Tag: body

Help her Feel Good this Mother’s Day!

Mother’s Day is on Sunday, March 31 – and it can be emotional for many reasons. Those of us lucky enough to have a mum who’s still around can take a moment to treat her for a change, and those of us who don’t can feel rather overwhelmed by the occasion. But many of us might have a ‘mother figure’ – a strong woman we look to for advice and comfort in times of stress – so why not take the opportunity to send her some scented, feel-good vibes?

Why not buy mum / your mother-figure the Feel-Good Box (along with a nice bottle bottle of wine/tub of hot chocolate and bunch of flowers for full-on spoiling) – it’s our first collaboration with the Beauty Bible and packed with beautifully fragranced body and face-care treats to soothe away stress, leaving her calmer, glowing and stunningly scented.

Then, suggest she indulges in the following routine for a guaranteed feel-good / smell great treat of a day…

1. Cleanse with the iconic Liz Earle Cleanse & Polish / 30ml – the plant-based cream removes all traces of makeup, including stubborn waterproof mascara) while chamomile, rosemary, hops and eucalyptus soothe the skin (and the senses)…

2. Slather your face with the also award-winning Neal’s Yard Rose Beauty Balm / 15g –a multi-tasking product that can be left on as an ultra-nourishing face mask, dabbed on dry cutilcles/ends of hair, and used as a lip balm.

3. Run yourself a bath and add any of these generously sized options (BOTH are included!) depending if you feel…

Stressed out? Use just half a capful of the relaxing Olverum Bath Oil / 15ml – an aromatic blend of essential oils which combine to ease stress and relax tension in both mind and body. The scented steam will fill the room and the oil’s easily absorbed by the skin (no greasy residue in the bath!)

Need pampering? Try the decadently gorgeous Molton Brown Rosa Absolute Bathing Oil / 45ml – notes of rose absolute, violet leaf, blackcurrant, raspberry, geranium, sandalwood and patchouli, infused with skin-silkifying oils of argan and Italian rose, this bathing elixir will veil your skin in a deep, velvety fragrance that clings to the body for a beautiful trail, as you emerge from the scented waters.

4. After patting yourself dry with a fluffy towel, smooth the Temple Spa Peace Be Still Calming Skin Balm / 50ml all over your body. A Gold Beauty Bible Award-winner in 2019, It’s aromatherapy and skincare in one – with extracts of coriander, lemon, nutmeg, antioxidants and a fusion of relaxing Mediterranean essential oils and vitamin B5, deeply moisturising and leaving skin silky to touch.

5. After removing the Rose Beauty Balm/mask with the muslin cloth (acting as a deeply moisturising double-cleanse); warm a few drops of the Aurelia Cell Repair Night Oil / 4ml in your hands, slowly massage into your face and allowing replenishing, renewing and restoring botanicals to work their magic. Including sinks-in-fast Kalahari oil, vitamin E-powered mongongo oil, firming Kigelia Africana and omega-rich, ‘buzz ingredient’ baobab oil, together with a blend of hibiscus and pomegranate to help fight free radicals.

6. Change into pyjamas, relax on the sofa with a glass of wine / hot choccy and allow the velvety smooth, rich Madagascan vanilla-ness of Green & Black’s White Chocolate / 100g to melt in your mouth. This indulgent treat features lashings of cocoa butter alongside organic whole milk, giving this white chocolate its wonderfully creamy texture.

7. While catching up with Netflix, massage the shea butter and almond oil-infused Heathcote & Ivory Gardener’s Handcream in for a mini-mani: The Original Gardeners Shea Butter Hand Cream is inspired by the vegetable patch, juicy with tomatoes and redcurrants, basil and mint. Hedgerow Hand Cream, meanwhile, delivers a luscious yet subtle berry scent, infused with tart rhubarb, blackberry and elderflower. Whichever you receive, we love them both!

8. Breathe deeply and apply This Works Stress Check Roll-On / 5ml to pulse points (we also love using it on the temple to relieve a headache). This concentrated 100% natural superblend of pure essential oils is the perfect antidote to stress overload. An invigorating, mind-cleansing, calming blend, it features refreshing eucalyptus, to combat mental fatigue, frankincense (to help you relax mentally and physically), alongside lavender oil, the most effective oil in helping hypertension, nervous tension and insomnia…

 

9. In the morning, have a fabulously scented shower with Percy & Reed Heavenly Hydrating Body Wash / 100ml – breathing in refreshing top notes of citrus and apple, heart notes of lily of the valley and rose, and comforting base notes of cedar wood, amber and musk. This nourishing formula is blended with botanical extracts to help calm and soothe the skin.

10. Take a shot of energy with Hello Day Vitality Boost / 4g – a new name in supplements, created with the help of Swiss and French health experts and doctors in micro-nutrition and phytotherapy, Vitality Boost sets out to help you feel more energetic, with stimulating and tonic properties to boost mental and physical wellbeing. Ingredients include cinnamon bark extract, to help your body feel stronger, and vitamin C to reduce tiredness and help your metabolism energy yield return to normal.

11. Before heading off to work/daily chores, glide some Scentered Focus Therapy Balm / 1.5g onto pulse points, it’s powered by memory-boosting rosemary, crisp peppermint (known to help with mental alertness), and clary sage – with its wonderfully clarifying scent – which combine to help relieve mental fatigue and promote concentration. Just what you need to carry with you through the day, for top-ups of a scented tonic!

We think you’ll agree, there’s a whole lot to explore and fall in love with in this box, and it’s the perfect gift for anyone you love who’s been feeling a bit overwhelmed or could just do with a bit of a pick-me-up… and perhaps that person is YOU? Go ahead, indulge yourself while you’re at it…

Feel Good Discovery Box £19 / £15 for VIP Club members

Written by Suzy Nightingale

Five Favourite Smells: Rebecca & Clare Hopkins of Balance Me

In a continuaton of our series asking industry insiders their Five Favourite Smells – because really, is there any better way to know someone? – we caught up with the founders of Balance Me, sisters Clare and Rebecca Hopkins, and got them to reveal all…

Balance Me was created by British sisters, Rebecca and Clare Hopkins in London back in 2005. Their honestly natural, botanically active formulations – at the heart of what makes Balance Me unique and effective – have been truly pioneering.

And thanks to the huge advances in natural chemistry in recent years, this has allowed Balance Me to push the boundaries on what is possible to achieve in natural skincare, without compromising on results. The brand’s mission from day one has been to solve concerns and bring skin into balance and advocates self-care through skincare with their sophisticated and easily absorbed textures so using them is a pleasure.

Of course, because of their high-quality ingredients, much of the range happens to smell incredible as an added bonus. We’re of the opinion that when products you use for a daily beauty routine smell good, they make you feel even better, and so you are likely to use them more frequently while gaining the benefits of some much-needed me-time: something we all need to be more mindful of in these ever-busy, troubled times.

As well as their innovative natural ingredients such as Vitamin C, peptides and Hyaluronic Acid, each aromatherapeutic Balance Me fragrance is blended on three levels: for its unique, natural aroma; for skin benefits and mood-boosting properties through the sense of smell.

Rebecca:

Lemon – ‘I start my day with a glass of warm water and lemon as I find it really hydrating, aids digestion and it’s a natural body cleanser! early mornings, start to the day. I love mornings and find it’s when I have the most energy and excitement for what lays ahead of me.

Hyacinths – I would have them in the house year-round if I could! They evoke lighter, warmer spring days and just boost my mood.

The Atlantic sea in North Cornwall – My happy place! We spend long, early summers here surfing, coastal walking and just hanging out with family. The sea air is always a huge natural tonic.

Roses – We grew up near to the Peak District and our parents garden was always full of flowers, in particular roses. Our parents had a lovely rose bed and I remember spending long, lazy summer days outside in their garden making an array of fragrances that I insisted my mother spritz on her skin!

Neroli – I find neroli such a beautiful, calming fragrance. It is in Balance Me’s Super Moisturising Body Oil that one of our formulators created for me when I was pregnant with my first daughter. It conjures up such happy memories and I continue to benefit from it daily, not only in our oil but in our Hyaluronic Plumping Mist that I carry everywhere with me. I think I am a bit obsessed!

Clare:

Mountain flowers in Crete – This is where I learned Ashtanga yoga all those years ago and I remember not only being blown away by the fabulous yoga there, but also the beauty of walking to the yoga shala with a view of the sea, goat bells tinkling in the background and the gorgeous smell of the mountain flowers. They use the flowers to make tea.

Roses – Just like Rebecca I remember our parents Rose beds in our garden. They were full of beautiful pink and white English roses with soft petals. They smelt gorgeous and we used to pick them to make potions and perfumes.

Pine forest – On our first camping trip as a family we stayed in France and our Father spent the whole holiday commenting on the smell of pine forests – it reminded him of growing up in his childhood in Virginia Water. I now always think of him when I walk through a Pine forest.

Sea air – I love swimming outside in the lido but nothing beats a trip to the seaside and a swim in the sea. Like Rebecca, our Cornish holidays have made a big impact on me and we now go back yearly with our children. The seaside village is packed with families who have been going there for generations. It is such a relaxing and happy place, partly for it’s beauty and partly for the slower, simpler pace of life (I love the fact the mobile reception is really patchy and it is faster to walk to the beach across the cliffs than take the inland road).

Mountain Air – We live in London, and although I love the buzz of the City and our work and many of our friends live here, it is great to get away. We have started taking the children skiing each year and it’s been fun to learn again with them. I love the smell of the fresh, clean mountain air.

Scented gifts to give this Easter

Yes, of course we’ll be stuffing our faces with chocolate (you know us, right?) but obviously we want to have our [Simnel] cake and eat it, too. For those loved ones who prefer fragrant gifts – or perhaps as an extra treat for yourself – here’s some suggestions of adorable scented last-minute presents to give, that are just as sweet…

Mary had a little lamb – but we bet it didn’t smell as lovely as this. You can also choose a darling duckling, bunny or Easter chick, and each tin is decorated by Northamptonshire based wildlife artist Christie Lloyd. Enriched with moisturisers and shea butter, wild orchid blends top notes of iris, rose and jasmine with a fresh fruity bergamot twist on a warm base of amber, sandalwood and soft musks.

Bronnley Lamb Easter Egg Soap £3.99 for 50g
Buy it at bronnley.co.uk

Envelop your body with the delicious scent of almond, while leaving it soft and toned. This egg contains an indulgent selection to stimulate the senses, all packed into a collectible egg-shaped tin, complete with ribbon. Almond Shower Oil [75ml], Almond Delicious Soap [50g] and Almond Delicious Hands [10ml] are perfectly sized for travelling, too.

L’Occitane Almond Beauty Easter Egg £15
Buy it at uk.loccitane.com

Classic Lush treats nestle inside this golden egg – once cracked open you’ll discover Which Came First?, Free Rangers bath bomb and Golden Egg bath melt, plus a delicious Cream Egg ‘bubbleroon’ (which smells exactly like mint chocolate). Fragrantly delicious, it’s simply too nice to give to children!

Lush Golden Egg £20
Buy it at uk.lush.com

Perfume-lovers tend to like everything to be beautifully scented – even their lips! The cult lip balm EOS comes in the cutest Easter-themed duo this year, featuring striped egg-esque pots of balm formulated with naturally conditioning oils, vitamin E and Shea Butter in kissably delicious Melon Cucumber and Coconut Milk.

EOS Easter Lip Balm Duo £12.99
Buy it at very.co.uk

Okay now we’re sorry, but this does contain a chocolate egg (oh dearie me) but it also has booze, and a beautifully scented one at that. We’ve noticed small-batch gins who focus on fragranced botanicals are incredibly popular with perfumistas (certainly here at The Perfume Society!) and many links are being forged between the gin and fragrance worlds, with rhubarb being an on-trend note for both right now. Plus, you’ll likely need a swig of this if you are planning an Easter egg hunt this weekend…

Edinburgh Gin Easter Egg & Rhubarb & Ginger Liqueur £12.50
Buy it at johnlewis.com

Whatever you’re up to this Easter, we hope you have a fragrantly beautiful one!

Written by Suzy Nightingale

5 Festively fragrant advent calendars to grab before they go!

We’ve seen at least three people wearing Christmas jumpers already, so there’s no avoiding it, folks! And have you seen how many of the gorgeous beauty and fragrance-related limited edition Advent calendars have sold out already? Clearly we like a bit of luxe and a way to spoil ourselves as things get frantic.
Things have moved on apace from the days we used to get a gaudily printed, flimsy cardboard advent calendar in which each of the windows housed cheap chocolate or perhaps just a picture of Santa or the Three Wise Kings.
We’ve rounded up some of our favourites that haven’t (yet!) completely sold-out. But it’s mittens-off: you’d better grab your favourites before they’re gone…
Molton Brown Cabinet of Scented Luxuries £165
You had us at ‘Molton Brown’ and won our hearts at ‘Scented’, but finding out the contents are worth a whopping £265 really seals the deal. With 2 x 50ml eau de toilettes, hand treatments, body care, candles, shampoo and a festive bauble for your tree to name a few, the classically attired box of goodies is irresistible.
Buy it at moltonbrown.co.uk
L’Occitane Luxury Advent Calendar £89
Packed with £129 worth of products, L’Occitane lavishly showcase their iconic and ultra-nourishing shea butter range, along with 4 mini bottles of perfume, the award-winning Divine Cream for the face and countless other beautifully scented treats to indulge yourself with.
Buy it at loccitane.com

4160 Tuesdays Mini Advent Calendar £75
A bottle of perfume to open and try every day? Yes please! 25 mini bottles are brightly wrapped in their trademark tissue paper and snuggled in a box to delight you or a loved one over the entire Christmas season. We’d be tempted to thread them all with gold wire and hang them on the tree, they’re so pretty…
Buy it at 4160tuesdays.com

Rituals Exclusive Advent Calendar £59.50
Spa-scented goodies to slather yourself in from top to toe are housed within the charming Rituals tree – The Ritual of Dao Bed & Body Mist has our name written all over it (we love wearing a scent to bed, don’t you?) and what with Hammam Hot Scrubs, body gloves and fragranced candles to complete the joy, we’ll be smooth, glowing and goregously scented.
Buy it at rituals.com
Diptyque Advent Calendar £300
We know it’s only for people on the ‘VERY good’ list of people for Father Christmas to check the beaviour of, but really, with 25 treasures including dinky little Diptyque mini (35g) candles and a selection of other cute miniatures – including 10ml Vinaigre de Toilette, deluxe 15ml skin and body care, and a 70g candle, it’s just too darling not to include on your wish list at least!
Buy it in-store at Diptyque or online at selfridges.com
Written by Suzy Nightingale

Molton Brown set sail with Seabourn…

Molton Brown have long been offering us ways to escape the everyday humdrum with a vast selection of fabulously fragranced goodies – since 1973, in fact – but for the past fourteen years, only travellers on the luxurious ocean-line, Seabourn, have been able to experience this ultra-bespoke range. Created especially for the lavishly appointed ships, the scents were suitably inspired by the sea itself. Once exclusively the pleasure of passengers of the Seabourn, now Molton Brown are offering the range as a summer Limited Edition, giving us all the chance to get on board with their tantalisingly transportive fragrances and (as always) high quality formulas.
Molton Brown Say: ‘This year, for the first time, Molton Brown have created two completely bespoke fragrances that reflect the cruise line’s unparalleled luxurious guest experience. Usually available exclusively for Seabourn’s on-board guests, they will be offered in Molton Brown stores for a limited time. The beautiful collection is composed of ingredients inspired by Seabourn’s very own signature cruise destinations.’
The first thing you may notice are the exclusive bottles – standing apart from Molton Brown’s usual style with opaque white bottles, all featuring charming illustrations of the main fragrant ingredients, hand-drawn by the coast-based illustrator, Angela McKay. Completely sharable, the range encompasses shampoo, conditioner, bath and shower gel and a body lotion. And we couldn’t wait to get splash-happy…

Immersive Samphire & Eucalyptus Bath & Body Collection:
As always, Molton Brown use the highest quality ingredients possible, such as the carefully sourced, salty-green notes of Samphire picked from the French Atlantic Coast, and deliciously uplifting eucalyptus from Beijing. Philippe Bousseton, Master Perfumer at Takasago, reveals his inspiration for this collection as being, ‘A revitalising and very fresh aroma ideal for bathing, where samphire and marine notes are reminiscent of the sea and ultimately, of the Seabourn experience.’ Fabulously evocative, fresh without being citrus-y, we were immediately dreaming of those revitalising seaside walks that make you feel more alive.

Immersive Samphire & Eucalyptus Bath & Shower Gel £20 for 300ml

Immersive Samphire & Eucalyptus Body Lotion £25 for 300ml

Inspiring Basil & Vetiver Hair Care Collection:
Here, Master Perfumer of Fragrance Resources, Heidrun Harder, used herbaceous basil from Vietnam and deliciously cool vetiver, found in Haiti. Explaining the charcater of these products, Heirun says they are, ‘Very sophisticated, rounded and clean thanks to aromatic notes of basil and vetiver, perfect for hair care.’ A complete boon for those of us who require a more subtle wake-up than being blasted by grapefruit or  drowning in flowers first thing, they are gentle but effective and leave hair glossy with a ready-to-go bounce.

Inspiring Basil & Vetiver Shampoo £18 for 300ml

Inspiring Basil & Vetiver Conditioner £18 for 300ml
Molton Brown Seabourn Collection
Buy them now at moltonbrown.co.uk
Written by Suzy Nightingale

Invigorate your senses with Aesop – and be in with a chance to win tickets to discover Australia's Impressionists

The proudly Australian brand of Aesop have partnered with The National Gallery for the exhibition Australia’s Impressionists, showing until 27 March, and the very first UK exhibition of its kind. Featuring works by Tom Roberts, Arthur Streeton, Charles Conder and John Russell, the show ‘…unveils a distinctly Australian interpretation of the movement,’ and Aesop are offering a limited number of free passes to the show, if you can answer the artistic question on their website…

Established in Melbourne in 1987, Aesop’s main objective has been to formulate skin, hair and body care products by souring the very best of both plant-based and laboratory-made ingredients, and harmonising these precious essences in everything they do. Furthermore, Aesop explain they like to venture forth from the many boutiques and points of sale they’ve amassed around the world, and ‘…alongside our commercial activities, we explore and support the arts as an avenue through which to inspire, learn and communicate.’

To get you in the mood for gazing at artistic representations of glorious sunshine and flowers, why not pamper yourself with a fragrant spa-like, at-home treatment? As we write this, the sun is shining but the frost glitters cruelly, and what with the dehydrating side-effects of central heating and rapid temperature changes playing havoc with our skins, it’s a good time to slough off the despondencies of winter with an invigorating body scrub. And luckily, Aesop have our backs (and fronts and sides…)

REDEMPTION_BODY_SCRUB_-_DYNAMIC_CONTENT_HERO_940x526px

Crisply camphorous to awaken your senses with essential oils of pine needles, the warm tingle of clove bud and richly herbaceous sage leaf, this enlivening scrub contains finely milled pumice and bamboo stem to meticulously buff away residual grime and prime your whole body for your chosen pampering product (we suggest a richly moisturising body oil, to be layered with your favourite fragrance for an extra long-lasting scented treat that will leave you glowing!)

Aesop Redemption Body Scrub £25 for 180ml
Buy it at Aesop
Written by Suzy Nightingale

Balance Me benefits – exclusively for VIPs!

We think it’s about time you pampered yourself, don’t you…?
With the distinct lack of sunshine and everyday stresses taking their toll, it’s vital not simply to stop and smell the roses every now and again – but to slather yourself in exqusitely scented things. As one of our VIP passionate perfumistas, you know the myriad of benefits that come from smelling fabulous at all times. With this in mind, we’ve arranged an exclusive VIP offer – just for you!
balance-me-awards
Balance Me is an award-winning aromatherapy‑inspired skincare range beloved by beauty editors around the world. All their products are created with bespoke blends of essential oils selected for their natural aromas as well as their mood‑boosting and skin-enhancing properties. They want you to feel good, look good and smell great – and for further mood-boosting, are offering VIP Subscibers a 10% discount on all orders.
With the code lasting until 31st December, you could even stock-up on stocking gifts if you want to get super-organised!
CODE: VIPTPS
Exp date: 31st December 2016
Terms and conditions: This code entitles the bearer to 10% off at www.balanceme.co.uk  and expires midnight 31/12/16. This code cannot be used in conjunction with any other VIP or LOYALTY codes. Users must be logged in to redeem VIP codes and the code must be entered at the checkout stage. For full terms and conditions please see the Balance Me website.

Nivea to launch NOSE app that ‘sniffs’ male body odour: wake up and smell the digital revolution?

When the heat rises and armpits emerge from beneath layers of jumpers, coats and jackets, commuters hold their breath in anticpation of the inevitable olfactory onslaught. With the premise that our noses eventually become attuned to the scent of our own sweat, Nivea have developed a digitised nose for your phone – an app they say scans areas of men’s bodies particularly prone to funkiness (and we don’t mean dancing to James Brown).

Having analysed the area – based on a specially produced algorithm that previously evaluated the scent of 4,000 other males – the app warns concerned men of their potential whiff-factor, rating their particular smell from ‘it’s okay’, through ‘it’s time’ and the climactic klaxon of ‘it’s urgent’. Nivea’s NOSE has been created by Geoffrey Hantson – a Belgium-based chief creative officer behind the so-called “smellphone” technology. Having been beta-tested in Belgium, worldwide whiffing is soon to commence, with the app then to be launched simultaneously on AppStore and Google Play, and a consumer version hoped to be released shortly afterwards. Watch Nivea’s video below for an insight into how it all works…

Meanwhile, the rather appropriately named Nosang Myung – a UC Riverside professor who’s invented an electronic nose to be used for sniffing out potential dangers to human life – said although the technology is in its ‘most simplistic form’ it could possibly work through only having to detect levels of sweat. On his rather more intricate technology, which he hopes could detect hazards such as dangerous levels of gas in the air we breathe (or even bombs) Professor Myung commented, ‘we developed a nose. A smartphone has an eye, so we just have to put on the legs. So now, I call it an electronic sniffing dog. Places you don’t want to go, instead of sending a dog, you can send this robot.’

Could this digital form of smelling lead to perfumers being replaced by robots? Well, the Noses we know can rest easy for now, as the human olfactory system is so highly complex and nuanced that scientists are still beavering away to understand it fully, let alone reproduce it. Hanston remains optimistic about the future for digital technology in harmony with scent, however, telling Huffington Post that although Nivea to will have to sell the sensors separately – currently the sensory technology is embedded in hard covers for phones – he’s pretty sure the technology will eventually be integrated into the integral structure of an actual phone ‘within a couple of years’.

While parents may be rejoicing at the perfect present for their teenage sons, some might suggest that if one is dithering about whether or not to apply deodorant, perhaps top it up anyway, just to be on the safe side…?

Written by Suzy Nightingale