Some thoughts on Make up

When I started to let my hair grow out white, I had also to have a sharp look at the colours I loved and have been wearing for ages. They had to be adjusted.  Out went the loud and brilliant colours, in came terracotta, a tired blue, my most beloved grey, a soft olive green and  - lately - a very powdery old rose.  Thanks to mother nature, white is still my best pal for all those colours. I have even changed from gold to silver - it just looks better on me now.

The same changes applied to Make-up. Not that I have always used a lot of make-up - I am far too lazy for the whole procedure and as I laugh a lot, speak even more and have my hands always in my face, I simply would look a mess in a minute.
But since I was 15, I have been faithfully absorbed all that I could get and know about the sujet - using myself mostly only lipstick ( ALWAYS - even for bringing the garbage out, but it stops with going to sleep - there I use the Elizabeth Arden lipcream. Not that it helps a lot for those wrinkles around the  lips...) and mascara. Until now, no fond de teint for me, no eye shadow and no blush. More like good soap, a good cream and off I go.

But I have to readjust, I agree. Age is lurking around the corner and in a grey Brussels wintersky you can look very quickly like a ghost/ zombie/revenant, walking around sadly in a black coat, with black boots, a pale face and huge dark eyes making "hhuuuuhhh" to your fellow kinsmen.

So, what to do about being lazy and longing to look fresh and nice? Or at least so well educated as not to expose the world around me to my unadorned features? Make up is there to make us feel better, be better and get better. If we show a lovely and beautiful face, we are armed against all unrest around us. Just imagine, staying in the supermarket ( sorry for always coming back with that supermarket stuff, it is my only outing and chance of getting to know the world) in a long row, waiting patiently for the cashier to taking away your money and there is George Clooney right behind you - catastrophe, do admit.
So, let´s be prepared.

I said already several times, that lipstick and mascara belong to me like toothpaste and a hairbrush, a spritz of a great scent and this grey jacket I like to wear. Several times in my life I had a session with a make - up specialist to be made up - and it was always really a treat. I liked it and found that I looked really good. All of a sudden I had eyes - I was quite surprised, I admit. But on a day to day basis... too lazy. Really. Sorry.

This is no inhibition to know a little bit about the possibilities though.

Here come a list of my most treasured make up things and I do use them, once in a while.

First of all the base. Cream bla bla - you know this already. For getting all those blotches and blueish shadows out of the world I have been now very (!) loyal to Diorskin Nude Natural Glow Hydrating Make-up in "010" - it is covering, but then very natural. I mix it with my daycream and can layer it, where I need it. The trick is, not to use it all over your face, but only there, where needed... This is truly the first make-up I feel comfortable with.
As concealers I have always used two: the simple little concealer stick made by Chanel and the famous Touche Eclat by YSL - simply the best, and easy to put in the tiniest handbag. There are now some 4 shades, so everybody can find his match.

Mascara:  Lancome, in every shape and fabrication. I like brown mascara, it is softer on the eye. Once I had bought a bronze one - it was an excursion in real glamour... A very good and much cheaper alternative are the mascaras made by Maybelline.

Eyeshadow: the colours I like are green, violet, grey and bronze - but I use them very rarely. I have a lovely little box with several colours made by Guerlain, I use them never. But I do indeed use the "Bone" eyeshadow by Bobbi Brown - she has gorgeous eyeshadows, which could worth collecting them for their beauty. A trick I have learned in one of those make-overs is to put make-up on the eyelid, to even out the skin tone. Sometimes this is already enough and gives you a fresh look. She makes also these little pots, which double up as cream rouge and lipcolour - right now I have a soft peach  and it gives me a fresh and very natural feeling.

Nailpolish: I have been told by Susanne that she bought Chanel "Rouge Fatal" which goes very well with our favourite red lipstick, Rouge Vendome nr. 25. There was one polish, which was called "Pirat" at Chanel, a fresh and very chic red, but I am afraid they have taken it from the market - as with all good things..
I personally prefer always the Christian Dior polish, I like the little flat brush and I have the impression, that they stay longer. There is a  beige pale "base" at CD  which was a tip from a professional manicurist and it looks completedly natural. With me a nailpolish does have no long life, unfortunately. Too much washing up and too lazy to put always those gloves on. I prefer to polish the nails, put some oil on them or Christian Dior´s nail cream, and that´s it.

Last but not at least: Lipsticks - I have written a post on them and could put another favourite on the list: Estée Lauder in Copper Glow - a beautiful bronze red, which makes my skin glow and I feel immediately like coming "Out of Africa". Now, as I think about it, Meryl Streep as Tanja Blixen in this film should be definitively on MY Style Icons list!!!

I know, not soo very exciting, my list, but then I want to look better than I do and not painted. War paint is not for me. But one never knows, what will come next!!!

My favourite colours - today: terracotta

I repeat: With a fading skincolour harsh colours do us no good. I used to love a vivid red, like a cherry red or even a bright red, as red as the firebrigade. But now this is getting more toned down. Not orange neither..

One of my favourite "jewels" are corals, the deep red one. In the summer, with a light tan and a white shirt, this colour is irresistible..


A bad picture of a favourite brooch I was given as present . I think it is from 1920ies.
Have to learn to work this photothing...



Fashion Sins - are they ?

I feel today in the mood of preaching to the world, so bare with me my latest newest introspections about fashion. Not that I am somebody who is regularly called by Anna Wintour ( Hi there, want my number?), but, being me, I do have opinions. Todays came up while ruminating in my wardrobe, thinking of the summer and trying to get rid of some stuff accumulated there for the last years... And I hasten to say, that I do not like strings. So be prepared.

There are several severly punished fashion sins and No-nos wobbering around in our heads. I wonder sometimes who established those? Why? Some wizzard, making the economy grow again?

Why is it a sin to be middleaged? Why is it important to look eternal 13 to be taken seriously ( ok, I get a bit over the top here, but you get the idea) Why, I ask you, is, for example, a pantyline a fashion sin?  Why is a string NO fashion sin?? Does make little sense to me, i.e. whoever invented the string was definitively a masochist. I spare details.

Another thing are those shoes. Why, for heavens good sake, a pair of tremenously ugly nonusable hyperexpensive socalled shoes are to be supposed to the the ultimate in chic and glory? Mhh? If you look at the girls face, you just want to send her to the next nursing home - or, if you are inclined to let sometimes your little witch have a breather, you just mumble in your not existing beard - schön blöd - roughly translated - not only silly but stupid as well.

Or another: Why are "cheap" shoes and handbags a fashion sin? I wonder? Does it not depend on the person taking the thing from level 0 to the ultimate superchictrick? There are in fact shoes under 150 Euros, which are nice and classy and funky and really chic. Next time you are in a childrens shop, have a look in the kids shoes department - I found the most adorable leopard ballerinas there - size 40...

No long hair after 65, which is the new 45 - why not? If it is nicely groomed and fits the personality? Miucca Prada - off with your hair ( she is not 65, I know), same to Sonia Rykiel ( she is).  Much better than the beton locks on all our mothers heads. But coloured in RED -AUBERGINE - Sonia! - now, that is a fashion sin which deserves definitively many a million years of purgatory. She is forgiven.

No red/green/white shoes - why not?? I myself boast to have a lovely pair ( now too small, unfortunately - but I hide them from my daughter!! ) of velvety and embroidered red shoes - evening shoes, bought in Ankara at a time when I had a glamourous life of cocktails and dinnerparties. Big sigh. I love them and keep them. Red shoes are great, basta.

Another apparently great fashion sin are old and stuffy shops, preferably with old salespersons. WHY I ask you? Those old stuffy dusty shops are an Aladins Cave for the one who can LOOK. And talk - I had the most interesting talks to old ladies, having been sitting for 40 odd years behind that counter and have seen it all. Ask them, let them tell their story. It is amazing what does come out sometimes. No celebrity stuff, but moving and interesting history of our time.
 Just ruminate around there and you find the most extraordinairy things starting from old-fashionend tailored white cotton boxershorts for the boys for a song, or a set of the perfect wineglasses, long forgotten, or the best knife you have ever had in your kitchen.  I bought once the most stylish douche cap, which, found in New York  or London in one of the great departmentstores would have cost a serious fortune in labels and design.

Why should be a shop like Colette in Paris be the ultra? Because it is easy to just get in, buy some stuff, get a bag written Colette on top of it and BELONG. Finally, you belong to the chic and hip and rich and beautiful. I was there, walked around, did not really find something I would have liked to have and was disappointed. Really.

But then, I am not normal, most probably. But put me in the Diane von Fürstenberg shop a little bit further up St. Honoré, I could buy half of the collection ( if available in my size. Thank you Diane for the wrap dress! It is true: every woman in every size should own one.)

Which leads me to another pet sin of mine: being to "round" is a fashion sin, a big one, literally. But looking like a walking sceleton is none, no? Why? I have already written about that size matter, will not bore you about this any longer. But it can´t be a fashion sin to be not a sceleton. One fashion sin is a real one though: Bikinis after a certain weight. But that is just one. Imagine all those people who are build (yes, that is possible!) in a 44 frame? Are they walking and living fashion sins? Ich sage, like Mrs. Merkel, no.

Last and least: Welcome in the hall of fashion-sin-fame: Lady Gaga makes millions with her look, hordes of shrieking teenagers are trying to emulate her "style". It gives me the creeps. Or Cher - brr - who wants to look like her? Or - coming nearer our "model" and age range - Madonna? Hookerstyle somebody?I do not want to look like Madonna, no thank you, very nice, but no.

But then I write this blog and I am not a follower of fashion. Just cannot afford it - not only money wise, but also I have to keep up being able to look myself in the mirror.
And I find it truly boring to run after somebody else for being somebody oneself ( difficult sentence, I know, just read it again, it does make sense)... Know thyself, drink that water and make it work.
Just do as you please.

End of sermon.



A year ago I went with friends to visit Bernar Venet in the South of France. I took a picture of this structure in his own garden and was enchanted about the simplicity and beauty of his work in a natural setting.
For more information look on his website: http://www.bernarvenet.com/



April 2011 Issue of " The World of Interiors"

Perhaps I have not enough stressed the fact, that I love interior decorations and am always in my mind putting that dreamhouse together. For years I have been collecting my "scrap books" with the things I like and in a low moment those "books" are definitely a foolproof tonicum to always pick me up from feeling deep down of that hole. As is decorating that house in my mind...
As it is only logical, I am an avid reader of interior decoration magazines, not many, but some of them.
Last saturday I bought the april´s issue of The World of Interiors and it gave me so much pleasure and incentive, fun and new ideas, that I would like to urge you to have a look yourself. There is so much which is interesting!!!!! Just to give you some ideas and share with you what has grasped my interest.

First of all the Cover - the colours are inspiring, spring is in the air - well done! Writer´s Retreats as an inviation: certainly for me! The latest newest things on the Milan  Furniture Fair? Yes, I want to know. So full points for the cover, whoever edited it.

Inside, my mind got inspired by an article about new tissue designs, "Trained for Success" - I felt transported to the houses decorated by Elsie de Wolf and saw Diana Mitford in her french house in the 1960ies. Flowers and chintz, long thought dead are back! Some pages later: a book review on Syrie Maugham: Staging Glamorous Interiors.  This is for me!

Next: a section about "Interiors modern" - crude and clear - very inspiring and interesting, not that I would like to have all this furniture, but some would be spicing up a classic environment. The "Serious Pursuits" by Sophie Baarling want me make to take the next Eurostar and be off to a prolonged stay in London: The Sir John Soane´s Museum is for me a must, as are the Clifton Nurseries for every garden lover.

And on and on it goes, from a Watteau exhibition in the Royal Academie of Arts ( drawings) or in the Wallace Collection (pictures), to the forrunner of the modern Facebook ( there is nothing new under the sun) - to an advertisement for a kitchen by an italian firm - see page 129. Amazing.

And then my real treats start: one house after the other, more inspiring and interesting than the last one - you have an italian palazzo, wonderfully restored, the monastery of Tomar in Portugal,  a house in Santa Monica, which is simply divine  in its simplicity and good taste, Goethe´s house in Weimar ( I was there and it looks really like that!), a most inspiring bathroom in a house in London, to the Oslo City Hall with its murals out of the 30ies - ending with a finca in Ibiza, where we would not mind to spend a holiday.

In short: I have rarely enjoyed an issue so much as this one! If you get your hand on a copy, get yourself curled up on that sofa, with a pot of steaming tea and a  good hour of time ahead of you. It is worth it.

Beauty Rules, by Bobbi Brown, USA 2010

If you should happen to have a daughter or a goddaughter, a friend in her teens or early tweens, or you look for a nice gift for one in that age range, than get out and buy this book for the girl.
It is a wonderful introduction into the art and doings of Make-up, by the american queen of the natural et pretty look, Bobbi Brown. If the girl in question is a punk, get it all the same, because the sheer number of pretty young girls is convincing.

The subtitle reads "Fabulous looks, beauty essentials, and life lessons for loving your teens and twenties" - and it is exactly that what you get.
All little girls love to play with make-up and many a good Chanel lipstick had its heyday in a bright smile of a happy 4 year old, including smears on the shirt and some fingers on the wall - believe me. I remember myself being that age and with tremendous seriousness, interest and growing fascination looking at all the wonderful pots, brushes and lipsticks on the dressing table of my oldest sister, who then was already in her early twenties. I just could look over the table - not more and I loved it!! It was a sort of holy initiation in the possibilities of beauty.

Coming back to this book, Bobbi tells all one needs to know concerning exactly those possibilities. There is a chapter with the basics, like washing your face (sic!), brushing your teeth and "Feeling good in your skin"; counseling on food - out with the muffins, in come fruit and fish in "Beauty inside out" - on to more practical advice in the direction of haircuts, taking care of those eyebrows and last but not least the inevitable and quite convincing "Makeovers". Needless to say that there is a section of "Moms and daughters" and, oh wonder, "Let´s hear it for the boys". So, something for everybody, nice pictures of fresh young faces and even advice to look gorgeous with braces on your teeth...

I have to admit, that I am an old fan of Bobbi Brown. Her make up is always doing something good to us poor mortals  - it makes "us"  more "us", prettier and healthier and more glowing. Alone for creating that trend, she should already get some sort of "Order on the pinkish ribbon for the salvation of the tired housewife´s look" . And luckily her products are now widely available in Germany - in Munich in any case at Douglas and Beck am Rathauseck; before it was the trip to Paris ( Bon Marché or Printemps) - so tiresome, this quest for beauty, poor poor us...

And there is more to it: the "Life lessons" are convincing too - even if at times it sounds like the good american  cheerleader talking with lovely white teeth and a long blond ponytail: "Be on time! Work hard! Give back! Dream big" etc etc. But as I am not the "Zielpublikum" I cannot object. All those rules about food, style, health and working hard are welcome - they most probable enter a teenage brain if they do come from somebody like Bobbi and not from dreary old mum...

 So, if you are not very keen of the teenager girls around you becoming painted war ladies or the next generation of Clowns of the Universe, part 3, do be a clever adult and give them the tools to learn it properly and right from the beginning. Some sort of "controlled nonsense" does do much good,  indeed.

Nothing ever ever ever educates more than the early aquisition of that  "looking sharp" on beautiful things.

Pugs at home

Here I have the pleasure and honour to introduce to you our beloved Pugs, Micky and Ploppy. They are both 7 years old and adorable characters. Once a pug in your life and you are lost for any other dog. Loriot once said something like - I translate freely -  a live without pugs is possible but not desirable.

This is our pug Mick. He loves to sit in the sun and sleep.

And this is Ploppy. Who likes even more to sleep. Always. There will be more pictures as soon as I have this camera....

My Resolutions for Old Age

The other day I was doing my supermarket tour de force and was suddenly realizing, that by far the most other people in the place were in fact old people, I mean really old. They did not look happy and the old prejudice, that "AGE" is something dreadful was more than evidently right, or so it seemed to be.
I was looking around myself and thought, that this, here in Europe, will be very soon the "normal" situation. Somehow this was not a comfortable thought and I wondered about how the world will look, when we are all old, tottering around with small steps and little eyesight, buying ready made meals and dreading to go home to the TV. They did not look like they were enjoying themselves.Nobody smiled back, as I smiled at them. How sad, I thought.

I myself have always loved the company of old people.
Unfortuantely I never knew my grandparents, as they were or dead, when I was born, or lived far away, in Canada. The father of my mother spent the last few years with us in Bavaria, but I do not have any particular memory of him, only that he had a great beard, a lot of books and a jar with sticky bonbons in his room.
I do remember though my grandmother painting me, when I was 2 or 3 years old. And I remember also that I liked her, that she was kind and somehow fun - even if I could give you no more concret description about this fact. But I felt, that my mother was happy, when she was there.

One of my best friends and much missed was a lady 42 years older than me. I was lucky to work for her at Antiques faires, and we drank many a bottle of champagne together, sitting there and watching the public walk by. We had fun, indeed. I really loved her in a sense of a sister soul, if you know what I mean.
She was an alert and very interested woman, knowing her abilities, open-minded, wise, full of humour, a little bit naughty, discreet and always interested what was going on around her. I learned to love white wine with her, met many different and also weird people, many of them much older or not so much older - it was always interesting at her place. She loved life.  As I still think about her almost every day, I would like to say, that she was by far one of the people I know, who had a great influence in my life.

Nowadays it is not fashionable to be "old". This is a pity. We miss out on so much - and the "old" people miss out as well. There were times in history, when this was different. Old people were asked for opinions, could be of great help in the family, bringing up the children, while parents were working out of the house. They had more patience for their grandchildren than for their own children, because they had lived a life and could watch it from a different point of view. More calmly, philosophically.


If I think about myself getting older and older, I have already for a long time taken various solutions. Old people are interesting and lovable - or at least they should be. Most people who are old and lonely are also unhappy and therefore not too good company.
So, what is to be done to be and stay "good company"?

First of all, I will keep a life of my own. If I stay healthy and somehow fit, I see myself more than enough rushing around from one friend or child to another, coming only when invited and not staying to long. I will give advice if asked, but respect the decisions of my children. They owe me nothing. They have to live their own life. Good advice: Bite your tongue, a bad word cannot be retrieved.
I will in any case try to stay always clean and well groomed, smelling lovely of my scent, so that my children/grandchildren/friends will remember my scent whenever they will smell it later. I will try to cook the food that busy parents cannot cook, and I will try to start up conversations with the young, so that they learn to stand on their own and have opinions of their own. It is the job of the older generation to help young people to loose their shyness about many things in life and often a difficult conversation is easier to be held with a beloved and trusted elderly friend than with a parent.

I will always be very good dressed and made up. I will laugh readily. I will drink my whisky and gin tonic. I will be interested in politics and culture, will be interested in the opinion of others and especially of the young ; I will be only too glad, if they tell me about their dreams and plans, and will offer only advice, if asked.
I plan to make the world comfortable to be with me and looking forward to my company.

I will not complain about my miseries, we all have them. I will keep my own group of friends and try to mix all ages together. I will be interested in fashion and some aspects, that are perhaps not ususal, so that I have always something interesting to tell.
My house will be in perfect order, smelling nicely and full of flowers, with good food and a comfortable salon, where people feel welcome and at home. I will have a dog, definitely.

And I will finally buy myself the leopard trousers I long to have, paint my fingernails red and start to write this novel I have been thinking of for years. I will eat cake and love it!!!

On Scent - Comments on my own Quest

With me it has been now some years that scent is a permanent problem. Before I was a faithful follower over several years of one scent or the other - I will give you my scent biography in a minute - but for some time now I simply do not find a new home for me. And believe me, I have tried quite a few. Seems like the quest for the holy grail - but instead fo riding with my nonexistent horse all over the british isles, I wander from one perfumerie to the next, read books, try out a lot and must smell like a complete chaos by now. Perhaps I should go cold turkey - just soap and nothing else?
But then our friend Coco Chanel always said, that a woman without scent does not have any future, and this is something I cannot envisage coolheadedly. I need a future and I want a future - best, with my signatur scent. I am, as I said, a faithful friend and would love to find a resting place, i.e. scent, where I could let me be me.

Let me tell you a story, which is always present, when I look for MY next scent. I have an aunt in Bavaria ( no, no farm in Africa, sorry). My parents and we siblings went often there for tea, and everytime when I entered the house it was infused with Aromatics Elixier ( Clinique) - the aunt smelled heavenly of it, her car did, the house, everything; and this impregnated my scent memory so strongly, that I today, whenever I smell it on somebody else, see my aunt before me and am happy. I look for something like this for me. Only to give you an idea of the difficulty of the search....

Coming back to that scent biography. As I said, I have tried a few and loved some. The first scent, I really liked was at the time something far too grown up for me: Jil Sander III - I recently fell over it again and felt somehow nostalgic, wondered over the person and her expectations at 18, memories coming up that I treasure and will not share. Then, when I was around 21, I started a serious relationship with Chanel 19, which I used for years and years - wonderful, the scented powder!! pure luxury! -  I still love it, but cannot come back to it, not even to the perfume, not only to the Eau de Toilette ( which was, what I could afford at the time). It is quirky and mad and fine and lovely at the same time. Perhaps later I could try to revive it? When I am seriously old, not now? I think a lady of 84 in a cloud of Chanel 19 must be simply divine. I should keep that in mind....

In between came a short affair with three bottles of Jicky by Guerlain, which at the time was to grown up for me too - perhaps I should take here another chance? And it was given to me by a dear and very chic friend. I will try it again - perhaps now the time is right...

Then, in my late 20ies, after marriage and having moved country, I settled for another couple of years with Eau du Soir de Sisley. First I fell for it, because it is near to Aromatics Elixier, which I love on others but cannot wear myself - it does not feel right on me. There were shortlived loveaffairs with Miss Dior, which I still like a lot - Hello Ankara and Susanne!! But, again, it is not exactly what I am looking for.

Actually, I do not know, what I am looking for.

Recently I thought I could settle for L´Heure Exquise by Annick Goutal, and it comes already very near my expectations, but then has a too tame feeling about it, very comfortable and cosy, but too pleasing. I like it and it is  a close close runner up.
Today I found in my closet again a half full bottle if Diorella and walk now around in a wonderful  cloud of this old scent, which is still superchic - and I see Lilli and me 1988 in Munich going to the Theatiner Parfümerie and buying exactly that scent, feeling grown up and so chic at the time. Perhaps I shall finish this bottle now and will see, whether for the summer, this will be it.
Or better re-try Eau de Lancome? Memories of my mother in Italy at the beach coming up. Or then better Hermès, Eau d´Oranger?
As you might have noticed, I like old scents. I very very rarely have some sort if slight interest in the new scents, they smell all the same, too sweet and far to loud. Boring - for me. I admit, that I limit my range quite a lot. But believe me, all the niche stuff, I have tried and sniffed my way through A LOT stuff. To despair...

Anyhow, summer and winter scents are different. I will now concentrate on a summerscent. But then one of my sisters in law uses Opium de YSL during the whole year and it is here again, a true signature scent. It is her, in summer and in winter.

Having a signature scent is being grown up, no? SO, I am not grown up, apparently. Interesting insight. Hm.
I will search on. Perhaps some day it will be there and the quest will be done and I feel at home. I shall let you know.

My favourite colours - today: green

Green is my favourite colour. Together with grey! And terracotta-red. And white.

These two pictures have been a "think- try-and-do-experience".
I know, nothing special, but I like the blurring of the different shades of green.

Tomorrow I´ll get out and get myself a small new camera!!!!

"The little Dictionary of Fashion", by Christian Dior, V&A Publishing, 2008

This book is a little gem. It is beautifully made, quite smallish, bound in grey fabric, with the title written in big pink letters. Hold it in your hand and you are immediately in a good mood.
It was originally published in 1954 and has been republished by the Victoria &Albert Museum in London - which in itself is worth every minute you spend there...

Here the great master speaks himself, he is somehow chatting to us mortals, hanging on his lips for words of wisdom. And words of wisdom they are - well, not all is feasable nowadays, as we rarely - unfortunately - wear a hat for a shopping trip into the supermarket or to the gasolinestation, and the practicality of gloves for driving a car are underestimated these days too.

I found the book,  as always such things come, by accident, bought it and have spent many a good hour in its company. The compilation of thoughts follows the alphabet - which in itself makes already an amusing read, accompagnied by black and white fotographs of his models, and some of the famous drawings we all know by heart.

 Funnily enough, many things CD says are such basic advice, that you could write it in stone and it would be some sort of fashion advice which could be heard in 45 centuries to come.

Let me give you some little examples, to wet your appetite!

 "K":
Key to good dressing.
There is no key?
If there were it would be too easy, rich women could buy the key and all their fashion worries would be over! But simplicity, grooming and good taste - the three fundamentals of fashion - cannot be bought. But they can be learnt, by rich and poor alike.

Well there is hope for all of us, no?? And on and on he goes, about the necessity of the good fit of your clothes, of the secret that less is more in everything, of the use of colour  in your wardrobe, up to hairstyles and his love for the colour green.  (MY favourite colour too, ha!)
I cannot resist to put another quote here.

"H" for
Hairstyles.
Like everything which comes close to your face, your hairstyle is extremely important. ... I hate dyed hair. The colour God has given to you is always the best and matches with your personality. ... You can improve yourself - by all means - but you will still be yourself and not somebody else!...

and on grey hair: If you get grey young, you will look very elegant and much younger with your grey hair than if you dye it. And after a certain age dyed hair does not deceive anybody.
Exactly my talking since 1854.

I see quite a few of you making a face - as always, this is to be taken with some distance,   it was written in 1954 - we all know, that todays the technique of dying our hair is much more advanced and give a much more natural result. But you get the idea.

And a last thing, which I only can applaud is his comment about mutton dressed as lamb.

"A" for
Age
As far as fashion is concerned there are only two ages - girlhood and womanhood. .... You can dress to suit yourself - and therefore your age - but this does not mean that you have to wear clothes that make you look old...

Do admit, he is right! And would it not be wonderful, if we middle aged girls could start, for once, to dress like grown up women, and not as elderly teenagers? Fair enough for Rock chic and the blondish-longhaired ladies with jeeps, a fur vest and long boots  - they are all welcome. But do we really have to look all alike? How about, if I would decree, that my fashion icon, personally, could be well Ingrid Bergman??

I would like to know, what exactly being dressed like a grown up women today means. Have my own ideas about this, but then the margin between frumpy and ridiculous is small..
Anyway: next time you are in London and happen to be in the V&A shop, have a look. Or go on the ususal suspects and have a look there!

Some more Old Favourites in our bathrooms

Actually, we all know, that in the end we do not need too many products in our bathrooms.
They clutter the shelves with half used bottles piling up around the bathtub, spoiling the view and chic of our bathrooms. And when it has to be quick and reliable at 6.30 in the morning, we always turn to the same few things which are tried and tested and do work for us.
All you need is a bottle of oil, some good soap, a flannel and enough warm water - if we boil it down to the very very basic. Just remember those impromptu weekendtravels, where you had hardly time to pack, ergo had almost no luggage and on the run grabbed the toothbrush+ paste, some cleanser and a cream, a lipstick, some mascara and, if you were lucky, a small sample of a scent.
(If you were lucky, it turned out to be your next favourite scent - but on scent and make up favourites more later. They deserve a post of their own!)

So, back to more old favourites!! Often not needed (see above) but much much loved and needed in the sense that it makes us feel more confident, more pulled together and more presentable to the world around us  -  and to ourselves. And with every product we bring home from a hunt and gathering spree in town, we bring home some more hope for making us more happy, beautiful and therefore lovable. (Yes, gentlemen, we know: it is all in our head....)
 Not really very different from the odd neandertal ladies, who went out and came back with with a dead fish hanging around their neck for prestige and selfconfidence. Ok, perhaps not a fish.


An old, dear favourite with me is soap, a nice big piece of soap.
I always come back to Blenheim Bouquet from Penghalions - it just smells wonderful until the last bit and makes a very fine and creamy foam. I even use it for the face in the shower - quicker in the mornings. The smell is very agreable, without being to present. I have tried to use the scent too, but this was then too masculine for me. Another much beloved soap is CD - childhood memories here -  but I think it is only available in Germany? Have seen it sometimes here in the drugstores, but it has disappeared again. 
From soap it is only a little step to douche gels or bathoils - once again here Penghalions scores pretty high.

Every year, when I have a right to a  "Mom´s Holiday", some 4 days with good old friends from the golden Munich times, we do a major shopping and piling up of Fragonard products in Grasse. Their shower gels are simply divine and pretty to look at - my favourite is Vetiver. Another favourite is the "Pure" range they produce. Especially the bodypeeling - a paste made of sugar and argan oil: Rub it all over, get a shower and you have the skin of a baby. And the wonderful wonderful wonderful Argan Body Oil, which smells very lightly of lemons. Recently I found a Fragonard shop in the Rue St. Honoré in Paris, so no need to go down to the South of France any longer - not that we would need an excuse...

A comb made of wood, with wide teeth, does not ruin the hair - much better than made of plastic. Unfortunately the combs made of horn nowadays are mostly produced by machines and therefore can also damage your hair, as they are pretty sharp.

A great classic for haircare are the products of Leonor Greyl. Her cult product is the famous "Huile de Palme" - as a mask left in a couple of hours before washing your hair nothing can beat it - the trick is to take some conditioner,  mix it with this oil  and make a mess on your head. Put a warmed towel around your head and forget about it.
The shampoo specially for fine hair at Leonor Greyl works also very well I have been told. As for shampoo in generell less is always more and if you use a good shampoo, you do not really need some other products too. Invest in a good quality product - because here quality counts and more expensive is normally, for once, really better; you need less and the scalp is not so easily reacting nervously.

My favourite handcream, if I not forget to use some, which I normally do, is the Argan Handcream made by Galenic - widely available in farmacies around here. It sinks in in a moment and you do not have greasy hands at all. But it works wonders for those washing up hands of old moms. In an emergency the odd dab of olive oil does it also - just a bit more smelly!!

And I could go on and on - already making up in my mind another list of "necessary but not really needed things". I will keep you posted.... But now the sun is out, for once, and off I am with the dogs. Have a nice sunday!

Why don´t you...? 5

- give your teenager  a seriously made cookbook for his birthday?
 I mean, a real one, with pictures and indications for Coque au Vin etc.? Not one for children cooking Christmas cookies with their nanny. A real one!
Let him or her get a list for the ingredients, give them the cash, send them off and leave the kitchen, hanging around the house for urgencies. But make sure to negotiate a "cleaning up agreement", in short a "CUA" beforehand. Otherwise the experience will be short lived and the chap retire again in his room and talk to his computer.

-get out and do some serious star-gazing - alone, with your partner or with the kids?
This is easy, you just need a cloudless night, preferably not a full moon ( won´t see anything then), a Star-Chart ( to be bought on the internet or in a good bookshop) a small latern and a good anorak, if it is cold outside.
Stargazing is a healthy thing, as it puts everything back into perspective and you learn something too. Just imagine one pointing quite casually to the sky and mentioning, "Oh, Orion is here". Huge astonishment guaranteed.

-get you and your family a serious horoscope made by an expert ( check them out - there are so many charlatans out there, just wanting to predict/explain their honorar per hour)?
It is amazing - even such and old Cartesian like me is sometimes in awe of the coincidence of some information coming up... And, once an old Ambassadress told me, if you do it for your children/husband/mom/friend and have a good look at it, it might, sometimes help you understand how the other person might/does/can/will "function".
Ok, we are all individuals, but there must be something in it - otherwise all the Egyptians, the Babylonians, Wallenstein and Christian Dior would have been all wrong. Ok, they are dead, but so what?

Does size really matter??

A good and very dear friend of mine has created the euphemistic description of "russian sizes" when we are out on a shopping spree here in Brussels. (NO offence here to my russian readers - there have been 3 clicks from Russia until now - yes! I wonder, how you found this blog - would love to know....).

The normal reaction in a shop here is that the ladies do not even consider us worthy to look at : we are both over 1,70m tall and have some nice polstering at the right places. Forget about it. Having the cheek to ask for the availability of that dress in a bigger size is taken as capital offence: "Non madame, je regrette". This is a plain answer to a plain question.

If I am lucky I get a comiserating smile and the good advice to go to the shops for BIG ladies. And then, we walk into Marina Rinaldi and all is (far) to big for us. So, mother nature has given some of us the wrong genes to shop in a french environment. You get out of the shop and buy a lipstick, because in accessories size does not matter - Thank You Karl!
Of course you take the 1295th resolution to live on water and nothing more until you fit in that size - yes, this time. What you have not taken into account is, that it is rather difficult to shrink your bonestructure,i.e.hips, to use the non word, and if you loose those 5 kg, your face will be hanging around your skull like an old cloth.

Another friend of mine, very wisely and also well equiped, used to say very philosophically: "After a certain age you have to decide to become a goat or a cow". I have decided for cow. They have such nice eyes and love to eat. Nice, peaceful beings.

BUT: This does not happen to me, when I am back ( e.g.) in Munich or Münster, and dare the same tentatives of getting myself a nice dress.
First of all, the salesladies are nice and want you to buy something. There is the friendly offer of a coffee and the chat about the weather changes quickly to fashion and colours, the latest holidays in Italy and the difficulty of the quality of life nowadays. They try to do their best and it is fun - out of nothing the kind lady brings all sort of things for you to try on and until then you never really knew, that a wildy coloured skirt or that green jacket was waiting there for you, crying out: Hey, this is what you need!
In the end you walk out of the shop, happy, schlepping heavy and beautifully packed bags, feeling great and chic and for a fairly huge amount of "clothesbudgeting" poorer. But it is worth the while. You are after all not an outcast and there are people who with charm and readiness want you to spend money in their shop.

So I come back to the question of the day: Does size really matter?? Is it not more advisable to fit the dress to the body, instead of fitting the body to the dress? Which should not encourage all of us to indulge in 15 profiterolles/day  ( I do not like them anyway) and having for dinner 4 courses and then afterwards a late supper in front of the fridge, just nibbling away on the leftovers.
This is only allowed in times of great psychological distress and then only, if you are one of the lucky human beings, who loose weight when they are stressed.

For me, I have long since learnt painfully the unhappy-happy truth of the sentence: "The less you diet, the more you loose and the more you diet, the more you gain".
So, I take the liberty of loving my food. Which brings me to the idea to write about my favourite cookbooks very soon.

Re-entering the labour market

I never thought is so difficult to get a job.

For quite a while now I have been trying to find a job as a secretary - as to start saving up for this much conveted sherry brown Birkin Handbag, I do admit it - and I am too old or do not have the requested secretarial skills, only because I did loads of that work without being paid. Is this not curious? One asks oneself, if having stayed at home, bringing up children and moving through different countries as a "spouse" has not given enough of an own point of view...? Apparently this does not count. Mystery.

But this is apparently the law of the market - there is enough offer out there, even if the organistional skills are various, the languages as well and the brain works pretty good still. Youth over experience!!!Fair enough..

Well, I will go on and try to find a place at the sun, where a pension plan and some nice health insurance would be on offer - preferably with a nice and clever boss, who likes to delegate. I know, dream on. And go on trying!!

An Attic

 Here I show you some pictures of the empty attic, before the house was sold.

The attic in a house is the place where memories are stored, histories of former generations are kept and it is a place where children play in their magical world.

This attic here is empty and you can see the beautiful structures of a house built in the 16th century. The door you can see was put up int attic as the house had a major overhowl in a later time - they did not want to throw it away and put it in the attic. This is certainly a door from the original interior.

Once my brother found an old and almost mumified slipper, which had fallen in the space, which made the floor. Perhaps a worker had lost it there in the 16th century.





A House in Bavaria

Today I selected some pictures of an old house in Bavaria. In the meantime it has been sold and nothing you see here is left. I took the pictures on my last visit to the house on 17th June 2009. It was a wonderful sunny summerday.

 

Well, the beautiful bavarian sky is still there!!!

Why don´t you...? 4

- start to learn how to play a new instrument?

- take singing classes or join a theater group?

- stop making always the same mistakes?

- treat yourself with buying fresh flowers for the house/flat/room etc. - regularly???

- start again counting those smiles per day?

The FIRST pictures on this blog! I did it!!!

Here you see paperboxes, made by my sister in law Karoline in Regensburg, Bavaria. The papers she uses were in the beginning old cigarslips, found in an century old tobbacco factory in Regensburg. Now she does these boxes  also with wonderful japanese papers, a friend of her sends her from Japan. Apparently there is already a huge crowd following this enterprise over there! They are all unique and handmade.

Here you see MY boxes!!

Here is the link:

http://www.boxgallery.de/

I use them as boxes to store my earrings when I travel. But there are 1000 things you could do with them.. 





And here a little bit nearer...

And because I love them, once more a picture of all of them!
There is more to see on their website.

Hair and the Colour thereof

I always wondered, why being blond is still such an issue - always has been. Good old Marilyn Monroe: still a role model? But then we know, that even in roman times the ladies tried with evil mixtures to lighten up their hair. And a lovely light colour of "red" was called Venetian Blond in the Renaissance. Most probably, as it is a recessive gene, blond means "rare" ( hi there in Sweden!) and presents also a sort of childish sweetness and innocence.(I wonder..???) But I do not believe in the old saying that Gentlemen prefer blondes. No.

It was an interesting survey I could make while I lived in Portugal and then in Turkey: ALL women of a certain age started to colour their hair in a sort of blondish mess. They seemed so happy with it and felt good, young and glamorous - this is a -  the only -  excuse I can let go through. If it makes you happy, go, do it.
But a fact is, that blond and a darker complexion does not dance well together. It is like one wants to dance a waltz, the other one a Mazurka - rhythm problem pre-programmed.

If only somebody would tell those girls, that a Latino skin - which is gorgeous in itself! - always looks sad and dirty with blond hair...!!!!!! How can a decent hairdresser let his clientèle walk out of his salon with such appalingly looking sickness in the air? Whereas lovely dark and shiny hair with a darker skin and - this is lovely - bright or dark eyes  just DOES look wonderful.  I have a friend in Portugal with green eyes and dark shining hair with silverstreaks and she just looks fantastic - the ensemble is harmonious and therefore beautiful.

We all know that with age the colour of skin and hair does fade. This is a fact. But the eyecolour stays and is always a very good point in starting to get your haircolour right, choose the make-up and the colour of your clothes - yes, also the colour of your clothes. Try it and you will see the difference - your skin will look luminous and you´ll have a healthy glow.

Coming back to hair: The grooming makes all the difference, nothing else. And grooming is much less tiring, if you stay close to your own colour. Otherwise you can be a cool champion of the "Saint-Look" - having a white, blond or grey aureole around your face, two weeks after the last visit at the hairdressers.

This was one of the main reasons for myself getting out of the circus. It was a sort of shocktreamtent and took quite a while until I felt good again, but I have never looked back. I did a shortcut in becoming blond, for the first and last time in my life; then I cut my hair more or less short and it took not too long to return to my normal self, with other colours to wear, softer ones, different shades of my beloved green, red and grey. I feel very well now!!
Now I am just waiting for becoming really really white all over, as to turn in a real silverfox.
And I get compliments more often than before, spend much less on hairdressers ( allthough a good and very precise cut is superimportant, otherwise you look like a grandma very quickly - as is cleanliness and a good hairconditioner) and have now the only problem of considering the eternal question of letting my hair grow or not. Grow, I mean, really grow or keep them shortish and wild. A puzzle to me, never to be solved - and an eternal joke to my friends, yes, I know. Don´t laugh, this is important.

Well. As matter of fact, only the very  young one can pull of a quirky haircolour or a quirky haircut. All other human beings should stay true, or so near as possible to their biological colourset and do little touch ups, but no harsh changes.
This applies also for old ladies, who are afraid of getting even older, when they stop dying their hair pitchblack. All they achieve, is a look like Cruella or the bad witch in SnowWhite ( even if the mirror tells her, she is the most beautiful but one!). The mother of an old friend went cold turkey from black to the most marvelous white - she looked like a lady after it was done, skintone and eyecolour fell into place. Before  it was more like the tired wife of a philandering husband.

I do not want to talk only bad about hair colouring -well done it is wonderful and marvelous and so enhancing overall beauty. But it must be well done!!! And a whole industry would loose bread and schoolfees for their children - this is for sure and I do not want to prejudice anybody. But I do plead for a sharp look at that mane and the to it belonging face, and a sharp look at that hairdresser and the to him belonging bottle of "paint". And I advice you to read in the Spruch, Thoughts, Pensées section what Hubert de Givenchy said about women and their hair....

Another Word on the Education of Girls

First and for all: the times, where a girl was educated to become a nurse, then get married and stay at home looking after her 5 children, being always serene  in cooking everyday heaps of food and helpfully reparing holes in her husbands socks, are obviously over. Or so I hope. I know still enough ladies who - admittedly not always unhappy - have spent their lives exactly doing this.

As I have only one daughter and three sons, I am not an expert on the education of girls - with us, she basically is fighting her way up the picking order, doing a good, very good job in this area. And another thing is obvious too: girls are definitively different to boys. Whereas boys as toddlers are very "active", i.e. make noise and deconstruct a lot of things to get to the reason of them, girls are delightful and easygoing, playing with dolls quietly in their room. They turn into a character only when they reach the magic number of 10.

Basically I try to run the education of my daughter on some ideas: they should feel that they can tell you whatever it is in their lives and you will be, after a harsh scolding, sitting there with her at the kitchentable and talk things through; one of the ways to build this sort of relationship is not trying to be as young as your daughter, i.e. dressing mutton as lamb and starting to go in shrieks about the latest newest Justin Bieber film ( "Never say never" - OH MY GOD.) In my experience children like their parents to be parents, not friends of the same age. Oh, the painful looks, when a misleaded father is trying to make a cool joke about something hip - they rather would prefer to sink here and now into the ground.

One tip I always give to any mother who happens to ask me how I manage to survive 4 children ( much beloved ones!!!) is the institution of a "Mami Day". The rules are simple and applied to boys do work out well also! A Mami Day is nothing else than taking time out with one child at a time, doing all sorts of things - from going for a lunch in the japanese restaurant and then a look in the english bookstore, to having brownies at the child´s favourite café  - or even doing a conspirative shopping spree, with loads of nerves involved on my side. Sometimes it is only a jump to the local supermarket, in the company of one only. You will be astonished to see other facets of your child...

Most most important is that you do not loose the thin thread of conversation. Sometimes it is more, sometimes less, but try to keep it alive. No need for deep talk about death and life, but about the small things as well. As long as you have this in mind, nothing, literally, can go wrong.

For girls nowadays it is essential, and I repeat essential, that they have their own money. This means a job, basically. Not all of us will be able to leave behind an heiress - and look at Paris Hilton, it has not done her any good neither.
So, a job. It is always said, that girls do have the advantage of doing something "for a job" which they really "like", i.e. which does not necessarily bring money in the long run - examples: studies in History or History of Art, taking up sewing professionally at a very good tailor, working as stewardess (not any longer so fashionable), doing the referred nurse training or studying literature, working at an, preferably english, auction house etc , all out of the reason, that they, sooner or later, will get married and settle happily with children and dogs and hunting parties (not all of them though). The typical candidate for this sort of education should have reached her goal by 25 or 28 latest - after it is down to looking like an unfortunate spinster, having missed her lot.

The other variety is the girl who wants to earn her own money - fair enough. Only pitfall here is sometimes the busy running around and working her a... off lets her miss out on other aspects of life. Rarely they have the time to spend their money in an amusing way, or meet other people than they meet at their office. Mothers tend to get nervous with their highly achieving daughters when they pass their 35th birthday and are not in a stable relationship. For getting children then, "later, when all is said and done", there is the problem of finding the right chap and/or deciding to bring up a child on her own - no fun neither.
I once went to a breakfast with other mothers and their toddlers. They were all well over 40 and had one single child - I came with my last one, the 4th and was, as it is only normal, very laid back. No huge nappy bags and 3 changes of clothes, destilled water or special mat to change the nappies etc. I felt not at ease, I tell you.

Obviously, the best solution would be in the middle of those two scenarios: having fun and having a job, being seen and have time to see oneself, feeling independent to choose one´s priorities and free to go on doing something, even if one is married and has children. I know several, but not many, women, who have succeeded in this mode and seem happy and fulfilled in their lot. And they have children who not necessarily are all criminals and drug addicts. It is possible...

For me one thing is really important: Money matters and no woman nowadays should be without her own money. This also applies to education. But here I will say something, which is not so politically correct: it is not utterly NECESSARY to do studies at university.
 If I think about my own life and the places I have lived, I often and from the bottom of my heart have cursed my studies - History - they were, at least at a superficial look on nothing I could use.
A practical sort of thing, which I could do in any place of the world would have been so much more useful - for me. Being a doctor, or a nurse or a midwife; knowing how to teach at a school; being an interpreter!!! Or a professional relocation agent; a pianist who could give concerts or lessons; an operasinger; a garden architect or specialist in some sort of restauration; a bookbinder or a painter - whatever. You will say: nothing impedes you in starting all of those things. Yes, but then...

So, coming back in my ramblings about the education of daughters it boils down to very few things. Give the girl enough of your time and attention - but not too much. Let her breath and, as my friend Caroline always says very very wisely: pick your battles. If she wants the horrible T-shirt, let her have it and negotiate a perfect outfit for an occasion like a wedding or a visit at the haughty aunts. Girls are very clever, they normally know how far they can go by instinct. The less fuss you make, the less fuss she will make too. But if in battle, be firm, clear and enjoy it - and give her feedback later over a cup of hot chocolat or sitting at her bed in the evening for the odd 5 minutes. Do not belittle her or her friends, never. She will know anyhow by your attitude, what you think of her friends...

I have also often seen, that girls very much look at their mothers to have a role model in life. The older you get the more this is obvious. They measure you up in the blink of an eye, and sometimes they know you better than you do yourself. Don´t send them away hurt and in a fury, when they are mirroring it back to you and you do not always like what you see. Take it and have a long look at yourself. And then be grateful, as it shows, that your daughter is a personality of her own. Some mothers want their daughters to achieve more or "have it better in life" than they did - no daughter can make the life good for a mother who did this not herself. The same applies to ambition and, worst of all, the copy-paste system of mother and daughter. Brrr.


It is their life - our children are not our property, but are borrowed to us for a very short time and in the end, they do not owe us nothing. The more we give them the benevolent freedom to go, liberty ( I do not speak of neglect here!!!!) and interest in their being themselves, the security that they can come home and tell you all, everything is on the right way. With or without earrings, mini skirts and Justin Bieber. It will pass. Promise.


PS: If I ever would go in to politics I would promote one thing: Mothers who stay at home should have a pension plan by the state and a minimum income for "bringing up the next taxpayer generation". YES!!!

The Fun of Writing a Blog

I never thought, that writing a blog could be so much fun. Somehow hilarious and liberating: you preach to the world and as you feel like a loner in the desert, you can talk and tell and philander through themes and thoughts, as if you were talking to the wind and stars - or birds, if you prefer.
One can offer opinions and views about everything which has an interest for oneself and if someone is reading it, lovely, if not, bad luck!

A liberating feeling - the possible public is so vast, the possibilities of reaching out so overwhelming that I have the impression, that it is utterly futile to think about it and just babble on and on. Opinions I have enough - and it is much more fun to write about them, than contemplating another cup of coffee and an entire box of biscuits alone at my kitchentable. So, in the end, I do some sort of shameless autotherapy - just that I do not have to pay for it. What would one need more? ( I would know a 1000 things I could need...).

But it is fun and I get really exited when I see on the stats that there have been until now 1 reader in Russia, 3 in Singapore ( I wonder what they think?? How on earth did they find this???), 15 in Belgium, 10 in Germany and 1 in Sweden and Portugal.
This is a success for a blog without pictures - yes, I still am not capable of putting this damn bloody fotos on this blog, but I will figure it out. Sooner or later.

So, to all of you readers out there in the universe, on the moon and behind it, who like or laugh or just simply are curious about my ramblings, many thanks!

Old Favourites in our bathrooms, part 1 - there is more out there!!!

The advantage of age is  that we have seen a lot. Have tried a lot and have been believing a lot of crap concerning what we need - this applies also to our bathroom shelves.
There comes a time, when you gladly return to the old and trusted; concerning bathroom shelves, this means the happiness of finding an old favourite and rediscovering it in all its glory. Remembering while you smell it this and that situation when you used it, perhaps even 20 years ago.

This happened the other day with me. I was, as a favourite pasttime and stressbuster, doing my little tour in the cosmetic department, getting back to a classic and really "old" staple cream at Clarins: Creme Douceur. I sniffed at it and was transported back to a summer, many summers ago, where I was house sitting in Florence and used this cream. Loads of memories of that stay came up and I started to think, how nice it is, to meet an old friend again. Not only Florence in august, the humid heat and the wonderful food, the Campari Orange drinks in the evening out on the terrasse with Jessy Norman singing the "4 Letzte Lieder" - and all that with a wonderful view over Florence!

This lead to some sort of musing about old favourites in the bathroom. Nowadays we all are so much trained to go for the latest newest and often forget, that easy and simple does it too. Which does not mean, that I hereby declare, that I am going back, leaving all the new lovely stuff behind! But should give us the oportunity to reconsiderate.

From Creme Douceur de Clarins ( jour et nuit) it was only a tiny step to their face oils - especially the Huile d`Orchidee, which is not only smelling wonderfully, but really very effective to dehydrated skin ( which I have - so the favourites can be a little bit onesided here). And a last product by Clarins, the fabulous Huile Tonic is still the best treatment for getting rid of this bumps and lumps - especially after you had a baby. The trick is to do the cold water thing as they propose in the shower - massaging the oil in and facing the cold water shock afterwards. Smells good too..

For getting in shape for that one-piece-swimsuit (bikinis after 45 have a dangerous connotation, be aware of it!) good old body brushing is still one of the most effective treatments. Done daily, you get hooked quite quickly and it makes a real difference to the tonus of the skin. Followed by a good body cream... and here starts, for me at least, the hour of Nivea. Cheap and good - so no restrictions in slashing it on the old body. My favourite is not the real thick dark blue one, but the one in a shade of blue which is not light and not dark. Pity that they redid the bottles, to give them a more modern look, it looks now cheap. But the thing inside is still good.
What concerns the "blue box" - this is an allrounder for all the family. Nivea Creme is good for the face and neck as a mask - make a big mess, put a warm and humid towel over all of it and wait some 10 minutes - hey, there is plump and soft skin beneath. Unbeatable in highly cold climates - like skiing resorts. And I have used it for hands and feet, for nails and toenails ( very good!), on elbows, hair and shoes - yes, on shoes! If you are short of a polish paste for your shoes and have a bit of patience and elbowgrease at hand, it is a perfect shoepolish too! Also good for smoothing dry and damaged hair at the beach...

Hair: the brush does it - and makes such a difference! Invest in a Pearson&Mason Hairbrush and you will see the difference! It is not for nothing a beloved and trusted tool of every hairdresser who has some aspiration to hairglory...

Concerning creams and cleansers for the face, there are some more delicious and lovely old friends to be mentioned. As you might have understood by now, I am an apostle of that water-and-soap procedure, because well done with a flannel, you never need to make a peeling. Which very often is too agressive anyhow. If you clean well, not need for more stripping the poor old skin.
One of the cleansers I use and have used for many years is the "Mud&Soap" Cleanser by Kanebo. It is horribly expensive, but lasts and lasts, therefore a highly recommendable investment. A little blop makes a wonderful silky foam and skin feels clean and fresh, glowing with health. Another advantage of this grey paste is, that it is a perfect cleansing mask - put it on your face, hop in the shower and take it of afterwards with a warm flannel and be happy.
Another, hilariously expensive cleanser is the cult balm of Eve Lom. Not yet available widely, you have to go to Paris to buy it in Bon Marché, or ask a friend to bring it to you from the UK. It looks not very convincing the first time and smells a bit medical, but is wonderful wonderful wonderful. You have to insist of massaging your face and then again take it of with hot water and a specially provided cloth, finishing with a splash of cold water. They say, that a normal skin does not need a moisturizer after this, but I have noticed, that dry skin is happy to get a good slap of cream afterwards. I highly recommend it. As a matter of fact, there will be in Brussels soon a possibility of buying it - so I am told. It is not official yet, but I will keep you posted. I will be the first of signing up for a facial - can´t wait for it!!
Generally speaking, all the cleansers of Shiseido are good too, and I have had it suggested by 2 different dermatologists. They sell a little brush extra, which is a very good investment for cleaning your skin at home in turbospeed.
If I think of creams, then an old and much loved favourite are the face creams of Annick Goutal. Again very expensive, but to be uses day and night and then going a long way with a tiny amount of wonderfully rosescented and smooth cream. When I feel rich, I get a pot and am happy with it always. Also the eye cream they produce is, in my opinion, one of the best I have ever tried - sinks in immediately and gives a fresh feeling of being awake. If you are in need of some special TCL for the poor old body, try the bodylotion "Eau de Sud" - it smells deliciously and sinks in in a second.

Now to other things: why not getting back to polishing i.e. buffing your nails? My daughter brought this back into the bathroom and I have happily returned to it too. No more splitting nails, no chipped nail varnish and groomed hands, even after doing the washing up for the 129800000 time. And you can buff in the car and while waiting for the kids at school. What you definitively also need for nice nails is a pot of  Creme Abricot de Christian Dior. Sticky and orange coloured, it is the salvation of dry and abused nails - the difference after having massaged it into your nails and sleeping a night over is amazing.
If you do not want to buy an extra nail cream - it is affordable though - you can always use the fantastic 8HourBalm invented by Elizabeth Arden. This is also an allrounder - as lipgloss, hair treatment, highlighter on cheeks and emergency treatment for blisters and sore patches this is unbeatable - also for protecting delicate skin in cold and windy weather. Good for children too!!

This is enough for today. More will follow. Real life wants me - have to drive the children to their sports lessons!
Let me know your favourites? Always love to learn something new...

Hair Crisis!!!

To cut or not to cut, this is the question!!

100 years ago women never cut their hair. In the 60ies everybody did - at least the ones aspiring to some sort of elegance or glamour. And today? Well, everything goes, but the question stays the same: when and how and why to cut your hair - OR NOT??

I would love to hear opinions....!

Why don´t you...? 3

Why don´t you

- drive the car you really would like to drive? Or drive no car at all - going around by a taxi, whose driver knows you and is always there if you need him. Cheaper than maintaining a car of one´s own and never a problem with parking.

- send your children and partner and dogs away and stay a week at home - ALONE?

- get a new and completedly different hair cut, when the occasion arises?

- make an effort to call old friends and get back in touch? They will be delighted about your initiative.

- make an effort to make new friends - even if there is already little time to attend to your old friends. But very often our friends do enjoy a newcomer in the group. Neverending fun!!

Black Swan, by Darren Aronofsky, USA 2010

This is indeed a weird film. First of all, the audience in the cinema was mainly women - which in itself should be no problem, we had that in the film "Mamma Mia" too. Then it is a film about ballet - normally not very mainstream and only interesting to a selective public. But then is a big big success.
One thing is for sure: Natalie Portman deserved her Oscar, if there was one actress to deserve it. Her performance and skill is really great - even if professional dancers are not of this opinion. But then we are no professionals and take it as it comes. I for myself thought her really convincing.

In several critics I read before I saw this film the idea was, that this is about a young woman finding her way into womanhood - if it is like this, then there would be some sort of real trouble in the world. Is awakening to one´s own personality, sexuality and own goals and ideas about life such a destructive process? I would say no.The selfdestructive ways and relations in this film are certainly not a usual way of growing up?

I have had more the impression that the central theme here is ambition and the danger of it, when not counterbalanced by comon sense and anchorage in reality.
Most probably the main character, Nina, has a predisposition to some sort of paranoid sickness - schizophrenia? - her reaction to the stress of getting the chance of her life is certainly not the usual way of facing a great and promising challenge. It takes a while until we realise, that her visions and dreams are in fact the product of her fantasy, of her fears and doubtless the reaction to the very restrictive upbringing by her mother. For me the mother is the most fearsome caracter in the whole film, as she lives through her daughter and wants to pursuit her own ambition through the girl, which is only an instrument to her and her "culprit" of not having had a career as a dancer herself. Typical case of subsitution - how often have we seen this in our lives: children being trained to do what a parent could not achieve.

The dreams and visions Nina experiences is supposed to show a highly sensitive and certainly artistic personality - vulnerable to all sorts of influences and without the possibility standing her own ground. She is driven by the ambition of her mother, then the ambition of the company´s chef, who uses the dancers for his own achievement - and that without any respect and consideration for the human being. He wants to "wake her up" to her dark side and opens a Pandora box, which leaves Nina utterly helpless and without orientation - fantasising about several possibilities of love, of real or invented jealousies in her co-dancers, of fears of being the target and at the same time the author of evil doings which come upon her as the manifestation of her dark other side.

The final showdown makes her let go all her restrictions and leads, apparently, to kill her competitor. Only afterwards we fully understand, that this is pure schizophrenia  - and that the release of those forces enable her to give a triumphant performance on stage. The price is her death - a sacrifice on the altar of ambition, not at least of her own ambition. The person Nina does not exist, she seems like a function, which, once on its deadly way, cannot be stopped anymore by nobody and nothing, not even by success. Does ambition kill?
I can imagine, that the ambience in a ballet company is very highstrung - all that physical exercise and pain produces imense emotion which needs an outlet - in this way, I think the film is very well made. But my thought of getting out of the cinema was more down to earth: "What a bunch of hysterical people...!"

The film is certainly worth a go. Perhaps I am wrong in my perception? Only not advisable for all our daughters, dreaming of becoming a primaballerina...

Sprüche, thoughts and pensées

"Revenge has always to be served cold" Ms Camilla Fritton

"This is not a hair-do, but a hair don´t" Ms Camilla Fritton

"Gut gemeint ist noch lange nicht gut." Asfa-Wossen Asserate

"My idea of glamour? Water and soap." Cecil Beaton

"I am a very good housekeeper. I always keep the houses." Zsa Zsa Gabor

"Wir leben zwar weit über unsere Verhältnisse, aber immer noch nicht standesgemäss."

"I think hairstyle is the final tip-off whether or not a woman really knows herself."
(Hubert de Givenchy in Vogue, July 1985)

"Das Leben ist eines der schwersten." Monsieur le Duc de Beaufort

La Parisienne, by Inès de la Fressange, Paris, 2010

First of all, I can boast, yes, boast, that I have seen the girl myself and she has spoken to us - to me and my friend Susanne, who is witness, that all I say here is true! We were, innocently, studying shoes at Roger Vivier in good old Paris, and, voilà, there Inès was. As I have written in my style model compilation, she really looks like in the pictures, if not better and has a wonderful deep voice. This explaines the slim figure - she who smokes does not eat. We got a very friendly smile and a "Bonjour" which makes you immediately to a faithful customer for the next 65 years.

After extensive shoe studies, we went on to the Tuleries and bought at Galignani (the english bookshop..) this red booklet, which looks like a moleskin and is called "La Parisienne",  written by Inès and a lady, who is called Sophie Gachet.
As far as I know, there is an english version in preparation - "Parisian Chic: A Style Guide by Ines de la Fressange" -  it will be published in april. To be followed.

The book looks like some fat carnet, scribbled full with secret tips and hints, basic advice in beauty and fashion - sometimes with a tiring childish layout -  which then will be shared with her best friends only. Some sort of conspiracy feeling coming up - but not disagreable, more like being in the inner circle.... I like the little bit cheeky way of writing, the slight hint of rock chick  - "the wild rock never dies..." - on all pages.

Elegance here rhymes with easy going and apparently not to high maintainance - but do not be fooled, that it IS easy!!! No way! Much tought is put in the compilation of shops and tricks and hints of the trade; there is the very clear appraisal of this or that product and this or that shop, hotel, restaurant etc. All very useful and fun to read.

Especially lovely is the advice how to avoid gaining immediately 10 years: nothing we would not know ourselves... Who, anyhow,walks around in a cloud of shimmering eye-make-up? We knew this already, but it is reassuring to hear it again. She does not like nude lipstick neither....

One thing really is a pity, which is that the pictures only show Inès albeit lovely ´15year old daughter modelling the styles suggested by her mother.
 Positively spoken this suggests that there is no difference between mothers and daughters happily sharing the same wardrobe, in this case happy rock chic.
 But in reality, this is not so easy nor desirable. I do not want to dress like my daughter, she does certainly not want me to dress like her - appart from the body shape problem.

I think, the  originally adressed audience of this book is a more a "mature" segment of society - not especially only the under 30ies. Bien sure, they all find happiness in this booklet, 20ies, 30ies and the contemporaines de Inès...  But, I would have liked her to mode herself, not the daughter. This is so in the line of fashion magazines, using young girls to present images for all sorts of ages. SO depressing. Women who dress as girls are depressing, full stop.

But, all in all, a wonderful and funny book - full of ideas what to do in Paris and how to get that flair, that promises chic, easiness and elegance, all done without effort.... And a lovely gift for a good friend, who loves the good life and is intelligent enough to take out of it, what she loves and what suits her.