Life Lately: Teal, Tartan, Violets

 & Tuesday Twirl 

Dear friends. A mixed hors d'oeuvres today. I'm sharing which outfit I wore to the school reunion, a recent cord dress acquisition, a perfume search and more.

First up is a soft corduroy dress.  It's exactly the type of dress I look for in winter:  not too long and with a gathered waist that helps create definition where none exists.  Plus corduroy is On Trend, not that most of us care too much about that. 

It's the Jamie cord dress from Kettlewell, who, since they acquired a new MD,  following their sale to  to a different brand, are a little less colourful than they used to be.  

They still produce basics in a rainbow of colours, but the seasonal specials, such as this dress, are now only available in a handful of colours, most of which are neutrals.

I understand this gives them a bigger target audience, but it's sad for the thousands of women who rely on Kettlewell for the extraordinary colours we can't find anywhere else. I'm glad I have a good wardrobe of bright colours built over a few years. 

The Spring colourway of the dress was a bright blue, a nice shade, but I tend to consider blue a low impact colour on me.  It doesn't get compliments like colours in the spring pinks, purples, reds or yellows.

I chose the Autumn colourway, Egyptian Teal.  It's a warm colour and in my view has the necessary brightness to succeed on a Spring. I've always loved teal shades.  It goes well with the Spring aqua. I added bright tights (Snag), aqua necklace and a cute aqua bag, plus the first pair of brogues I bought from Embassy London. 

Which Outfit for the School Reunion?

The reunion at the weekend, in Plymouth, was a big success.  Forty attended and it was fantastic to be reunited with some people I hadn't seen since 1977.  

Thanks for all the votes via the blog, FB and IG. 

The resounding winner was outfit 2, the tartan dress. I bought it pre-loved from Vinted. 

It was colder than I expected so I borrowed a red coat from my mum's wardrobe.  You may remember that my mum died six weeks ago.  I stayed in the family home. She would have been pleased to see me in one of her coats.  She loved a lot of the colours I do. 

I switched out the red tights I wore in last week's post for navy blue.  I couldn't carry my cute red bag either, I needed a rucksack in which to carry the badges and my tripod. 

The Search for Violets

Don't ask me why but lately I am obsessed with the scent of violets, and I mean the full-on, single note of Parma violets (like the sweets).

I tried a couple of perfumes recommended on scent blogs - Insolence by Guerlain and Karen Timson Envide, but both had hidden the violet notes under other flowers, and they were violet leaf notes, as if violets were a shameful thing.

I hunted down a bottle of Yardley's April Violets, which was the only scent my grandma used to wear.  Yardley updated it a few years ago and have now discontinued it, but you can still find it online although don't bother: it's a stinker in all respects.  It has completely lost any aroma of violets.  The strange soapy, sweet smell made me bilious.

But now I've had success with a modestly priced offering bought from a French online pharmacy, My Origines.  I bought a single note eau de cologne, Berdoues 1902, and a violet body milk, Violettes from Toulouse, which dates from 1936.  Both absolutely perfect!  I might try a spritz of the EDC over my Insolence to see if it will improve the violet oompf. 

Getting Ready for Christmas

My Christmas edition of Good Housekeeping arrived last week. Too early?  The shops and garden centres began stocking their Christmas lines a few weeks ago. 

(On a side note I always marvel at the Christmas recipes in GH, but who actually makes them? My family would be horrified if I plied them with anything home-made, which is probably a reflection on my cooking, or the quality of M&S). 

I've bought my Advent beauty calendar, this year from Next;  booked my Christmas shopping slots  (all the M&S turkey crowns and turkeys are sold out) and, back in January, arranged for us to go to a Christmas carol concert at the Royal Albert Hall. We haven't been to one for a few years. It's a 3pm performance and we'll have a lovely lunch in Coda first, so it will be a nice prelude to Christmas.

I'm also going to Good Housekeeping Live in November which is a lovely event run jointly with Country Living. 

I generally buy presents all year round, if I see things that would be brilliant for certain people.

I'm not sure how much I'll enjoy my first Christmas without Mum. It has always been a difficult time because my elder brother died over Christmas, 11 years ago. I wrote a post that resonated with a few of you,  It's OK Not to Love Christmas, a year ago. 

Halloween Looms!

Meanwhile we have Halloween to deal with first.  Where I live, the kids don't call unless you make it obvious that you're receptive.  I welcome this because some dread Halloween and sit in the dark.

I put a lit-up pumpkin outside and have sweets and chocolates ready. Last year we were inundated and ran out of treats after an hour.  As soon as we run out, the pumpkin is brought smartly indoors and we heave a sigh of relief. 

I used to loathe the idea of Halloween but it isn't an American import, as we tend to think here. It was a key date in the pagan calendar. 

Bonfire Night was a unique UK-only event on Nov 5, commemorating the audacious attempt of Guy Fawkes to blow up the Houses of Parliament.  That's what we celebrated as kids, building a "guy" and a bonfire, and getting a few pennies to go towards fireworks which were very freely available then. 

We would carve swedes, called turnips by some, which makes me laugh now because they are VERY hard and we must have been using sharp knives! Health and Safety would have had a field day. 

Nowadays there are just a few public firework displays, for safety reasons, and most parents take their young children out on Halloween night.  Step granddaughter Olive will call round here, probably with the skeleton torch I've just given her. 

That's it for this week.  When do you start getting ready for Christmas?  And do you mark, or dread, Halloween?  Memories of Bonfire Night? Do share in the comments.

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LAST WEEK'S FAVOURITES

Inspired Fall Outfit Ideas by Kellyann at This Blonde's Shopping Bag 

Penny from Conversations with an Older Woman on her first trip to London for some time. Like me, Penny likes to dress up for an outing. 

Is This Mutton's Choice 

More Tulle Skirt Inspiration from Mireille at Chez Mireille, Mireille has the most amazing collection of tulle skirts. I've chosen my favourite from her roundup.  I'm quite jealous because I love tulle skirts but they don't love me.  You need a defined waist to rock that look  (unless you always wear a jacket over the top). 

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