Scents of the Day: Part 7
Last year, I did a project called Scent of the Day. For a month, every day, I talked about a scent on Facebook. I have been asked by friends to make these musings available on the blog, as it’s impossible to find anything on Facebook. So I’ll copy my mini-re..
Modern Afternoon (Breakfast) Tea
Every time I’m in London, I do the tourist thing and have afternoon tea at a nice hotel or restaurant. I cannot help it, it’s an occasion designed to appeal to me – I love tea, I love small meals (I can eat uninterrupted 24/7, but not big quantities at a tim..
Butterfly Bushes
I did a post a while back about single blooms. It all looked quite minimal and pretty tasteful, I think. My current favourite flowers are the complete opposite of that: hydrangeas are big, opulent and look best in huge bunches – or in their natural form, as ..
How to Feel Sophisticated in 30 Minutes
I was very dismissive of short stories until I gave birth. It was, however, not the experience of labour that changed my preferences, but the ensuing sleeping schedule of my daughter. For a couple of months, I was quite incapable of tackling a novel, but the..
The Afternoon of a Faun by Etat Libre d’Orange
Many niche perfume companies follow a similar strategy: they have a collection featuring their take on the main perfume notes like jasmine and vetiver and vanilla. And so they have scents called Jasmine and Vetiver and Vanilla. Or if they are feeling adventu..
Charlotte Tilbury Bathing Beauty Bag
I have never understood the thinking that everyday things don’t need to be nice. If anything, it’s more important to enjoy stuff you use or wear or are surrounded by every day, rather than things meant for special occasions (I’m suspicious of this notion of ..
A Dress to Impress
I’m a great believer in dresses. Not because I think women should wear dresses because they are women and real women wear dresses, but because I find them very efficient. You put a dress on, you are dressed. I also like the clean, unfussy line a dress can gi..
Everything Cardamom
There are very few things in life I’m absolutely certain about, but I know for a fact that cardamom is the best spice. It just is. I have never been in a situation that could not have been improved by a little cardamom and I have in fact personally improved ..
10+ Wonderful-Smelling Shower Gels
My obsessions can be very specific. For example, I don’t own any scented body lotions – except for The Body Shop Italian Fig that I bought by mistake – but I do have extensive experience with scented shower gels. I enjoy that burst of scent you get when usin..
How To Outsmart Fashion
If you are one of those people who never feels tempted to buy things you don’t need or cannot afford and have built your wardrobe according to the principles of rationality and practicality, I salute you. You have no need to read further, unless you have an ..