If someone had told me that at the moment when you are completely broken, exhausted and grey with grief, a capful of aromatherapy oil could make some small dent in that endless sorrow I would never have believed them. But then I drew a hot bath after a particularly harrowing…
CF Weekend: The Bank Holiday plans, Chelsea and a lot of eating out
I have spent most of the last week dodging all forms of news/social media, desperate to avoid seeing anything of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show coverage as we are going on Saturday and I want it to be a complete surprise. I’ve been a number of times before on press…
The Sunday Overhaul: Week One – Tanning
So, here’s the idea. Us working women all get into a flap on a Sunday night about our Beauty Maintenance – right? It’s the only day of the week we get a second to think about frivolous things like hair masks, manicures, defuzzing or, heaven forbid, a DIY facial (30…
CF Weekend: a tale of two weather fronts
I was secretly chuffed to bits that it was freezing cold on Friday night as it gave us the excuse to fire up our new woodburner for the first time. Here is the OH, channeling his inner caveman (what is it with men and fire building?!). The stove itself is…
Spring break… but not as we know it.
I had to get this shot of tulips and daffs in as it is currently the only vestige of spring that seems apparent in the run up to Easter (bitter aside: I was on the beach here in 20 degree sunshine last Easter). To this end, we have decided to…
30-second review: Burberry SS13 look – English Rose
*Sigh*. Edie Campbell is my #1 beauty girl crush at the moment. Don’t get me wrong, Cara Delevingne and Karlie Kloss are right up there but Edie is the gal for me. The heavy fringe, those sad eyes and this season, her oh so perfect, barely there make-up campaign, courtesy…
Diptyque’s new spring candle launch: Jonquille
My love of Diptyque is well documented here at countryfille.com, it’s fragrances have punctuated my life over the last 5 or so years with the happiest of memories: one whiff of Philosykos and I’m at my husband’s family home on the Amalfi Coast; Baies reminds me of our first marital…
CF Review: This Works No Wrinkles Wonder Essence
I’ll admit this from the get-go. Kathy Phillips is my beauty girl-crush. The woman was a/ Health and Beauty Director at Vogue for seven years (all hail) and b/ went on to launch This Works, one of my hero ranges that I will extol the virtues of till the cows…
CF Review: Wild about Beauty SS13 collection – swatched
I think Louise Redknapp’s beauty range, Wild about Beauty, created with her pal/make-up artist Kim Jacob, could possibly be the beauty equivalent, in WAG terms, of Victoria Beckham’s fashion line. Even after the first collection was released last September I knew this was no celeb-endorsed token collection; the formulas were…
Birchbox vs. Glossybox – the review
Long-time readers of countryfille.com (*waves*) will know I’ve been getting the Glossybox subscription for a while. It was my first foray into the beauty box subscription model, courtesy of my fairy mother-in-law (yes, I know, I struck gold). As a bonafide beauty junkie (and ex-Beauty editor who’s missing her daily…
My new-found nibble – the Graze box subscription
I have a rather unhealthy cure for writer’s block. Eating. It started at uni; if I came a cropper mid-way through an essay on Baudelaire (and let’s be honest, who hasn’t?) I’d amble up to the communal kitchen, make a piece of toast and munch my way out of the…
Honestly Healthy – eat with your body in mind, the alkaline way
The ‘Alkaline Diet’ has popped up on my radar a few too many times for me to ignore. The Brilliant Writer has been raving about it for a while now, every Jan glossy had a spin on it and according to her Twitter feed, Victoria Beckham can’t get enough of…