Things to love, read, wear & inspire
A French film I really enjoyed recently; my favourite burger place in Paris; a wall light I'd love to add to our Rouen renovation and the concealer I use every day...
It’s sunny today for the first time in what feels like weeks. So much so that I can’t work on the dining room table (which I’ve taken to recently), as the sun streaming in is just too strong and a little blinding - we often need sunglasses (no joke) in our south-facing living space when the sun shines. Not that I’m complaining, as I love the light, but it isn’t ideal for concentrating on a laptop. So as I type this, I’m staring out of the window of our office/second bedroom (in the darker side of our apartment) at a pale blue sky with only a light covering of clouds. Besides a few rays that peeped out on Tuesday morning, Paris has really been overdoing its grisaille parisienne lately, so much so that I upped my Vitamin D dosage this month. Yet today is sunny and mild and has me thinking about Spring. But enough about the weather. I could continue (I’m British after all) but I won't.
On Monday I had to undergo another nasty hospital procedure, which left me unable to do much but sit on the sofa for the rest of the day. (One day, when I’m feeling brave enough I will write about the last 1.5yrs that has involved numerous visits). Luckily I was back on my feet on Tuesday to create some content for Assouline, one of my favourite publishing houses. They teamed up with Pantone for Valentine’s Day to create a beautiful shade of red, Assouline Red and were offering a bouquet of roses with every purchase. You can see the content here.Â
And speaking of Valentine’s Day, I hope (if you celebrate) that you had a good one. We usually do, but with everything that we’ve had going on: Victor’s mum was also weirdly in hospital on Monday too for an operation, our renovation, which has hit a few roadblocks, and we’ve been preparing for something very exciting that I’ll be sharing with you soon, we forgot to make any plans. And anyway, Victor didn’t come home from work until 9:45 pm, so the evening was a bit of a wipe out. But the time that we spent together on Saturday (even though it was chucking it down all day), which involved lunch (more on that below) and an exhibition, totally made up for the lack of a date night yesterday.
Things to love, read, watch, wear & inspire:
~ If you’ve been reading/ following me for a while, you’ll know that I use Susanne Kaufmann products daily - currently day and night cream, serum, eye cream and hand wash. I received her Face Oil this week and I can’t wait to try it.
~ I’m currently sourcing lighting for our Rouen renovation and I adore this ceramic wall light by Bettina Ceramica. I love everything she creates and am hoping to add this piece to the space and another to our home in Paris.
~ Victor and I rarely eat out together, mainly because we both like to cook (it’s definitely one of our love languages), but when we do we try to choose restaurants that offer something very different to what we would normally make at home. One of those things are burgers, so I had this idea of lunching at Le Burger Fermier des Enfants Rouges, in le Marche des Enfants Rouges, which I used to visit frequently when I lived in the 3rd and the 10th arrondissements, but haven’t visited in years. Despite the throng of visitors, we managed to get seats almost immediately and the burgers (Victor had beef and me chicken) were delicious.
~ I wear this Ilia concealer, in ‘Chicory’ every day. It’s the best that I’ve found that ticks the natural beauty box, gives good coverage and doesn’t make my skin break out in blemishes.
~ I have my eye on this short wool COS jacket, as it would be a great transitional jacket between now and spring.
~ Even though I’ve lived in France for 11 years (11!) I rarely watch French films. I know, I know, but I watch films and series to relax as they’re the only things that help me switch my brain off for a bit, so I don’t like to make the extra effort to watch them in French. But Victor’s mum had suggested I watch En Corps (Rise in English), as she thought I’d enjoy it, and she was right! It’s a beautifully-raw and funny film that layers dance - classical and contemporary over a the story of a professional ballet dancer in her 20s, who is told she might never be able to dance again following an injury.
~ I’ve been wearing my brown suede Gucci mocassins to death, so thought I need another pair for spring - these beige leather mocassins from Arket are perfect, plus they look a lot more expensive than they are!
A bientôt, Marissa xx
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I looked at the ballet 🩰 film but it doesn’t seem to have English subtitles?
Also I looked at Cos boxy coat but can’t tell if it’s lined or not? Xx