I have a feeling that the blizzard that has besieged the U.S. is headed for the U.K and we are going to get a lot of snow. Not as bad as New York, but bad enough to want to stay home with a warm cuppa instead of venturing out.
These bright sunny roses were in the supermarket on Sunday and I could not resist. I’ve filled a vase with them, long stems with their dark green leaves and yellow petals, lighting up the room. They’re bringing an instant cheer making the room feel cosy with their warm glow.
Not much else to say except, just enjoy the cheerful brightness that they’re bringing.
I don’t know if anyone else has the same thoughts about January. It’s a very long month, we put away the Christmas decorations finally, so they are now hibernating for another year.
My day literally begins and ends in darkness and in between are the working hours in an office. It can be a whole 5 days in an office that’s connected by an underpass from the Tube station straight into Canary Wharf, before I glimpse any daylight to wake up to at the weekend.
Last Saturday, I was running some errands and spotted these lovely roses. They are nothing extraordinary, just the type you find at the entrance of a supermarket. In this case Marks and Spencer.
They stood out, because they were the last bunch in white, flecked with a delicate green to their outer petals. I bought them on impulse, because they made me smile.
This week the roses will make some sunshine for me. I will look at them whilst inhaling and drinking a cup of espresso.
I’ve moved them to the dining table so their presence can keep me company, while the rest of the house sleeps on as I get ready to leave for work.
I’ve been using Molton Brown’s Japenese body wash all this week, as a way to get the zing and wake up to the start of the day.
Getting back into the commute and a full day at work has been hard, especially after the long Festive break.
So this indulgent body wash, which is packed full of the delicious scent of the Japanese Yuzu fruit, is a wonderful way to chase away the darkness outside when I wake-up and reluctantly make my way to the bathroom.
If you are in need of something that will wake you up and lift your senses, this is a great way to begin the day. It contains a blend of Yuzu, Patchouli, caraway and smells wonderful.
The fruit of the Yuzu, a citrus fruit is used in Japanese bath houses as a part of a deep cleansing ritual. I’ve never been to Japan, but one of my earliest memories is visiting a bath house with my mother when I was little in Taiwan. I remember being in a deep hot pool of water bathing with other women along with my mother, a faded memory from childhood.
As this scent is so bright and zesty, I am using it to bring a little sunshine to my mood.
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:
1 tablespoons of Argan Oil
2 tablespoons of Coconut Oil
1 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. 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:*
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.
I debated about whether to post this, given the sombre mood this weekend. I’ve decided to keep with the British Bull Dog Spirit and to keep calm and carry on.
This Post is the regular Sunday Spa Feature for an Argan Oil, Aloe Vera with Sweet Orange and Sea Salt hair styling spray.
It is a very simple to create a styling spray that give you plenty of volume and hold for your hair.
The spray consists of Dead Sea Salt which will provide the volume and hold. If you don’t have Dead Sea Salt, you can substitute this for Sea Salt, or Sugar, though I am not keen on the idea of using Sugar in my hair in case, well, it might attract bugs!
For moisture, since I have some Argan Oil this will protect hair from heat styling and keep your hair smooth and shiny. I’ve also included some Aloe Vera gel, also known for its mosturising properties.
To scent the spray, I’ve added a few drops of Sweet Orange Essential Oil, you can of course choose something else. I like the scent of Oranges and since using the spray, I’ve found that the Essential Oil gives my hair added shine, it’s great to combine it with the Argan Oil.
That’s basically, it. Just spray into your hair and style as usual, you can use it for adding volume or texture (spray and leave to dry, as this will add natural definition and texture to your hair).
Not bad for a few ingredients found around the home and best of all, not a single man-made chemical or preservative went into this spray, which means better, healthier hair.
All you need are the following ingredients:
100ml spray bottle
65 ml hot water
35 ml Dead Sea Salt or Sea Salt (about 2 level tablespoons)
1 teaspoon aloe vera gel
1 teaspoon vodka
1 teaspoon argan oil
Sweet Orange Essential Oil
Simply combine all the ingredients into the Spray Bottle. It’s easier if you have a small funnel. To make sure the oil mixes in with the other ingredients, I have added a small amount of vodka (you can substitute this for Surgical Spirit or rubbing alcohol but I find that this has a strong scent and I just prefer vodka because it’s scent free).
Just shake to combine the ingredients before each use.
The Mademoiselle Privé exhibition for Chanel arrived on 23rd October and finished on Friday 1st November at the Saatchi Gallery in Sloane Square. It was a chance to take a sneak peek at the world of Chanel.
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…..
