Hands That Do Dishes Shouldn't Wear Chanel Nail Polish

France, pastis, Chanel and free perfume samples

I was so excited when I purchased the latest Chanel nail polish Paradoxal on my recent visit. As always in France there were free samples thrown in. One each for Mr EM and me. Time for a relaxing sit down in the sunshine in the town square to enjoy a pre-prandial pastis. 

But all I could think of was the name of other Chanel colour I saw  - Vendetta! How great a name is that - whatever the colour. I realised that I just had to have it as well. So as soon as my feet touched the ground in Blighty, I rushed round to my local parfumerie which I shall call Debenhams. Cleverly flashing my Beauty Card for more points, I grabbed a bottle of Vendetta as quickly as I could from  the sales adviser who was anxious to demonstrate that Paradoxal was a cross between Particuliere and Vendetta. I KNOW! I have them both. But they are all equally and maniacally desirable. What was she trying to say - "buy one and save yourself"? Thank goodness Mr EM was not around. But just as she dropped the tiny bottle into a wonderful white and black Chanel carrier bag, I realised that no free samples were to be offered. But I had spied a display of the new men's fragrance 'Bleu' by Chanel, and asked if a sample was possible? Yes! Actually it's quite classy without the awful chemical undertones of many other 'designer' male fragrances, which was just as well as it lasted overnight after I had sprayed it behind Mr EM's ears on my return. I was then chuffed to see that The Sunday Times Style mag had Bleu listed in it's 'Going Up' column last weekend. 

Anyway back to the meat of this blog.

Paradoxal, Base coat, Vendetta

I love Paradoxal (left) - it's a sort of mole grey with a lovely sheen and hint of purple in certain lights. Very flattering to medium skin tones. Vendetta on the other (right) hand is a crushed blackberry - deep and dangerous. But not a bit 'Goth'. The only problem, sadly as usual with Chanel, is that they flake off quite quickly even if you have a dishwasher! Vendetta was the worst. You can't quite see in the photo but it's quite 'chippy' on my index finger. Yet I had used Chanel base coat first on both hands. I am thinking of checking out Boots 17 Lasting Fix varnishes to see if they have a similar colour to Vendetta in their autumn range as I find that they go on much easier and last much longer than Chanel. My summer fave was Boots 17 Parma Violet (yum) which did almost last five days as claimed. Sigh. So why do I chase and pay for Chanel? Gotta have it baby!

Oh - and if you would like a chance to try Paradoxal for free - nip over to Make Do Style  (http://makedostyle.blogspot.com/2010/08/chanel-509-giveaway.html) where she is very generously offering a giveaway. To enter you just have to become a follower and give your 'make do' tip on fashion, beauty etc. Easy peasy as I shan't be entering of course, though I do love her blog.

Summer in Normandy - A Carrot Festival and Vide Greniers

The Carrot Festival Parade begins...

Chef de Confrerie de Carrottes (King Carrot?)

and the obligatory accordion player - there are a few leeks about as well

Oo-er Ladies can be carrottes as well!

The traditional early morning welcome to a Normandy vide grenier 

 - the sausage stand wreathed in smoke

Dressing your building in carrot colours is a must

Mmmmn - this season white is the new orange!

So back to business (hehehe) - brocante I mean!

What would you store in your old enamel or ceramic bedpan?

Early morning arrival of vintage French van, 

scattering the brocanters to left and right

I saw Flora and her sewing sisters at several vide greniers
and so wanted her.But why was she removed from her base?
Sold into bistro table slavery?

Early morning in Bricquebec as vide grenier stallholders set out their wares.

The proud 11th century castle at the top of the hill was built by Duke Robert, 

brother of William the Conqueror ( known disrespectfully as Guillaume le Bâtard in Normandy)

What to wear at a vide grenier if you're 70 - love it!

Some of my loot - soon to be on sale at a vintage fair

 Whistle and I'll come to you ...13 times in fact

Pretty pretty flower lined shallow cups or are they cider bols?

Lovely traditional French tablecloth and eight (!) napkins 

Oh the beauty - a tiny perambulator made in French crystal

Pretty eau de nil tin tray - with Savon de Marseille (appropriately) covering a rusty spot!

Could these be the most beautiful vintage lace topped French dresses to be found this summer?

Hello Sailor Skittles!

Hope you enjoyed this round up. It's not quite as extensive as I imagined because I was looking at stuff with a view to enjoying and buying rather than just photographing it, so most of the pics were in my mind's eye. But hey - that's real life and you should live it not just record it. 

I should perhaps explain about the carrot festival in Creances. This is a town in the Cotentin area of Normandy which is situated along the western side of the Cherbourg peninsula opposite the Channel island of Jersey.  All along this coast the sandy soil continues inland for quite a distance and is very popular for the small-holders who grow various vegetables - predominantly carrots but also leeks among others. I believe that  it's the seaweed used for centuries in fertilising the soil has contributed the terrific quality and taste of the local produce. Certainly the carrots are sweet and best of all uncontaminated by chemicals. We have bought crates of them over the years, bringing the sandy covered carrots home to the UK after our summer holidays here.  At the annual fete local people sell carrot cake ( no relation to that American import) which seems to be a madeira/almond cake with added grated carrot and tastes so sweet and delicious. There's also carrot confiture ('jam') - usually mixed with other flavours. This year we bought a jar of carrot and citron confiture  from a charity stall for aid in Ruanda. 

And by the way a vide grenier is literally "empty attics" except that a grenier ( originally grain store) is usually at the side of a barn or house not above it like an attic. The equivalent 'attic' was probably the hayloft. Vide greniers differ slightly from a car boot in that cars are usually not on site - they deposit the stuff and move away to park because  sellers must be local by law. Most vides are held in the streets, winding out from the central square of the village/town. In fact many stand holders just put stuff for sale outside their front door onto the pavement. Vide greniers are also strictly controlled by the tax and local authorities in France. Professionals have to register and are limited to the number of local events that they are allowed to stand at. Of course France being so bureaucratic, all sorts of ruses are employed by the  local dealers to ensure that they manage to get a stand in as many of the vides or brocantes (supposedly higher level of bric a brac) as possible during the key summer season when fleecing the tourists is a high priority and a great game. It's all lots of fun and generally good high spirits and friendly banter ensure a satisfactory and pleasant outcome for all. Having enjoyed this for over 25 years we still love every minute of our visits.


Do tell your experiences of French vide greniers and brocantes. Have you a favourite region? One of the reasons we love Normandy is because it is reasonably close to the south western coast of England and has a similar countryside though less populated and reminiscent of our 1950s/60s childhoods. The Normans are of course of Viking heritage - similar to the Scots. Mr EM is forever gaining new best friends by declaiming that he is "Ecossais - pas Anglais" 

(ps - please excuse the varied font size in this post - dunno what happened but can't seem to correct it.)

Catch up - August Birthday and Newbury Antiques and Collectors Fair

1st August Birthday Boy and his Missus

(his vintage Hawaii shirt a perfect foil for my coral outfit don't you think?)

Antique Fair at Newbury Racecourse on 2nd August

This pic and the one above are of BusyLizzie's
 (The Washerwoman) stand 

Tracey's (The Vintage Bothy) stand 
starring gentle Michael (back left)

Pretty chair from Tracey's stand

And nice chair that I found earlier!

Sadly due to my camera running out of battery and then my old phone malfunctioning I have lost the other photos I took at the antiques fair. Curiously the weather looks quite dull in the later pics but in fact it was a blazing day and very hot. 

Lizzie - one for you. A new Dry-Cleaners/Laundry has opened in our local French town - I think you must be related!

Watch this space as loads more pics to come. Will be showing a round-up of  vide-greniers we visited on our recent French trip and a quick look at some of my booty! Not to mention the tale of a Paradox and a Vendetta...

Gourmet memories from our Normandy holiday

Nasturtium flowers in the Brittany Ferries salad

Caramelised salted butter crepes with petit noir coffee from a stall at Valognes vide grenier

Brick de jambon et fromage ( ham and cheese wrap in filo pastry) first course of a 12 euro cafe meal

Simple lunch a maison - rosette sausage, roquefort and walnut salad, pain aux noix, rose wine

Handpicked blackberries from our ferocious brambles served in vintage Normandy named 'bols'

 The Provencal garlic seller

Market fare -freshly prepared French takeaway - bank cards and luncheon vouchers accepted!

Small-holders selling their produce at market

 Dark chocolate flavoured with crystals of fleur de sel - sea salt hand gathered from the shore in the Guerande region of Brittany. Yum.

These are just a  few memories from our summer holiday in Normandy. We have been holidaying in this area with our children for 25 years in various properties. They have now spread their wings but still like to visit occasionally or at least see reports of changes in the local towns and villages and hear of progress on our latest renovations.