What’s on my wishlist

I love to online shop. Strike that, I love to online window shop. Or is the technical term, ‘browsing’?

In any case, one of my favourite things to do is scroll through pages and pages of beauty, homeware and clothing websites. 

The thrill of finding a new product that solves a particular issue for me,  or would make the perfect gift...well, for me, there’s nothing quite like it. 

I tend to do most of my browsing in the dead of night. Usually after settling my son back to sleep if he’s woken up and I can’t seem to get back to bed.

That probably makes me sound really sinister, but it’s the only time  that I can look at my phone uninterrupted for more than five minutes.

Middle of the night screen time is probably not very sleep hygienic, but I placate myself by switching the night filter on.

I do find it quite relaxing though (online window shopping, not the night filter) and I feel it helps me get back somewhere close to sleep mode. 

However, I am considering a self-imposed time limit as I could quite happily wile away a couple of hours browsing rather than sleeping.

This week, I went on a bit of an interiors/homeware online binge – again perusing rather than purchasing. 

I have been wanting to refresh my bedroom décor, so was on the lookout for some inspiration. This inevitably led me meandering to wares for other rooms of the house too, namely the kitchen. 

The change in weather has also made me want to mix up my skincare and get more hydrating products. I went off tangent again and ended up looking at fragrances. How, I don’t know.

So, here is a culled down version of things I came across this week. Not sure, if I am actually going to end up buying many of this, but all of these products made me feel happy and so that’s why they are here.

 

Penny printed black and white spot duvet cover

This is actually out of stock on the Habitat website so I probably shouldn’t chase after something that will never be. But the heart wants, what the heart wants. 

On paper, I shouldn’t really like this duvet cover. Dalmatian print would normally be too twee for me, but I think the irregularity of the dots make it modern, simple and a bit of fun.

Also, the dots aren't too big so the it has a nice balance of black and white.

I can see this working equally well with a tonal palette of greys and whites as well as colour too.

The knot cushion

I can’t even remember how I came across this. I think, I was looking up a Finnish interiors brand I hadn’t heard of before and some products from Design House Stockholm came up. 

The designer of this cushion is actually Icelandic and makes the cushion from a knitted tube, several metres in length, being tied up in a compact knot.  Originally destined to be a teddy bear, what transpired was a super cool, curvy cushion. 

I had considered the fact that this might not be too comfortable, but now I actually think the knot cushion could double up as quite an effective massage pillow!

I have never, not ever, in my entire life spend anything close to £80 on a cushion. I have seen designer knock offs floating about but, as with most dupes, it just isn’t the same. Might be one to save for. 

Habitat black matt salad servers

Another thing I have never done is owned a pair of salad servers. I usually just use a regular serving spoon. Scandalous, I know! 

I got an email from Habitat on Japanese design being the new Scandi and these were one of the items in the edit. There was lots of blue, black and polka dots in their collection, which got me daydreaming about inky blue Le Cruset casserole dishes and black tipped cutlery. 

These black wooden salad servers are a happy medium with both longer slimline and oversized versions available. Again, out of stock so must be flying out like hotcakes.

 Korres lip butter stick

One thing I like about getting older is that I'm more in touch with my likes and dislikes. And when it comes to lip balms I like buttery, richness and I dislike sticky, claggy-ness. 

I also prefer sticks to pots so when I starting searching for a lip butter in a stick form – ta-da! – the Korres lip butters presented themselves to me. 

I haven’t tried anything from Korres before, but I have a good feeling about it. Branding, is a powerful thing! 

My lips get seriously chapped during autumn/winter, so I’m going to take preventative action by trying these out.

 

Jo Malone Basil & Neroli 

Figuring out what a perfume smells like online is quite an interesting exercise. I do look at the top, heart and base notes, but I’m completely clueless as to how they affect the overall scent of a perfume.

So, until they figure out what the internet’s version of the good old scratch and smell pages are, I’ll have to rely on product descriptions. 

I’m in the market for a new perfume and I have always wanted to try Jo Malone. Again, being swayed by branding and hype here but put off by the price tag and having to find a store to check them out.

 I usually like fresh scents so the Basil and Neroli caught my eye. It was described somewhere (can’t find it now) as smelling like fresh linen which is one of my favourite scents. I also liked that it had a white musk base, which is another scent I enjoy.  The incorporation of Basil is very Jo-Maloney but I wonder if it would make it too herbaceous? 

It’s £48 for the smallest bottle (30ml), so this might have to be a Duty-Free purchase when I next fly out. It will give me time to visit a store and see if it smells how I imagined.  I hope I’m not disappointed!