Our latest post is a joint effort with the lovely Claire Savarino an ex-pat living in the South of France writing about her experiences in her blog Oh La La English Madame. Claire tells us a bit more about the blog and what it means to her.

“I created Ooh La La English Demoiselle 5 years ago, a few months after moving to the sunny South of France with my Frenchman. The initial idea was to communicate with my family & friends and to give me a place to put down my thoughts and feelings and to document my new experiences. After all it’s not everyday you decide to move to another country knowing you don’t speak the language. I wanted to embrace my new adventure, share it with the world, express myself, and more importantly have something to fondly look back on later. After getting married, I renamed the blog to Ooh La La English Madame and at the same time gave it a stylish make over. It was also time for me to evolve the content. Whilst I was still an expat, my life had become more settled. New experiences were becoming old, unfamiliar situations were becoming familiar. However, I was travelling more, so felt it was more relevant to include this in my blog. This is where the popular series ‘A Postcard from….’ was born.

Oh La La remains close to my heart, it’s my way of expressing myself, connecting with others by sharing the reality of my daily life (well with some dreaming thrown in). Stop by sometime at www.oohlalaenglishmadame, I would love to hear from you”.

On Ooh La La’s last trip to British shores we wanted a fun evening out and that’s exactly what we got thanks to the dates coinciding with Fabulous Collections’ (Fabulous Collections) seasonal Girls Night Out. What better opportunity to introduce someone new to one of SYW’s favourite brands? In it’s 10^th year with shops in Solihull, Bath and Leamington selling jewellery brands such as Thomas Sabo, ChloBo, Vivienne Westwood, Alex & Ani and Pandora to name a few. It’s popular Girls Night Out events are exactly what it says on the tin – a chance to catch up with your girlfriends whilst having the new season’s jewellery trends showcased in a fashion show.

Settled in, waiting for the fashion show to start, we took the GNO quiz to find out which trend would suit us most. It’s a great way to focus on the looks and jewellery that is most likely to resonate and I have to say always frighteningly accurate.

Oh La La identified strongly with characteristics of the dreamer meaning the Cosmos Trend was the trend for her.

“The Cosmos range really appealed to my personality, many of the items displayed via the catwalk carried an astrological theme with sparkle and bling. Those who know me would agree these are my favourite things. I’m a dreamer of all things that sparkle. I’m often found daydreaming or caught cutting out pictures to go on my vision board. I love planning & organising my future. I love anything sparkly and blingy: I’m like a moth to a flame”.

Apparently an adventurer with a love for new things, visiting far-flung lands, and an affinity with the sea I ticked the box for the Seven Seas trend. Even better to find I already owned a couple of the sea themed Alex and Ani bracelets.

Following the catwalk show it was time to browse, shop and mingle

Both SYW and Oh La La couldn’t leave without making a few purchases we thought it would be rude not to.

Some of them contributed directly to charity as they were products from the Re-Loved range – Fabulous’ charity project which takes donated old jewellery provides it to aspiring jewellery design students at local universities and hey presto unique and individually designed pieces are then made available for purchase with proceeds going to charity.

And what did Oh La La think?

“I was delighted to spend an evening with my close friend doing something fabulous and for charity. It really was a wonderful evening and so nice to meet everyone involved. It made me wish that I could do it more”.

Oh La La has now cemented her Fabulous Collection fan status by getting products shipped to France.

We even found ourselves fabulous in our Fabulous purchases in Nice.

Celebrating its 10 year milestone in style with a black tie do held at Mallory Court hotel which SYW was lucky enough to attend.  What to wear? Seemed only fitting to wear something from Fabulous, what a great excuse for something new, SYW opted for full on  Nikki Lissoni with bracelets and encrusted earrings. The evening passed in a blur of lovely company, great food, a bit of dancing and even better our table’s knowledge of the brand won us the quiz, prizes being our pick of gorgeous jewellery.

Also to mark its anniversary, this year saw Fabulous design and stock its first own brand jewellery, Mantra.   Following its success, it has expanded the line with My Mantra – I went to the press launch last week to find out more.

With the Mantra range the idea was to wear a pendant that you could look down at when wearing and as well as seeing gorgeous jewellery be inspired throughout your day with a meaningful saying. My Mantra takes this a step further by making the pendant larger and allowing you to select your own personal mantra. I think jewellery should always be personal and meaningful and what better way than having your own personal motto carried close to your heart? The hard bit is choosing just one. Think I finally have it though, “Create your own story”, that describes SYW’s recent journey and will hopefully serve as a reminder to carry on doing this.

Oh La La found it equally hard to choose.

“I want one that is double sided, so I can fit both of my choices “Make Life Sparkle”/” Today is a Good Day”

However we think that just one sums it up for Fabulous itself right now – “Life is Beautiful”. Yes we think that’s perfect.