Fashion Meets Sport At Sweaty Betty

Our in house design team take inspiration from the fashion shows across the globe to create the Sweaty Betty range. The designers have experience within different fields and are the very best at honing pieces to perfection for the sport, but they are fashion lovers too! Looking at the seasonal collections, in particular London Fashion Week, they take ideas and elements of ready to wear pieces on the runway and translate these into the Sweaty betty range. Expect added fashion elements such as tapered legs and oversize harem pants to make up this fashion sporty look with an edge!

 

Fragrance Direct reveal their customer's favourites for 2013

Online perfume retails Fragrance Direct have revealed the results of the 2013 customer survey. Using social media and customer feedback they quizzed thousands of their customers in order to find out some of their favourite brands and fragrances of the last year

They report that the Most Popular Mainstream Fragrance customers adored in 2012 is the super-popular 1 Million perfume for men from Paco Rabanne, the high selling eau de toilette polled just under 40 per cent of the votes whilst second place went to the perennial favourite CK One perfume which received 21 per cent of the vote Joop Homme coming in at third with 16 per cent.

An interesting development in the world of perfumes and fragrances is the impact made by Lady Gaga, one of the biggest music stars on the planet, her debut fragrance Fame, billed as "an innovative perfume" claiming to be the world’s first “black to clear” scent, reflects her personality, and has certainly made its mark on perfume fans; a massive 43 per cent of Fragrance Direct customers named Fame by Lady Gaga as the Best Celebrity Fragrance of 2012.

Celebrity perfumes are an extremely popular market amongst the other popular fragrance endorsements were Rebelle from singer (and now actress) Rihanna, which took 19 per cent, and Wonderstruck by US country/pop star Taylor Swift, which 14 per cent of the votes.

Lady Gaga’s Fame scent also featured in the best newcomer category of the poll but was beaten into second place by the newest perfume from fashion designer Marc Jacobs, Dot. It is an extremely striking product with its playful aroma and polka dot bottle, Dot. Fragrance Direct's customers felt it had become an instant classic and it won the Best New Fragrance title with an impressive 30 per cent of the vote.

As for the Best Perfume TV Commercial provided some interest,the overall winner was the TV campaign for new Nina Ricci scent Ricci polling 30 per cent of the vote. Second place was the eye-catching result, with 20 per cent of the vote going to the Chanel No.5 advert starring Hollywood actor Brad Pitt. The result provoke a fair bit of discussion as the advert has come under criticism from some quarters for its bizarre nature.

The full facts and figures from our Best of 2012 polls can be found in the infographic above,  simply click on the thumbnail to view the full size Fragrance Direct Infographic.

 

Leading online retailer for designer fragrances, Purely Perfume, offers special offer prices on Paco Rabanne fragranced for men and women.

As loved up online shoppers head online for last minute Valentine’s Day gift ideas, Purely Perfume is offering reduced special offer prices on Paco Rabanne fragrances for men and women.

A bottle of luxury perfume or aftershave is the perfect gift idea for Valentine’s Day that the customers other half is sure to appreciate; and Purely Perfume offers customers the chance to make fantastic savings on acclaimed designer fragrances. This allows shoppers to make even grander gestures.

Savings are available across a wide range of the biggest names in fashion and perfumery, and this includes the legendary French fashion house Paco Rabanne. The Paco Rabanne label offers some of the most popular fragrances in fashion including Paco Rabanne Ultraviolet for Women and for Men. Savings of almost half price are available across a range of Paco Rabanne fragrance which also includes Paco Rabanne XS.

Purely Perfume is a family run business which combines years of experience in delivering all of the major fragrances from the perfume industry, and making them available for a fraction of their recommended retail price. Browsing the all new Purely Perfume online store to find favourite fragrances couldn’t be simpler, and many offer customers the chance to save a considerable amount of cash.

These savings are as important on Valentine’s Day as any time throughout the year, especially when it means customers could treat their loved ones to even more.

Pay a visit to the Purely Perfume online store today to find Paco Rabanne perfume, aftershave and much more, with fact delivery in time for Valentine’s Day.

 

ECI Partners Invests in compliance company Citation plc

ECI Partners LLP, the UK growth focused mid-market private equity firm, is taking a majority stake in Citation plc ("Citation"), in a deal that values the company at £50million, in order to support Citation in realising its plans for growth. 

 

With over 200 employees, Citation provides professional advice and compliance packages to 7,500 business clients across the UK, via its team of regionally located, employed consultants. The company’s market- leading services provide guaranteed protection in the high risk areas of employment law and health & safety regulations.

 

Citation clients are 12x less likely to face an employment tribunal, 47 times less likely to receive a Health & Safety notice and 8 times less likely to have a reportable accident at work compared to other SMEs.

 

Citation offers an excellent service to its clients with long term future contracts by professional service sector standards. Since 2006, sales have risen more than 50 percent to £15.4 million for the year ending 31 December 2011. The company was  winner of the Queen’s Award for Enterprise (Innovation) 2006, and has also been recognised as "market leader" by Orange UK in the National Business Awards.

 

Andrew Vaughan (current Chairman of Premier Care another ECI investment), will join the board as Chairman to work with ECI Partners to expand Citation. Former appointments for Mr Vaughan include Enviros Group, WCI Group and ClarityBlue. Prior to these roles he was Chief Executive of Workplace Technologies which he led through MBO, flotation, and finally sale.

 

Citation Financial Director Julie Moran, said:

 

"This is an exciting time for Citation, our clients and our employees. ECI Partners have a strong track record of backing growth companies and we welcome their investment."

 

"Citation has grown its business significantly in recent years, thanks to the hard work of our employees and the support of our clients. We want to build on that success and today’s announcement will support a major growth strategy for the future."

 

Richard Chapman, Head of Business Services at ECI Partners, added:

 

"Citation has a proven management team in place and we look forward to working with them to support the company’s future growth strategy.

 

"We recognise there is a growing requirement for SMEs to demonstrate their compliance in Personnel & Employment Law and Health & Safety. Our investment will help to accelerate the growth of the core Personnel & Employment Law and Health & Safety divisions."