Hey guys!
As you all know, I am from Newcastle and think that it’s a pretty cool city as far as the UK goes. Sure, it’s not London, but what city is! I’ve read from other bloggers that having a blog up here, or even anywhere which is outside of London can make you feel a bit on the outside, because everything is so London-centric.
A white shirt is a staple in any man’s wardrobe, no matter what the season or occasion, so when Tophat London got in touch to let me feature one from their range, I had to have a look.
Tophat London is an independent British brand on a mission to produce high quality shirting without the high price of other premium clothing labels.
They are calling their first collection the weekday wardrobe, and contains five brilliant white shirts all with their own unique styling. Regular readers of my blog will know that I love small details, and the shirts within the collection come with exactly that.
They come with collar and cuff detailing, all with their own unique and individual pattern and colours, which really add something to the shirt, keeping them classic but giving each one from the collection some individuality. The patterns from the shirts also have matching pocket squares to compliment the shirt, and are made from 100% silk.
I really love the Chaplin shirt, and that is the one I’ve got. First off I have to talk about the packaging because I really like it. The first impressions are always important, and the shirt comes in a branded box, and within that is a soft velvet shirt bag which is a really nice touch, and is in keeping with the ideal of luxury shirting.
As mentioned, the detailing of the collar and cuffs is what really makes the shirt stand out. The navy swirl pattern comes with a contrasting lighter blue, and if you look very closely you’ll see red dots which are used within the pattern.
The blue colour is also used in the threads around the branded buttons, giving the shirt some attractive accents. It’s a slim fit which I prefer, and fits well. The fabric is 100% cotton twill and is 2-ply with 100s thread count which gives it it’s soft feel. When wearing the shirt you can really notice the difference in the thickness of the cotton in comparison to a standard cotton shirt.
The shirts come in at £65 each, and you can check out Tophat London shirts on their site
This post was written in collaboration with Tophat London
I finally got a new laptop, and it’s the Dell XPS 13 2016 edition!
You’ll have seen the Dell XPS 13 laptop on my blog before, and if you follow me you’ll know how much I like this laptop, and how highly I rate it. I have actually had this for a couple of months now, but just got round to writing about it, I’ve been too busy using it!
Craft beers have become a big thing over the past several years, in fact I read that starting a microbrewery was one of the biggest start-ups for beer loving entrepreneurs a couple of years ago. However you don’t need to worry about the business behind the ale to enjoy it.
Whether you’re new to Craft Beers or an enthusiast, Morrisons have a great range for you to try out. Morrisons kindly sent some over for me to try, including some of their Summer favourites.
Since it’s the Summer I go for the clean cut look for my face. If you’ve been a long time reader of my blog then you’ll know that in the past few years I decided to go for a beard in the winter months, and then keep it clean in the Summertime.
If you’ve ever done this, you’ll know that shaving can become such a chore when you’ve done the beard regime which is obviously less often.
Having said that, I really like having ultra smooth skin, so try to shave as often as I need to, and not get too lazy when it comes to grooming.
I always wet shave, I can’t imagine doing anything else. I’ve always thought that you get a far better finish, and it’s always a much nicer experience when having a wet shave. Wilkinson Sword asked me to try out their brand new Hydro 5 razor and put it through it’s paces, so I did.
First of all as the name suggests it’s a razor which has 5 blades, which gives a really close shave. One of the most important factors for using these razors is how well it works on your skin. It glides over the skin with ease and feels really nice.
This can be attributed to the technology behind the blade, which is a water activated gel reservoir, which they say delivers 40% less friction than a lubrication strip.
The back of the reservoir also has a handy flip-trimmer, which is there for hard to reach places, or to get that extra precision on smaller areas.
After shaving there was no irritation, and my skin is smooth. I am really happy with the results of the shave from the Hydro 5, it is a really good razor which gives a really nice shave. You can check it out over on the Wilkinson Sword website here. Let me know what you think, and check out more of my men’s grooming tips and see what works for you.
Written in collaboration with Wilkinson Sword
It seems like just yesterday I was in Madrid, and it’s a brilliant city and a place which I really loved. As always when I write about places I’ve been to on the blog, I do a roundup of advice and tips from my experiences. Here’s my travel tips and advice, and if you have any questions please feel free to add them in the comments below 🙂
I have to admit, when I first saw knitted trainers I was thinking that they were ridiculous. I thought they looked pretty horrible, and did not really understand why I’d ever want a pair. That was around 12 months ago, and there were some pretty ugly designs and colours out there which did nothing for the trend.
Fast forward to 2016, and they are looking better and better. They’ve been given a couple of names, technical trainers, hi-tech trainers, knitted trainers, one thing is for sure, the big players Nike and Adidas are really going for it with this trend, and have brought out some seriously good trainers lately.
The ability to be modern, yet also timeless, is one of the stories which Salvatore Ferragamo wants to tell in it’s latest scent, Uomo Salvatore Ferragamo. The luxury Italian fashion house sent over the brand new scent for me to check out.
It’s said to inspire the contemporary man, which is described as a modern gentleman with typical Italian, full of charisma, creativity and style wherever he goes.
As you’ll have already read, last week we had the best Summer’s day of the year (so far), it was really hot so I decided to go to the beach and walk along the coast. There were lots of guys walking around the promenade and even in the city with their shirts off…We get 1 hot day in Newcastle and England and people definitely overreact! 
You should definitely keep your shirt on, if you want to take it off save that for when you are at the beach, on the sand or in the water, or if you’re lucky enough to be by a pool.
I love the nautical style for Summer, and I have 3 or 4 different striped tees, they’re all fairly similar. Summer also means lighter bottoms which I like, it gives me a chance to wear some coloured or lighter chinos or jeans. I think when it comes to picking out your clothing for something like this, you need to choose something versatile which can work in both a city situation around a lot of people, and the beach location which will be a lot more relaxed.
I wore this Nautical T-Shirt from ASOS, a pair of light chinos from Mango and my Nike Air Max 1 Ultra Moire which I really love. It’s finished off with my Ran Ban Aviators and my D&G watch.
Check out more pics below
Hey guys!
So we went out last night in Newcastle and headed for the usual places…I say that, but actually we went to a couple of bars which I really like, but have not been to in a while. It was a really busy Saturday night, since it was ladies day at Newcastle Racecourse everyone from there always head into the town to carry on their night, so everywhere was pretty packed. We went to Revolution and Tokyo, two places I love, if you don’t know about them you should definitely read about them in my Newcastle bars pages. Other bars we went to were The Milecastle, The Long Bar, Mimo, and The Mushroom. Revolution is one of the best bars because of the building and layout as you can see in the pic above, and Tokyo has a sweet outdoor terrace, perfect for the Summer.
Sorry for the bad image quality, they are from my phone! 😛 You can also check out a little video of Revolution which I put up on my Snapchat. I wore my Thomas Pink navy shirt with black Nudie Jeans and my suede shoes from Kurt Geiger. It felt weird not wearing a jacket, I’ve never been on a night out without a blazer or jacket since last year, so it was fairly strange 😀
Check out more pics and the video below…
Welcome to Michael 84 – A men’s fashion blog and lifestyle guide from the UK. You’ll find the best in fashion, style, male grooming, fragrances, travel, tech and modern living.
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