La Mandarine Beachwear - so beautiful in this hot weather

A couple of weeks ago now, after I wrote about pretty peasant style tops, La Mandarine Beachwear was introduced to me by a friend in Northern Ireland.  I went along to the site to take a look and, loving what I saw, I asked the owner, Rachel, whether she would like me to write about her newly launched brand. Luckily she didn't think that was too bad an idea and soon afterwards, a lovely parcel arrived containing several items from the current collection, the contents of which are worthy of a photograph all of their very own.

And inside was a pink sarong (£24) which Rachel kindly gifted to me and which I have used a huge amount whilst I have been away.

Here I'm wearing the Hazel dress (£65) - a pretty beach cover up with an embellished empire line. It has a lovely length to it, roomy bracelet length sleeves and it's a pretty, light fabric.

I've never really been one for beach cover ups, which is not surprising because until last year the weather wasn't really warm enough to warrant one. However now, I'm thinking that it's a different matter entirely.

Today it was so, so hot that I wore it again but rather than bothering the children to take photos, I snook off into a cloakroom where I took a couple of snaps. Underneath I'm wearing a Sea Folly halter neck swimsuit.

Rachel also sent through to me this La Mandarine marine top (£59) which is just gorgeous but I didn't dare bring it away because I knew that I would be tempted to wear it. I could have waited and obtained an image with a higher res but as it's so beautifully hot at the moment I decided that I would just rather tell you all about La Mandarine now.

 

Writing about someone else's passion is always a little bit of a responsibility, so I asked Rachel to let me have a few words about what makes La Mandarine different to anything else that is currently available. This is what she said....

 

"La Mandarine beachwear is all hand made in India (Delhi and Jaipur) where the skills such as hand embroidery and printing are still widely practiced. I use companies that I have personally met on my trips there, as opposed to large factories (as my runs are small and I want to have a personal relationship with the producers). The ethical aspect to fashion production is very important to me.  I have also tried to stick with cotton and voile fabrics as they can be washed while on holiday and do not require expensive dry cleaning. I have tried to keep the price point below competitors."

 

So in a nutshell there we have it: ethically handmade beachwear with a good price point which is made in small factories in India. What's not to love?!

 

Heavenly days on sunny beaches in shorts (again)!

 

There's nothing rad about shorts, that I do know. But it's hot and what's more, what was left of my spray tan has now adhered itself to the inside of my wetsuit so I need to try and get a little colour on my legs. I seem to have done it pretty well on my nose, with Mr SG asking whether I was matching my lipgloss to the colour of my nose tonight. He needs to watch it or he might find his beloved crocs being sold on eBay.

This combo was just some GAP printed shorts, a GAP hat bought in the sale on Saturday, a plain white H&M vest, Jack Wills flip flops, La Mandarine sarong and a silver Oushka clutch.

I've recently mentioned some new goggles that I bought. My old ones were terrible and I had to stop every five lengths or so to de-mist them and empty them of water. They also left deep welts under my eyes, which is also the reason that Sharron Davies doesn't swim much anymore (apparently). Anyway, for any swimmers out there, I can't recommend the Aquasphere goggles highly enough. This morning I did my entire swim without having to stop once. Attractive they are not but they do a good job.

Tomorrow it's my birthday so I may take a little blogging holiday, depending on how it all turns out! However I am sure that I will be posting the odd pic of the birthday proceedings on Instagram. I think that I may have had wind of one of two things that might appeal to some of you out there...

Ooh, and yesterday's post was my 1000th post. I think that I worked out that if each post took on average one hour, that's about 42 days, or seven weeks of my life that I have devoted to blogging. I'm not quite sure what to make of that.