The body of the Casio’s G-1000D is made out of a mixture of metal and resin.  This gives the Casio a high quality look and feel without being too uncomfortably heavy to wear.  Take a closer look and you’ll find a well crafted and highly detailed watch face with a traditional analogue display.

Listed around the rim of the watch-face are the major cities of the world.  Since Casio has forgone the digital interface, they’ve had to be smart and design the watch to encompass your main time interface, world clock, stopwatch, calendar and alarm.  A phenomenal amount of functionality that has been carefully crafted on to the watch-face so that they’re each visible in their own right.

Unlike the Casio G-Shock watches before it, there’s no blue or green backlight display.  Once well known for this feature, Casio has done away with this method of lighting up the watch-face with a bright blue glow.  Instead, the dials have a luminous coating applied which glow in the dark.

With elegance at the forefront of the design paradigm, Casio is aiming for a slightly different market than what they’re used to.  They have taken the classic look and refined it to bring it a modern, and dare I say, more mature appearance with that touch of class.  Gone are the big bulging plastic bits and wrap around straps.  Say hello to stainless steel and fine craftsmanship.  Simplicity is key, and that is what they have achieved.  I like the new look and I’m glad this was the watch that reintroduced me to one of my favourite childhood timepieces.  It’s not an old-mans watch but it’s leaning in that direction with sophistication, whilst retaining modern and trendy styling.

Sunglasses can be great for both the sunny and gloomy seasons, which is why fashionLOFT is bringing you a feature focus on Polaroid’s sunglasses range.

Wearing sunglasses can be essential and practical whether you’re on holiday or driving to work.  Whilst we’re well in to the cold season, the sun still shines and it can sometimes shine a bit too bright for some us when we’re in the car.  Sunglasses are your best option because sun visors just don’t work.

Polaroid sunglasses use polarized lens technology in their range of sunglasses to prevent your eyes from experiencing glare.  This can happen when sunlight is reflected from a wet road and can cause a glare effect to happen, which makes it very difficult and in some cases dangerous to see.

You’ll also find UV light absorbers in the Polaroid range of sunglasses so that harmful radiation is blocked completely from your eyes.

Whilst all the technology in the lenses is great to know.  What most of us want to find out more about is whether they look any good on us.

Combining comfort and designer style, Polaroid have a vast collection of sunglasses to suit you and your style at prices much lower than the big brand names want you to hand over the cash for.  In a time where we’ve all got to make some cutbacks, Polaroid could be one of your best choices for some stylish ‘glass’.

From metals to plastics and rimless to aviators, Polaroid have got a good range to suit both men’s, women’s and kids.  You can go for small and discrete or large mask-style.

I’ve had a chance to test out a few of the range for the past couple of months, which you can see for yourself in the photographs below.

High quality plastics were used in the frames with scratch resistant coating on the lenses to prevent damage in transit.  My favourite were the sporty-looking black frame with the orange trim inside.  It all depends on personal taste and sometimes the shape of your face to get the right type of sunglasses that suit you.  Not everybody can pull of the JLo look.  Check out Polaroid’s guide to sunglasses.  You’ll find advice and tips on choosing the right shape for your face.

Its credit-crunch time, but it doesn’t mean we have to throw out our sense of fashion and style.  So check out Polaroid’s polarized sunglasses at http://www.polaroidsunglasses.co.uk

Win something!

Here’s your chance to win a pair of your very own Polaroid sunglasses.  We’ve got eight pairs of Polaroid’s current range of sunglasses to give away completely for free!

To enter, all you have to do is e-mail polaroid [at] techcastnetwork.co.uk with your name and e-mail.

Your details will not be used for any other purposes other than to get in touch if you win.

Entries can only be accepted for UK residents and need to be submitted by 23:59 on 5th December 2008.

Take for instance, the luxurious Swarovski crystal straps. Decorate your dress with some sparkling Swarovski clear crystals to add the finishing touches to your outfit. These beautiful crystal straps can be adjusted up to 470 mm to fit all sizes. This fine accessory can make your dress, bra or top look that extra special with it’s sparkly finish for your night out.

If winter isn’t your season, and you prefer a bit of sunshine to lift your mood, then get a feel for sun in a jar. This eco-friendly lamp charges using a built-in solar panel in the lid of the jar. There’s also a sensor that detects when its dark and switches itself on. Fortunately there is a switch inside so that you can choose when you want a bit of sunshine to brighten up your day.

Whilst it’s not as effective in daylight conditions, it does create some nice mood lighting before you go to bed.  The orange light is booth soothing and relaxing in the background or on your bedside table whilst you sleep, and the great thing about is it won’t cost you anything to run since it’s solar powered.  At fashionLOFT that means another reason to feel good about yourself.

If you would like a bit of sparkle, a dash of sunlight this Winter, then check out fabnfunkygifts.com

Plastic bags were so last season.  Not only are they damaging to the environment, they either end up in a land fill (yuck!) or building up a collection in your kitchen cupboard.  Well, now you’ve got a good reason to ‘bag’ them up and take them to the recycling bins because a new trend that is becoming more mainstream in your local supermarket.  You may not have noticed before, but you will after reading this feature.

In the spirit of going green and doing your bit to save the world, why not swap out your usual shopping bags this festive season with a set of trendy designer bags for carrying this years Christmas groceries.

For the style-conscious, this is the new trend that you’ll start to see more and more of in supermarkets, to the extent that even supermarkets are beginning to offer higher quality bags that you pay a little bit extra for so you can reuse them.

Unlike the ones that supermarkets offer you at the checkouts, eco-totes from envirosax.com are made of a tough water-proof polyester and has a clever design that allows you to wrap them up in to a small bundle once you’re done with them, ready for your next shopping trip.  They wrap up small enough that you can easily fit several of these in a handbag or even a jacket pocket.  Capacity is also greater, so you don’t have to use as many bags to carry your shopping with each eco-tote able to carry up to twice as much as your typical plastic bag.

With over 30 designs to choose from, these fashionable eco-totes may be the answer to your plastic bag dilemma.  It will save you having to recycle and it’ll let you sleep a little bit better at night.

Check out the latest collection, Botanica, at envirosax.com and do your bit to help the planet and look good at the same time.

Miglio is a South African based jewellery business that has been going for over 20 years. Their collection of hand-made jewellery is created using a combination of locally sourced materials combined with Swarovski crystals and pearls.

I’ve had the chance to try on a couple of their velvet-blue range of jewellery products in the form of a luxurious necklace made of glass pearls combined with tanzanite Swarovski crystals and a matching charm bracelet.

Don’t mistake this for cheap novelty jewellery, Miglio are serious about their offering which is why they have nearly 1,000 consultants spanning the UK to help spread the word about Miglio products. Gift parties can also be arranged where you get to try out the full range of products with your friends before making your purchase. A great way to try out the jewellery and inspect the design in the comfort of your own home before splashing out.

You can check out their full range for this Winter season by visiting their site at www.miglio.co.uk

To celebrate fashionLOFT hitting the fashion scene, we’re giving away the bracelet and necklace worth over hundreds for absolutely nothing.  All you have to do is e-mail me the answer to the following question at competitions at techcastnetwork.co.uk

Q.  Where does Miglio jewellery come from?

Competition is now closed.  Winners will be notified shortly.

Now check out some more snaps of this gorgeous jewellery…

Have you ever seen a set of shoes that you want to buy, but the colour just wasn’t right or the pattern didn’t match the outfit you just bought?

If you’re anything like me, then the shoes are just as important as the rest of the outfit.  No outfit is complete without the right set of shoes to go with them.  No matter how insignificant it may feel at the time or the setting you’re going to be in, the shoes are as equally important as the bag, the earrings and the rest of the outfit.

Selve may be the answer to your prayers if you’re looking for something a little bit more exclusive for a fancy night out.  The purveyor of customised, hand-made shoes allow you to pick and choose from a range of shoe styles and then pick from a range of colours to suit your outfit.

With over 90 shoes and boots available in their current collection, there are literally hundreds if not thousands of combinations of styles and designs to pick from with each one crafted to your own taste and style.

When you’ve picked your style and design, you receive an invite to the Selve store in London for a private appointment where you have the exact dimensions of your feet scanned in to their computer.  This ensures that your shoes are a perfect fit when they’re delivered in a little over a month.  Unfortunately that does mean you’ll most likely ordering for a special occasion or a planned event, but chances are this is why you’ll be coming to Selve.

Visit the selve store now to customise your exclusive pair of shoes!

If you would like to become the owner of an exclusive pair of Selve shoes worth nearly £300, then make sure you enter in our launch competition giveaway for your chance to win a pair of your very own customised pair of shoes.

To be in with a chance to win, all you have to do is let us know in no more than 300 words, what occasion you will be wearing these shoes to and what will you be wearing with it.  The more detail you include, the better because we’re going to be picking entries based on the best occasion and outfit that these shoes will be worn for.

Post your entries in the comment box below.  Make sure you include your first name and e-mail.  Your e-mail address will not be used for any other purpose other than to contact you if you’ve won.

Competition is now closed.  Winners will be notified shortly.

From the land of Istanbul, T-box has finally made it to the fashionLOFT desk, with a concept that has been on the scene in Australia and Canada, now they’ve come to the UK.

What’s strikingly different about T-box is that they sell their clothing line not on clothes hooks or the perfect plastic figurines you see in the shops.  Nope.  T-box don’t do any of that.  Instead, they shrink their products into cute little blocks and shapes.  If you’re packing for a holiday and you want to take new outfits with you, then stocking up on T-box items could save you the hassle of taking loads of luggage with you.  Just chuck a bunch of cubes, ice lollies and lollipops in to your handbag and your set for a weeks worth of outfits without having to wear the same thing more than once.

Find a range of men’s and women’s clothing ranges for this years autumn and winter season from striped fleece hoodies to a raincoat that you can condense in to a small bag and carry with you in your handbag in case it rains.

The age-old saying of all things come in small packages in this scenario may just be true.  Unpack your surprise today by visiting t-box2go.co.uk

There are many products out there that you can buy which claim to bring health benefits by drinking their ‘version’ of green tea.  Whilst green tea has been known to be an antioxidant, sometimes there are other ingredients which are added to the mix to bring about the health benefits such as caffeine.  If you’re looking for something that is pure in green tea extract, then you should consider trying out Teavigo.

To gain the health benefits of green tea, you need to be consuming on average, four to eight cups of the stuff each day.  In today’s world of ‘now’, it’s difficult to consistently to do anything four to eight times a day, let alone find time to drink green tea as many times.

Teavigo is a caffeine-free green tea extract offering a natural product that can be consumed conveniently in the form of tablets, mints or strips that dissolve in water.  Teavigo also includes a chemical called Epigallocatechin Gallate (EGCG), which helps you to keep your gums and teeth healthy.  EGCG is used to fight bacteria that grows in your mouth and creates bad odours.

So why is green tea good for you?  As an antioxidant, green tea helps to detox your body and flush out chemicals that aren’t good for your system.  Another health benefit that has been linked to green tea, is the ability to burn fat more quickly.

There are three ways you can buy Teavigo, so you should be able to find a routine that fits you, and you’ll be glad to know that none of them involves drinking hot bitter tea or having to spend the time brewing the stuff.  You can also be reassured that what you’re consuming is the good stuff.  There’s too many fake products out there that try to give you the benefits of green tea by stuffing other chemicals in there as substitutes.  At least with Teavigo, you know what you’re consuming.

Tablets contain 75mg EGCG and only need to be taken twice a day with meals to get the same benefits of drinking green tea regularly.  The pastilles offer a sweet grapefruit mint that slowly dissolves in your mouth.  Whilst they do taste sweet, they don’t contain any sugar.  A pleasant way to get your dosage of green tea.  The strips that dissolve in water have an apple and lemon flavouring to it and contains 50mg of EGCG and should be consumed about three times a day dissolved in a glass of water.

Find out where you can buy teavigo by visiting the official site.

The team at TechCast Network are pleased to announce the launch of fashionLOFT.   TechCast Network now consists of three sites with TechCast Reviews which started it all back in 2006, the recently launched TechCast News and the fresh-out-of-the-oven fashionLOFT.

fashionLOFT is home to all of the latest fashion products from chic to geek.  The site will be covering a wide range of topics and products ranging from herbal teas and hand-made jewellery to the latest in clothing from the top designer labels and accessories for your top gadgets.

To commemorate this special occasion, we’re having a massive competition giveaway so go and check out our launch features on products that are glitzy and glamorous and some that are just downright healthy.

We’ve got the first set of features up today, but come back tomorrow for more!

We want to hear about what you think of fashionLOFT, so please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section below…