Oh some lazy days.  Just what the Doctor ordered and this time I really must stick to the plan. I am one of those people who all too often falls into the trap of believing that having “down time” equates to laziness of the bad kind, and hence schedules up every moment of the day. But this weekend I plan to smell the roses and only give myself a bit of a “relaxing calendar” to make sure I don’t just keep on working! So here goes…

Sleep in.  A sleep in for me is anything past 7.30 in the morning. If the clock hits 8.00 then that is excellent.  Anything past 8.00 and I must be in a hotel somewhere away from poky little fingers.

Read my favorite blogs. There are so many old friends, and so many new ones.  Now if only I could find an easy way to leave comments from my RSS Reader … (all suggestions on that one welcome).

More mending of vintage garments. No this isn’t work. I  like to do this and plan outfits around each garment as it becomes wearable again. I suppose it is like breathing life back into something by intent.

Shop for some delicious food and plan something gourmet for a treat. One thing I am not is a gourmet cook. I generally don’t cook anything that requires more than 30 minutes work so I need to find something that is big on taste and impact while short on time.

Read. I am currently reading The Thoughtful Dresser by Linda Grant and so far…. WOW. BUY THIS BOOK NOW! I intend to send her a personalised thank you letter.

Treasure Hunting. I will be hitting up my favorite markets to see what treasures await me and my imagination.  Not that I need more treasures, but the fossicking and chatting with stall holders does one good.

Gore-met Food.

Links à la Mode : May 28th

• A Typical Atypical: How to wear the fashion of the eclectic makeup style of the the Dresden Dolls
• Agent Dreamer: An interview with Izzy of The Dandy Project
• Capitola Girl: Modern wood designs for summer accessories
• Decline Designs: Defining your personal style, part two – the essentials
• Dirty Laundry: Monochromatic style exploration
• Fashion Grail: A few modifications for one of Sienna Miller’s go-to looks
• Fashion Matchmaker: Fashion at the Cannes Film Festival
• Felicia Sullivan: Score ten amazing summer pieces for under $100
• Pop Your Fashion Pill: 4 DIY necklaces in 30 minutes using safety pins: No scissors, pliers or hooked used!
• Retro Chick: Showcasing Kristinit for this month’s Ethical Design Spotlight
• Style Symmetry: Eyeliah celebrates her 1,000th post with a snazzy reader giveaway
• The Coveted: Who Knew? Over 50% off American Apparel deals on Amazon
• The Demoiselles: Translating boyception – how they perceive our style
• Unfunded: The many ways to play with ShopStyle ranging from shopping to blog content
• Vulgar Moon: How to enjoy the comfort of sweatpants while still looking good
• Style on the street: My outfit and a style advice for the next Fall-Winter
• Yes Please Mademoiselle: Introducing french label ‘The Kooples’.
• Felicia Sullivan: Score ten amazing summer pieces for under $100
• Fun, Flat Broke and Fabulous : 7 Questions to ask yourself before you buy.
• Independent Fashion Bloggers: Essential WordPress Plugins for Fashion Bloggers

Enjoy your lazy days!

Time for another Super Kawaii Mama tutorial! Due to an overwhelming demand and the eventual co-operation of my video software, I can finally bring you the video version of my everyday makeup tutorial.  This is the look that you will see if most of my Daily Outfit photos and is actually quite quick and easy to achieve once you’ve had a little practice.  I’ve spent quite a bit of time explaining my techniques so this tutorial is a long one, so long I’ve had to divide it into two parts, but doing the makeup won’t actually take the 20 minutes you see here!

Part One

>

Part Two

List of Products

Primer – Ageless by Natio

Foundation – Laura Mercier Mineral Powder in Tender Rose

Eyeshadow – Laura Mercier’s Vanilla Nuts & Lancome Colour Focus in no. 217

Eye liner – Black liquid liner by Sephora

Mascara – Loreal Extra Volume Collagen

Brows – Lancome LeCrayon in Taupe

Blush -Desirous (velvet range) by MAC

Eyebrow Gel – Maybelline

Lipliner – Moody Wine by SAX

Lipstick – Boots no. 7 in Moulin Rouge

Hope you enjoy!

Here at Super Kawaii Mama, what you see and what you read is all me, all day, every day. I am not a fictitious persona, nor am I here to lead you up the garden path. My mission is to show you how it is possible to live your most glamorous life whether you are an A List actress or a stay at home mum.  That your life / work / financial choices do not negate the ability to be glamorous.   When I began this blog back in February 2008, I thought to myself, “Oh this blogging lark is a doddle. I can knock one of these out in a mere 30 minutes a day!” This may have been true to begin with, but as I found more and more reading what I had to say and the potential to really make a difference, this blog began to slowly but surely, take over my life.

I don’t believe it is possible for a woman to “do it all”, that is unless she is able to exist on an hour of sleep per day and still maintain her sunny self. The words, “Pigs!” and many other choice phrases spring to mind here. So while what you have seen up until this point has been the result of many many hours work, juggling family and working; there comes a point that having to buy new underwear because your family has nothing clean left, is just ridiculous. I’ve always believed in giving 100% to anything you set out to achieve.  To do things well and not limp along in a fashion that only just keeps you from drowning.  So when this blog and all its related work geared up to become a full time job, I knew it was time to call in the troops.

You may recall I mentioned a little while back that I had an assistant starting to give me a hand. Having someone else around to help me manage my work load has meant an entirely new approach to what I do.  Instead of feeling guilty that I just couldn’t get to everything, we can now divide up the work around here and everyone is happy.  Why am I telling you all this? Well I don’t want you to go thinking that I’ve gone all Lady of Leisure on you, sitting around eating bon bons and having my nails done all day. I still do the laundry, clean the bathrooms and keep body and soul together; it is just a team effort now. Paradoxically, now that I have some help, I am working harder than ever. It pushes me to achieve and allows me to be both a Mother and a working gal all at the same time, without anyone falling through the cracks.

What I am saying is, I’m still the Sheriff, but there is a new Deputy in town.

*EDIT: Just to clear up any confusion, it will still be all me on the blog 100% of the time.  The assistant I speak of will be helping with running the rest of my life around here!*

After posting one of my shopping / casual outfits last week, many of you asked me if I really wear heels when running around after children and running errands. (The answer is yes, most of the time) And while I do believe that a great heel makes a great outfit, I also don’t have a death wish, so there are certain activities that require a tad more dressing down. So today I’m sharing with you a prime example of my very casual, getting things done look. Last Thursday was a very cold and misty day (as evidenced by the rain spots on these photos).  It was also Miss Four’s school excursion to traffic school.  This meant that I was to help supervise twenty eight hyperactive children, making sure that they rode their little push bikes without major incident all in freezing weather conditions.  Being that the morning was 4 degrees celcius I also threw on my emerald green trench coat over this outfit, and despite my stylish preparations, spent the majority of the day enveloped in it!

Outfit Details

• Ruffled merino wool top – Review                            Pants (seen many times before) – by me
• Shoes – Black ballet flats                             Red Heart earrings -  Diva
• Blue rose and skull hair flower – Leopard Vixen                     Coffee Mug – Annabelle Trends

In a time when we are spoiled for choice, it seems my choices have been spoiled. The opportunities for buying perfume in any given mall are quite saturated. Department stores, chemist, perfume specialty shops and beauty stores. So with all of these purveyors of perfume, you would think I’d have no trouble popping out for a bottle of what I’d like. But I’m left still smelling of my lemon myrtle shower soap and bereft of even one bottle of scent. All this is because the fragrance isle now resembles the high street fashion shops, catering to the masses with variations on the same theme. There is still room for the classics on the shelves, but only if they have current advertising campaigns with some bright young star as their new face. If you have aged wearing your favorite scent, the marketing company aren’t so interested in you, but your daughter. If I wanted to smell like my favorite celebrity (should I have one), my only problem would be picking just the one. I could smell like Paris Hilton at least five times over, but when I’m asked what fragrance I’m wearing just how keen would I be to fess up?

Oh the disparity!

I’m not asking for all the old fashioned favorites to be resurrected, I just want more genuine choice! I don’t want to be forced to choose between thirty fragrances all based on the exact same fruity floral notes.  I don’t want to be told that what I am seeking isn’t what “the young people are wearing today”. A. I was horrified at being told this and B. Like I give a damn?!

Last week I asked you to kindly send me some suggestions and between your comments and Tweets, I have quite a list of products to try out. But here is the problem. With all of the aforementioned real world perfume outlets streamlining their shelves to offer every fruity availability, I am forced to shop online.  Now just how exactly does one do that with any success?  Unfortunately / fortunately the internet is not a scratch and sniff medium, and it seems that there are very few opportunities for ordering sample sized bottles to try.  It has become difficult enough to get tiny sample sized bottles in store, so finding online stores that offer these would be brilliant.  I’m willing to pay a small fee and the shipping, but I just really want to have a good old fashioned spritz of the nectar of my choice.  Of course all the fragrances that interest me most are the old world, obscure and rare.  Is there someone out there that will offer me all these choices and samples too?

I could go and spend a week searching fragrance blogs, but given that I know many of you have faced similar dilemmas I’m hoping you might just have a brain wave for me.

Save me from the clutches of the celebrity fragrance monopoly!