A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

This month sees some new additions to the home-scenting range from Jo Malone.  Flanking the ever-popular candles, the British brand have introduced Scent Surround diffusers, room sprays, and limited edition drawer liners and sachets.  Playing nicely on the layering theory when it comes to fragrance, you can now treat your home environment to the same luxuries as you do your skin.

The diffusers and room sprays are available in three iconic Jo Malone fragrances: Red Roses, Lime Basil & Mandarin, and Pomegranate Noir whilst the limited edition items are available in Lime Basil & Mandarin only.

As for the ‘negative’ I mention in the post title… well, take a look at the new packaging for the Home Collection…

Cheekily reversing the traditional Jo Malone style from cream boxes with black ribbon, to black boxes with cream ribbon… talk about double negatives, and we all know what they make?  A positive! *groan*

The idea behind a reed diffuser* is that it will continually fragrance an area of your home for upto 5 months, it’s perfect for families with small children or pets that are liable to knock candles over.  The Red Roses scent smells exactly like the skin perfume, and hasn’t been ‘dumbed down’ into an inferior home scent.

I’d recommend this scent for the more communal areas of your home: the sitting room, hallways and landings would particularly benefit from this delicate fragrance.  I’ve had mine sitting on a shelf in the hallway for almost a month and it still ‘catches’ me with a great first impression everytime I walk through the door.  Shame about the untidiness that greets me visually!

I’m a huge fan of scented sachets, and have friends who laugh at me because I physically get a little bit excited when I’m out shopping and discover one!  I love them because they’re a fairly inexpensive way of creating a sweet-smelling atmosphere!  When Leila was a baby, almost everyone used to comment on how beautiful she always smelled – the secret? yep, delicately-scented sachets scattered amongst her babygros!  They’re also great for putting in foisty suitcases that you’ve dragged down from the loft.  Anyway, I’m completely digressing but I think drawer liners and sachets get a bad rap as a bit of a granny product!

Scent Surround™  Diffusers 165ml £45 / €60
Scent Surround™  Room Sprays 175ml £34 / €45
Limited Edition Scent Surround™ Sachets 3 pieces £20 / €25
Limited Edition Scent Surround™ Drawer Liners 5 pieces £30 / €40

Check out the Jo Malone Home Collection online at www.jomalone.com

* press sample

NEOM’s latest fragrance to join their impressive lineup of natural-wax candles is simply called Happiness* and strives to create an atmosphere of calm and contentment wherever it’s placed.  The North Yorkshire-based brand is stocked in hotels and spas nationwide and prides itself stripping products back, cutting out the chemicals and re-imagining the notions behind truly natural and organic brands.

Too many times, ‘natural’ means that we have to compromise on the things that make products so instantly appealable.  We sacrifice the wow-factor for the knowledge that we’re using products that are kinder to the Earth.  Rustic packaging is all well and good until you want to gift it, natural scents can often be uninspiring without a little help from the lab, and the overall impression leaves you wishing you could have your cake and eat it too.

This is where NEOM excels, it doesn’t overlook all the little things that allow a natural brand to feel as luxurious as your usual high-end alternatives.  Infact, I’ve just bought my mother-in-law’s Mother’s Day gift from them, so it’s just as well!

This three-wicked candle offers up to 55hrs of burn time, the wax melts evenly across the surface and burns cleanly, creating no soot to darken the heavy-glass container (or indeed your ceiling!)

The scent is a little hard to describe.  It’s a fresh, floral scent which ultimately gives an impression of space.  White space, open airiness with a touch of sweetness.  Like standing in a gallery that’s had its windows opened for the morning, letting the freshness breathe through without actually being out there, in it.  This clean scent is bolstered with a hint of lemon, sweet – not tart.  I sometimes struggle with white flower scents, I’m not the world’s biggest fan of jasmine and yet when done right, it can barely be beaten.

The scent lingers impressively… walking back into a room, I noticed it staunchly clinging to the ether a good couple of hours after extinguishing the flames.

This would make a wonderful house-warming gift for a loved one, it’s perfect for communal areas and entrance halls to lighten the atmosphere and give a home that freshly-aired feeling.

NEOM Luxury Organics Happiness Home Candle is priced at £37.50 (single-wick 75g versions – £13.00) and available to buy online from neomorganics.com

What are you scenting your home with at the moment?

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If you’re still searching for a perfect gift for that more discerning member of the family *cough* (Mum) *cough*, you should point your browser in the direction of Timothy Han, purveyor of luxury candles.

Free from petrochemicals, genetically modified ingredients, herbicides or pesticides – these all-natural fragrant fancies are made from a carefully-chosen blend of pure essential oils, with no chemical additives or boosters.

I love the sound of Tobacco & Jasmine which ticks all the right boxes for a classy winter-warmer without going down the traditional gourmand route for Christmas home-scenting.

Each candle is hand-blended with a soy base and offers around 50 hours of burn time.  Luxury rarely comes cheap, and these are reassuringly expensive – at least, enough to keep you in the good books for a little while longer!

Timothy Han Candles are available to purchase online at www.timothyhan.com, priced at £38 each.

You’ll be forgiven for not having heard of Brenda Anvari, by all accounts she’s a bit of a Devonian secret – serving up beauty treatments in her Exter Salon.  But as with all secrets, you can’t keep them forever and her beauty range is heading East!

I took delivery of her festively-themed Cranberry, Orange & Cinnamon Candle a few weeks ago.  Priced at just £12.95, it’s presented beautifully and would make a deceivingly inexpensive present for a loved one this Christmas.  Nicely weighted with elegant styling and great appeal.  When you put your nose to the unlit wax, you’re greeted with a good hit of sharpness from the Cranberry, flanked by the zesty Orange.

It burns cleanly with a good, even melt across the surface.  The scent is strong, not overpowering but I do have to extinguish the flame after about 15 minutes.  For me, it’s a little too enveloping to be able to sit in it whilst in full burn for longer than that.  Ultimately, I guess this is a good thing in terms of value for money but if you’ve a very sensitive nose, this may make it a little too strong for you.

My favourite way to use this candle is to light it when I first get up in the morning and am busy buzzing around, then 20 minutes or so later – the main rooms downstairs are nicely scented and I extinguish the flame before enjoying the scent left behind for a good hour or so after.

I struggle to pick up much spice or woodiness in this candle, to my nose – it’s more about the fruit which is a bit of a shame and my other sadness is that postage is phenomenally expensive on the Brenda Anvari website simply because everything is courier’ed via CityLink.  One of the better courier services but those kind of prices are always off-putting unless you’re making a big order.

Brenda Anvari products are available to buy online at Visage House – prices range from £4.95 – £24.95

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Fusing grand design, eco-credentials and quality home-scenting comes a partnership between new beauty and lifestyle brand: DP London and brit designer Pearl Lowe.  A limited edition candle collection which includes a re-release of three iconic fragrances from the original Davina Peace lineup contrasted with the new design flourish at the hands of Pearl Lowe.

Pearl Lowe was said to have fallen in love with the original scents and her collaboration with the brand makes perfect use of her design abilities and keen eye for beautiful things.

“For me scent is quite simply the ultimate home accessory.  I love transforming the mood with these candles and find candlelight so decadent.  They envelop a room with scent that lingers for hours, and create complete calm in my home.  The travel candles are also amazing as they help me to take a little home comfort with me and also work equally well in a guest room at home”  Pearl Lowe.

The limited edition range includes:

Pearl Lowe for DP London Spiced Punch (100% natural wax) £30 for 190g

and

Pearl Lowe for DP London Candle Trio (100% natural wax) £30 for 3x 50g (Spiced Punch, White Flowers, Citrus Fruits)

All candles are made containing a sustainable beeswax and EcoSoya blend with an organic fragrance.  The range contains no palm oil (a product that contributes to heavy deforestation) and also no paraffin (the mining of which is unsustainable).

Spiced Punch* is a hearty scent, perfect for the upcoming festive holidays.  A warming combination of bergamot, orange, cedar and cinnamon with a seasonal sprinkling of clove, ginger, nutmeg and vanilla that ensures your surroundings are evocatively fragranced for the dark nights ahead.

The DP London Body Care and Home range is available to buy online (www.dplondon.com) whilst the Limited Edition Pearl Lowe for DP London Candle Collection is available exclusively from ASOS.com and Selfridges.

* press sample

OCCO is one of those brands that had been on my radar for many, many months but was continually superseded by other products more demanding of my attention when presented with the opportunity to purchase.

With close inspirational links to the Dalmation Coast and Adriatic Sea, you might be surprised to learn that the products are formulated within the UK and are the brainchild of ex-Spa Director at Molton Brown, Anna Doyle.

I decided that I wanted a new candle for the bedroom last week whilst mooching around John Lewis. I wanted something with enough spice to be warming without being full-on “boudoir”. Not that there’s anything wrong with full-on boudoir, but I’ll save that headiness for when the weather is cooler.

I couldn’t find anything that tugged at my sleeve harder than this beauty from OCCO’s Raiyia range. The styling is a little retro with concentric circles and a 70s mustard theme but the scent is thoroughly modern. The 210g candle promises to contain a minimum of 95% natural ingredients and 100% natural fragrances.

A spicy citrus with Bergamot, Petitgrain (<3) and Nutmeg ensures that this walks the olfactory line between Summer and Autumn quite beautifully. It fills the room confidently without being blousey or demanding, I think that it would work well in most home environments as both a relaxing, and at the same time, uplifting scent.

I do wish the packaging were a little more luxe for the price (£35) but I can’t fault the quality of the candle which burns both evenly and cleanly. If I remember correctly, this is the candle that Danni Minogue tweeted a picture of as her favourite for burning in her X-Factor dressing room last year.

Now that I’ve finally taken the plunge into the OCCO family, I will keep the range in mind and return to investigate some of the other fragrances available. Most importantly, I may have to be quick about it — the range was heavily discounted, I’m wondering if it perhaps won’t be around for much longer.

OCCO Raiyia No6 Citrus Spice Candle is priced at £35 for 210g and available online at Occo or reduced both online and instore at John Lewis.

As if an obsession with all things beauty wasn’t enough to contend with, I thought I’d let you in on one of my other little ‘collections’.  Home Fragrance Oils.

I’m actually in recovery as far as these bijou bottles are concerned.  Mr. L has in the past, banned me from entering The Body Shop until I finish a bottle which quite frankly, is probably for the best.

I usually have one of these ‘on the burn’ somewhere in my home, they’re mood-lifting, fun to choose from in the shop and often on sale!  As far as quality goes, some of the scents can be a touch Glade-esque but occasionally, The Body Shop blend a scentsational gem!

I have four particular favourites and unfortunately, none of them are currently available.  The Body Shop’s turnover for these products are pretty rapid and ultimately seasonal.  They’ll sometimes be re-released the following year but if you find one that you fall in love with, my advice is to buy in bulk!

My four biggest favourites from recent years have been…

Hit The Beach: I think this was from 2007/2008 and I returned for backups when I discovered how lovely it was!  I actually find it a bit more floral than oceanic despite the name… it’s light, summery and carries a gorgeous vibe that makes me think of wide open windows, dune flowers and a stiff breeze.

Orange Clove: The Body Shop do the citrus-y scents very nicely and this is my favourite of the bunch.  It’s incredibly festive and indeed was a limited release a few Christmases ago.  It’s sweetness reminds me a little of Orange squash which makes it sound far less impressive than it actually is!  Think sweet oranges with a hint of spice.

Very Vanilla: Is the booziest of the vanilla fragrance oils I’ve purchased from The Body Shop… it’s rich, creamy and decadent.  Perfect for burning on cold evenings.

Line Dried Cotton: Ahh, my first and still one of my absolute favourites.  Nothing smells quite as amazing as getting in a clean bed right?  Well… take the scent of clean sheets and intensify it, you’ll get this.  An amazing fragrance for the Summer and I’m on my last bottle now!

There are others that I love to light up but these are the ones that I will always snap up if I see them pop up on eBay (as long as they’re not extortionate).  I would love them to re-release Line Dried Cotton in its original form…. all the other linen/cotton ones they’ve released since don’t quite do it for me in the same way.

Aside from The Body Shop, I’ve also started burning my Haus of Gloi perfume oils (I sound like an arsonist!) not the most economical way of scenting my home but my God are they deliciously potent!

Candles, wax tarts, oils, reed diffusers… I’m a sucker for a great scent.

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Are you a fan of home fragrancing?  What are your favourite scents?

I’ve loved Annick Goutal fragrances ever since receiving samples of Eau de Camille and Eau de Charlotte, 2 fragrances created for her daughters.  Typically, I preferred Eau de Camille to Eau de Charlotte’s overly sweet scent, but my interest in her fragrances was piqued and I always get excited by new releases.

This isn’t new, but it is on sale… so if paying almost £40 for a candle is as much an alien concept to you as it is to me, take comfort from the fact that this beautifully scented candle is down from £37 to £28, still a stretch for me, although I do admit to being tempted thanks to some left-over Christmas cash.

What are your favourite luxury candles?  I have one Jo Malone that gets lit *very* occassionally (I’m talking about 6 times a year).  My Yankee tarts (that phrase might get me some weird hits!) get a far greater airing.

Annick Goutal La Rose Candle is on sale at Feel Unique