capital’s rooftops. London is full of famous landmarks and attractions, from Canary Wharf to the Houses of Parliament, and this unforgettable experience will give you a totally new perspective of one of the world’s greatest cities. Sit back during your flight and appreciate all the grandeur of London as you take in stunning aerial views of a city steeped in history and culture. Just remember to bring your camera!
Helicopter Pilot Experience Day: £139
This amazing experience is your chance to discover if you’ve got what it takes to fly a helicopter and be a commercial helicopter pilot. Arrive at the airfield for 9am, where you will be greeted with refreshments by your hosts for the day. An introduction and safety briefing will be given by a CAA Licensed Helicopter Instructor, followed by a talk on being a commercial pilot, and a presentation on helicopter pilot career options. Next comes the highlight of the day – a hands-on, one-to-one helicopter flying lesson and hover challenge! You’ll take the controls as your instructor gives you helpful tuition. During the experience you will receive a buffet-style lunch, as well as a guided tour of the hangars and a discussion about various helicopter types.
If you have a dapper dad you can always buy him some clothes.
Father’s Day is coming up and High and Mighty is here to help with its one stop shop for all things Dad-related. Designers such as Polo Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger and Lacoste have an array of presents and everything from fashion and fragrances, to electricals and DVD’s are all under one roof at www.highandmighty.co.uk. Perfect for the Dapper Dad.
QVC has celebrated their 20 year anniversary. So congratulations to them. To celebrate I have picked out a few of my favourite pieces from their new range. Far from being just another shopping channel, QVC is a fav of Frost for being a forward thinker who collaborates with all of the hottest designers and experts in their field. Take a look and let me know what you think.
Lulu Guinness bags. Butler and Wilson necklace. 
Necklace, Libertine by Giles Deacon. 
All below was made exclusively for QVC 20th anniversary. 
I went along to the launch of the third edition of the Fashion Fabulous book. I was joined by actor/director Jack Bowman and his wonderful girlfriend Mary Burt. I also met the team behind new blog The London Index, Joseph and Leah-Jade. Check them out. Some of their photos are below.
I had a flick through the book and it is brilliant researched. I talked to Tracy and she said that she goes to every single shop and restaurant. Everything is checked to make sure it is of the highest quality. Tracey is also a hat designer and the hat she was wearing was spectacular.
Frost editor Catherine Balavage with actor and director Jack Bowman.
Fashion Fabulous London returns with new guide for 2013
London’s number 1 independent shopping guide, Fashion Fabulous London launched its new guidebook for 2013 on the 24th of April, and it is out now.
The third edition of the consumer guide picks out and reviews the top shops in London. The shopping equivalent to the Michelin Guide, the new edition of the book is a must-have for the style-conscious London shopper.
Fashion insiders Tracy Rose and Russell Rose have once again compiled the book by making mystery shopper visits to one thousand retailers across the capital. This year’s updated guide highlights the best shops visited by the couple with in-depth reviews of the hottest outlets.
This year’s Top 200 retailers named in Fashion Fabulous London include new entries from designer-run boutique Antoni & Alison in Farringdon and rising vintage outlet Emporium in Greenwich.
Once again, the West End tops the list of London districts with the most retailers in the Top 200, but new neighbourhoods have arrived in the Top 10 shopping districts. Shepherd’s Bush, boosted by the presence of fashion destination Westfield London, now sits in the Top 10 ahead of Camden and Islington. Shoreditch has cemented its position as a fashion hotspot by ousting North Kensington from this year’s Top 10.
The changes in the guide’s Top 10 shopping districts reflect the increasing spread of quality retailers across London. Tracy Rose comments, “The West End remains London and the UK’s retail heart. However, we found from our visits across the city that lavish outlets and high-end service is far from limited to the boutiques of Bond Street and Savile Row. We are finding that retailers further afield in the capital are increasingly improving the quality of the customer experience, even in the current economic climate.”
Shops that offered a personal touch to customers were highly commended by the pair. Tracy states, “We particularly enjoy the experience offered by designer-run boutiques, where the customer can meet the creators of the items on sale. Being myself both a fashion designer and an avid shopper, I appreciate how much consumers value knowing about how their clothes were made.”
Each of the top retailers reviewed in Fashion Fabulous London receive a rating out of 5 shopping bags on choice, service and wow factor. Every store was re-evaluated this year with many receiving new ratings: In service, Bond Street’s Prada store lost its five shopping bag rating while Primark on Oxford Street improved on its one shopping bag rating – both now having two shopping bags in the 2013 edition.
Readers of Fashion Fabulous London will discover personal accounts from Tracy and Russell from their visits to each outlet. Tracy recounts the story of a showdown with shoppers in the Alexander McQueen store, with one envious customer snatching a shoe from her grasp. In another review, Russell gets to know Camden’s leftfield Cyberdog shop by trying on a yellow laser print ‘Talk to the Hand’ T-shirt.
Russell Rose comments, “We hope that this year’s guide will be the perfect companion for fashion-lovers looking for either high-end or high street shops. Whether you’re looking for shoes or handbags, we’ve taken the leg work out of finding the best stockists.”
Fashion Fabulous London will be on sale from 30 April 2013 at leading retailers nationwide including Harrods, Selfridges and Waterstones, and online from Amazon.
Top 10 London shopping postcodes
The top 10 districts in London ranked by the number of Fashion Fabulous London’s Top 200 shops in each district.
| 2013Rank | Postcode | District | 2012Rank |
| 1 | W1 | West End | 1 |
| 2 | SW1 | Belgravia | 2 |
| 3 | W11 | Notting Hill Gate | 4 |
| 4 | E1 | Brick Lane /Spitalfields | 3 |
| 5 | SW3 | Chelsea | 6 |
| 6 | E2 | Bethnal Green | 7 |
| 7 | WC2 | Covent Garden | 5 |
| 8 | W12 | Shepherd’s Bush | =11 |
| 9 | N1 | Islington | 8 |
| =10 | EC2 | Shoreditch | =11 |
| =10 | NW1 | Camden | 10 |
Walking through the streets of Edinburgh it’s clear to see why the city has been accredited as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. As Scotland’s famously bonny capital, it blends modern and historic culture, and is renowned the world over for its annual festivals, from the highbrow performances of the International Festival to the giddy melting pot of indie theatre and music at the Fringe – all topped off with the world’s most famous street Hogmanay party, where revellers dance in the new year under a firework-lit castle. If you’re lucky enough to pay a visit, here’s our guide to getting the most bang for your cultural buck.
A perennial fixture on World’s Best Cities lists, Edinburgh is lauded as one of the most culturally significant places to visit and as well as being named a World Heritage Site, it’s also the very first City of Literature. This title is hugely significant for Edinburgh as it credits the city for its contribution to international literature. And it’s easy to see why – the city is simply bursting with beautiful libraries, independent bookshops and literary events, including the sellout International Book Festival that sets up shop against the backdrop of stunning Georgian architecture in the city centre’s Charlotte Square. It’s also home to a whole host of renowned authors who work out of and take inspiration from the city: Irvine Welsh, JK Rowling, Iain Banks and Ian Rankin are all celebrated contemporary authors local to Edinburgh.
Beyond literature Edinburgh has many other avenues of culture to explore. Art is another area that is bursting with activity in the city and with over 50 galleries peppered across Edinburgh’s historic cobbles, you’re truly spoiled for choice. See the Guardian’s online guide 10 of the best contemporary art galleries in Edinburgh for the pick of the bunch, although our favourite has to be The Fruitmarket Gallery. Nestled in the centre of the city just moments walk from the Castle, his gallery boasts a well-stocked calendar of exhibitions from both Scottish and international artists and art groups. The Scotsman Steps commission by Martin Creed has been the most popular exhibition in the galleries’ history and successfully brought contemporary art into the public eye, from the gallery to the steps of Edinburgh. The Stills Gallery on Cockburn Street and the Edinburgh College of Art exhibitions are also a fantastic place to see new upcoming artists in Scotland. For thought-provoking pieces on a grander scale, check out the weird and wonderful installation art at summer outside exhibition extravaganza Jupiter Artland.
Then of course there’s the Festival Fringe itself – the biggest and best performing arts festival in the world. It spans an entire month each August and welcomes more than 2,500 shows from countries all around the world. Over the past few years, theatre, dance and musicals have been fighting hard to compete with the overpowering presence of comedy at the festival, and is happily succeeding with diverse and ever-increasing menu of acts to whet any cultural appetite. But even outside the heady festival period, the performing arts thrive in the city (despite the recessions) with the Traverse, the Lyceum and the Festival Theatre all playing host to an eclectic variety of local and internationally-acclaimed theatre, dance and opera.
Modern culture is also happily evident in Edinburgh with a dynamic shopping and food scene bursting with independent boutiques, cafes, delicatessens on every corner. Try the upmarket shopping district of Thistle Street for the best gems, such as shoe emporium Pam Jenkins and Vogue-celebrated designer clothing boutique must-visit Jane Davidson , which offers a carefully-curated collection of international collections as well as exclusive Scottish luxury designers. Alternatively head down to “village within a city” Stockbridge for interior design and gift boutiques galore.
If you’re looking for cultural things to do in Edinburgh it’s a promise that you won’t struggle for choice, whether you’re interested in art, dance, literature or fashion, the city has something to offer in every direction – it truly is a city inspired by culture.
By Jane Sommerville
We popped along to the QVC SS13 press day to find out what you will be buying next season.
I love Lulu Guinness. Her quirky bags are beautiful and original. 
Stationary from Anna Griffin. Very elegant. Stationary says a lot about a person. This says all the right things.
I love this Honora bracelet.
Jack Murphy Clara Quilted Jacket.
Kelly Hoppen Buddha.
These Marta Jonsson Peep Toe Court Shoes are divine. I love the red detail.
Nails Inc nail polish. Always a classic.
Nina Leonard Maxi Dress.
Perricone MD Necolletage. Pricey at £123 but it really works.
Tiana B Geometric Print Maxi Dress.
Strivectin Advanced Overnight Serum. Good stuff. Relatively easy on the wallet.
The sun won’t be out for a while, but when it is you will want Ultrasun Tinted Moisturiser.
I love these Lotus Catherine Sandals with a beautiful flower detail.
Brilliant detail on this beautiful cuff bracelet from Rush by Denis Charles.
