Perfumer H – Lyn Harris: TinaG In Europe Photo Essay

May 28, 2016 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 5 Comments

Post by TinaG

Hi APJ!

I was treated to a fabulous day out in London during my travels, hosted by Tara from A Bottled Rose. Tara has written up our adventures in more detail on her blog. One of the exciting discoveries of the day was a visit to the Perfumer H lab & shop in Crawford Street, London.

Perfumer H – Lyn Harris

‘Making Air Visible’

Perfumer H was started by Liz Harris (of Miller Harris) roughly 8 months ago. The shop contains an extensive lab out the back which is both Lyn Harris’s workshop, and a ingredient display. We were greeted by Caroline who kindly ran us through the concepts of the fragrance company.

Perfumer H releases new fragrances seasonally – their first being Winter 2015 and the current range for Summer 2016. Past seasonal fragrances are ‘archived’ but not discontinued, which means they continue to be accessible. Two of the Winter 2015 releases were rolled-over to Summer 2016 – Leather and Cologne, which join Atlas, Musk and Rain Cloud for this season’s suite of five. I wish that I wrote down the archived Winter fragrances – I do know one was Velvet. There were three that had been shelved.

There are a selection of five home fragrances which are available as candles – Orange Blossom, Dandelion, Leaf, Ivy and Smoke. The perfume bottles and candle holders are each hand-made, heavy and lush. You can choose to purchase the fragrances in 100ml functional screw-cap bottles, which I did for ease of travelling.

Perfumer H has a range of ‘laboratory editions’ which are a fun way to purchase some of Liz Harris’s creative work. Names like Ink, Vetiver, Rose & Smoke line the shelves. Each fragrance in the whole range is also given a unique identifier, and if you wish, you can purchase that perfume outright – including choosing it’s name, having it registered in Grasse, and it is then taken out of general circulation – so it is yours and yours alone. You can buy single bottles without claiming rights though – just careful if you fall in love, it may just disappear one day!

I tried four fragrances on skin – Velvet, Musk, Atlas and Leather as I was keen to pick up a bottle, but wow…. What a difficult decision! I would have been happy to walk away with any of them, but I decided on Musk.

Musk – no. g116 3995
Notes: Bergamot (Italy), Mandarin, Petitgrain (Paraguay), Iris absolute (China), Heliotrope, Cedarwood (Virginia), Benjoin (Siam), Vanilla absolute, White Musk.

On opening I get a floral Iris and fluffy musk along with a subtle plant-stem note in the background. After an hour this changes to an iris/cedar combination. It is sexy, gentle and very wearable. Sticky vanilla notes waft in and out. I find the citruses after 8 hours in a sheer veneer of smoke & juice that makes me wish I sprayed more skin. Interestingly the iris has a great staying power and it remains throughout (+12 hours). It is a gorgeous fragrance and I’m extremely glad I picked it up. I’m half tempted to go back & get the Leather as well, time & funds permitting.

Perfumer H is a great concept which has been actualised with wonderful fragrances and beautiful glass bottles. They do ship to Australia but you will be paying a premium for hazardous goods ~£70.

What do you think, APJ? Sound like a fun venture to you?

Tina G xx

TinaG’s Fragrant Adventures: Berlin, Germany: Photo Essay

May 9, 2016 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 15 Comments

Post by TinaG

Hi APJ!

I’m travelling in Europe for a few months and thought y’all might like a short snapshot of my fragrance shopping in Berlin.

Heathrow Airport Terminal 5

Holy WOW. Terminal 5 at Heathrow is stunning. Duty Free had a fantastic fragrance collection including Miller Harris, By Killian, Memo, Amouage, Dolce & Gabbana Velvet Collection, Guerlain Pera Grantia, Rosa Pop and L’Homme Ideal EDP, amongst others. The staff were super-friendly & very knowledgable.

Étui Noir by Miller Harris 2016

Miller Harris has two Heathrow exclusives – Ètui Noir and Lumière Dorée. I picked up Ètui Noir which is a gentle leather fragrance

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Bergamo, tangerine
Heart: Incens, iris
Base: Vetiver, leather

TinaG’s Fragrant Adventures

Berlin, Germany: Photo Essay

Berlin: I stayed at the Grand Hyatt, Berlin Mitte. All my fragrance shopping was within walking distance of the hotel.

Tourist Tip: check opening times, many places are closed on Sunday.

Frau Tonis Parfum

I had only recently heard of Berlin’s Frau Tonis Parfum so I was excited to visit their one and only store. The display made it easy to try every fragrance so I worked my way around sniffing stoppers & making notes. My poor nose was absolutely tortured from 23 hours of aircraft travel so I was totally surprised to find it still worked! Joy!! Kristiane and Clarice were wonderful & helped me with my many questions, like what does the number mean? It’s simply a catalogue system as it’s easier to remember numbers than names.

Frau Tonis have very sensible bottle sizes – 8ml travel spray, 15ml, 50ml and 100ml. They also take custom blend orders, so you can mix & match and make your own bespoke combination. And yes they ship to Australia.

I chose three 8ml fragrances: 10 Linde Berlin (lime and honey), 14 Grasse à Toi (Jasmine, ylang-ylang, lilly of the valley, iris, peach, red berries, vanilla) and 37 Veilchen (which may also be called 37 Violet) which has violet, liquorice and raspberry.

Tourist tip: the store is near Checkpoint Charlie and Topographie des Terrors, a display & section of the Berlin Wall.

Galleries Lafayette

This department store has an atmosphere of a ‘pop-up’ shop for fashion & makeup. I went to Galleries Lafayete to fine the Berlin-based Schwartzlose.

Yea, interesting. Rausch probably got my attention the most because of the animalistic notes, it was damn dirty & fun. Altruist is their newest which has a cologne freshness with May rose, lemon and pepper. Testing was rushed in a crowded area, I didn’t buy anything.

Tourist tip: save yourself time by asking an SA to take you to this display. The store layout is frustratingly circular with a space in the middle.

Krigler

Krigler currently has stores in Berlin, Beverly Hills & New York. The store in the Hotel Adlon Kempinski has the full range of fragrances and make candles on-site. Their first fragrance was crafted in 1879 – 79 Pleasure Gardenia. The fragrance numbering relates to the year it was made, that one is the only ’18’ prefix. If a second or third is made, a 2 or 3 added to the number. The 2000 series drops the second zero, ie: 214 = 2014, 2142 = the second fragrance made that year.

What do they smell like, I hear you ask?? But I haven’t yet told you about the long history, the famous people who wore Krigler, or the quality of the ingredients. Or the extravagant prices. £16 for a 2ml sample…. Painful. Yes they ship to Australia.

Established Cognac 66 was the stand out for me. A thick caramel with rich cognac cut through by a sharp juicy apple note, taking the edge off the heaviness. Apparently it used to have 80% cognac but the current formulation is 50% – still quite potent. I also picked up samples of Oud for Highness 75, Schöne Linden 05 and Extraordinaire Camelia 209.

Tourist tip: these guys are right near the Brandenburg Gate.

Ritz Carlton – “Fragrances” cocktail bar

OK this Fragrances cocktail bar was the primary reason I wanted to go to Berlin! And it totally blew me away. I’ll dedicate a separate article to my evening here because the Bar Manager, Arnd Heissen totally took me under his wing and showed me around both Fragrances, and its sister bar The Curtain Club. The bar staff were absolute fragrance & mixology experts, I had a fabulous time, so much fun!

The cocktails are created to emulate a fragrance profile. I think there are about 30 on the menu. You walk in to a display which has a bottle of the actual fragrance, the ingredients, and a photo of the cocktail glass. I chose two cocktails, Serge Lutens Fille en Aiguilles and Bulgari Au Thè Bleu. Both were beautifully done and wonderfully presented. I was curious to see how they managed the incense in Fille en Aiguilles – this was created by using a particular smokey tea. Fab result.

Ok I’m sure I’m over my word count (sorry Portia!) so I’ll leave my fragrant Berlin travels stories for now. It is an amazing city any my short 2 days there wasn’t enough.

Have you visited any of these places? Or do you have more recommendations for my next Berlin adventure?

xx Tina G

Calligraphy Rose by Trudi Loren for Aramis 2013

March 30, 2016 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 20 Comments

Post by Robert Herrmann

.
Hello Fragrant Friends!

This is Robert H. again, writing from my small island home in Washington state, exactly halfway between Seattle and Vancouver B.C. I am an inveterate fragrance lover, occasional writer, full-time business owner, world traveller, ex-Broadway singer, and happily married to an ever-suffering spouse who descends into allergic hell at the faintest whiff of perfume. Just my luck.

Calligraphy Rose by Aramis 2013

Calligraphy Rose by Trudi Loren

Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Oregano, saffron, honeysuckle
Heart: Turkish rose, myrrh, styrax, lavender
Base: Labdanum, musk, ambergris, olibanum

Now it is no secret that I love rose scents (Actually a charter member of the ‘Rose-Ho’ club if such a club exists) so this had been on my radar for quite some time. Last year Calligraphy Rose could not be found for love or money, and it wasn’t until recently that it started showing up again on Amazon and various perfume websites.

Robert Herrmann

This ‘fume is an olfactory road trip back in time for me. Here is the story it tells……

September 1974. My then lover and I had flown all night (12 hours if memory serves) from San Francisco to Madrid, sat in the Madrid airport until almost dark, where we caught a small puddle-jumper to Marrakesh, arriving at about 11:00 pm local time. We were so exhausted we could hardly sit up as the rickety taxi sped up to our Riad in the Medina. After a hasty, casual check-in complete with the ubiquitous glass of mint tea, we collapsed into bed in our 2nd story room.

The next morning, waking up early I padded to the french door shutters that opened to the common breezeway, and was stunned by the instant assault on all my senses.

Wikipedia

The smell of roses. Roses and something green, vegetal, tropical, and slightly rotting. The blinding sunlight against the vivid electric blue tiles of the courtyard below me. The splashing sound of water in the courtyard fountain, and soft voices floating up from somewhere removed. The acrid smell of the leather tanneries just a few alleys away. Jasmine, citrus, clean laundry, musk, saffron and smoke from something…incense? Cooking fires? All of that but most of all, roses. Gorgeous, dewey roses. It was like a dream, or a waking hallucination if you will.

One spray of Calligraphy Rose transported me right back to that moment. This beautiful juice opens with a balsamic burn that goes right up your nose to your brain, and on to back of your throat. Overlaid with rose. The opening is BIG, just a few sprays go a very long way. Amber and smoke creep in, along with honeysuckle and spice. Myrrh, labdanum, olibanum. So many notes so well blended, it’s difficult to pick them out as they flit and dart through your consciousness. Not unlike the colors of an oriental tapestry. One you might find in a Riad in Marrakesh.

WikiMedia

Further reading: Australian Perfume Junkies and Persolaise
Feeling Sexy has it for AUD$70/100ml
FragranceNet has $92/100ml before Coupon

Do you have a perfume that affects you this way?

Cookie Queen + Portia on Tour: London/Vienna 2016

March 29, 2016 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 17 Comments

Post by Val the Cookie Queen

Greetings APJ Readers.

Each time I attend some perfume related gathering I intend to take lots of pictures.

Cookie Queen & Portia on Tour

London/Vienna 2016

Fact is I suck at it. I am overwhelmed by everything that is going on and never quite get it together as I planned. Still, the following pix will give you an idea of what went on. Tara has covered the event brilliantly on both A Bottled Rose and Australian Perfume Junkies.

Dr Fox, partner-in-crime, therapist, and she’s driving me to Milan.

Poppies Fish & Chips, Spitalfields. Second visit together. ?

Spitalfields Market.

“How do I look Val?”

Bonkers, Lady Jane Gray and me way in the background.

Grant (Basenotes). Antonio Gardoni (Bogue). Lila (Perfume lovers London). Val & Portia. Chris the Cookie King taking photo.

My dearest friend Kirk about to get a nipple twist.

Lady Jane Gray. Smitten.

My favourite shot.

Purchasing a bottle of Neela Vermeire creations: Pichola at retail in Vienna.

Vero Profumo: Kiki.

Val, Anna Maria, Sandra, Portia at a fabulous Greek restaurant

After dinner sniff of the newest Le Galion: Cologne Nocturne.

Val, Sandra, Anna Maria, Birgit and Portia brunching at Le Bol.

BlondesWunder arrives in Vienna 22:00. To a Portia welcome of donuts & tea.

Around the time that you are reading this I am either packing my bag or on the road to the Esxence in Milan. I have a theory. Three days in Milan, six decent pictures each day, eighteen pictures. That ought to do it. Plus some pictorial updates on social media. My hands are shaking already.

Arrivederci.
Bussis.
CQ

Santa Maria Novella: Florence 2016: Photo Essay

March 17, 2016 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 32 Comments

Post by Portia

Hi there Fragrant Fumies,

Our recent trip was a bit light on the fragrance stops. We really wanted to see what each city is most famous for. While in Florence though Anna-Maria put her dainty foot down. We could look at art & churches all day & night but we had to go to the Santa Maria Novella Basilica which handily combines all three of our interests. It’s a church and cloisters, very old and it has one of the oldest still extant apothecaries/farmaceutica which is now centred around fragrance and tea.

Wikipedia

The church you can see today was begun in 1279 and was finished around the middle of the 14th century.
Inside it resembles Cistercian gothic churches, the nave separated from the aisles by wide bays and covered with gothic vaulting (Edited from museumsinflorence.com). There are some lovely frescoes inside too if you get a chance.

WikiMedia

Santa Maria Novella: Florence 2016

From the moment you enter Santa Maria Novella shop in Florence you are transported back in time. You are also reminded of the extraordinary amount of money the church has at its disposal. The place is exquisite and we were surprised at how busy, and how much money people were spending. It was like a fragrant feeding frenzy.

I have a set of these tablets keeping my wardrobe pest free and fragrant. They were a gift and my very first Santa Maria Novella. I love them and they are still extremely fragrant years on.

The homewares section is fabulous. It took ultimate restraint to keep my wallet in my pocket.

Anna-Maria and Jin being looked after by the extremely beautiful and helpful SA. I was not going to buy anything but then I spied some smaller bottles which turned out to be soliflore extrais. I tried and fell madly in love with the triple distilled jasmine extrait, the sample I tried which lasted 3 days on my skin through showers and general living. Sadly the product they sold me is gone in about 2 hours, it’s really gorgeous while it lasts though I am disappointed.

Anna-Maria was so sweet and bought Jin & I a set of the soaps as a thank you for sharing our holiday! Woo Hoo! Can’t wait to use them.

Here is the Triple Distilled Jasmine Extrait. I am sad now that I didn’t order tea. Next time.

Florence 2016: Photo Essay

The Duomo is the heart of Florence. It’s free to enter and the floor and dome are gorgeous. You can walk to the cupola up the top but Anna-Maria had done the one in Vienna and that was enough.

VisitFlorence

All through Europe we lit candles and asked God to bless our friends and family with bountiful lives, peaceful and funfilled.

On the Ponte Vecchio (Old Bridge, no wonder Italian is a romance language) ignoring the jewellery shops but watching the people.

View of the Ponte Vecchio from the next bridge, it was a lovely walk along the river.

Anna-Maria was overcome by David. She needed a few moments to stabilize.

We caught the local bus up to the Piazzale Michelangelo. A perfect winter day with dappled sunlight over the city. It was a beautiful afternoon and from the bus we saw some amazing parts of Florence that you would otherwise miss.

Anna-Maria had a pre-mixed alcoholic beverage at the lookout. She was so happy.

Our dinner in the hotel was a complete disaster so we decided to go around the corner to the international restaurant of choice for the hungry and weary traveller; McDonalds. YUMMY!

Next night we had the best steak I’ve ever had in my life. The three of us shared 1.2kg of steak cooked to perfection. It came with salads and baked potatoes. OMG! So freaking delicious. If you are Florence you MUST go here and have the Special Florentine Steak.

I hope you enjoyed a snapshot of our amazing journey through Florence. There is more holiday to come next week.

Have you been to Florence? What is your favourite part?
Portia xx

Venice 2016: Photo Essay

March 10, 2016 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 32 Comments

Post by Portia

Venice! One of my favourite cities in the world. In 2016 we were sensible enough to have 2 of our girlfriends with us, Anna-Maria and Tara. Jin was under the weather and spent quite a bit of time sick in bed. The girls & I managed to squeeze in SO MUCH of the touristy stuff and also some Venetian secrets. Weirdly I was so busy that I took hardly any scenery shots, sorry. It was super fun and it made me love Venice even more…

Venice 2016: Photo Essay

We are ARRIVED!! Hello Venice

Jin has a fave restaurant. we had to eat there on our first night. It was delicious.

In the VERY squishy lift at our hotel

Hotel bathroom products. POSH!

St Marks Square in the Doge’s palace colonnades

As evening falls we make our way to a cafe.

Next day we go sightseeing

High Tea in a swanky hotel. Thanks Anna Maria

Doge’s Palace Tour

Iconography

St Marks Square

Water Bus

Dinner on the canal in the shadow of the Ponte de Rialto

On Murano Island. St Tara of the tired legs

Buying Murano Glassware

Visiting Peggy Guggenheim. Managed to make all of us look shit in this shot except Jin,
who was sick as a dog and really did look like shit.

Harry’s Bar, where the cool kids go. We sat at the bar and weere entertained by the barman

Tara leaving us.

Venice'16 #28 YAY!

Realising that we missed Tara after 5 minutes and had nothing nice to say to each other

Even Venice was beautifully sad she had gone

On our way to Florence!

Serge Lutens Masterclass: Paris 2016: Photo Essay

February 29, 2016 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 24 Comments

Post by Portia

We are home,

It’s been the most fabulous holiday and I have so much to share. A whirlwind to say the very least. One of my top experiences that we had while away was the Serge Lutens Masterclass. It was unbelievably fabulous.

We were whisked upstairs by Elvire into the yellow room, the table was set for sniffing and then she brought us biscuits and tea cakes, very posh. I was invited to sit in Serge Lutens chair (OMG!) and we were happily led through quite a lot of the Exclusive to Palais Royal fragrances. You have no idea how fabulous.

Before you go booking, they prefer you to be in groups of 4-6. Originally we were to be a 4 but sadly two of our crew couldn’t make it. To make up for that, and make it worth Serge’s time, I had some pre-orders from Australia that I needed to get fulfilled as well as my own list.

Serge Lutens Masterclass

Paris 2016: Photo Essay

The gorgeous walls of Serge Lutens yellow room, hidden doors and concealment are the name of the game.

Sitting in Serge’s chair, where he holds court for launches etc.

The gorgeous Elvire who has taken Lea’s masterclass hostess place now that Lea has gone to Shiseido Head Office.

Jin, bless his soul, ran around taking pictures throughout the 2+ hours. He wanted you all to feel part of the experience, notice there is no paper on the table yet.

The very first Serge Lutens fragrance, Feminite du Bois, in its original bottles. No wonder these are so coveted, some had the scent still inside. SWOON!

We start getting our sniff on. Touches are already prepared with fragrance names and tied with black ribbon. The experience was full of these well prepared little glam spots. Elvire was all over the event and full of discerning insights into the fragrances, all done from memory and with such passion it was easy to get swept away.

As you can see the table is filling up with paper, the ones sticking up are my return and skin test ones.

So beautiful, with a smile that lit up the room.

Jin & I being assholes.

Even the toilet gets the Serge Lutens treatment. The toilet seat was marble I think, or maybe it was the whole toilet. Was so tripping on the fumes by this time that I was seeing spots.

As you can see we were so involved chatting and sniffing that I hardly touched the cakes!

Finally we get down to the nitty gritty. Time for shopping! I bought Rose de Nuit and La Myrrhe for Aussies. Jin bought Muscs Koublai Khan and I purchased Miel de Bois and Fumerie Turque. Elvire gave us a choice of 2 samples each too (then popped an extra in Jin’s bag! He was thrilled) and for each bottle a full set of wax samples.

Should you be going to France and wish to book this marvelous FREE Event there is a Serge Lutens Contact Page, attention Elvire.

Which of the Exclusives takes your fancy?
Portia xxx

AF Beauty Travels to Singapore

February 7, 2016 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 4 Comments

Post by AF Beauty

I have been lucky enough to travel to the U.K. this December and as part of that trip I stopped over in Singapore. Although I would tell anyone this was to try and avoid the jet lag and to break up the ridiculous flight (and that is true,) the other part of the reason is because Singapore has such diverse and numerous shops, especially in the beauty department!

AF Beauty Travels to Singapore

For a while, I have had my eye on the Korean brand Laneige, they are well known for their cushion foundation, but I had had such an average experience with the Lancôme version of the same, that I wasn’t sure that I wanted to risk spending money on the Laneige version – but I was enticed into the store when I saw their beauty app on their iPad in store.

It is called Beauty Mirror. It’s probably the best version of this sort of app I’ve ever seen, it does actually work like you’re applying makeup realistically, so much so that I probably thought I looked relatively decent by the time I finished, but really that was just what I’d “applied” In the app!! I was very impressed how accurate the colours were and how realistically they applied to my photo. I’d feel a lot more comfortable to take the risk to order colour specific items online with this app. The downside of the app (depending on your location or willingness to create another iTunes account) is that I’ve only found the app in the Korean iTunes Store. Still, I will probably make the effort to get it if I want to order more Laneige products.

Anyway, back to the actual goodies, after having a okay with the app I estimated the best colour foundation for me and asked the SA for some help. She offered me a slightly different colour, based on the fact that my skin is Caucasian as opposed to Asian, but reverted back to the original app recommendation which was a perfect match. They offer the same shades in three different formulations and she led me down the path of getting the anti ageing version, which I read as, “Lady you look old!”

Anyway, insults aside, I have being using the product now for about a week, have used it as regular morning makeup and after the gym and both have been very successful. The coverage is considerably better than the Lancôme version I previously tried and I feel I could wear it comfortably without powder for a more natural look, or add powder for something more long lasting and set. That SA did advise me that the anti ageing version had more coverage than the original version, so perhaps that is part of the better outcome here.

Overall I’m super pleased I took the gamble on the product and now better understand the hype around these products. I’m planning to do some research on other Laneige products so I’m better prepared for my next travels and will know what to stock up on!

What are your key travel purchases?? Being perfumistas, do you even have time to browse the other items in duty free or are you caught only by what’s on offer in the perfume aisle?!!

Cookie Queen on Portia, Perfume & Packing Less

January 26, 2016 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 33 Comments

Post by Val the Cookie Queen

Happy Australia Day APJ!

My bag is packed and I´m ready to go. Lalalalalala.

Portia, Perfume & Packing Less

I am leaving on a small jet plane tomorrow for London, and I have packed very little. I am positive that any able-bodied adult going away for a few days can easily get all their stuff into a 10 kilo cabin bag. No? Try it. It is liberating. You are instantly more mobile, probably better off as it usually costs for checked baggage on the economy flights, and you reduce the risk to zero that your bag will end up in London, Texas. Straight through the gates and no eternal lining up with thousands of people to check your bag in, thus saving on meds.

I am so excited to see Portia and Jin. Have you ever had a Portia hug? I feel inextricably linked to him. It has been just over three years of a friendship that changed the direction of my life. As you may know from a previous APJ post Portia Turbo will be presenting a Perfume Lovers London event on the 28th of January. Whoo-bloody-hoo!! I shall have a couple of batches of fudgey white chocolate chunk brownies stuffed into my small case to celebrate. Easier to travel with than cookies.

I want something new to wear something for the event. A few drops from the lab testers of the up and coming Vero Profumo tobacco fragrances should suffice.

Not going to take any other perfumes with me. I have no doubt at all that my leather perfume pouch will fill up very quickly on its own.

As you read this I am running around Salzburg like a chipmunk on crack, delivering cookies.

My husband is coming with me, without his bike.

I am also taking my therapist with me. Not in my suitcase. She bought her own ticket.
All bases covered I believe.

Great British Bussis
CQ

Facial Wipes: Travel, Gym + Extreme Laziness!

November 8, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 6 Comments

Post by AF Beauty

When I am in the mood, there is nothing better than spending time at the sink applying lotions and potions, cleaning and smoothing my skin and coming away feeling refreshed and clean. It can be both soothing or invigorating and it does the best job of preparing skin for whatever’s next, be that your favourite serum or night cream or your daily make up.

Facial Wipes: Travel, Gym + Extreme Laziness!

All that said, there are days where I am feeling lazy and just want to crawl into bed or I’ve stepped off a plane and feel like 250 people have breathed on me! Here is where a decent facial wipe can help. For me, the key to the facial wipe is that it leaves your face feeling clean. There are A LOT of wipes out there that feel like you’ve just swapped your dirty face for a slightly less dirty face but with a filmy layer of whatever was on that facial wipe. For me: No.

I have been lucky just recently to find a couple of facial wipes, just by luck, that work really well. The first I was drawn to because it contained the micellar water which I have used before and quite like – but I’m also a bit drained by anything that requires cotton wool to apply – I am nothing if not low maintenance! This was the Simple Kind to Skin Micellar Cleansing Wipes. Simple is a great brand if you have sensitive skin – free from colours, fragrances and stuff they say can irritate skin. The wipe itself is standard size, about 7ins x 8ins – very slightly textured with bobbles, the same texture on both sides. As you’d expect, it smells of nothing. It is pleasant to apply and leaves the skin feeling clean without a filmy feeling and doesn’t leave the skin tight. You will need to follow the wipe with any other skincare you’re planning – probably a moisturiser and then whatever else according to where and when you are using it.

The second set of wipes I found was just a random buy in the supermarket. I was lurking in there and spotted these Nivea Refreshing Facial Cleansing Wipes. I was looking for something I could use at work and have in my gym back – there were probably two choices (tiny supermarket) I hadn’t really expected they would be as good as they turned out. The wipe itself is identical to the Simple one – I even went and checked their brand owners to see if they were actually made by the same people – apparently not. This wipe feels like it has more liquid soaked into it, so it feels slightly smoother as you apply. I like the Nivea scent and the overall feeling while using the wipe is pleasant. This also leaves the skin feeling clean but not tight and you’d still need to follow with moisturiser and whatever your next steps will be.

I’ve been pleasantly surprised by these two wipes – I’m not giving up “proper” cleansing just yet, but it’s great to have some choices for busy lives and lazy days.

Have you found any great products for lazy days?