The maxi dress is one of the most popular dresses today. Whether it is their ability to be dressed up or down or the fact that they can be worn during autumn, summer or spring, they never fail to make an appearance in fashion magazines each and every year.

Image Credit

The maxi dress is flattering for women of any size or shape, with a variety of fabrics, cuts and colours available to suit your taste.

Image Credit

However, it can be a challenge knowing how to layer maxi dresses or to style them in different ways to stand out from the crowd. Here is our guide on how to layer your maxi dress along with other style tips to help you get creative with this wardrobe staple.

How to Layer

The beauty of the maxi dress is that it can be worn in all weather and at any time of year. You could add a trench coat, bomber or light denim jacket to your dress to suit the season, or for a unique look, try adding a light jumper or t-shirt.

Layering ensures your maxi dress remains fresh and stylish and is key during the unpredictable British weather. Browse through maxi dresses to find your perfect dress for any occasion.

Accessorise

Dress up maxi dresses by adding one, or a layer of, necklaces or bracelets and a stylish watch or earrings for a seriously glamorous vibe. Complete your look with stylish sunglasses and your favourite clutch bag and a fedora or floppy hat during the summer months. The key to accessorising your maxi dress is to try different looks and not be afraid to mix it up!

A favourite among celebrities, this is one dress your wardrobe cannot afford to be without.

Wedges and Heels

Forget the flip-flops this summer and opt for an elegant pair of wedges or cute summery heels.

Not only will this add a sophisticated and polished touch to your maxi dress, it will also add a flattering height to your silhouette.

Trainers

Trainers may seem an odd style choice for a maxi dress, but this look can be seen across the Instagram pages of many must-follow fashionistas.

Add a relaxed vibe to your maxi and choose a pair of clean, sleek and stylish trainers for the ultimate comfortable outfit in any season.

Walking can be a great activity to undertake to help with both your physical and mental health. Motivational speakers such as www.adventureman.org are taking on some incredible challenges both in terms of walking and running and in doing so are inspiring others to become more active.

Image Credit

If you have a dog as a pet you have the perfect excuse to get outside and enjoy the landscapes in your local area on a regular basis. There are some tips to follow when walking with your dog to ensure that it is enjoyable or e two of you. You should also take into consideration your dogs anxiety levels when they are in the presence of other dogs and other people. If your dog is particular nervous you may want to try and pick a location that is not too popular with other dog walkers. N addition to this you should ensure that your dog feels safe with you and that you have mechanisms in place to deal with any fear or aggression that may be displayed in your dog should they feel threatened in anyway.

Walking in front of your dog is said to be the way to ensure that your dog sees you as the pack leader, but again this will depend very much on the personality on the personality of your dog and whether they need the reassurance of you being by their side. Using a short leash is also  great idea as it means that you have more control of your dog and it can also make them feel more secure being close to you, particularly if they are nervous.

Image Credit

You should always make sure that you have enough time to walk with your dog. Rushing this makes it more of a chore for you and less enjoyable for your dog. A walk first thing in the morning is always a good idea after your dog has been sleeping for most of the night. The amount of exercise that your dog needs will depend very much on their age and breed. It is important to check this with your vet.

When you return from your walk you should reward your dog with some food and some fuss and attention from you to reinforce that their behaviour whilst out walking was positive. This will help to produce positive behaviour from them each time you go out.

Getting It Right

There is a myriad of choices when it comes to elegant evening dresses, but there are pitfalls along the way. We look here at the dos and don’ts of long evening gowns.

Image Credit

The ideal floor length is difficult to achieve. Too long and you run the risk of tripping; too short and you might look ungainly. The perfect length showcases the rest of the dress. If the length isn’t right, it distracts from the dress and its wearer. The right length of dress creates a feeling of ease for the viewer and the person wearing it.

Image Credit

When you’re not worried about your dress, you can focus on the party and have fun. This is a sign that you have got your fashion decision right.

Touching the Floor

The traditional long gown just grazes the floor, so your shoes should not be seen when you’re standing still. The length ought to be identical all the way round the gown.

Floor Length

This type of dress is best reserved for Cinderella-style moments like your wedding, black-tie galas and the Oscars. The material should just skim the floor where you’re standing or have a sexy small train at the back.

If you choose maxi dresses, this is an easy length to wear. You might like the style of maxi dresses from AX Paris.

Glamour talks about hemlines here https://www.glamour.com/story/an-important-dressing-lesson-l.

Just Above the Floor

A modern, practical reinvention of the floor-length gown sees the hem sitting just above the ground. Some designers leave as much as a couple of inches between the floor and the dress. At this length, your shoes will be hardly seen.

Tea Length

A tea length gown sits three or four inches below your knee and makes a practical evening alternative to the full floor-length dress. This is a neat evening look, and the hemline length looks fantastic on bridesmaids.

The Bottom Line

Think about the destination for the dress when you are deciding where the hem might sit in relation to the floor. If you will be walking up stairs or outdoors, it might be best to have the dress fall just a little above the floor. But indoors, an elegant floor-length dress will stun observers and makes the ultimate fashion statement.

Now a leading luxury perfume and cosmetics house, Lancôme didn’t start out that way. Lancôme was established in 1935 by Armand Petitjean. It began life purely as a fragrance house. Petitjean wanted the world to become aware of the French elegance that has become synonymous with the brand.

Image Credit

From fragrance to skin care

After their launch at the World’s Fair in Brussels, the company’s first five fragrances were such a roaring success that the company ventured into producing a line of skin care. The first product, Nutrix, which is still available, was launched in 1936. It is described as a nourishing and repairing cream.

Two years later, Lancôme moved into the cosmetics industry, first making what was to become their best-selling lipstick for the next 30 years, a pink-red lipstick with a rose scent. The company went from strength to strength in fragrances, makeup and skincare until it was taken over by L’Oreal in 1964. Lancome makeup is generally considered one of the best brands in the world, particularly its mascaras and lipsticks.

Image Credit

The rose symbol

Characterised by its distinctive golden rose, the name Lancôme comes from the ruins of a castle, Le Chateau de Lancosme, which, according to the Perfume Society, is a fairytale castle with turrets and towers. Roses grow in the gardens, hence the rose emblem. The lipstick lovers among us love the way it is engraved into the top of the silver cap, epitomising true French style. The rose features on all Lancôme makeup somewhere.

Famous faces

Many top beauty houses like to work with the famous faces of the day, and Lancome makeup is no different, enlisting Isabella Rossellini in 1982, Julia Roberts in 2010, Kate Winslet in 2011 and Penelope Cruz in 2014, to name just a few. It’s interesting to keep in mind that Petitjean reportedly once said that Lancôme would never advertise!

All-round beauty

Today, you will only find Lancôme concessions in high-end stores and leading chemist chains on account of its prestige. It regularly develops new fragrances and other products. Lancôme believes its clients deserve only the best. Lancôme has a vast range of perfumes, skin care and makeup to suit all ages and skin types, so there really is something from this line that will make every woman feel beautiful!

Whether you’re a regular or have never been, the Chelsea Flower Show is an incredibly popular and globally renowned botanical extravaganza. The first show took place in 1862, originally known as the Royal Horticultural Society’s Great Spring Show. The first show was staged in the RHS garden at Kensington. Amazingly, it was staged in a tent and made less than £90 profit.

Image credit

Growing in size, the show moved to the current site in 1913, at the Royal Hospital Chelsea. Here are some interesting facts about the flower show that you might not know:

The show in 1927 was a rather controversial affair with a campaign to ban exhibits from abroad. This came about to reduce the competition with British companies. Sensibly, the RHS refused to agree stating ‘horticulture doesn’t know of nationality’.

A further controversy occurred during the 1994 show, when Paul Cooper designed a garden called ‘Cool and Sexy’ which included an air vent in the floor that blew air jets up the skirts and dresses of unknowing female guests.

Even during the First World War, the show carried on with shows taking place in 1914 and 1916. No shows took place during the Second World War though as the War Office required the site for anti-aircraft equipment. The show resumed in 1947. Why not take a coach trip to the flower show this year with Coach Hire Dorset? For coach hire in Dorset visit Turners Coaches.

The show is now synonymous with flower displays, but this was not always the case. Flower arrangements didn’t appear at the show until 1947. The war had affected the number of exhibitors and so flowers were included for the first time and have been a part of the show ever since.

The weather made a significant impact on the show in 1928 when a storm struck before the opening day. Hailstones blocked the marquee drains leading to bad flooding and lots of damage. Staff worked through the night to fix the damage and the show opened as usual on opening day.

Image credit

This wasn’t the last time that the weather would wreak havoc. An entire summer house collapsed in 1932 because it rained so heavily.

The current show has exhibitors displaying inside a pavilion but until 2000, they were installed underneath a super-sized marquee. The marquee even made it into the Guinness Book of Records for being the world’s largest tent. When it was required no longer, it was turned into 7,000 coats, aprons, bags and jackets.

The gardens that feature in the show every year are made in just 19 days and taken apart after only 5 days of display.

Gnomes might be a welcome sight in many private gardens, but they weren’t always welcome at the Chelsea Flower Show. Gnomes were banned until 2013, although exhibitors often snuck them in and hid them amongst the foliage.

Visitors to the show are a thirsty bunch. In 2014, 1,150 glasses of champagne were consumed, along with 6,400 glasses of Pimms. Over 10,000 hot drinks were served, along with more than 10,000 portions of fish and chips.

We are all used to couple you have recently got engaged or couple on their wedding day having a celebration with all their family and friends but a group of people who we don’t always think about wanting a celebration is that of the recently divorced. However, divorce parties are becoming much more popular and they take many different forms depending on the person and the reasons as to why the couple decided to divorce. These are not usually celebrations wanting to forget that they were ever married but a way to close off that chapter of their lives and open a new one full of possibilities of new relationships and finding yourself once again.

Image Credit

Most parties of this variety are held by one individual and will involve many of their friends, however in some instances the party is held jointly by the recently divorced couple and is an attempt to try and bring unity within the two families and the group of friends and to show that there is no ill will going forwards between the couple.

For those having individual parties you will often find that they gather a group of friends together and head out to  Cheltenham Nightclubs. This is very similar to the stag and hen parties that are held before a wedding and are a celebration of embarking on a single life. Other parties include heading away for a spa weekend and gatherings in venues with catering and a disco.

Image Credit

What is similar with all the party types is that there are usually decorations and items that are classed as a bit tongue in cheek. For example, cakes are made in similar style to wedding cakes but instead of a couple on top of the cake or the words ‘just married’ you may find a single figure and the phrase ‘just divorced’. Similarly, the sashes that are worn at hen do’s saying, ‘bride to be’ are replaced with ones that say, ‘just divorced’.

The aim of the parties isn’t so much to celebrate that your marriage has come to an end but to try and find some joy in what is usually a very emotional and difficult time for everyone. Instead of looking back at what could have been and causing more stress and anxiety these events help the individuals to look forward at the possibilities in their life ahead.

As making a positive first impression is crucial, here are 6 common UX mistakes that you simply can’t afford to be making.

Image Credit

Autoplay audio

Have you ever opened a web page and been met with extremely loud audio that left you rushing to find the mute button? That experience is irritating enough when you’re alone in the comfort of your own home, but it can be seriously embarrassing in the middle of an otherwise quiet office or on public transportation.

Image Credit

Forceful chatbot messaging

Chatbots can enhance customer service and engagement, especially at times of the day when you and your team are out of the office, but as aggressive chatbot messaging can have the opposite effect, keeping automated communications brief and personable is key.

Continuous scrolling

Social networks including Facebook, Instagram and Twitter utilise continuous scrolling well, however, this tactic doesn’t work as well for websites because it gives users the impression that they will never make it to the end of a webpage and will subsequently miss out on some important information.

Competing calls to action

Your visitor’s journey through your website should be simple and too many calls to action can be confusing and overwhelming. Working with a professional team specialising in web design in Yorkshire, such as etempa.co.uk will help you to ensure that your calls to action are well-placed to encourage engagement, not prevent it.

Large quantities of text

When it comes to content, quality over quantity is key. Your visitors don’t want to plough through pages and pages of text to locate the specific pieces of information they are searching for. Keep your copy concise and straightforward, avoiding meaningless buzzwords and complex industry jargon.

Desktop-focused design

As many sites now receive more mobile traffic than desktop traffic, designing with this fact in mind is vital. This Google article explains many of the fundamentals of good mobile design, including integrating effective search functionalities and concise menus.

Elements aiming to outwit users is also something to bear in mind. Blocking right clicks, overruling scrolling behaviours and modifying browser history can differentiate your site, these features can also lead to a frustrating user experience that will simply drive visitors away. Your audience won’t want to spend time learning how to engage with your site, which means that focusing on creating an intuitive design will always pay.

For me a trip to the supermarket is fraught with danger and fear. Apart from the fact that I am taking a massive risk that there is actually money in my account to buy the stuff I want there is the torturous endgame as I stare blankly at the card reader desperately trying to remember what my four digit pin number is. Thank goodness for the invention of contactless, although that means I can only go up to £29.99. This results in me going in and out at least 3 times if it’s a big shop. “Back again so soon?” says the increasingly suspicious Checkout Assistant. Having worked in retail I can see that he is one trip away from sending out a tannoy announcement across the shop floor asking if “Mr Hughes can come to the checkouts”. Like Keyser Soze in The Usual Suspects, there is no “Mr Hughes”, it is in fact code for all available staff members and the security guard to get down to the front of the store pronto as the may have a possible fraud going on.  That is, of course, if I actually get to the checkouts. Let me tell you why.

Image credit

The first problem I have is the trolley selection. How much do I want? I’ve made sure that I’m not going into the shop hungry as psychologists say that you buy more than you need as you are literally surrounded by food. Selecting a medium one I then haul the huge amounts of “bags for life” that I have accrued since the bag tax into it so there is barely any room for my purchases.  I’m just glad I remembered them this time. I then enter the throng. There is no decorum or rules with trolleys it seems. My main fear is if I get the crushing pain of a child size trolley cannoning into my knees felling me with all the strength and skill of a Canadian lumberjack. Some parents, in an unwise attempt to keep little Ossian occupied, have elected to let him push his own mini one around. Luckily these ones have Buggy whips on them like the ones at https://wisuk.co.uk/buggy-whip and you can spot the trainee consumers and take action.

Image credit

The promotional ends also play with my mind. They taunt me with offers of buy 2 get the third free or half price. Do I need 3 packets of Viennese Whirls? Head says no but my stomach says yes. The two embark on a negotiation process the likes of which only the United Nations could appreciate until after a sudden veto from the finance department we all decide against it. I’ll just get some Muffins instead.

During these wet winter months there is a greater risk of a leak in your roof. If you spot water coming in, don’t panic. Knowing exactly what to do could protect your home from further damage and save a fortune.

Image Credit

First steps

Grab a bucket, pan or even your washing-up bowl to place under the drip. If you’ve got several leaks, start with the biggest and move down in size from there. Don’t forget to empty containers before they’re full to prevent any further damage to your flooring and use an old towel to catch any splashes. If you see bubbles of water underneath wall coverings, open up a small hole in them and release the water to prevent a build-up.

Move your furniture and belongings out of danger, or place protective plastic securely over anything you can’t. Take particular care with electrical items and ensure valuables are stored safely elsewhere.

Image Credit

Call a professional

Once you have stopped any further damage, it is time to take a breath and get some help from an expert. It can be daunting when deciding who to call, but ensure peace of mind by using a Which? Trusted Trader such as the Evesham Roofing Company lwroofing.co.uk.

Make the right choice

Aim for at least three quotes from accredited professionals. As well as online searches, ask friends and family for recommendations, or even put out a request on social media – you can be sure someone you know will have experienced the same problem! Once you’re happy with your choice, make sure the work can be completed quickly and that every aspect of the problem is given thorough attention.

Check your policy

Your home insurance policy could cover the full cost of the damage and repairs, so a call to your provider should be near the top of your to-do list. They will be able to tell you what is and isn’t covered and advise on how they can help.

Act to prevent any repeat problems

Regularly check for potential causes of another leak. Trim overhanging trees and keep your gutters clear of falling leaves and debris to stop water accumulating. You may be able to do some basic maintenance (such as tightening loose fixtures, or using DIY sealants) to fix small issues and keep your home watertight.