“Frazzled English Woman” Is My Favorite Aesthetic—These Home and Beauty Items Fit the Bill

The hyperspecific internet aesthetics won’t stop. In recent memory, we’ve been through balletcore, Barbiecore, tenniscore, and many others. Most recently, everyone was partaking in “brat” summer. Even though I’m a beauty editor, and it’s my job to stay on top of these pop culture-driven trends, I can admit that it can be overwhelming at times. But at the end of the day, these internet aesthetics are meant to be fun and lighthearted. They’re really just an opportunity to be playful and temporarily adopt a character or persona, which becomes evident as soon as you identify with one of them.

For me, that’s the “frazzled English woman” aesthetic. Let me explain: Remember Bridget Jones of Bridget Jones’s Diary? Or, are you familiar with my personal favorite, Kate Winslet’s character, Iris, in The Holiday? There’s also Kiera Knightley’s character, Juliet, in Love Actually. The list goes on, but the point is that they all share a similar aesthetic—one that’s sort of messy and tousled yet minimalist and practical. In a word, it’s effortless. And apparently, it’s about to be one of the biggest trends for this fall.

I identify with this aesthetic because I’m already halfway there. I’ve been known to skip washday in exchange for a spritz of dry shampoo or disguise semi-oily roots with a knit hat. I’ve also been known to pinch my cheeks for a natural flush when my favorite blush isn’t close at hand. And, perhaps most importantly, I’m prone to buying cozy goods to make my apartment as akin to Iris’s Rosehill Cottage as possible. (That place is a dream.)

Most of all, I find this aesthetic refreshing. It’s not based on an ideal or perceived perfection like Barbiecore or the so-called clean-girl aesthetic. It’s also more practical to participate in every day, unlike the grungy, party-girl vibe of “brat” summer (try making that aesthetic work during a Tuesday morning conference call). I think, at least to me, the charm of this aesthetic is in its realness. The characters who inspired this aesthetic are smart, witty, messy, complicated, and imperfect. Or, in the words of Iris Simpkins, they’ve got “gumption!”

So, in the spirit of having a “frazzled English woman” fall, I rounded up 15 cozy home and beauty products that I think fit the bill. Ahead, see each one, from a Bridget Jones–worthy blanket to an Iris Simpkins–esque candle. Scroll on.