We are wild with excitement and completely delighted to tell you that British Airways has chosen StarBlu as a winner of this amazing award – with 10 free flights to any destination BA flies to in the world to be taken within the twelve months – watch out people, we are on our way!!!  We always knew BA was a perfect fit for our brand: they fly to many of the fabulous holiday islands we either sell to or wish to sell to, so it wasn’t very hard to work out what we would do with the prize!  From a business standpoint, we have always striven to give the best service possible to our clients and distributors, but the opportunity to meet people face-to-face is just immeasurably beneficial.  Already we have put some of the flights to good use.  Recently we went to Hong Kong  to visit the factories who manufacture our lovely products, met the factory owners and their employees.  We’ve travelled to the markets in China to find inspiration for our spring/summer 2011 collection, as well as meet our manager in Hong Kong and many clients, some of whom we had never met before. We have plans to visit the Carribean (no, honestly, it is for work!!!?), Barbados (really!) the Maldives (ok, we will maybe tag on a few extra days for a break as we will be so exhausted by then!!!) and many more interesting places besides.  Watch this space for further updates, when we have time!

Ever fancied a really different weekend away?  I decided to bow out of the big party for my birthday this year, and instead indulged in a truly unforgettable trip to Morocco with a bunch of good friends.  It’s hard to describe the shock to the senses that awaits you in the labyrinth of cobbled alleyways and souks that make up the medina area of Marrakech. Snake charmers jostle for position with story tellers; stalls offering everything from freshly squeezed orange juice to steaming hot snails tempt you to savour all; and the myriad of souks selling a huge array of must have lanterns and babouches are just irresistible!  And when you get to the point of sensory overload the beautiful snow-capped mountains – only an hour or so away from the madding crowd – offer the perfect antidote of peace and tranquility!  We used British based eco-tourism company Naturally Morocco, who organized everything from the gorgeous Riad we stayed in (Riad Fawakay is just heavenly – a peaceful oasis right in the middle of the craziness) to the wonderful trek in the mountains on my birthday.  They even suggested where we should dine for my celebratory meal – the amazing Le Foundouk restaurant – a Moroccan/Mediterranean fusion eatery, with the most gorgeous interior any of us have ever seen.   A word of warning though, you must book if you are going, as it’s incredibly popular.  There were lots of things we never got round to doing, but of course that’s the best way to leave a place, wanting to return!  Next time we plan to bring along the teenager kids – to trek, white water raft, surf on the coast are some of the ideas – and of course to revisit the magical, marvelous Marrakech!

What a great success! Thanks to all of you who came to visit us at the Spirit of Summer. We were so glad a new box load of Santiagos arrived just in the nick of time on Friday - we hadn't quite anticipated the flood of interest! Thankfully we have some left for the backlog of pre-orders we've got, so if you ordered this or the extremely covetous St Barts, they should be winging their way to you any day soon! If you haven't bought yet, please don't procrastinate, they are selling out fast !

What you might not know!

You should be wearing a suncreen with an SPF of at least 15 under your clothing.  Who would have thought? And all this time people were simply worried about exposed skin.

Don't spray on fragrance and then go for a walk on a sunny day. That could easily explain the mottled look of older women's decollete. 
 

Don't use your sunscreen sparingly. Research is showing that we aren't using enough as it is. A bottle shouldn't last more than one season, so slather it on.

If you are looking for a gentle sunscreen, reach for the lines developed for babies. They contain fewer ingredients and a higher SPF factor.

Top 7 places most often forgotten when applying sunscreen

• Backs of ears. Always apply sunscreen to exposed areas of the ears.
• Soles of feet. This is especially for those of you who sunbathe on your tummy.
• Tops of Feet. If you wear sandals on a regular basis, sunscreen applied to the tops is a must.
• Neck. This means front and back.
• Front and behind knees. The front of the knees is often forgotten even though sunscreen is applied to the legs. The skin behind the knees is equally vulnerable and quick to burn.
• Back of hands. Not only can the backs of the hands dry out, they can develop age spots that will follow you the rest of your life.
• Decolette. Even when wearing a simple blouse, this area is exposed to the damage of the sun if not protected.

Something Surprising...

*Your diet can also guard against skin damage from the sun. Apparently fish containing fatty acids is showing promising results.

Blast From the Past...

*Women used to mix baby oil with iodine to get a "faster than fast" tan.  

To celebrate the start of the Summer, ONE lucky winner will be given £100 TO SPEND ON GORGEOUS STARBLU GOODIES. This is your chance to indulge in unique beach or swimwear for you and your family !

Simply click here and add your name and email address to enter (please remember to select ‘competition’ as to where you heard about us from), and to receive shopping news and updates from starblu.com

Don’t worry, we’d never pass on your details to anyone else.

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Starblu.com £100 shopping spree prize draw terms & conditions
All entrants must be 18 years old.. No purchase necessary. All those who enter the competition will be automatically entered to the prize draw to win one prizes to spend £100 on StarBlu branded products at starblu.com. You may only enter the competition once. The winner will be randomly selected on 2 June 2010 and notified using the email address provided. To qualify, the winner must claim their prize within 7 days of notification, after which the prize will be offered to an alternative winner. There is no other choice of prize and no cash alternative prize.

We’re now up and running on Twitter. Follow us and get the latest on new trends, collections, sales and specials ! Just go to @starblu1. Tweet tweet !!

Please come and visit our stand – C51 – at The Spirit of Summer fair at Olympia, London from 13th to 16th May.

We are giving away several free entrance tickets ! If you would like a couple, please email joanna@starblu.com

We hope to see you there !

Follow this link for more details

We are so excited and very proud to have just participated in our first ever major fashion show – on the Gold coast of Australia, at Surfers paradise – how’s that for a cool address!!!

This prestigious event, The Business Gold Coast swim 2010 fashion show, showcased some of the top swimwear designers in the region, including Starblu (under the Island Way umbrella), White Sands, Lisa Blue and Kulu. Huge thanks to our main man Cameron for organizing such a spectacular event!

We’re thrilled to announce the opening of our 5th own branded shop in the luxurious Mandarin Oriental Resort located in the tropical island of Hainan, PRC. A hidden jewel on China ’s southernmost island, Mandarin Oriental, Sanya is set among 12 hectares of exclusive tropical bloom in a sheltered bay offering panoramic views of the South China Sea. It is the perfect destination getaway whether for business or pleasure

We’re thrilled to have just had a super write up by Maggie O’Sullivan in the UK’s Sunday Telegraph !

To read more, please click on the following link

We are delighted that StarBlu’s 4th own branded shop has opened recently in The Royal Phuket Marina, Thailand

Phuket’s award winning state-of-the-art marina is the ‘paradise’ island’s premier lifestyle destination. It is devoted to sailing, sports and leisure, with luxury residences and shopping facilities set amidst landscaped parks and gardens.

For further details please check out this link

The other hand by Chris Cleave

If you, like me, are looking out at the rain (yes, believe it or not, we do get rain in Dubai – just not a lot!), and you just wish you were somewhere else then let me recommend a really cheap and environmentally friendly way to do just that – buy a good book and escape! Ive just finished the most amazing, wonderful book that you must read! It was so good in fact that Im getting it for all my friends for Christmas this year. As the blurb suggests you just need to trust that you will love it, there is very little information given, which in itself intrigued me. All I can tell you is that once you start on this incredible story, you will not be able to put it down! Add it to your list for Santa…and let it pour!

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Oh the joys of the 21st century and technology …. !

We have now set up our own Facebook page, so you can keep up to date with all our latest news, views and trends.

Simply click here to take you directly to our page or on Facebook look for StarBlu Luxury Resortwear and sign up as a fan

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As the season will be soon upon us, we at StarBlu feel it is time to celebrate our successes,and share with those less fortunate. With this in mind, we will be launching our new charity appeal in next months newsletter. As you can see, we are proud to have helped sponser the building of a new orphanage in Kathmandu Nepal, and are committed to use our business to act for social change in the future. Here one of our staff members is sharing Dwali with kids that she met on her recent visit to the orphanage. Please let us know if you have a charity that is dear to your heart – no matter how small, and we will endeavour to feature it as our way of saying thank you for your support.

Where do you go on holiday that isn’t too pricey and where the big kids don’t get bored? Ive got 3 boys, 2 of them teenagers, so our holiday options can be limited!!! We’ve tried all sorts of things like surfing holidays (do you know how rare it is to get the perfect conditions to catch that wave?!), adventure holidays (dicing with death on a zipwire hundreds of feet in the air isn’t exactly my cup of tea but yes, they love it) but this year I think I really cracked it! We rented a ski apartment in Alpe D’Huez, (a fantastic little resort made famous by boasting “The alpe” which is a hugely popular uphill bike route and part of the Tour de France.

The boys started their day with the luge (a must for adrenalin junkies, pre-breakfast advised!, then chose between football, tennis, swimming, iceskating, golf etc to fill in the rest! They (ie boys + wanna-be teenager father) hired downhill mountain bikes quite a few times – the idea was that they thought this would be relatively easy as you just get the lift up and then whoosh down! Or at least that is what I thought! Au contraire, it was tough work, at times fairly technical … and declared to be the best thing they had ever done! Meanwhile I was released to potter round the village, take exercise classes at the state-of-the-art sports centre, read my book by the pool (sheer bliss!) and contemplate life. We will definitely be back, and I thoroughly recommend this kind of holiday to any of you past the sandcastle stage! Do let me know if you have had happy holiday experiences that you’d like to share. Meanwhile, Im planning our ski holiday back there now!!! anne@starblu.com

My friend Dorcas has been been trying to get me to read this book for years now, so its not new, but this summer I finally got round to it and Ive just got to tell you, this is one amazing read and undoubtedly one of my favourite books in a long time! Suffice to say, this is the kind of book that you get so involved in the characters and the story that it actually becomes hard to switch off from it. It is an amazing love story (and so much more), set in Leningrad in 1941 during the invasion of Russia by Hilter …… The best thing I can advise is to plan a bit of ‘Me’ time, curl up in a comfy armchair and enjoy! I seriously envy you the treat!

Have you read something fab over the summer? Im trying to compile a list of StarBlus top 10 favourite holiday reads. The first 10 people to submit their choice will win a £ 10 StarBlu voucher. Please email me ; anne@starblu.com

“I wanted to write to pass on my thanks to you and the rest of the Starblu team, as I took delivery of my first order last week and was absolutely delighted – both with the service I received, the speed of delivery and value of the items.

The St Martins (pink) kaftan and a blue St Lucia Butterfly kaftan are both a gorgeous fit and the fabric, colours and styles are both flattering and unique – they made me feel as if I was already on holiday!

I hope the site continues to expand and sell beautiful and classic summery pieces – can’t wait til my next holiday to treat myself again!

Thanks again."

Eleanor, Bath, England, 24th June 2009

We have just opened a new StarBlu boutique, which is situated at Turtle Village in Phuket, Thailand. This lovely mall is situated next to the gorgeous Mai Khao beach, pictured here.

This is our third own brand outlet. The Turtle Village boutique shopping centre is located next to the JW Marriott, Mai Khao Marriott and Anantara hotel Resorts and Mai Khao beach, all located just 10 minutes north of the airport.

This boutique is our first own brand shop in Thailand, having successfully sold Starblu products through Thai hotel boutiques very successfully over the past 3 years.

If you have any questions regarding location etc., please email tara@starblu.com. We hope to see you there !

Fed up with your neutral Winter wardrobe? Are you yearning for a new look that will take you into the Summer, but feel it’s just too cold for a pretty flimsy kaftan? Then why not add new life to your favourite Summer kaftan by layering it up? Add warmth and interest with co-coordinating long cardies, waistcoats and scarves, team with a big belt and other accessories and your kaftan will look stylish and fresh!Viola! You have created the perfect trans-seasonal look, which should take you seamlessly into those (soon-to-come) long Summer days! Our NEW Montego Bay kaftan works well with this – add dark blue skinny jeans, a neutral cami, layers of beads and a long cardy for a fantastic Spring look which transports later into a chiffon dress over bikini and flip flops for the beach!