The Cosmetic Industry and its promises

We all would like to stay young and look young as long as we can. The skin care industry is aware of our hoping and makes all sorts of promises to sell us their products.

If you ever looked closely into the skin care products and their claims you might read a few very interesting statements. You might have come across “Lancôme Génifique” and “L’Oréal Paris Youth Code” products. Both product lines claim to target gens to make your skin look younger again.

Of course this is too good to be true and most of us did not think that the gens will really be altered in any way by using the creams and serums from Lancôme or L’Oréal Paris. Still their aggressive statement made many people curious to see what stands behind it.

In the end of June the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) raised charges against Lancôme and L’Oréal Paris (both belong to L’Oréal Paris) prohibiting to advertise that their product targets or boosts the activity of genes to make skin look or act younger (source FTC) as they can nor scientifically proof those claims.

Just as a little note “Lancôme Génifique” costs $132 per container.

The bottom line is that we should buy only skin care products we feel good with disregarding what advertisers are trying to sell us with their promises.

Jo Malone and the Art of Fragrance combining

Most of us I suppose have already been searching for THE fragrance. A signature fragrance- a sent unique to oneself underling one’s personality and fitting all occasions.

If you are on this mission you might be facing some difficulties such as the fact that popular fragrances are worn by everyone making a scent less unique. I know that the same scent does not smell exactly the same on different people but I still hate recognizing my favorite perfume on somebody else (of course not on friends and family but on strangers).

Another difficulty is that you need to like a fragrance “as is” since it is very difficult to alter the smell with a second perfume. I mainly end up spraying a bit more or a bit less to change the intensity but it does not change the smell.

During 2012 I have come across the British brand Jo Malone promising to help find a signature scent. Jo Malone founded the company in 1994 and sold it to Estée Lauder Companies in 1999.

Jo Malone offers a variety of scents grouped into the following segments: Citrus, Floral, Light Floral, Fruity, Spicy and Woody. Each segment contains three to four fragrances. Each scent by itself can be combined with any other scent according to personal preference. You may combine fragrances within one segment or several different segments. Of course each combination depends on your personal taste and style. The sales assistants at Jo Malone will usually be able to make a first suggestion according to your described likings and from there you can usually navigate around and try out different combinations.

Of course you can also wear the fragrances just as is but you might find that some of them lack a little twist. The reason for this is because they were thought to be used combined with one another. Mainly Jo Malone fragrances are having a clear defined smell which makes them perfect to be layered in combination to create a combined scent.

In terms of price the fragrances cost 47 Euros for 30ml and 92 Euros for 100ml. They are Eau de Cologne which means they are very light in concentration.

I highly recommend trying the fragrances in person as it will be much easier to decide what fits and what does not.

I started my Jo Malone collection with English Pear and Freesia. Until today this is still my favorite fragrance from their line. English Pear and Freesia is a light fruity/floral scent which makes me feel like a warm spring day. It is very difficult to describe a scent with words but this is the feeling it transmits to me.

Last year I added Blackberry and Bay and Peony & Blush Suede. Blackberry and Bay is a lovely warm berry smell which is absolutely adorable and more wearable than I initially thought. Peony & Blush Suede is very floral and sweet and I find it a bit too heavy for myself.

This spring I added Wild Bluebell and Nectarine Blossom to my little collection. Wild Bluebell smells like Lily of the Valley for me which I really like. The scent is very light! Nectarine Blossom & Honey smells exactly how it sounds like. Nectarines! I like it very much. It is a lovely summer scent for a hot day.

Here is my entire collection:

Overall I would like to note that Jo Malone offers fragrances for every taste. Depending on the combination they can be worn by ladies and gentlemen alike.

I do recommend when searching for a signature scent to visit a Jo Malone boutique to get some advice. The staff knows the products very well and can assist. Best would be to know a little bit about what you like and what you do not like and from there you can start discovering.

Pros:

·                     Large selection

·                     Chances to create a signature scent

Cons:

·                     Pricy

·                     Might take time to find the perfect match

·                     Not all fragrances are lasting very long. Testing in advance is highly recommended!

I recommend taking the time to decide what you like and to build up a collection carefully. At some point it will be fun to combine what you already own with something new. At first purchase I generally buy always the smallest bottle and if I use it up I purchase the larger version of a fragrance. It gives me enough time to consider what I like and what I would like to repurchase.

A Weekend in July

Wow time has passed so fast lately. We are already in July! I can remember it was just Easter not too long ago.

Here in Israel it started to be very hot over the last weeks. The only way to get away from this heat is to stay home with the AC on or go to the beach and refresh in the water. What I love about summer is the beach and the light summer cloths. The heat and the sweating is not really my thing.

We have adopted a little homeless dog during May because we felt so lonely without our little sweetheart who died a few month ago.
So its time to welcome Ruby, he is about a year old and was found on the street before he came to us.

People can be so cruel. I can not understand how one can be so heartless. Now Ruby has a new home with us. He is such a quiet and friendly dog that we are happy to have him. The only but is that he needs a lot of training because he is still young and his manners are not always the best. So I spend most of my free time with him teaching and training him. That is a reason why I am writing less.

Last night I tried a new recipe for baking macarons. I love those cookies so much. They are unbelievably tasty. Unfortunately they are more difficult to prepare than I initially thought. It took me around 6 tries to find the right way to get them just right. I tried it 5 time with French meringue and did not succeed so well (well, I succeeded better at the fifth time than in the beginning but it was still far from the pictures.). Yesterday I took a different recipe using Italian meringue and the results surprised me in such a good way that I decided to share the photos with you. If you ever think about preparing macarons go straight away to a recipe using Italian meringue! It is more difficult but the results are far better!  

baking time...

Macaron shells right from the oven

Finally filled with ganache

From another angle

Macarons in box

Have a lovely weekend. During the next days I will write about Jo Malone and the concept of fragrance combining which I am very fond of.