My new favourite blog...

The best and loveliest...

www.maureendesilvafineart.blogspot.com

where you will find delights for the eyes and home.

Latest Happenings

So finally, my beautiful lockets arrived. I had spent months working on these babies - designing them, changing the design, working on them again, then waiting for them to go into production, and finally....they are here. I love them. They are so perfect and so special and everything I wanted, right down to the off white creamy enamel face. So, with the lockets complete, I set to work on designing the boxes that would house them. And so, we have 12 new boxes for each scent. I love these lockets!

Lou x

Beautiful Sets

Yesterday I finally put something together that I had been planning for a while - 3 liquid perfume sets with each set comprising 4 glass roll on bottles that contained a particular type of fragrance. The first is a floral set which includes perfumes dedicated to rose, geranium and jasmine flowers amongst others. The second is what I call my 'Mysterious Notes' set which is basically for those bold, brave types who want a definitive and unique scent to wear, and the third set is called 'Mother Nature' which comprises all of the beautiful smells of nature - fresh, clean scents, herbal, fauna, even fruity smells. And I am so pleased with the outcome of each box set. I spent so long designing the labels, literally a whole day on each and have now put the collection in the shop. It helps to love your own products. It really does. When you feel so passionate about your product, all you want to do is shout it's credentials from the roof tops. And I like that I spend most of the time frantically rolling Acalendra onto my wrists like some sort of addict. It's a good thing to be so enamoured with something you have produced with your own hands.

Masterpiece Endeavours

I wanted to show you the art of my mum, Maureen De Silva. She is extremely talented (although refuses to believe so) and knocks up a painting a day - she has something of a factory production line going on. These are a few of her latest, and some of my favs xx

Long time no see

So i know it's been a long, loooong time since I last posted on the old blog, but I just couldn't find the time to sit down and devote a deservedly fair amount of time to it and actually write more than 3 words, but here I am!

So, what can I tell you? A fair bit has been happening of late, including lots of new additions to the shop. The whole liquid perfume line is up and running, and we've even managed to include a body butter, which was, weirdly, the hardest product I've made so far of everything we sell. Something to do with getting the consistency right, and a lot of whipping....

Saville's Row aside, Wade and I had his dad come stay with us for a little over a week.......and I have been psyching myself up to dive straight back into the painting - did I mention I paint? Nerves have overcome me more and more recently with regard to the art - nervousness about getting back into it after such a long stint away, but when you feel the adrenalin and frustration coursing through your veins, your bones every time you hear the word 'art' or 'artist', at least in my case, you know you've got to scratch that itch sooner rather than later. And so I am. And I have something of an exhilarated anxiety at the thought of putting a paint brush back in my hand, but I know it will make me truly happy.

In other news, it will be mine and Wade's one year anniversary on 6th May! Blimey, a year! It's been an interesting one. I told him that all I would want is for us to get a massive slice of chocolate ice cream cake that they serve down the road at this seafood restaurant and sit at home watching Back to the Future Part 11. It don't take much. So, I will keep you posted on whether he delivers. I feel quite confident that he will receive my anniversary gift to him rather well - the gift of being allowed to sit next to me on the sofa.

Also, my computer died recently, and took to the grave every single thing I ever had on it, including all of my photos and everything associated with Saville's Row. Bloody technology. So, whilst I would have loved the chance to dazzle you with some nice little shots, I have now got a very limited supply of what I can show you as I only have about 2 pictures in my photo library. Never the less, lets see what we can find...

Well, it's not all bad - this is the beautiful face and body butter I was telling you about. I tried to pipe it into the jar.

And here are the newest additions to the shop - Liquid Vial Perfume Samples

Abuse of a beast.....

And this shot is of the dearest item in the shop - a bottle that I acquired simply because of it's retro beauty.

I hope you enjoyed the round up,

Lou x

For your viewing pleasure....

Just a few snaps I managed to take yesterday before the sun dipped away for the night. I've been working on some infusions lately, and this latest one is a concoction of herbs and flowers that, once strained, will be incorporated into a balm to aid sleep. A dreamtime salve is next on the cards, which I am very excited about! (is that sad?)So, watch this space, and the shop will soon be stocked with new goodies, Lou x

Natural Solid Perfumes

Our newest, and my MOST favourite video yet! I love the old french theme and dust particles glistening in the sunlight throughout the shots. Whadya reckon? Lou x

Bath Salts Video

The latest video from Saville's Row. Who would have thought that co - creating your own little empire could be so much fun (at times)....

A Postal Delight!

Today, I received my recently purchased collection of Antique mold lockets in the post, and they are beautiful! 6 in total - purchasing these little treasures must be staggered for now as they cost a little more than an arm and a leg. But when they do come, it's a treat alright! They are perfect little beauts and I had to share them with you. On the 15th April, I am setting myself up a little table at an outdoor market which I am already preparing for. So much stock to acquire, so many lotions and potions to make - so all the required goods are trickling in already.

It will actually be my first ever market selling my Saville's Row products, so, exciting, a little stressful, but very good. I've been planning the layout of my products on my table a thousand times over in my head, deciding how much stock to bring, what vessels to present my items in, what trays to display them on....all sorts of stuff. So...wish me luck. If you live near the Orange County Green Market, please come down. You can come and test out the goodies!

Some beasts had chanced upon my lockets.

Also, after a lot of back and forward deciding and reworking, the Saville's Row header has finally been done - and this is how it will be for good. Whadya think? Lou x

A new day, a new scent

Hello folks, In the past few days, I have been busy, busy, busy. Aside from working non stop on the old lap top to create and edit various social media accounts, I have been busy working away at some new concoctions. I had to wait patiently to begin some new creations as I had had my eye on some delectable essential oils for some time, and was eager to grab 'em, but had to wait until I had accrued enough cash to do so. Don't get confused - essential oils can be cheap - I don't want it to sound like I've been saving my pennies for weeks to buy a can of coke. Some essential oils can be cheap(ish) like the fairly basic, common ones like orange and lime. But some can be very costly, namely Frankincense essential oil. I mean, come on, if that was one of the gifts Jesus got, we know it's gonna be pricey. And it was, but well worth it. So far, it is one of my favourite ess. oils. It has the most incredible aroma. On the label, it likens the scent to 'balsamic vinegar', which I think is a somewhat unfair comparison to such a beautiful, unusual smell.

I would liken it instead to musky ochres, resins, old woods that have been sitting somewhere deep and dark for centuries and have a thousand stories imbued in their rings. Sounds a bit....dramatic, but it's true! It's a really special scent that I can't wait to keep mixing with other oils to create even more incredible and unique perfumes and balms. So far, my cheap little pal, old sweet orange ess. oil has proven to be worth the $4 I spent on him (cheap, cheerful, reliable) and goes really well with the $30.00 (BLIMEY!) Frankincense. So, I have so far created a beeeeeeautiful new perfume which I am currently wearing called, 'UMBER SILK', and I love it.

Still going with the Frankincense theme, I've also concocted a stunning lip balm that smells so sweet and comforting, it's been hard to put it down. Here's the latest snaps of the new guys...

And here's the beautiful new lip butters, 'SORRENTO'.....

Mmmm...

Lou x

A facebook connection...

Greetings folks, I hope the evening finds you well. Wednesday night.....what debauchery can you really get up to mid week? Watch a bit of crap T.V in my case - this Wednesday night presents another great episode of Wife Swap USA...Brilliant.

Well, in more interesting news - we finally have a direct connection to Facebook! Yay! Thanks be to my padre for that - good old Ally - he managed to get it all set up so that you can just click the 'like' box on the blog to follow Saville's Row rather than having to go all the way to the facebook page - and now all we need is to actually get people to like us! So please, LIKE US! And Saville's Row will promise to love you forever!!! Also, you'll be the lucky ones to get notifications on discounts and offers so that's always good!

Well, I must dash - I shall leave you to your evening. I am settling in early for the night. Wade and I are going to call an early one and maybe find a nice movie to watch. Sleep Well, Lou xx

Ps. here's some bed time pics for you

My newest snazzy scents in the snazziest of lockets. Beauts xx

For your eyes Only!

Ok, for a bit of splendidly exciting news......presenting the latest promo video from Saville's Row! And I have no doubts you will find it is the best video you will have seen in your whole life. Tell me I'm wrong. Lou x

Reginald Vox (after Bono) & Saville Row

I just had to post another little something something. Today has been a very productive and good day. The whole of my products and ingredient paraphernalia has been organised and newly homed. The house is spanking clean, and the kids are alright, as some band, which I forget, say. They're defo on the mend. I took some ethereal shots of them just now-

My beautiful boy, Reg

And here's little Savvy...

She is slightly nightmarish, but beautiful all the same. Also, i know it's not exactly a compliment, but there are times when I think she looks a little like the love child of Kevin Rudd and Adolph Hitler. It's the round head and moustache. She's still a beaut.

Anyway, enough bloody cat talk. I've managed to arrange a meeting tomorrow with a particularly splendid shop in the hope that they'll carry my products. Wish me luck!...

Lou x

Before the Sun goes down

Yesterday, amongst all the other stuff I was doing, I managed to slip down to the printers and finally get some much needed new labels printed up. Those labels included a bunch for my bath salt bottles - which I love. I love the shape of these little beauts, and I love even more the fact that they last for life and can be refilled with salts over and over- a good investment. check out my snazzy new shots - I'm quite proud of these pics!...

What do you think? I caught the last of the sun yesterday evening in a bit of a panic before I lost the light completely. Of course, the bath salts are pretty nice too! There's 3 different scents available in the shop, and this one- Cinder, happens to be my favourite. It's beautiful!

I hope you like them!

Lou x

Say Cheeeeeeeeeeese

Oh, and here's some action shots of the Saville's Row products in use! Note the satisfactory smile on my face! These are the latest promotional shots for the brand, I don't usually get that excited using my products, not that they aren't exciting and amazing!

Cheesy but necessary. Yummy balms!

Violets & Naughty beasts

Today has been a day so far of organising, cleaning up, and rearranging our bedroom in order to home a newly acquired wardrobe - something I have been pining for for months. So, tremendous fun there. But what was a little fun was getting some beautiful African violets from the Dana Point nursery. They had so many variations and colours, and I finally decided upon some deep fushia coloured fellas to use in my concoctions. Not that the colours of the petals will necessarily have any bearing on the resulting salve that I plan on making, but it'll be nice for me to look at whilst I use it! So, I plan on including a wonderous new salve to the line, that of course will include an infusion of violet. So far, I have only introduced a healing balm to Saville's Row, and have been waiting with excited anticipation to add some salves as I have pages and pages of incredible body salve recipes just waiting to be utilised. It's just a case of waiting for the oils to infuse with all sorts of herbs and flowers, and that can be a timely process. Anyway, suffice to say, we're good to go, so watch this space....

Some of my beautiful violet flowers

And a little infusion in progress...

So, there's the beauties for you. I'm soon to get started on some salves, I would get stuck into it right now if I could, but currently, I write this sitting face up against the window looking up every two seconds to see if one of my cat's has decided to return home. He's not very well, and needs to be kept indoors, but it was such a beautiful day, I thought one hour in the sun would do him good. Now he's taking the piss and has been gone for nearly two hours....I'm in trouble.

Oh well,

Catch you next time, Lou xx

Happy Monday Morning

If I were American, I'd say, 'Happy President's Day'. Seeing as I'm not, 'Happy Monday!'(sounds like a bit of an oxymoron there). Anyway, so, as I greet you on this Monday morning, I find myself happily content with my fruit toast breakfast, and hot cup of Earl Grey.

What's not so delightful is that I did find one of my cats this morning with three quarters of his body in the toilet bowl, licking the water - dirty beast. Although that, in turn, makes me a dirty beast as I kiss him, so, essentially, I'm kissing the toilet water he just licked. Splendid.

Being that today is a bank holiday, Wade (that's the hubby) and I will not be doing much. I have concocted a few more recipes - salves this time, which I would love to start making, but I have to wait a couple of weeks first until my oils have been fully infused with the various herbs I acquired. I have plans to create a deliciously scented violet flower salve with infusions of plantain and tea tree, very beneficial to the skin and senses. With any luck, I'll be able to show you a completed salve soon. In the meantime....

The perfect remedy for dry elbows and hands!

Lou x

A deliciously Balmy start to the weekend...

Good Morning folks, how was your Friday night? Mine was quiet - a bit of TV, a bit of red wine, but I was kept busy with making up some new lip butter concoctions. Well, I say making up, it was more, improving on a couple of the current products. I now have a 'RESIN' Lip Butter that smells even more potent than before, with an even better edge to it. So this morning will involve a trip down to the printers to top off the completed butters with spanking new labels.

Aside from that, I'm not sure what else this weekend brings, but I'll keep you updated,

Lou x

Ps. I had to chuck this one in for your entertainment. I know what you're thinking, 'oh no, not a bloody cat picture', but this one's a good 'un. A certain naughty little monster, Reginald Vox, was caught red handed sitting in one of my baskets. Naughty little turd. Meow.

Goodies goodies goodies!

I couldn't help myself! I had to enrich your lives with more visual treats!

Soap making in progress...

Lou x