Map of the Heart – Clear Heart Vol. 1 Perfume

The summer has awoken our senses to fresher and lighter scents. The sun is out and it’s time to tweak our regular signature scent to match the change in temperature. The Amazing Blog has found just the perfume by Map of the Heart, an Australian company whose fragrances originate in France.

Map of the Heart has six unisex fragrances that are meant to 'conjure stories of place and character' and encourage people to challenge whatever life throws up. We tried their Clear Heart Vol. 1 perfume and were blown away by its subtle fragrance layers.

Clear Heart Vol. 1 perfume is inspired by the Australian summer, and we can see why. It has a light mix of soft green florals, combined with salty, and gentle ambery notes. All very reminiscent of balmy care-free days just lazing by the sea and listening to the echo of the lapping waves. When we spritzed and spritzed some more, it really lifted our mood and spirits. The top notes of the scent contain touches of citrus, green leaves, and blackcurrant. The heart of the fragrance has watery notes, Tunisian neroli, orris, and peony. Finally, the base of the perfume contains white cedar wood, Australian sandalwood, incense, and musks - it's truly moreish!

We also can’t get enough of the perfume’s bottle: the recreation of a living, breathing heart. This iconic shape was designed by the legendary Pierre Dinand (YSL ‘Opium’, Calvin Klein ‘Eternity’, Dior ‘Au Savage’). The design is cohesive with Map of the Heart’s desire to focus on the raw and honesty of human life. The question is, who'll be the lucky person taking this bottle of happiness home? I think we'll have to toss a coin for it!

So what happens if you order this and don't like it? There is an option. Map of the Heart fragrances let you try their products, with the option to return. Select LOVE IT, KEEP IT and your order will be shipped with a complimentary sample of your order choice. If you love it and want to keep it, then proceed to open the tissue seal and enjoy. However, if not, follow the instructions under the returns policy, and ensure the order is returned within 14 days of receiving.  Purchase your Clear Heart Vol. 1 perfume by Map of the Heart 90ml here for £150.00 also retailed in Harrods.

Friday Favourites: Perfume boxes

The scent of a perfume often reveals a person’s personality. Finding the right fragrance that embodies who we are is a struggle. With so many fragrances out there, it can feel impossible to narrow it down. The Amazing Blog has rounded up some fantastic fragrances that we are sure you will love. Whether you prefer a sensual, floral or bold scent, there is something that will suit you. These Discovery and Sample sets are also the perfect gift!

JO LOVES FRANGRANCE DISCOVERY GIFT EXPERIENCE

The famous Jo Malone rules the fragrance market, and for good reason! Jo started her fast-growing company, Jo Malone London, in her London kitchen. This scent mixologist gained huge recognition for her accomplishments, leading to her selling the company to Estée Lauder Companies in 1999 where she worked as the Creative Director until 2006.

Jo Malone is back with her new company Jo Loves, inspired by her beloved memories. We are so excited to see new beautiful and high-quality fragrances from her! The Jo Loves Fragrance Discovery Gift Experience is a wonderful way to explore some of Jo Malone’s long-lasting incredible scents to find one that best suits you. The Fragrance Discovery Gift Experience consists of ten 2ml vials. The best part? Jo Loves will send you your favourite fragrance in the form of a 50ml bottle of Eau de Toilette. The fragrances include Pomelo, White Rose & Lemon Leaves, Mandarin, Smoked Plum & Leather, Red Truffle 21, Shards of Cedar & Red Thyme, No. 42 The Flower Shop, Gardenia, Pink Vetiver, and Green Orange & Coriander. With this wide array of aromas to test and choose from, you are sure to fall in love with at least one!

Our go-to of the bunch has to be the Smoked Plum & Leather, but you can purchase the set here for £105 to see which one you fancy.

SANA JARDIN DISCOVERY SET

Next up, we’ve got the Sana Jardin Discovery Set. Sana Jardin is the first socially-conscious luxury fragrance brand. They strive to create social change through commerce called The Beyond Sustainability Movement. This movement aims to make female entrepreneurs agents of change in their communities while preserving that commnicity's skills. This set comes with seven vials of 2ml Eau de Parfums. The first fragrance is Berber Blonde No. 1, which has a slightly musky aroma with beautiful notes of Moroccan orange blossom and North African neroli. Tiger By Her Side No. 2 is just as seductive as the name suggests. It has notes of amber, Moroccan rose, patchouli and Somalian Incense. It is the perfect scent for those who want to get in touch with their wild side. Savage Jasime No. 3 is a rather heady, musky scent as well, but with a floral twist from the infusion of Moroccan jasmine.

Sandalwood Temple No. 4 is a blend of East Indian Sandalwood, cedarwood, Madagascan vanilla, neroli, and Haitian vetiver. It all comes together to create a wonderfully seductive scent that is sure to turn heads once others get a whiff. Celestial Patchouli No. 5 has an intense and rich aroma with notes of patchouli, leather, sandalwood. Not only that, there are floral hints of rose and jasmine with a touch of cinnamon bark for an invigorating experience. Nubian Musk No. 6 is another musky scent that is amplified by a bit of vanilla, jasmine, rose, and grapefruit flower. Revolution De La Fleur No. 7 is a tropical and floral fragrance comprised of Moroccan ylang-ylang and frangipani.

If these fragrances have caught your interest, you can purchase the 7 x 2ml vials of Eau de Parfum from Sana Jardin Discovery Set here for £30.

APRIL AROMATICS

One of our newest discoveries is the Deluxe Sample Set from April Aromatics. Founded by perfumer Tanja Bochnig in New York, April Aromatics perfumes are free from animal ingredients (besides beeswax), certified organic or wild-crafted, and contain 100% natural ingredients. In addition, the packaging is recyclable! The April Aromatics 7 Chakra Oil Set was a winner of the 2018 Beauty Shortlist Editors' Choice Award. 

With this set, you receive 10 out of the range of 15 fragrances that they offer. Each Eau de Parfum vial contains 2.5ml of the fragrance, which they say equates to about 28 spritzes. These scents are deliciously intense and super long-lasting. To make the choice a bit easier on you, for the summer evenings, we recommend adding Ray of Light and Rosenlust to your list. These two have unique and evocative aromas that we don’t want to ever run out! Ray of Light has notes of lemon, lime, pink grapefruit, and bergamot. A citrus infusion! Rosenlust contains a soft floral mix of tonka, ambrette, and sandalwood.

You can purchase the Deluxe Sample Set of 10 x 2.5ml vials of Eau de Parfum from April Aromatics here for €111.

EDEN PERFUMES SAMPLE GIFT BOX

If you are looking for an environmentally-conscious scent, then we recommend Eden Perfumes. Eden Perfumes is a family-run vegan company from beautiful Brighton. They say: "Botanical cruelty-free perfumes consciously crafted with respect to the planet and all beings." Their products are 100% vegan and not tested on animals. They have similar, not identical, scents to popular ones on the market with over 200 fragrances to choose from, all of the fragrances come in Eau de Parfum strength, not Eau de Toilette! Unlike many others, Eden Perfumes doesn't contain animal notes, such as musk, milk, and honey.

We tried a Sample Gift Box where you can choose your own three combinations. The one that Eden Perfumes sent us contained these three scents: No. 309 Daisy (a floral, woody musk), No. 420 Ispahan Oud (oriental floral; unisex), and No. 475 Neroli (subtly sweet and citrus aromatic; unisex). While those three scents are wildly different and luxurious, we were drawn to Daisy and felt that with its versatility, it could to be worn day through to night. Eden Perfumes has dozens of scents, all of which are very reasonably priced. We deeply encourage you to see the full range for a little spoiling fragrance spree.

Purchase an Eden Perfumes Gift Box of 3  x 10ml bottles of your choice for £21.60 here. Curious about the scents we highlighted? Then you too can purchase a 30ml bottle of No. 309 Daisy, No. 420 Ispahan Oud, and No. 475 Neroli for £18.00 each.

We'd like to give a special thank you to April Aromatics for sending us a 30ml bottle of Rose L’Orange, which we will be reviewing in August. We hope that we have inspired you with our choices. Now get spritzing! 

She LDN Candle

Rain or shine, all of us at The Amazing Blog are continually burning candles in the evenings. There is something simple and calming about watching the flickering flame and being surrounded by its seductive fragrance. This is why we're always on the hunt for our next one! Recently, we discovered SHE LDN, an up-and-coming British home fragrance brand. The company is known for their handmade soy-based candles, which are inspired by the modern streets of London. SHE LDN produces all their handmade candles in their London studio. This week we're burning their NO. 1 Tropical Candle, which we think is evocative of forthcoming summer festivals (especially our fav, the Notting Hill Carnival) with its exotic fragrance. Bring on the sunshine, even if it's raining! We just can’t get enough of this uplifting fragrance!

The NO. 1 Tropical Candle also reminds us of Piña Coladas on a warm, sunny beach. The tropical blend of pineapple, banana, and mango is made from high-quality soy-wax and essential and fragrance oils. One of our favourite things about this candle, apart from its fragrance, is the stylish design and packaging. This funky candle comes in a sleek cardboard box and glass container, all printed with a contemporary colourful design of flamingos and palm trees.

The candle has up to a 50 hour burn time, so it'll give you a week or so of summer evening pleasure, even if it is (like now) grey, rainy and miserable! To achieve best results, SHE LDN suggests burning the candle for at maximum 4 hours at a time. They also recommend trimming the wick 1/8 – ¼ of an inch before each use.

You can purchase the NO. 1 Tropical Candle from SHE LDN here for £20.00. 

Amphora Aromatics – Energise Aromatherapy Blend

Here at The Amazing Blog, we appreciate companies that use high-quality ingredients but are also able to keep the cost of their products affordable; and since 1984 Amphora Aromatics has been doing just that! We've written about Amphora Aromatics for their products in the past, with their Shampoo Bars and Ylang Ylang, Argan & Rosemary shampoo and conditioner which have been two of our favourites, so far. However, these two products both come from their skincare line - AA Skincare. So we were excited to test a different kind of product from them, which was Energise from their Aromatherapy Blends. 

The ‘Energise Stimulating’ blend is made from a combination of essential oils. Some of the oils used in the product include lime, peppermint, lemongrass, geranium, cypress and cedarwood. The lime, peppermint and lemongrass essential oils help to wake up the body. The combination of geranium, cypress and cedarwood work wonders to alleviate stresses. This product has an incredibly delicious lemon-mint fragrance which is very uplifting when put into a steam diffuser.

In total, there are six different Amphora Aromatics’ Aromatherapy Blends available for purchase including; Sleep, Energise, Revive, Focus, Relax and Festive. Each blend helps to provide any room with a relaxing energy.  In addition to relaxation, each blend also offers a specific unique beneficial function that can be found in the aromatherapy section of their website. You can use each aromatherapy blend in diffusers & burners, for steam inhalation or for massage. We like using the Energise Blend in our diffusers to set a calming, yet energising and refreshing vibe. You can purchase your own 10 ml bottle of Amphora Aromatics Aromatherapy ‘Energise’ Blend here for £7.50.

Charlotte Rhys Eau De Toilette - Victor

Everyone searches for their signature scent, you know the one that says it's you. There is nothing more annoying than your best girlfriend copping a sniff of your favourite fragrance, and then sneakily going out to buy the very same! We at The Amazing Blog are always keen on discovering new and unique fragrances to help us stand out in a sea of perfumes. This is why we were intrigued to receive the luxurious Eau De Toilette in Victor from Charlotte Rhys. This South African brand was founded in 1999 by Janet Rhys and Shaun McDermott. They have since established themselves as a leading luxury brand, recently launching here in the UK. What we love about this company is that their focus is on being environmentally friendly. Their ‘green policy’ is something that they are rightfully proud of, as they strive to ensure all their ingredients are ethically sourced and cruelty-free.

This brand has a fragrance for every personality, mood, or occasion and the one we can’t get enough of is the scent Victor. Each perfume in their Classic line is inspired by their hometown of Cape Town. This ‘aromatic and enticing’ perfume has top notes of Nutmeg, Baie Rose and Grapefruit to give you a sweet and sultry allure to carry along into every room you enter. The heart notes of Lavender, Geranium and Black Pepper gives a well-rounded aroma that lingers all day.  Despite being just an eau de toilette, we found that this scent had staying power; it was as subtly fragrant by the afternoon, as it was when we first spritzed it on in the morning. We think that this enigmatic scent is perfect year-round; ensuring to make you stand out from the crowd on a night out. Charlotte Rhys Eau De Toilette in Victor is available to purchase here for £39.00.