My $150 mani, most-complimented perfume (ever) & products for immediate hotness

For when you have a case of the uglies :(

Happy Sunday,

I hope everyone had a nice reset over the break.

I spent Easter up the coast in Port Stephens (my hometown) before going into absolute goblin mode chasing several deadlines. Like phones-down-high-frequency-playlist-writers-retreat mode.

Writing a piece for print takes me 100x longer than writing for a digital medium, especially when it’s the kind of writing that requires interviews and lengthy research. One of the pieces I worked on was an interview with Olivier Polge, the perfumer at CHANEL. I met him a few weeks ago in Tokyo. He was very interesting and actually told me a few things about making perfume I’ve never heard before (and I’ve interviewed a lot of perfumers) — like the fact it has more to do with memory than it does your sense of smell. I always assumed perfumers were either born with or learned to develop a heightened ability to smell things, but not necessarily! You’ll be able to read the profile in the next issue of RUSSH magazine so keep an eye out <3

But back to today! I have a few bits I thought I’d talk about —

• A mini review of my newfound addiction to a very expensive but VERY good manicure (like, the BEST — Dior hand scrub, CHANEL cuticle oil, the WORKS). I said 2025 was my year of natural nails but I’d like to formally retract that statement x

• My most complimented perfume (it’s new and it’s been a great social experiment wearing it in public)

• Some products and tips for when you feel awful but still have to turn up someplace looking and feeling chic (inspired by a conversation I had with a bff last week before a party where we were commiserating the need to go out, despite feeling less than hot, a self-diagnosed case of the uglies). Conceited, maybe, but it happens. One of the fashion girls on this platform needs to give us an outfit version of this because I CANNOT wear another black dress out of desperation or I’ll scream.

Enjoy!

NEWS, SAVES & HEADLINES

• There’s a new Celine perfume inspired by the French Riviera (I’ve smelt it and its very soft but very beautiful and not like the dirty-smoky-club kind of scents Celine is mostly known for)

• Charlotte Palermino wrote a really good substack about dupes (basically, they don’t democratise, they are just contributing to ‘mid’ products and I stand with this view)

• I read this piece on BOF about mouth care and it’s so interesting to me because when I was in Tokyo a few weeks ago, I couldn’t believe how many mouth care beauty-adjacent products they had

• Dead for these CHANEL ‘beauty mix’ kits

Review: A $150 manicure (and my first-ever BIAB experience)