perfume review
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La Vie Est Belle for Lightweights…

Outwardly, this perfume looks exactly like La Vie Est Belle by Lancome. And it is, though there are a few important tweaks that have been made inside the bottle. This is the lighter, Légère version, perfect for warm days and also (dare I say this?) for those who found the original version a little too overpowering. Personally, I absolutely…

fragrance review summer
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Summer Gardens and Dusty Attics…

A fragrance for those looking for something distinctly summery; the Antiquarius Petals from Royal Apothic. Surprisingly, for such a gorgeously presented perfume, it’s priced at just £26. And it’s not a fragrance that you’re going to smell on every Tom, Dick and Harry, either – it’s a bespoke perfume created especially for Anthropologie. I think that it’s a…

perfume review
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No Frills, No Gimmicks, Just Scent.

 One of the things I love most about Jo Malone fragrances is that the classic, unchanging design of the packaging and the straightforward scent-naming allows you to fully concentrate on what’s actually inside the bottle. It’s so easy to be swayed by fancy glass stoppers and jazzy names – marketing gimmicks, often, though there are some truly…

model recommend perfume review
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Fragrance Review: Dior Oud Ispahan

This woody, mysterious fragrance is my latest beauty obsession. I wear it constantly. It combines a heady, almost exotic rose (not sweet or English-garden-y in the slightest) with really quite powerful sandalwood and a top note of Labdanum Absolute, which comes from the rubber of the Mediterranean Cistus Shrub. It’s not rubbery in the slightest, just in…

fragrance review model beauty blog
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A Springtime Feerie…

Um. Have you ever seen a bottle-top prettier? Does this not appeal to the five-to-ten year-old in you? (And the fifteen, twenty-five, fifty, eighty year-old too?) It’s a fairy sitting on a flower, for crying out loud! Things just don’t get more girly than this! Van Cleef & Arpels, hugely fabulous and luxurious jewellers, are…

perfume blog
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Diptyque: Memories and a Touch of Magic

Did you know that the fragrance brand Diptyque started off as a little arty store in Paris, a treasure-trove of wonderful, colourful things? The three friends who opened the boutique used to source and import amazing beauty products from around the world and sell them alongside vibrantly printed fabrics and interesting little gifts. I was…

Lancome La Vie Est Belle: It’s a Grower
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Lancome La Vie Est Belle: It’s a Grower

Oh I tried to take a good photograph of this bottle, but it defeated me. It’s very understated, you see, in the flesh. Beautifully designed, but understated. So it just looks like a boring, plain bottle in my photo! Do you know, I hated this fragrance when I first tried it? Lancome’s La Vie Est Belle struck no chords with me…

More Figs! Diptyque’s “Collection Voyage”
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More Figs! Diptyque’s “Collection Voyage”

A new “Fig-Scented” thing to add to the “Fig-Scented Things” category: the Philosykos range from beautiful luxury fragrance brand Diptyque. Most famous, perhaps, for their gorgeous candles and room sprays, Diptyque also have quite a broad range of scents and body products. I had no idea that Diptyque made body products! Anyway, it was a pleasant surprise to visit the…