Style / 5 years ago

The Good Life by Alice B-B: January

Discover what Alice B-B is up to this month...

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Powder room politics and buff feet…

Yes to fluidity…

Clothes, gender, equal pay. Just please not toilets. I’ve spent the last week at a wellness conference where gender-neutral was the name of the game for the public facilities. Instead of quiet moments away from the crowds, my loo trips became a platform for inner rants… 1. Why do men pee on the floor? 2. Why can’t men put the seat down? 3. I miss girl chat while washing my hands. I’m so grateful for the new fluid era we’re in but not when it comes to public lavatories. Please can we have the option?

Twenty years

Since I first heard about foot guru Bastien Gonzalez. Two decades later I finally get an appointment to have the world’s most famous podiatrist’s unwavering attention on my trotters. For this is not your common or garden superficial nail painting affair. ‘Non! What I do,’ he says pointing at the bronze plaque outside his salon within the Mandarin Oriental hotel, ‘is a pedi – CURE,’ said with the flourish of a French former-champion skier. He points out that while I have healthy feet, ‘I’m not going to send them flowers!’ My nails are suffering; I’m a fan of the slag’s pedicure – Shellac. On it goes and there it stays, sometimes for months until the gels peel away, leaving nails in a sorry state of dehydration. But an hour of trimming, filing and delicious massage in the (impeccably manicured) hands of Bastien, until my nails are so intensely buffed I can almost use my toes as a mirror. ‘Think of me everyday when you massage the fatty pads underneath,’ is his parting shot. ‘If you do that, you will have baby feet for life.’

A present embargo

is kind of how we do it in my family. BUT… the gifts I wish I’d received: 1. I can’t resist a red dress for winter and there’s a puff-sleeved number by Shrimps that’s utterly enchanting. However, never wear red to a wedding, it means you’ve slept with the groom. I learnt the hard way. 2. I don’t like my legs; they feel disconnected from my body. But I keep trying to love them in the hope that one day they’ll surprise me. My latest love-bomb is smearing them in Augustinus Bader’s body cream. (If you haven’t yet heard, stem cell and burns specialist Professor Bader has collaborated with Victoria Beckham to create a special primer.) So while they’re still the same old legs, the skin feels springier and my scars are vanishing. 3. My favourite jewellery brand, Loquet London, has collaborated with designer Chantal Conrad to create the Lumiere collection; hold the gold pendants up to your eye and a secret message appears. Using a technique developed by spies, it’s exactly what a very special present should be – mysterious and magical. A love letter… for your eyes only.