At Liberty

Brown Thomas in Dublin (www.brownthomas.com) is one of the loveliest shops we know – not as sprawling as Selfridges, but with a great fashion and beauty edit and friendly, helpful staff – but in London it has to be Liberty. For all of us who can't get there easily, there's £30 off on their website this weekend plus free UK delivery. There is really nowhere better to buy beauty, from Frederic Malle (try his candle, above, £58) and Byredo perfumes to cosmetics by cult brands such as Hourglass (the 'best of' box below includes their brilliant mineral primer) and Aesop. A set of glass tumblers (£6.50 each) by the brilliant North East shop Re-Found Objects, who have popped up in Liberty, makes a stylish gift, while the Ally Cappellino leather bags are practical and built to last.

Night fever

Gatsby Classic Cotton Pyjamas, £100

Love these cool classic pyjamas from www.Poplin.co.uk, which have names like Bardot, Grace and Mitford to channel that idea of timeless beauty and glamour. They're made in India by ex-journalist Lucy Archibald who's now based there, and they're selling out fast – the cool striped nightshirt which has a gorgeously worn quality has already disappeared and we're really hoping they restock soon. This mannish style in midnight blue silk would make the perfect Christmas present....

Audrey Classic Silk Pyjamas, £200 

Karl for Shu

No humble HBs for Karl Lagerfeld - the designer uses Shu Uemura eyeshadows to colour his fashion sketches. Which is what's led to him creating a beauty collection together with the Japanese brand. It launches on October 14 in Selfridges, Harrods and Brown Thomas Dublin before going nationwide in November. Harrods, incidentally, will stock the only pair of false eyelashes made with real rubies. So if you have a spare £900 you're in luck.

The little manga comic-style motif of the collection, Mon Shu, dressed in Lagerfeld's own trademark black and white, is cutesy (though also a little sinister), but the make-up colours are as sophisticated as you'd expect from Shu. 

The eye colours are really silky with great strong colours, while the four lipsticks (including a fab pinky-red) are creamy and luxurious. I like the reinvented eyelash curlers – still the best in the business – and the fact the prices haven't been hiked up to cash in on the Karl link. It's a fun and collectable collection (we'd love the make-up box – which is pricey, but will last for ever – and the mini make-up brushes).

Shu are always so visual about their packaging – here's the Mamechiyo collaboration they did earlier this year:

And don't forget their brilliant Cleansing Oil, in a mini sample you can sometimes get from counters if they're in stock – if you've never tried it, you'll find it's the most lovely, gentle, pleasurable way of cleaning your skin. There are different varieties to suit your skin type. 

Starting this Friday at 6pm, you can take part in the upcoming fashion weeks as never before: SHOWStudio.com will be broadcasting live commentary on the shows as they happen, with panels made up of fashion luminaries such as Jane Shepherdson, Daphne Guinness and Colin McDowell. Colin will be kicking off with Mrs Beckham's show in New York on early Sunday evening. Don't miss it – this will be THE place to get the most informed, honest, opinionated and downright entertaining coverage of spring 2013's fashion as it unfolds. Can't wait...

Tom Ford's take on florals

There's a raft of new scents about to surface for autumn, and Tom Ford's four new Private Blend fragrances are (along with the new Chanel) the very best. Already on counter in Brown Thomas Dublin, they're due to launch officially in September. And they are stunners. Imagine these opaque black bottles, modelled on chess pieces, lined up on your dressing table, for a start....  The sultry hyacinth is one of the most intoxicating perfumes I've breathed in ages, with an earthy green top note that smells like the stems of the flowers and a gorgeous lingering warmth, while Cafe Rose is a blend of rose absolute cut through by coffee. There's also Lys Fume, a heady, smoky lily, and Jonquille de Nuit, which captures that addictive, almost jasmine scent of narcissi – you literally can't stop smelling it on your wrist. Ford describes these as "twisted florals" and they're certainly more sultry than so many rose or jasmine-based scents on the market. Several new launches from the biggest beauty companies, by contrast, just reek – there's a trend for sickly vanilla and overblown patchouli, and it tends to overpower any subtle floral touches entirely. I guess it depends if you like really sweet scents, which belong to the newer family of perfumes known as 'gourmand' – think Laura Mercier's creamy caramel and sugar-scented bath line in scent form. To me, this kind of 'edible' perfume is perfect for a teenage girl, but just too much on anyone else – the olfactory equivalent of eating too many marshmallows.  

London calling

We've a sudden urge to hot-foot it to London – but it's got nothing to do with the Olympics. While everyone else is queuing for the diving or crazy golf or whatever, we'll be nabbing tickets for the Film4 Summer Screen to watch movies in the beautiful courtyard of Somerset House: film choices include The Birds (worth seeing just for Tippi Hedren's wardrobe and style alone) and Pretty in Pink. In an ideal world, we'd stay in the new Haymarket hotel, or trying to nab a room in Shoreditch House Hotel in the hip east end, for the rooftop pool. The next evening we'd have tickets to see Simon Russell Beale star in Timon of Athens – not a light choice, granted, but already garnering rave reviews – or Mark Rylance as Richard III over at the Globe. Last, but certainly not least, we'd be nipping over to the Chanel pop-up shop in Covent Garden: the new lipstick collection they're launching in September means anyone and everyone can find their perfect red. And their newest perfume, launching next month, is a real gem. It's top secret for now, but well worth waiting for...

Going dotty....

A first look at Marc Jacobs' new scent for summer, Dot, which launches in July in three sizes. The bottle's certainly no wallflower: that strange red football on top, the crazy black "petals".... Jacobs was working on the premise that polka dots are always in fashion, and Dot is intended to be a "sister" to previous scents such as Lola and Daisy. The scent itself? It's a full-on sweet scent of holidays – coconut, orange and musk, plus berries and vanilla. It's all there. One thing's for sure, if you're a chypre kind of girl, this one's not for you. A bold, playful statement, or a hideous tacky aberration? Love or loathe it, you can't ignore it. Dominating a dressing table near you come July....