smelly

I know a very sweet boy who generally always smells great. He asked me a while ago to help choose a new fragrance so I went to Myer and sniffed a bunch but the only conclusion I came to was that choosing a smell for someone else is really hard! It's funny how much scents mean to people. I think of a friend of my mother who I knew growing up whenever I smell Gaultier Summer Fragrance. I think of Han when I smell Cinema, Demeter's Gin & Tonic and Chanel Mademoiselle (none of which I think she even wears). I think of my mum when I smell Happy or Les Belles de Ricci. CK One and Be remind me of boys in highschool. Anna Sui Dreams of myself, aged16.

There are others which I smell so often it's hard to pick who they belong to. Flowerbomb, an old friend, a girl in the Karen Walker store in Wellington; L'eau d'Issey could be Kali, a boy I liked, or my boss in the first bar I ever worked in; Daisy is Sam, my old flatmate's girlfriend, and someone I just walked past on the street.

I've worn Marc Jacobs for a number of years, it's simple, fresh, a bit pretty and I love it.

I bought Chloé when I moved to Melbourne with the justification that I needed a second fragrance for 'evenings' or special occasions. Something sophisticated and grown up... Now when I wear it it reminds me of the house I stayed at when I arrived, a trip to Vanuatu, and a beautiful friend Natalie who was wearing it the last time I hugged her.

I bought jonquils over the weekend and as I carried them home a woman remarked that she had always thought they smelled bad. When she was young she'd called them 'the wee flowers'. Despite this I am very much adoring falling asleep with their smell.

What perfume do you wear, if any? Can anyone recommend a men's fragrance? What memories do scents hold for you?

bliny/blini/love of my life which I shall probably never experience the like of again

Tepemok is a cult fast food chain in Russia. People who eat there get obsessed. I literally ate a cheese and creamy mushroom one everyday while I was there. By the end of two weeks Nigel and I were eating the "E-Mail" (feta and green things and an irrelevant name) and the cheesey mushroomy creamy one and a dessert one filled with condensed milk or cream and berries every day. It was amazing.

More reasons why this particular food joint ruled:

It was always open.

There were heaps of them. Whenever we were lost we would try and find one and once we did, oh boy oh boy did we get excited.

There were stalls AND restaurants.

It was cheap.

Sides: tea and borscht.

And once an old, old man listened in to our conversation and berated us for being cold. It was December in St Petersburg. It was cold.

I miss them so so much. Other snacks just don't measure up. Pancakes are always a disappointment. Galettes always taste wrong compared to them. It's sad when you fleetingly have something so good in your life, it spoils other things forever. I wouldn't have traded you for the world, Bliny.

call me a hater

I never liked Chloe Sevigny.

I hated her in The Brown Bunny. Well, I hate Vincent Gallo, I hated The Brown Bunny, and hating her was a natural continuation.

I never liked her famous fashionista-ness, and for a long time I thought everything she wore was horrible.



But you know what?

I like her high waisted short short thing, and floaty blouse thing

no, I love it.

I loved her Chloe outfit at the polo (really, who didn't?)


I love her in this MUSE Summer 09 spread

And I even liked her with Jake in Zodiac.

It's about time I forgive her for Gallo and Gummo and admit that I really like (and rather envy) Chloe Sevigny, if only for the fact that she's one of those celebrities who finds something she likes and wears it (gasp) more than once!

These photos came from the internet

she's back

Hello Phoebe!

Phoebe Philo's debut collection for Celine is beautiful, pretty colours and exquisite details, I'm particularly fond of these perfect-length pants (why can I never find any of these in 'real life') and dresses I wish I could afford!

The jumpsuit and little shorts reminded me of Han!

Photos nicked from Pretty. Little. World.

a cup of tea

solves everything, right?

If you disagree you may as well stop reading because this is probably going to turn into some pretty unabashed tea loving rant. Seriously, I adore tea. Earl Grey is my long time favorite though Han and I used to branch out and drink a pot of Lady Grey (with a little spoon of honey in it) every now and then. One particularly dreary Auckland winter my housemate and I made it through a box of 50 Earl Grey teabags in 3 weeks.

When I was very young, my class went on a field trip to the Celestial Seasonings factory in Colorado, it smelled amazing and they gave us all a sampler box to take home; it remains to this day the most memorable school trip I've been on (second only possibly to 'drama camp' in 7th form on the Kapiti Coast, a truly hormonal excursion punctuated with late night truth or dare revelations, friends being banished back to Wellington still embarassingly drunk, a play about depression and lots and lots of gumboot tea). Celestial Seasonings is by far the best producer of herbal teas I have ever come across - they actually taste of something, not just a pretty smell - and (yay) I have started to see a small selection theirs stocked in Woolworths on Smith Street.

T2 is a tea-lover's mecca here in Melbourne, I have spent a lot of time in the Brunswick store, sniffing and tasting and umming and ah-ing, trying to decide which tea, or two, to take home with me. They aren't cheap and unfortunately none of the pre-packaged combinations really thrill me, so I have resorted to buying individual boxes, slowly, and building a bit of a collection. My recommendations include, for other Earl Grey fiends, the French Earl Grey, the same fragrant blck tea with a dreamy hint of rose and vanilla. I also love their breakfast range, a cute twist on English and Irish Breakfast teas, T2 produce Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and New Zealand breakfasts. MelbourneBreakfast is described as 'a deep warm tea with a hint of sweetness, just like Melbourne', charming.

In NZ I collected vintage tea sets, the prettier of these are in storage still and will eventually make it to Melbourne I hope. I am very much looking forward to tea and girlfriends on the impending trip home. Sigh.

Do you have a favorite tea? Or routines and ceremonies that go with your tea or coffee drinking?

Pictures via: Daydream Lily, Oh Joy, Lolita

frilly things

Lingerie. I adore it. I haven't bought any in a long time and am starting to feel like a splurge is necessary. Well, justifiable. Almost.

I just came across the new Lonely Hearts Club knickers on So Much To Tell You and am weak at the knees. I've been holding off on any LHC purchases due to the impending NZ trip but now have more to add to the 'when I finally get to go to Myhart' list. Sigh.

The Auckland shopping list is ever growing, and while it may mostly be window shopping, I am saving almost exclusively for Myhart and Miss Crabb, as well as eating, lots of eating and drinking...

But I was talking about lacy things, Journelle has always made my heart flutter, though I don't know if I could bring myself to purchase intimates online, without trying them on and generally just touching them first...

My last underwear purchase worth mentioning was a girly white silk set printed with tiny stars from Stella McCartney. The rest of her range is amazing and very sexy, with gorgeous names like 'eve giggling' 'coco bluching' etc.

bringing the tone down again, sorry

"just do a google on big eyed nocturnal primates"

Thanks for the monkeys, internet.