Fairlady March 2018

1 EASTER EGGS I know they’re a commercial construct, but I love them – from Beacon marshmallows to Cadbury Peter Rabbit to Lindt bunnies. 2 DESK HUMIDIFIER I thought it was coming back to work after a long holiday that made me feel tired, but it turns out my eyes were just dry and itchy from staring at a screen all day – made worse by the ubiquitous, soul-sucking air con. 3 THE BIG SICK Billed as a romcom, this outstanding movie is romantic, and it’s definitely funny. But it’s also far more than that – based on the real-life relationship between stand-up comedian Kumail Nanjiani and his now-wife, Emily V Gordon, it’s subtle and thoughtful, too. 4 ELIZABETH ARDEN AROUND THE WORLD WITH EIGHT HOUR ®…

Plastic purge During the December holidays, I went for a walk on an unspoiled, relatively isolated beach on the Garden Route. With only a few people strolling along the coastline with their dogs, it was easy to imagine this piece of wild, windswept coastline as it might have been 100 or even 500 years ago; beautiful and unchanged. Until I spotted the errant pieces of plastic on the shore: milk bottles, strangled plastic bags and plastic straws. The sight depressed and infuriated me, but it really hit home when I read the article on single-use plastic in your December 2017 issue, and realised that I am just as guilty. I routinely forget my reusable shopping bag, and buy plastic bags at the supermarket. I buy bottled water, use tampons with…

Inspired by the English countryside, STELLA Peony EDT is a woody, elegant floral, spiced up with black pepper, then grounded by cedar, patchouli and a hint of ambergris. The result is a lingering, elegant seductiveness. STELLA EDT, on the other hand, is based around notes of rose – a much-loved scent from the designer’s childhood – complemented by sparkling mandarin essence and a base of woody amber. The hamper includes a 100ml bottle of STELLA Peony EDT and a 100ml bottle of STELLA EDT.…

‘I’ve always been passionate about food – apart from the 15 minutes in Grade 9 when I thought I wanted to be a hairdresser!’ ‘I didn’t have a clue that I would win,’ says Chantel. ‘It was just such a privilege to have been nominated with people I’ve looked up to and admired from afar. I attended the ceremony just because I’d get to meet some of these giants.’ Her win felt slightly surreal for a long time, she says. ‘After a frenetic end-of-year service I had to go away, unwind and really let it sink in.’ The Best Chef Awards showcase the culinary artistry and visual presentation of the world’s top chefs. The winners are selected in six categories by 300 voters – made up of chefs, food writers…

A LoveSupreme is a ‘collection of stationery and homeware that leaves a smile on your face’, say husband-and-wife team Leanne and Ryan Botha. After running their graphic design consultancy for 11 years, the pair wanted to move towards a platform that would allow them to sell products, rather than just their time. ‘We also wanted the creative freedom to design a brand and a range unrestricted by a client’s brief,’ Leanne explains. Both Leanne and Ryan studied graphic design in Cape Town – Leanne at The Red and Yellow School and Ryan at Ruth Prowse. He went on to work in advertising and design, working for BBDO Network, Virgin Drinks and Enron in the UK, while Leanne did a postgraduate course in Organisation and Management at UCT, worked in interior…

There are many explanations as to why it’s difficult to say ‘no’. Our instrinsic need to be liked, to please people, to avoid disappointing them and to fit into our communities, for example. Personally, being an unrealistic optimist is my biggest reason – I truly believe it’s somehow possible to seamlessly fit everything in, right up to the very last moment, when I realise it’s not. Workwise, we want to impress our bosses, which means attending every meeting so we’re seen to be proactive and on top of everything. And of course there’s the famously contagious FOMO that rules our social psyches. I realised I was struggling with all of the above when I was venting to my sister at lunch one day about how chaotic my life felt. She…