Fashion and Style · Men Stuff · Shopping

Mainline Menswear – Top Brands and Great Prices

Recently, Mainline Menswear got in touch to see if we’d like to write about them in exchange for some new duds for Husband and being the lovely wife that I am, of course I agreed! Husband and I tend to vary when it comes to clothing. While I tend to buy cheap stuff which invariably ends up worn to death or covered in bleach stains, he goes for much higher quality items which he looks after and last a long time. It’s a running joke that he’s got clothes which are older than me (not literally…but not FAR off!) and he firmly believes that you get what you pay for, which means it’s worth paying a bit more for stuff which lasts. If they’d add a create your own tux section to the site, it would be the only place you ever needed to visit for men’s clothes!

The site itself is packed full of brands that Husband loves, such as Ralph Lauren, Levis, Armani and more, so after a little while spent browsing the site, this is what he chose:

Mainline Menswear

Paul and Shark polo – £80

Ralph Lauren Sullivan Slim Fit Jeans – £53

Adidas Originals California t-shirt – £23

The package arrived the day after we ordered the stuff, which is really good to know if you’re needing something to wear for the weekend and it’s already Wednesday! The items themselves were really good value and the usual high quality you’d expect for designer clothing. The site was really easy to navigate and each listing shows all of the available sizes at a glance, letting you know whether they’re in stock or not – I don’t know about you, but I HATE it when I’m shopping online, finally choose something only to discover it’s not in stock, but that wasn’t an issue here.

Originally, Husband actually chose a pair of trainers but because he’s a slightly awkward half-size, they were too small and needed to be returned. The return process with some online stores is really complicated but at Mainline it’s simple. All you do is use their online return form, enter your order number and it produces a pre-paid returns label which is deducted from your refund, meaning you just need to drop it off at the post office – simple!

All in all, we’ve been really impressed by our Mainline Menswear experience. Delivery was super speedy, the clothes were great quality, the prices were good and the customer service second-to-none. I highly recommend using Mainline Menswear if you’re looking to buy something for a Husband, boyfriend, male relative or anyone else who loves a label and I’ll definitely be shopping there for gifts for Husband in the future.

Men Stuff · Relationships

Smarten Up Your Man!

man-at-barberBeing a woman in her thirties with two kids means that I spend an inordinate amount of time listening to other women moan about the men in their lives (come on, it’s a fact of life that MOST women moan about their fellas). Obviously, there’s the usual moans about how they don’t do enough housework or they spend too much time with their mates, but I’ve also heard other women moan about how their man is a bit of a scruff! With that in mind, I thought I’d take a look at some gentle ways you can help your bloke to smarten up a bit…so that I don’t have to listen to you moan anymore!! 😉

Send Him to The Barber

A lot of men are growing long hair and bushy beards these days and think it’s an excuse to avoid grooming altogether, but in my humble opinion beards and long hair require just as much care if not MORE if you don’t want to look like a scarecrow. Why not find a local barber who does beard care and buy your man a voucher for a session? He’ll look smarter and you’ll find his beard FAR softer to kiss!

Take Him Shopping

A lot of men don’t invest in their clothes, but buying decent men’s desinger clothes doesn’t have to be a chore. Why not spend an evening looking online and encouraging him to treat himself to some new threads? He’ll get to look better and you’ll get to veto anything that you hate!

Get Him a Gym Subscription

Okay, this one may sound a little insensitive and I guarantee if I read a blog written by a man suggesting other men force their WAGS into the gym, I’d be incandescent. But I don’t mean it in a “tell him to lose weight” way – going to the gym, even if it’s just to give him an outlet for his energy, can be a great way to improve self-esteem and can also work wonders on a person’s mental health.

Send Him to The Pub!

If you’ve got a bloke who goes out every week without fail, I can understand how this suggestion might seem a bit of a joke, but if your bloke rarely goes out, an evening at the pub might be just what he needs to help him decompress. Giving him the change to chat to his mates and forget his worries will win you some brownie points and, more to the point, give him an excuse to get dressed in something other than work clothes or loungewear!

Give Him Some Attention

Just like us ladies, bloke often don’t see the point in getting dressed up or taking care of their appearance if there’s no one to appreciate it. Make sure you remind your bloke how much you fancy him and give him plenty of compliments on occasions when he does get dressed up to make him feel appreciated and he’ll likely make more effort in the future.

Fashion and Style · Men Stuff

Men’s Armani Jeans at infinities.co.uk (review)

Not to be too reductive, but I think there are two types of people in the world – those who love clothes shopping and those who hate it. My Husband falls firmly into the latter category. He loves to buy new things, especially jeans, but spending hours trawling the shops is a personal horror for him so he does the majority of his clothes shopping online. I do think that shopping for clothes online is a LOT easier for men because their sizes tend to be a lot more standardised. As a woman, a size 16 in one shop can seem more like a size 12 in others, whereas for men, a 36″ waist is pretty much the same wherever you shop.

Just recently, Husband discovered Infinities, a shop which has 11 stores around the UK, as well as a big online presence, and sells all of the best labels for men, from Armani to Stone Island to Adidas Originals, Victorinox, New Balance and many more. They asked if Husband would like to choose something from their range to review, so he chose some new jeans (everyone always needs jeans!) from the Armani J21 range (click on the image to be taken to the website):

Men's Armani Jeans

In terms of men’s fashion, Husband is really not keen on a lot of the current styles of jeans as they all seem to be skinny in the leg, which makes them impossible to wear if you’re a lifelong cyclist with decent thighs, so he was really pleased to find a jean which was a regular fit with a straight leg. Obviously, being Armani, they were exactly as good quality as you’d expect them to be with a really dark wash and thick fabric. Husband is 5″10′ and these came up about an inch too long in the leg, but that’s not too much of a problem when your wife is handy with a sewing machine. They were a great fit in the waist though, exactly the ‘true-to-size’ fit we’d hoped they’d be.

Another thing Husband liked about these jeans is the lack of logos. There’s a tiny silver Armani logo on the pocket and a black leather belt patch sewn on the waistband, but other than that they’re very low key- Husband likes nice clothes but he hates feeling like a walking brand advert, so these were perfect.

Delivery was really quick and the website was really easy to navigate. There’s tons of bargains to be had on the site and there’s loads of stuff on there which would make lovely Christmas gifts for the males in your life.

Head over to Infinities.co.uk for more information and to look at their ranges.

Giveaway · Men Stuff · Review

Mens Skincare by Audaca – Review and Giveaway

A few weeks ago, I was browsing through some press releases (as you do…) and I noticed one from men’s skincare brand Audaca. Phrases like “aromatherapy principles” and “modern science” pinged off the page at me and immediately made me think of the man in my life. Husband has long suffered with sensitive skin and often keeps a beard rather than shave as it has such a horrible effect on his skin. Just recently, he’s started using a traditional shaving system of solid soap, shaving brush and safety razor (you know, like the one your Grandad used with a metal or Bakelite handle and disposable blades) which is much better for the face and I thought that the Audaca products with their natural ingredients would be a great accompaniment to his new routine.

Here’s what he thought of what we were sent:

I recently returned to traditional wet shaving after 10 years in the wilderness of electric razors and dry skin, and so far I’ve been enjoying some great results thanks to my newly acquired Merkur 23C DE razor and both Derby and Feather blades. But when you’re altering your grooming regimen it helps to experiment, in order to find the perfect combination of items for your skin and beard type, so when my Wife asked me if I was interested in trying these new, premium grooming products from Audaca I leapt at the chance.

First up I used the Audaca Scrub for my pre-shave wash and found it to be very effective without being unnecessarily abrasive. The aroma’s subtle and the pumice felt particularly good, leaving my face feeling clean but not sore – which is important before it undergoes the trauma of shaving.

The deed itself was done with Audaca’s Shave and I had mixed results. Initially I was pleased with the muted scent and rich feel of the cream, but when I applied it to my face I found it to be thin and it didn’t generate any sort of lather, which was a red flag.

The shave wasn’t good. My face felt largely unprotected by the cream, at times feeling like I was running the razor over bare skin. It didn’t reduce friction (on my beard type, at least) and left me with quite a few nicks where I wouldn’t ordinarily have any.

By the time I had finished I was feeling pretty sore and was keen to experiment with the Audaca Soothe, and I’m very glad I did. I applied a small amount to my face while it was still damp and it spread evenly, calming the burn which had been caused by the shave. Importantly (to me at least) it wasn’t at all greasy and the slightly woody aroma was nice too.

Overall I was pleased with the Scrub and the Soothe. They’re products which I’ll be adopting into my daily routine from here on in and if, like me, you have sensitive skin then I’d recommend you take a look at them too.

The cream, on the other hand, wasn’t up to muster in my humble opinion and it certainly won’t be replacing my usual soap but it might be worth trying if you have a lighter or less dense growth on your face and the scent is definitely appealing. 

 

Now, you can win an Audaca gift set for the male-type in your life (apologies if you are a male-type, you’d obviously win it for yourself…) by entering via the Rafflecopter widget below. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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