Ancienne Ambiance Colonia VIII

Everyone needs a signature scent— period. Finding a personal fragrance that can transition from day to night or season to season can be quite a mission, but we at The Amazing Blog think we have got you covered. And as much as we love discovering new brands to fall in love with, there are some things, like a signature scent, that have us reaching back to brands we already know and trust. We keep returning to Ancienne Ambiance because we adore how luxurious their products are, like the Goddess Argan Hand and Body Wash and Beauty Oil. They are an artisan brand inspired by the ancient world and winner of the Beauty Shortlist Awards 2017, and we know that the unisex sweet fig blend of the Colonia VIII Perfume EDP will hit every note on your must-have list. 

The fig tree has a long, sacred past. With roots in Greek and Roman mythology to a symbol of enlightenment in Buddhism, this little fruit has made its mark on history. Ancienne Ambiance specialises in crafting niche fragrances inspired by the ancient cultures that started it all. The Colonia VIII scent honours the art of perfumery, as each perfume is bottled with the finest ingredients in limited quantities in France, all in a stunning 100ml glass column bottle that is sure to make you feel as lavish as Cleopatra. The fragrance has its base notes rooted in the warmth of sandalwood, its heart notes rounded in coconut, and the top notes have light, natural green notes that will follow you around throughout your busy day. Everyone will stop you just to ask what you're wearing: trust us, we know from experience. 

Want to make sure your scent lasts all day? Apply it to your pulse points or the inner wrist and elbow, behind your ears and knees, and at the base of the neck. Mist it on your clothes and hair as well and avoid rubbing the scent into your skin, as it makes the fragrance fade faster.
You can purchase the Colonia VIII Perfume here for £60.

Christmas Candle Feature

As winter envelops us here in the UK, we all at The Amazing Blog, are looking to create that cosy warm hygge atmosphere. There is always something very special about lighting a heady and atmospheric candle. Not only the flickering light casting shadows but the gorgeous evocative aromas that help to create the right ambience. And we can't wait to share with you some of our  favourites candles to get you in the mood .

Breathing the scent of flowers when arriving home is the ideal way to start the evening. Sloane Home Topiary Garden with its fresh and floral notes help you create the peaceful atmosphere we are all craving for during those cold nights. The Sloane Home candles are all handmade, cooled, labelled and packaged. The Topiary Garden candle is made with mineral wax and beeswax, the top notes include apple and bergamot, the heart notes are juniper berries, patchouli, rose and jasmine and the base notes are vanilla, moss and ambergris. These ingredients make a modern, classic yet wonderfully scented candle. Purchase the Topiary Garden Candle  here for £32.00

When looking for a more luxurious and relaxing ambiance The Wakefulness candle by Aurelia Probiotic Skincare is our favourite. Specially crafted to energise and uplift your spirits this candle instantly install a sense of well-being in your home. The candle is made with a unique blend of oils including rose geranium oil, palmarosa, neroli and ylang-ylang oils. To complement the floral notes, the brand added grapefruit and mandarin to bring a fruity and fresher scent to the candle. The combination of these most relaxing and revitalising oils instantly put you in a peaceful and relaxing mindset. The candle is made from natural wax and is contained in an elegant ceramic vessel that perfectly complements your room décor.

Purchase the Wakefulness candle here for £55.

Strawberry Thief scented candle is a rich, earthy grounding candle made by Morris & Co’s. The candle is a rich and luxurious blend of scents including amber, sandalwood, patchouli, incense and vanilla, the heart notes include rose and violet, and the base notes are red berries, mandarin and bergamot. More than the delightful scent, what make us love this candle is the wintery and festive packaging it sports. The candle is contained in a colourful and printed glass with Morris & Co signature design and it  burns for up to 50 hours. Purchase the Strawberry and Thief candle here for £25.

In our opinion, Skandinavisk makes some of the most beautifully scented candles you can buy. We sampled their SKOG  candle which instantly transported us to a Scandinavian forest – in fact, Skog is Norwegian for forest.The Boreal forests cover half of Scandinavia. Unbroken, the forests stretch right from the far south to the arctic circle. The rich and natural scent of the pine candle is complemented by notes of subtle leather and lily of the valley. SKOG candle is hand-poured and made with 100% cotton wick. This candle is the perfect way to add a sophisticated festive and scandi feel to your home. Welcoming and warm, the mini candle will instantly transport you to somewhere a little more beautiful and peaceful. Purchase the Skandinavisk SKOG candles from Cotswold Trading here £15 for the mini candle (16 hours burning time) or here £29.99 for the regular candle (50 hours burning time) there is also a SPECIAL DISCOUNT of 10% at the time of publishing this feature - enter code CANDLE10 at checkout. 

Is there anything better than having a nice beauty sleep and a peaceful night after a long working day? Scentered candle after a year of research and creation created a therapeutic and most relaxing candle that they named Sleep Well. The name says it all; the candle is specially crafted to help you relax, calm your mind and uplift your spirit, thus helping you to have a good night sleep. Formulated with 100% natural ingredients including lavender, chamomile, palmarosa, Ho Wood, Geranium and Ylang Ylang this sophisticated candle combines all the soothing and therapeutic benefits of its components. Fragrance your room with these calming scent, relax and have a good night.You can purchase the Sleep Well candle here for £32.95.

Last but not least, and probably the most glamorous candle of all is the delicious new ‘Bacca’ scented candle from Ancienne Ambiance . This is a must-have when it comes to Christmas candles. ‘Bacca’ which is Latin for small ‘small round fruit’ perfectly describes the vibrant and fruity scent of redcurrants, blackcurrants and an array of freshly picked bursting berries in the candle. This candle is truly 'berrylicious' and has an excellent burning time or 60-65 hours, which from our experience has a scent lasts throughout. The beautiful and sophisticated scents of bursting berries were loved by the Romans, Etruscans and Greeks as they were thought to have medicinal properties. We just love the added bonus of this feel-good factor.

The candle comes beautifully packaged in hand-crafted luxurious gift boxes made in the UK, making them a perfect gift or a gorgeous mantelpiece. Each candle is hand poured in the UK using a unique slow burning natural wax blend and a lead free wick. We want one of these candles burning on our Christmas Day! Purchase the Ancienne Ambience ‘Bacca’ Candle here for £40.

Whether you are looking for just a gently scented relaxing candle, or a rich and luxurious fragrance to set the party scene; we certainly think you'll that find one of these here. 

Christmas Gift Ideas for Her

Every year during the festive season, we all face the same struggle asking ourselves the same question; what on earth do we give to our mothers, sisters and best girlfriends (yes girlfriends, we're expecting gifts from you too!) So this year at The Amazing Blog we've come up with a great collection of gifts ideas that we think will suit even your fussiest of friends.

The first gift idea we would like to share with you is from one of our favourite brands Heathcote & Ivory, we'd like to suggest their Heathcote and Ivory Sakura Silks Exquisite Spa Set. This set comes in a stunning and colourful hexagonal tin box - which we think will make a glamorous storage box afterwards. When lifting the lid a gorgeous floral and zesty aroma gently pervaded the office - we were in love! This gift set contains three products; a hand cream, bath salts and a body butter.  The hand cream is formulated with shea butter, vitamin E and panthenol, green tea, jasmine and cedarwood. Together these ingredients intensely nourish hands and cuticles leaving them velvety soft and delicously scented. The Sakura Silks bath salts are the perfect way to indulge and pamper your body at home and help create a luxurious and relaxing at home spa experience.  Finally, the body butter is a rich moisturising cream made with a unique blend of essential oils including lemon, lime and sweet orange. Shea butter and vitamin E are known for their hydrating and protecting properties smooth, soften and provide the extra-hydration skin needs during winter.  All of these products are paraben free. You can purchase the Heathcote & Ivory set here for £15.

We think that a fragrance or perfume is a nice treat when it comes to a Christmas gift. With this in mind, we'd like to suggest the newly launched Change perfume created by the actress Lisa Riley.  Inspired by celebrating a new chapter in her life, the Change perfume is a versatile and memorable fragrance which will suit almost everyone with its floral and oriental notes. The top notes are mandarin leaves and mulberry flowers while the middle notes are tuberose, orange flower and jasmine; and the base notes include sandalwood, Tonka bean and patchouli. These luxurious ingredients work to create and rich and sensual perfume that is timeless and transcends all seasons. You can purchase the perfume here for £14.99 + p&p.

We think that owning a beautiful silk scarf is an investment as well as  a classic item for every woman's wardrobe. So we've chosen one from Libby by Design, these are all limited edition handmade silk scarves. Each of these designer scarves are made in England, 100% silk, and hand finished with rolled borders. Every piece is unique, some even have themes from Rudyard Kipling, but all take their inspiration from in the style of Indonesian batiks. We have featured our favourite “How the leopard got his spots” which is a versatile 98cm silk square that can be worn in numerous ways. These scarves are the perfect accessory for brightening up either a heavy winter coat or worn as a sarong on a sandy Caribbean beach. Purchase your scarf here for £174 with SPECIAL OFFER of 15% off if you order before Christmas!

For another Christmas gift idea, we were rather taken with this Morris and Co design inspired lavish body gift set. One of our favourites of this year, is their Pure Morris The Collection, this includes a travel size shower cream and a body lotion, together with a full size hand cream. The shower cream is a gentle body wash that is formulated with vitamin A and E, kelp, silver birch and thistle extracts. These ingredients deeply cleanse the body while keeping skin balanced and hydrated. The body lotion is also infused with the same extracts, but in addition there is also almond oil and cocoa butter which help to soften and smooth the skin leaving it velvety soft. The hand cream is formulated with natural ingredients including shea butter, jojoba oil and macadamia oil making it a deeply nourishing cream to protect hands during the winter season. The products come in an intricately embossed tin. The Morris and Co Pure Morris gift set can be purchased here for £22.

For the glamourpuss in your life, we think that the Rouge Bunny Rouge Surprise Eye Shadow Palette will be an excellent choice. Rouge Bunny Rouge is a favourite here at TheAmazingBlog; this international make up brand always keep us up to speed with their new launches. So we were happy to learn about the Surprise Eye Shadow Palette which contains five long-lasting shimmery shadows including a highlighting shade, three smoky neutral tones and one frosted iridescent shimmer eye shadow. NB: This quintet of colours are a 'surprise' so we cannot show you the exact selection of colours (the image above is just the palette casing).  Lightweight, creamy touch offering an extended 8-hour wear, the eye shadow formula is made to stay put and to look freshly applied all day long. All refill shades are made to fit perfectly into this Limited Edition. The palette also comes with a free decorated presentation box which makes it an even more impressive present. Purchase here for €50.00.

We hope we're provided some good inspiration for gifting your loved ones, as well as yourself of course! 

Flores Mediterrneas by Álvarez Gómez

Just because we are in the deep, dark, depths of Winter doesn’t mean we can’t inject a bit of Mediterranean warmth into our lives. We at The Amazing Blog are longing for the heat, the culture and the beautiful smells of our favourite Mediterranean countries, however, with Christmas around the corner the budget for jet-setting off has dwindled down to nothing. If this also sounds like you, then never fear because we have the next best thing, Álvarez Gómez  whose Mediterranean Flowers collection of Eau de Toilette's will transport you to a beautiful Spanish vineyard in a single spritz. 

With eight delightful floral scents to chose from, each fragrance will remind you of your favourite Spanish Garden or Forest filled with Mediterranean flowers. Álvarez Gómezwas established in 1912 and has a long tradition in Spain. Making use of this long history the brand has selected a variety of delicate fragrances in this exquisite range. Featured in Hotels and Restaurants the brand is a Spanish beauty staple, and the simple art deco bottle sits pride of place on many bathroom shelves, both public and private. 

We loved all of the scents, but our favourite was their Orchid and White Lily Eau de toilette. This one has a particularly sultry scent. The fragrance envelops you and left us feeling incredibly sophisticated. Due to this, we think it is the perfect perfume to wear to a special dinner, evening event or just as a winter fragrance. We won’t be wearing anything else!

You can purchase all of their perfumes here, costing £19.50. With Christmas around the corner this is the perfect gift to ask for or buy for that special someone. 

Friday Favourites - Fragrances

Here at The Amazing Blog, we love summer in London. However, offices without air conditioning and stuffy tubes can often lead to assaults on the senses when the weather heats up. For this reason, we always like to make sure we’re smelling our best, and I’m sure you do too. Of course, this isn’t limited to the warmer months, but we wanted to share with you our favourite summer scents.

The first of our fragrance favourites is the new Les “White” collection from French brand, Jul Et Mad.  Positively oozing Parisian sophistication, the brand was born out of the love story of Julien and Madalina, whose relationship inspires all the perfumes they create.  Of the three aromas in the collection, Nea, Nin-Shar and Garuda, Nea is our favourite. A rich, fruity fragrance, it contains Date and Dry Plum, as well as Damascan Rose and Caramel. It feels so opulent, and is such a treat to wear. The perfect heady scent for those hot summer evenings, it’s inspired by the Ancient civilization of Byzantium. Modern day Turkey, it certainly evokes feelings of the East and the Orient. A little on the pricey side, the Nea scent is available to buy here for €165.  It’s also available to buy at Harrods, Fenwick Bond Street and Harvey Nichols, and it certainly is the ultimate luxury.

A little more affordable, but no less special, are the Industria fragrances. You may recognise the brand from our candle feature, and the fragrances are no less chic. With three beautifully crisp looking fragrances to choose from, each looks so clean and fresh. Although we love the sharp citrus notes of Bergamotto and the more musky scent of Ambergris, Cardinalis is the shining star for us.  As with the candle, the notes of coconut and mandarin oil perfectly evoke holiday feelings in us, making it a wonderful summer aroma. You can pick up the Cardinalis perfume here for £59 along with others from the collection.

Another little spritz of luxury can be found in Eutopie perfumes. With each numbered bottle documenting part of a journey, the brand story is just as interesting as the scents themselves. Our favourite was No. 7. Influenced by the Palace of Versailles, the opulent scent takes inspiration from the Kitchen Garden of the King, filled with the delicious scents of blackcurrants, peaches and strawberries. Combined with Marigold and Pink Pepper, this subtle scent is perfect for a soft scent this season. Pick it up here for €155. (They are featuring free international shipping on their website until 31/08 with purchases of €155!)

Last, but certainly not least is the innovative creation from Perphone. We love to carry a scent with us on long days, so that we can freshen up when needs be. We always rely on sample sizes however, as carting around a bottle of your signature scent is a little cumbersome. Perphone have come up with the genius idea of merging your scent with your phone. Their chic iPhone cases house cartridges of a range of fragrances, which swivel up, turning your phone into a makeshift spritzer. Available for both men and women, we’ll never have to worry about forgetting our perfume again. Grab one of these fun cases here on their website or on Amazon for £28.