This and That
Recent buys, fashion finds and beauty discoveries
Hello! How are you? Chloe here, by the way, in case you were expecting Nick! Someone recently commented that it was odd that I write about myself in the third person, which was fair and quite funny. In case you haven’t been following for long, Nick, my husband, writes the travel pieces on my Substack and when I sporadically write on here, I stick to fashion. There are a few reasons for this. 1) I think he is a talented writer and does a FAR better job than I ever could 2) He is a man that gets things done. I, on the other hand, am brimming with ideas, but I seldom execute them. Even though I started my content creating ‘career’ writing a blog, it’s never been my strong point and most of the time I am paralysed by the thought that my writing isn’t good enough. But I am silencing that doubt today and going with passion over perfection!
M&S have just dropped their Summer ‘26 collection and there are so many things that I like the look of. The good stuff sells out really quickly, and I predict the starfish (6) necklace to be one of the first things to go - lots of you loved my vintage starfish necklace that I bought from Sarah Wilson Jewellery last year, so I thought I would alert you to this one.
I have just taken delivery of two pieces from Me+Em. This shirt really caught my eye when the catalogue dropped through my door this week. It’s a colour way that I find really wearable, whether I am dressing for the city or on holiday. Thoughtfully designed (I expect nothing less from Me+Em) it’s made from a lightweight cotton voile and has two slits on either side which mean that you can knot it to wear with shorts over a bikini with ease. (see below) I prefer to keep my arms out of the sun these days, so I am always looking for lightweight pieces that I can wear over a bikini.
This silk satin tank is a bit of an investment piece - but it’s one I know I would wear again and again. I think it would look beautiful under a blazer or shirt (or my Hansine Cardigan) If you are worried about keeping it clean (!) it also comes in brown.
And finally two blouses that I thought were quite special. The one on the left is VERY me, the right, less so, but I think it’s stunning.
Moving on to another of my favourite places to shop these days, Massimo Dutti. In my 30’s and early 40’s, their clothes did not speak to me at all, but I have found that I’ve entered my Massimo phase of life and would quite happily wear most of their collection. Well, I would if I could, but at 5’4 (& the important half) I do have to be a bit selective. I did order a couple of bits from the edit below. The red suede flip flops with a tiny wedge heel- which feel and look beautiful on. They have just enough heel to make them that much more comfortable and take them from casual to ‘elegant’ flip flops. I am afraid I can’t attest to their comfort because I haven’t worn them out yet. I absolutely love a Raffia bag in the summer and the one featured below looks a great size. My raffia bag (image above) is from Etsy, and I use this insert from Amazon inside which is absolutely brilliant for keeping everything organised in my bigger bags.
I also really love the soft white linen cardi which is such a useful piece for layering in the summer. I find my temperature quite hard to get right these days - I am either freezing or boiling - and have found a thin and neat cardi that can be layered under a jacket a really useful thing to have in my wardrobe. I also LOVE the look of the scoop neck white tee which comes in an excellent grey marl too. The neckline and the length of the sleeves make it that little bit dressier, and for someone who loves jeans and a white tee, this design levels up that look. I absolutely love styling below - in fact I’ll be copying this exact look with pieces I have in my wardrobe.
Okay that’s probably enough on the fashion front, let’s move on to beauty, because I have had some great new discoveries this month. Starting with Sculpted By Aimee’s new Cream Luxe collection. I cannot stop reaching for the Cream Cushion foundation. It melts into the skin like skincare, never looks or feels heavy, and the finish is fresh and luminous with just the right amount of coverage. I have been wearing 4N but I have just placed an order for 3C as I think 4N might be a touch on the dark side. I went to an event this week for the launch of Aimee’s new Cream Luxe Collection. They are beautiful - highly pigmented so a little goes a long way and because they have added skincare ingredients, the staying power is amazing. At the end of the event I was given a bag with a blusher inside in the shade ‘Wild Rose’ - it’s really pretty, but probably a little too deep pink for me, so I have also ordered the Dusty Rose.
A fairly new discovery for me is Medicube. If you love that polished glass skin finish, their Zero pore pads are worth every bit of the hype. They use a combination of AHA (lactic acid) and BHA (Salicylic Acid) so they are exfoliate the surface of the skin and penetrate to clear congestion. They also don’t feel too harsh or stripping, the way some chemical exfoliants can.
I also bought the Pink Salmon Eye cream that everyone is talking about. It’s a peptide Eye Cream which uses salmon DNA, peptides, niacinamide and retinol to target dark circles, fine lines and dullness. I haven’t been using it long enough to say whether it’s doing any of those things - but it feels absolutely lovely to use around the eye area and I have no irritation.
We’ve officially entered the middle-aged section of this Substack because I am about to talk about laundry with real enthusiasm. Last week, I entered the phase of adulthood where I splurge on bougie laundry detergent after hearing a friend of mine rave about Tallow & Ash. Apparently it makes your washing smell like a high end fragrance and I got completely sucked in by their scents (I went for Oud and Odyssey) and placed a rather extravagant order. What’s confusing about this, is that I didn’t really think twice about placing an order for £40 on washing detergent online, yet in Lidl I’m still comparing price-per-wash like my life depends on it! Make that make sense.
My enthusiasm for doing the washing defintiely ramps up in Summer - drying your washing outside on the line is surely one of life’s great pleasures. Nothing beats climbing into bed with sheets dried by the summer sun. Another immensely pleasing laundry purchase I made this week - this fabric, collapsible laundry basket that folds down and fits very neatly in the space above the washing machine and the shelf above. I went for the natural colour which seems to be out of stock, but they do still have grey.
This weekend is looking like a lovely mix of life admin and small joys : planting my trailing lobelia, packing up and bringing Liv home from university for the summer, (eek, that went quickly!) a miso bun from our local Layla Bakery, a dog walk on the Heath with friends and carrying on with the kitchen reorganisation. The work is almost finished (just the kitchen cupboards left to be sprayed now) and I am looking forward to showing you what we have done.
Until next time - whenever I next manage to gather my thoughts into an actual post - have a wonderful weekend.
Love,
Chloe x
Hi Chloe, I loved reading this post - your enthusiasm came through as did your natural voice ( at least as I know you from Instagram) so keep up the writing and don’t overthink it xx
For what it's worth, I think you write beautifully and the content is so useful/interesting. Keep going x