I Didn’t Feel Sorry For Belle Burden

Greetings Spendthrifts,

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Below the paywall today, a cultural roundup that includes:

• My thoughts on Belle Burden’s Oprah-endorsed, Gwyneth-Paltrow-and-Netflix-optioned divorce memoir Strangers; the Rashomon-esque debut novel I absolutely loved (and literally skipped dinner to carry on reading - unheard of), and the Vogue-approved guide to entertaining at home I’m hoping to pick up a few tips from.

• A TV drama about middle aged suburban malaise that has me hooked (and that I wish more people were talking about).

• Articles to drop links to in the group chat: one of our finest novelists takes on the Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and Jeffrey Epstein saga (you’ll want to read this one); the story of a sensational lawsuit that contains this pearl of wisdom: “it is never advisable to respond, without legal counsel, to a letter from the lawyer of someone threatening to sue you”, swiftly followed by someone who proceeds to do exactly that; and the best take on the whole Lindy West polyamary drama I’ve read so far. (On the subject of group chats, this rigorously-reported deep dive into the Beckham family drama set my group chat on fire when it dropped yesterday).

And more!

Now, picking up where I left off last week and finishing off my spring reccs with a quick run through of some beauty products I’m enjoying right now. As a reminder, Part I - with all the fashion - went out last week and is free to read here:

How To Dress For Spring

Apr 1

A spring fashion bonanza, focusing on helping you plug those tricky-to-fill springtime wardrobe gaps.

After years of sticking to the same perfume come rain or shine, these days I’ve become a little sluttier when it comes to my perfume choices. I recently switched out my winter perfume for the more spring-appropriate Vanilla Powder by Matiere Premiere, a scent that frequently elicits compliments from friends and strangers alike and also has real staying power - I find it tends to linger on my clothes until I actually wash them.

I like that the brand still feels a bit niche and insider-y - although they’ve actually just opened a London flagship in Covent Garden (pictured below) so I imagine change is afoot. Their sample size discovery set is a very economical £18 if you want to try out a few scents before committing to a larger bottle (and if you need recommendations on which scents to fill it with, I’m also partial to Crystal Saffron, Bois d'Ébène, and Parisian Musc).

I’m also thinking about getting myself a little Byredo Blanche roll-on perfume oil (I can’t justify adding another full-sized scent to my already HEAVING collection, and this is the closest to travel sized they do). I remember absolutely loving this scent when I spritzed myself with it at a counter years ago. It’s very clean and spring-appropriate, as you can probably tell by the fact the product description mentions ‘fresh sheets’, ‘laundry baskets’ and ‘detergent’ (not that I’m complaining).

I’m not really one for colour on my lips, generally preferring lip products that are basically just ‘my lips but better’- semi-sheer nudes, sometimes a matte brown. I’ve been using Victoria Beckham’s Posh Balm for a while now - it’s a tinted lip balm with just the slightest hint of colour to it that looks super natural, but still actually shows up on darker skin tones. I love the cool pink tones of Fleur for spring, which is what I’m wearing in the screenshot above - I find most pink tinted lipbalms look garish but not this one - though I’m increasingly tempted by the warmer brown tones of Cannelle.

I was debating with a friend who also loves this product whether £30 is a bit steep for a tinted lip balm, but we both agreed that for a lip product we love this much… ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. She’s also, um, white (I was trying to find the beauty industry-appropriate way of saying that - fair? pale?) so clearly it’s versatile enough for lots of different skin tones.

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Proof that - in a blow to beleaguered authors, publicists and editors everywhere - book blurbs really do matter, because I read this one purely on the strength of said blurbs. Khaled Hosseini, Monica Ali and Ann Patchett aren’t names you see blurbing debut novelists every day, so I knew this had to be worth a read - and it did not disappoint!