A few winter saviours

Happy Sunday, my sweets.

I'm just out of the kitchen, finished baking some breakfast muffins for Mr P. I've boldly come up with my own recipe.... Banana, coconut and Brazil nut muffins. Fingers crossed they turn out ok. I've been quite experimental recently, daring to comfort bake without a specific recipe to hand.
It's been emotional.

Anyway, I got to thinking whilst creaming the butter and unbleached sugar together, that I should probably share with you all some of the other comforting things that have helped get me through this winter.

Bath salts

Not exactly groundbreaking news here.... but a lovely hot bath on a cold night is one of life's true pleasures. My most recent bathing discovery has been Dr Salts Muscle Therapy Bath Salts.

Dr Salts Muscle Therapy

You can be as generous as you like with these depending on how aching you are. They have a wonderful herbal/medicinal scent of Eucalyptus and despite not being the most thrilling bath product out there, manage to deliver pure relaxation on a hitherto unprecedented level. I literally slipped into the bath today and nodded off within 1 minute. These work on an emotional level too. Relaxed body, relaxed mind and vice versa. You get a whopping 1kg for anything between £5 and £6.99, depending on where you buy them from. I bought mine from Waitrose but they are quite easy to get hold of online, in Boots and other supermarkets.

Hydrating face mask 

My skin rarely gets so dry that it becomes uncomfortable, but even so I feel the need for extra plumping and hydration at this time of year. I've loved the Origins Drink Up mask for a while now and I'm not sure I've ever written about it.

Origins Drink Up

It's a luscious white creamy concoction which you smother your face with in a thick layer after cleansing and then let it work it's magic. I take it right down the neck too. Leave it on for as long as you like and then wipe off the excess with a tissue or damp flannel. My skin looks amazing the next day if I use this and super juicy. If you have dry skin you will love this. Origins also do an overnight version of this which I've heard is also amazing. I have to say that as someone who's always gone for purifying masks it's a welcome change to have this in my collection.


Hand cream with a pump

There are some amazing hand creams in tubes and pots, but in the depths of winter you need something with a pump that you can quickly dispense when you're literally rushing out the door. Put it somewhere where you know you'll be getting ready to leave the house, like the hallway or at the entrance to your bedroom or bathroom.

I have The Sanctuary 5 day Moisture Hand Lotion and it's been a true saviour this winter. Mr P likes it too and it's been encouraging him to moisturise his dry mitts more often.... simply because it's in a pump and he's way too lazy to employ fine motor skills and open a tube. Lots of people dislike the classic Sanctuary scent. I happen to really like it. If you don't then don't buy this. Scent aside it's actually a very good hand cream indeed. I'm not sure the moisture stays for 5 days, particularly if you're an OCD hand washer like I am, but my hands and nails do feel much better since I've been using this. It leaves a bit of residue on the surface of the hands but I like the glow it gives to the skin. Hands can look so beaten up a lot of the time and this is like a quick hand-lift. It's only £5.50 from Boots and you get a whopping 250ml of the stuff.


Lip balms in every pocket, in every bag

If I don't have a lip balm with me at all times I freak out and start chewing my lips like my mother didn't love me enough. Lips suffer so much at this time of year and you need to be prepared. Even Mr P is a freak about lip balm. I've had to stop carrying tinted ones as he would grab mine and smear it on, little realising that he was thereafter sporting a rather fetching berry-tinted pout.
If you're out and about choose stick balms. There is nothing more icky than seeing people on public transport dip their bacteria-ridden digits into a gloopy pot and smother it over their smackers. Eugh. They've literally just put out a welcome mat for a nasty virus.

(Sorry, that's my OCD making another appearance.)

Burts Bees make nice little sticks, as do Caudalie and Nuxe. I generally favour the more natural brands as they don't mask true moisture with petrolatum. Beeswax and shea butter are good alternatives as ingredients and feel (and taste) much nicer too. Going back to Burt's Bees, I have to say that the Pomegranate version has a very odd taste and I wouldn't recommend it. It performs well, but I just find the scent too strong and weirdly fake for a natural product. Choose one of the other flavours.


Winged liner

Ok, hear me out on this. I'm so wrapped up when I go out these days that the only thing that can be seen are my eyes. I don't want to get so lost wrapped in wool that I lose myself so I've been sporting a lot of winged liquid liner so that my eyes 'pop' and say 'hello, yes, there IS a person underneath the mountain of Zara scarf'.

You don't have to wing your liner, of course. Anything that makes your eyes look amazing whilst you're cocooned will make you feel surprisingly cheery. Winged liner takes a bit of practice and I have to say that the Dolly Wink liquid liner (Japan only I'm afraid) is hands down the best one I've found. Coming a close second, the DHC Liquid Liner, available from Feelunique.com is pretty good, although still not as good as Dolly Wink.

Right, that's it for now, the muffins are ready. They smell amazing!

What have you all been using and enjoying this winter?

Fragrant offerings

aka.... my perfume collection.

Pandora's perfumes

Recently I've really loved reading about perfume, especially other girls' perfume collections.
Perfume is one of those incredibly subjective things, but the market is so swamped that I always find it useful to find out what others like too, so that I can organise my 'sniffing' trips accordingly! 

My journey with fragrance began when I was about 12. I bought a tiny bottle of Joy by Jean Patou on a school trip to Boulogne. I barely spoke French but I somehow managed to walk into this very posh department store and come away with an exquisitely gift-wrapped bottle of what was once heralded 'the most expensive perfume in the world'. I made that bottle last for years and I still have that gift wrapping, treasured in the back of an old diary as if it were made of gold leaf.

Precocious... moi???

So on to the here and now and my current collection is, I think at least, quite modest. Most of my scents of choice are quite light, fresh and floral. Boring? Maybe. I'd like to be one of those people with eclectic taste in perfume, the kind of perfume that costs about £150 a bottle and contains essence of leather, tobacco, rare Amazonian wood, extract of burnt power cables, and antelope flea musk. But thou must be true to thyself and I would be lying to myself if I said that I actually would wear most of the fragrances sold in an 'haute parfumerie', although Mr P is quite partial to a bit of antelope flea musk.

Chanel Coco Mademoiselle - Moisture Mist

Some fragrances I like to wear in other incarnations. Chanel Coco Mademoiselle is a prime example. I find the perfume too strong sometimes, it hits my nasal passages like a bullet as an eau de parfum, but as a body spray, like this moisture mist here, it's just gorgeous. It smells instantly like the perfume dry-down which is much, much nicer than the somewhat abrasive top notes you get at first spritz of the perfume itself. I love wearing this. It makes me feel sensual and polished all at once. 

Bulgari Omnia Crystalline

 If I had one signature scent then this would probably be it. Bulgari Omnia Crystalline. This also happens to be Mr P's favourite. In fact he bought me my first bottle of this for my birthday many years ago. I loved it instantly. I ask myself how on earth he managed to find such an amazing perfume, amongst the myriad of scents out there. But he did, bless him. This I would describe as an 'aquatic floral. There is a fresh crispness to the smell with a slight woodiness which is prevented from being too masculine by the presence of a floral note, which according to the description must be the lotus flower. It was apparently designed for the Japanese market where fresh, light fragrances are extremely popular and at one time it was the best-selling perfume there (my source for this info is here). On me this dries down to what I can only describe as smelling like me but better! Like I'm always shower fresh. I know I will always buy this.

Elie Saab Le Parfum

 This was a birthday gift and the newest perfume I own. It's actually very different from any of the other scents I have. It's much, much stronger than I'm used to but it's perhaps the most interesting and complex perfume I have. There are so many different elements to this. To me it's a leathery sophisticated floral with hints of tea. Yes, I smell tea in it. I'm weird though, so you will probably not smell tea. This is sex in a bottle. It's very heady and must be used with a light hand. I would put this on the nape of the neck and behind my knees and in the crease of my elbow. This is for special evenings, to be worn with jewellery and heels.... and possibly nothing else ;)

Jo Malone - Nutmeg & Ginger and White Jasmine & Mint

Ah, Jo, how I love you. I don't think there is a fragrance of yours I don't love. Except Pomegranate Noir, that one just gave me a headache. Here we have Nutmeg and Ginger, and White Jasmine and Mint. This is my 3rd bottle of White Jasmine and Mint. I wore it on my wedding day layered with Nectarine Blossom and Honey. Nutmeg and Ginger is perfect for cooler weather days, it's spiciness and warmth being a great comfort to me. White Jasmine and Mint I'm currently on a break from but will embrace once more with open arms in the spring. 

Zara White

Here we have one beauty rule broken: Don't buy cheap perfume.
Zara White is cheap, but it doesn' t smell cheap. Honestly. It's very fresh and crisp, citrus and ozonic at the same time, but it dries down to a more floral base. The packaging is very meh... but for freshening up quickly without offending anyone then this is more than fine. It fades over a couple of hours but at €4.99 who cares. NB, most of the Zara perfumes are lovely! White Jasmine in particular, that will probably be my next cheapo fragrance fix.

The Sanctuary Body Spray - patchouli bliss

So it's not strictly a perfume, but The Sanctuary's classic body line has that signature smell which they have developed into a fragrance line in itself. You either love it or hate it. I used to hate it with a passion, but something happened to me in the last year or so and now I can't get enough of the soft powdery patchouli smell. The body butter is divine and I top it off with this lovely body spray which is much lovelier than the actual perfume that they also have in the range.

Baby bottle of Viva La Juicy

Look at this! Innit dinky??? Juicy Couture 'Viva la Juicy' is my wild-card. I didn't commit to buying even a 30ml size, but I do really like this fun, floral gourmand. The balance of sweet to floral is just right. A little goes a long way so this 5ml bottle of cuteness will serve me well. I'm not likely to want a bigger size of this after it's gone but for now it's my night-out scent of choice.

So those are my simple offerings to the temple of scent.

What scents do you all like? Are you more Duty Free or Haute Parfumerie?