Quick and to the point, here are my favorite things of the summer season.
Skin care: Paula’s Choice Resist line, La Roche-Posay Anthelios SPF 50 Melt-In Cream For Face.
Body: Kiehl’s Creme de Corps, Yves Rocher Noix de Coco body lotion.
Make-Up: Dolce&Gabbana The Cream Foundation SPF 15, Chanel Glossimer in Petillante and Sweet Beige.
Books: Bill Bryson (I’m re-reading him for the third time or so, so funny and so relatable, love! Amazon Kindle link) Gillian Flynn Gone Girl (a great thriller, very well written and a complete page-turner! Amazon Kindle link)
Food: anything containing Avocado, aged Camembert, sea-salt and licorice caramels from Daisy (via Sweetniks) and all the salads at Hidden Kitchen, a fantastic Vienna restaurant with a very London vibe (thanks to Lady Jane Grey for letting me in on the secret).
Perfume: Nicolai Juste un Reve, Musc Intense and Eau Soleil, Malle Musc Ravageur, Goutal Musc Nomade and MDCI Peche Cardinal.
What are your favorite things right now? Please share!
Olfactoria's Travels 
Great summer picks!
– KW
http://musthaveboxes.com
Thanks!
My black 501 jeans with a crisp white dress shirt
Coromandel Chanel
Christian Dior’s Autobiography
Project Runway
Vintage rhinestone brooch on a suit lapel
My free Nieman Marcus orange tote bag
My walk to work every morning in the fog
My studio apartment
Black Sandalwood Aquiesse candles
The August Vogue Italian I bought by mistake
These are a few of my favorite things this summer
I love all of your faves, Lanier. So classy!
You’re very welcome, my dear. Always. I think there are only few things I wouldn’t share with you, but that licorice thingy is definitely one of them… BTW I loved “Gone Girl” too !
My new favorite is the Emma Hardie skincare range (calmed down my somewhat irritated summer skin), and the HG foundation is still Suqqu.
I was having a fruit time during these hot weeks: berries, water melon, apricot… – the guilty pleasure is then the tarte I bake with the rests…
Wearing London by Guerlain, Aedes d.V., and when I want to have that British vibe then Blenheim Bouquet
Reading Callie Wright “Love All”, Charles Dubow “Indiscretion”, and love the poetic crime stories by Louise Penny, plus poetry by Margaret Atwood
Anticipation : my holiday in September and Coccobello by Heeley – plus our meeting very soon :-).
Summer time is a tiny bit less stressy than the rest of my year and I love to meet friends for a relaxed meal – I had a lovely time (and some lovely Indian food) with Tara this last Tuesday in London 🙂
Ah, it sounds like your summer is really lovely so far.
Your book loves go right on my list.
And I’d like some of that tarte please! 🙂
Eau d’Italie Acqua Decima, Clive Christian 1872 for Woman, Aedes de Venustas Iris Nazarena.
The Black Jewels trilogy by Anne Bishop
I’m looking forward to try Aqua Decima!
It’s simply gorgeous. I think you’d like it a lot. It’s a lovely lemon burst with a proper dose of cooling mint. There’s also a lovely neroli in it.
Sounds very uplifting!
That’s exactly how it smells! If you have problems finding it I can make a decanted sample for you
That’s very kind of you, but luckily it’s easy to find in Vienna.
I love posts like this! I get book recommendations that keep the iBook library bursting. I am enjoying quality time with my family who are in town for a few more days, summer vacation with my son, the sun and the heat, homemade iced green tea, fruit and veggies, Dior Grand Bal, Xerjoff Wabar, Guerlain Tokyo and Shanghai.
I love the book tips too! 🙂
Have a great weekend with your family, S!
I also use the Kiehls crème de corps, I keep re buying it so I must love it.
I am loving my new hourglass ambient lighting powder as my skin has started to need all the help it can get and this makes me look like me but better, lit from within kind of glow.
Perfumes I have re visited, Peche cardinal as this only works for me in summer and La Belle Helene has been worn. I have turned quite a lot to Hedonist, Zelda and Mito.
I downloaded Kiss me first which I am trying to save for my holiday. First impressions are good so far, a thriller about the good and bad side of the internet.
Haagen Dazs Secret Sensations Chocolate Fondant ice cream is my new found love, the downside is how much work I have to do in the gym to justify any of this.
Hourglass is a great brand. I love their lip products too.
Some MDCI’s work best in summer for me as well.
And don’t get me started on the chocolate… where would I be without it??? 😉
…quite a lot in common:
skin care: La Roche-Posay, everything by them
body lotion: Diptyque lait frais (petitgrain/orange blossom scent, never got on very well with their perfumes, but the body products are divine!)
make-up: too hot, given up
food: seafood, fish, salads, ice cream
book: Ann Cleeves Black Raven
perfume: juste un reve, musc intense (SO pleased to see somebody else liking this one); weekend a deauville, neroli 36, SJP Lovely – and testing absolue pour le matin
I LOVE Musc Intense! I just got a sample yesterday and already I’m totally smitten. I will certainly get a small bottle of it eventually. So good to hear you love it too, Alice!
Great summer picks!
I bought a full bottle in the spring, it worked well then (the musks giving a feeling of comfort) but works just as well in the heat of summer (I swear there there is a hint of strawberry jam). Can find hardly any coverage or reviews, perhaps you can be persuaded to pen one?
No need for persuasion. I’m raring to do so, but my boys frown upon me writing on the weekend (especially the grown-up one) But hopefully it’ll be up sometime next week. 🙂
My faves…
Skincare: MyChelle and Weleda. Also use argan oil and rosehip oil blended to moisturize under sunscreen
Makeup: Chanel glosses in Nakkar, Volupte. Tan de Chanel illuminating liquid, Jouer cream eye shadow in Organza, Couleur Caramel bronzer 01
Books: The Perfume Collector, The Forgotten Garden
Music: OMD, Tegan and Sara, Vampire Weekend, Daft Punk, Rhye
Perfumes: SSS Jour Ensolielle, SL Fleurs d’Orange, Malle Musc Rav(!), Chanel Jersey and No.5, Hermes Elixir de Merv, Nicolai Odalisque (and Soleil when it arrives), DemeteLinden Blossom
Food: Greek salads and salads with greens and fruit, salmon, berries, s’mores made in the microwave with fancy grahams and gourmet chocolate, Kim Crawford Sav Blanc, gin and tonics…
Ok, mine list is to the point but not short!
Lovely things, Annina.
We have a lot in common (hmm those salads…).
Please let me know how Eau Soleil works out for you once it arrives!
I second Daft Punk, Annina! The new album (I guess not so new now) is brilliant!
Skincare – I’ve recently switched from Lancome skincare to Nimue and I absolutely love the latter. I can see a visible diffference in my skin.
Body – I use unscented body lotions from Eucerin and E45.
Makeup – I love Chanel’s Vitalumiere
Food – I am a foodie and eat just about everything that i crave for at the moment, but I’ve recently started getting addicted to Cinnabon 🙂
Books – I liked Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl, but my favourite book is Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Perfume – My favourite smell right now is Guerlain Après L’Ondée
Chanel, Cinnabon, Zafòn and Guerlain – you are my kind of girl! 🙂
Another Zafon fan! Yes, then you surely are my kind of lady too.
PS: I’m a huge Chanel fan, especially the Les Exclusifs, but particularly because I admire Coco Chanel.
What is your favorite Exclusif, Melinda?
Mine is Bois des Iles (closely followed by 31 RC, Coromandel, 28 La Pausa and Sycomore. Oh and I love the Eau de Cologne too, for the sheer indulgence factor and because Karl Lagerfeld himself wears it. 😉 )
I have No22, Bois de Iles, 31 RC and Jersey (plus 2 sample sizes of Beige). I really want to buy Coromandel, and recently discovered that Cuir de Russie is lovely on me too.
My favourite is N22, followed very closely by Bois de Iles. To be honest, I cannot decide which one is lovelier. Bois de Iles, to me is very similar to N22 with that lovely gingerbread accord (atleast to my nose)
I love Bryson’s writing. And I’ve been thinking about reading Gone Girl. Your recommendation makes me want to read it more. Happy Friday and weekend, dear Birgit 🙂
Happy weekend to you to, Jim.
Gone Girl is interesting and unexpected, I’m sure you’d enjoy it.
Heya,
Have you read The Unlikely pilgrimage of Harold fry by Rachel Joyce. READ IT NOW!! I laughed and cried out loud, in public. Easiest read in ages and so moving.
http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/Unlikely-Pilgrimage-Harold-Fry-Rachel-Joyce/9780552779043
Can’t stop squirting Amoureuse by Parfume DelRae, I am seriously worried I’ve caught a case of Birgit-itis. I don’t want frag monogamy but my hands only want to squirt it.
Portia xx
Ha, it gets all of us eventually!
But don’t worry, my monogamous phase is definitely over for now. I’m back to happily huffing my way through my collection and a goodish selelction of what’s new out there. 😉
Thanks for the book tip, Portia. It’s in my Kindle already.
PHEW!! I was terribly worried.
When you have read it please come and tell me what you thought.
Portia x
Will do!
Portia, since your review the other day I, too have been squirting gobs of Amoureuse!
I love Paula’s Choice too! Bill Bryson is a hoot…LOVED “A Walk in the Woods”. I bought his book about England at a resale shop but haven’t read it yet.
My favorite breakfast lately: Ezekiel 4:9 bread, topped with avocado, tomato, truffle sea salt and black pepper. YUM!!
Other current faves: “The Orphan Train” book; going to the pool; using my new camera!
Had to google that bread – sounds absolutely yummy!
Paula’s Choice is so great! I worship Paula Begoun’s work since I was twenty.
Greetings from Norway :)!
My summer favourites are:
Food: Homemade Paella and Thai clam soup or anything with fresh lemon thyme.
Cinnamon ice cream with rhubarb and redcurrant with vanilla custard.
Clothes: Ioanna Kourbela
Perfume: Aqua di Parma Blu Mediterraneo Mandorlo Di Sicilia or
Un Zephir de Rose by Les Parfums de Rosine
Book: Just My Type: A Book About Fonts by Simon Garfield
Hello Janne, welcome!
I love your picks. Especially the food! 🙂
My summer staple in the heat is homemade gazpacho and Nigella’s Watermelon salad (http://www.nigella.com/recipes/view/watermelon-feta-and-black-olive-salad-205)!
Can’t think about other things, still too hot to use the brain…..
Cheers
Safran
Thanks for sharing the recipe. So yummy!!!
Bill Bryson is one of my favorite authors, so it was lovely to see him listed here. Just finished “Leaving Microsoft to Save the World” by John Wood and enjoyed it so much I’m about to start the sequel “Creating Room to Read: A Story of Hope in the Battle for Global Literacy.” (It’s so nice to read a great success story for a charity after the bad taste that the Greg Mortenson scandal left in my brain.) And just to show I’m a non-discriminating book slut 😉 , I’m also enjoying Season 8 and 9 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer in graphic-novel form.
Fragrance-wise, I’m thoroughly enjoying my newly acquired bottle of Ninfeo Mio as well as Philosykos and Bel Respiro. I’m in a leaf-y sort of place right now.
As far as food goes, there’s just something about cucumber sandwiches and pico de gallo that hits the spot right now, and supper, more than I probably should be admitting, is a Costco chicken and apple-pecan salad. Basically, I’m craving *not* cooking.
Your leafy kind of place sounds very nice, Dionne!
I can totally understand the need to NOT cook. 😉
Love that you love Bryson.
I always enjoy reading everyone’s lists. I don’t wear much makeup or even use lotion in the summer as I tend to get hot and sweaty (inelegant but accurate.) My favorite summer things right now are wearing my turquoise and coral jewelry, which I’ve collected all my life; raiding the farmer’s markets for local produce: raspberries, blueberries, tiny ripe apricots that melt in your mouth, eggplant, tomatoes, etc. Not reading enough, too much time spent on the internet. For perfume, wearing Commes des Garcons 2 and Messe de Minuit.
Farmer’s markets are fantastic in summer.
Incense in the heat is interesting to wear, very cooling.
Glad you are rediscovering Bill Bryson 😉 – his observational humour is a delight!, and thanks for the reminder about Gone Girl.
My book rec would be Jane Shilling, The Stranger in The Mirror.
New food discoveries would be hemp oil which I can eat neat(!), and plantain chips.
My beauty routine is not particularly noteworthy at any time of year, but I am enjoying my Bayliss & Harding Mandarin & Grapefruit body lotion in the warmer weather.
Bryson is a hoot. He reminds me of you. 😉
You eat the oil by itself???
What a terrific list of summer picks! So happy to hear that you liked the caramels 🙂 More coming your way 🙂
As for my summer picks? Fragrance-wise I have been very loyal this summer to Ô de Lancôme (kept in the fridge), Atelier Cologne’s Oolong Infini, and ELd’O Archives 69. Incense, as you mentioned, can be cooling!
I have also been slathered with Caudalie’s Huile Divine, which is supposedly offers some sun protection. Probably not very much, but as I am allergic to most chemical sunblock, something is better than nothing. I do kind of feel funny covered in oil in the sun. Like I’m cooking myself or something . . .
Food-wise? I just want salad, ice water, and hot dogs 🙂
Hot Dogs! Ah, nothing better than NY Hot Dogs. 🙂
Thanks again for the caramels, soo good!
My pleasure!
Yes, they are quite good 🙂 There are quite a few places that make their own now. The next time you’re in town, we’ll pork out 🙂
Absolutely! 😀
Whoo hoo! 🙂
Here are my favourite summer pics:
Skin care: as usual the Clinique 3 Step System
Make-Up: Chanel Les Beiges powder
Books: Julia Child’s letters and her memoir of living in France
Food: fresh salad and vegetables for the local farmers’ market, watermelon and peaches, crisp ciabatta bread
Perfume: La Pausa, Bigarade Concentree, Sycomore
Thank you for sharing your summer faves, Philipp!
I’m all for the ciabatta! 😉