It Matters

Buy It

Yeah, like a frenzied New York Italian film-maker knows anything about coffee! Check out Temple Bar's Haus this month for espresso sets designed by director Francis Ford Coppola for Illy. More colourful than Rumblefish, significantly less insane than Apocalypse Now, the cups and saucers are printed with leaves and grass, gravel, peppercorns and peas. These are as bucolic as extreme caffeine gets.

Texture of Home espresso set, designed by Francis Ford Coppola, £65 for six at Haus, Crow Street, Dublin 2

Try It

Given the month that's in it, why not try a potion called Falling in Love, an odourless formula cooked up by cult American beauty house Philosophy? It contains pheromones, which they claim may increase attractiveness and one's sense of well-being - just like the sensation of falling in love. It may sound like mumbojumbo, but among animals, pheromones pack a punch - scent markers released by female fish cause male sperm counts to quintuple overnight. More recently, humans have been getting in on the act: research carried out in the US shows that human pheromones may be useful as a fertility treatment and as a cure for depression.

Falling in Love, by Philosophy, £60 at Blu Eriu, South William Street, Dublin 2

Envy It

Don't assume you're over your retro moment until you've tried Eero Aarnio's 1968 bubble chair. As well as being pretty, it is also the most comfortable chair in the world - ever. A little bit Flake ad, a little bit Bond villain, the bubble chair is sturdy, too. Made of acrylglas and chromed steel, it is capable of carrying up to 28 stone, or roughly three-and-a-half catwalk models.

Eero Aarnio Bubble Chair, £1,950 at Inreda Design, Lower Camden Street, Dublin 2

Click it

Pseudo.com is a vast site that features music, science, arts, computer games, sports and politics. I haven't fully explored it yet - every week it produces over 60 new shows - but from an initial browse it's clear the music is really good, everything from bhangra to Giles Peterson. There's some great photography, plus animation, streaming videos, Y2K conspiracy theories, wicked celebrity-bashing, and strangely compelling chat on Minx TV.

www.pseudo.com

Fake It

Instead of spending £255 on Prada's ice-blue snakeskin trimmed pedal-pushers, you could buy a fake snakeskin jacket for £99.99 and trousers for £62.99 in lilac or pink from Morgan. Donate the money left over to People For The Ethical Treatment of Animals. Just a thought.

Morgan, Wicklow Street, Dublin 2; Prada, Brown Thomas, Grafton Street, Dublin 2