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.