A Rose Beyond the Thames

A woman's right to shoes

2012-02-10T09:01:00.027Z

I've been asked quite a few times to play those games where you take pictures of your shoes but lots of my beloved shoes are actually in storage so the very high, car to bar or very flat but pastel suede coloured shoes will have to wait for another time.

This winter I am mostly wearing:

Marc Jacobs sale bargain flats- they look like Marc has been watching the scene with the Pearly Kings and Queen's in My Fair Lady to me and I love them- the point on a flat shoe is very flattering.

These riding boots are from Zara and have been my staple over the winter, leather keeps your legs lovely and warm and they go with everything. I think Zara shoes are very good value because you get actual leather shoes rather than the plastic you get for the same price point in lots of shops.

These Prada grey flats were a sale bargain this year (from lovely Liberty). I think grey is very flattering and have grey skinny jeans and grey opaques so these seemed like they'd work with lots of my outfits- that's my excuse anyway (justify, justify).

These petrol blue court shoes (they have a heel of about an inch) are from the Rupert Sanderson sample sale last summer. For some reason I'm obsessed with petrol blue this year the way I was with chartreuse green before (I have very sadly shrunk my favourite green shirt and cannot find a replacement- I really should dry clean things that say to). These are very comfortable and add a flash of colour to most outfits- I especially like them with a red dress I bought in Jaegar to keep toasty warm in.

In the less delicate category are these faux cowboy boot type ankle numbers from Accessorize. I saw them when I was having a general look around, they do have some hidden gems- they are made of very nice soft leather and were 70% off!

Finally these ankle boots are, believe it or not, from Marks and Spencers. They are very high (there's a built in platform) but bizarrely very comfortable and again they go with the grey obsession. They were in the sale too (there is a theme emerging here isn't there, buy shoes in the sale and you will be able to buy more shoes!).

Skincare: Keep the Peace by Philosophy

2012-02-08T09:26:00.009Z

Keep the Peace is a new range of skincare from Philosophy for those who suffer with redness and have sensitive skin.

I am a long term fan of Philosophy and when I visited America more I always came back with a cocktail cabinet full of their shower gels (Margherita is a particular favourite). I like their little sayings and affirmations- they can lift you on a grey Tuesday morning when all you have to look forward to is being shouted at by an angry client. I have never used their skincare before though (however I'm a long term fan of their make up remover which is very soothing for my extremely sensitive eyes which are irratated by most removers including all wipes that say they are for sensitive skin- so I have always been curious about their other products).

As I've said before I have very pale skin and as with all English roses I do tend towards redness. I also have sensitive skin which can be dry (and is very dry this winter, especially after the ice and snow this weekend). I also find I get dry skin when I'm stressed- which can be anytime of the year!

I don't usually use samples or kind offers of products in skincare precisely because my skin can become irratated easily and I try not to overload it or upset it! However I have always liked Philosophy and this sounded made for me, so I went for it.

The moisturiser smells lovely and is a light consistency (which I appreciate, products for sensitive skin can be heavy and this actually makes it worse- making a layer of moisture over the problem, not helping it). When first applied I found my skin became warm and a little red for a couple of minutes, this wasn't unpleasant but rather like applying one of those face masks you get in Europe (and Superdrug!) that are brightly coloured and warm your skin. That sensation goes very quickly and I was left with moisturised calm and softened skin.

I am lazy and can sometimes miss a day of moisturising, this product works far better if you do use it every day (because it is light) and if you do that it's very good indeed. I haven't had any reactions or problems and the dryness and redness have been better with this product than most others (I'm still quite devoted to Dr Haushka rose cream but it is heavy, especially in the summer, and can interfere with applying make up). So I'm very pleased and would genuinely recommend this to other pale reds like me.

NB. You will need to use another spf (that is also true of the Dr H and many sensitive products, I think sun block may be an irratant in itself as I usually find it isn't included in organic or sensitive products).

(Disclosure: I was given press samples of the moisturiser and mask in this range).

The perfect afternoon tea

2012-02-07T13:06:00.007Z

From Orange Pekoe- Tea Heaven in Sw13.

Only

2012-02-07T09:54:00.007Z

I am on only child.

If you are not an only child I suspect your default idea of me now is that I was spoilt, that I'm not very sociable and that I don't know how to share.

If you are an only, or a parent of one, you will feel differently I imagine. Like the child at a school who speaks with an accent on the first day the only and the only child's parents tend to over compensate for the above reactions (the child at school normally sounds local by day 3). So it was drummed into me as a child that I was spoilt (I was of course, most children are, but I was always told if I knew I was spoilt then I hopefully wouldn't be too insufferable); I went to an activity almost every day after school when it was unusual, to make sure I wasn't unsociable or awkward (that particular stereotype is especially silly as clearly the only child attends far more grown up parties and goes to far more events alone and therefore learns much earlier to bound in and say hello) and I come from a mostly happy family (anyone who says their family is perfect is fibbing in my opinion).

Still I find only children and sibling relationships fascinating. The love hate of siblings is something I don't understand at all, though I wish I could. Also, despite all the efforts above I do really enjoy, even crave, time on my own. Though saying that there are times when I feel like I am quite alone in a wider sense and that is sad, but I can sit in the house by myself or get lunch for on quite happily really. I do of course know only children who are the total opposite of me. I do also think as time goes on I am a bit more unusual than other people, rather quirky, but I might have been like that anyway.

The onlyness, which is how I think of it, is perhaps the reason I'm not good at making relationships last, I expect something fairytale even now. Onlys seem to be very work focused too and I'm not sure how healthy that is. I'm a very true and loyal friend and I imagine that's because I don't have brothers and sisters to worry about or care for and perhaps I project those feelings onto friends.

Still I don't know anything else and I embrace being an only- and one day I might write a guide book to prove we aren't weirdos!

Marilyn

2012-01-28T17:01:00.004Z

Marilyn Monroe's face is never far from our minds but having recently seen My Week With Marilyn I have been thinking about her more. Hers is the face I think of when I imagine a beautiful, feminine woman. The film also made me realise that she as stylish too, she wore quite simple, classic clothes in colours that worked for her most of the time and when she dressed up, she really dressed up.

There are probably women who were or are technically more naturally beautiful, more quirky certainly, who perhaps have or had higher IQs and certainly who were happier but she was truly beautiful and her enigma and star quality are unquestionable, even after so many decades. She had a grace and a uniqueness that I know I don't and won't have.

But we can all try to be our best- as Marilyn did- she wasn't an advocate or bed hair or the no make up look. This Emerald Street article about Marilyn Monroe's beauty secrets is so interesting- it shows that even someone who really didn't have to try did everything she could to look her best. I am going to try and highlight my face just like Norma- Jean to see if I can capture a whisper of her vivacity. I might also dab on some Chanel No 5 in her honour.

Image from from the blog Kiss and Make- Up.

What perfume would they wear? Lisbeth Salander

2012-01-05T11:20:00.016Z

Lisbeth Salander is a modern hero and one of most brilliantly written characters to emerge in this or any decade. If you haven't read the books in the Millennium trilogy or seen the brilliant Swedish language films then do. The stories are gritty yes, hard yes but also totally consuming- and at once modern and timeless. I haven't seen the new English language film made by David Fincher but he seems the perfect choice- though Noomi Rapace is Lisbeth for me.

I asked the question on twitter of what perfume Lisbeth might wear. Okay she isn't perhaps the first women you think of when you wonder about how they smell- and as one person said of cigarettes is pretty likely. She is such a real character though that I think she would wear a scent of some kind- perhaps not a terribly conventional one. I have suggested Bvlgari black for her and Penhaligon's Sartorial was also suggested by @SalwaAzar and I can see that.

So what do you think, what fragrance would Lisbeth Salander wear?

Lost perfume treasure

2011-12-30T10:56:00.005Z

It has not been good news on the buying things that have been on the wish list front of late.

I tried a great bay rum but with citrus, great on a guy, cool on a girl, scent in Anthropologie in the summer and now I can find it nowhere. It was really good, the cool label contained a cool scent- but I think it must not have found enough noses (despite seeming so... yes I'm going to say cool again because it just was). I have tried to contact the Grove company but they thought it was on sale on Anthropologie's US site and it isn't.

Oh the perfume treasure we see and should grab when we can. If you see some try it and let me know what you think- it may have become better than it was in my mind because I can't get it- but I think it was excellent!

So the loss of Grove is a shame but oh well. However I also have been wearing as my every day scent for some years L'Occitane Green tea and mint (as discussed here), just for work and play and to smell fresh- it's a good price, good quality and I like the way the mint makes it a bit quirky and everyone likes a tea and mint smell- so I've found. Well. Well. What should I find when I do some boxing day online browsing, my go to every day, smells of me scent is gone- gone! also not on ebay! Okay they still do the green tea and they still do the green tea with jasmine- but it's the mint that makes it worth getting- that makes it a bit unusual and a bargain for it's price that I can spray without feeling guilty. Gone. The prescious is lost. I should not have sprayed with wild abandon.

So the search is on for a new every day smell that is not expensive so I can spray lots. I don't want anything too feminine or that would overpower people but I don't want anything very insipid either, no bland citrus or floral smells please. I like laundry fragrances for this sort of thing- I used to wear Clean but you get through that in about a day it smells so good. A green tea might be the thing, or a mint- or the two halves as a whole- but then we stray into expense again. I would like Heeley mint but that's no really cheap enough to spray around the office if your colleague has a smelly lunch. It's good to have a project I suppose. Sniff.

Films I didn't see the first time: Heartburn

2011-12-29T09:01:00.008Z

Frankly I didn't see Heartburn because I was five when it came out and not the target audience for a relationship drama about two journalists from New York and Washington respectively.

However I have read many times that Nigella loves it- and Meryl is always great (though I must say there is one sequence in this film where she looks just like Alan Cumming and it's so funny at a not funny point in the film- but I digress).

So Heartburn the book features food more heavily, Heartburn the film still has food, the main character is a food writer and food is her therapy at times and the thing she hides in, the method she tries to improve herself via, I think lots of women do this- I do, it's interesting- do men go and change a tyre to feel better about themselves or more calm, perhaps they do.

Anyway the film stars Meryl and Jack (Nicholson) and is written by Nora Ephron (it is apparently quite autobiographical). So that's a sort of dream team- plus there is food as we've covered. There is also bad fashion and some brief Alan Cumming impersonating but those things don't matter. This film is very good and, worryingly, felt very modern- so ladies we haven't come very far at all since 1986- good news. It's about what happens to women when they think they've found the one, how they either wish to or their men wish them too give up who they are- the trade off of a big house and not working and beautiful children for, well perhaps men thinking they can do what they want. Perhaps some men always would though, perhaps it's more about re finding yourself, perhaps men would say that was all unfair- I'm afraid I'm making it sound like indulgent rubbish and this isn't like that at all- it's good and it is funny mostly and the characters are very charismatic.

I'm not the writer Nora Ephron is so if you like Meryl and Jack and Nora and food then this is enjoyable and about £3 online. There is also a good (and quite brief) book if you prefer but that doesn't have Meryl and Jack and doesn't feature the Alan Cumming bit.

Pho takeaway

2011-12-28T13:30:00.010Z

When you get take away noodle soup from Pho they pack you off with a beautifully prepared bag with a hot tub of spicy broth and all the trimmings for a delicious soup. I had tofu and mushroom so I first added my noddles and stirred them into the soup, then I added my tofu and mushrooms and finally my beansprouts and onions. and squirted in some lime- you can also add mint and other herbs they give you but I didn't because I wanted the spicy kick. Delicious for when you have had enough Christmas type food or to fight off a cold. If you have to be eating at a desk at this time of year, why not do it in style.

Thanks to Christmas

2011-12-28T11:22:00.006Z

This year I really thought what would I do without Christmas. Yes December is exhausting, it's too commercial, the people who would rather go to the sales at 2am than see their families drive me mad and I know it can be a very difficult time.

But without Christmas how would you get through Winter? Without the enforced stopping, the enforced closure of shops, the enforced catching up with family and friends that makes you tighten what can be loosening connections because life is so big and requires so much of us now- without all these I think the world would really be colder and darker in all ways. I am so grateful for the chance of Christmas, for what it can bring, I feel so much better and more ready for the world again.

(The picture is of one of my window sills- I quite like the way my bad i phone photography makes it look like a star is shining brightly outside!).

Christmas Rev

2011-12-21T10:36:00.007Z

The final episode of season 2 of Rev- which was also a Christmas episode- was everything I wanted it to be. I don't think anyone sensible who has seen the programme needs to be told this- but because last night, full of virus and after a difficult day Adam and his friends and family made my face and my heart smile- I am talking about it anyway.

This programme is a tiny nugget of joy, a simple, sometimes gentle but always sharply accurate picture of life when you're trying your best in London- that it happens to be about a Rev is to some extent by the by. That said I think the portrayal of the Reverend Adam Smallbone as a very real human being is doing an enormous amount for certainly this person's view of the church.

I am biased because Rev is filmed all over where I live but I think it would make me chuckle if I lived in Alaska just as well- though perhaps not the bits about bike etiquette on London roads or the dirty cornershops that are more expensive than Fortnum's.

So anyway, my point is Rev is utter joy and Christmas Rev was everything I wanted it to be. Hooray. Happy Advent (and then Christmas) to everyone- must try not to use midnight mass as the religious equivalent of a kebab (I don't even like kebabs and I love carols).

Christmas eton mess

2011-12-19T09:29:00.039Z

For Christmas eton mess (to feed 12) you will need: 300g fresh cranberries, approx one bag of amaretti biscuits (I used some gingernuts too and therefore less amaretti but I'm sure both work), Marsala wine (just a glug- and I'm sure something else sweet and boozy would also work), 600ml double cream (I found one flavoured with brandy but again that isn't necessary), meringue nests or the ingredients to make meringues, the juice and zest of one large orange, 150g caster sugar, 500g mascarpone.

First take the fresh cranberries, the zest and juice of one orange and the caster sugar and put on a medium heat, bring to the boil then simmer for ten minutes, or a little longer if you'd prefer some of the cranberries to burst (say 12 minutes). Stir at regular intervals to ensure all the cranberries are getting sweetened. Take off the heat and allow to rest in the pan.

Then take the biscuits and break with your hands, then pour in the Masala, depending on how much you wish- I would say you need at least two tablespoons but a little more if you wish. If you don't want to use any alchochol I would suggest just skipping this stage but crushing the biscuits more finely so they are crumbs and possibly mixing them with the cramberries rather than layering.

Beat the biscuits and Marsala together so you have a softened but still textured mixture

Then take a bowel or glass (preferably something see through to make the most of the dish). First put in a layer of biscuit and then add a layer of cranberries on the top as shown. Keep back a small ammount of the cranberry mixture for later.

Put those to one side, If possible keep them at room tempreture but if you are making them in advance then just remove them from the fridge approx half an hour before serving (and keep them covered with cling film which I did after taking the picture but which didn't look so pretty! this is hygienic and also keeps the aroma in).

Then take the cream and marscapone, whisk them together. Then add your home made or bought meringues in small crumbled pieaces.

Then add the small ammount of fruit that is left and stir in.

Put the cream and meringue mixture in the fridge and only add that section when you are serving the mess otherwise it will seep into the laters of cranberry.

Wishing everyone a very happy, aromatic Christmas

On festive stamina

2011-12-15T10:17:00.008Z

I love Christmas, truly I do, everyone says they do at this time of year but for me it's the top of the year mountain- when everything feels as it should be. I cannot describe properly how happy I was sitting by the lit, adorned tree watching Elf on Sunday after several lovely Christmas meals over the weekend.

December is exhausting though isn't it? It's the thing no one wants to say. It's the most wonderful time of the year but the hope of Boxing Day and salvation via a duvet and Christmas tv or books is the only thing that gets me through some of the darker hours of Christmas hangovers.

In fact I think Boxing day should be renamed boxset day. This makes me a little cross with myself too because really I love the idea of getting all wrapped up in thermals and chic winter hats and going to the races to top up on festive er cheer (alcohol) and have a gamble out in the open, bracing air on the 26th of December and then perhaps collapsing for boxset day, or what you will, on the 27th- but I'm back to work on the Wednesday and so for me boxing day will be about pots (and pots) of tea, Nancy Mitford, a murder mystery and rose and violet creams. Right now, hugging my venti latte and drinking the fifth resolve of the week it's all I long for.

Awesome tree because it made my day

2011-12-13T15:40:00.003Z

Via India Knight who saw it via MyModernMet

Advent adventures

2011-12-01T09:36:00.008Z

Happy advent- I'm just back from scandilicious Sweden which was filled with the warm magic of the countdown to Christmas. Of course advent has already started and everywhere in Gothenburg they had their first week's candles burning. I love the communal celebration in Sweden- every house has candles in the window and everyone seems to treasure the warmth and light of this time of year.

Thought for the day

2011-11-24T14:02:00.003Z

"Ordinary riches can be stolen, real riches cannot. In your soul are infinitely precious things that cannot be taken from you." Oscar Wilde.

As seen at Clapham North underground station- some tube stations seem to favour thought for the day more than others, I always like seeing them, they're always good thoughts.

Good things about London: The booking office bar at The St Pancras Hotel

2011-11-23T15:15:00.008Z

Recipe for unwinding after a long day at work- go to the St Pancras Hotel. Find a well appointed seat at The Booking Office bar. Order a gin fix. Repeat until relaxed.

gin fix:

Sugar, soda water, gin, the juice and peel of a lemon, garnish with seasonal berries

Cloth House

2011-11-16T10:40:00.004Z

When I was little most large towns had a fabric shop and now, even with the resurgence of interest in crafts, they are something of a rarity. Like bookshops that were once essential to your local life haberdashery shops have become something you travel to a larger town for- if you're lucky. The passing of the high street is often spoken about but I think it's hard to put into words how it feels when you go back to your own place and see it become homogeneous and feeling powerless to help.

Happily in London fabric shops survive- as any schoolgirl who lives near a John Lewis knows they continue to support selling fabric, thread and more and of course lovely Liberty is heaven for all craft and sewing lovers. In terms of stand alone stores Berwick street in Soho has lots of lovely doors to walk through and my particular favourite is the branch of Cloth House towards Oxford street. This window is one their recent displays, they always have lovely offerings featuring vintage sewing machines and lovely cloth- I can't wait to see what they do for Christmas.

Dior: Maison de Parfums

2011-11-15T09:55:00.022Z

The Dior Maisons De Parfums is located exclusively in Selfridges in London but it feels like visiting Maison Dior itself (I imagine, I am yet to go to heaven in Paris).

We were invited to sit down on the classic dove grey Dior chaise with a glass of champagne and some serious coffee tables books about Dior, to relax and acclimatise to our new surroundings.

I had decided to take a good friend who is getting married next year and wanted to pick a new scent for the day as I thought my perfume schizophrenia would be too much of a challenge for a service designed to choose one signature or occasion perfume for you. We began by discussing the perfumes my friend already enjoys and wears- we concluded that the feminine florals she enjoys (Benefit's Maybe Baby and Dior's own Miss Dior Cherie) were in her opinion to relaxed for a wedding and that her beau found them a little sweet and she wanted to find something new and sophisticated that he would appreciate.

With a brief and a style in mind we started the best part of any fragrance quest- the sniffing! The extremely helpful and I must say very knowledgeable lady who works exclusively for the Maisons De Parfums gave us approximately five scents to begin with- which is a reasonable number I felt.

My friend (and I) had strong reactions to these smells as they were obviously chosen to be quite distinct from each other. This process allowed us all to understand that despite thinking she enjoyed sweet florals the scents my friend was actually choosing in a blind sniffing session were sophisticated but still relatively light florals like J'Adore and Forever and Ever Dior as opposed to the heavier scents like Diorissimo- more classic masculine or citrus and aldehyde leaning scents like Diorella were firmly rejected (as I think we all expected they would be- but it is fascinating watching someone test scents for the first time without thinking about the packaging and marketing of them).

After a quick sip of champagne and a waft of coffee beans to refresh us we moved on to a narrowed down selection in the family of preferred fragrances. The perfumes are always initially tested blind but then their names and some of the history is revealed and it's interesting how that can change or support some one's reaction to a fragrance.

Ultimately we took home a beautiful bottle of Forever and Ever Dior- a scent my friend had a strong initial liking for and which does come in one of Dior's grandest, most special boxes. It's a lovely choice for a bride I think and it is different from perfumes she has worn in the past but still very much in character for her. She loved the evening at the Maison De Parfums and interesting so did I, even with my knowledge and being so used to trying perfume they managed to make the experience very enjoyable and to teach me things I didn't know. I was also give some lovely samples of perfumes I had enjoyed trying which I thought was a nice touch (hello New Look 1947, you smell extremely good).

Remembering

2011-11-11T09:10:00.007Z

You can live in the present and be modern and remember the past.

Arran Aromatics: After the Rain

2011-11-10T09:45:00.027Z

Turnberry in Scotland is a dream of a hotel. From the moment your foot steps over the threshold you feel wrapped up in a cosy, stylish blanket of comfort. You can sit by roaring fires eating butter tablet and reading, get straight into your bed with so many soft, downy pillows you may never get out, run a hot bath and then recline for what feels like forever or head straight out to the wild beach to get invigoratingly wind, salt and sea swept before you do all of that.

Scent is a strange thing- when you ask people about their favourite smells they don't generally say 'Chanel Number 5' or 'Miss Dior' they say hot tarmac and bacon sandwiches, both great smells that you would never want to wear as a perfume even if someone could recreate them well.

Rain though is a smell that is often mentioned which perfumers can and do try and replicate. Apres L'Ondee is one of my favourite perfumes of all time and is of course named for the scent of a place after rain, or a shower- that's a summer shower though, over a garden perhaps and is more about atmosphere, a smile after tears, than about the scent of a place.

It rained when I was in Scotland, not all the time and it didn't make me sad- I wanted it to rain- I love that smell, I adore wild seas and all the things I've mentioned above, getting a bit wet knowing you can go indoors to a steaming cauldron of a bath- or just never going outside and watching the weather storming around you as you stay warm and content inside (under a blanket).

I did go outside though, chiefly to smell the scent of rain and sea- salt, some humidity, the musk of sand and reeds breathing or being kissed by a sweeping mist from the sea. Amazingly I found that very smell in a bottle inside the shop at Turnberry- the perfume is Arran Aromatics After the Rain. I can report it is as good as it sounds and also very good value and made in Scotland, which must be a good thing.

Beach image courtesy of Turnberry, bottle courtesy of Arran Aromatics. After the Rain and all Arran Aromatics products are available from their website.

A Review of a book that is not new: I don't know how she does it by Allison Pearson

2011-11-01T10:06:00.004Z

I recently had a bibliotherapy session (via the The School of Life) which was very enlightening. Via the process of writing about my favourite books and thinking about books that have made an impression on my life- and those that haven't- I realised several things. Firstly that I have a terrible habit of loving one book by a writer and then being scared that the next one won't be so good and not reading anymore (unless they are George Orwell who I trust absolutely). Secondly that I don't tend to read the current 'thing' and thirdly that when I read the current 'thing' a few years later I tend to like it.

So I come to I don't know how she does it. A book I had never read- partly because I avoid pink covers (which I also realised I should not) and partly because I am not a working Mother of two and didn't necessarily think I would relate.

I was completely wrong, I really liked the character of Kate Reddy. As I say I am not married, do not have children and do not run a house but I completely relate to the feeling of being exhausted, not quite doing everything properly and also the need and want to make a wage. As I say although Kate was more successful than I am in terms of her career and arguable her personal life she seemed like friend not foe. I particularly liked the affirmation that she wanted to be a successful woman partly to give her daughter an example but also for herself.

Now of course success doesn't have to mean being in the boardroom and Kate goes on a journey in the book that I think is quite realistic- because you can't have it all. In the film I think the journey is far less believable, it would be wonderful if we really could be amazing at our careers and work 9-5 with a lunch break and time to have our hair done and go to sports days but it doesn't happen on my planet. More and more as I get older I think it is going to extremely difficult for women to have a career and a family and do both well- it's difficult for men too, of course, but not as difficult.

On that subject I loved that the men in Kate's life were real and well drawn. There is the standard city idiot but also a boss who makes the right decisions for his company and member of staff in the end. Her husband is a great man but he's not perfect because no one is- and her business partner is also an interesting and believable person.

So if like me you sometimes live under a rock when it comes to best sellers and if like me you sometimes wonder how on earth we might approach being women today then I actually recommend this book- it's light but it's good, it became my great friend.

Finally I wondered, as I always do, what perfume Kate Reddy might wear- because busy as she is I think Kate would find time to spritz- I decided she would wear Coco Chanel- classic, proper and improper, seductive but ok with a suit- a perfume for all occasions which she needs and a perfume you dream of owning when you're young.

Life in Scents podcast

2011-10-10T15:34:00.011+01:00

Life in Scents is a new podcast from olfactory aficionados Jo Barratt (@JoBarratt) and Odette Toilette (@OdetteToilette who I interviewed here). It is not unlike a Desert Island Discs of smell, a scented journey through a person's life. So far there are four podcasts, all of which I thoroughly enjoyed (perhaps unsurprisingly!) and all of which taught me something I didn't know about scent.

I think what is particularly good about this project for me is the feeling that I am not the only person whose memories are completely caught up in smell, or the only person who perhaps thinks of scent in terms of memory. As regular readers know I love the radio and podcasts especially so this is perhaps my ideal pre- recorded feature- in fact it's something I've wanted to do myself and never quite managed so hurrah for Odette and Jo and do have a listen- the podcasts are free and available via i tunes or at the Life in Scents website.

Smile and the world smiles with you

2011-09-15T15:10:00.001+01:00

Teeth have been a major preoccupation for me of late because I have had to have root canal work. My dentist is wonderful and charming but it still cost the price of a mini break and wasn't so fun. I am very fastidious about tooth brushing and use the products the dentist recommends but I also wanted to share a couple of dental products that are lovely for your shelf and which I use sometimes to give me a little boost.

This yellow sunny toothpaste is from a Portuguese company called Couto and can be found (like most pretty things) at Anthropologie.

For perfume lovers and those who like flower food like me there is Marvis jasmin mint toothpaste from Niven and Joshua (and in Liberty and more). Other fabulous flavours by Marvis include cinnamon, amerelli licorice and ginger- I have the jasmine and my teeth feel great afterwards (though I used Colgate mixed with it if I'm honest).

Finally there is rose mouthwash from beautiful Floris on Jermyn street (or online) clearly this could have been made for me and it's rather lovely, if you like turkish delight etc. Think about it, if you like kissing someone after they've eaten a strawberry or a cherry then why not with a rosy taste.

Frame: fun fitness (who knew)

2011-09-07T14:25:00.007+01:00

Frame in Shoreditch is a 'dance, fitness and holistic studio' in Shoreditch, which all sounds very grown up- but what first attracted me to Frame was the sense of fun.

So they offere yoga and power plate classes and have grown up things like hair dryers and straighteners in the changing rooms but their classes include 80's aerobics and Beyonce music video work outs, really what's not to like I ask?

Fancy dress is encouraged according to the website but I didn't know how seriously to take that so I hedged my bets in black leggings and an eighties brightly coloured t- shirt but left the leg warmers at home. I can report that people in the 80s were very fit! no mamby pamby stretching, lengthening or breathing for them, no cardio all the way baby. After fifty minutes of Michael Jackson, footloose, Wham and more I was begging for the floor section of the class.

Frame is very swish but it's swish with a wink- and it offers great times for classes too (working long hours there is nothing that annoys me more than places that aren't open after 7pm). I recommend it! maybe I'll see you there, I will be the one with the very red face!

Image from the Frame website here.