Positive beauty: Oquist waterless skincare



Oquist skincare

Here’s another recent beauty discovery that speaks to our desire for visual and tactile sensory stimulation. Oquist is a fascinating Swedish skincare brand whose USP is its packaging. Plastic or glass bottles are rejected in favour of terracotta ‘sculptures’.

Why? Because the raw material comes from the earth, so in theory, when you’re done with them, you can simply return them back to the soil. Although the founders have a better idea – to repurpose them as household objects. Namely vases, tea bowls and beautiful lidded vessels. (more…)



Shang Xia SS22 delivers super-luxe fashion for a future generation



Shang Xia SS22 PFW

An invigorating, palate-cleansing debut from Yang Li at Shang Xia SS22 yesterday.

The Beijing-born, Australia-raised designer showed his futuristic luxury vision for gen-2050 in a quest to put Chinese design centre stage. “It’s like imagining an empty chair at a round table of luxury fashion brands that should be for a Chinese representative. What a great mission to embark on. We’re going to give it our best go,” Li told Vogue.

As a breather from the maximalist showbiz of Fashion Month so far, we saw 90s-flavoured unlined leather coats and flat-front pants with signature Yang Li cape-detail dresses in fabrics that look deceptively simple from afar but I’m sure are ravishing when seen – and felt – in the flesh. Offsetting the sleek black separates were pops of neon orange and yellow on waistbands, box bags and surprisingly wearable trousers. The cool-girl casting and minimalist styling added to the appeal for me, not least as Joe McKenna was styling the show. (more…)



The beauty object: Estee Lauder Disney Collection



Estee Lauder Disney compact

I just wrote my first piece for Stylist, discussing the allure of aesthetically pleasing beauty and personal care objects that appeal to all our senses. One thing I wasn’t able to mention there was the new Estee Lauder X Disney Collection collaboration that launches on Monday.

Fun fact: I’m a big Mickey Mouse fan, thanks to the Americana craze that dominated the 80s when I was a teen. (more…)



Face Values: creativity and intuition with the artist Shira Barzilay



Shira Barzilay Koketit

We really lucked out getting the artist Shira Barzilay (aka Koketit) to create special artworks to illustrate my beauty book, Face Values. Her linear ‘doodle poetry’ added a beautiful gentle dimension to the text-heavy sections and she interpreted our themes spontaneously, just letting her imagination lead. I was so impressed and enthralled with her work and – as always – keen to know how the magic happens. So, I’m very glad she indulged me with this Q&A. Do check out her work on IG if you don’t know it already @koketit and enjoy learning more about her creative process and artistic intuition below… (more…)