Liz Earle Naturally Active Skincare blog

My deep and abiding affection for the Royal Horticultural Society was confirmed in my early weeks in London 16 years ago when I went to my first of many RHS London shows. These used to take place almost every month of the year – marvellous, pint-sized and perfect botanical shows in the Lawrence Hall, a stone’s throw from Victoria and the RHS’s London headquarters at 80 Vincent Square. Here, I found not only incredibly knowledgeable and skilled plantsmen and women selling their wares, but kindred spirits passionate about plants and in search of a specific, and undoubtedly rare, variety.

The Royal Horticultural Society and its mission to advance horticulture and promote good gardening have illustrious roots. In an era of unparallelled botanical exploration and innovation, John Wedgwood (scion of the Staffordshire pottery family, son of Josiah Wedgwood – the inventor of modern marketing, and uncle of Charles Darwin) wanted to share his research and thoughts on plants and best horticultural practice, which resulted in the establishment of the RHS. The society has moved on from its first meeting in 1804 at Hatchards bookshop on Piccadilly, but the same values are still at its heart. And it’s the synergy between the RHS’s passion for growing plants and Liz Earle’s passion for using the best botanical ingredients that has led us to collaborate.

2013 marks the centenary of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, and what better way to celebrate a landmark year in the life of the world’s most famous flower show than with a fine fragrance named for it! Botanical Essence No.100 is a fresh floral fragrance inspired by the transcendent joy of floral notes that perfume the air in a terrific florist’s shop…or in the Great Marquee at Chelsea.

With the exception of breaks during the two World Wars, the RHS Chelsea Flower Show has transformed the grounds of the Royal Hospital, Chelsea  into an exotic garden of botanical delights. From its beginning in 1913, the show has been a blend of nursery exhibitors and temporary gardens, with floristry and garden sundries joining the mix along the way. First erected in 1951, the Great Marquee made it into the Guinness Book of Records as the largest tent – a whopping 3½ acres covered by canvas.

On entering the marquee, you’d be enveloped by an indescribable heady fragrance – the result of hundreds of varieties of fragrant flowers mingling with warm soil, grass and the canvas itself. When the canvas marquee was replaced with a contemporary modular structure in 2000, I thought I’d never smell that unique perfume again.

So you can imagine my excitement when we began work on what would become Botanical Essence No.100 with the award-winning and oh-so-talented Alienor Massenet. As I described to her the magic scent of RHS Chelsea Flower Show, she tilted her head, and gave me the smallest of grins. “You mean it should smell like when you open the door at a really good florist,” she said. I nodded. “This, this is very difficult. Perfumers have been trying to do this forever. And with naturals?” She began shaking her head. So we knew were on the right track – after all, if it is elusive and nearing impossible to capture, it’s got to be a Botanical Essence!

As I smell the bottle on my desk today, I can’t help but smile. Alienor has captured that magic in a joyful fresh floral, full of the sublime essence of flower blossoms. It pays tribute to all the iconic, classic florals that have gone before while remaining contemporary, modern and totally of the moment. Something I think you’ll find the RHS Chelsea Flower Show to be in this, its centenary year.

Every year in May, the great and good of the British and European fragrance world gather in London for the prestigious FiFi Awards. These are awarded by the Fragrance Foundation UK, a membership organisation charged with promoting excellence, innovation, appreciation and education in the fragrance industry.

For a newcomer on the fragrance block like Liz Earle Beauty Company, even being considered in the same category as some of our competitors is a compliment and an achievement in itself. So when our second fine fragrance, Botanical Essence No.15, was shortlisted in four categories, you can imagine the buzz around The Green House.

To win the People’s Choice Award – for Women, was beyond our wildest expectations and we are completely thrilled. As this award is voted for by our customers on Boots.com, it makes it all the more special. We made the decision to join the Boots family last year, and are currently in six stores nationwide with more to come.

You couldn’t have made our Boots welcome any clearer than by voting in droves for Botanical Essence No.15, so thank you to everyone who named our fresh oriental their favourite. You have put us in the company of some perfumery giants with massive distribution and commercial muscle behind them.

When it comes to understanding an ingredient, we look beyond how it’s grown and handled, or even its botanical heritage, and go all the way back to when our knowledge was enshrined in myth and story. Here, at an ingredient’s roots, is where the romance lies. Take the traditional symbol of romance, the gorgeous Damask rose at the heart of Botanical Essence No.15 and Botanical Essence No.1.

Aphrodite, the goddess of love, is said to have created the rose by resurrecting a dead nymph in its form. Dionysus, the god of wine, gave it nectar so it would always smell sweet. Zephyr, the wind, blew away the clouds so that Apollo, the sun, could shine on the rose. With so many gods lavishing their energy on the flower, it’s no wonder the ancient Greeks thought of the rose as the queen of flowers. Confucius is said to have amassed a library of 600 volumes on how to cultivate the rose, while the ever-romantic Cleopatra covered floors of her palace in its petals.

For me, perhaps the most romantic story in the history of roses is the legend behind the development of attar of rose, the essential oil used in perfumery. In the early 1600s, Princess Nur Mahal was being courted by the great Moughal Emperor Jahangir. He would do anything to please her. One day, probably to test him, she asked that a small lake be covered over with the weight of an elephant in rose petals. Given that the average Asian elephant weighs three and a half tonnes, this was no small request. So with great flourish and fanfare, Emperor Jahangir commanded his servants to bring him the weight of an elephant in fragrant roses and spread the petals over the lake. Once the roses had been cast upon the waters, the emperor rowed a boat with the princess over the lake, demonstrating his devotion to her.

Every day, when the powerful emperor asked what would please the princess, her request was the same. After several days, Princess Nur Mahal noticed an oily film on top of the water. Dipping her finger into the lake, the princess found that the oil had the highly concentrated fragrance of the roses. She commanded her servants to soak up the oil and wring it out into bottles for storage. The emperor’s passion for the princess had turned the lake into a distillery. Legend has it that this was the first attar of roses: the year was 1612 and distillation of attar of rose in Persia dates from the same year. Attar comes from the Farsi aettr, meaning ‘fat’, an accurate description of the oily substance.

Every time I smell rose, whether on a bush, as a perfumery ingredient or blended into a fragrance, I think of the emperor and his love for the princess. Huge romantic gestures run in this family: Princess Nur was aunt to Empress Mumtaz Mahal, whose besotted husband built the Taj Mahal. So if you want a Valentine’s Day steeped in romance, look no further than our fine fragrances, with attar of rose at their heart.

PS. Don’t forget our Valentine’s Day Gift For You, available until midnight on Wednesday 13^th February, to help you look and feel utterly irresistible! Order either of our fine fragrances and we’ll treat you to a complimentary Signature Lip Colour in Sweet Pea, one of my favourite mouth-watering shades.

Alienor Massenet is the award-winning French perfumer who has helped us create our new Botanical Essence No.15. I caught up with her at our press launch to find out a little more about the fascinating world of fragrance.

Hannah: What inspired you to become a perfumer?
Alienor: I knew I was interested in fragrance from a young age – I used to smell everything my mother put in front of me! I decided to become a perfumer at 20, when I paid for my vacation by selling perfumed candles I had made myself in my kitchen.

Hannah: Did you enjoy creating Botanical Essence No.15?
Alienor: Yes. It is very rare to be asked to use such a high level of natural ingredients, particularly for an oriental fragrance; other perfumers shy away from a brief to use high levels of naturals as it’s easier to use synthetics. It’s also unusual to work with such a high spend per kilo – it meant we could choose ingredients of a very high quality. I felt like a chef who gets to play with all the special ingredients!

Hannah: How is Botanical Essence No.15 different to Botanical Essence No.1?
Alienor: Fragrances are generally categorised by family depending on how they smell and the degree to which each ingredient is used. The two botanical essences sit in two very different fragrance families; Botanical Essence No.1 is classed as a Fresh Citrus whereas Botanical Essence No.15 is a Fresh Spicy Oriental.

Hannah: Why is Botanical Essence No.15 called a ‘modern’ fresh oriental?
Alienor: Unlike more traditional oriental fragrances, Botanical Essence No.15 doesn’t have such a fruity, gourmand effect. This is because of the combination and concentration of natural ingredients we’ve used, particularly the cedarwood oil and cypriol in the background which give the fragrance a very clean, very fresh, sexy note which you don’t find in a traditional oriental scents. To have this freshness coming from the background of an oriental fragrance rather than the top of the fragrance is very new.

Hannah: And why do you describe it as a ‘spherical’ fragrance?
Alienor: When you spray the fragrance on your skin, you have a tiny bit of bergamot and spice, but very quickly you smell the powerful rose and woods and the cocktail of vanilla, tonka bean and benzoin which are all wrapped together, so it becomes a very rounded fragrance. Botanical Essence No.1 is shaped like the Egyptian pyramids with its very distinctive citrus top notes, which give way to a floral heart and then woods at the base, but Botanical Essence No.15 is more like the Guggenheim Museum – very modern and round, where you see everything at the same time.

Hannah: Are there any particular ingredients in Botanical Essence No.15 that you love?
Alienor: It’s been incredibly exciting to use real Indian sandalwood again. I remember smelling its creamy, milky effect when I first started at IFF, but it has been an endangered ingredient for a very long time, and so it’s wonderful that we now have a sustainable source grown in Australia and are therefore able to include it. I also love cypriol, which is not too different from patchouli, but less dark. The Damask rose is also very special – we use a blend that comes from Bulgarian rose petals, which are beautifully apple-like and fruity, and rose petals from Turkey, which have more spiciness. This rose combination works really well with the pink pepper and the cinnamon leaf to give the fragrance a feminine spiciness.

Hannah: What brief did we give you and how long did it take you to complete?
Alienor: I was asked to create an oriental that was very sensual, captivating and very feminine with a lot of naturals. It took me about a year to perfect it.

Hannah: What do you think we are going to see in the fragrance industry in the next year or two?
Alienor: The world is changing a lot and different continents want different scents. People in Brazil, say, have very different tastes in fragrance to people in China or France or North America. I think having a fragrance that is a little bit more personal to you is going to be very important. Fragrances will need to take you on a personal journey or trip somewhere.

Hannah: And which trip do you hope people will make when they wear Botanical Essence No.15?
Alienor: Good question! I think somewhere in Asia, because you have the cinnamon, the warm humid quality from all those woods, and the patchouli from Indonesia. Its warm, sensual attraction reminds me most of India and Asia.

We believe the combination of traditional knowledge and modern science results in the very best ingredients. Two perfect examples of this can be found in our Cleanse & Polish Rose and Lavender Special Edition for The Prince’s Trust.

Every May and June for scores of years, Turkish rose growers have risen before dawn and made their way to fields in the half-light to get a head-start on the sun. They know that the minute the sun’s rays warm the blossoms, precious volatile rose oils begin to evaporate from the petals. This knowledge of their environment and its impact on the rose (information passed down through generations), helps our rose farmers in Isparta, Turkey to give us the best possible ingredient. Then they take it one step further, painstakingly plucking each petal from the blossom by hand and discarding any leaf, twig, stem or stamen. Each morning’s harvest is distilled before dusk falls that day to ensure every possible breath of precious essence is retained. All this care creates the foundation for the exceptional rose petal essential oil we’ve used in our special edition.

The incredible team at our perfume house use the latest modern technology when distilling the essential oil to amplify the qualities of this special material. An understanding of the rate at which different odour molecules evaporate is applied to pluck the most volatile rose notes from the evaporating steam and capture them back in the essential oil. Taken together, the heritage of traditional knowledge and skill of modern technical perfumery evoke the experience of inhaling the powerful scent of a fragrant Damask rose blossom.

When it comes to our high-altitude lavender essential oil, to say that it has deep roots, heritage and a sense of place is an understatement. For the past 150 years, the same French family has been distilling lavender collected locally to produce a unique essential oil. In doing so, they take advantage of the local knowledge of the growers and physiological magic that happens when plants grow at altitude. Life well above sea level is accompanied by challenges, and one of the ways lavender addresses these is by producing an essential oil higher in linalyl esters than its lower-living cousins. Combined with an inherited skill in distilling at altitude where steam is cooler, the result is a high linalyl ester essential oil rich in aromatic splendour.

So whether an ingredient starts in the rose fields of Isparta, Turkey or on the slopes of Mount Ventoux, France, or somewhere else altogether, we take advantage of the intimacy between plant and grower and bring the best ingredients to products like our Cleanse & Polish Special Edition.

Mothering Sunday always poses something of a conundrum for me. For centuries, little posies of seasonal flowers have been the traditional way of expressing appreciation of one’s mother on the prescribed day. I’ve outgrown crushed stems of forget-me-nots, daisies and irises (Mother’s Day is almost two months later in America, so the material available for pilfering to create a posy is somewhat more varied), already drooping from my attentions as an aspiring florist. Five thousand miles away from my mother, I’ve struggled to recapture the sentiment expressed in those precious stems in a meaningful and resonant gift.

Until now, that is. Botanical Essence No.1 captures the floral splendour of those early offerings, translating them into a fragrant bouquet that will still be fresh and unique each time my mother reaches for it. We’ve gathered Californian lemons, Sicilian bergamot, French high altitude lavender, and Turkish damask roses into a vibrant, sparkling, sensuous handcrafted fine fragrance. And, with 700 precious pumps in each bottle, my mother will be able to bask in my appreciation for months to come.

The Victorians used posies as floral text messages, expressing secret sentiments in a complex, nuanced language called floriography. It was possible to have an argument or express your love in great detail within a single bunch of flowers. In fragrance terms, we describe Botanical Essence No.1 as a fresh, citrus floral that really lasts. Floriographically, the bitter orange means sweetness and the lemon zest, generosity; the heart notes of lavender, Damask rose and rose-scented geranium communicate devotion, gratitude and grace; while the Texan cedarwood offers up succour and protection.

However you chose to interpret Botanical Essence No.1, our first fine fragrance makes the perfect gift, to celebrate and flatter that special someone on Mothering Sunday, or just because.

On one of my frequent visits to Grasse, the fragrance capital of the world, I took time out to meet up with Jean-Charles Niel, the distinguished perfumer who created our Botanical Essence No. 1. Jean-Charles has been involved in the fabulous world of fragrance since birth, so I thought it would be great to ask him a few questions about his career and experience working with Liz Earle.

Jean-Charles was born in Grasse and, as a boy, always imagined that he would be a pilot or a surgeon. However, throughout his childhood, he was surrounded by discussions of perfume and natural ingredients since his father was president of the leading natural raw material company at the time. This company had a pioneering lady named Monique Rémy as their Technical Manager.  Like Liz Earle, Monique was passionate about the finest quality natural ingredients and later set up Laboratoire Monique Rémy to source and produce the best raw ingredients in the world. She watched Jean-Charles grow up and was probably not too surprised when he abandoned his previous career aspirations and started to train as a perfumer. His excellent ‘nose’ continued to develop as he found inspiration in his love of art, classical music and fine wine!

Lorna: How has the career of a perfumer changed in the last 30 years?

Jean-Charles: These days the young perfumer must be an artist, but having a chemistry background as a starting point is a plus. When I started, things were different, with a daily emphasis on building olfactive memory and blending naturals and molecules from around the world. Today, while some rules are necessary, they are much more complex and restrictive. The more tests the authorities insist on, the more prohibitive the prices and the harder it is to be creative. There are also far more fragrances around nowadays, with a large number of celebrities’ fragrances regularly launched onto the market.

Lorna: What was it like working with the Liz Earle team?

Jean-Charles: In my entire career, I have never enjoyed such freedom when creating a fragrance. I did not believe it at first, but once I met Liz and Kim, I understood how totally committed they were to the creation of the finest possible fragrance. Their goal was a luxury fragrance at an affordable price – the value for money that Botanical Essence No. 1 offers is exceptional.

Lorna: What is the most exciting element when creating a fragrance?

Jean-Charles: The brief! (This is the communication from a company describing the type of fragrance they want the perfumer to create.) When you work with people, you need to listen to their words, guess what they think, discover what they like and what they don’t like. You work together to narrow down creative options and end up with the closest olfactive illustration of their vision. This can be a lengthy process, just like it was with Liz Earle Botanical Essence No. 1! We took a long time to perfect the right smell for your signature scent.

Lorna: Why did you want to work with Liz Earle?

Jean-Charles: Liz’s love of naturals matched my experience really well. Not many people know how to work with so many natural ingredients these days, and I had to rediscover how some of these ingredients interacted with each other, which was so exciting having been born into this field.

Lorna: How did the challenge of creating the Liz Earle fragrance differ from other companies?

Jean-Charles: The fragrance embodies Liz’s philosophy, so it had to be a journey from excellent skincare into excellent fragrance. The desire to be as natural as possible was unusual as it is so much more difficult to create a successful, totally natural fragrance. It had to be compatible with her philosophy of wellbeing yet also be respected in the world of ‘fine’ fragrances. The Liz Earle team allowed the fragrance to be developed the way perfumery used to be done to get the best possible formula. Liz Earle is the epitome of good taste.

Lorna: Which of the fragrances you’ve created are you particularly proud of?

Jean-Charles: Magie Noire by Lancôme, Red by Giorgio, Silence by Jacomo and, of course, Liz Earle Botanical Essence No. 1!

Lorna: What are your favourite fragrance notes to work with?

Jean-Charles: I love working with natural ingredients which are found in the Chypre family. I especially enjoy the combination of patchouli and rose as they blend so well together, and also love adding sophistication through the use of Florentine orris.

Lorna: What is the most satisfying aspect of your job?

Jean-Charles: Seeing my babies born!

Lorna: What do you think are the major trends in the perfumery industry at the moment?

Jean-Charles: The olfactory trends are easy-to-wear fruity floral, crystal clear and fresh fragrances with a subdued sensuality, but I do see things leaning towards the more feminine, gourmand, sensual, even sexy notes.

Christmas shopping evening
If you would like to find out more about the development of Botanical Essence No.1, join me and the Liz Earle team at the London store for an exclusive Christmas shopping evening on Thursday 24th November between 6.30pm and 8pm. I’ll be sharing some stories with you from the world of perfume, and there’ll be a complimentary engraving service in store for everyone buying a bottle of Botanical Essence No.1 on the day*. There’s also a chance to win a Liz Earle Ultimate Hamper, which includes a bottle of our fine fragrance engraved with the initials of your choice*.

All guests will leave with a gorgeous little goody bag packed with treats for you to take home and try*. Spaces for this event are limited and tickets are £10, redeemable against any purchase on the night. To reserve your place at this very special evening and to book the complimentary engraving service, please call 01983 813562 between 9am and 5.30pm, Monday to Friday.

*Subject to availability, while stocks last.  Terms and conditions apply. Separate terms and conditions apply to prize draw.

Perfume is centuries old. The ancient Egyptians used perfumed resins from trees and plants and burnt these as an offering to the gods, inspiring the name ‘perfume’ – from the Latin ‘per fumum’, which means ‘through smoke’. They later began to use these aromatic resins, balms, oils and spices on their skin and these were so popular they became more precious than gold. The ancient Chinese, Hindus, Israelites, Carthaginians, Arabs, Greeks and Romans also in some way incorporated perfume into their culture – whether it was a gift to please the Gods or used to fragrance their animals.

Scent and society
There has always been a strong link between scent and society, and the formulations, ingredients and ‘style’ of perfumes closely reflected each era. The launch of Chanel No 5 embodied the roaring 1920s, first introducing aldehydes in perfume: an uplifting ingredient that was perfect for creating a ‘feel-good factor’ after the war. By the end of World War II, society craved new beginnings and luxury and perfumers responded to this by introducing ‘the green note’ to fragrances.

The 1950s started an era of youth culture and rock ‘n roll. Estee Lauder epitomised this with the creation of Youth Dew: a strong, powerful scent. By the 1970s we began to see a huge variety of different scents evolving, from the lighter Chanel No 19 to the heavier Opium by Yves Saint Laurent, starting the trend for a scent to suit every occasion.

The 1980s was an era when big, bold fragrances and fashions dominated. Giorgio by Fred Hayman was so overpowering that some restaurants banned it and, for many of us, Poison by Dior brings back memories of big shoulder pads and a cash-rich culture.

A global recession in the 1990s brought about a more caring, sharing idealism, as reflected by the launch of CK One by Calvin Klein – a transparent, sheer fragrance for all. Then, as the media has become more prevalent in society, the art of perfumery was taken over by the power of celebrity, with the introduction of many mass produced perfumes. With so many launches of similar scents, we’re now starting to see the emergence of a new era, where customers desire an original, high quality fragrance – something that uplifts them with every inhalation.

The need for something different
With our first fine fragrance, Botanical Essence No. 1, we travelled the world in search of unparalleled sources of essential oils and used cutting-edge technology to perfect each individual note. We wanted to harness the finest quality botanical ingredients from around the world to create a vibrant, sparkling perfume that is unique to the wearer.

With over 98% of naturally-derived ingredients and an intricate blend of 14 essential oils, Botanical Essence No. 1 will, by its very nature, smell slightly differently on everyone. Bespoke for the wearer, the way the fragrance’s initial scent develops is dependant on your skin type, hair colour and lifestyle. I love to compare how it smells on different friends. For me, the serene, feminine floral notes of damask rose and geranium really last, while some of my friends have found the warm, sensual base notes of patchouli and cedarwood are more distinct. So, my top tip is: don’t rely on how a fragrance smells on someone else – always try it on your own skin or you’ll never know what you’re missing!

The art of perfumery
The secret of a great perfume lies not only in the quality of ingredients, but also with the skill of how it is crafted. We chose our perfumer very carefully. Jean-Charles Niel has a wealth of experience, a passion for working with natural ingredients and truly respects the ‘art of perfumery’, just like his father before him. Living in Grasse, the heart of the perfume world, he is inspired by the beautiful natural scents from the nearby jasmine and rose fields.

Having worked for over 30 years in the fragrance industry, I was delighted to be involved with my good friends Liz and Kim in the development of their first fine fragrance. Our passion and principles are closely matched and I truly believe in the quality of ingredients  behind the crafting of this exceptional perfume. It’s been wonderful reading your comments and some of you have told me that Botanical Essence No. 1 is now your ‘signature scent’. I can only say what an honour it has been to be a part of the fragrance legacy I am so passionate about.

A few weeks ago, I was thrilled to help our fragrance expert Lorna McKay (click here for Lorna’s past blogs) and our Botanical Research Manager Jennifer Hirsch as we filmed some helpful hints on fragrance for our website. I have long been a fragrance lover (it started even before I began using skincare, as a teenager) but there is still so much to learn, and I’d like to share some fascinating snippets from my morning with the ladies with you.

Lorna has been in the perfume industry for over 30 years. She first met Liz whilst she was Beauty Buyer at Harrods, and then went on to open the world-famous fragrance hall at Liberty. Lorna was also one of our original testers for the Liz Earle Naturally Active Skincare range – and is still a devotee today, working with Lorna to develop Botanical Essence No.1 was a natural step for us – her passion is inspiring;  here are some new tips that I learnt from her.

Lorna’s top fragrance tips

- Apply fragrance to what Lorna calls ‘your hot spots’ – i.e. your pulse points. Slightly more seductively, she also recommends what Coco Chanel first suggested: apply it where you’d like to be kissed. As Lorna lives in France (in fact she has a home right in the heart of ‘fragrance country’, in Grasse), she frequently finds herself kissing friends on both cheeks– she can always detect a new fragrance and work out what people are wearing. Our Botanical Essence No. 1 is very special though, as it smells different on each person; what Lorna calls, a bespoke fragrance.

- Did you know that your diet, hair colour and skin type, as well as environmental factors all affect how fragrance smells on you? Especially a natural one like ours (which is over 98% directly derived from natural ingredients). Apparently red heads traditionally find fragrance a little more tricky to get right than other hair colours. A person with a tendency to oily skin also seems to hold fragrance for longer. And the best way to hold fragrance is to spritz on clean hair – it really works.

- Lorna’s top ‘wearing and caring’ tips include keeping Botanical Essence No. 1 in its box, to avoid heat and light affecting it. Also, your personal fragrance circle should only be the distance of your arm sweep – none of that ‘leaving your fragrance behind you as you leave a room’ stuff! Her top tip, however, is not to break the heart of the fragrance, by crushing it at the pulse points on the wrist – you literally break down the heart notes of the fragrance, so be warned.

- The beauty of using naturals, as Lorna and Jennifer both say, is that you can create something new and wonderful. For instance, the heart notes of rose and lavender in our Botanical Essence No.1 fragrance are uplifted by the geranium, making the warm rose element, feminine, delicate and subtle; not at all like that old-fashioned rose aroma.

- And finally – did you know that the perfumer (or ‘nose’) has to learn 2,000 – 4,000 individual notes before he can craft his trade? A perfumer has to remember – for each of these notes – how it smells in the first ten minutes, and then in the next couple of hours too. Quite a feat.

I hope that you enjoy  Botanical Essence No. 1 as we head into spring. Here’s how many of you have described it to me, in the past few months: sophisticated, energising, upbeat, happy, feminine, a real boost, grown-up, feel-good, summer in a bottle, sunshine in a bottle, mood lifter and a little bit of sunshine on a dark day.

Enjoy spritzing…..

When I worked as a Perfumery and Cosmetics Buyer at Harrods I was lucky enough to indulge my passion for perfume on a daily basis. Then later, as the creator of the beauty department at Liberty’s store I learned even more about the world of fragrance.

Working with the perfume companies and visiting the perfumers in the fragrance capital of the world, Grasse, I became more knowledgeable about ingredients and about how fragrance can influence feelings. To say I became obsessed may be an understatement!

Liz, Kim and I have been friends and colleagues in the beauty industry and I am so grateful for Cleanse & Polish, Superskin (which I can’t live without) and all the other wonderfully indulgent products they create.

You can imagine how excited and flattered I was when Liz and Kim asked me to be part of the fragrance creation team. Imagine learning about these wonderful ingredients and being able to work with a world class perfumer to help create Liz Earle’s first fragrance.

Now, one year after we launched the award-winning Liz Earle Botanical Essence No.1, I want to share some tips with you to ensure you get the most out of your fragrance.

•    Don’t crush the scent
Don’t rub wrists together when you apply the perfume, as you may crush the scent. The skilled perfumer works on the complex creation to ensure the smell develops continuously. As many of you know, you smell the lighter top notes first,  then the ‘heart ‘or middle notes and then the base notes, which give the perfume staying power. If you rub the perfume you ‘break its heart’ which means it doesn’t develop on the skin as it should and it flattens the scent.

•    Enjoy a little self indulgence
Spray the zesty, sparkling, uplifting fragrance into the air and allow the mist to envelop you as you walk into it. This will ensure you’re delicately scented and when someone comes near you they will smell the fine fragrance, even on your hair which holds onto scent very well.

•    Add scent to hot spots.
Spritz ‘where you want to be kissed’ said Coco Chanel. So spritz on the pulse points, temples, wrists, behind the ears, behind the knees, in the crease of your elbows, between your breasts, ankles, small of your back, navel and anywhere else you fancy. Botanical Essence No.1 is a naturally active fine fragrance, and thanks to the 98% of natural ingredients, it will react on contact with the skin to create your own unique signature scent.

•    Fragrance and sensitive skin
If you are sensitive to fragrance but would love to wear it, you can still enjoy the scent by spritzing the ends of your hair or spraying perfume on the hem of a skirt or a handkerchief. You can also spritz pillows, the linen cupboard and your underwear drawer to enjoy this uplifting scent. Remember though, different materials result in different fragrance development. Natural materials like cotton, linen and cashmere hold fragrance well, but some synthetic materials may not give you the best interpretation of the fragrance.

•    Spray more in the heat
If you are in a warm office environment or you have the heating up high do remember you may need to spritz a little more, as heat affects the longevity of scent. As our brain makes associations with certain smells, when I smell Botanical Essence No.1 I feel positive and my spirits are lifted. Ingredients like bergamot, lemon, and geranium help me to feel good, and as the nights draw in it is my little ray of sunshine. I need a handbag size really (Hint! Hint!) so I can carry my fragrance around with me to perk me up throughout the day.