Green Options

Going through the day without being enveloped in a beautiful fragrance is as unthinkable as having no music, no coffee and god forbid… no food – that’s how seriously I take my obsession with scent. Smell is one of the most powerful of the senses and has the ability to directly impact your mood & emotional wellbeing, stimulating our emotions and awakening our senses. Once in a blue moon, a new brand comes along that blows me away with sophistication, effectiveness, a great price point, fantastic brand philosophy and overall sheer beauty. Acorelle Organic Eau de Parfum is one such line. Made by a French fragrance house who know what a fine fragrance is, there isn’t a single note lavender, patchouli or rose among this gorgeous collection. Instead what you’ll find are scents that have depth, flair, unique personality, and that meld into your skin for an olfactory experience that’s simply blissful and beautiful – not to mention good for you & good for the planet.

Shopping is costing the earth, literally, and at this time of year even more so. The idea is to spoil the ones you love not the planet, and a great way to do that is by purchasing organic & natural products. There are gorgeous gift ideas in abundance this year and no shortage of special offers to help lighten the load on your wallet. But for those  who don’t mind spending a little extra to get something  absolutely beautiful and special for someone you love, this Four Fragrance Miniature Organic Fragrance Set from Tsi-La is TDF (to-die-for).

As any collector of glass and bijoux can tell you, ladies used to carry a small perfume bottle around with them and reapply the scent throughout the day. The reason we can spritz ourselves with our favourite fragrance in the morning and not bother again until the evening is synthetic ingredients that stabilise a perfume. Without them, a scent lasts two hours or less. So when we talk about organic perfume, we’re talking about something that doesn’t have the shelf life, or the ‘spray-and-go’ life of standard perfumes.

Mandy Aftel has been described variously as, “one of the great living masters of natural perfume,” (Affluent Lifestyle Mag), “the Angel of Alchemy”, (Vanity Fair) and “Couture fragrance … one of Hollywood’s chicest secrets,” (Vogue). We’ll simply call her, “Olfactory Alchemy Genius.” Working out of her ‘Aftelier Perfumes’ store, Aftel is most notable for the creation of covetable bespoke scents, but she also has her own fragrance collection for those who can’t afford her (arguably) more illustrious talents. Believing that synthetic essences have no complexity, mystery or emotional intensity, she hand blends from a selection of more than 500 essences that have been sourced from all around the globe.

Made with sustainably farmed ingredients grown exlusively in Hawaii, these Malie Organic Aroma Mists are to-die-for. The scents are all steam-distilled directly from indigenous plants and flowers to produce a hydrosol that is the very essence of the source. Plumeria smells exactly like burying your face in a franjipani bloom; the coconut is fresh; the vanilla is local and indigenous; mango nectar smells juicy and freshly peeled; Koke’e is straight out of the rain forest. Because the mists don’t contain any of the chemical binders that make the scent last a long time on your skin, you do have to spray more often. Small price to pay if you think about it for not spritzing yourself with endocrine disruptors and petrochemicals. Designed for use around the home, for freshening linens, and you. The best thing about them? You can spray liberally and often … DELICIOUS.

Unless you were born in the last ten years and never listen to music, you’ve no doubt heard of legendary Rolling Stone guitarist Ronnie Wood - but how many of you know of his wife Jo Wood, organic maven and legend in her own right?

Used to traveling to far-flung, global locales while touring with the band and long a fan of an organic lifestyle, Wood created this line to offer a [...]

It could be that I’ve just returned from a holiday in the tropics but I LOVE these organic & natural Spray Lotion Mists from Ola Hawaii. The sweet, zingy, fresh smell of pineapple + lime is super delish but there are all kinds of scents to choose from if citrus isn’t your thing.

Keep it stashed in your bag during Summer heat to spritz

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