Take-me-to-Italy scents, summer sparkle for your hair, and the best gold bracelets on the high street.
PLUS, Stanley Tucci in Italy with Emiko Davies, and Minnie Driver's style "fairy Godmother".
One of the loveliest things about summer feeling-officially-here-now (apart from the odd downpour this week) is the arrival of all the new, Mediterranean-inspired scents on counters. That and the reappearance of peonies in all the supermarkets.
Citrusy, spritz-y colognes are my favourites—all year round. How about you?
This summer’s newcomers include Jo Loves’ With Love from Como.
The follow-up to last year’s With Love From Positano, which does what it says on the bottle, with top notes of orange oil and bergamot, Jo’s new lakeside spritz takes a distinctly more citrusy turn. With Love from Como combines lemons and clementines with very definite herbal notes, including basil.
One of my sisters in Italy lives in the Lakes, near Como, and I’m hopeful that a blast of this on even a cloudy English midsummer morning will do the sensory teleporting trick?
Speaking of Italy, has anyone caught the new Tucci in Italy, on Disney + ?
As the wonderful flagged on her Substack this week, the Tuscany-based cookbook author, photographer and food/travel writer appears in the first episode, which I caught on Thursday night, when everyone else went off to see the new Mission Impossible (I wasn’t feeling it, and staying home with Emiko and Stanley— in Florence— turned out to be THE best decision because the air con had broken at the Odeon, it was hot, and hormones, etc. etc..).
I adore Emiko’s writing and her beautiful books, so it was a treat to see her in action (from the cool comfort of my couch, plus olives).
Back to fragrance! Aerin Lauder has thrown her own, AERIN Mediterranean Honeysuckle Figue into the summer ring.
Billed as “a Mediterranean summer day spent in a sun-filled garden surrounded by blooming fig trees”, the sweet fig is rounded out with the warmth of honeysuckle in the sun, along with notes of jasmine and, also, musk.
I’m looking forward to seeing what Diptyque does with this year with Ilio, the limited edition fragrance I wrote about last summer, when it was in its fourth year and came in parasol-bright packaging, illustrated by French artist Alexandre Benjamin Navet. The scent—with notes like prickly pear, bergamot, and jasmine—stays the same and I think it’s gorgeous—if all too short-lived.
And I’ll forever have a soft spot for the orange blossom-beautiful Eau des Sens, with juniper berry and patchouli. It reminds me of high summer escapes to Barcelona in the 90s, where I’d visit my friend Montse in her little apartment overlooking la Sagrada Família (I haven’t been for years, and am LONGING to go back! Has anyone visited recently?).
And, shout out to the sunshine, bottled classics: I’m craving a burst of Clarins Eau Dynamisante, and, just this morning, I smothered my super-dry legs with the yummy-smelling, golden NUXE Huile Prodigieuse Shimmering Multi-Purpose Dry Oil. I always forget how much of a gorgeous summer scent this is in its own right. I’d describe it as a sunny, sultry floral—with a dash of beach.
Speaking of the beach …
The frill of it
How great does Philippine Leroy Beaulieu look sur la plage in off-the-shoulder frills at Cannes?
Philippine, I’ve noticed, is fond of a gold bracelet stack.
I love the look, and the best high street options that I’ve found have a bit of weight to them.
Read on for some of my favourite high street finds, plus SJP-inspired sparkle for your hair, and find out who saved the day for Minnie Driver in Cannes this week.