To put it, well, mildly, it’s been a peculiar summer – so we’re bringing you a way to capture those last rays of sunshine with 20% off our Seasonal Scents Summer Box!
Because we all deserve some extra sunshine in our lives, we curated this box to be filled with fragrances that feel like wearing liquid light – luminescent, mood-lifting, spirit-reviving scents that instantly bring a smile to your face from the first spritz.
To grab one of the few remaining Seasonal Scent Summer Boxes with that amazing 20% saving, simply use this code when prompted on checking out: SUMMER20
Terms & Conditions – Code cannot be used in conjunction with any other code or used on sale products. Active from 15.09.21 12.00pm – 20.09.21 12.00am. Applicable on the Quarterly and Annual subscription, 20% off only applies to Summer Box when purchasing a Quarterly subscription.
Our Seasonal Scent Boxes have proved incredibly popular, and no wonder with the past 18 months or so we’ve all experienced. They’ve been put together to answer the many queries we get, asking which fragrances are best to wear for particular times of year. As summer-ish weather now seems to stretch anywhere from Easter to late September in the U.K. we felt it only right to prolong the pleasure by giving you this last chance to get your hands (and nose!) on these scent-filled boxes of joy!
Seasonal Fragrances – EIGHT fragrances from 2ml – 7ml, these will be kept secret until they arrive at your door, we just love the element of surprise!
Online Smelling Notes – accessible via a QR code within your box, guiding you through the fragrances and how to start smelling.
Unboxing Video – also via the QR code, for every box our Senior Fragrance Writer Suzy Nightingale will guide you when opening your new box.
Hints, Tips and Quizzes – to ensure you get the most out of your fragrances and have fun!
Don’t delay and miss out on your last chance to capture the sunshine! A gift for a friend or family member you’ve not been able to catch up with this summer? A gift to self because you bloomin’ well deserve it, maybe? Whatever the occasion, these radiant fragrances will bring you happy summer memories for months to come…
In hot weather, you may find some fragrances seems ‘stronger’ or more overpowering, or that your perfume simply ‘disappears’ on your skin when the temperatures soar. How can you help your scent survive the heat…?
Personally, at The Perfume Society, we enjoy switching to brighter, airier perfumes for the warmer months, because fragrance can almost feel textural. So, just as we’ve long since cast off our opaque tights and cardis, so too do we crave something that feels sheer, gauzy and less stuffy.
Often you’ll find brands offer lighter versions of bestselling scents, for the summer. Of course some people still enjoy wearing the heavier more full-bodied, comforting, almost ‘cocooning’ scents throughout the year – but again, this is individual and depends on how you want a fragrance to make you feel. Whatever style you reach for, there’s no doubt hot heather can make a scent behave differently on your skin. So, why is this and how can you prevent a favourite from disappearing so quickly?
Hot Weather Perfume Problem #1 – Your scent doesn’t last as long
The weather can dramatically alter how long a scent lasts, and even how it smells on your skin. Skin and climate temperature are vital to a perfume’s performance, so even your favourite fragrance will smell different based on the time of year. When perfumers test the scents they’re creating they often use climate-controlled booths to check how they smell in hot and colder conditions (depending what countries they’ll be selling in). Though we tend to reach for brighter, citrus fresh scents in summer, these molecules are lighter, so can evaporate even more rapidly in high temperatures.
Solution:
– Try using a body oil, rich body balm or moisturising lotion before you put any fragrance on (and even afterwards, too), as scent takes longer to evaporate on nourished skin. This helps the fragrance ‘cling’ to your skin more easily, and so you get to actually smell if for more than a few minutes without frantically re-spraying.
– Spray pulse-points you might not usually think of. Behind your knees is a good example – it’s a warm spot that, once spritzed, will mean you leave a fragrant trail…
– Spritz the perfume at the nape of your neck, even into your hair and on clothes – BUT do check by spraying a tissue first that it isn’t going to mark your hair or fabric a strange colour, or leave an oily residue! We adore this way of wearing perfume, as hair and fabric are porous without heating up as much as your skin, allowing the perfume to stay all day.
Hot Weather Perfume Problem #2 – Your favourite fragrances now smell too ‘heavy’
Layering fragrances used to be seen as a scent sin, but we’ve all gotten over ourselves a bit (well most of us have). You don’t have to do this to a perfume you already love on its own, but if it’s suddenly feeling smothering rather than sensual or bulky instead of beautiful, there are brilliant ways of beefing-up a sadly flimsy fragrance, or adding a zing to something that’s a bit too dark or cloying on your skin. Give it a go, because, as we always say: perfume isn’t a tattoo – if you don’t like it, you can wash it off!
Solution:
– Add freshness by layering with citrus notes like bergamot, neroli, lemon, lime or ‘green’ notes such as galbanum, tomato or violet leaf, green tea, marine/aquatic accords (synthetic recreations of sea-like, watery smells) and aldehydes (often desribed as being like Champagne bubbles).
– Spray on a lightweight scarf that way if it gets a bit ‘too much’ or you want to wear something different, you can simply take the scarf off and you’re not stuck with it on your skin all day. Do test on a tissue first, to make sure it wont stain the fabric, but also consider typing a scented scarf to your bag if you want to carry around a beautiful scent all day without having it on your skin.
Hot Weather Perfume Problem #3 – Nothing you’ve got seems to smell right in the heat
We empathise, because you’re definitely not alone! Just as weather can dramatically alter our mood, our mood plays a huge part in how we perceice a perfume – even if it’s something you’ve adored wearing for years but suddenly just don’t feel like wearing anymore.
Solution:
Have a think about exactly what you’re looking for in a scent – is it to boost flagging energy levels, to comfort and help you feel protected, or to give you immediate mood-lifting feeling of trying something new? We’ve all be craving change these past few months, so why not treat yourself to a brand new selection of scents with the just-launched Eau So Fresh Discovery Box? Each fragrance has been especially curated to work well in hot weather, because we believe everyone’s olfactory wardrobe deserves a fresh start. Priced at just £19 for VIP Club Members, and £23 RRP, this could be the ‘newness’ your nose needs right now!
Those of you completing a ‘dry January’ may wish to look away now, but it’s that grey hinterland that always seems to follow Christmas and New Year’s celebrations (and well, we like to be frugal by clearing up the inevitable leftover booze stash).
CPL Aromas are a British fragrance creation company, the largest fragrance-only house in the world. You might not realise it, but look around your dressing table, bathroom and kitchen, and your cupboards are almost certain to be filled with products they’ve developed or invented.
We recently had the pleasure of spending a day getting a behind-the-scenes look at their cutting-edge Research & Development centre in Northamptonshire – an experience that kind of blew our minds as to the posibilities for the future of fragrance, so look out for our special feature in the forthcoming issue of our magazine, The Scented Letter!
In anticipation, we’re rather thrilled to be allowed to present CPL Aromas exclusive Citrus Fusion Cocktail recipe…
It’s rare that any fragrance house releases a formula – so hotly sought-after are these compositions – and most especially for a unique and closely-guarded ingredient such as the AromaFusion range, specially formulated to remain unreproducible by rivals.
CPL Aromas say: ‘When one of our perfumers blends a fragrance, they can call upon much more than natural and synthetic ingredients, they also have unique access to AromaFusion – an exclusive range of ‘captive’ ingredients that is only available to our clients. Their formulation remains a closely guarded secret. And their value is protected and enhanced.’
To celebrate the company’s re-branding programme, CPL Aromas commissioned a mixologist from Searcy’s at The Gherkin to create a unique cocktail inspired by their Citrus Fusion unique material. So why not enjoy shaking up a scent to sniff (and then drink!) in your own kitchen…?
Ingredients
Campari – 25ml
Green chartreuse – 1 teaspoon
Lime juice – 20 ml
Passion fruit syrup – 20 ml
Cranberry Juice – 25 ml
Lemonade – a splash
Glass – Martini
Garnish – Flower
Method
Shake the top five ingredients with ice; strain into a martini glass and top with a splash of good quality lemonade. Finish with a garnish of a fresh flower [CPL Aromas chose violas to complement their purple branding].
With all manner of fragrance-inspired cocktail bars popping up, small-batch distillers using traditional scent ingredients to infuse their gins and liqueurs and even restaurants with perfume-influenced menus – we think the trend for fragrance to be experienced in taste as well smell is set to rise and rise in 2018. And we’ll raise a glass to that…
Mandarin somehow seems the most user-friendly of citrus ingredients: not in-your-face fresh as lemon and lime, nor tenaciously zesty as orange, it’s a happy-making scent linked to fortune and good luck in Chinese culture and reminder of happy childhood memories, for others. Sarah McCartney of 4160 Tuesdays shared her thoughts with us on mandarin: ‘It’s childhood Christmases for me. I’d use more of it except that citrus fruit essential oils are restricted these days, and I almost always want to get some grapefruit in there too. It has more character than sweet orange; it seems naughtier to me. It’s a special treat and it’s packed with sunshine. Oddly enough, I find that my customers describe certain synthetic fragrances as ‘fresh and natural’. Tangerine is one of the genuine natural fragrances that has the same effect. It’s light and flighty though, so it works as a top note then flits off, leaving an impression but not hanging around to be judged. Mandarin works nicely as long as you don’t mind its lack of commitment!’
And were you one of the original Aqua Manda mandarin fantatics, or a newcomer to the happily revived – by consumer demand – brand? Perhaps the iconic affordable scent of the 60s and 70s, its sweetly zingy fragrance of mandarin infused with ginger, lavender, patchouli, cinnamon, eucalyptus, tarragon and juniper berries spelled grooviness abounding, and a surge of interest in mandarin as a note in perfumery. Sunshine-y in a laid-back way, it’s the perfect note to explore for summer…
Read more about mandarin and other fragrances to explore this ingredient in our dedicated Ingredients section of the website – what are some of your favourite notes – or perhaps it’s time to branch out and try something new…?
Written by Suzy Nightingale
Fans wishing to mark the #Shakespeare400 anniversary of the Bard’s death, may wish to make like Coriolanus and ‘Bid them wash their faces / And keep their teeth clean’ by presenting a loved-one with Heyland & Whittle‘s ‘To Beard or not to Beard’ gift-boxed commemorative Shakespeare Soap.
Delightfully packaged in a book-like gift box, instead of merely including a leaflet describing the soap, Heyland & Whittle have allowed the muses to inspire them and written their own little homage – a playlet called ‘The Two Gentlemen of Castile’ – containing puns, quotations and clever quips for the discerning customer to persuse as they lather up, whether to shave or not to shave…
With natural moisturising properties and a vibrant citrus fragrance including essential oils, herbs and spices, whether they choose to shave or just wash and go, it makes a great gift for would-be whiskery thesps and bearded bibliophiles alike.
The Commemorative Shakespeare Soap Book £12.00
Buy it at Heyland & Whittle
