Lisa Riley's new Fragrance ‘Change’ to mark her extradorinary journey!

After the highly successful launch of her clothing line last year, (Just Be You, available exclusively on Ideal World TV) Lisa Riley has extended her empire to include her first ever fragrance!

To mark her highly documented weightloss story, the TV favourite has created a new fragrance to celebrate her personal journey.
The nation has shared in her story and seen her change, and now they can join her celebration with her signature scent ‘Change’.

Marking a fresh, new chapter in her life, Lisa is moving forward and changing direction - and creating her very own fragrance symbolises that change is always good in life. It depicts what she’s gone through and how she’s emerged the other side with a fresh and exciting path ahead of her.
Lisa had this to say on why she chose the name ‘Change’: “I considered calling the perfume ‘Reflection’ but we can’t share our reflections…but I can share my Change.”

‘Change’ is an oriental fragrance with floral notes, making it a perfect scent for summer.
Top notes of mandarin leaves and mulberry flowers,
Heart notes of Tuberose and orange flower with a hint of jasmine
Base notes of sandalwood and tonka bean with a pinch of patchouli
 Another key element behind ‘Change’ was the orange packaging – Lisa’s trademark colour. All her friends and family associate orange and coral with her, so this absolutely had to be encorporated.

Launching exclusively on Ideal World TV,, ‘Change’ (50ml) will retail at £19.99

Direct link to website

New - A Bespoke Collection of Fragrances by Atelier Bloem

Atelier Bloem is a bespoke collection of six unisex fragrances inspired by Amsterdam's famous Bloemenmarkt which is also the world's only floating flower market.
The collection encapsulates Andrew Goetz's, the founder of Atelier Bloem, passion for gardening and flowers with his two favourite places in the world - Amsterdam and the Hudson Valley near New York.

Of the six fragrances, here are our top 3:
Iris - inspired by Vincent Van Gogh 'The Irises' painting plus their intense colouring and headiness of their fragrances.
Top notes: Cardemon, Rain Forest Orchid and Violet Flower
Heart: Iris Petals, Star jasmine, Pimento Blossom and Rose from Grasse.
Base note: Iris Wood, Vetiver, Tonka Bean and Musk

Black Tulip - a flower synonymous with the Netherlands, but the Black Tulip is the most mysterious and exclusive.
Top notes: Ivy, Freesia and Bergamot.
Heart: atlas Tulip, Violet and Water Jasmine.
Base notes: Vetiver, Amber, Skin Musk and Blonde Woods.

Nieuw Amsterdam - the original name of New York. As the rose is the official flower of New York, this fragrance has a unique rose fragrance.
Top notes: Magnolia, Ginger, Geranum rose from South Africa and Lotus.
Heart: Centifolia Rose, Honeysuckle and Cotton Peony.
Base notes: Oud, Atlas Cedarwood, Amber and Skin Musk

In the UK the collection is available exclusively in Liberty's for £160 (100ml - eau de parfum)

http://www.libertylondon.com/uk/search?q=atelier+bloem

New Perfume House :TFK - The Fragrance Kitchen opens pop up store in Selfridges

Launched in 2012, the new perfume house– TFK, The Fragrance Kitchen by Sheikh Majed Al-Sabah, is available for a limited period at their pop up store in Selfridges London and online

Click here for online shop

Based in Kuwait, this perfume house combines the tradition of Middle Eastern perfumery with the French expertise of Grasse, the perfume capital of the world, where scents are analysed, executed and bottled.

Fragrance is very important in Kuwait with families closely guarding secret perfume recipes which have been passed down from generation to generation.   In the UK we may have grandma’s secret recipe for a pie, jam or cake, but in Kuwait it is much more glamorous with grandma’s secret recipe being for a fragrance.  And Sheikh Majed’s grandma was no exception as she taught her grandson how to create scents by mixing oils bought at the souk markets with precious ingredients sourced from India. Discovering he had a ‘nose’ for perfume, he was able to take it out of grandma’s kitchen and in to his own ‘Fragrance Kitchen’.

Although the fragrances are all unisex, some are more feminine and others more masculine.  

The collections available are:

 Signature Collection:

Numbered rather than named, these 36 fragrances are meant for everyday use.  The bottles are of simple design. Price £100. Some of these fragrances will be available at the pop up store.

 Exclusive Collection:

This line features more opulent scents which are narrative driven.  Sheikh Majed explains that it isn’t just a fragrance but more of a story or diary evoking memories, journeys and personal experiences.

The names vary from the straightforward ‘Kuwait’ and ‘Arabia’ to the tongue in cheek  such as ‘Gone with the Smell’ , ‘At Your Own Risk’ and Musky Ever After’. Kuwait and Gone with the Smell will be available at the Selfridges  pop up store

Also available at the pop up store is my favourite in both scent and name is ‘War of the Roses’. I love the floral heart note and the musky dry down.  Plus the name is quite apt for a Yorkshire lass.

The scents in this collection are stronger and more for evening use. This year the design of the flacon is black with white graphic patterns but this will change as the idea is to update it yearly, although the fragrance will remain the same.  At the moment there are 10 fragrances and more to come as Sheikh Majed has plenty of grandma’s secret recipes.  Price £150

Ambrosea - A Tribute to Udaipur

Tribute Collection
Tribute to different places and cities. A tribute to Rio is The Man From Ipanema - a mix of fresh spices and citrus with fruity floral accord and a woody and amber dry out.  Price £150

MY Collection
The latest addition to the collections and also the smallest with only two fragrances - Arab Spring and The Finest. Both are available at the pop up store.Price £150

We can thank Tom Ford for inspiring Sheikh Majed to open his own perfume house.  In 2009, Tom wanted an exclusive scent for his new Kuwait boutique and who better to ask than someone who already custom blended his own perfumes? The scent was called Arabian Wood and is now part of the exclusive Tom Ford Private Blend Collection.  So thank you Tom for opening up the fragrance box that otherwise may have been kept just for family and friends to enjoy.

And if you miss the pop up store all the perfumes can be bought from their boutique in the exclusive Al Hamra Luxury Centre, Kuwait City. But if that’s a bit too far, there is always their website www.thefragrancekitchen.com

Sunshine Fragrances for Spring 2012

Spring is here, the sun is shining and that means it's time to change your heady winter fragrance to something lighter and fresher.

Here are a few new spring fragrances which aim to capture the scent of  tropical islands, sunshine and cool sea breezes..

Bvlgari Omnia Coral

This new addition to the Omnia range was inspired by the shimmering hues of precious red coral and far off oceans.

It’s a fruity floral fragrance with notes of the Tropical Hibiscus and pomegranate.

Top notes:  bergamot and goji berries

Heart:  Hibiscus and Water lily

Base notes: Pomegranate and cedar wood

For all of the Omnia range, this Italian Jeweller has emulated two interlocking links of a chain coated with a gemstone colour for the bottle. This time the colour is coral representing  the ocean’s treasured gem.

Aqua Oriens by Van Cleef & Arpels

Inspired by a blue lagoon, this is a lighter fruity floral fragrance with woody notes to the original exotic Oriens

Top notes: Pear and lime zest

Heart: Orange blossom and honeysuckle

Base: Amber and musk

This Paris based Jeweller designed the bottle with a chunky gem like stopper in bright aqua blue reminiscent of the crystal clear lagoon waters.

Sunny Diane by Diane Von Furstenberg

We have to wait until May for this limited edition to come out, which is apt as it was inspired by a sunny summer’s day.   

Like the original fragrance Diane, this is based on the scent of frangipani flower. But instead of  woody tones, Sunny Diane is more of a beach babe with notes of sundrenched driftwood, aquatic and mandarin accords.

Which one would you take on a desert island?

Images provided by KGA PR

An Exclusive Evening of Chocolates, Truffles & Fragrance - Heaven!

Charbonnel et Walker, one of Britain's finest chocolatiers and Ormonde Jayne, the exclusive fine perfumer decided to host a heavenly evening of chocolates and fragrance in one of London’s elegant arcades, the Royal Arcade on Old Bond Street.

Ormonde Jayne brings extraordinarily beautiful scents using speciality oils not widely used in the perfume industry today. Beautifully presented in vibrant mandarin packaging and black and gold lizard skin perfume boxes.
Charbonnel et Walker was founded in 1875 by Mrs Walker and Mme. Charbonnel, the latter from the Maison Boissier chocolate house in Paris. The chocolates are handmade and they are particularly renowned for their dark chocolate. The handmade boxes are gorgeous with their satin ribbons.

Above is Ormonde Jayne's guide to pairing the fragrance with the chocolates.

My favourite pair is Tolu and Plain Truffle.

I love my chocolate plain and dark so it had to be the pure dark chocolate truffle.

My first Ormonde Jayne love is Ta'if but Tolu definitely grows on you especially its long lasting powdery dry down scent.

Images provided by Ormonde Jayne

Home Spas - Going for Gold with Ormonde Jayne

Want to be the Golden Girl?

Most of us have watched James Bond “Goldfinger” and remember the scene where Goldfinger’s secretary is covered with gold paint. Well you may not want to go that far to dazzle everyone at the Christmas festivities but a little light dusting of real 24 carat gold powder over your décolleté and shoulders will ensure you catch their eye as you shimmer and sparkle with style.

Gold Dust is packaged in an elegant black lacquered handmade gold box crafted by British carpenters and contains a very fluffy and feminine champagne coloured marabou feather trim French satin powder puff. The subtle but exotic fragrance is of the rare Ta’if Rose, a damask rose from the plantations of Ta’if, a town rising 5,000ft above the shores of the Red Sea. It takes 10,000 rose petals to make just 10ml of Ta’if Rose oil, and they are harvested only during April.

The retail price of £408 for 15ml is not to be sneezed at (definitely don’t sneeze!).

But if this is a step too far there is the cheaper Gold Creme at £58. Alcohol free matrix made from natural sugars mixed with perfume compound and gold.

Before using  soak in the bath with Ormonde Jayne’s essential bathing oil and surrounded yourself with  mini scented candles ( Bathing Beauty gift box of 100ml oil and 2 mini candles- £68) then you are ready to add your sparkle..

Ormonde Jayne has a selection of perfumes but Gold Dust is only available in Ta’if (which is actually my favourite so if anyone wants to buy me Gold Dust for Christmas? – Ah well I can but dream)

All is available online www.ormondejayne.com except for the Gold Dust which is exclusive to Harrods and at Ormonde Jayne’s London boutique stores: 12 The Royal Arcade, off 28 Bond Street and 192 Pavillion Road off Sloane Square.

Celebrity Perfumes

Xmas is coming and it’s time to start thinking of writing to Santa.  Here are a few Celebrity perfumes which look gorgeous.  But do they smell gorgeous?  Leave a comment and let us know what you think.

Katy Perry Purr

Cute and sexy bottle design, you’ll want to keep it on display:even after the bottle has been used up. The deep purple and cat’s jewelled eyes instantly make it look more of an evening fragrance.

Top notes: peach nectar, green bamboo, red apple, gardenia

Heart notes: jasmine blossom, pink freesia, Bulgarian rose

Base notes: vanilla, orchid, white amber, sandalwood, skin musk, coconut

Scent : floral fruity

Rihanna - Reb’l Fleur 

Sleek looking bottle designed as an upturned stiletto heel. Not sure about the black top although I suppose this represents the heel’s tap.

 Top notes: Red berries, plum, peach,

Heart notes:  Hibiscus, violet, tuberose, coconut water

 Base notes: vanilla, patchouli, amber, musk

Scent: fruity chypre

JLO Love and Glamour

A tactile and sculptural bottle design emulating Jennifer Lopez's curves wrapped in a golden diaphanous gown. You can almost imagine the bottle sashaying down the red carpet by itself

Top notes:  mandarin, guava, nectarine

Heart notes: water lily, orchid, jasmine

Base notes: sandalwood, amber, musk

Scent :floral fruity 

Images provided by The Perfume Shop

A Great Perfume for Autumn - Tolu by Ormonde Jayne

Autumn is nearly upon us and it is time to start thinking of switching from your light flirtatious summer fragrances to the richer and sensuous autumn scents.

Instantly falling in love with Ormonde Jayne’s light floriental Ta’if after a Personal Perfume Portraits session with perfumier Linda Pilkington herself, I’m ready to change (just for the autumn/winter evenings) to the richer oriental Tolu, the second fragrance recommended to me.  

I must admit me and Tolu just didn’t seem the perfect match at first as the top notes of juniper berry, orange blossom and clary sage were just too heady and intense for me. However Linda did advise this perfume took a while to settle, and after a couple of hours I discovered I loved the smell. Then I couldn’t stop breathing in the soft powdery scent and spent all evening with my nose stuck to my wrist!

 Luckily Tolu has a long lasting dry down period so it is worth the wait of a couple of hours for the fragrance to settle.

Top notes: juniper berry, orange blossom and clary sage

Heart:  Orchid, Moroccan Rose and Muguet

Base notes: Tolu (Peruvian resin), Tonka bean, golden frankincense and amber

Tolu is also a favourite of designer Roksana Ilincic.

Available in Parfum, Eau de Parfum , Hydrating bath & shower crème, Essential bathing oil, Replenishing body lotion, scented candle and soon to come Sugar Butter Solid Perfume.

More details on www.ormondejayne.com

Sitting pretty for Perfume Portraits by Ormonde Jayne

Ormonde Terrace was probably one of the most fragrantly scented streets when Linda J Pilkington used her own home there as a perfume lab and created the Ormonde Jayne perfumes.

Since then she has come a long way changing her humble settings to that of the opulent Harrods Perfume Hall and her own two London boutiques with their striking black lacquered interiors. However some things haven’t changed - each product is still created by Linda and the bottling and packaging is still by hand but now in her British workshop rather than in her home.

All 12 fragrances in handy purse sprays

From this passion for perfumery and perfection, Linda was not content to just create her 12 luxurious fragrances, but wanted to ensure her customers discovered and went away with the right Ormonde Jayne fragrance for them. And so Perfume Portraits was created.

Perfume Portraits can take from a quick 5 minutes to a longer more leisurely 45 minutes depending on how many questions and how much time you have.

At the beginning she will ask a few questions such as: what other perfume brands you already love and which ones your hate, do you like soaking in the bath or prefer to shower, do you like scented candles, do you usually carry your perfume around with you, and are you looking for a perfume for a the evening, daytime or for the summer etc.
Now you may ask how are these questions pertinent? Well she keeps a profile for you ,so if your loved one decides to pop in to buy you a gift, she can not only recommend the right scent but also the right product.

Black laquered secret drawer containing the 21 oils

The next stage is where Linda introduces you to the scents of individual raw ingredients in the form of oils and which can make an Ormonde Jayne perfume. Advising you not to think of them as an actual perfume but to just concentrate on the smell and say whether you liked or didn’t like it.
After smelling about 15 of the 21 oils I’d only said I’d like two so far (vanilla and freesia). Panicking , and wondering how she was going to find any perfume for me , never mind my perfect perfume , I toyed with the idea of saying I liked the next one. Alas I couldn’t even smell anything. Luckily I came clean and Linda advised it was Ambroxan which you either could or couldn’t smell. Relieved my sense of smell hadn’t totally packed in, I was just a bit sad that I wasn’t one of the perfume elite who could smell it.

After going through all the oils, Linda then chose 3 of her perfumes, spraying 2 on my arms and 1 on herself. We talked whilst they settled. One I instantly loved (Ta’if) but the others were too intense. Although happy with my new favourite perfume and amazed that she found it so easily, I still kept smelling the other fragrance (Tolu) on my arm. Apparently Tolu does take a while to settle. It definitely did take a while, but after a few hours, I was surprised to find I loved the smell – Super Perfumer Linda had done it again!
But as an impatient, want everything now, now, now kinda girl, the love at first smell Ta’if is the one for me. I loved its instant top notes of pink pepper, saffron and dates and still loved it as it settled down with the heart notes of rose oil, freesia, orange flower absolute and jasmine plus the lingering base notes of broom and amber.

I was delighted to see my new signature perfume was the one and only perfume that comes in the very luxurious Gold Dust: here you can give your décolleté and shoulders a little light dusting of real 24 carat gold powder ! Gold Dust is packaged in an elegant black lacquered handmade gold box which contains a very fluffy and feminine champagne coloured hand sewn French satin powder puff with marabou feather trim.
The retail price of £400 for 15ml is not to be sneezed at (definitely don’t sneeze!) and is exclusive to Harrods.
I’m pleased to say the actual perfumes are much much cheaper at £70 for a 50ml Eau de Parfum.

Ormonde Jayne’s flagship boutique is at 12 The Royal Arcade....

192 Pavillion Rd

....and her new and larger store at 192 Pavillion Rd just off Sloane Square. For more information check out the website : www.ormondejayne.com

Cutey Pie Fragrance

For all you beach lovers who still like playing with dolls, go for one of The Perfume Shop’s predicted hottest scents for this summer-Harajuku Lovers G of the Sea. 

The package is so cute; it has ‘G’ dressed up as a mermaid doll. There are crisp surfing top notes of apple and berry, with a summer breeze floral blend of peony, freesia and jasmine in her heart. But it’s her base notes of sundrenched woods, transparent musk and amberwood which make her such a beach babe.