A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

I bet there are generations reading this post right now who grew up without ever using an old-fashioned bar of soap as part of their daily cleansing routine.  I think I just missed the moment that soap became thoroughly unfashionable because throughout my 80s childhood, we never did a monthly shop without picking up a couple of bars.  Wrights for my Mum who adored the smell, Pears for us kids because we all loved the fact that it was see-through (simple things, simple minds…), and Imperial Leather for my Dad, because, after all… he is a man, man!

Soap was kind of a big thing in our household and looking back, I can’t remember when this changed.  But change it did, nowadays… the only time soap gets bought is when I spot something on the shelves at TKMaxx that smells (or looks) so damn good, I just can’t leave it behind.  I never purchase bars of soap as a bathroom necessity, simply because it’s not as convenient as its liquid counterparts.

The decline of mass-market purchasing of soap bars isn’t without its benefits though.  Moving into more of a niche market means that manufacturers have been able to really concentrate on turning the humble soap into an indulgence rather than a necessity and nowhere is this more apparent than with a brand like Crabtree & Evelyn.

Now, the truth is… there’s just not an awful lot I can say about soap.  Even soap that’s as beautiful as this Crabtree & Evelyn Heritage Vetiver & Juniper* one.  It smells amazing, it lathers, and it cleanses.  I don’t use it on my face… my skin would never forgive me, but I do have fun chasing it around the shower.  But most of all, you’d pick this up because of its scent, “Incroyable!” as the French would say.

I don’t mind admitting that I called in a sample of this purely because I adore masculine Vetiver and/or Juniper smells… I wanted that gorgeous clean MAN smell near my nose, and I wasn’t disappointed.  It’s warm and woodsy, outdoorsy and a little bracing… Mr. L has taken to shaving with it, and I’ve taken to sniffing him regularly.  Soap just got interesting again.

The British brand do an entire range of Heritage Soaps including: Avocado & Olive Oil, Black Sea Mud & Seaweed (tempted), Milk & Honey, Crabapple & Mulberry, and Verbena & Lavender, priced from £6.00.  Your nose should check them out as a matter of urgency.

This one, the Crabtree & Evelyn Heritage Vetiver & Juniper Milled Soap is priced at £7.00, and is available instore and online at crabtree-evelyn.co.uk.  It’s also currently online a little cheaper, at escentual.com.

Do you appreciate a good bar of soap?  Do you ever buy it?

* press sample

** I can’t stop singing “soap, perfect soap, is the gift of Christ our Lord” – huge kudos if you remember changing the lyrics during assembly too!

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Had I not spent the day trying to find a quiet little hole to climb into, I would have blogged this within seconds of it landing in my inbox this afternoon.

But as things stood, what with Leila trying to cough up her knee-caps all night, I didn’t get much sleep.  Excuse my tardiness, infact I should be in bed now, catching up on my beauty sleep… but I couldn’t bring myself to leave this unblogged any longer… because ladies, Crabtree & Evelyn are presenting us with an offer that will send us scrabbling for an unloved tube or pot of hand-cream!  On your marks, get set…

…GO!

It’s only a mother-funking Hand Cream Amnesty!  Who doesn’t love a beauty amnesty?  Don’t know what one is?  Let me give you a little insight…

Basically, take any old hand cream (not a C&E one, that would be stoopid!) into your nearest Crabtree & Evelyn store before the 12th March and – while stocks last – a kindly sales assistant will swap your surrendered hand cream for a free Crabtree & Evelyn 25g Hand Therapy worth £5.00!  That’s all there is to it but do check out the T&C in the image above just incase.

Do you have any half-empty hand-creams that you’re willing to part with?  I know I do!

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Orange juice and toothpaste, a vegan at a BBQ, Miley Cyrus and a touch of class. Some things just don’t seem to want to go together do they?

Crabtree & Evelyn and nail polish?

Hmmm…

To be honest, I always think of Crabtree & Evelyn as a bit of a nanna-brand, aimed at garden potterers and people who use talc.  What are they doing with a new line of fashion-forward nail lacquers anyway?  Does it fit their target demographic?

Well, whatever they’re doing with it… it’s here. Launched this week into stores nationwide. Let’s have a look at them…

Not too shabby, I think you’ll agree.  Don’t underestimate those Crabtree & Evelyn shoppers, Nanna’s everywhere have their fingers firmly on the pulse it seems.

The range includes a total of 19 polishes, I’m missing a few from the pictures above… including a rather fabulous-looking olive green that I’d really like to check out sooner rather than later.  Also, in the lineup (but omitted from my picture) is a clear top/base coat, and a box of nail polish remover wipes that have been formulated with an environmentally friendly soy-based formula instead of your usual hydrocarbon solvents!  All rather innovative stuff from a brand that, to be honest, I didn’t think had it in them.

By now, you will be whooping with delight when I tell you that all of these lacquers are formulated without camphor, dibutyl phthalates, formaldehyde or toluene, and get this…

…each 15ml bottle is priced at only £6.00 each.

Available instore and online at crabtree-evelyn.co.uk now, made my weekend this has!

Growing up, I was a shower freak and would be one of those annoying people that come out with the (much overused) line about not wanting to soak in my own dirt.

Nowadays?  I’m a bathing convert.  In the Summer, it’s still a rare occurence… but now the nights are becoming cooler, I can appreciate the enjoyment that wallowing for an indecently long period of time in a tub of hot water brings.  Especially if I lock the bathroom door first so no-one tries to come in for a crap and ruin my zen.

I don’t know about you but… for me, part of the enjoyment of bathing is the whole ritual that sits alongside.  And a true simple pleasure is using a new bath oil/ballistic/melt/whatever for the first time.  I always love the idea of lighting candles but mostly am a bit slovenly for all that.

My latest indulgence (and at £18 it is a little bit of an indulgence) is my India Hicks Island Night Milky Bath from Crabtree & Evelyn.

India Hicks is the designer grand-daughter of the late Earl Louis Mountbatten, who is well known round these here parts and buried just up the road.  I don’t know why that’s relevant… it’s really not…I’m doing that bloody automatic writing again.

I use just a capful and it fragrances the water nicely.  It’s a tropical scent… but not like I’ve just poured a can of Lilt in the tub.  It’s soft and delicate… like I’m bathing with my window open and the scent of jasmine is being carried in on a warm breeze.  Slap me, I’m sounding pretentious.  But that’s the only way I can describe it.  It’s not a BIG floral, it’s just evocative.

It leaves my skin feeling soft (but not soft enough to forego moisturiser) and Mr. L says that he can still smell it on my skin when I use an unscented moisturiser afterward.  At £18 for 250ml, I’d quite like it to clean the bath and re-grout the tiles too but it makes for a lovely ‘special’ treat when the day has been a little too much to bear.

India Hicks Island Night Milky Bath is priced at £18 and available online and instore at Crabtree & Evelyn.

What are your favourite bath-time indulgences?