GONE...

I hope it's somewhat auspicious that when I opened Designsponge this morning Amy Merrick had done a Living In...post on The Darjeeling Limited, from where I cadged these screen caps. I didn't have time to find my own photos because this afternoon I will get on a plane to India and I have important things to do, like worry. When did I turn into such a panicky traveller? It's true, India requires about 82 times more preparation than a trip within Europe; therefore there are 82 more things that could go wrong/I could forget - add that to the extreme weather conditions: 47 degrees in the north, monsoon in the south = panic, panic, panic. But I really need to pull myself together - (and pack! And re-pack.) I will channel the power of Jason Schwartzman to protect me.

Posting while I'm there is doubtful. If I don't manage it I'll be back in 10 days or so.
x

THE ESCAPE...

Instructions: Get in car,drive for 3 - 4 hours, put swimming costume on, sit on beach, eat first white Magnum of year, get back in car, drive home witnessing astounding sunset.

NATURAL'S NOT IN IT...

This is how many beauty products I use to get the natural look. It may not look like much, I have no idea, but to me it's totally bonkers because I hate wearing make up. It may be because the last time I had perfect glowing skin I was 12, but I've never really been able to affect that girlishly indulgent glee at playing with glittery eyeshadows or trying out a new red matte lipstick. To me, make up is not fun, it's something you use to make yourself look less bad, and the point of it is not to see it. My skin is really sensitive, so I have to be careful what I use and often the very product I hope is going to work miracles makes my skin flip out in an allergic reaction. I would love to use nothing at all, just a swipe of Crealine H20 cleanser and maybe I would if I lived in the middle of a forest. But alas, I live in London and so an arsenal of products must be deployed to make me look relatively acceptable in public.

Bioderma Crealine H20 cleanser - holy grail of cleansers, I bulk buy the large 500ml bottles from monguidesante.co.uk if I can't get to France.

Avene Antirougers Legere SPF 10 - it's ok, in that I can buy it easily in Boots and I don't react to it, but it's not life changing.

Unlike Mario Badescu Healing Cream. The ingredients are all natural and my dermatologist failed to believe they could have such a calming effect when I showed it to her. She was highly suspicious and actually told me to stop using it in case they sneaked steroids into it, which was probably my fault for telling her I bought it on the internet.

La Roche Posay Hydraphase Yeux - good eye serum. I can see a difference when I use it, which I'm not sure whether to be depressed or happy about.

Bobbi Brown Eye Brightener - I like using this much more than an undereye concealer and you only need a tiny bit.

Bare Minerals Matte in Fairly Light - I'm not as much of a total convert to Bare Minerals as everyone seems to be but then maybe I'm not putting enough on, or applying it wrong or something. The matte one makes me look a bit washed out...

...so I blob on a swish of Nars Orgasm - the same blusher I've had for about 8 years.

Laura Mercier Stormy Grey Kohl pencil on lower inner eyelids is my idea of full on glamourous maquillage - only for special occasions.

Fresh Supernova mascara has the best packaging I've seen - and it makes your eyelashes long, dark etc like mascaras are supposed to.

Finally, Lipstick Queen in Medieval is the only lipstick I ever wear.

JEAN-PAUL, CAN YOU PASS THE OLIVES?...

I would like to have been on the fourth chair not seen in this picture: shooting the breeze with Anna Karina, Jean-Luc Godard and Jean-Paul Belmondo - a panoply of olives at our disposal.

{still from filming of Pierrot Le Fou}

SPRING SALE...

*edit* Well, that was fast. I think I might do this again!

Time to clear out the wardrobe of things I never wear. I feel a bit weird selling things through the blog, but I can't make myself face the dreaded ebay, so let's give it a go with a couple of things. Apologies in advance for such horrible photos (hopefully evened out by the lovely one of Chung) - it's the camera, I'm telling you.

SOLD
A.P.C. sailor top - Ahh, I love this top, but apparently I am neither Anna Karina or Alexa Chung (Chung is wearing the dress version) and I haven't even worn it once.

Size: small
Fabric: 91% cotton, 9% linen
Colour: Navy with black trim
From: A.P.C. shop in Paris summer 09
Price: £35
Post: £5 to UK, £7.50 EU, £10 anywhere else

SOLD
Fletcher by Lyell pleated silk dress - I was planning to sell this before the news that Lyell is closing down - the length just doesn't work on me, which is annoying as I made a friend brave Urban Outfitters to get it for me and send it all the way from the US. And now Lyell will be no more so I feel I should hang onto the pieces I have...but let's face it, it's not doing much good hanging in the wardrobe.

Size: medium
Fabric: 100% silk
Colour: purple with red and white print
From: Urban Outfitters US autumn 09
Worn: once
Price: £35
Post: £5 to UK, £7.50 EU, £10 anywhere else

To buy: Email me (lolaisbeautyAThotmailDOTcoDOTuk) with your Paypal email address and location address and I'll send you an invoice. Once you've paid I will post it the next day. (Both items have just been dry cleaned.)

CONFESSION...

For someone who invested in a big arse fancypants camera a few months ago, I seem to be taking an awful lot of pictures with my iPhone and er, practically none with said camera. The reasons: too big, heavy, cumbersome, obtrusive, can't be bothered to carry it, get it out, put it away, change settings, don't know how to use it, don't like perfect looking digital images, clearly need to rely on effects of fake Holgarising apps.

Something like that. Oh, but the guilt...Below, April/May's iPhone pictures.

I WANT TO…

Run around barefoot on soft green grass, laugh and jump and whoop, run through laundry hanging on a washing line in the sunshine, build a fort, flop down giggling and exhausted in a heap. Eat candyfloss, make a daisy chain, do a cartwheel, backflip into a swimming pool, sing along loudly while driving, run into the sea really fast, make up a ridiculous choreographed dance routine, eat hotdogs with loads of mustard and ketchup, freewheel an old bicycle down a hill and not have to go back up it, order a takeaway and sit on the floor watching silly films, invent insane cocktails, say something funny, hear something funny and laugh so much I can’t even stand up anymore.

You know?

WHY THE INTERNET IS AMAZING...

Do you remember the coolest thing that ever happened to me? Thanks to Flickr I now know that the exact car still exists, and who the kind man in the photo it belonged to was. (The barrette sporting passenger attempting a Royal wave is moi.)

A comment on the photo, which I posted on Flickr:

"Yes, that particular car still exists in the UK but is off the road at the moment. The driver is Mr Les Frampton who lived just west of London. He bought the car new in 1966 and used it a lot right up to his death in the early 1990s. Les spent a lot of time in Jersey as well as along the South Coast so the picture could have been taken anywhere, although title hints Dorset. He was one of the few Amphicar owners brave enough to use the car in salt water (although that is also the reason it is now off the road !) Looking at some of the detail on the car I would guess the picture was taken around 1971, but could be a few years earlier, he did tell me, but I can't remember, when he changed the whitewall tyres for black wall !"

David Chapman
www.amphicars.com

{N.B. It was taken in 1982 when we were on holiday in Swanage.}

I'll be raising a glass or two to Mr. Frampton today (and Mr. Chapman) - I wonder if he would ever have guessed what a lasting impression driving around in the sea in that beautiful car had on six year old me. (And don't ask, yes I am tempted but lucky for me, I already have pretty much the car of my dreams. It doesn't float as far as I know, but it does speak to me in Japanese.)

{photo credit: my dad}

I'M BIG IN JAPAN...

The best thing about my flat being in the new book from Japanese publishers Editions de Paris: A Girly Interior in London, was that I got to meet the lovely Emma Cassi and her husband Bertrand, who worked on the book together. And I didn't even have to leave home! I've been a fan of Emma's work for ages so I was more than happy for them to come round one dark winter's day and take pictures. The book features 12 girly homes and there are a few other likely blogging suspects you'll recognise in there.

Below are a couple of the pages on my flat. You may notice the absence of any felines. Lola spent the entire time hiding under chairs glaring and skulking around the backs of sofas. Only when everything was packed away did she decide to sit on the table, giving her best Lara Stone pose. Timing is everything Lola.

{Apologies, my scanner is useless. Kind of it to have Lomo-fied my scans of the book though...}

YOU DON'T KNOW HOW HAPPY THIS MAKES ME...

*I feel the need to listen to Phoenix's Love Like a Sunset Parts I & II at least twelve times a day, so when I heard that Sofia Coppola was going to direct a short film to it (it's 10 minutes 40 seconds long) I was practically hopping up and down with excitement. You can't help listening without mentally directing one anyway - so the thought of Sofia making one, though hardly surprising, was welcome news. Now it emerges that Phoenix has in fact used it heavily for the soundtrack of Sofia's upcoming film, Somewhere, which I was already hopping up and down excited about. More about it here. I am doing a little jig.

*What The Fuck Should I Make For Dinner? I clearly respond well to aggression, because I really feel like trying the lamb with carrots and pureed chickpeas, having not cooked a proper meal in months. {via Vain & Vapid}.

*Paperless Post is like Smythson stationery for your computer.

*The brand spankin' new (not quite fully opened) East London Line. I can get to Shoreditch and Dalston in minutes! My flat just doubled in value! Orange doors!

HOW DO YOU SEE?..

This is the first in a new series of five question interviews with female photographers whose work I admire.

Alexandra Chalaud kindly agreed to be my first victim interviewee. I first became a fan of her dreamy fashion photographs of alluring girls. I also love the way she captures natural moments so well, such as in her pictures of teenagers below. I asked her about how she sees with her camera.

L.I.B. - Do you prefer to find a moment to capture, or to create one (using styling, location etc)?

A.C. - In both of them you have to find a moment to capture.
But the intentions are different and the result too. For myself I prefer shooting without make up, location, etc...I feel more free!



L.I.B. - When you look through your lens, what are you looking for that makes you take the picture?

A.C. - For Fashion I already have some visual intentions...but I like "accidents". Often the result is great. But for my other works I’m driven by what I feel, what I see and what I discover in the moment through my lens.



L.I.B. - Do your surroundings and everyday life influence your photography?

A.C. - I think for all artists, your personal life influences your work.


L.I.B. - Could you tell me about this photograph?



A.C. - It was on a Sunday one year ago, in summer, in Place des Vosges: lots of people, lots of sunshine. I was just looking around me with my camera.

L.I.B. - Who or what is your favourite subject to photograph?

A.C. - It depends. My favourite is always the last subject I worked on.


{All photos (c) Alexandra Chalaud}