Bargains galore!

Phew! Our 70% off archive sale , which started today, has been a roaring success - many items have sold out already (and we apologise if you've missed out), but there are still a few bargains to be had if you're quick!

Michelangelo of the Nile

I've always been fascinated by Egyptian art, and I've just heard that the British Museum's Nebamun Gallery is now open, displaying 11 wall-paintings from the tomb-chapel of a wealthy Egyptian accountant called Nebamun.

Dating from about 1350BC, the paintings are some of the most famous works of art from Ancient Egypt and, following a ten-year period of conservation and research by the BM, they're now on display together for the first time. Egyptologist Richard Parkinson has described the unknown artist as the 'Michelangelo of the Nile'.

The paintings were discovered by a Greek grave robber called Giovanni d'Athanasi, who dug them up in Luxor (there are marks on some of the fragments, where they were ripped off the walls - a reminder of how many of the museum's treasures were acquired) and then passed them onto the museum, via a collector in the 1820s. Giovanni d'Athanasi fell out with curators over his finder's fee and refused to tell them the exact position of the tomb, taking his secret to the grave.

Unlike a lot of Egyptian art, these beautiful scenes were intended to be seen by the living, not the dead, and they give the impression of the walls of colour that the visitors to the tomb-chapel would have seen.

The most celebrated of the scenes (seen above) shows Nebamun hunting in a marsh, surrounded by animals, fish, birds and insects. Simply stunning...

And Vita's back too!

Due to popular demand, we've also decided to order more of our Vita shrugs, as modelled by the gorgeous Fiona again. Orders will be despatched at the beginning of March.

Have a great weekend (don't forget to wrap up warm - I've heard it's going to be a nippy one!).
x

The return of Evie!

Good news! We've managed to order a limited number of re-cuts of our popular Evie dress. They're selling fast, so to avoid disappointment I recommend that you grab one now - when we've sold out this time, we won't be getting any more in.

Orders will be despatched mid-February.

Top Drawer

After a relaxing (and food-filled) few days celebrating Mr Anusha's birthday, it was back to work on Sunday, with a trip to Earl's Court to visit Top Drawer, the first main UK trade show of the year.

Although it's not the most exciting show, it lets me catch up with some of my regular designers after the Christmas madness, and it gives me an opportunity to finalise my spring/summer collection, topping it up with any extra new gifts, jewellery and accessories that catch my eye.

We've got some fab new designers lined up for 2009, and I'm itching to get my paws on the new season's collection… due online from the beginning of March.

The Bull Hotel

It was Mr Anusha’s birthday this week, so we drove down to the Bull Hotel in Bridport, Dorset on Thursday. The hotel, which was a coaching inn in Regency times, has a good mix of stripped floorboards, creaking wooden stairs, interesting pieces of furniture, quirky Zoffany and Designers Guild wallpapers, plus plenty of wood panelling painted in ever-popular Farrow & Ball chalky blues and greens.


We stayed in the Green Fern and Butterfly room (named after the Manuel Canovas wallpaper, seen above), with its cream rattan bed, embroidered silk throw, Parisian side tables and vintage roll-top bath. Very fresh looking and nicely put together.

We left Bath at 4.30pm, and by 7.30pm we'd changed and were sitting in the downstairs bar sipping our pre-dinner drinks.


The gastro-pub/restaurant food is good, with an emphasis on local produce. The kitchen also bakes all its own bread (yum), cakes and scones. The dining room looks much more welcoming in real life, when the lights are dimmed and the place is full of people.

There's a cosy upstairs bar (reached via a beautiful Victorian ballroom, complete with minstrels’ gallery) and a downstairs bar with comfy sofas and table football.



Following a windswept walk in the countryside around Sherborne on Friday morning, we drove back to Bath in the afternoon, just in time to meet friends at Jamie's Italian for a surprise birthday meal.

Birthday party

A friend emailed me this picture recently, taken at her birthday party in around 1975 (I had to boost the colours before uploading it - the original was verging on sepia!).

Note the influence of Little House on the Prairie at the time - especially the dark-haired Nellie Oleson copycat in the white dress.

I'm sitting bottom right, looking very prim/nervous in my homemade neck-to-floor brown Laura Ashley dress. My mother used to do a lot of dressmaking when I was a child (my sister had exactly the same style of dress, but her version was made using the beige-with-dark-brown-flowers colourway).

We don't look a particularly jolly bunch in this shot, but I still meet up with two of the girls here, and I really must stress that we've blossomed into extremely glamorous 40-something women!

The bottom line

This week I’ve been testing Waitrose own-label Baby Bottom Butter.

Designed to prevent nappy rash, sales shot through the roof last year when the news spread about the softening effect it was having on mother’s skin after they used it on their own faces.

Indeed, Bottom Butter (£2.40 for a 200ml jar; ingredients olive oil, vanilla and chamomile oil) does seem to have a very similar effect on my face to Eve Lom’s far more expensive cleanser (£76.34 for a 200ml jar; main ingredients cocoa butter, chamomile oil, clove oil and eucalyptus oil).

I'm going to stick with the Waitrose version for now - as far as I can tell, the Eve Lom version costs an extra £73.94 just because it includes clove and eucalyptus oil (known for their antiseptic qualities) and comes with a muslin cloth...

Happy New Year!

I hope you had a fab Christmas and New Year break (and that you’re not too cold!).

I can't believe 2008 has drawn to a close and 2009 has begun. The year has just flown by! I have to say a massive thanks to everyone who has helped us have another brilliant year at Anusha, and a huge thanks to all our lovely customers.

And my resolutions for 2009? Same as they've been for the past five years: take a proper holiday (I promise to stick to this one!), read more and drink lots of water...