Monday's Featured Item

Monday's Featured Item is this beautiful Rubino Luxe handbag which oozes style and character. It is a must have item for your wardrobe and we are certain it will become a firm favourite.

It is made of butter soft red leather and has fantastic leopard print lining and an internal pocket and cell phone holder as well as two large side pockets with magnetic fasteners. This red bag with black boots, skirt and a black coat would look great, but it could be used as a powerful focal point for almost any outfit you choose to wear. It would look fantastic with a white maxi dress, for example, or even with a pair of jeans and a floaty top.

*If you are interested in this beautiful Rubino Luxe handbag

Focus Brazil

The Quetzal

Brazil consists of cloud forests, marshes, swamplands, arid plateaus and immense rainforests, and within this varied terrain live some 1,600 recorded bird species.

The Amazon Basin contains one-third of the planet's living species, and it is here that you can find Short-billed Leaftossers, Rufus-Necked Puffbirds, Hardy's Pygmy-Owl, the Black-Girdled Barbet, as well as the Quetzal.

The name comes from the Nahuatl word QUETZALLI and means large brilliant tail feather.

One variety, the Resplendent Quetzal, is often held to be the most beautiful bird in the Western Hemisphere as the male’s tail feathers can reach feet 60cm in length.

The Quetzal features heavily in Central and South American mythology, and Aztec royalty wore headdresses including plumes removed from the males and Guatemalans chose it as their national bird, and even named their monetary unit the quetzal.

Quetzals rely on wild avocados (which grow widely throughout tropical regions), and it is thought that the wild avocados are quite reliant on the Quetzal to disperse their seeds as they are the only bird large enough to and swallow the avocado fruits whole (including the seeds!)

WE HAVE A WINNER

CONGRATULATIONS to Ginette in London who was the winner of our Valentine's Day Prize Draw and wins the beautiful red leather handbag shown below.

Many thanks to the rest of you who participated in the prize draw. You didn't win this time but maybe next time you'll get lucky, so look out for our next prize draw in early spring.

REMINDER: Mother's Day

Just a little reminder that Sunday 2nd March is Mother's Day, and whilst youth may indeed fade, love might droop and your friends may fall away like leaves in Autumn, your Mother's secret hopes (perhaps for one of our handbags or for some of our jewellery) - shines eternal.

It doesn't necessarily need to be your own mother. It could be your sister, your aunt, your female friends or your mother-in-law! Anyone in your life who is a woman and has children is a mother, a deserves to be treated especially well this coming Sunday.

But what to get her? Flowers are good (but they die!), chocolates are good (for you...but not for her!), lingerie... (don't go there!), something for doing the housework perhaps? (only if you want to die!)

No. The thing to do is to let us do all the work and make some helpful suggestions for you - suggestions which we know any mother would love. So here goes:

Friday's Featured Item

Friday's Featured Item is this stunning Chocole Shoulder Bag which will go with most outfits, so if you like classic and stylish then this is the bag for you!

This chocolate coloured handbag is made from the softest Brazilian leather, and has sturdy crock-effect carrying handles with reinforced chrome rings, leather-stitched detailing, chrome studding and leather tassles.

Internally the bag is spacious, beautifully lined and has a mobile phone pocket, and the bag's measurements are: Height 23cm; Width 34cm; Depth 18cm Handle drop 24cm.

*If you are interested in this beautiful handbag

Focus Brazil

Everyone with a hangover look away now, because todays Focus Brazil is looking at Brazil's national drink - Caipirinha (pronounced [kaj.pi.'ɾĩ.jɐ]).

Caipirinha is a delicious cocktail made with Cachaça (pronounced [ˌkaˈʃasɐ]), sugar, lime and crushed ice and is drunk in restaurants, bars and at the beach, and is usually sold in a plastic cup and drunk with a straw.

Not only is it a deliciously healthy (!) refreshing drink, but it's also extremely potent and cheap - about 75p for a big cup (compare that to here in Edinburgh where it can cost as much as £5 for a glass!)

According to Wikipedia, 'caipirinha' is the diminutive version of 'caipira' which refers to someone from the countryside, being an equivalent of 'hillbilly', althougth the word is now almost exclusively associated with the drink.

There are a number of variations of the drink: Caipiroska/Caipivodka uses vodka in place of cachaça; a Batida is any cachaça and fruit juice drink, and a Caipifruta consists of cachaça, crushed fresh fruits (such as tangerine, kiwi, passion fruit (maracuja), grapes, mango, acerola, caju, caja or siriguela), condensed milk and crushed ice - delicious!

After all this reading you're probably desperate for a drink, so:

1. Put a freshly sliced lime and 2 teaspoons of sugar into a glass
2. Mash these ingredients together with a wooden spoon
3. Fill the glass with crushed ice
4. Add the Cachaça – about 5cl / a shot
5. Taste (adding either more sugar / Cachaça as desired)
6. Enjoy with moderation - and use a straw!

Wednesday's Featured Item

Wednesday's Featured Item is this stunning Ostrich and Alligator Handbag by Marcello Marcellino (a young Brazilian handbag designer) which is made from beautiful ostrich and alligator skin and has a pair of double-knotted carrying handles and features the Marcello Marcellino label as a chrome pendant. All the skins used in this bag are ethically sourced.

Like the black clutch handbag, this is a unique one-off piece of outstanding craftsmanship and allows you to possess a luxurious designer handbag at a fraction of the price - because good fashion shouldn't cost the earth.

• *If you are interested in this beautiful handbag (£454.00)

Monday's Featured Item

Monday's Featured Item is this stunning pair of Green Acai earrings which are made from green coloured Acai seeds and wooden tubed beads.

These earrings are beautifully bright and colourful, and compliment the eye-catching Green Grass Acai necklace which is made from dyed Acai seeds with wooden bamboo separators and a polished coconut ring pendant.

The necklace is mounted on wax-cotton thread with silver tassel details, and is adjustable in length. This piece will look lovely with the floaty tops that we are hoping to add to our product line this summer.

*If you are interested in this necklace and earring set (£33.00)

Spotlight on Materials

Every week we will be featuring a new section on the Blog called Spotlight on Materials which will, funnily enough, shine a spotlight on some of the materials we use in our products.

The first spotlight we shall be shining is on the wonderfully named Flamboyant tree - which produces the Flamboyant seed - a seed that is widely used by indigenous societies in their ethnic jewellery.
The Flamboyant was named for Phillipe de Longviliers de Poincy (1583 - 1660) who is credited with introducing the plant to the Americas. Phillippe de Longvilliers de Poincy was a French nobleman and Bailiff Grand Cross of the Knights of Malta. He specifically imported the flamboyant plant from Madagascar for his garden, and is credited with introducing the beautiful plant to the Americas. It was thus re-named Royal Poinciana in his honour.

The Flamboyant tree is also known as Royal Poinciana, Gulmohar, Peacock Flower, the Flame Tree and Flame of the Forest due to its brightly coloured foliage, and is one of the most conspicuous flowering trees seen in the tropics, and is consistently voted as one of the five most beautiful trees in the world.

It is commonly grown for its bright red blossoms and has delicate mimosa type leaves which drop before the tree flowers. At the same time as the new leaves appear, the tree is covered with numerous five-petalled flowers that are usually bright red-orange.

This blooming is followed by the appearance of long, flattened, leathery dark brown or black seed pods. These pods are then collected where they fall, opened, and the small elongated seeds are collected and widely used in ethnic jewellery.

Another interesting fact about the Flamboyant is that the seed pods, but not the seeds, are used to make the Maraca.

REMINDER - Valentine’s Day Prize Draw (Win a Free Handbag!)

REMINDER - You have exactly 24 hours to register to win our stunning red leather handbag (worth £83).

Simply register for our newsletter by clicking on the link below and leave a short comment about our website, and you’ll be entered into our Valentine’s Day Prize Draw, and have the chance of winning a beautiful Rococco red leather handbag – absolutely free.

You can enter from today until midnight on the 14th of February. The draw will take place on the 15th of February and the winner will be announced by email on the same day.

See the website for Terms & Conditions.

Friday's Featured Item

Friday's Featured Item is a Red Agate Necklace - a beautifully bright and fiery necklace with assorted red Agate stones and brown coconut pendant attached.

Red Agate is a fascinating quartz that is also known as Blood Agate, and was worn in ancient Rome to guard against insect bites, to heal the blood, and to promote calm and peace.

It belongs to the extended Agate family and occurs as nodular masses found in volcanic rocks. When opened these nodules reveal amazing colours (from the silica rich fluids) and patterns, and agates can be opaque, waxy or translucent.

It was not only the Romans who believed that Agate had numerous benefits, however:

• Ancient man carried Agate to ensure a bountiful crop, to ward off skin diseases, and used it in love spells to avoid envious thoughts and to remove spite.


• Greek sailors believed Agate reinforced strength and provided protection, and used it in the 4th Century to overcome fear of ocean storms.
  
• Agate jewellery was given to children to be worn as protective amulets as Agate was thought to prevent children from falling.


• Agates were a popular talisman in the Middle East to ensure the healthy state of the blood, and many Moslims claimed that powdered Agate drunk in water would cure insanity, sharpen eyesight, increase physical strength, and alleviate thirst.


• The Book of Saxon Leechdoms said in 1864 that Agate prevents harm from thunder, sorcery, demonic possession, poison, disease, drunkenness, and skin eruptions.

In modern times New Age Mystics believe that agate will prevent nightmares, help eyesight, improve blood circulation, strengthen the heart, stomach, and hair, protect children from falls, prevent poisonings and give you extra courage or extra energy to relieve stress.

*We can’t guarantee that our necklace will stop you falling over or cure insanity, but it may help you get noticed and fall in love, so if you’re interested in this necklace (£25.00) please visit http://www.prettypink.eu/product,25357,Red_Agate_Necklace.html

Saboneteira Turquoise

This long necklace is made with natural black coloured Sabonteira seeds interspersed with turquoise stones, and is held together with a sumptuous black ribbon which can be worn at different lengths to suit your outfit.

The Saboneteira tree is commonly found in Brazil and it’s seeds, which naturally matt black in colour, are are are widely used in ornaments, like necklaces, bracelets and earrings, and are highly valued by the Indigenous tribes for their luminescence. The Saboneteira fruit is interesting in that, if squeezed when semi-mature, they produce a peculiar foam – almost like soap bubbles.

In fact Saboneteira is used as a soap substitute by Amazonian Indians living in the densest parts of the forest, and the name Saboneteira is derived from the Portuguese word soap or Sabão. It is also said that the seed gives out an oil which rivals many current washing powders for effectiveness.

Other names for this interesting fruit are:

• Soaptree
• Soapberry
• Soapfruit (Fruta-De-Sabão) [Pt (Brazil)]
• Fortune Seed
• Wing-Leaf Soapberry
• Bois De Panama [French]
• Seifenbaum [German]
• Jequiriguaçú [Pt Brazil)]
• Pau-De-Sabão [Pt (Brazil)
• Monkey Soap (Sabão-De-Macaco) [Pt (Brazil)
• Soldier’s Soap (Sabão-De-Soldado) [Pt (Brazil)
• Jaboncillo [Spanish]

The Saboneteira Turquoise necklace is complimented by the Sabonteira Turquoise Earrings.

• *If you are interested in this necklace and earring set (£37.00) visit http://www.prettypink.eu/product,25369,Saboneteira_Turquoise.html

It’s Carnival!

This week in Brazil it’s Carnival, so we thought we’d attempt to describe what many have called: ‘the greatest party on earth’.

The first records of Carnival festivities in Rio date back to 1723 when Portuguese immigrants introduced the Entrudo - where people would go out with buckets of water and soak passersby. However, the authorities soon frowned upon thiese frivolities and eventually it was banned.

In the 19th Century people began to march in the streets playing drums, tambourines, pans, and whistles, and this evolved into the Grandes Sociedades which was a more organized parade that debuted in 1855, and included the Emperor and aristocrats in masks and costumes. In 1870 the Cordão Carnavalesco started – and characters like queens, kings, witches, peasants and dancers would perform according to their costumes. There were also the Cordões de Velhos, where participants would wear huge papier-mâché masks and walk in an old man's gait.

Ranchos Carnavalescos started in 1872 as a working class festivity, and people would dress up in costumes and perform on the parade accompanied by an orchestra. These Ranchos soon gained sponsorship and started organized competitions which became one of the main attractions of Rio Carnival, together with the Great Societies. The Corso was introduced in 1907 with a parade of cars (the granddaddy’s of today's floats), and in the 30's this celebration became so popular that almost all car-owners in Rio participated! Eventually the Cordões evolved into Blocos de Sujos (where everyone could join in plain clothes), and Blocos de Baianas (composed of people from Salvador, usually men dressed in white colonial clothes).

At the end of the 19th Century in what was known as Little Africa, which was the residence of the Tias Baianas - ladies who came from Bahia - Tia Ciata held meetings in her living room where visitors were entertained with live music played by local musicians, and at the back of the house there was samba, a term then used to describe the ritual Candomble ceremony. Eventually the two beats got together, and the first samba song was composed in her house.

This samba was adapted, and at the end of the 1920’s organizers of the Blocos felt the need to evolve, and inspired by the Ranchos, the Escolas de Samba (Samba schools) were developed - Mangueira (founded in 1928) being the first samba school. In the 1940's and 1950's the samba schools evolved further, adopting themes, theme songs, costumes and floats, and artists began to design their parade – resulting in today's Carnavalescos.

In the 1960's and 1970's the samba started to gain prestige with the middle and upper middle class and Carnival balls were organised. The Samba Parade started to become more popular and in 1984 the Sambadrome, with its capacity of 65,000, was built, with each samba school being given eighty minutes to parade from one end of the Sambadrome to the other with all its thousands of dancers, its drum section (Bateria), and a number of floats.

However, inflated prices to watch the samba schools parade ($150-$500) has excluded many Brazilians from attending, and as a reaction to the high levels of commercialization, many neighbourhoods in Rio (and indeed in cities all over Brazil), have experienced a resurgence in the Carnival Bandas or Blocos.

A Banda plays well-known Carnival hits and consists of an orchestra marching along (or even stationary!) a pre-determined route, followed by hordes of enthusiastic samba dancers who come dressed in costumes, trunks or even in drag!

A Bloco consists of several huge floats covered in loudspeakers, plays a variety of up-beat Carnival music and is followed by as many as 10,000 dancing Brazilians who are inside a block (usually surrounded by a cordão, or rope, which is held by thousands of security men who prevent anybody who hasn’t paid from joining the party).

In cities such as Fortaleza and Recife, for example, up to 12 Blocos (100,000+ people!) can follow one after another along a pre-determined route in a party that can last up to 24 hours – which in itself surely earns the Brazilian Carnival the deserved title of ‘the greatest party on earth’.