It is very nearly spring in Brussels, still some way to go in Tallinn. When I was little, I used to be very disdainful of yellow daffodils, as they were the most common spring flowers in my grandmother’s garden. I thought paperwhites much superior and tulips (especially if not red) the noblest of all. These days, however, I think nothing brightens up a room in March as a bunch of daffodils. Also pictured, a random 10-second selection of books by women on my TBR list*, of which more on this month’s list below.

1. Readmorewomen. If there is one area in life where I do not fail, it’s reading books by female authors. It hasn’t always been like this, my childhood and teenage years were quite male-dominated in this respect, but that’s because I was limited by what was available in Estonia and conditioned by a pretty conservative canon taught at school. Since then, an adjustment has happened organically and by now, I think almost 75% I read is by women, without any conscious effort on my part (in contrast, I still need to remind myself to read more POC and non-Anglo-American authors). I am therefore not taking part in any of the campaigns in March to get people to read more female authors, but if you feel you could do better in this respect, now is a good time to start. There are many lists and recommendations around, just go ahead and google or browse the bookstagram. To get you started, here’s a short and fail-safe list by The Guardian from a couple of years back.

2. Movies. Because I’m reading most of the time, my familiarity with recent cinematic output is completely pathetic. The only things I’ve seen are Black Panther and Journey 2 that I watched yesterday with my daughter. I will try to remedy that, as I would in fact really like to see most films in the best picture Oscar category. Also, Avengers: Infinity War is coming and it looks epic.

3. Chimes at Midnight. Continuing the movie theme, @chimesatmidnight is an Instagram account I love that specialises in (mostly old) movies and provides both ample film and style inspiration. So in addition to the Oscar nominees, I now want to see all the classics. As a bonus, Emily has excellent taste in perfume.

4. Duke in His Domain. To close the topic, there is also a film-related book I’d like to recommend. I have mentioned the Penguin Modern series before and they are out now. I bought a bunch of them and have read one, Truman Capote’s profile on Marlon Brando, when the latter is filming in Japan. It is a demonstration of masterful journalism and Brando turns out to be much more interesting than I thought. Very much recommended.

5. Hollywood Flawless Filter. I’ve realised the topic isn’t closed, as I also have a Hollywood-inspired makeup recommendation. Well, technically it’s not a recommendation, as I haven’t tried it myself and will attempt not to buy much beauty stuff for a little while longer. But Sali Hughes loves it, so Charlotte Tilbury’s Flawless Filter cannot be bad. I’m thinking about wearing it without foundation, come proper spring, with some help from a concealer.

6. Skincare newness. Unfortunately, the things I’m most excited about are not available in Europe. Drunk Elephant has launched a peptide cream and a new, more active eye cream. I really hope the news about them becoming available in UK Space NK is correct and will materialise shortly. Other things I’m thinking about are the newest Tata Harper Clarifying Cleanser and Dr Barbara Sturm discovery set.

7. Spring style. In other news, spring collections are in stores and it’s high time to plan the next season wardrobe. Frankly, I don’t think there are too many exciting trends around, although I might report back on this in coming weeks. For now, I’m sharing two inspiring non-trend-lead style reads: about Robert Mueller and Lana Turner.

7. Malone let-down. I smelled the most recent Jo Malone limited edition English Fields collection over the weekend and was totally ready to love it – the bottles! The concept! Unfortunately, the scents themselves are uninspired. They are nice enough, but nice enough is not enough for me these days, if you know what I mean.

8. Sezane home stuff. This is a rather random one, but I discovered yesterday that Sezane, the super-popular French clothing brand, is now offering a lifestyle line: bed linen, table ware, stationery, etc. It’s all very well thought out (if not 100% my style) and the pitchers and the alphabet mugs actually do speak to me.

Anything interesting you’ve found lately?

*Technically, Chua is no longer on the list, as I’ve finished it since I took the picture. [Edit: I have just taken a proper look at the photo and realised that The Girl From the Coast is on it as well – but Toer is obviously not a woman. I was not lying about those 10 seconds.]