London-born New Yorker, and mother of three, Nell Diamond, founded her fashion and lifestyle brand, Hill House Home, to bring joy to her everyday rituals. Her collections are designed with both timeless style and luxurious comfort in mind, including her iconic 'nap dress' – a day dress that's comfortable enough to nap in. For this month's My Life in 10, we asked Hill House Home's Nell to share the pieces, places, and pastimes that help her slow down, take stock, and live beautifully.
1. A Good Book
As a child I constantly had my nose in a book. Not much has changed – I still love to get lost in a good piece of fiction. My favourite author is Zadie Smith – White Teeth (Amazon) is one of my all-time picks – but I also love to find recommendations on social media.
2. Catching a Show
One of the best parts of living in New York is access to great theatre. My husband and I love an early dinner before we race across 7th Avenue for a show. One of my favourite plays this year was Oh, Mary! at the Lucille Lortel Theater. It's now showing at the Lyceum Theater.
3. High-Tech Skincare
In recent years, I’ve really struggled with hormonal acne, so recently, on the advice of my aesthetician, I’ve been double-cleansing my face every morning and sunscreen. I've also been using a high-frequency wand by Nuderma (Amazon), which feels very high-tech.
4. The Best Bagels
I ate the best meal of my life after giving birth to my twins, Willow and Sebastian. Hours after delivery, one of my best friends sent a huge bag of food from the iconic New York institution, Russ & Daughters. The first bite of that sesame bagel – still warm – with cream cheese, lox, tomato, and onion. Pure joy.
5. Bows Everywhere
I put bows on everything. I used to save the ribbon from gifts to use as a hair band, but now we make our own bows, and I have hundreds stashed everywhere for hair emergencies. My current favorite is this Belle Bow Barrette from Hill House's new English Daisy collection.
6. Interior Design Stores
I always look to interiors for design inspiration for my fashion line. I love rifling through fabrics and eyeing furniture for hours. Some of my favourite homewares shops in New York include John Derian, Nickey Kehoe and Pierre Frey.
7. The Power of Makeup
I've loved makeup for as long as I can remember. My very first piece was a purple lipstick bought at MAC on the Kings Road in London, and it was my most prized possession. These days, when I know I've got a busy day or a stressful event, I pop on a bit of glitter liner and feel ready to take on the world.
8. Nantucket Summers
My Dad’s side of the family live year-round on Nantucket Island, a small whaling town in Massachusetts 30 miles out to sea. I’ve spent every summer there since I was born. Watching my own children walk the same cobblestone streets as I did at their age is so special.
9. The Beyoncé Effect
Beyoncé’s music is a balm for even the trickiest of days. When I’m in serious need of motivation, I pull up a video of her 2018 'Homecoming' Coachella Performance and sing along.
10. Playtime in the City
Living with three young children in downtown New York City can be challenging, but the Hudson River Park playgrounds really make it all work. It’s surreal to watch them play so happily against the iconic backdrop of skyscrapers.
Shop Nell's Essentials for Living Well
Nell has always been a fan of great fiction, and one of her top picks of all time is White Teeth by Zadie Smith. This award-winning novel was first published in 2000, it's still a bestseller and an iconic piece of modern literature.
Nell swears by this high tech gadget for helping reduce her adult acne. The Clinical-grade applicators boost the skin with anti-ageing neon and balancing argon and encourage maximum absorption of products into the skin.
Nell is a big fan of bows on everything and now designs her own for Hill House. This hair barrette is part of the new English Daisy collection, but it also comes in a range of other cute prints and solid colors.
Makeup has always brought Nell joy and she recalls buying her first piece – a purple MAC lipstick – fondly. This matte lipstick in the soft aubergine shade, On My Mind, offers hydrating and weightless 10-hour wear.
Nell has a passion for finding fabrics in interior design stores, and this pretty linen mix fabric is a reproduction of an 18th-century print by two of her favorite designers, John Derian for Pierre Frey.
Hill House's iconic nap dresses are beautifully versatile and designed to be comfortable enough to wear from morning to night. This pretty design is ideal for Nell's Nantucket summers.
My Life in 10 is a series of interviews with tastemakers in the world of design and hosting that reveal their essential rules, rituals, and objects for beautiful living – from entertaining essentials they can't host without, to inspirational travel destinations and treasured pieces from their homes – to help you to live beautifully, too.
