Snapshot: the dressing table

It’s taking a while to get our heads around the space that living in the country brings.  A bit like battery chickens we’ve been trying to cram all our stuff into one room/cupboard/shelf, but slowly we’re spreading out and creating nooks and crannies we couldn’t have dreamed of in London. For the OH it’s a workshop, roughly the same dimensions of our first studio flat and for me: somewhere to layout my perfumes.

Left to right:

Velvet jewellery box, a press gift from the now defunct Bokks.

On top, our treasured Rolleicord camera that we bought in the souk on honeymoon in Marrakech.

White Tea, Bergamot and Freesia, Korres. Super light and clean. I wore it when I was first pregnant as I didn’t want to wear anything cloying. A real summer-time, fresh from the shower scent.

Roll-on applicator for White Patchouli, Tom Ford. A press gift, I love slipping this into an evening clutch.

212 VIP, Carolina Herrera. I wasn’t expecting to *love* this as much as I do. I was a bit ‘meh’ about the 212 fragrance, but the VIP update is almost edible it’s so delicious. Lots of fragrant vanilla (note: fragrant, not sickly sweet) with bergamot and bitter orange at the top, mellowing to musk and sandalwood at the base. It’s the fragrance I get most comments on when I wear it.

White Suede, Tom Ford. A seriously sexy scent. It smells like warm leather (I like to imagine myself on a Riva speedboat on the Amalfi Coast, but whatever works for you). It’s my go-to for a non-girly, daytime scent.

Musk Pure, Tom Ford. I’m wearing this today. It’s full-on musk with some smoky, floral notes. Sometimes I think it smells like a really good cigar. In a good way. Yet it’s romantic and feminine, too. Imagine a talc-y, comforting yet foxy kinda vibe.

Jasmine Musk, Tom Ford. A very special scent that I wore on my wedding day. Super romantic, but grown-up and heady. It’s such a perfect balance – blousey jasmine, delicious vanilla but then earthy patchouli to stop it being sickly. LOVE IT.

Eau D’Italie, by Eau D’Italie. Hands down the best of the bunch. It jolts me back to the terrace at Le Sirenuse (the makers family-run hotel in Positano on the Amalfi Coast), G&T in hand, watching the little bay twinkle at dusk. The blurb says the scent is ‘terracotta tiles warmed by the summer sun.’ And it’s exactly that. There are a lot of happy memories wrapped up in this little scent. I even wore it in labour to try and distract me!

Black Orchid hair perfume, Tom Ford (gold bottle). Not sure TF make this anymore which would be a shame. It’s the signature gorgeous sexy fragrance but in a nourishing hair perfume. I’ll have to spritz sparingly.

34 Boulevard St. Germain, Diptyque (fabric bag). Previously, I had been a die-hard Philosykos fan, that was until they launched their 50th anniversary scent, named after their first store in Paris and I defected. It’s supposed to evoke the scent of walking into the shop, so imagine an olfactory mash-up: from fresh green notes that immediately leap up your nose, to big English garden blooms and spices straight from the souk. Sound like there’s too much going on? Wrong. It’s so carefully balanced, it’s genius. All hail Diptyque.

White Patchouli, Tom Ford. This bottle is a work of art, isn’t it? Forget Body Shop Patchouli, circa 1974. This is a 21st century, modern update. Of course when ‘doing a patchouli’ Mr. Ford went for the Grand Cru of patchoulis: patchouli orpur. With a hit of white peony and a pinch of coriander in the mix, I still never tire of a squirt of this in the morning.

Photo: the best friend and I in Germany in the snow. Our last girly trip before motherhood.

I wore Ralph Lauren Romance religiously for 10 years as a teen, which fragrance are you devoted to?

Here’s what I keep on my bedside table