*Harriet Pudney is a beauty aficionado and former Stuff journalist who lives in Melbourne.
OPINION:I am writing to you this week from my phone, not because I am in some romantic montage about a free-wheeling writer on the road, but because my MacBook died and this is the easiest option.
It asked me to update its operating system. I did. Then the disk died.
I did some Googling, considered the relative disadvantages of going to the Apple store (free, but with no guarantee of success, and a heavy personal cost) or buying a new one (easy, but expensive), sighed, and reached for my debit card.
A new laptop will be with me in 10 days or so. Until then, it is a small screen for me.
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It was an unavoidable expense. But, like renewing a passport or paying for car registration, that didn’t make me any happier about parting with the money. Your budgeting choices are your own but, for me, $1600 is an amount I have to really think about.
Ideally, if I am spending that kind of cash, I want it to be on something fun. Flights and accommodation in Bali, say, or a truly fabulous coat. If I found a really beautiful art deco club lounge set online for about that sum, I might well opt in, if I was in a couch-buying frame of mind and feeling flush.
Instead, I have a boring laptop that will hopefully outlast its predecessor. I paid for the RAM upgrade because people who know about these things said I had to, and I got a pretty good deal. But I am still angry about it.
Seeing that money leave my bank account made me think about all the things I would rather have spent it on.
Putting aside the travel and furniture dreams, if I confine myself to beauty, I could still have a very good time. Imagine the spa day that a laptop equivalent of money could fund. I mean an hour-long massage, the kind that hurts, plus a facial and microdermabrasion, and whatever other extras I would let myself get conned into on the day.
The Park Hyatt here in Melbourne offers a half-day retreat for AU$795 (NZ$855), which includes a massage, facial, foot ritual (whatever that is), and body wrap, as well as access to the steam room, sauna and pool, plus lunch. (There are some shorter and cheaper “rituals” at the Park Hyatt’s spa in Auckland).
Sure, it is a few hours, but I think I would enjoy it very much. Alternatively, I could easily rack up a similar tab at Sense of Self, a bathhouse and spa in the extremely cool Melbourne suburb of Collingwood. Blissful.
If I truly had to spend up large, I would book a hair appointment too. A balayage colour treatment, tone, cut, and blowout at my usual salon would probably be about $400, which I think is a great deal. You can’t put a price on a head massage and a confidence boost.
This does still leave me with a bit of change from the price of a laptop, so it is scented candle time. Trudon Ernesto is a winner, smoky, moody and evocative. It is also $149, but hey, in this scenario I have money to burn.
Cire Trudon Ernesto Candle 270g
$149 from World
Buy it
I will also get a new La Chapelle from Maison Balzac. A comparatively affordable $79, and possibly my favourite candle ever. It smells like morning light in a Catholic church.
Maison Balzac La Chapelle Candle 300g
$79 from Fabric
Buy it
At this rate I may as well really go all out and try The Cream from Augustinus Bader. It’s $420, springstore.co.nz, for a six-week supply.
Augustinus Bader The Cream
$420 from Spring Store
Buy it
If you are in a position where that doesn’t sound insane, I salute you. It is allegedly the best moisturiser in the world, light but very hydrating, and full of skin-healing ingredients.
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