The return of summer

The weather over the past two or three days has been glorious, particularly today. Were it not for the shortening days and seeping in of russet-hued leaves, one could be forgiven for thinking it was still July or August. Make hay while the sun shines, the saying goes, and that is what we've been trying to do, in between school runs, work and the everyday humdrum of daily life. We ended this evening by having a picnic in the park and it was uplifting...

A break from perfume

Well, not really. I'm still wearing perfume, fear not, but I thought today I would post a couple of Youtube links to one of my recent favourite artists, Laura Marling.I'm not sure how many of you know of her, particularly in America, as she is a British artist, with a predominantly folk background. She's only just 21 but has already release three albums. Reminiscent of Joni Mitchell in some ways, she is by no means a Mitchell clone and has some wonderful...

Behind the times

But slowly catching up. This weekend I bought a DVD box set of the first four seasons of Mad Men from HMV, marked down quite considerably. Now this is nothing remarkable in itself, but I've heard and read about this TV series for a long time now, which has gained excellent reviews and won awards left right and centre. As always, I am slow to catch up. When Mad Men came to the UK, it was on TV at a very strange time, at least to me, around 10.30pm....

True Grace Candles - Sacristy

This is a slight departure for me - usually I write about perfume, but today I bought a scented candle for the first time. I like scented candles, but I don't very often find ones I really like, or when I do, they tend to be astronomically priced. The True Grace range are about £21 each, so definitely not too expensive. They smell good, although I honestly can't vouch for their quality. What I can...

Sample time again

At long last. I haven't ordered samples for what seems like an age. I went through a phase this year where I managed to get a lot of stuff from friends, both online and in various stores, and thanks as always to those people who kindly fueled my perfume habit. You know who you are if you're reading this!So, this week I ordered a whole lot of samples from The Perfumed Court. I've only ordered from them once before, way back in about May last year....

Scent of the day - L'Artisan

Posts have been rather scarce from me over the last week. Work commitments again. I'm hoping that by October my work load might start reducing a little, which will be welcome. I've been working flat out since May and I'm starting to feel a little worn out.Today I'm wearing two fragrances by L'Artisan, Timbuktu and Fou D'Absinthe. I've written about both before. I own a sample of Timbuktu, but have never sprayed it before, only dabbed. I can't say...

Love Chloe and our wedding anniversary

It was our 11th wedding anniversary last Friday, the 9th. I always get a vague sense of panic whenever a birthday, Christmas or an anniversary approaches in our household. After 11 years of marriage, I find it increasingly difficult to find a suitable present for my wife. In fairness, she has made it easier for me in recent years, as she loves knitting and has got into it in a big way. This means plenty of knitting-related ideas, but like with all...

Humpty Dumpty

WTF, I can hear you exclaiming as you read this title. Which idiotic perfume company has released a perfume called Humpty Dumpty, the damn numpties!Well, no one actually. But I thought this little video clip of my two daughters reciting the Humpty Dumpty nursery rhyme was quite cute...

Back to school

Not for me though, thankfully! My older daughter, Hannah, starts school tomorrow, aged 4 years, 7 months and 10 days. I can hardly believe it, to be honest. It literally feels like just the other day that she was being born. I can still remember my first day at school, more than 31 years ago (Jeez,  I feel terrible just writing that), as if it was just the other day.I had some happy days at school,...

Faberge Vintage Woodhue

I received a sample of this vintage formulation from Carol at http://waftbycarol.blogspot.com/. I've never smelled this before, and I can't claim to be any expert on vintage fragrances, but Woodhue smells both comforting and challenging at the same time. It has that vibe that perfumes from the seventies and eighties exude, but I understand that this perfume dates from the 1930s, although I have no idea of the date of the particular sample I...