Trying to put my thoughts & ideas down somewhere and give another outlet to my creativity. It's all connected, so I can't say it's a blog about just this or just that. Dolls. Fashion. Art. A little bit on travel, whatever... let's take it wherever it goes...

2012-04-01

Cultural roundup - and scent of something different...

So, after the holiday that didn't quite go as planned, my first business trip in my new position and other stuff, I'm finally getting around to taking care of a few things. So while the hair dye is doing it's job on my head, I'm taking the time to write a quick entry here, just a roundup of random things.

Not much happening in my little vintage fashion world lately, but I have just received yet another comment on my Story of a scarf entry, which is kinda incredible. It seems Fisba scarves have made it all over the world, and there is not much information around in this whole wide WWW...

Also, I have a pile of vintage doll outfits and pretty Sindy dolls on my table, all waiting to be restored, identified, blogged etc. This is the result of a cosy afternoon spent with a good friend. Whenever I think that my doll collection is probably not going to be growing a lot anymore... a doll or two come from somewhere ;-). Well, this will keep me occupied over Easter I am sure. Sindy dolls are pretty good restoration objects - they usually clean up quite surprisingly well, so I will certainly blog some pics of the process here.

There are lots of interesting exhibtions on all around, so I had better make sure that I still get those for which I haven't yet planned a visit. I have already seen the "Winter Tales" exhibition at Vienna's Kunsthistorisches Museum last autumn, but now the exhibtion has moved on to the Kunsthaus here in Zurich (minus the Breughels of course - I would have been very surprised indeed if they would have let them go anywhere...). The Rietberg Museum has an interesting exhibition on African art on, which will certainly be well worth a visit too! The Landesmuseum meanwhile is still showing press photographs since 1940, which I think would be interesting to see too. And finally, just starting, is an exhibition on Renoir's early years at the Kunstmuseum in Basel, which I certainly don't want to miss.

At least I've been able to catch up on my "missed it at the cinema" list on the plane. Loved "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" and can only recommend it to anybody! "Tintin" was lotsa fun and certainly well made. La Castafiore made quite the entrance! They have captured her like none of the cartoons ever could! Being warned that animation films that are mostly geared towards kids (but contain the kind of humour that adults enjoy at least as much) usually show up on cinema screens here in English for a week or two, and then are being shown only in German anymore, I trekked across town yesterday to see "The Pirates! Band of Misfits!". Great fun. Don't believe a thing in bad critics you read, it's lots of fun, and the jokes and the humour are often in the details. I have to admit though, this one probably has more laughs for adults in the end - so I'm not sure that the little kids in the cinema yesterday really enjoyed it that much or that the film company is doing the right thing by it by marketing it towards smaller kids, and seemingly not putting an age limit on it...

I admit to being one of those persons who always takes the little amenity items at hotels with her - like the little shampoos, shower gels, soaps etc. Why? Well, I paid for the room, I might as well... ;-) and sometimes, depending on the hotel, you get really nice stuff - like Pure Fiji or L'Occitane. Why not enjoy it. Okay, some of the standard stuff that mid-range hotels have really isn't very exciting, but every now and then there's a really pleasant product between all the other ones (like the stuff the Great Divide Lodge in Breckenridge has). Or hotels have their own brands with interesting stuff. I like scents and differently scented toiletries, so this too is a way to try interesting stuff. Be it perfumes, body lotions, shower gels or whatever, my taste tends to veer more to the spicy, tangy or "unusual" smells. Fruity and/or flowery, is with a few exceptions (like Pure Fiji's Starfruit Infusion products or Lauder's classic Pleasures scent, my summer perfume) less my thing. So I revel in all the L'Occitane stuff that I can get my hands on, I admit. Love that "fresh" scent. A friend had small toiletries from Hermès' Eau d'Orange Verte. Heavenly! This puts anything you've ever smelled that's supposed to smell of oranges in the shade. This isn't sweet, it's tangy and spicy and fairly strong, but utterly gorgeous. I guess it would be nice as a cologne for summer, but it's just as expensive as my "winter perfume" L'Heure Bleue. Yes, of course I alway pick the most expensive stuff! Getting even a little more unusual, the Hyatt hotels' own spa brand has "White Ginger" scented amenties - and boy, do they smell of ginger! But nicely. Too bad there was, this being typically American, no shower gel (but a soap instead). Just imagining what that would be like... on a really hot summer's day, that's what I'd like to have! Reminds me of ginger beer... nothing nicer to revive one's spirits by drinking on a really hot day... And if you ever needed anything to get you going in the morning, Yves Rocher actually has a coffee-bean scented shower gel. Not kidding. It's actually quite nice ;-). Having received a giftset of fabulous Weleda bath essences with natural scents for my birthday, I've also been spending lots of time in my bathtub lately. They're all gorgeous, and they smell actually the way they should smell - not artificial, but "real". My first try was the wild rose essence, that was just gorgeous. It smelled just like real roses and didn't lose the smell as long as my bath took. This morning I went for citrus, which is to me a bit unusual for a bath but it was beautiful. Rosemary was nice, kinda spicy, chestnut was unusual, but did it's job... now left are the two relaxing ones, lavender and fir tree, but I've not had a real reason to try them so far. Still, can't wait to try!