Conversations through the middle

Life from a (slightly) more mature perspective

Interiors – Dotty about dots

I love polka dots. If there’s one pattern that doesn’t seem to age this has to be it. Delicious splodges of colour – uniform or random – that go with everything and look just as good on fabrics as they do on pottery, furniture, walls or canvas.

I’ve been thinking about dots a lot recently – ever since my daughter decided to ban me from calling her Dotty/Dot, her nickname since she was a baby. So in recognition of the fact that my Dot is growing up, and a mixture of sadness and happiness that we are moving on to a new phase in her/our lives, I’ve decided to indulge myself by gathering together a plethora of polka dots pieces to cheer me up. They would also look great in any home.

This lovely mug is from Laura Ashley’s AW12 homes’ collection and is part of a set that also includes a jug, cake stand and cup. www.lauraashley.com

Add a spot of style to your cooking with this casserole dish from Berry Red. www.berryred.co.uk 

Tea always tastes nicer out of a teapot I think – and what could be nicer than this blue-on-white Blue Penny design from Aston Pottery. There’s also a matching mugs, cups, saucers, jugs, storage bowls, serving plates and more in the collection, which also comes in several colour combinations. www.astonpottery.co.uk

Dotty cushions – what could be comfier? My very own Dot would love this one. Love Letters are by Jonny’s Sister and they’re available in a variety of patterns, covering A – Z, all handmade in England. www.jonnyssister.co.uk

These fabric bowls are obviously not for food storage, think of them more as decorative accessories to store bits and pieces or just look pretty on their own. Available from www.nellypepper.co.uk



Passionate purple – wonderful. This plate is from Berry Red and its name – Naomi Plum Side Plate – indicates there are other pieces in the collection so I’ve had a look and found a jug, dinner plate and latte cup. www.berryred.co.uk

This cute ceramic Spotty Dotty toast rack holds up to five pieces of toast and is dishwasher safe. It’s from I Like Chickens and can be found here.

Good old Tesco, they make it easy to pick up a few polka dots with your weekly shop. This set – each piece is sold individually – was launched for the Diamond Jubilee but should be in shops throughout the summer. www.tesco.com

This beauty is from Matalan and is just right for holding your morning coffee with its chunky shape and easy-to-hold handle. I’ll have to get one for work – it will look great on my desk. www.matalan.co.uk

Compared to this, my plain old toaster is just plain old boring. From German design company Efbe Schott, this vision in red provides a cheerful start to the day as well as scrumptious toast and warm croissants. It has all the tech features you would expect, too, including electronic browning control, removable bun rack and crumb tray, and a defrost button. Find it at www.redcandy.co.uk

It’s not just pots and accessories that get the polka dot treatment, why not extend your love to furniture too? This Italian retro dining chair is decorated by hand and is made of wood with a metal frame. It’s from Alexander & Pearl and comes as a set of two. These would look fab in my kitchen, find them here.

 

I’m loving this lime cushion, the red edging gives it, well, an edge. The cover is removable for washing and you can use it in the garden – great for picnics. Find it at The Contemporary Home.


Measuring cups that look good as well as being practical, what more could the home baking fan want? These are by Spode and launch in August at www.spode.co.uk

 Perfect for pasta bakes or lasagne, this polka dot oval dish from Emma Bridgewater is finished on the outside in classic blue and has a capacity of 1.7 litres. Find it at www.emmabridgewater.co.uk

 

This pretty yet substantial looking metal tray is also by Emma Bridgewater. The handles give it an extra safety aspect.

 

Finally for today, see how lovely this polka dot design looks in this bathroom. Beach Spot Mural is from Digetex and comes from its new Coastal Beach Collection. It’s not necessarily cheap – from £129 though I’m unclear whether that’s per roll or the cost for the entire wall – but it’s certainly stunning. www.digetexhome.com

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Beauty round-up – nails, face and hair

New gel polish brand Belle Gel has launched a kit designed to give you salon perfect nails at home. This handy product contains everything needed to create beautiful, high-shine nails in 12 on-trend colours.
I was at the launch of Belle Gel so heard about the kit first hand from company founder Susan Tompkins and I was impressed by her obvious dedication to her product. It was six years in development and has just gone on sale via the Belle Gel website.
While application obviously takes longer than when using a regular nail varnish, it is not complicated and the results can last up to two weeks. The kit comes with a UV lamp for curing or drying the nail colour, as well as cleanser for preparing your nails, primer, gel remover, brush, cuticle pen and nail file. There’s also one colour included – deep red – to start you off and I bet you won’t be able to resist buying others. I particularly like the Midnight Blue and Mocha shades, and the Burnt Orange would look great on holiday with a tan.
I can’t wait to create a gel manicure at home and I’ll report back on how it goes. In the meantime though you can find out more here.
 
Boots 17 is gearing up for the festive party season with the launch of Dazzle The Night, a limited edition collection full of shimmer and sparkle.
I love the Shimmer Rocks – frosty pink and pearl nuggets that you apply as blusher or simply swirl over your face for an ethereal glow. There’s also Wishing Star and Glimmer in the Night – they sound like they should be rock songs, but they’re actually nail colours that are full of party sparkle. The collection is on sale from the end of November.
Also from 17, the Smokey Eye Palette is spot on for creating that dramatic come hither look that has been around a while, but shows no sign of disappearing and is perfect for parties. 

The new Colour Radiance collection from Dove promises to help keep dyed hair looking good for longer.  As someone who has to colour her hair (thanks to genes from dad’s side of the family – he was grey by the time he was 23), I’m really pleased to see an affordable range of products to use at home.
I have to colour my hair every six weeks or so and it is difficult to keep it looking shiny after the first few days, so anything that helps keep that glossy, happy feeling has to be good. I haven’t tried the products, but there are four in the range – shampoo, conditioner, intensive conditioner and leave-in conditioning and care spray. They all contain something the company calls colour revitaliser technology and it’s claimed, keep colour vibrant for up to 10 weeks. Colour Radiance is in store now.
Help support good causes with The Body Shop’s Dragon Fruit Lip Butter. Every purchase of the product will see a donation to one of three charities: Kidscape, BUAV, or People & Planet. The great thing is though, you get to choose where your money goes as there will be a voting box in each store, so you can follow your conscience as well as pampering your lips.
All of the profits from the lip butters will go to charity, through The Body Shop Foundation, which was set up in 1989 and has so far donated more than £19 million to around 2,500 organisations.
Lisa Jackson, the foundation’s CEO, says the product “is a great way to extend the reach of our global funding by reaching people directly”. She adds: “Through The Body Shop Foundation lip butter we can reach more grassroots charities with more money.”
Sounds good to me. They’re on sale from August.www.thebodyshop.com

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Beauty reviews – fragrance, sunscreen, hand cream

Verveine EDT, Fragonard 
This is something I’ve been searching for all summer, though I didn’t know it. When it’s hot and sticky outside (I know that hasn’t been the case very often with the weather so far this year), I don’t want to wear my regular fragrance, I want something light, refreshing and cold. Many, many moons ago No7 satisfied that need with its lemon fragrance, but still many moons ago, they stopped selling it and I’ve found nothing else that comes close. I did have a brief fling with a passion fruit perfume in the 1980s that I discovered in France while at Bordeaux Uni, but my love for that waned as quickly as my relationship with my then French boyfriend.

So I was overjoyed this week to find an eau de toilette that – I think – is what I’ve been looking for. It’s made in France (!), in Grasse, which is renowned for its fragrances, and contains lemon, verbena, petitgrain, benjoin and chamomile. Verveine EDT is by the parfumeur Fragonard and I found it nestled in the corner of Marks & Spencer’s new beauty hall at Marble Arch.
About the new beauty hall – it’s fab. The idea is to stock niche and little-known brands, introducing people to a cosmetic world outside the mass market. It’s a great idea but my only criticism is, the assistants did not have product samples for people to take away – and frankly who is going to spend a fortune on something they haven’t heard of if they haven’t tried it first? They didn’t even have information leaflets for the different products, which is ridiculous and surely defeats the object?
Back to the perfume. I’m wearing it now and I love it, but only time will tell whether or not it wins a long-term place in my heart. It’s £22 for 100ml, which is a big enough bottle for lots of liberal spritzing.
Rituals Sun Protection Face Cream is a bit of a revelation. It is factor 50, which according to everything I’ve ever been told about SPF creams, means it should be thick and sticky. It’s not. The consistency is light and non-greasy, and it sinks easily into the skin. The fragrance is pleasant, not overpowering, in fact it doesn’t smell of sun screen at all. I found it a pleasure to wear – usually when it’s hot I find facial sun screen melts and feel greasy on my skin, but not in this case.
Rituals is a brand I’ve been learning more about recently and I blogged about a couple of their products here. I love cosmetics with a story behind them and this company, with its ethos, natural ingredients and focus on traditional bathing rituals from around the world, is impressive.
A couple of months ago I subscribed to one of those beauty box services that deliver a selection of products to you each month. The one I chose is She Said Beauty because they had a great subscription offer on at the time, but there are other ones out there.
My first beauty box included a Balance Me Super Moisturising Hand Cream, which I’ve been using before going to bed at night. This was an award winner at the Beauty Insider’s Choice awards in 2010, taking the accolade for ‘Best New Certified Organic Skincare Product’. It contains 98.8% natural ingredients and is free of sulphates, parabens, mineral oils, DEA and petroleum oils.
The cream is thick and luxurious, which is why I use it at night (I find it too rich for day as it can leave my fingers feeling greasy). I’m not sure about the fragrance – it’s a herby smell but a little too medicinal for my tastes, however, it does make my hands feel soft so I’ll keep using it. Tip: one way to cope with a heavier hand cream is to wear cotton gloves over the cream, overnight. I do this when I’m using intensive products, especially in the winter when my hands tend to crack and age about 50 years. It’s too hot at nights to wear gloves at the minute though.

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