Boho Chic in Dubai with Top Tier Style

For the purpose of this post I was given the following items for review. I like to be honest with my readers and make the disclaimer at the beginning.

I don't do many review posts and it's not something I search for, so I was very surprised to be contacted directly to ask if I'd review a pair of sunglasses, an item from the Boho fashion range and a cat t-shirt.

I have quite a few cat t-shirts that often feature in my blog, usually worn when I attend events with my dog Bob and I'm always happy to add another to my collection.

I've also been meaning to get a spare pair of sunglasses for a while as the ones I wear on a daily basis are by Tiffany and rather expensive to spend so much time falling off my head on the floor as Bob pulls me in all directions when I take him out for a walk. When the weather isn't so hot I like to cycle, even more so since we've relocated to the other side of Dubai and the roads are less busy. As you can imagine, there's a lot of choice for sunglasses in Dubai and the sales staff are quite pushy over here. I'm fortunate that most shapes and styles suit my face so it was nice and easy to choose a pair from the comfort of my own home. I now have a spare pair for when I walk Bob or go for a ride. They are polarised and I could choose the colour of the lens to suit the frame.

I wear a lot of dresses in Dubai all year round, regardless of where I'm going and what I'm doing, other than cycling. I prefer the longer style, but find most maxi dresses have spaghetti style straps, whilst I'm not breaking any cultural rules in Dubai by wearing these dresses out, I find in the summer my shoulders burn quite badly and in the winter it gets chilly in the day and wearing a pashmina to keep my shoulders warm and protect them from the sun is a flaff and I spend most of the day picking it up off the floor along with my sunglasses.

Delivery time was fast for all the items and they were packaged well. The t-shirt and dress came in a really small bag and I was concerned the items would be badly creased, but they weren't which would make them excellent items for packing into hand luggage and be able to wear without ironing at your holiday destination. The quality of the materials and the manufacture is excellent.

The dress was slightly see through, which could be a problem in Dubai, but I wore it with a slip underneath. Ordering was easy but I did find the size chart difficult to find on the website, however it was very accurate, the t-shirt fitted perfectly and I opted to get the dress in a larger size as it had adjustable ties round the waist.

The vintage steampunk sunglasses, boho fashion and cat t-shirt in this review were provided by Top Tier Style. If you would like to purchase your own use the coupon code BLOG15 for 15% OFF everything on their store!

My Sunday Photo - Week 151 Z is for Zip

I've now seen all 4 seasons in the UK, starting with a short trip in Spring and a visit to Northern Ireland before cutting my visit short to fly out to Hong Hong to the Rugby 7s for a long weekend and then returning to the UK with Peter for a week for our youngest Childs 18th birthday.

I was then back in Summer where the temps were somewhat better, arriving in the week where temps topped 30c and still here in Autumn where everyone was moaning how they'd had a crap summer weather wise in the UK, how short are some people's memories.

I left the UK on October the 19th and returned to Dubai until November 6th. The weather was still quite mild in the UK when I left, however since my return it's been cold, wet and dark by mid afternoon and definitely winter here now.

It's quite a challenge to know how to dress each day, plenty of layers to combat the cold of the mornings, plus the rain, my boots aren't waterproof anymore, I'm damp all the time, my hair is frizzy from the moisture and my skin is drying out from the heating and the cold. My chill blains are back in my fingers and hands and so far I've managed to misplace 2 umbrellas.

As much as I miss having weather, living out in Dubai, I certainly don't miss the UK winter. Mind you the summer in Dubai isn't pleasant either when temps reach high 40s.

I need to plan better for next year, at least I can leave all my winter gear in the UK and my summer clothes in Dubai and travel light.

Mother of the Groom

I need help and lots of it. On a normal day, it's no make up and hair scrapped up in a ponytail. This photo however was taken after a couple of hours with a make up artist, hairdresser, a professional photographer and with excellent lightening and probably some editing as it was for a national newspaper.

I can do dressed up, I love having my nails done, not such a big fan with my hair and make up as I can never recreate the look, but don’t do too bad by myself.

Next year Peter is best man at a friends wedding. I bought a dress, have shoes, jacket and a bag and wasn’t bothering with a hat. I made a hair appointment for the morning and I was good to go.

But now child 2 and 2a have announced they’re getting married in June 2018. I’ve gone into meltdown, there’s so much to do. I need a hat, my dress is lovely but it’s NOT Mother of the Groom, it’s Wife of the Best Man.

I’m chilled out about any help, guidance, support that the Bride and Groom want or need. I’ve been shown the guest list, been asked for my input into the cake, wedding dress, photographer,  bridesmaids etc although these decisions will mainly be decided upon by the Bride and her family.

I’ll appreciate any and all help/advice please that you have for me and my choice of outfit, including where to shop and recommendations on what I should avoid wearing (other than a full on white dress of course)

Toilet humour

Well it's obviously been an issue at some point in time for signs to be put up.

I've never considered flushing clothing down a toilet, have you?

These are common signs in South African toilets, trust me, you'll be very grateful that the instructions are followed.

What's the strangest toilet sign you've seen?

Me and my Abaya. Ramadan Mubarak.

For work it is a requirement I wear loose fitting clothing that cover me from neck, to wrists, to ankles.

I teach in an Arabic school.

I'm struggling to keep cool.

I have a 30 minute drive from home, followed by a 5 minute walk outside, then by the time I return to the car at 3.30pm the temperatures inside are 40c+.

I tend to wear loose fitting trousers from Animal and Pull and Bear are among my favourites and I've bought a couple of light weight cardigans from Cotton On, to cover my arms as I wear vest tops from New Look to avoid too many layers of clothing on my skin.

I own a couple of maxi dresses that I can wear with a cardigan, but for some reason I haven't done so yet.

With the temperatures being in the high 30s and due to get hotter over the coming months, I have to avoid wearing restrictive clothing, tight waistbands and the bane of my life are bra straps.

One of my students gave me my first Abaya today, it is gorgeous. Her Mother had her tailor in Jordan make it for me and had it sent to Dubai. I've considered buying an Abaya, but I didn't feel comfortable choosing one on my own without advise, I didn't want to make a faux par with so many designs and styles to choose from.

It's not the most flattering shape wise, but it's cool and allows me to wear only shorts and t shirt with a sports bra, underneath it. The only problem is I would then be under dressed if I decided to stop off at a mall on the way home, so I've stuck a cardigan and a pair of trousers in the boot of my car, should I need to get changed.

Winter in Dubai? or just a marketing exercise?

It is mid winter in Dubai, now bare in mind we've moved from the middle of summer in South Africa, so we're not tourists arriving looking for some sun. OK I grant you it's a little chilly in the morning and last thing at night, especially if you're eating outside in a restaurant near the sea, but seriously? these are common temperatures, it's not that cold, in fact it's actually rather pleasant.

In South Africa the winter temperatures are the same in the day, but at night time it drops to zero and below and as soon as the sun sets it gets proper cold. The houses in SA aren't really equipped for winter there and as soon as the end of May approaches out come the winter clothes, hat, scarves, electric blankets, fluffy sheets and boots.

The trouble is though that during the day you will need to change outfits and end up carrying around winter gear and wishing you'd popped your sandals in the car rather than being stuck wearing boots at midday.

In Dubai though, a pashmina will do to take the chill off in the early mornings and evenings, in fact it's probably colder in the air conditioned malls than it is outside at night fall, but that doesn't stop the shops being full of winter clothing, boots, hats and scarves.

I'm sure it's a marketing device, lets make people feel it's cold during the winter by selling winter clothing, lets create the feeling of winter with snow scenes. Starbucks sell the 'winter warmer' coffees with seasonal syrups, iced gingerbread snowmen with scarves on.

It's an attempt to make you feel like it is cold so they can sell you stuff you really don't need.

I wrote this post 2 weeks ago, since then we've had storms and the annual rainfall fell in one go on Sunday and Monday this week. The temperature has dropped, the air conditioning has been adjusted and I'm considering buying a pair of socks, but I don't need a winter wardrobe.