Friday Favourites: Perfume boxes

The scent of a perfume often reveals a person’s personality. Finding the right fragrance that embodies who we are is a struggle. With so many fragrances out there, it can feel impossible to narrow it down. The Amazing Blog has rounded up some fantastic fragrances that we are sure you will love. Whether you prefer a sensual, floral or bold scent, there is something that will suit you. These Discovery and Sample sets are also the perfect gift!

JO LOVES FRANGRANCE DISCOVERY GIFT EXPERIENCE

The famous Jo Malone rules the fragrance market, and for good reason! Jo started her fast-growing company, Jo Malone London, in her London kitchen. This scent mixologist gained huge recognition for her accomplishments, leading to her selling the company to Estée Lauder Companies in 1999 where she worked as the Creative Director until 2006.

Jo Malone is back with her new company Jo Loves, inspired by her beloved memories. We are so excited to see new beautiful and high-quality fragrances from her! The Jo Loves Fragrance Discovery Gift Experience is a wonderful way to explore some of Jo Malone’s long-lasting incredible scents to find one that best suits you. The Fragrance Discovery Gift Experience consists of ten 2ml vials. The best part? Jo Loves will send you your favourite fragrance in the form of a 50ml bottle of Eau de Toilette. The fragrances include Pomelo, White Rose & Lemon Leaves, Mandarin, Smoked Plum & Leather, Red Truffle 21, Shards of Cedar & Red Thyme, No. 42 The Flower Shop, Gardenia, Pink Vetiver, and Green Orange & Coriander. With this wide array of aromas to test and choose from, you are sure to fall in love with at least one!

Our go-to of the bunch has to be the Smoked Plum & Leather, but you can purchase the set here for £105 to see which one you fancy.

SANA JARDIN DISCOVERY SET

Next up, we’ve got the Sana Jardin Discovery Set. Sana Jardin is the first socially-conscious luxury fragrance brand. They strive to create social change through commerce called The Beyond Sustainability Movement. This movement aims to make female entrepreneurs agents of change in their communities while preserving that commnicity's skills. This set comes with seven vials of 2ml Eau de Parfums. The first fragrance is Berber Blonde No. 1, which has a slightly musky aroma with beautiful notes of Moroccan orange blossom and North African neroli. Tiger By Her Side No. 2 is just as seductive as the name suggests. It has notes of amber, Moroccan rose, patchouli and Somalian Incense. It is the perfect scent for those who want to get in touch with their wild side. Savage Jasime No. 3 is a rather heady, musky scent as well, but with a floral twist from the infusion of Moroccan jasmine.

Sandalwood Temple No. 4 is a blend of East Indian Sandalwood, cedarwood, Madagascan vanilla, neroli, and Haitian vetiver. It all comes together to create a wonderfully seductive scent that is sure to turn heads once others get a whiff. Celestial Patchouli No. 5 has an intense and rich aroma with notes of patchouli, leather, sandalwood. Not only that, there are floral hints of rose and jasmine with a touch of cinnamon bark for an invigorating experience. Nubian Musk No. 6 is another musky scent that is amplified by a bit of vanilla, jasmine, rose, and grapefruit flower. Revolution De La Fleur No. 7 is a tropical and floral fragrance comprised of Moroccan ylang-ylang and frangipani.

If these fragrances have caught your interest, you can purchase the 7 x 2ml vials of Eau de Parfum from Sana Jardin Discovery Set here for £30.

APRIL AROMATICS

One of our newest discoveries is the Deluxe Sample Set from April Aromatics. Founded by perfumer Tanja Bochnig in New York, April Aromatics perfumes are free from animal ingredients (besides beeswax), certified organic or wild-crafted, and contain 100% natural ingredients. In addition, the packaging is recyclable! The April Aromatics 7 Chakra Oil Set was a winner of the 2018 Beauty Shortlist Editors' Choice Award. 

With this set, you receive 10 out of the range of 15 fragrances that they offer. Each Eau de Parfum vial contains 2.5ml of the fragrance, which they say equates to about 28 spritzes. These scents are deliciously intense and super long-lasting. To make the choice a bit easier on you, for the summer evenings, we recommend adding Ray of Light and Rosenlust to your list. These two have unique and evocative aromas that we don’t want to ever run out! Ray of Light has notes of lemon, lime, pink grapefruit, and bergamot. A citrus infusion! Rosenlust contains a soft floral mix of tonka, ambrette, and sandalwood.

You can purchase the Deluxe Sample Set of 10 x 2.5ml vials of Eau de Parfum from April Aromatics here for €111.

EDEN PERFUMES SAMPLE GIFT BOX

If you are looking for an environmentally-conscious scent, then we recommend Eden Perfumes. Eden Perfumes is a family-run vegan company from beautiful Brighton. They say: "Botanical cruelty-free perfumes consciously crafted with respect to the planet and all beings." Their products are 100% vegan and not tested on animals. They have similar, not identical, scents to popular ones on the market with over 200 fragrances to choose from, all of the fragrances come in Eau de Parfum strength, not Eau de Toilette! Unlike many others, Eden Perfumes doesn't contain animal notes, such as musk, milk, and honey.

We tried a Sample Gift Box where you can choose your own three combinations. The one that Eden Perfumes sent us contained these three scents: No. 309 Daisy (a floral, woody musk), No. 420 Ispahan Oud (oriental floral; unisex), and No. 475 Neroli (subtly sweet and citrus aromatic; unisex). While those three scents are wildly different and luxurious, we were drawn to Daisy and felt that with its versatility, it could to be worn day through to night. Eden Perfumes has dozens of scents, all of which are very reasonably priced. We deeply encourage you to see the full range for a little spoiling fragrance spree.

Purchase an Eden Perfumes Gift Box of 3  x 10ml bottles of your choice for £21.60 here. Curious about the scents we highlighted? Then you too can purchase a 30ml bottle of No. 309 Daisy, No. 420 Ispahan Oud, and No. 475 Neroli for £18.00 each.

We'd like to give a special thank you to April Aromatics for sending us a 30ml bottle of Rose L’Orange, which we will be reviewing in August. We hope that we have inspired you with our choices. Now get spritzing! 

Heathcote and Ivory – Drawer Liners

With the summer months upon us, The Amazing blog has been using Heathcote and Ivory’s scented drawer liners to pack away all of our winter clothing. These sheets are designed for drawers, cupboards, and shelves, and keep our clothes smelling fresh with a subtle fragrance. Last May we covered the company’s Sweet Pea and Honeysuckle scented sachet and Eau de Toilette, so when we saw they came out with the same scent in a drawer liner, we couldn’t resist!

Sweet Pea and Honeysuckle’s floral scent isn’t overwhelming, but rather the smell of white jasmine and gardenia flowers which is both light and refreshing. The Neroli and Lime Leaves fragrance is a combination of Neroli flowers, lime leaves, white blossoms, and precious woods, sweet amber and rich musk.

The liners are an ode to spring with its pastoral colours, and floral pattern etched onto each. The sheets come with a thick paper folder with a Velcro fastening – complete with a ribbon bow. Heathcote and Ivory pays close attention to the intricate and feminine details of the product and packaging.  With five 33.5 x 50cm liners, all you have to do is cut them to the size of your drawer and lay them at the base.

You can purchase The Neroli and Lime Leaves Fragranced Drawer Liners here for £7.00. The Sweet Pea & Honeysuckle Fragranced Drawer Liners can be purchased here for £6.50.

Savon Stories

Sometimes we beauty-lovers pay so much attention to our beauty products that we neglect our body-care routines and settle for the most inexpensive body washes at our local Boots. We at The Amazing Blog are certainly guilty of this, so we’ve made a conscious effort to move onto healthier and more organic products for our bodies as well as our faces.  Savon Stories is a company that firmly believes in handcrafting organic remedies for enduring health and beauty. We were given the opportunity to try a body wash, bar soap and lotion bar.

The Lime & Bergamot Organic Hand & Body Wash is 99% Organic and 100% Natural. It’s been cold-processed to retain as many benefits as possible from the blend of hydrating extra virgin Greek olive oil, nourishing coconut oil, castor, hempseed, and fragrant essential oils. The result is an ultra moisturising product that smells out of this world. The Bamboo Charcoal Bar Soap with Bergamot, Lavender & Rose Geranium is specially formulated to draw out toxins and absorb excess oil while deeply cleansing pores. This aromatic floral-citrus blend is highly recommended for oily and acne prone skin. Lastly we tried out the Argan Oil Lotion Bar with Mandarin, Neroli & Lavender. This solid moisturising bar is made from cold-pressed organic oils and butters that deliver vitamins, antioxidants & regenerative minerals. We love that it’s quick absorbing, leaving our skin smooth and non-greasy with a sweet citrusy and cocoa-y aroma.

Invest in some organic products with Savon Stories. You can purchase the Hand & Body washes here, the Bar Soaps here, and the Lotion Bars here.

PHB Ethical Beauty - Skin Brighten Gel

Here at The Amazing Blog we feel at our best when our skin is bright and radiant, and it often seems like the only way to achieve this is after a trip to the salon. We understand that for most people this just isn’t feasible. Plus, let’s be honest, we want beautiful radiant skin at all times! However, we believe we’ve found a product up to the job - PHB Ethical Beauty's handmade Skin Brighten Gel for face and body.

The gel is specially formulated with Neroli, Licorice and Immortelle to give us brighter looking and even skin. Neroli is rich in Vitamin C, which helps to reduce darks spots and discolouration. Immortelle is fantastic for its regenerative properties, and encourages clear and radiant skin. Last but not least, Licorice is a wonderful anti-inflammatory, so it helps to soothe and even the skin tone. It's evident that each natural ingredient is sourced with real thought and care, and the combination of all the ingredients works to target specific areas of the skin, making it a real powerhouse product.

We definitely feel this is a multipurpose product that everyone should have in their skincare collection. The gel has a jelly-like consistency, and a little of this product goes a long way. It has the most beautiful floral scent that melts into the skin, with no sticky residue, and will leave your skin feeling super soft to the touch. What's more, once soaked in, it gives the skin a subtle sheen that acts as a stunning natural highlight.

If you want the kind of skin radiance that dreams are made of, get your gel here for £13.75.

Bodhi - Neroli Lucé Revitalising Face Oil

After a long day of work and commuting from Chelsea to North London, I always look forward to removing my make up and getting rid of the dirt from the tube. My evening skincare routine is the perfect remedy to remove my stress - who doesn't love a bit of pampering, huh? So when we at The Amazing Blog  received the Bodhi Neroli Lucé Revitalising Face Oil I was eager to give it a try. We were lucky enough to feature Bodhi last year on the blog so I had no doubt that Elijah Choo, the founder of this fabulous brand, had come up with another fantastic product.

Neroli Lucé is made of an exquisite blend of botanically derived oils. Hand crafted by Elijah himself, each oil is chosen with a specific purpose. Tunisian Neroli aims to revitalise and rebalance, while Frankincense and Sea Buckthorn oils rejuvenate and restore natural oils in your skin. Personally, I have always been a fan of Neroli oil's therapeutic properties as it regenerates skin cells, promotes soft skin, and helps to calm the nervous system.  Now combined with Frankincense and Sea Buckthorn, I found this facial oil to be hydrating without leaving a greasy feeling behind. Just one to two pumps were enough to leave my face feeling plump and glowy-looking. Due to the purity of each ingredient the smell is slightly overpowering at first; however, once the oil has been absorbed, the vibrant orange blossom aroma is quite refreshing and calming. This exquisite oil invites you to close your eyes and be taken away to a Mediterranean euphoria.

While it may seem a little pricey at £32 for a 15ml, this elegant and clever blend is worth every penny and available on their website.  Requiring only one or two pumps per use, it is sure to last you a while. With its unique blend of botanic oils, Bodhi Neroli Lucé Revitalising Face Oil is the key to restoring your skin back to that hydrated and radiant look we all love and aim to achieve.