L'Ombre Dans L'Eau

Diptyque's L'Ombre Dans L'eau (the shadow in the water) has been my latest perfume obsession- and I've finally cracked and bought myself a beautiful bottle brimmed full with the scent of my latest dreams.

Much of the writing we see about fragrance in the printed press (although not I hasten to add on the internet and in the world of blogs) can be quite formulaic and incredibly uninspiring. This always surprises me, magazines and newspapers think nothing of letting a writer have free reign to write about food and enter into raptures about how evocative food can be when I think perfume can often transport you to a similar, or even greater, degree.

I much prefer perfume reviews or pieces that use abstract or more imaginative ways of describing a smell in words.

To that end I would say the picture on the scent's box of a swan swimming through flowers on a shaded stream in many ways describes in a picture how this scent smells. The scent is green and rosy- it smells of rose petals that have been dropped in water but fresh water mixed with earth as it would be in a stream rather than water from a florists tap.

I don't know if the picture of the swan is mean to allude to the fact that swans only love once- certainly that's what I thought of when I saw the box. The swan reminds a little of Ophelia as painted by Sir John Everett Millais (above).

For all that L'Ombre Dans L'eau is something of a melancholy scent it is also quite a comforting, peaceful one. I think it should ideally be worn by a woman with a very big heart capable of great and unswerving love, like Ophelia, who may be as beautiful and graceful as a swan. (I hasten to add I only aspire to be such a woman).

Picture courtesy of Tate Britain

Postcard teas

Last night I finally visited Postcard teas on Dering Street. It is one of those shops that looks like it has been lost in time from the outside- in a good way- it looks very Dickensian and like a shop that has been there for years, but the paint work is pristine and it is beautifully kept. Peeping inside it looks much more modern but it still seems like a hidden treasure trove filled with mysterious and intoxicating goods from the East.

I ventured in...

Everyone in the shop, customers and staff alike was very charming. The shop is extremely calming and peaceful, partly because of the atmosphere and partly because of the wonderful smell of all the teas.

Goods on offer include many specially chosen rare teas, beautiful traditional tea pots and cups and copper tea caddies. You can also view their collection of tea postcards from over the years.

I came away with the coffee flower tea- a perfect little present for a caffeine loving friend.

Posie tint!

I have only been in Wales for a long weekend and already there is a new cult beauty product out!

I tried Posie tint last night and it's a perfect, barely there whisper of a flush posie pink for people who find it's older sister Benetint a little too much of a rosy tint.

Commuting Dog

On my journey to work I see a man who takes his dog into work everyday.

I always wonder what the commute from it's rural or suburban home to the ever cold hall at Waterloo and through the legs of throngs of smelly, grumpy, rushing people must be like for a dog.

The commuting dog looks a bit like an Irish Wolfhound but is shorter and stouter in stature. He has bushy eyebrows, very knowing, kind eyes and the constantly smiling mouth some dogs have.

He is incredibly calm, much calmer than his owner or the other passengers. He trots along the platform with neither too much nor too little haste.

I often whereabouts the dog spends his days. My best guess from his owners clothes is that they head into the city and he sits under a desk patiently with his chin in his paws while his man does deals.

Other things I often wonder are:
Do dogs need a ticket and is there a limit to how many dogs there can be per carraige?

Does commuter dog take a copy of the Metro in the morning?

Does it annoy commuter dog as much as it annoys me when the guard insists on checking tickets, even though it means walking over and through a packed carriage full of people who have already been through electronic barriers?

Heaven is on the fourth floor...

...of Liberty in London. Their annual Arts and Crafts selling exhibition has just opened there.

Liberty is probably my favourite shop; I love the building, the history, the beautiful prints and the way they marry the old and the new in their design and with the objects they stock.

The Arts and Crafts exhibition can include anything from 1850 to the present day, Although in practice much of what is on show is from the late 1800's to the mid 1930's- probably my favourite period in textiles, furniture and design- so the exhibition is a must visit.

I strolled around and gazed at the beautiful furniture and other objects thinking about which items I would buy if I could.

I think my favourite piece was the table above. You can see more of the exhibits here; the exhition is on until the 15th of June.

Watching America

I have just returned from a trip to American and Canadian Prairie towns.

It has been my experience with all places North American that aren't New York that you have to embrace the strange and peculiar to start to enjoy yourself. For all that the language is the same this world is far more alien than any European places I have visited. So I rode the roller coasters, shopped the shops, ate the pizza slices and got at least waist deep in it all.

Here are my best bits of Minneapolis and Winnipeg:

1) Orange Julius a frozen orange and cream type drink. I was dubious but this stuff is like nectar. I was totally addicted. If one ever opens in the UK I will be making a pilgrimage.

2) Seeing real Amish people

3) The sunset driving through the Prairies. The amount of land and the red skies were awe- inspiring. They have so much land in this part of the world that all that we drove through seemed to be surplus to requirements. It wasn't farmed with crops nor grazed with animals. It was just open for miles and miles. I felt an enormous sense of respect for the people who settled here, the land is open and it's very, very cold. To come here and make a life can't have been easy- but the beautiful sunsets must have helped.

4) Driving through Fargo! It's a real place and it was one of only 2 turns we took on our 9 hour trip.

5) The Mall of America. This might sound like the end of civilisation and a palace to celebrate consumerism, which I'm sure is partly the case. However it also offered this British girl many lovely shops with goods priced in dollars, meaning her earnings could stretch that bit further. It also had roller coasters, a cinema and all kinds of ice- cream. So what's not to like really?

sunset image courtesy of http://www.terradesign.ns.ca/perspix/prairie%20sunset.jpg

Sniffing...

I adore scent and I can always while away time in a perfume department or shop sniffing and assessing the olfactory offerings. Sniffing is actually a past- time enjoyed by more people than you might think, so there is no need to worry that the departments will be annoyed if you spend some time feasting on their scents and examining the beautiful packaging. Any proper perfume sales person will know that it takes time to decide if you like a scent and also that people enjoy the process of trying perfumes. The best places will leave you to yourself but offer help if you should require it.

My London favourites are the Liberty perfume room and Les Senteurs but there are many others I love. Liberty is to me what Tiffany’s is to Holly Golightly, the shopping equivalent of heaven, instantly relaxing and calming but also beautiful and stimulating. The perfume room is one of the best parts of the shop- it’s decked with decadent wallpaper and has a great variety of scents laid out enticingly; favourites they offer include Tann Rokka, the Comme De Garcons fragrance line and L’Artisan Parfeumeur.

Les Senteurs is a specialist scent shop located in Belgravia which specifically offers more niche and unusual lines and has real exclusives including the fabulous Frederic Malle scents amongst many others; the staff are real aficionado’s and are very helpful. The shop is also on a lovely villagey street surrounded by white washed buildings and tree lined squares. Visiting fills me with the same sense of excitement and anticipation that I had as a child when walking to the sweet shop- and I gorge myself on the scents as I did the sweets- often coming out with scents on the front of my hand and all the way from my wrist to my elbow.

For the amount of choice and space you cannot fault Selfridges, Harrods, John Lewis or Harvey Nichols. Fenwick's also has some surprisingly unusual brands (Diptyque, Antonia’s Flowers, Robert Piquet) and also some of the rarer offerings from the big companies (including some of the older and loveliest Guerlain's).

picture courtesy of www.allposters.co.uk