A Special Note...

And a special gift, just for you...

Hi!

I emailed you on Wednesday to let you know that I would be writing to you from my new home on Substack. Well, here I am and I wanted to share with you before anyone else how this is all going to work.

So I will be keeping track of thoughts, musings and just ‘things’ as I go about my life, with the idea being that I then share the more interesting ones with you here. I’m not an over-sharer by nature (quite the opposite in fact), but I am going to try sharing a little more about me and my life here too. Let’s see how we go. What I can guarantee is 100% authenticity. This is something I have always been very particular/passionate about, right from the very beginning in 2011 when I first started my blog, LittleSpree (as it was called then). And to anyone who’s been with me from the beginning (and I know you’re out there!) - wow, thank you! As always, anything I share here will only be things I genuinely like/love, and/or have personally experienced/bought/own. I’m not the greatest writer in the world, but have always loved writing, and studied fashion journalism at college. I always wanted to be a writer when I was a child (I even wrote a series of books called Harriet and the Hamsters - haha!). So this is the place where I am going to be putting all that. I’m nervous, but excited. I’ve never done anything like this before.

As a little re-introduction for those of you who don’t know, or are new-ish to Douceur, I am a former Fashion Editor - I worked at Marie Claire (7 years), Glamour (6 years) - both full-time before having my children (twins) in 2010; Red; then The Telegraph’s Stella magazine. I also worked as a freelance Stylist and Art Director alongside the magazines from 2011. So fashion and styling have been my career from my early twenties. I also worked briefly in PR (in the press office for Joseph) straight out of college, before moving to Marie Claire as a Fashion Assistant (a dream come true!). I do have quite a catalogue of (apparently) quite amusing fashion stories and anecdotes, which I may start mining. So stay tuned.

I started my blog, then called LittleSpree, in 2011, the year after my children were born. What started as tiny (I literally shared one item daily), and just focused on children’s clothing (stylish and affordable obviously!), slowly and steadily grew to include fashion, interiors, beauty, mens, garden, and gifts. I will be sharing a mix of free and paid content here. I do feel that having (very happily I might add) created and shared all my content for free up until this point, I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that as a businesswoman (and employer of other women) I’m always looking out for opportunities to monetise a different kind of content. I totally get that this might feel jarring for some people, but by way of explanation, I’ve always invested a great deal of time, effort and care (and love) into everything I find. 99.9% of everything I share I still source myself - this is also the bit I really love, so zero complaints there. The Douceur website will remain completely unchanged, with everything you have come to know and expect, including of course, everyone’s favourite, Sunday Style, freely available as it always has been. After 14 years this has gradually evolved into a full-time job, one that I love, but a full-time job nonetheless. I’m pretty sure it’s obvious how much I love what I do, and what a pleasure it’s been to create something (from almost nothing) that affords me the luxury of flexibility to work around my kids/family. Thank you for being an essential part of that and thank you (I hope) for sticking with me.

So here on Substack, I will be sharing more personal and immediate edits - anything from my go-to white shirts, favourite rattan outdoor planters, stylish garden hose (this is not a joke, and yes I have found one, and will be sharing here in my next post), to my favourite places to go in Tuscany (not the touristy ones), where we holiday every summer. Other times it might be a little essay from me about an experience in my life. So a bit of everything. Where Douceur.uk is carefully curated, Douceur Diaries will be much more like a friend sharing their newest discoveries (whatever those might be) as and when I happen upon them. But of course, this will also take time. So if you did want to support this new content by upgrading your subscription to a paid one, that would be lovely and so appreciated. It would also help me carve out more time to dedicate to adding more content/value here. So (deep breath) here’s a bit more on how it’s going to work…

FREE SUBSCRIBERS

The good news is, if you are receiving this email you are already a free subscriber to Douceur Diaries. That means once a month you will automatically receive my monthly newsletter with my favourite finds and round-ups.

However, if you fancy getting more involved with me and my work, and receive extra content, you may want to consider becoming a paid subscriber.

PAID SUBSCRIBER £5 a month/£50 a year

As well as supporting me on this new journey, you will get:

• A weekly round-up of thoughts, musings, shopping edits and whatever else takes my fancy

• You will have complete access to me and the community here, which means you can talk to one another in the comments section, share your own fashion discoveries and things that you’re loving right now. It’s your community, so you can dip in and out as you choose. It’s going to be fun!

• Occasional styling videos, exclusive address books, and be the first to know about new product drops.

  I am also offering a founding subscription. This is really for those who want to make the biggest difference to me and how I work. I’m still figuring out all the details on what that’s going to look like, but it will include personal styling/shopping advice, and direct access to me and my 30 years of experience as as Fashion Editor.

  To become one of my first founding members add your email below.

  Finally, as a thank you for your loyalty (which as I’ve said before, means the world) I would love to offer a special 40% lifetime annual discount for all my original subscribers (yes, that’s YOU). This means that instead of the usual £50 a year you will only pay £30 for the rest of your life, even if prices change here. I’m only offering this for the next 48 hours, before I announce the launch of my Substack to everyone else, so be quick if you think that’s something you’d like to make the most of.

  If this sounds like something you’d be interested in, then simply hit the button below:

• And I hope it goes without saying that whatever subscription you decide on, I am just happy you’re here. So thank you. It really does mean everything to me.
  Sarah xx