No More Pine: Bella Freud Loving Candle
Despite my undying love for scented candles, I have never been a huge fan of the Christmas versions – there is only so much pine and clove I can take. I do like the house to smell nice during holidays, however, and I also think a pretty candle works well as ..
Lauren Elkin’s Flâneuse and Book Regrets
A good colleague asked me recently how often I regret reading a book. We had a long conversation about it, but the short answer is: almost never. As a quick glance at my Goodreads profile will tell you, this is not because I only read masterpieces. In fact, ..
How I Learned to Love the Cushion (And My 5 Favourites)
It hardly needs saying any more that cushion products are a huge beauty trend. But for the record: yes, they are. It has taken almost a decade, but cushions have well and truly arrived in the West from Asia (Internet tells me that the first cushion foundatio..
The Best Rollneck for Layering
You know that feeling when a trend becomes ubiquitous and every magazine and Instagram influencer is trying to convince you to buy into it and you are totally on board and happy to oblige and like “yes, yes, I agree, no need to sell it to me any more” but yo..
Japan: Drugstore Skincare Haul
My skincare tends to be quite spendy, but there are exceptions (most notably this). And there was no way I would leave Japan without buying some of their legendary drugstore skincare, because SCIENCE. Curiosity is not only responsible for cat deaths, but als..
A Very Wishful Christmas Wishlist
I hate recommending things I haven’t properly tried. It’s this inflexible position that has made writing a Christmas gift guide extremely difficult this year: there were things I planned to test and hopefully consequently recommend, but after spending all my..
Japan: Pretending To Be A Geisha-In-Training
If it had not been for my sister, I would never have come to wear that kimono. Nor have red eyes. There are many studios in Kyoto – and surely in other places – where you are made up and dressed as maiko (a geisha apprentice) or geiko (a Kyoto geisha), but i..
Japan: Drugstore Makeup Haul
I’m not a big drugstore makeup user, for several reasons. First, it requires more time to find the good stuff, as the quality is more uneven than with high-end brands. Second, I like things to be beautiful and maybe a little obscure, so the luxury and niche ..
How To Make Everything Look Cool
Before Instagram, there was Polaroid. Those with first-hand knowledge of the nineties surely remember the heyday of instant cameras and how cool it was to see a picture develop in front of your eyes. I was way too poor and way too Eastern European to own one..
Japan: High-End Skincare Haul
When I said that I bought an obscene amount of beauty products in Japan, I wasn’t kidding. To be able to do more than just mention everything, I’ve divided my haul into five categories: high-end skincare; high-end makeup; drugstore skincare; drugstore makeup..