It has been a lovely long break which has been filled with lots of good food, drinks and a lot of time spent with family.
On Monday, it will feel as if normal life will resume, with getting the kids ready for school, the daily commute and preparations for the working week ahead, there’s  just some time to reflect on 2015 and hope what will come to be in the year ahead.
In 2015, I started this blog, filling it with posts about scent, food, skin care and anything else that came to mind. It gave me a space to be creative, I discovered new ways to explore scent, not just in perfume, food and drink but through the creative outlet of making and creating scented skin care, hair treatments and fragranced room scents. I also blog met a lot of new friends, discovered interesting perspectives from blogs that I’m following, all of which have been immensely enjoyable.
On New Year’s Day, our little family of four went to Hyde Park to visit the Winter Wonderland. We usually do something on New Year’s Day to get some fresh air, last year we went to Battersea park, the year before,the New Year Parade. I think by doing this we’re building a collection of memories that we can look back and remember, when the kids are grown up we can say “Remember that time we…
I don’t know what 2016 will bring and since I’ve never been good at keeping resolutions, it’s better not to make any that I won’t keep. What I will resolve to do is keep going with this blog and hope to make it a creative space filled with more interesting things about everyday life through scent.
There’s  just one last thing I have to say.
May 2016 be filled with happiness and contentment!
Christmas would not be complete without Mince Pies. This year, I had an idea to make these Christmas Muffins. Perfect for Breakfast on Boxing day.
I love their freshly baked scent of Cinnamon filling the house. A lovely way to start the day with a fresh muffin and coffee.
Very easy to make. Just follow the recipe for the fresh Blueberry Muffins and substitute the Blueberries with Mincemeat.
Rather than adding the mincemeat and mixing it into the bake, add little dollops into the muffin tins alternating between the batter and the mincemeat until all the mincemeat has been added into the Muffin mix. Bake as normal.
Every year, I look for gifts to give friends and family that are unique, thoughtful and show that their tastes or what they like have been considered and reflected in the gift.
On most occasions, their gifts to me have out done me in every respect, so this year to show my appreciation, the gifts I’ve made are uniquely personalised. Even better, I’ve not spent any time walking around shops trying to find something special, because the ingredients are already in the cuboard ready to be made into something special and take very little time or effort to prepare and make.
If you have ever tried the Shea Butter Hand and foot cream from L’Occitane or from Burt’s Bees, these are lovely little gifts to give and receive. The only thing is that there’s a possibility that someone else has had the same idea and purchased the very same. They smell wonderful, with a range of delicate scents and I must admit are lovely gifts to receive.
To make these Foot and hand Salves is very simple, easier than baking a cake in fact. All you need to do is measure out the ingredients, gently melt them in a jug in a pan of simmering water, add the essential oils and once melted, pour into your chosen containers. Personalising the scents makes these gifts unique, especially if you know what scents they enjoy the most.
Ingredients for the footsalve:
1Â tablespoons of Argan Oil
2 tablespoons of Coconut Oil
1Â tablespoon beeswax
4 tablespoons of unrefined Shea Butter
1/4 tsb of essential oils – a combination of Peppermint and Cedarwood (for the boys) or Peppermint and Lavender (for the girls)
To make the Hand Salve variant, you can change the oil and use Jojoba or Rosehip Oil, whichever you think their hands (or your own) will appreciate the most and add your choice of essential oils to add scent. Beeswax and the Shea Butter will emulsify and give the salve it’s lovely thick creamy texture.
Better still, if you want to make the Handsalve to treat age spots (after all, most beauty mags will tell you it’s your hands that show the first signs of aging) select the essential oils for their skin therapeutic benefits.
That’s it. All there is to it for making scented rich moisturising salves. Perfect as a gift or an indulgent luxurious treat. Hmm I think I’m going to find a bit of me time for a Manicure and try some of the handsalve I made.
Sweet Orange and Lavender Hand Salve, made with Shea Butter and JoJoba Oil
Last weekend, I decided to make some lovely Christmas gifts to give to friends and family. After a Sunday spent making these lovely gifts, I found myself succumbing to a cold which I have only just shaken off. It meant that I didn’t get round to writing this post until now.
If like me, you like scented candles, receiving one as a Christmas gift would be lovely. I love the gentle glow of candle light, it seems to calm and soothe the senses. I have a small collection of candles from L’Occitane in little metal tins, which gave me the inspiration for this little hand made version.
Making your own filled candles is so easy that I’m now addicted to making them, all you need is to find some containers, flame proof of course and some candle wicks for lighting the candles.
The wicks can be simple pieces of string tied to a stick so that it can dangle down to the bottom of the container (I’ve tried this using chopsticks and a metal Skewer) but it turned out that the cotton string I used didn’t stay alight.
After a bit of research, I found a company that makes ready-made wicks (already inserted into stablisers). They are actually called sustainers. Choose the ones that are pre-waxed and are labeled with the diameter (You need to make sure that the pool of the melted wax goes to the edge of your container) that matches the diameter of your container.
To keep the sustainers from moving, place a small amount of melted wax on the bottom, or if this is a bit fiddly, use Glue Dots – these won’t show as they are transparent.
Once the beeswax has melted in a jug over simmering hot water, add your choice of fragrance to the wax just before you are going to pour them into the containers. Personally, I prefer using essential oils.
I’ve chosen Cinnamon Bark, Sweet Orange and Ginger to fragrance these little candles. Â Just add 10 drops of each essential oil into the wax which is based on the dilution amounts in aromatherapy – 30 drops for every 100ml of carrier oil (The quantity I’ve put into the tins is approx 100ml in each tin. I’ve made two tins with cotton wicks and two with Cotton Wicks.)
If you’d like to make the candles as gifts, there’s just enough time to order the materials from Amazon in time to make up a batch.
Heres what you need:
You can get the beeswax from Amazon *in the UK here:  or if you are in the US you can find it here.*
I also tried them with these wooden wicks* from Amazon, they crackle and sound like the crackling of an open fire. Perfect to sit and enjoy with a hot cup of coco at night. If your in the US, you can get these here:*
Making your own perfume is relatively straightforward.
This year, I’m making a few Christmas Gifts, as a way of making Christmas feel just a little bit more home spun and personal.
Having looked on several sites and researched the types of ingredients that goes into perfume making, there are just a few ingredients most of which you will find easily either in your cupboard or online.
To make the Perfume all you need to do is the following:
Decide on the strength of the perfume:
This is determined by the amount of scent to alcohol. An Eau de toilette is around 10 percent. An Eau de parfum is around 15-20 percent and the strongest called Parfum is around 30 percent.
Decide on how you want to use the perfume:
Solid (such as in a oil based waxy balm) or Rollerball (oil based) or in a Spray. The main ingredient in the perfume is the carrier, which can be alcohol or oil based. With Alcohol, the oils in the fragrance can be dispersed from a spray and is how most of the famous brands market their perfumes. Very high quality fragrance houses such as Chanel will offer the perfume in stronger variants, for instance Chanel No5 is available as a Parfum in a very tiny but exquisite bottle. The higher the alcohol content (proof) you can find the better in terms of dispersing the scent. You can of course go for perfumers alcohol, but since there’s likely to be chemicals, which is sometimes called Alcohol Denat – this means it’s been treated so you can’t drink it. Personally, I think it’s better if you can drink it, as it means, if it’s ok to drink, it’s going to be suitable to put onto your skin. I’m choosing Vodka as this has no scent and is as pure a form of alcohol as you can get easily. Smirnoff or Grey Goose will do.
Decide on the fragrance or Scent:
Perfumes tend to be made up of top notes, the scent you can smell immediately. The middle note, the heart of the fragrance and the base note which is the final scent that lingers long after the others have dissipated, all three notes combine give the perfume the harmonics that make defines it’s unique character which when mixed with the chemicals that make up your skin, makes the experience of the perfume unique.
I love experimenting and mixing scents together. It makes the process so much fun and it also means it’s one of a kind, unique as no one else will have the scent that you’ve made.
Since Jasmine is my favourite scent of all time, I’m going to use this as the “middle note” for the heart and distinctive character of the perfume. And as I prefer things to be as natural as possible, all the oils I have chosen to make this perfume are essential oils.
Jasmine Officinale or Jasmine Absolute is known as the King of flowers. It has a very sweet floral scent. The scent has been central in perfumes for centuries, in China it represents the sweetness of women, in Persia it was known as the perfume of love.
It is also amongst the most expensive pure fragrances, the version I am using is 10% diluted in Jojoba oil. Since the fragrance is very strong, a little goes a long way.
I’m combining this with citrus notes of Sweet Orange and Bergamot essential oils.
Finally, for the base note, just a hint of Cedar wood essential oil, which not only has therapeutic benefits, is also a “fixative” which will slow down the evaporation of the perfume and slows down the overall scent of the perfume from fading. It is sweet and woody at the same time and combines well with both the citrus notes as well as the floral scent of Jasmine.
To make the perfume couldn’t be easier. In a small bottle which should be as opaque as possible to prevent sunlight from affecting the oils, I have combined the following:
Ingredients for hand blended Perfume:
50ml Vodka
20Â drops of the Jasmine Absolute in Jojoba oil
10 drops of Sweet Orange
10 drops of Bergamot
2 drops of Cedar Wood essential oils.
With the spray stopper in place, shake the bottle until all the essential oils have been mixed together into the Vodka.
It will take about a week for the oils to come together to form the perfume. You can of course mix the oils first in a small mixing jar until you get the desired scent you prefer.
You can find more information about the different types of scents at Aromaweb’s section on Aromatic blending.
All that’s left is to find a pretty box and gift wrap to make this little personalised gift ready to give for Christmas.
This is such a great facial oil for anyone of any age and would make a great Christmas gift if you are looking to find a gift that’s easy to make.
Rosehip Oil has been in the beauty news having been cited as the wonder oil used by celebrities such as Miranda Kerr. It is a natural source of Vitamin E which you’ll find in many skin care creams, used for it’s antioxidant properties to calm, hydrate dry and sensitive skin.
The oil is also rich in fatty acids such as linoleic acid (or omega 6) as well as linolenic acid (or omega 3). High in Vitamin C, it will help to speed up the healing process for skin damaged by burns, scars or age spots as well as hydrate and add moisture.
I’ve chosen this as it’s the dry oil, it does not leave any feeling of grease and absorbs very quickly into the skin.
With the properties that feel more like a serum than an oil, when I found it online, it gave me an idea for creating a nighttime facial oil that would help rejuvenate and revitalise skin.
With this oil, I have combined it with 3 other oils:
Jojoba oil, which also non-greasy and has a similar consistency to sebum. A liquid wax, found in the seeds/nuts of jojoba plant, it has anti-microbial properties and contains iodine which prevents bacteria from forming and is, therefore, good for skin that is prone to blemishes
Sweet Almond oil, not only does this oil contain plenty of vitamin E, it has lots of minerals such as Calcium, potassium, magnesium as well as vitamin D. Good for dark circles under the eyes, blemishes, fine lines, wrinkles and helps to firm skin.
Argan Oil, high in fatty acids it helps to restore skin’s elasticity and leaves skin feeling plumper and softer.
To give this luxury facial oil some fragrance, I have combined this with three essential oils, which also have skin rejuvenating properties.
Ylang Ylang Essential Oil- I’ve written about this oil in a lovely home made bath-soak. It has an uplifting effect and can give you feelings of joy and hope. It has a rich floral fragrance which should be used sparingly particularly for skincare purposes.  As it helps to control oil production, minimises breakouts and helps regenerate skin cells, I’ve included this in the facial oil
Jasmine Officinale –Â is my favourite scent, reminds me of my early childhood, it is used in so many ways, I love its scent in green tea as well as in perfumes such as the Jo Malone’s Jasmine and Mint cologne spray. It tones dry, greasy, irritated skin and helps to fade scars and restore elasticity to the skin.
Lavender Essential Oil – there are so many uses for lavender, that it is one of the oils which I take everywhere and use it in so many ways. In a bath soak, foot scrub it’s lovely scent is relaxing and calming. It is also a good antiseptic so I like to use it as a room and linen spray. It helps to reduce age spots, fine lines and wrinkles by boosting the flow and supply of oxygen and nutrients, helping to boost the skin’s renewal process.
To make this facial oil, which I’ve called the Fourtifying Facial Oil, just mix the following together:
15ml of Sweet Almond Oil
15ml of Argan Oil
15 ml of Rosehip Oil
15 ml of Jojoba Oil
1-2 drops of Ylang Ylang essential oil along with 1-2 drops Jasmine and 1-2 drops of Lavender.
Shake the bottle thoroughly to combine. I’ve used a blue glass bottle with a dropper to make the experience the same as if the facial oil is one of those high-end beauty serums. You can of course just use a bottle with a stopper or small opening.
To use, only 1-2 drops of the facial oil is needed, add the oil to the tips of your fingers and smooth over your skin, underneath your usual night cream.
That’s all there is to it, now I’m looking forward to bed-time and waking up to soft glowing skin!
A few weeks ago, I came across an article in a newspaper about a new cake recipe that was fast becoming the next big thing, after cupcakes, macaroons and pop cakes.
Magic cakes apparently are cakes that have three different layers of textures, a crumbly cake layer beneath which sits a custard textured layer which sits on top of another layer of cake.
It is the chemistry or is it alchemy, that creates the layers out of a single mix.
The article and recipe idea described was so tempting, that I had to give it a try, aside from the fact that I love anything with Chocolate.
Before making the cake, it’s helpful to check out this feature on YouTube, as I had no idea what kind of consistency the final batter should be, my first attempt at this cake didn’t quite achieve the three layers.
I got a very thin layer the first time I tried, it was still a very tasty cake and filled my house with the beautiful scent of vanilla and chocolate. I don’t think there is a more heavenly scent than a hot oven with chocolate cake baking inside.
So for ingredients, as the recipe called for a lot of milk, I’ve substituted this for Almond Milk, as my hubby reacts badly to cow’s milk.
He gets what I can only describe as a man headache, like man flu and has to lie down in a darkened room until it goes away.
So, to avoid a headache, it’s Almond milk that I’m using in this recipe, but you can, of course, use cows milk as normal.
The second time, I tried this bake, I added a small amount of white vinegar to the egg whites. I omitted this the first time, as I wasn’t sure about the idea of using vinegar, in case it wouldn’t taste very good. You can’t taste anything but sweetness and chocolate in the final cake.
You will also need a whisk and 3 mixing bowls. One for the egg whites, one for sifting flour and cocoa and one to mix it all together.
Now for the ingredients:
113g Butter
600ml Warm Milk (I used Almond milk)
115g Plain Flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
43g Cocoa powder
30ml Dark Espresso (I used powdered decaff)
4 eggs
4 drops white vinegar
210g soft brown sugar
1-2 drops Vanilla essence
8″x8″ dish
To make:
Preheat the oven at 165c
Soften/melt the butter
Whisk the flour and cocoa powder together
Separate and whip the egg whites until it becomes stiff as if making a meringue.
Beat egg yolks and sugar, beat in melted butter and the espresso mixture and the vanilla essence, then mix the flour and cocoa with the baking powder into the batter. Gently mix in the warm milk and gently fold in the stiff egg whites a third at a time.
It will look like a lumpy thick batter, not like a cake mix but a very thick milkshake kind of consistency.
Pour this into the prepared pan (I lined my square cake tin with greaseproof paper.
Bake at 325f/165c for 50-60 minutes.
When you get it out of the oven, the mixture may wobble a little, this is normal for this type of cake. The first time I made this cake, I wasn’t convinced and put it back in several times, but after about three times in the oven I was convinced that the wobble was expected and the cake was in fact cooked.
The second time around, it looked perfect.
Leave to cool completely.
Dust with Icing Sugar and add some fresh fruit to serve.
Whilst Harrods caters mainly for tourists and the super wealthy, there are a few things which if you are a beauty addict like me, then Harrods is a destination for the sheer experience of exploring the Beauty and Perfume Emporiums.
About twice a year Harrods and nearby Harvey Nichols also promotes the Clinique Gift With Purchase offer.
What’s special about both Harrods and Harvey Nichols Clinique Gift with Purchase promotions is that there are usually extra items. For other department stores, Clinique Bonus Time usually contains around 5 products plus make-up bag.
For Harrods and HN, there are usually 7-8 items in the Clinique’s Gift with Purchase promotions, so well worth the effort of visiting the stores if you want to bag more with the Clinique offers.
Having seen the posters for the promotion, I knew it was time to stock-up.
The two products I purchased to get the gift were:
Even Better Clinical Dark Spot Corrector. Does what it says on the tin. I find this works to even out skin tone and lightening the dark spots that I now have. The texture is light and non-perfumed.
Clinique Moisture Surge CC Cream with SPF 30. This is not only a great moisturiser, it gives just enough coverage without the need for any foundation. For work, I use this with a little concealer under the eyes and set with powder to give a natural and even finish to the skin on my face.
The Harrods offer was conditional on spending a minimum of £65. Yikes, but since I hadn’t bought any makeup for a long while, and I’d just about finished the CC cream, it was worth it because of the additional products in the Bonus offer. It included the following products:
All about Eyes. I like this one as the texture is so light and under make-up, it seems to hold eyeshadow in place for the whole day.
Moisture Surge Intense Fortifying Hydrator. Great moisturiser for the winter.
Smart Custom Serum. I’ve not tried this one yet, it promises to adapt to your skin and works to reduce wrinkles, uneven skin tone, firmness and radiance.
Rinse off Foaming Cleanser. This feels creamy and light. A great Travel size to keep for overnight stays away from home.
Blusher in Precious Posey. A delicate pink colour with a just a tiny amount of shimmer.
Chubby Stick Lip Balm in Mightest Maraschino – Lovely plummy shade with a lovely texture.
High Impact Mascara in Black – the travel size mascaras are great to keep in the make-up bag for emergency touch-ups. Once I completely forgot to put any mascara on before going to work and was thankful that I had included a small tube of this in my bag.
Aromatics in White Perfume Spray. Â I’ve never been too keen on the original Aromatics. This version is lighter and less overpowering though it’s unlikely that it will become a regular perfume as I prefer making my own or Chanel and L’Occitane scents.
Large make-up bag.
Not a bad haul, considering that most of these products are ones that I would choose to buy anyway. The promotion has ended now as they are gearing up for Christmas. There will be another in Spring early next year. You can sign-up online at the Clinique website here in the UK to receive their text alerts for their Bonus Time offers.
Lastly, Harrods at night just looks so pretty. Lit up, it is so over the top that there is nothing else to do but stare at it.
A blatant homage to commercialism. I think, though, every once-in-a-while, a little bit of decadence is just a bit naughty but nice.
Last night, like everyone else I watched and heard the terrible events unfold in Paris.
Paris represents a city for love, romantics at heart come from all over the world to celebrate it as an expression of love.
I used to think the Eiffel Tower was a cliche, but when I visited Paris, a long time ago now, the atmosphere and feeling of romance was everywhere and very real.
With all the joy and beauty that it represents, it is a shock to see such violence and terror.
I have no words of my own that are adequate to express the sadness. All I can think of and hear are the words and songs of John Lennon.
Although we had been busy, I wanted to visit the exhibition on Sunday evening before the show closed.
When we arrived, however, there was a long, long queue of people waiting patiently to get into the exhibition. Instead, I queued up the following Monday, the last week before the exhibition closed.
I’ve always considered Gabrielle Chanel to be an inspirational business woman.
I think of her as one of the first women entrepreneurs of the 20th century. She figured out how to be successful in business at a time when it was almost impossible to succeed as a woman. I can only imagine the kind of obstacles that she must have had to overcome.
Each room was a journey through her work. As you entered, the first exhibit was about her apartment and Salon in Paris. The accompanying App for mobile devices in Android or Apple used your location and revealed more about the exhibition as you walked through each room.
What I liked about the exhibition was that it told the story of her creativity through the eyes of the current Creative Director, Karl Lagerfeld. She taking the lead, he acting as the curator in a film that was part of the exhibition.
As I walked round, it made me wonder about her life, she must have had such an extraordinary will to succeed.
The exhibition included a recreation of the staircase in her Salon. It was mirrored, faceted along the curve of the wall along on one side, with a sleek elegant metal hand rail. It is said, that she designed the staircase so that she could stand in one place and see what was happening on every floor.
There was something about the detail in the design of the stairs that reminded me of the attention to detail of the cantilevered glass stairs in Apple stores that seem suspended in air.
If you have ever visited an Apple store, each of them has the same design features and a set of glass stairs. They are similar in a way, as both have gone beyond the products they designed and made sure their surroundings were stylised and designed to showcase their brand.
If she were alive today, I wonder whether she would be in fashion or whether she would have ventured into technology.
I loved the perfume and garden room exhibits, the boxwood in the garden was laid out featuring intertwining C’s.
I was expecting the perfume not only to be on display in terms of the iconic bottle designs but also the unmistakable scent of No5.
The perfume room was designed to be a visual impact to see rather than an experience in terms of scent.
Chanel No5 was launched in the 1920s and is still one of the best-selling perfumes today. At the time, it embodied what Chanel was searching for to describe femininity:
It was what I was waiting for. A perfume like nothing else. A woman’s perfume, with the scent of a woman.”
The ingredient that makes Chanel No5 ahead of its time was the use of Aldehydes which hadn’t been used in such quantities before Chanel. She worked with the Perfumier Earnest Beaux to create the iconic perfume.
He combined the aldehydes with Ylang-Ylang, neroli, as well as Jasmine, Mayrose, Sandalwood and Vetiver.
I think she must have liked to break with tradition and must have chosen to work with Earnest Beaux because he wasn’t afraid of challenging conventions as well.
I was thinking that in this aspect again, she was ahead of her time, breaking with tradition and innovating through her perfume, fashion and jewellery.
The exhibit included a number of workshops on the top floor, the Chanel No5 workshop was an opportunity to learn more about the fragrance.
I left the exhibition inspired by the notion that she was brave, took risks and never settled for anything less than perfection, even in the smallest details of her work. I think that’s what I learned, to strive for perfection in the detail.
hmm, I think some Chanel fragrance, will be on my Christmas list this year, either to give as a gift or to receive, something to wear to remind me of the exhibition as inspiration every day. Can’t wait…..
Contains information related to marketing campaigns of the user. These are shared with Google AdWords / Google Ads when the Google Ads and Google Analytics accounts are linked together.
90 days
__utma
ID used to identify users and sessions
2 years after last activity
__utmt
Used to monitor number of Google Analytics server requests
10 minutes
__utmb
Used to distinguish new sessions and visits. This cookie is set when the GA.js javascript library is loaded and there is no existing __utmb cookie. The cookie is updated every time data is sent to the Google Analytics server.
30 minutes after last activity
__utmc
Used only with old Urchin versions of Google Analytics and not with GA.js. Was used to distinguish between new sessions and visits at the end of a session.
End of session (browser)
__utmz
Contains information about the traffic source or campaign that directed user to the website. The cookie is set when the GA.js javascript is loaded and updated when data is sent to the Google Anaytics server
6 months after last activity
__utmv
Contains custom information set by the web developer via the _setCustomVar method in Google Analytics. This cookie is updated every time new data is sent to the Google Analytics server.
2 years after last activity
__utmx
Used to determine whether a user is included in an A / B or Multivariate test.
18 months
_ga
ID used to identify users
2 years
_gali
Used by Google Analytics to determine which links on a page are being clicked
30 seconds
_ga_
ID used to identify users
2 years
_gid
ID used to identify users for 24 hours after last activity
24 hours
_gat
Used to monitor number of Google Analytics server requests when using Google Tag Manager
