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November 2009

Tis the season to be jolly…

Posted 27 - 11 - 2009 | 3 Comments

Or so they say.  With the sudden chill in the air and long evenings closing in on us I think lifting our spirits should be made a priority.  Well I have discovered a couple of excitements to hopefully make this come true for you!  Austique are hosting two late night shopping evenings in December and filling the shop with champagne and LOVE cupcakes.  Sounds pretty jolly to me…  After all my talk of Christmas deliveries and possible pressies, here’s your opportunity to escape the cold outside and pop into the shop to see some of our products for real, as well as making the most of our hands on sales advice.  Austique girls to the rescue!

Dates for the diary: Thursday 3rd and Thursday 17th December from 6pm – 8.30pm.  And here’s your invitation to join us in what we hope will be a fun-filled evening for everyone.

Invite back copy

Essie’s World

Posted 26 - 11 - 2009 | 0 comments

jam-n-jelly So we’ve all heard of waiting lists for handbags – the Birkin bag has had a list as long as the trans-siberian railway line since time began -  but who would have thought that there could be such a thing as a waiting list for nail varnish???!  Well you’d better believe it, because Essie nail varnishes are selling out faster than hot cakes and the only way to get your manicured mitts on the season’s hottest colours is to wait in line!

You only need to search for Essie on vogue.com to realise quite howbachelorette-bash stratospheric this funky nail polish brand has become. The girls at Vogue clearly love their Essie too as they’ve written up the brand a staggering eight times in the last 10 months!!

And let’chin-chillys face it, what’s not to love?? Essie Weingarten has created over 250 gorgeous and unusual colours and we want them all!! Who would have thought that Chin Chilly - which looks an uninspiring clay colour in the bottle- would transform even my unloved nails with an elegantly manicured look to die for.

You need only look at Essie’s celebrity following to realise quite how well received the brand has been (See actress Erin Lucas sporting Chin Chilly below)

essie

In her fantabulous blog, Essie says:

“ when I was an assistant buyer at Bendel’s, I noticed a lack of variety of colors in nail polish and I realized I had to make a permanent change to the nail care industry. So, I worked with a chemist and developed 12 colors. I then packed my suitcase and took them with me to Las Vegas where the women in the city, from visitors and dancers to cocktail waitresses and dealers, had a particular need for beautifully manicured hands. Luckily, the polishes were a hit and essie cosmetics was born.”  Now “ there are 250 colors in the essie line”.

We’re absolutely hooked! Check out Essie’s newest colours here.

To Be-spoke or not to Be-spoke, that is a very good question.

Posted 25 - 11 - 2009 | 1 Comment

In our devotion to ensuring your Christmas runs smoother than a baby’s derriere, the girls at Austique have spent the whole year coming up with innovative Christmas present ideas that will earn you more brownie points than you’ll know what to do with.

We have thought long and hard about our own experiences of giving and receiving presents, spoken to hundreds of our customers about their experiences and believe that we’re now pretty switched on when if comes to providing crowd pleasing presents.star grace keyring

3-engraved-necklacesWhilst jewels and lingerie never go amiss, what we’ve found really hits the spot is the personal touch of bespoke gifts. Every girl loves to know that her man has invested time and effort in her presents, rather than sending out his PA, last minute to find something generically Christmasey.  As such we have come up with our range of bespoke gifts, to ensure that your lady, whoever she may be,will feel very special this Christmas.

The Austique Bespoke Collection ranges in price from the cute Leather Star Key Ring at £20 to the fabulous Diamond Initial Pendant at £850, with many items in between. I’ve picked out a few of my favourites below to help 2010-black-diaryyou choose the perfect gifts this year:

The Desktop Diary is a great present for anyone from your girlfriend to her mother. Made from beautiful snake-skin effect paper and coming in three great colours they will bring  elegance and order to the New Year.

large-name-necklaceAs our tribute to Carrie and the girls from SATC we created the Austique Solid Gold Name Necklace last summer and ever since, they have been our most popular piece of jewellery! Now available in two sizes, silver and 9K solid gold there are even more options to choose from.

Being an old romantic at heart, this next necklace is my personal fave as it has so many romantic possibilities; the engraved disk necklace is an entirely blank canvas for you to do with what you will!

Some people have initials engraved on it; some people have had their children’s names engraved around the edge; but my favourite is the romantic message.  What could be more romantic than a necklace that says on one side ‘the best thing about me is…’ to be turned over to reveal ‘… is you’. Of course… I’ve kind of ruined that idea now,  but anything goes.

I’m secretly coming over all Cilla Black and  hoping that someone may use it for a marriage proposal. If they do, I want an invite to the wedding!!

PENDANTS

All our bespoke items are very flexible and take roughly two weeks once ordered. If you’d like to discuss the many options, please email enquiries@austique.co.uk or call us on 0207 376 3663.

One week left of the Austique Christmas Competition

Posted 24 - 11 - 2009 | 0 comments

The ladies at Austique HQ are absolutely delighted with the response to our fabulous Christmas competition. We are tickled pink to know that so many people love Austique as much as we do!!

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Entries are still pouring so fear not, there’s still time to grab your piece of the austique competition pie. Simply click here to go to the entry page and enter your email address and those of five friends to be entered to win a beautiful evening dress of your choice from the austique collection as well as an unbelievable £1000 shopping spree to spend on our great Christmas gift collection (or even just on yourself- don’t worry we won’t tell anyone…)!!

We are literally desperate to make someone’s Christmas with this incredible giveaway, so come on… don’t be shy… we’re waiting to hear from you!!

Our Draper’s dream of a night…

Posted 23 - 11 - 2009 | 0 comments

Austique were nominated by Draper’s magazine as Women’s Retailer of the Year 2009.  Very exciting for all of us!  Win or lose, the night of the awards ceremony held at the Grosvenor Hotel was always destined to be one of fashion frenzy and fun.  Sadly, it was not to be this year and Austique narrowly lost out, but we were never going to let that stand in the way of a memorable evening.  And yes, going against our better judgement, we have decided to let you have a look a our snaps to show for it.  The Austique girls may have got a little over excited by the free photobooth!

drapers

Trend alert:  Black and glitzy was the overriding theme of the evening, not just for our party but the other guests too.  It made finding anyone after a few drinks nearly impossible.  The view looking down on the dark room from the balcony was a sea of sparkles!

If anyone knows how to celebrate in style, it’s the Austique girls – being nominated in such a competitive category was reason in itself to continue the party into the small hours at Whisky Mist we thought.  The following day was not pretty but it was definitely worth it.  There’s always next year…

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