Sun In The City with eParisiennes
A couple of months ago, I helped out Kasia Dietz and presented her bags at a promotional soirée given by the PR agency Willina (run by two of the most fabulous Parisian bloggers around! Sheily of Paris Maman et Moi, and Nathalie of The Parisienne
The theme of this bash was Sun in the City, to celebrate the arrival of Summer, and promote a few select brands that can help us do just that! And this time Kasia Dietz was attending the soirée too!
Willina then creates a fun “estory” from all of our tweets and instagrams, which we get to browse through the next day. Impressive to say the least given the sheer amount of social media posts we all published. Enjoy it here.
Greeted with fun colored flower necklaces, we mingled until we were divided into groups, and went from one brand presentation back to the refreshment bar, then off to another brand presentation; all which were set up in lovely little scenes around the fabulous venue which double during the day as an art workshop.
The first brand I got to check out was Les Baigneuses, beachwear fashion designed in France and made in Italy in a small family style workshop. Laila Benaia explained how she created her brand and how she moved her production from France to Italy and the delightful comraderie she finds at the workshops when she heads down there. Imagine a tiny little Italian village with cobblestone streets and a few of the ladies who sew the bathing suits preparing the giant pots of pasta that they all share for lunch, much conversation and laughter and the whirrr of sewing machines that help put together the beautiful exclusive prints that Laila has created for her collections. Small production and felxibility also mean that Laia can modify any model for custom sizes if somone needs a larger size than what is offered on her site or in the boutique (in Marseille). Just contact her with your request. I love the little one piece models with the bow in the back and the one pieces that have slimming seam lines down the front.
With the Baigneuses we also got introduced to Piment de Mer, the beach products you will no longer be able to live without on your summer seaside vacation. Towels that have extra features, beachbags and accessories with practical functions, and all of it…machine washable! Oh, and of course… MADE IN FRANCE! I like that. THe designer won an award in 2013 for her genious creations. Imagine a towel with a pocket as well as rivets and pegs so you can make sure your beach towel stays exactly where you want in in that Mediteranean sand, or a phone case on which you can wipe the cream or sand off your fingers before grabbing your smartphone (to take an instagram of your beach swag of course); or a beach bag that has an interior that keeps moiture from leakingout, so when you head home packing your wet towel you don’t get a big wet stain on your sundress. It’s small details like these that make these already fabulous products genious. And then of course the colors are perfect for summer!
After a refreshing glass of rosé and a few mouthfuls of sushi, I headed over to the decadant display of jewels from Occo. The designer, a pretty parisienne, who comes from a family of jewelry designers since 1951. Occo is her branch of the family history. There is an apparant delicate nature to her designs, as well as a desire to sparkle. All her pearls are natural and unique, and her creations astonishing. We were all in love with her silk jewelry that looks like mesh metal. Light as a feather and comfortable to wear, it looks like it could be made of silver. Occo has a boutique at 95 rue de Rennes 75006 so you can have a good browse of all her amazing pieces.
Next was the table of Alain Afflelou sunglasses. The first line of shades designed by this very French eyewear brand, had set out a pile of fun sunglasses and a few mirrors, and lets us go instagram crazy on it all! From 59€-79€ these are some funky sunnies that you can certainly afford.
After the many selfies of ourselves in Afflelou shades, we indulged in more tasty treats…
…and then slid over to our last stop of the summer soirée the table that smelled like a freshly poured piña colada. A marketing manager and a community manager were presenting the piña colada line of the Bernard Cassiere relaxing body products. A massage candle an exfoliant, and a massage oil were presented to us while we sipped actual freshly made piña colada cocktails. (I had two). So since I had the time to slurp down a couple of those babies, the lovely people representing the brand had plenty of time to convince me that these natural ingredient products are exactly what I need for my summer skin care. It’s true really. I need some motivating to take time for skin care, so these delicious smelling products are perfect to entice me. It’s a mini seaside vacation every time I open the bottle of cream. Sometimes I’ll put on the massage oil instead of perfume just for the day so I can have a positive mental attitude. It’s amazing what you can do for yourself just by appeasing your olfactive system.
And with a last bubbly sip of some Finley grapefruit sparkling soda, I thanked our fabulous hosts, and headed back home with a bag full of goodies! It’s soirées like these, where you get to meet other bloggers and feel supported and appreciated by other hard working social media gurus, it’s these kinds of events that make the blogging a thing of value. Because you can count all the clicks and views and page visits you want, but nothing beats the community you create. Sheily and Nathalie of Willina have done an amazing job of contributing to our Paris bloggers’ community. Merci les files!!!
OMG the ring is amazing 🙂
I really like this post 🙂
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thanks for sharing ! We loved having you with us 🙂
It is great to hear about all these fun French products.