A Philosophy...

I adore Philosophy bath products. I have used them almost exclusively for the past four years. I love the fabulous scent of the shower gels, the sudsiness, the minimalist packaging and the fact that they don't react with my somewhat sensitive skin. I have a few favourites: cinnamon buns, coconut frosting, raspberry sorbet, pumpkin spice. They also used to do a great Lemon shower gel but I don't think they make it anymore.

Anyway...

When I was in the US in April I discovered that Philosophy are doing a new Limited edition shower gel: Apricots and cream. A devotee of stonefruit in pretty much all it's forms, this was definitely something I wanted to try.

So I bought the shower gel and the body lotion. And when I got home, promptly put it in my cupboard and forgot about it.

Fast forward 6 months and I finish my bottle of cinnamon buns. It's getting a tad warmer outside so I'm definitely in the mood for something a little more summery and scented. I crack open the shower gel and take a sniff and almost faint from the bliss. The smell is absolutely incredible. It's a summer's day in a bottle. It's definitely the best Philosophy shower gel yet.


And the body lotion doesn't disappoint either. It's not as moisturising as Kiehl's Creme de Corps but what it lacks in creaminess it more than make up in the scent stakes. Delicious. Edible. Moreish. Delicate. Feminine. I happily go without perfume most days because the smell is just divine. It wears off after a few hours but it's yumtastic. I really wish they would do a perfume in this flavour.

Now here's the bad news - Apricots and Cream is only available in the US for the moment. But... Philosophy do ship to Australia and if you are willing to get a few things at a time, the $39.95 shipping isn't too bad, particularly when the dollar is almost at parity and you have to pay $38 dollars at Mecca for a $16 US product. Taking that into consideration, you only need to buy two body washes (that each last 4-6 months) and you are ahead in the money stakes. It's Kitty-nomics. Spend money to save, natch. Plus they have a huge range of lotions and body washes available. The Apricots and Cream body lotion is $24.

If you don't want to ship from overseas Mecca does have a range of Philosophy products available locally - body washes retail at $38 but they don't have many body lotions in stock.

Kitty

Edit: a lovely friend just sent me a message saying that SkinStore stock Philosophy and have flat rate shipping of $14.95 to Australia. What an absolute bargain!! Go forth and shop!

Dressing for S/S2010

I am sitting here looking out the window at a grey and drizzly evening with a warming cup of Mebourne Breakfast Tea. It's hard to imagine than in a few short weeks it will be summer and we'll all be basking ourselves in the sun, drinking Kitty-oskas by the pool...

Or maybe that's just me?

Either way, we are all going to need summer clothes. And Miss Kitty is here to tell you what the essentials are for a good summer wardrobe.

Forget Nautical vs Vintage. Military vs Tribal. Bunny Ears vs Boyfriend Blazers. This post is all about the key parts of your wardrobe that you'll need to have in place for a successful summer. I'll leave how to express these pieces through the trends to you gorgeous fashionistas - you can decide whether your Maxi dress is nautical or tribal by yourselves.

But here's the list of my absolute must haves for S/S2010.

The Maxi Dress: it goes without saying that every girl needs one of there in their wardrobe. It's the summer equivalent of the jersey wrap dress and they suit almost every single body type. Short, tall, slim, fuller figured; there is a maxi dress for everyone and for every budget. You can find Maxis everywhere, but some great examples can be found at Myer, Sportsgirl, Target and Sussan.

Jane Lamerton tribal dress from Myer

Tank dress from Miss Shop - just $50

The Blazer: everyone needs a good blazer that they can thrown on when there is a bit of a chill in the air, or when you want to make an outfit look a little more polished. The structured silhouette particularly works with the nautical or military look but can also toughen up a vintage dress and stop it from looking too girlie. Roll up the sleeves to make it look more casual. Black, camel and denim are all great options. You can find fab blazers at Portmans, Witchery and Sportscraft.

Blazer from Trenery

The Betty Draper Dress: Mad Men has had more of an impact on fashion than any other show in recent history (other than perhaps Emma Pilsbury, but she's just one incredibly well dressed character...). Not everyone has the curves to fill out a Joan Harris outfit, but the Betty Draper dress is something that suits a lot of people. The neckline can be boat, halter, sweetheart or faux wrap but there is always a nipped waist and a full flared or A-line skirt. The dresses are often pastel or floral and incredibly feminine, perfect for summer. Try Frockaholics for multiple Betty dresses or my perpetual favourite Leona Edmiston for some cute low priced options.

Maui Atlantis dress from Frockaholics

Florence Fifties dress from Leona Edmiston

The party dress: wow, there are a lot of dresses on my list, but the silhouette really lends itself to the feminine look that is prevalent this season and everyone needs a special outfit for all those Christmas doo-s we are all invited to. In a pinch, the party dress can also be your maxi or Betty Draper but often it's a stand alone piece. Trends that are really seasonal include embellished dresses (sequins, metallic studs), draped dresses (very Lanvin) or lace inserts.

Great draped dresses can be found at Witchery and Ojay, embellished dresses at Sportsgirl and Sass and Bide and lace dresses at Portmans and Jacqui E.

Draped dress from Witchery

Lace dress from Jacqui E

The Sandal: here's where you can get a bit creative this season. Gladiators are big again this summer, as are clog style sandals (wooden soles etc.) and wedges or espadrilles. The bottom line is that you need to find the sandal that works with the rest of your wardrobe. Think Espadrilles with a nautical look, gladiators work well with tribal outfits etc. You don't want to overwork a trend but you want your pieces to complement each other. In traditional Kitty Style, you might want to buy more than one pair of sandals. Quelle horreur, right?

I plan to wear my Carino Louboutin wedge espadrilles this summer along with a pair of high heeled chunky heeled Nine West sandals. I also have my eye on a pair of Sambag flat sandals I may just have to purchase...

Sabene espadrille wedges from Sambag

The peeptoe: One of the most elegant summer shoe silhouettes is the peeptoe. It's perennially in style. It shows off your summer pedicure to a tee and can be worn to work as well as to a party. I love the Louboutin Very Prive but there are plenty of more cost effective options out there that are just as nice. Try Nine West, Wittner and Wanted.

The casual shoe: we've got the sandal and the peeptoe, but I think it's also important to have a really casual shoe in your summer wardrobe. It makes a dressy dress look nice and casual. Try ballet flats from Sambag or Country Road, espadrilles or canvas keds.

The Wide belt: Accessorising is always important when it comes to summer dressing. The wide belt is a great accessory for making the maxi or other dress a bit more casual. You can find belts at almost every store but places to start include Sussan, Witchery, Sportsgirl and Veronika Maine.

The large scarf: Scarves are key for S/S 2010. From chiffon luxury brands to cheap and cheerful cotton, you can find them everywhere but they are essential. I have my eye on the emerald green crushed bamboo number from Country Road, but there are fab options at Trenery too. Bird prints are very en vogue.

Scarf from Country Road

The statement bangle: for ages we have been talking about statement necklaces but this season I think it's more about acquiring a fabulous bangle or cuff to complement your outfit. Summer is the perfect time to accessorise your bare arms with some great bling. Find great arm-wear at Mimco, Diva and Lovisa.

Cuff from Mimco

The embellished jacket: Add texture to your outfit through a shrug or bolero - there are some great lace jackets at Portmans and Sportsgirl and some sequined options from Witchery.

Sequined jacket from Witchery

So what's on your list of must have items this summer kittens?

Kitty x

Miss Kitty is loving...

Phwooar....

Season four of Mad Men: There isn't nearly enough Joan so far for my liking, but I am hopeful there will be more this season. Watching Mr Perfect unravel is compelling viewing.

Australia's obsession with cooking shows: from Junior Masterchef (god those kids are phenomenal cooks!) to Iron Chef (not loving but have high hopes it might get better) to Poh's Kitchen and Food Safaris... It's all about food at the moment on TV! Suits me - I'm just sad they have stopped showing KitchenTime on Seven2 in the afternoons... Boo! It might be time for Foxtel, I think...



Ben and Jerry's: It's now available in our local Woolies and it's so much better than having to traipse to Thomas Dux to get it. My favourite new flavour? Triple Caramel Chunk. Awesome. I have to seriously limit my intake.

Walking: The scent of Spring is in the air and it makes going for a walk in the morning so pleasurable. Sets the tone for a great day!

Planning the interiors for our house: We have been making some exciting decisions about what we are doing with the house. Watch this space!

What are you loving right now poppets?

Kitty

The Kitty Garden

I'll start by saying I'm no Faux Fuchsia. My idea of gardening is nowhere near as competent or wonderful as hers. I like things that are low maintenance. When we first moved into the house the garden had suffered from years of, well, not quite neglect, but Mr Kitty's Dad wasn't active enough to keep up the heavy work required. So it did require a lot of work to get it back to passable. many weekends spent elbow deep in dynamic lifter and potting mix.

It's a bit of a miss-match really. I like lots of flowers - roses and lavender are particular favourites. Mr Kitty likes hedgy type things. I like herbs and vegetables. Mr Kitty likes citrus fruit.

We try to do the minimum possible to keep it looking good. With our plans to knock down the house and completely revamp both the front and backyards, it seems silly to spend all our weekends and oodles of money on the garden. But parts of it still look nice.

One area we spend time and energy is our rose garden. We have planted a lot of new roses over the past 5 years as well as trying to keep up the hybrid tea roses that were already there. We hope to be able to use them in our new garden - our plan is to put them into the courtyard near Mr Kitty's study so he can enjoy them.

This rose is called Gold Bunny. it produces the most divine yellow roses, and loads of them.

I can't remember the name of this rose but it's a gorgeous variegated pink and white rose with a spectacular lemony fragrance. I think it's my favourite one in our garden.

Our iceberg rose going crazy - it's grown a foot in less than 6 weeks!

One of the hybrid tea roses - produces lovely flowers but no smell, unfortunately.

I did cut a few for our lounge room. They look so pretty!

My other favourite rose from our garden is called Charles De Gaulle. It's a beautiful soft lilac with a gorgeous scent. I only really like roses that smell rosey. It is a very slow grower though.

Our rose geraniums - we struggle with being able to grow them well. They are really slow and don't seem to flower often, unlike others I have had in the past.

The other area I invest time and energy, with somewhat middling results I am afraid to say, is the herb garden.

Hurrah! Our flat leaf parsley seems to be back! It died away over winter and I was sure it wouldn't come back but it has.

These are our raspberry canes. We bought one last year and it cost us $20. It produced a disappointing 10 raspberries all up. But some of them must have dropped and seeded some new raspberry plants! We'll have to stake these ones but I think there are six in total. Fingers crossed we get some fruit!

Speaking of fruit, here is our strawberry pot - we usually get a handful or two of strawberries during the season...

One of Mr Kitty's orange trees. This is the late fruiting tree which is currently in blossom. Lots of hard work has paid off with this tree - it now produces twice as much fruit as it did 5 years ago.

The Kitty herb garden - Rosemary, lemon thyme and mint taking over the garden. We pulled that plant out four years ago and it keeps self seeding... I learnt my lesson there - always plant mint in a pot! I still have to plant my basil plant, chives and maybe some coriander, but I haven't had good luck with coriander in the past. I am trying to work out if I bother again... I am also thinking about tomatoes but I think I might be too late for seedlings.

So there you have it - not exactly Faux Fuchsia level, but it does the trick. For the moment anyway!

Kitty

Miss Kitty has a drink.

When I was younger I loved to go out. Catch up with my friends, have a few drinks, sometimes there was dinner involved. More often than not, just a few more drinks. Sometimes there was dancing (I refuse to say if I actually danced although you can take my mention of dancing as tacit confirmation of aforementioned activity).

As I get older I often think nostalgically about life as a wee youngster. More often than not the drinks were plentiful but not of a particularly high quality. One of the things I like most about being a grown up is that I now not only value quality in life, but I can also afford it. And I make sure that my mantra “less is more” extends across the many aspects of my life.

Take dressing up, for example – when I was younger it was all about the latest fashions. In the 90’s there were lots of shoulder pads, big hair and clompy shoes (yes, all together). There were numerous bottles of Minchinbury sparkling wine consumed. It was a sight to behold. Really. I bet you can’t imagine it now you know the glamourous, more refined Kitty.

In the 2000’s I got a bit more glam (a reasonable paycheck often helps). My tastes became a little more extravagant – Four Sisters Semillon was often the drink of choice (gorgeous blue bottle – perfect for gerberas after the contents had been consumed) and the quality and style of clothing improved. Bootleg jeans, a glittery top and sparkly sandals were the threads du jour, no matter what the temperature.

And now? Well, now it’s definitely all about quality. Miu Mius or Louboutins, a slinky jersey dress and some statement jewellery are the Kitty style for an evening out with the girls. Getting ready, I often put on some music (Lily Allen is my new favourite – she’s so perky and full of life), pop on a hydrating face masque, make myself a drink and start trying things on to create the perfect outfit.

And my drink of choice? If I am feeling super decadent I’ll make myself a Caipiroska – the combination of sour lime, slick vodka and the sweetness of the sugar make it the perfect pick me up for a night out on the town. It’s refreshing, soothing and definitely gets me in the right kind of mood for a party. And I know it’s not traditional but I always add a sprig of mint to the drink so it ends up being almost a cross between a Mojito and a Caiprioska. I find it even more refreshing: the combination of mint and lime is just too good. And now that I am a fabulously individual grown up, I find creating my own drink a great way to express that uniqueness!

Kitty’s Caipiroska (aka the Kitty-oska)

30 ml vodka – try the Smirnoff Mojito Vodka, the kaffir lime hit is fab!
One lime, cut into 8 pieces
A sprig of mint
One kaffir lime leaf, finely shredded
2 teaspoons of sugar – your choice of brown, caster sugar, palm… So long as it’s not raw sugar as that doesn’t dissolve very well
Crushed ice (cubes don’t work as well)

Squeeze the juice from three of the lime pieces into a glass (I usually use a 350-400ml tumbler) and tip the rest of the lime pieces and the kaffir lime leaf into the glass. Add the sugar, leaves from the sprig of mint and muddle with a muddling stick for a few turns. Top off with vodka, and fill the glass with crushed ice. A few turns with a spoon to combine the ingredients and there you have the perfect pre-going out drink.

In fact, that sounds so good I think I’ll make myself one tonight. Before I go out, of course!

Thanks to Smirnoff Cocktails for inviting me to share my getting ready to go out experience…

Kitty

Christmas comes early?

Faux Fuchsia has put up her Holiday tree. All the supermarkets in the UK have their Christmas lollies and treats in stock. I feel very behind the eight-ball. I am blaming my horrid cold and travel-lag that I have had over the past two weeks but I certainly do have some planning and organising to do.

Christmas is my favorite time of year. I love the food, the cards, the presents, the parties... I have already done a lot of my Christmas shopping, courtesy of overseas holidays this year and being super-dooper organised. There's only Mr Kitty to go in the present stakes and he's really hard to buy for as me maintains he needs nothing (let's not get into the discussion that presents are not about need, they are about want, generosity and spoiling people as I have had that one over and over with him).

Christmas Day this year is at my parents so there is no food to organise for the moment. We'll bake Christmas cakes and puddings in November but that's at least 3 weeks away yet. I can't bake my cookies yet - it's too early. My mother doesn't want to talk about the menu as yet.

So that just leaves Christmas cards. I prefer buying my cards from the fabulous etsy, and last year I bought beautiful letterpress cards which I would certainly like to do again. However, like Cclarebear it seems like I am a bit early on that front. There aren't a lot of cards for sale yet and I am getting a bit frustrated... Hurry up etsy people!! Get your Christmas lovelies listed so I can start buying!

Other than that I am right on top of everything. Sad really - It's the beginning of October and Christmas is almost sorted. Lord knows what I am going to do for the next eleven weeks.

Maybe I might have to get a job. Anyone want to hire me?

Kitty

Today I got up and got dressed

Today I got up and got dressed. Believe me, after the last 10 days, that was a massive effort. It seems like everyone I speak to is getting sick, is sick or is trying to get over being sick. I'm not sure what's going on but it's a super busy time for cold and flu tablets, chicken soup and lemsips.

I came down with my supercold when we were in Hong Kong. It's always fabulous getting sick while you are on holidays - when all you want is your own bed, your teddy and endless repeats of Martha Stewart, all you have are starchy sheets, housekeeping trying to make your bed and CNN. It's not really comparable. As such, I got off the plane and got into bed and stayed there for almost a week. It's only today that I am starting to feel semi-human...

I thought I should actually leave the house - I despite having the supercold I was starting to get a bit stir crazy and some fresh air would likely do me the world of good. It did - other than a bit of a headache (I think due to pollen, it's hayfever season) I am feeling really quite good. I caught up with a friend and her cuter than cute son for a coffee and a walk at the beach and it was so nice being out in the fresh air. Fingers crossed tomorrow I am feeling even better.

Kitty