Minty Christmas

One thing I love about the festive season is the Christmas scents. Being in the midst of summer means our Christmas differs quite vastly from the experiences of those across the pond, we wear summer dresses rather than Christmas sweaters etc. and it doesn't always feel right to indulge in warm and spicy scents as the air con roars. Instead, I like to partake in a bit of peppermint action as I feel like it's a year round winner for me - creamy warmth if it's cold and a fresh tingle if it's hot = perfect!

Presenting to you, my pepperminty Christmas body product favourites!

I have hoarded my Bath & Body Works stash since our honeymoon in late '14 and brought the Twisted Peppermint Body Lotion out for another round this year. The sweet edge of this makes it more like a sweet peppermint lolly than a spicy mint on the skin which is what makes it so wearable in my opinion. I really regret not buying it in candle and body wash form, I think it would have been amazing for that as well. 

Back in October I purchased the Palmolive Peppermint Crush Body Butter Exfoliating Body Wash to squirrel away for use in December and it's something I always sniff when I'm doing the groceries but had put off buying for some reason. It's seriously delicious and lathers up perfectly with a shower sponge - it's very light on the exfoliation however, so would be great for lovers of light, everyday scrubs but may let heavy-scrub-lovers down if they're buying it for that reason.

I'm off to continue smelling like a walking candy cane thanks to these two beauties - hope your December is shaping up to be a great one!
-Emma

Manhattan Blooms

I am such a sucker for a beautiful fragrance, and a few of the products I've been using lately definitely tick the 'smell awesome' criteria box for me. The obvious product to smell amazing is a perfume (whoda thunk it!) and the latest bottle to hit my stash is the latest Taylor Swift perfume, Taylor. A lovely Christmas gift from my sister in law, it was initially the cool 70's retro luxe bottle that saw this jump on my wishlist, but the scent was the real hook in the end. Fragrantica mentions notes like lychee, tangerine and vanilla orchid, but ultimately this reminds me of Britney Spears Curious with a touch more class (note: I have a fond spot for Curious as Mister Bovary bought me it when we began dating, so this similarity is a very positive thing for me)

Another good scent experience comes by way of yet another sister in law - some Manhattan Dusk melts for our oil burner. Mister Bovary has a serious melt/candle addiction, and these were down to $1 so they were thrown in with my sister-in-laws Dusk haul while we were out shopping together. They smell of bergamot and rose damask, and I love the pretty pale blue colouring so much.

A surprisingly impressive scent is the new Maybelline Color Bloom lip balms which are not yet available in Australia, but were purchased in Bali as part of my Christmas gift from my dear friend Carly. These balms smell sweet and go on clear before blooming into colour on your lips, staining them a nice sheer shade. I adore the clean lines of the packaging for these, elated to have two new lip products to play around with this summer. I have Pink Blossom and Peach Blossom, the hot pink being my personal favourite.

Last but not least in the amazing scent stakes is the latest body moisturiser obsession of mine - Lush's Sikkim Girls*! I received this tub at the Lush Cruelty-Free Christmas event and have been rubbing in the heady jasmine scented lotion every night before I hit the hay. It does leave a bit of a residue but smells so good - the scent is described by Mister Bovary as 'a mix between a Lush store and a hippy'.

 

What scents have you been swooning over?

 

Emma @ emmabovarybeauty

Scents of September- L'EAU D'ISSEY,Burt's Bees and Yankee Candles

The weather in Australia is generally all over the place, and Melbourne is no exception. Known for having four seasons in a single day, we sort of get the best of all worlds while getting the short end of the stick as our summer dresses are soaked in rain.

I have been struggling to keep up with the constant changes, and my poor skin has been battered. I received this Burt's Bees Almond Milk Hand Creme in a mini pack I hauled a while ago, and it's only now receiving love from me. It smells like yummy almonds and reminds me of biscuits, and is great at coating my hands to keep the elements out. It's quite thick and waxy, but good at its job so I shan't complain.

For those sunny days, I've been loving this L'Eau D'Issey sample. I have no idea how I came to own this baby perfume, but mmm it's good. Chris' brother is a massive fan of Issey Miyake fragrances and it reminds me of him when I wear it. He's pretty awesome, so it's a good connection:) It's a heavy yet light scent, and feels both masculine and feminine to me. I can picture myself wearing this out to dinner or just to the shops, so it is a versatile scent to my nose. It's obvious I am bad with scent description, so just give it a sniff next time you're out and about.

The gorgeous PR for Yankee Candles realised I couldn't attend the Sydney launch as I'm Melbourne based, so was kind enough to fill up a parcel with Yankee goodness and mail it out to me! Was very happy to see scents I might not have picked for myself, and I've been loving Clean Cotton for those times when the rain has gone but the damp feel remains, and you just need something clean and fresh to take over. I've also got the melts in Fluffy Towels which I'm keen to try, and I think the name is super cute.

That rounds up my top scent picks for September, I was lucky enough to receive some perfume samples from Coty at ABBW last weekend so am gearing up to fall in love with them in October. My IMATS/ABBW posts are coming, I'm still recovering from all of the excitement so it's taken me a while to get organised. Let me know what scents you've been loving lately, or if there are any you think I should have a sniff at.

emmabovary xx