A Rose Beyond the Thames

Whyred bags

2012-05-28T11:43:00.001+01:00

So this another post about Swedish stuff. I don't do this intentionally and I am not on the payroll of anyone in Sweden I promise.

The thing is this bag by Whyred is not only brilliant (the picture doesn't do it justice) but excellent quality for an excellent (given that we are talking silly bag prices here) price.

This bag is the in the size and category of your Mulberry Bayswaters et al, it does everything they do and is as well made but is about the price and dare I saw it a little bit cooler? I like a classic as much as the next girl but with a twist is nicer I think?

Then, if you don't need something so classic work/ meeting looking there is this lovely bag (the 'Tilda'), which could be worn over your body, or in the classic over the shoulder way.

Again I am not saying it's cheap but it is beautiful and it is good value in the category it's in. It would look perfect with brogues and a blazer.

Now I just need to make the money to buy all these things don't I?!

Chelsea Flower Show- the menu

2012-05-22T09:13:00.000+01:00

Glass of Joseph Perrier Champagne

~

Urban garden salad
Nasturtium, dandelion, summer pea and radish salad,
nettle rolled goat's cheese, borage flowers

~

Hay roasted Herdwick lamb, crushed Jersey Royals and nettles,
braised Alexanders, peppermint jus

~

English strawberries, rose petal and elderflower Champagne jelly,
ginger beer granita

£36 for three courses / £44 for three courses and a glass of Champagne

Available from Chelsea restaurant The botanist from today until the end of the flower show. Looks delicious.

On being dated

2012-05-15T09:28:00.000+01:00

This is not a post about dating men, or boys. It is about being dated, or feeling it.

Chatting in a lovely restaurant to dear D I realised how dated a book like Bridget Jones now feels. Please don't misunderstand, I still find the honesty and humour of Helen Fielding's novels- and their film adaptations (well perhaps not the second) comforting and hilarious (actually the skiing and pregnancy test purchasing are side splittingly funny in the Edge of Reason film).

Bridget arrived in the world when I was first in London- as a student- dreaming of going to sophisticated book parties and having such worries as having to choose between Mark Darcy and Daniel Cleaver. I could afford the Chardonnay but not the flat in Borough.

I knew Bridget was a bit of a mess but she also has a good job in a publishing house and the previously mentioned seriously intelligent man candy to worry about. I didn't aspire to be her but there were parts of me that were like her and identified with her (the parts that have bad hair days, that want to be slimmer but still drink wine and vodka- you know).

I realised that nowadays eighteen year olds probably wouldn't drive to central London to see the film (yes I did that, with friends, with the soundtrack to the film we awaited blasting out of the car stereo- on CD, we thought we were very cool because my car had a CD player- which was worth more than the car).

It is not just that nowadays a girl in her (gulp) 'thirty second year of being single' would be seen as not just a tiny bit lost (Bridget was always that, in a way) but probably thought of as being silly. I don't entirely hold to that- Bridget had great friends and great fun. I would accept that she was a bit frivolous and a student of chaos theory.

However when I meet people just a bit younger than me- mid to late twenties rather than early thirties- they talk far more about actively getting on the property ladder, they seem to really mean it about moving out of London if they need to which Bridget and her like wouldn't dream of.

They also do sensible things like order soft drinks between proper (i.e. alcoholic) drinks (even I now always have water with all proper drinks). The single ones also don't blow lots of money on shoes they can't afford, they buy them in New Look even though they could afford to buy them somewhere more upmarket. I wonder what they would have thought of the student me whisking around the Student's Union in my Kurt Geiger shoes at eighteen or nineteen when they probably wouldn't go there now. [Note I personally think everyone, girl, should know the joy of buying really leather shoes- though perhaps not quite as many as I have over the years].

Ultimately I think the difference was that Bridget wasn't really a mess. She was actually an attractive size 12- 14 woman, probably more a 12. She had a good job which she must have been reasonable at- an enormous flat which okay was rented but oh well. She had options and a fun life. Things have changed, now it's not really enough to be a normal to plump size, with a good job and a good home. Perhaps now is better and perhaps the recession has played a part in younger people being more sensible. I think they are probably right actually but it does sometimes leaving you feel a bit- dated.

Books: Capuchin classics

2012-05-08T12:49:00.004+01:00

So it's no secret to anyone who reads this blog that I am a Nancy Mitford fan, as in fan short for fanatic. I know some people find her work snobby or even (horror!) irrelevant but I don't care, I would give my little toe to have her turn of phrase and I literally find opening her books like getting into the biggest bed with the downiest, most cloud like duvet imaginable.

Some writer's most famous books aren't their best books (clearly Jane Austen can do little wrong but I would argue the lesser known Persuasion is more of a towering great than say Mansfield Park, which many a girl has trudged through for a levels). In Nancy's case I do think the best known Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate are her greatest achievements- although Don't Tell Alfred is also a marvel- but I think everything she does is gold.

Happily a great publisher called Capuchin Classics publish some of Nancy's lesser known delights, including Highland Fling, Christmas Pudding and Pigeon Pie. Prior to my discovery of this company I only owned Pigeon Pie of these three- and that copy was a very old Penguin classic that I found on the book stall at Spitalfields market which was falling apart completely.

Capuchin's mandate is to revive 'great works of fiction which have been unjustly forgotten or neglected'. I think they are brilliant. Plus the peppermint cream colours covers look delicious on book shelves, especially next to the similarly chic dove grey spines of Persephone books- of which I am also, obviously, very fond.

Film: films I didn't see the first time around- Infamous

2012-04-26T14:50:00.000+01:00

You know when two films with the same (or sameish) story come out and one always wins the VHS betamax battle? It seems to be me that the film that does less well isn't necessarily the inferior film, it can be an accident of timing, or a victory for stars or marketing that one film hits and another doesn't quite. The prime example, although perhaps not very high brow, example is perhaps Armageddon versus Deep Impact.

I'm sure you remember the film Capote, with an oscar winning performance from the excellent Philip Seymour Hoffman. Do you remember a film called Infamous? It too was about Capote, when he was reseraching In Cold Blood. It too features a brilliant performance of the famous writer this time from brilliant Toby Jones. It also features the very good Sandra Bullock- who is always excellent but often in films that are not so excellent. Happily this one is very good and Sandra is just right as Harper Lee, hero writer of a book that even people who don't like books love, To Kill A Mocking Bird.

Infamous is a really good film, the watching equivalent of a book you can't put down. The kind of film you find on at 11.50pm on a Tuesday and know you shouldn't stay up to watch but you do. It's probably not the best film of all time but it really does deserve to be seen- partly for the afore mentioned rare Sandra in good film thing- also because Toby Jones is alway brilliant- and Daniel Craig is very good in a before he was Bond but why he became him performance as the man on death row who isn't what he seems. Infamous is about horrible things that happen and trying very hard to understand them and make sure they don't happen again- and it's about writers and how they behave, the solitude of Lee but her need for her true friend- the insecurity of artists and of people who cannot be themselves. It's just good, if it hadn't come out when it did I'm sure far more people would have seen it. So if your love film (or insert other film rental method) is feeling a bit gappy and you fancy something thoughtful then queue this one- you'll like it- though you won't like Sandra's Harper hair.

Moonstone

2012-04-23T16:46:00.002+01:00

Did you watch the documentary about Elizabeth Taylor and her jewellery? I adored every minute of it- and rewatched some of it this weekend. If I had Elizabeth Taylor's intergalactic star quality I would have been just like her- when it came to beauty- though perhaps not marriage. I cannot resist jewellery, it has fascinated me since I was a tiny girl, not in the way it fascinates all women- it's more than that- I can stand entranced in front of a jewellers window- the Burlington Arcade is my idea of a lost paradise and I could walk up and down happily looking at the diamonds, emeralds and sapphires forever.

I suspect if Elizabeth Taylor hadn't been Elizabeth Taylor she would still have cherished the pieces of jewellery she did have- as do I.

I've long been interested in the lesser known stones, the not so valuable but equally fascinating and captivating stones like turquoise and lapis.

Moonstones too can be quite lovely. I found this ring by Monica Vinader and it just said- I am meant for you. Now a lot of rings do say this to me, it's a problem, I am a kind of Dr Doolittle for precious stones. This seems special though, it's not too expensive but it gleams and sparkles and would go with everything. Moonstones are meant to be comforting to nervous souls, like me and I thought it might protect me from some of the less sensitive people I sometimes come across (make of this what you will, I am being deliberately oblique).

So if I can get through the next few days this ring will be mine. I shall have a gold band because I am over that phase of thinking only white metal is sophisticated and I think gold shines like the sun in bad times.

So next time you are jewellery shopping, think about the unusual stones- they are just as prescious, if not just as valueable.

More on moonstones.

And a a brilliant book called Jewels by Victoria Finlay which teaches everything you could want to know about all kinds of jewel stones- the intergalactic and the not so.

Something's Gotta Give interiors- or heaven

2012-04-21T18:13:00.013+01:00

Picture the scene, it's a sunny but very cold Saturday afternoon and this blogger's real world life has tired them to the bone.

I know some of you manage sixty hour weeks and then hop up at 7am on Saturdays and do 3 hours of Bikram followed by knitting your own jumpers and cooking a three course lunch but me? This week I'm going to be honest, it's been more wake, drink pot of tea, have a bath, want to go back to bed.

Blogs are aspirational aren't they? They are a five minute escape into how we'd like things to be. Well sometimes this blogger needs to escape.

The television couldn't offer many options but the planner had Something's Gotta Give Something's Gotta Give hiding in a corner. My brain had obviously thought, lovely film the dvd of which you have *somewhere* in storage (many of my possessions are somewhere, somewhere is a very nice chic spot but I can't always find it). So my brain had recorded this for a metaphorical rainy day.

I like this film, it's about older people and love later in life. So it's not anything I know anything about but there is great acting and, if I'm honest, I'm really mostly interested in Diane Keaton's character's house in the film. As many a blogger before me has pointed out this house is the dream house. So chic yet livable that you literally want to jump into the telly box and snap the keys from Keaton's hands.

Here are some stills to feast on, in case you also need a pick me up.

PS. More film interiors so good you will watch the whole movie for them: here (I am also particularly obsessed with Rose cottage in The Holiday).

Book treasure

2012-04-09T21:20:00.002+01:00

Do other people have wish lists on Amazon that are over ten pages long, or is it just me?

The wishes are actually not so long for financial reasons, I always consider books to be money well spent anyway. No the list is extensive partly because I like to catalogue everything I read about and want to go back to, I use it as a backup plan when my memory fails (which is often). It's also so long because some of the books are not easy ones to find and while I'd love to be the kind of person who has the time to rummage around second hand book shops for afternoons on end, I am not. So... I went to wonderful Windsor, which is around forty minutes on the train from London but feels about a hundred years away in some ways. It has lots of nice places to eat and drink, some nice walking along the river, a big castle you might have heard of to admire (or go into) and as this is England, shops.

One of my favourite shops there isn't the kind I usually talk about- little boutiques with nice shoes, or prints or perfume. It's a discount book shop and I LOVE delving into the store and finding treasure. Often I come away with cook books (hello Wagamama cook book for £5) other time coffee table books (hello film poster book). For reasons unknown I hadn't really looked at the fiction. Last weekend I did and I found a book that has been on my wish list for about 3 years and that I though was out of print- I literally danced a little jig.

Dodie Smith is the writer of two of the most beloved books in my life. The first: 101 Dalmatians, which as a child and adult I find endlessly comforting and joyful. The second: I Capture the Castle, a book I discovered via the film and as a grown- up, which I wish and wish I'd read as a teenager and which I return to again and again for more wistful reasons than the Dalmatians, to remind me to stay true to my course and to re centre me I think.

So to find Town in Bloom and another Dodie which I didn't even know about was so exciting. I grabbed a third book (Petite Anglaise- a blog I loved) and took my treasure- 3 books for 5 pounds- back to London (skipping).

If you go to Windsor, visit the works on the cobbled main street- I can't promise treasure but it's always worth looking.

Barbour and Liberty

2012-04-05T19:50:00.002+01:00

At the weekend I went for a delicious roast in gorgeous Greenwich. We went to Davy's which is a wine merchants in a fabulous old building. Roast beef and sticky toffee pudding is obviously the perfect accompaniment to fun company and the Argentinian Malbec we washed everything down with had me wanting to move into the cellar.

One of our party arrived in a Barbour, so far so Sunday afternoon. Imagine then when I saw the lining was made of nothing other than beautiful, heritage, Liberty print.

I came home and had to find the jacket- for me the rose print Barbour is, of course, the one.

PS. I loved Mary Portas' visit to the Barbour factory in her latest programme- it was wonderful to hear these classic coats are still made in South Shields by happy and highly skilled British workers. Yay Barbour.

Jeeves and Wooster

2012-04-01T23:44:00.010+01:00

Whenever I turn on the TV and find an episode of Jeeves and Wooster I drop everything to spend some time with Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie and most importantly Macintosh, a very troublesome hound (well terrier actually).

There is of course also the little matter of the Art Deco interiors, particularly Bertie's London flat- which I would move into tomorrow if I could.

I'm a long- time admirer of all things Art Deco, the architecture, the interiors and the jewellery. I think it's very sad that so much British Art Deco building has been lost or remodelled. The lack of exteriors also means that art deco interiors are perhaps not as much of a constant as they might be- which is madness as the cleanness is endlessly modern and very livable with.

So until I can get that 1920s apartment, like Bertie or Poirot, with lots of mirrored furniture and black and white tiles, I will just have to keep hoping to come across episodes on satellite TV.

St John Bread and Wine- Spitalfields

2012-04-01T23:42:00.003+01:00

So I finally went to St John Bread and Wine in Spitalfields and it was, of course, as everyone says, a mazing. I know this is a bit like saying so I visited New York and I loved it- of course I loved St John- but you can't take away someone's first trip to New York from them however much they've read about it or seen it in films- and you can't take someone's first St John pate on toast away from them either.

Oh and the puddings- no one tells you about the puddings. The rhubarb Eton mess is a thing of beauty and delight that I would travel for. I'd be down there right now really if I could. I'd be down there every day.

So thanks to my lovely friend S for the treat and thanks to St John, for being as good as it says in the reviews.

Images from the St John Bread and Wine website.

Perfume: Vivienne Westwood, Boudoir- Sin Garden

2012-03-29T10:52:00.002+01:00

Vivienne Westwood's Boudoir Sin Garden is a lovely perfume, with a terrible name and a less than enticing box. I wonder if the latter two comments are the reason it doesn't receive more attention?

All scent lovers know it's all about the smell- and if for you it's a little bit about the bottle then I think Westwood's Tudor orb looks very pretty on dressing tables and in cabinets.

The great Dame's first perfume was Boudoir, a beautiful and truly sexy scent. The blush pink liquid is truly romance nectar and it's not to be worn without caution. I've rarely worn it without being complimented by men and women- however I also rarely wear it because frankly I don't often feel up to it. It is also absolutely not a perfume you could wear for anything other than a date or a very sophisticated party. You truly need a good black dress and to feel like Sophia Loren on the inside to carry it off. If you can it has untold influence!

Sin Garden (really who came up with that) is much more wearable while retaining some of the earthy aspects of the original. It is heavy on the oakmoss but that is lightened by top floral notes and the whole scent is green without the coldness that I find some green perfumes have.

I've been wearing this scent since Christmas- it was a good day and evening perfume in the winter, it has enough power to be worn in the cold. However it's really become interesting since the weather got warmer- it has enough freshness for higher temperatures but enough amber and oakmoss to be a little sexy too.

I know I'm starting to love a perfume when I start to worry about running out- and I'm two thirds of the way through this bottle. For a lady with as many bottles of scent as me to use that much since Christmas- I think that is a review in itself.

Image from Fragrantica.

Wake up it's a beautiful morning

2012-03-24T13:45:00.012Z

When the sun comes out in London (and in life) everything changes. I don't think I suffer from SAD syndrome and there are things I like about winter (wrapping up, roast dinners by fires in pubs on Sundays, reading books because it's raining too hard to go outside, Christmas, hot boozy drinks, hot non boozy drinks, not having to be quite as groomed- less plucked, waxed, shaved, moisturised and generally whipped into womanhood). However this morning I woke up and as the sun burst through the curtains instead of being angry about losing sleep I couldn't wait to get up!

The changes sun brings in me are subtle- I want a shower instead of a bath, a cold drink instead of a hot one (this post may feature too much talk of hot drinks), it reawakens my interest in the city too- I genuinely wanted to jump on my bike and go to Victoria Park for the first time in forever. I want to DO things not see them- in the winter I'm all about the cinema or if I'm lucky the theatre, today I don't want to be in a dark room, I wouldn't go if you paid me. I want a few inches cut off my hair and to wear sandles even though it's a bit cold.

So hello sunshine and hopefully goodbye hibernating.

Fun London print from The Shop at Number 57 Found via Tea for Joy

Going Cuban

2012-03-20T17:13:00.004Z

I went shopping at the weekend (believe it or not that's actually quite rare for me).

Cuban heels are the new thing aren't they? and it's taking my eyes time to adjust. I don't know if the style is a tip of the hat to the Queen's love of a block heel or a reaction to the laughably high hooker shoes that have been fashionable in recent years. There is certainly no doubt that they are much more comfortable then spike heels of any height because they spread weight more evenly and don't tip you forward. I'm just not sure about them. I like them on Audrey Hepburn- and the Queen. But Audrey looks good in everything and the Queen is the Queen.

I'm sure it'll be like footless tights (leggings) and I'll have 5 pairs in 2 months and wonder what I was thinking of but at the moment they just remind me of the bad shoes in the first season of Sex and the City.

Carla square toe court in navy blue, black and red (remember how much I love red shoes from Hobbs).

David Hockney: A Bigger Picture

2012-03-06T09:00:00.006Z

David Hockney: A Bigger Picture at the Royal Academy is like a prescription for happiness. Better reviewers who know more about art than I do have written very eloquently about A Bigger Picture so I will just say go if you can, queue outside, go at 11pm- do what you must. The canvases just sing in the Royal Academy- the Grand Canyon up close is enormous and brimming with colour but it's only when you stand 3 rooms away that you see the fire of the sands burn and the paint almost become reality. The canvases are so vast- there is no way a poster reproduction on a wall could be the same- go, go!

What I wanted to say though is do stay and watch the presentation on the cinema screen near the end. Depending no when you arrive you will probably think it is just very slow moving images, which are pretty but a lot of people were moving on. Stay though as there is a ten minute section of dance which is just as life affirming and wide smile inducing as the exhibition. I was whistling and bopping down Piccadilly and all the way home!

Image of the exhibition catalogue from the The Royal Academy online shop.

Thrift

2012-03-01T10:13:00.007Z

So of late I have found myself in something of a no- spend.

Like rain on a sunny day there seems to be no reason for my thrifty episodes occurring. It is usually at times when I really should be pulling my belt in that I suddenly need new clothes or to buy those must have theatre tickets to use in 6 months time that then clash with something.

At the moment I am embarking on something of an exciting adventure that will involve some investment so that is, in part, perhaps the reason for my fiscal reserve- but it isn't the only reason.

I could definitely do with some new clothes- or more realistically slimming into some of my old clothes (which would be both thrifty and healthy, I had a panic attack the other morning so I'm trying to get more sleep and look after myself, part of which is exercise but the other part of which is definitely sleep). There is also a definite case for me buying an ipad, I could even make a good business case for that kind of spending- but I'm not really interested.

I am turned off by most 'you must buy this' and 'this season we will mostly be wearing' articles. My desire for high end items is undiminished- I really did want the lilac Valentino peep toe shoes with about £500 off yesterday, but I have 100 pairs of shoes. Most of those shoes are beautiful heels that I don't wear and do I really need another pair of those? (I am still thinking about them, it is possible I really do need them).

I am also being quite thrifty food wise. I never scrimp on the quality of meat or vegetables but I do tire of throwing things away so I just shop as I go now. It does mean sometimes on a Saturday morning when you are too tired to move that you don't have any food in the house but it also means you don't put the weekly shop in the bin!

For a long time I've though of buying a home and though it will never be easy it is something I must find a way to do- and I know if and when I do there will be costs and consequences (and that I will definitely not be able to be thrifty interiors buying wise). Perhaps I am thinking about that next chapter.

As a woman now not a girl the obsession with buying the latest make up, the latest fashion, the latest download- well it is passing. I'm not sure what will replace it- or if this is just a phase.

The one area that I always have and always will spend on is books. I now own a Kindle (okay that did involve spending) which means I'm buying digital and print editions of books because I feel treacherous just buying the digital ones (and you can't lend them on). I literally can't think about how heavy the boxes will be if I do ever move.

Bill Cunningham, New York- preview at the Barbican

2012-02-29T09:09:00.005Z

On Saturday afternoon I will be going to this screening at the Barbican of the new film about Bill Cunningham,the original street style photographer from New York.

I haven't seen the film yet so I can't review it yet but as someone who is hoping to get brave with their camera for an exciting project this should be perfect research.

**Edit- this film is utterly brilliant. Bill is a charming, fascinating and endearingly eccentric man who is consumed by his desire to record the beauty of clothes and street style. His professionalism and manners are beguling and I left wishing everyone could find a career that they loved so honestly. His existance is also a reminder to always leave the house looking good!**

Books: Pear Shaped

2012-02-19T19:42:00.028Z

I am now the owner of a Kindle. As I said earlier today I do feel like I'm betraying books but I have also read more in the last week than I have the rest of the year so far- and that feels very good. I have made an oath that if I love a book I read on the Kindle book crack machine I will buy a physical copy of it- because it is nicer to read books whatever anyone says and if I love a book I will re read it. Also if you enjoy a book you want to spread the joy and lend the book to people and you can't do that with a download (and that my friends is worth remembering when we are paying the often cheaper online book price).

So this week I've been reading a delightful book called Pear Shaped by Stella Newman, writer, food writer and, I've learned, go to person for recipe and restaurant recommendations in London and New York.
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Pear Shaped is about Sophie, a pudding developer (seriously, why don't the careers advisers at school tell you that is a real job) who is single and living in London

The book is primarily about dessert and love- with side orders of New York and London. To me this is all good, there are days and weeks when you need books like this. Books that make you smile, make you feel like you aren't the only one who has bad days at work, bad weeks at work, that tell you you aren't the only one who doesn't understand men or always do the right thing and heroines that sometimes eat toast for dinner- with added recommendations for puddings you've never eaten before (hello compost cookies, we need to meet).

Stella Newman writes a blog which features some of the delicious sounding food in Pear Shaped. You can read her blog here- though be warned you will want to start baking almost immediately.

Nordiclust

2012-02-15T09:42:00.003Z

My wanderlust for a trip to Copenhagen is out of control at the moment and this guide to restaurants in Copenhagen by the chefs at Noma (from the Guardian) really hasn't helped.

I've never been to Copenhagen and despite having no trip booked I do periodically log on to the Noma website to see if there are tables- even for one- there never are. Ever.

I don't just want to go for the food though. I know I'm always saying it but I really do love Sweden and I want to visit the other countries of the north so much. The only thing is holiday does still in many ways say to me 'hot' and 'sun' and I don't think Copenhagen has any beaches for sun bathing or sun loungers for reading paperbacks of dubious literary quality. It does have (I imagine) fashion and Hammershoi (I know going to the Hammershoi house is probably the equivalent of going to the change of the guard but I don't care!) and jewellery shops and feelings of Nordic coolness. Plus everyone is so polite in countries that aren't here- where as here I now often feel has a lost a bit of soul (which is terribly sad and possibly just a current feeling- perhaps with some sun that will pass).

Until then- to the North!

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?