From Horse Country to Lilly Land

Beauty & Brains. Estée and Lilly come together--image from blog.lillypulitzer.com.

The pockets of New Jersey out toward Bernardsville and Far Hills are often known as horse country. Think U.S. equestrian team and rolling ranches. I drove out that way today on a writing assignment to meet with designer Jeffrey Butler Haines and his daughter, Ashley Bastow.

In additon to his Butler's of Far Hills business and showroom, Jeffrey is known for the carefully edited J. Butler Collection that he unveils every June at his shop on Centre Street in Nantucket. Apparently, designers, shoppers and homeowners hop off the island ferry and head right to the shop to check his collection each summer. [Nantucket residents await the opening, too.]. He anchors it on a single color, with a kicker accent--last year's color was navy. Another summer, it was shell pink. This year's will be natural charcoal with poppy for the kicker.

I love Nantucket...have shopped my Lilly Pulitzer store there! Hope to check out this shop one day in person. Meanwhile, enjoyed interviewing Jeffrey and Ashley about tabletop trends, color forecasts and more. Am now way better prepped to set a Nantucket-style table. Also loved perusing the Far Hills retail space, with new takes on equestrian furnishings: linen pillow edged with fine leather piping, $170; tufted leather desk chair with nail trim, $2,480; and gorgeous, brown-leather-wrapped crystal decanter for post-fox-hunt drinks, $466.

Good night, sweet dreams.

TCOY

1. Set my hair on hot rollers, to smooth it and define some curls.
2. Sis came to visit!!!! It was great to see her. She clued me in to the Estée Lauder gift with $35 purchase--a Lilly Pulitzer makeup bag with lipstick, mascara, special little Lilly flowered plastic travel bottles and other goodies inside. It's @ Macy's right now; we went to the one @ Garden State Plaza. Check it! We really like it. What I bought to get the bounty: Sensuous Nude Eau de Parfum Spray. Sis bought a compact and something else so that I, her little sister forever, could get the spend-with-$70 bonus of petite Lilly pouch with special eye shadow palettte. But don't worry, we both got the original GWP. Estée is Sis's favorite beauty brand and she always likes the GWPs.