Soiree Today

We hope you enjoyed the holiday season, made some resolutions that stuck, and melted some hearts this Valentine’s Day.

Our Valentine’s Day gift to you, lovely readers, is the new Spring issue of SOIREE.

We hope you enjoy it as much as we enjoyed designing it for you!

Cheers,

The HPL Team

The latest issue is here!  But you all knew that, right?  If not, go check it out, then hop back here to learn more abut the gorgeous work by the eco-friendly jewelry designers featured on page 15 of the second issue of SOIREE!

Succree Jewelry: Garnet Stackable Ring

Sucree Jewelry

To reflect her childhood memories of her grandfather’s maple sugar camp, Jill Jandreau dubbed her jewelry line Sucree, the French word for sweet.  It’s not hard for us to see why, either.  Her beautifully handcrafted metal jewelry is just as delectable as a piece of candy!  Using recycled metals and other eco-friendly findings, she creates delicate necklaces, rings, and other lovely accessories that are perfect for those who prefer unique, geometric pieces.

Flutterbudget Jewelry: Reclaimed Earrings (Silver Leaves)

Flutterbudget Jewelry

With a flair for retro styling, Shannon Peters collects vintage jewelry, deconstructs it, and makes it new again!   The delicate pieces she recreates are ideal for those born in the wrong decade!  But don’t rule her jewelry out if you’re more modern, her earrings add a lovely feminine flair to any outfit!  For those of you wondering where you can purchase these pretty little pieces, check her shop on Etsy.

Worldwise Jewelry: Beaded Ladder Bracelet

Worldwise Jewelry

Creating jewelry that makes a statement in more ways than one, Kathy Pine uses reclaimed and recycled materials, as well as fair trade artisan beads to create specialty pieces.  Through a mainly trial-and-error self education, Kathy has come into a distinctive style characterized by delicate metalworking and a sense of fun!

But that’s not all!  You can also see their work up close and personal at the EcoLavish Fashion Show, November 11th at SODO Park Herban Feast.  Curious?  Check out the blog!  Already know about it?  Buy your tickets!  We’ll even tell you a secret. . .if you enter the promo code HPLFriend at checkout, you’ll get $5 of your ticket.  Shh, don’t tell anyone!

Are any of you craving your next SOIREE fix yet?  Well great news, you only have to wait until Monday to get it!  What’s that?  You just can’t wait??  Well alright, we’ll share a sneak peek of the exciting features coming to you in Issue #2!   We’ve got all sorts of thrilling and trendy tips, from eco-friendly accessories (you all know EcoLavish is coming up, right?) to the final word of cupcake quality!

In a special feature written by guest contributor Sydney Chavez of the prominent blog Sydney Loves Fashion, she reviews what’s hot.  Eco-friendly accessories are the perfect way to go “green.”  While bigger ticket items can sometimes break the bank, these small efforts can make a huge difference to the planet and your wardrobe!

Next you get to experience out mouth-watering and over-indulgent judging of the ultimate cupcake face-off:  Seattle vs. New York.  Collecting samples from bakeries all over both cities, our highly trained experts sampled and ranked each one!  Find out what they found to be the prettiest, or the most moist, or just the best darn cupcake all around.  Then go try them all yourself and check our research!  But in the meantime, just take a look at these teaser photos:

We had quite the spread!!

Cupcake tasting is very serious business you know. We did it all by the book!

Quite official, I assure you!

. . .But that's not to say we didn't have a lot of fun doing it. Cheers!

Finally we have one really big treat for you.  Ladies and gentlemen, we bring you:  the crème de la crème, the icing on top, The Queen of Cake Pops, Bakerella!  While on her Cake Pops Book Tour, we had the good fortune to snag a few moments of her time and get an absolutely fascinating, entirely exclusive, very exciting interview!

Want to know more?  Read the next issue cover to cover on Monday, November 1^st!

Workout clothing does not have to be that old t-shirt you have had for years. Lululemon focuses on creating stylish athletic apparel that is not just for yoga, but any other activity you wish to pursue. We were fortunate enough to feature an interview with the staff at Lululemon athletica. If you missed it make sure you go back and read it. We ask questions such as what items are recommended for active moms and what is their favorite quote. For the answers go read SOIREE on page twelve and make sure you go check out www.lululemon.com

It has been a long week for us over at Half Past Lavish. Our newest issue of SOIREE is about to be released.  We are pleased to announce this issue will feature a section on cupcakes; one of our favorite things at the moment.  We just finished up with the photoshoot and are so happy that Feeling Smitten’s cupcake bath bombs are included.  We had a difficult time not confusing these bath bombs with actual cupcakes! They look too good to use, but I am sure any bath would be worthy of these.  There are even special occasion bath bombs to make that special evening that much better.  We were lucky enough to feature the Bath Trio which includes Mellow Mimosa, Pink Bliss and Berry Bomb and the amazing people at Feeling  Smitten also threw in a Sugar Plum Bath Bomb and a Wedding Bath Bomb.  We fell in love with these (one of us at Half Past Lavish even wants to be proposed to with one of these bath treats)!

Feeling Smitten began in 2007 and uses only the highest quality products in their bath bombs.  Each of their cupcake bath bombs are handmade at their Cupcake Cottage. Each of these cupcake bath bombs not only smell great but sparkle.  We love all things cupcakes and these are definitely not left off our list of cupcake things we love.  Make sure you keep checking back and look for Feeling Smitten in our next issue of SOIREE!

www.feelingsmitten.com

Good Morning my lovely readers I hope you have enjoyed this past issue of SOIREE and hopefully you spotted Lush a wonderful company who believes in creating effective products from organic fruit and vegetables.  Lush invents their own products and makes them by hand and makes sure they are of good value.  They are against testing cosmetics on animals and only purchase ingredients from those who do not test on animals.  Lush has a wide range of products including bath bombs, bubble bars, soap, shampoo, perfumes, skin care and even Henna Hair Dyes.  They are continuously creating new sensational products to surpass the competition.  Make sure you check out SOIREE if you missed out on Lush the first time around.    A nice warm bath with one of their Waving Not Drowning bath bombs seems like the perfect end to a stressful day go check out the variety of bath bombs on their website www.lushusa.com.

If you’ve seen the latest issue of SOIREE, you’ll know that we are just smitten with the Made by Molly tote bags!! So smitten, in fact, that we are raffling one off on our facebook page!

Made By Molly items could only be the work of a true sewing and knitting wiz! We think handmade items make great gifts (even if you don’t make them yourself!) so don’t hesitate to visit the entire Made by Molly Etsy store!

Not only are these lovely little glass holders beautiful, but they’re for a good cause!  Glassybaby makes dozens of lovely color combinations, a selection of which are used for glassybaby’s goodwill program.  Every year, glassybaby  goodwill designates a select group of colors to benefit local and national organizations contributing to cancer patient care and cancer research.  So not only can you make your home a little brighter, you can contribute to making cancer care a little brighter too!

Glassybaby goodwill was featured as a hostess gift in the “Smitten” section of the premiere issue of Soiree Magazine.  You can find out more about these artistic containers at www.Glassybaby.com.