L'Occitane's holiday video for 2017.
Stella McCartney Stella Peony ~ new fragrance
Stella McCartney has reformulated and relaunched Stella Peony, originally introduced as part of the Stella In Two fragrance duo in 2006…
The daily lemming
From The Republic of Tea, Mrs. Patmore's Pudding Tea: "This decadent dessert tea has the homemade flavors of vanilla sponge cake drizzled with rich caramel sauce. The full-bodied base of premium black tea lends itself well to a splash of milk, making it a perfect afternoon tea to partner with puddings, scones and shortbread." (This sounds too sweet for me — I just like seeing Mrs. Patmore's face on the tin. Do comment if you've tried it!) $12.25 for a tin of 36 tea bags.
No matter how strong the scent
In a study to be published in the journal Nature Communications online Nov. 14, researchers at NYU School of Medicine found that odorants—chemical particles that trigger the sense of smell—need only reach a few signaling proteins on the inside lining of the nose for the mice to identify a familiar aroma. Just as significantly, researchers say they also found that the animals' ability to tell odors apart was the same no matter how strong the scent (regardless of odorant concentration).
— Read more at Mammal brains identify type of scent faster than once thought at Phys.Org.
Trish McEvoy 100 ~ fragrance review with an aside on beauty
Weekends, I work at a shop that brings in a diverse clientele, from students and artists to society matrons and tourists. A few weeks ago, late in the afternoon when the store was quiet, a woman came in looking for Chinese lanterns. She was tall and lumpy and didn’t wear makeup. She wore a strange hat that curved around her face, a satin baseball jacket embroidered with flowers, and striped pants that had seen better days. She carried a Prada handbag worth more than my car.1
Was the woman conventionally pretty? No. But she was riveting. Besides owning her own style, she was kind and authentic. (I later discovered she’s a famous photographer. You’ve probably seen her work on album covers.2)
Why am I telling this story? Because it made me realize how banal beauty can be. Look at the covers of celebrity magazines. The actresses look almost exactly the same. Thanks to dieting, plastic surgery, stylists, and personal trainers, Hollywood is an assembly line of interchangeable starlets. Worse, a lot of women on the street spend a lot of money to to achieve this kind of banality…