FASHION MUM OF 40

Ba&sh JACOB DRESS £160   I like this dress, I like it a lot to be honest......  I also like this one and it is a lot cheaper ......  1. TOPSHOP BLACK DENIM LACE UP DRESS £40 Selling out fast .... try  this one  to achieve a similar look if it is not available in your size.   2. TOPSHOP POM POM STRAW TOTE £25 The return of their hit straw tote from last summer that I featured on FM40.   3. TOPSHOP HEAVEN GLADIATOR SANDALS £26 These fab sandals come in tan as well, here .   Thanks for reading.   Annmarie xx      

  Dress, Daisy Dress in Biscuit £65 * / Shoes, Russell & Bromley / Bag, Chanel   Sunday was lovely day in the North West and we went to friends for an impromptu BBQ lunch and I thought I would wear my new dress from Hush, that they very kindly gifted to me to review.   I absolutely love this dress, drop waist dresses are favourites with the chic and stylish French girls and I can see why, they are easy to wear, forgiving to the waistline, very cool in the summer, but can be layered come autumn/winter with cardigans or a biker jacket and styled with IM dickers ........ perfect Parisian chic.   This Hush dress is going to be one of my favourites this summer, I know I will be wearing it time and time again and I am looking forward to style it like this on my holidays.     1. HUSH DAISY DRESS £65 / 2. RAY-BAN WAYFARERS £120  / 3.  HEDGEHOG SPANISH WOVEN LARGE BASKET £30  / 4. ANCIENT GREEK SEMELE SANDALS £115   Are you a fan of drop waist dresses? Hav

  Jacket, Isabel Marant Etoile  (here)  / Top, Zara (here)  / Jeans, Zara / Shoes, Bloch / Bag, Russell & Bromley   Jacket, Isabel Marant Etoile  (here)  / Top, Zara (here)     This was moi Saturday evening, dressed for an early tea with the children, I thought I would wear my new Zara lace top for the first time and I thought it would look nice under my Isabel Marant Glenn jacket, using the formula of fashion high and low , mixing designer pieces with high street. My obsession for embroidered cotton tops and dresses continues and I am always attracted to them, such as these below from MIH, which are just divine. MIH NIOBI DRESS £425   MIH PHLOX TOP £245   Expensive, but gorgeous.   Annmarie xx p.s I know I need to do some weeding underneath my window, I promise the job is on my to-do-list :)

This was me from the last day of the Easter Holidays in my relaxed attire, my mama uniform.  After being in nearly a full week in work this week, well 4 days (I have been on my annual training course) with my hair pull back in a French roll, full make up on and my finest polyester uniform, I am desperate to get home and tomorrow put on my relaxed outfit of jeans, breton tee and Superga trainers. After my success of the Superga, I am coveting a pair of converse in plain white I think, classic and sort of safe, which sort of sums me up really. What other things would I like to add to my relaxed wardrobe.  1. HUSH MILITARY JACKET £55 I am patiently waiting for this to arrive, perfect for weekend wear and I am looking forward to styling it with a pretty lace dresses. 2. PETIT BATEAU BRETON TOP £58 3.  PETIT BATEAU BRETON TOP £58 I have recently had a little clear out of my bretons and a few old ones have hit the charity bag, so I would like to replace them with t

CHANEL AQUA VITALUMIERE ULTRA LIGHT MAKE UP £32 CHANEL ILLUSION D'OMBRE LONGWEAR LUMINOUS EYESHADOW £25 CHANEL NAIL POLISH £18 I have made a few changes recently to my make up, for years I have been a Bobbi Brown and Laura Mercier devotee. The main change is that I have swapped from Laura Mercier tinted moisturiser to Chanel Aqua Vitalumiere  which I really would recommend. I initially went to Chanel for some new eye shadow which I spotted Lisa Eldridge using on her blog, Chanel longwear luminous eyeshadow  it is a pretty eye shadow that I have been using daily, the consultant then gave me a sample of make up, which I used and loved. It is a lovely light weight foundation that surprisingly gives good coverage. Chanel say ; Its soft and evanescent ultra-fine fluid texture is a real surprise: although exceptionally delicate and light, it offers an incomparable “second-skin” perfecting result. The complexion appears amazingly even, fresh and energised. The skin glows

Jacket, J.Cew / Scarf, LV / Jeans, Topshop (here)  / Shoes, Boden (here)   While London last week was basking in 70 degree heat, up north it was bright, but still a little nippy so a scarf was required, especially in the mornings.  I like the classic combination of a navy blazer and silk scarf and Emma Thatcher does this classic look in a modern way very well below.   via   Sticking with the blue theme like above, here are a few of my favourite blue scarves.  1. MAISON PASSAGE ANNE SCARF £113 / 2. LIBERTY OF LNDON LIGHT BLUE STAR PAISLEY SILK SCARF £195  / 3. MAISON PASSAFE CAR SCARF £112  / 4. JIGSAW AGATE PRINT SCARF £59  / 5. HUSH BATIK SCARF £49.50 / 6. JAEGER TILE PRINT SILK SCARF £99   Thank you for reading.   Annmarie xx

Running through M&S the other day to the food hall I spotted a few gems, firstly the red lace dress above, think Marni or Dolce. Classically chic for a summer wedding or make it rock 'n' roll for a night out and style it with a black leather jacket.  Here are the other items I spotted, 1. ABSTRACT PRINT KIMONO JACKET WITH BELT £79 This is so on trend for this season, the lovely Anneli styled this statement jacket to perfection the other day. I agree with her that this jacket gives an instant style update to any plain look.   2. RED LACE FIT & FLARE DRESS £79   3. LEATHER DIAMANTE SANDALS £45 The fabulous Alex  has recently purchased these fab sandals and they look great with her dungarees, plus they also look very comfy.   Before I go, I also liked  these , this  shirt (I like both colourways, but I have my eye on the pink, reminiscent of the pink Izzy shirt from last summer) and finally, this  boho denim dress.     Annmarie xx

Before my trip to Spain, I spotted this gorgeous dress in Zara and I thought oh how pretty, but where I am going to wear it?   When I walked into Zara in Barcelona, there it was again.    The English price was £79.99, the Spanish price, 69.99 euros and with the euro rate to the pound being very good at the moment this dress couldn't be left, plus I have an occasion to wear it now the May ball at Hubby's golf club, it also looks great dressed down with tan strappy sandals for an evening on holiday  later on in the year.   Also before I went away, I had a little online ordering frenzy, ordering pretty white tops that I featured in this post, here.  This one I was waiting for it to come back into stock, what can I say this top is a keeper, very Izzy   and Chloe like  and I am looking forward to styling it with my Isabel Marant Glenn jacket and also the HUSH MILITARY JACKET £55   that I have on back order.     ZARA WHITE EMBRIODERY TOP £25.99

Jacket, Isabel Marant / T-Shirt, American Vintage / Jeans, Zara / Shoes, LK Bennett / Bag, Chanel   You may have noticed if you follow me on Instagram that we visited one of our favourite cities, Barcelona at the weekend with our children (sorry for the overload, the free city wifi was amazing). A few followers commented on the fact that they love Barcelona, but that was pre children, Barcelona is in fact really child friendly, as are most Spanish cities and I am not alone as other readers are due to go with their families and asked for my recommendations.   We normally stay at the MurMuri Boutique Hotel  on the beautiful Rambla de Catalunya, but they didn't have family rooms so we opted for their big sister  Hotel Majestic  this time, which I have to say was wonderful.       Our first evening we dined at one of our favourite bars that Hubby and I found on our last trip and it is a place that gets mentioned a lot by regular visitors in the know of a must pla

Our weekend away has only made me more excited for our summer holiday, this year we are having a change from Spain and we are hopefully going to France, I have this vision of walking down to the local village with my straw basket and getting fresh French bread and croissants for our breakfast .... dreamy thoughts, they are allowed aren't they, as is dreaming about what outfit I would wear to get the fresh croissants.  Something like this maybe? 1. HUSH CHLOE STRIPE TEE £30 2. CELINE AUDREY SUNGLASSES £235 3. HUSH SUMMER JACKET £65 5. CHANEL NAIL POLISH IN DRAGON £18 4. HEDGEHOG SPANISH WOVEN LARGE BASKET £30 6. HUSH OLIVIA SUEDE SANDALS £49.50 7. HUSH DENIM SHORTS £45   Is anybody else dreaming of their holiday wardrobe?     As ever thank you for reading and for your comments.   Annmarie xx  

The run up to Easter Sunday I had a busy three days doing my normal job of flying many families across Europe for their Easter holidays, the temperature across Europe is warming up and as I was politely saying my hellos and goodbyes to my passengers, I was secretly looking forward to our upcoming weekend away to Barcelona.   Yes, we are off on our travels this weekend to Barcelona, one of the perks of my job is staff travel and it was available..... yippeeee. I have visited Barcelona many times, with girlfriends, with my mum, with Hubby and once with N as a baby (he slept though most of the trip) this trip is the first time with the children, so the Zoo and the Nou Camp are high on their agenda. Hubby and I are looking forward to the Spanish sunshine and the tapas, although it is not going to be beach hot this little trip has got me all excited for our summer holiday. I love holiday fashion, beach cover ups, swimsuits or bikinis, beach bags, sunglasses ..... and, you don't hav

Parka, Mango / Jeans, Topshop / Bag, Russell & Bromley / Scarf, LV / Boots, Le Chameau   Easter Monday we spent at a local beauty spot the Natural Trust's pinewoods and sand dunes at Formby, which is only 10 minutes from where we live. It was pretty busy being a Bank Holiday, but still very beautiful even on a hazy, misty day like it was. You may notice I am wearing new wellies, a present of Hubby, I complained my Hunters were cold and in the future I was discussing I may need something warmer on the touchline supporting N, he said I need a pair of shooting wellies like his with warm insulated inners, which are by Le Chameau ..... This was my first time wearing them and I am very impressed, they kept my feet very warm, if they are good enough for a princess, then they should be for little old me and they certainly are. The question as we venture down this path, is always are we going to see the rare red squirrels that live here and it was yes! A few baby ones w

Top, Isabel Marant Etoile / Jeans, Zara / Shoes   Boden This was moi on Easter Sunday for a family home cooked lunch at ours. I wore my Isabel Marant Etoile Ethan top, this is a look I always fall back on when I am stuck, pretty white (ivory in this case) top and jeans. I decided on this outfit after trying on something that had been hanging up in my wardrobe for two weeks still with the tags on ..... The next folk top,  I tried it on very quickly when it initially arrived and thought it was OK, then this thought provoking post by  Sue (Queen Of The Returns) made me think again, she is such a more sensible shopper than me. Her review of this top was that it swamped her (if it swamped Sue it should swamp me I am about the same height) and she had worries about the tassels.  Let's try it on again, Easter Sunday, take two ......... It looks like I am trying to hide a 20 week bump, it made my thighs appear bigger than they are (too much material around that are