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…
*UPDATE: a few people having trouble with the landing site at Jo Malone. It’s working for me (13:00hrs on Monday) but I see that it’s for UK residents only. That could be the trouble! I didn’t realise, sorry about that.* In one month’s time, Jo Malone London release their latest fragrance, the gorgeous Peony & Blush Suede….
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…
The selfish part of me does not want to share this information, so please consider this recommendation something of a gift. Rock by Le Soft Perfume. Quite literally the best scent I’ve found this year, and I’m more than tempted to keep it a secret! I can’t describe it other than to say that if there was a…
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…
One for the lovers of light, pretty florals: Jo Malone’s Osmanthus Blossom cologne. Picture a spring picnic laid out on the lawn; peach melba, apricot tart, a sparkling wine poured into long-stemmed glasses – perhaps a scoop or two of a sherbety orange sorbet curled into a crystal bowl. Surround the picnic blanket with swathes of white…
I was very pleasantly surprised by these roller-ball perfumes from Pacifica. Not a brand that I had ever heard of before, but when I posted an Instagram of the Mediterranean Fig scent there were quite a few people who knew of it and wore it. It’s a very “clean” fig, if that makes any sense – there’s something…
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…
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…
I don’t think I’ve ever found an Hermès fragrance that I didn’t like – for me, they have a special, lingering quality that I remember for years to come. I once spent over an hour sniffing different versions in an airport duty free, somewhere far-flung (Dubai, perhaps?), to try and work out exactly which perfume it was…
Firstly, I have to say that I would never, ever have picked this fragrance out myself. We all have different things that first “attract” us to a fragrance and I do think that (for me at least) the packaging and the name of the perfume are important elements of that initial decision. So I didn’t…
If there’s just one of my videos that you decide to click “play” on, then do make it this one. It has magical shrinking perfumes, sound effects and fake snow and everything. (If it was a project for GCSE Film Studies (or similar) then it would definitely get…a C or above.) It’s actually supposed to be…
I won’t lie; these Travalo perfume atomisers could do with being a bit cheaper – especially if you want to have a few of them for different scents – but they are brilliant for people who travel a lot. Even for people who don’t travel a lot, actually, because they are the best way I’ve found for carrying…
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…
Do you change your fragrance according to the season? I think that I do, subconsciously. When it’s warm, I go for lighter, fruitier scents – or even quite twee little florals and colognes. I feel as though you can get away with more in the summer; wafting around in floaty dresses and lazing on the…
I wanted to take some lovely pictures for you, I really did. But it seems that my cat, Mr Bear, has a bit of his (adopted) mother in him, and likes to get in front of the camera. I tried to coax him away with treats, violent threats and his favourite feather stick, but nothing…
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…
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…