Showing posts with label Gifts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gifts. Show all posts

Monday 9 September 2013

Iris Prima - Pretty Ballerina

Did you do ballet? I did, up until about the age of 7 but I didn't like the teacher. Looking back, she was a great teacher of ballet, but perhaps not for young children! When I was 10 I took up tap dance, and worked my way up quickly from the baby class to the senior class, before quitting because the Friday night classes interfered with my prompt arrival at school discos.

I wish I'd carried on dancing. I admire the discipline, grace and muscle tone of professional dancers but in terms of being any good at it, I think my ship sailed a long time ago. I'll taken to lurking outside the Royal Opera House at lunchtime, creating ballet boards on Pinterest, and watching Black Swan on repeat.

I guess if I don't get to be a ballerina, I can at least smell like one?! Iris Prima, the newest fragrance by Penhaligon's launched today, expertly put together by Alberto Morillas in conjunction with the English National Ballet.

I caught a whiff of this fragrance at the Christmas in July event, sadly I missed the launch itself, and it took my breath away, with its green amber and pink pepper headnotes and basenotes of leather and sandalwood, it really is reminiscent of the ballet.

This charming video was created for the launch of the perfume, featuring dancers talking about what  "The Scent of the Ballet" means to them. I think Alberto was spot on.

100ml is £120...one for the Christmas list!


*I saw this fragrance previewed, bu I haven't been paid or compensated in any way for this post. I just really, really like the fragrance!

Sunday 10 March 2013

Spoilt Rotten

My recent trip to Paris was part of my 28th birthday celebrations, and that was a treat enough for me. We went away midweek so I also organised an evening out with my friends in London last night. We went to Meat Market first for some of my favourite dirty great burgers and I'd booked a table at Henry's which is fast becoming one of my favourite bars. I didn't expect to get so fantastically spoilt by my friends too.

Dave's cousin Kris came up to see us and brought with her a nice bottle of red. My friend and flatmate Anna met us at home before we went out, and gave me a lovely mug by Merchant and Mills and some beautiful chocolates from Fortnum and Mason, and a box of delicious cupcakes from Hummingbird Bakery, along with the Wallpaper guide to Melbourne. However, earlier in the week, Dave's dad had sent me not one but three Wallpaper books, for Melbourne, Beijing and Shanghai which is funny as I only added them to my wishlist last week when I blogged about them, he must have logged on just after I updated my list. So with two Melbourne books, Anna is returning her copy!
Merchant and Mills
When we settled down in Henry's still reeking of burger juice, Laurel gave me more presents, a very bling notebook and pen and a bottle of Guerlain's La Petite Robe Noire, which is a very sexy scent indeed and feels very luxurious. Ghazaleh presented me with a mini bottle of cava and two boxes of French Fancies which she'd had made to order for me at AE Barrow and Sons in Canterbury after I ranted to her last weekend that I couldn't find any in my local bakeries. My friend Danielle showed up, back from visiting her folks in the States with a packet of S'mores Pop Tarts and then Dave's brother joined us after the Sigur Ros gig in Brixton where he gave me a divine Clothbound Classics version of Les Miserables, straight from my wishlist - I am thrilled but also massively daunted by the sheer volume of it!


I feel very blessed, I got so much more than I anticipated for my birthday, and am very humbled by it. But while I've had an amazing week, one of my best friends has not. Her husband Ben died last Saturday, 2nd March, losing his battle with leukaemia. Ben was only 30 years old, and was father to their beautiful Joe who is 16 months old. So even though I've been given so many wonderful gifts this week, I have one further request: If you are healthy and able, please go to the Anthony Nolan site and sign up to be a stem cell donor.   We can't bring Ben back, but we can stop this from happening to more families.

Saturday 15 December 2012

Christmas shopping...done!

I started my Christmas shopping a little later than usual this year...it seemed to creep up so quickly! Here's a run down of some of the awesome stuff we got for friends and family this year. I can't tell you what I got the Boy, as there is a danger he might read this. Maybe after Christmas.

My mum: Bridesmaids DVD which I hope won't give her a heart attack, Hairy Dieter's cookbook - she's been doing WeightWatchers and has lost 4.5 stone since last October so will need some inspiration to keep up the good work! On behalf of my sister, who is in Australia for the year, I got Champneys Spa Treatments Citrus Blush Hand Lotion which mum adores and I'm hoping to sneak a little trial on Christmas day when she's opened it.

My Dad: Bradley Wiggins' biography and some cycling gloves. My dad is an obsessive cyclist, it's a 40 year love affair. He used to race with Bradley's dad, and also won the fire brigade world championship in 1983. He's had two accidents this year, having fractured his pelvis in March and then in October, he came off again in the final sprint of a race, and has been in a backbrace up until now. In the new year, he'll be looking forward to getting back on the bike.Maybe I'll get him some stabilisers too.

My fiancĂ© got some really nice gifts at the Seven Dials shopping event a couple of weeks ago, where there was 20% off at nearly all the shops (and where we also splurged at Superdry as per my earlier post). For his brother, he got this amazing t-shirt from Super Superficial. It's so incredibly random, it was just begging to be bought, I am looking forward to seeing his face when he opens it.

For his cousin's little ones, who are 2 and 4 years old, we got this gorgeous stamp set from Magma. They love dinosaurs and we thought it was adorable, and a bargain at £15 instead of £20.
Also in Magma, we picked up this gorgeous print by Katie Viggers for his mum, who loves foxes. Katie's work is beautiful, and I've just found out she has a blog about children's books, which is delightful, and going on my Google Reader instantly.
Speaking of Google, I am also very excited as I have ordered a new phone. I had the good fortune of winning a BlackBerry a few months ago with free credit for a year, but after 2 years on Android prior to that, I have realised I just can't do BlackBerry again. I am getting a Samsung S3 Mini and included in my contract package is a Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0, so I really can't wait to  get hold of these so I can start playing with them! I popped into the store earlier on the offchance that they would be ready to collect but alas, it wasn't meant to be. A couple more days on BlackBerry it is then.

We had a burrito each at Chipotle Islington today and it was delicious. I am a real Mexican food lover, and the burrito was probably overkill after last night's chilli pie (make a chilli con carne, then use flour tortillas as lasagne sheets, and bake with loads of cheese- delicious) but I could not resist a burrito for lunch. We usually go to Chilango, but in an effort to try new places we chose to Chipotle instead and it didn't disappoint. Good guac!

Tomorrow I am excited to be going to a quote-along screening of Mean Girls at the Prince Charles Cinema tomorrow, followed by a Christmas lunch with my friends in our flat. It's going to be SO FETCH.