I’m Hard To Impress. These Things Managed It This Week

This sounds glamorous until you realise how much of it is trying to persuade you that your current face, wardrobe, hair, morning routine or method of drinking water is woefully inadequate. There’s always a new serum promising to reorganise your cheekbones, a timeless bag that appeared on Instagram twelve minutes ago, or a pair of trousers supposedly capable of changing your life despite being dry-clean only.

After years of working in fashion and beauty, I’ve become very good at distinguishing between something I like and something I would genuinely recommend.

The problem is that I like many things, I can appreciate beautiful packaging, an excellent campaign and a cream-coloured dress that belongs to a woman who spends August barefoot in Hydra. But recommending something is different. A recommendation means I would send it to a friend who has asked for help, knowing she may spend actual money on it and possibly mention my name when her husband asks why another parcel has arrived. My threshold is therefore quite high.

It has to work in daylight, on an ordinary Tuesday, rather than exclusively in a hotel bathroom with excellent lighting. It has to make something easier, better or noticeably more polished and, ideally, it shouldn’t require me to buy a specialist bra, develop a new personality or wake up 40 minutes earlier.

These are the things that have managed it lately.

I knew this had earned its place when I realised I had worn it 8 times in 2 weeks without making any conscious decision to do so.

That is my new test of a successful purchase; not how excited I felt when I ordered it (which was off the scale but neither here nor there!) or whether it looked good in the changing room. Not even whether someone on Instagram persuaded me it was such a forever piece but did I instinctively reach for it again?

Although it’s not as “everyday” as a tee, it actually works perfectly for day (paired with jeans, a flat sandal and minimal accessories) and night (with silk trousers, a strappy heel and silver clutch).

It’s true fringing may be having a moment but I think it’s one of those tops that could almost be vintage therefore surpassing trends and aging very well.

Beauty recommendations become considerably less convincing once we start using words like ritual, sensory and experience to avoid discussing whether a product does anything.

This does.

Rhode gets a lot of hype and for once I’m going to say it’s with good reason. The products are impactful, highly pigmented and long-lasting. This highlighting milk has become a staple for me this summer. I use it on my collarbones and tops of my shoulders when wearing vest tops as well as on my cheeks, brow bones and nose and the light catches it beautifully.

A small warning: it does read a little sparkly in strong direct sunlight but I can live with that!

There are beautiful shoes and there are shoes in which you can reach your destination without developing a personal grievance.

These are both.

The real test came when I wore them for a whole day in London walking to meetings and events without a Compeed in sight. They work with skirts and dresses as well as jeans and capri’s, and the shape is simple enough not to date itself before the end of summer.

This is the sort of purchase I increasingly value: not the shoe that creates one incredible outfit, but the shoe that quietly improves fifteen perfectly normal ones.

My hair has two settings: freshly styled and recently electrocuted. This has been helping with the large and unpredictable territory in between.

I use a pea sized amount on wet hair, concentrating it through the lengths, and it gives me silky hair without making fine hair feel coated or greasy. That last part is crucial and rare for hair oils i’ve found. Many smoothing products appear to interpret control the flyaways as flatten the entire head and call for a dry shampoo emergency.

This one lets my hair retain some movement while making it look as though I have made a decision about it and don’t let the size fool you, this is lasting me months!

I’m just going to say it — I find logos kind of tacky. I know, I know. I’m actively rejected anything gaudy, showy or loud and am more interested in shape, colour, material and accessories that complete an outfit without demanding that the rest of it become more complicated.

This does exactly that.

I’ve been looking for a bag that’d not exclusively seasonal and this does just that. A beautiful cream hue, it’s perfect for summer but the leather and structured shape also makes it season-less.

This is also an excellent example of something filling a real gap rather than an invented one. I already owned a tote bag, but I didn’t have anything that’s less “work bag” and more chic for everyday. That distinction has saved me from many purchases that were technically different but spiritually identical.

My bug bear with beauty products is that they’re expensive as a marketing angle and don’t have the goods to back it up. Skinceuticals is NEVER in that category for me. Highly targeted, science-backed and high customer loyalty are there strong points and I put myself in the latter party.

This P-Tiox serum is a bestseller for good reason. I’ve tried not re-purchasing it twice and I see a notable (negative) difference in my skin when I try to find something else. When I use it my skin is firmer, bouncy (yes, really!), more hydrated, brighter and fine lines are softened. I’m not going to say it got rid of every wrinkle because it’s a serum, not a miracle worker but it’s come bloody close!

I am sent and shown so many brands that discovering one has begun to feel less like finding a secret and more like being added to another mailing list.

But Agatha Paris has held my attention.

What it does particularly well is wearable pieces that feel different and unique without tipping into costume jewellery. I would start with necklaces as the statement pieces instantly elevate an otherwise simple outfit.

That is another rule I’m trying to follow: finding the one thing a brand does brilliantly instead of deciding I must suddenly become a full-time member of its universe.

A recommendation is only useful if the person giving it is also willing to confiscate your card occasionally.

I understand the temptation. Fashion has already decided it’s September, despite the fact that most of us are still attempting to sleep under a sheet.

But unless you can wear it now, I would wait…at least until the end of August.

Heavy knitwear, winter boots and trend-led coats are particularly dangerous at this time of year because they exist in a beautiful theoretical future where the weather is crisp, your diary is organised and you never get overheated on public transport.

Buy for the season you are living in, not the season currently being marketed to you.

She’s white, possibly backless and absolutely incompatible with your existing underwear. You can already picture her beside the sea, although no sea has actually been booked. But, crucially, she requires a tan, a very specific dinner reservation and complete protection from wind, tomato oil and small children.

Admire her, save her if you must. Do not necessarily buy her.

For me, this is often black trousers.

The new one may be marginally warmer, softer, more luminous or cut with a slightly more interesting waistband. But is it filling a genuine gap, or is it simply offering the brief emotional thrill of improvement without requiring any actual change?

Sometimes the most expensive part of shopping is refusing to admit that something already works.

At the moment, I am loving taking a very classic, plain outfit and bringing it to life with key accessories. Ideally metal ones which make everything look expensive.

It takes five minutes and has made getting dressed feel considerably easier. This is important because I never want these edits to suggest that feeling polished is simply a matter of purchasing the correct collection of products. Buying can solve a specific problem but it can also become a very elaborate way of avoiding the perfectly good solutions already sitting in a drawer.

The things I recommend most confidently tend to have one thing in common: they support my real life rather than an imaginary, improved version of it.

They are the clothes I reach for when I haven’t planned an outfit, the products I use when nobody is paying me to mention them and the useful, sometimes rather boring things I would notice immediately if they disappeared.