Emily and Fin

Sorry it has been such a very long time since I last blogged. Let me make up for it now with some excellent news: we now stock Emily and Fin!

So far we have four styles, although I believe we are expecting some more any day now. Today I am wearing this:
Lucy dress, purples, £49

It also comes in this colourway, which I may get if I have a moment of bravery (not sure I'd feel comfortable with something so bright although the girls keep saying it will look fab with my colouring):

Something I didn't even realise about the dress until about an hour ago is that it has pockets!! Brilliant. I do like a good hidey-hole for secret Maoam etc.

Right, tons to do, got some new Little Mistress dresses which unfortunately the suppler doesn't provide images of, so it's up to me to photograph and edit. I hope you're all looking forward to the hilarious blurred edges and seeing parts of the mannequin through the dress because they're all made of floaty see-throughy material. Must get round to a Photoshop course.

Happy Easter!

Monday blues, anyone?

Hello all! How are we all today? What did everyone get up to at the weekend?

I've been a little bit poorly and still feeling very very tired today. So I thought, what might perk me up? And I think the answer is this....

Tonga Sundress, £69

Is it too much, too soon? The sun has been shining for a few days now but will I be one of those silly people in inappropriately summery clothes if I buy this today and wear next time the sun comes out??

Help me. Advise me. Style me.

What makes you all happy on a day that you've got the Grumps or have been poorly? Other than browsing through the Aspire Style website of course and looking at all of our pretty things!!

Why not? Wednesday

I woke up this morning and thought, ooh I've beaten my alarm again, (you know when you wake up three minutes before your alarm?). That's nice. Nice to wake up naturally. Then I looked at my clock....5am. I've beaten my alarm by two hours and forty minutes. So I'll just go back to sleep. But you know what happens at 5am when you live in a small village in the middle of Warwickshire? Birds sing. Then it's 5.40, then 6.16, then 7.08 and then I'm just about to get up and start the day early when I start to doze. Then my alarm goes off and I turn it off and think, well I've been awake since 5am so I'm hardly likely to go to sleep now. Wrong. All of a sudden it's 8.32. ARGH! And then I did that thing when you wake up late and you're so aware that you're late that you become really super-efficient, so I ended up making it to work ten minutes early and wondering why I ever get up before 8.32.

Aaaaanyway, it's made me decide on the giveaway for today! An alarm clock of course!

For your chance to win simply tell me a funny story about a time you've been late. Obviously I would also really appreciate it if you signed up to our newsletter - it goes out about once a month with a special offer or a preview etc - and if you could spread the love for Aspire by recommended us to simply all of your friends!! :o)

Feeling a bit zombie-ish now that the adrenaline has gone...time for a coffee I think xx

New Nica bag

Mondays are always busy-busy now-now-now get-orders-done days, then Tuesdays come around and they are typically job days. You know the ones I mean, where you have lots of jobs to do, and although none of them are urgent, they're all fairly important, and you know they need to get done, but you'd rather not. Anyway that's what today is. Computer broken, need to fix it. Internet slow, need to sort it. New images through, need to edit them (although can't do this one: see previous two points). etc etc. I was rather lacking in motivation, but then I had a cup of tea and remembered I work for Aspire, the best shop ever! And I have to do all of these little niggly jobs because then I get to play with pretty things like this new Nica Bag, the Nica Bo in coral, £69:

Voila. Motivation found. Now where to find the Paint Shop Pro disk....

Anyone else have days like this? What motivates you to get the little jobs done? Help!

Spotty v Floral

[It was going to be Spots vs Stripes but we don't seem to have anything stripy...]

Every buyers meeting now involves Emma (one of the owners) picking up something spotty and going oooohhh this is amazing oh my gosh, love it, yes, we'll take it, let's have it, I love it, it's so pretty, look at it! And the rest of us pulling a face that says remember what we talked about? to which she can only say oh right yes no more spots :o( -  but there's just something so cute and adorable about spotty dresses which is almost always irresistible, isn't there? And now the sun is shining and spring is here so out come all the pretty florals - the question is, which is better? Spots or florals?

Current spotty dresses:

 Dotty shift dress, £55, navy or brown


Black spot dress, £39, black or blue


Spotty dress, £29, sky or navy

Tara Starlet polka, £75, red or black

I'm pretty sure there are more spotty styles in store, too...although that would mean I'm not doing my job properly and forgetting to put them online...whoops.

Current floral dresses:


Tonga sundress, £69 also as wrap dress, £55

Tea Blossom dress, £45, red or blue

Rose pleat dress, £45

Mary Poppin dress, £55

There are loads more floral dresses online, too - have a look!

And for those of you on a tight budget, you can always treat yourself to a little something...

Floral and spotty case cases, £1.95

So, join the debate - spots or florals? Which are you wearing and why? Lots of comments please, somebody will be winning some cake cases!

Orla Kiely Rhododendron

Our Spring Orla Kiely bags have been selling so well that we've extended the range and got the fabulous Rhododendron range in!






Orla Kiely Rhododendron Midi sling, grey, £115










Orla Kiely Rhododendron Wallet, grey, £59





Also available in a lovely mustard colour (awaiting official photographs) and in shoulder bag and handbag shapes. The grey is so versatile - you could wear it with just about any outfit for a classic accessory look!

Happy shopping, Orla fans!

Pretty Spring Dresses

Morning morning.

Please forgive my absence, I'd like to start making a list of excuses but let's face it...I've just been busy trying on all of the new clothes and generally playing around with pretty new jewellery and trying to decide which new Orla Kiely wallet to buy.

But anyway, I have finally exhausted these activities, and here's the proof:

Fever Bluebell dress, £69 - perfect for weddings










Darling Adele dress, £55 - so cute for a date in the sunshine

Fever Le Mans shift dress, £65 - ideal for adding a splash of colour to your office wardrobe.

Also Nica Bowie Tote, £75 - gorgeous whether you're wearing a suit or jeans.




There are more but I'm starting to feel extraordinarily self-conscious so let's stop there!!!

Anyway, take a look at our new Spring clothes and if you're in the market for a bargain then check out the updated sale part of our website. I will be back on the blog now, I promise! Let's do a competition soon, yeah??

Comments are welcome. Abuse about how un-photogenic I am is not. xx

New Orla Kiely bags - again!

Goooooooood afternoon!

Just a quick little post to say that the brand new Orla Kiely SS11 bags are in - it's called Stem Maze and it's really gorgeous!

The photographs on our site were taken by a complete novice/idiot (me) and the navy doesn't look very navy, but....they're gorgeous, just take my word for it! The better pictures should be sent through to us soon.

Free UK postage and packaging on all orders over £100, which covers the Midi Sling and the Shoulder bag.


Happy shopping!

Aspire Style goes global!

Well, I do. After a naughty couple of quiet weeks on the blog front (sorry!) I'm off to Cape Verde for a well-earned (questionable.) week on the beach!

Holiday essentials:

My fabulous emerald Hoshi dress, still available here for just £20
(Also available in a very pretty blue and a gorgeous purple, which is the one I really wanted but we didn't have my size here and I left it too late)







My brand new lovely lovely pretty Nica bag. It's only £45 and the laser-cut flower pattern is absolutely gorgeous! May get the matching purse!





Necklaces and bracelets are a big no-no for me in the sun because I go very dark and I don't want silly tanlines so I love wearing pretty earrings - my brand new bird earrings will be the perfect accessory in the sunshine, and they're only £5.99! Now that's what I call a bargain!



Add a bikini and sunglasses and that's pretty much me done! I'll be sure to take some fabulous pictures and blog relentlessly about the sunshine when I'm back :o)

Be good while I'm gone,
Catie xx

New Orla Kiely bags

Just a quick note to say Happy New Year to everyone! I've been a bit quiet lately because of the mania that is The Sale! We took a whopping 50% off pretty much all of our A/W collection so you can imagine how many orders we've had through. There are still a few gorgeous dresses left so have a look here.

Plus our new Orla Kiely S/S bags are in and they're flying out! I don't think they're even on the Orla website yet so everyone's buying them from us - which is brilliant! Keep those orders coming! For those of you who haven't seen the new Big Summer Flower pattern, here's the Midi Sling (available here):


We also have the wallet, shoulder bag, handbag and baby changing bag, complete with changing mat for all you Yummy Mummies! You'd be one of the first people to get your mits on the range so view and order here. Usually with Orla Kiely bags, if you order before 2pm on a weekday you'll get it the next working day as I send them by Special Delivery. No guarantees (in case I'm off sick of the postman doesn't come, etc!!) but that's usually the case :o)

Right, just enough time to write a couple more delivery notes before home time....