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Treat yourself to a perfume wardrobe

Experts are recommending ditching signature scents worn daily
The latest trend is to collate a &#039..

Published

6 years ago

January 11, 2018

Europe Disk

Experts are recommending ditching signature scents worn daily
The latest trend is to collate a 'scent wardrobe' filled with tailored perfumes
Here, FEMAIL reveals how you can build up a collection of scents on a budget

By Claire Coleman for the Daily Mail

Published: 19:15 EST, 10 January 2018 | Updated: 19:15 EST, 10 January 2018

Calvin Klein’s Eternity? My old French teacher Mrs Austin. Nina Ricci’s L’Air du Temps? Unmistakably my grandmother, who wore nothing else.

When it comes to fragrance, for years women have been encouraged to find a ‘signature scent’, which is why even a whiff of a particular perfume is enough to conjure up the person we associate with it.

Now, though, experts say the last thing we should do is stick to wearing the same fragrance every single day.

‘There is a quote from Estee Lauder which I think sums it up,’ says Jo Fairley, founder of The Perfume Society. ‘She said that you wouldn’t wear the same dress to play tennis and go out to dinner, so why would you wear the same fragrance?’

The latest fashion is to build up a ‘scent wardrobe’ of fragrances that can be tailored for each occasion.

The trend to build up a scent wardrobe is growing as brands now offer their most popular scents in small sizes. FEMAIL revealed how to build a collection of scents (file image)

It sounds an expensive pastime. But fortunately, brands have been quick to catch on to the trend and are selling their most popular scents in small sizes, so you can try several without spending any more than you would on one full-sized bottle.

Better still, a whole host of new subscription services will pick scents for you and send them out every month.

Research from market analysts Mintel suggests 59 per cent of perfume lovers have different scents for every day, and for special occasions. Others change theirs according to the season, or mood.

‘The new desire to have a scent wardrobe can be limited by purchasing power,’ acknowledges Charlotte Libby, Mintel’s global colour cosmetics and fragrance analyst. ‘It’s customary to have 30ml and 50ml bottles in the fragrance market, but with an audience interested in experimentation, smaller sizes are now often preferred.’

These miniature, less expensive vials of fragrance are bigger than samples, but smaller than a full-size bottle. Boutique perfumers Floral Street sell all theirs in both 50ml and 10ml bottles, while Abel Vita Odor offers its collection in 15ml and 50ml sizes.

‘Two years ago everyone thought a 15ml bottle was a bad idea,’ says Abel founder, Frances Shoemack. ‘But it’s the perfect size for travel, the price is accessible and people can try a new fragrance without having to commit to a large bottle.’

So, what should you have in your scent wardrobe?

Jo Fairley advises: ‘For a start you want something fresh and sporty — the perfume equivalent of a white shirt and a pair of jeans. A classic cologne such as Jo Malone’s Lime, Basil & Mandarin will make you feel relaxed but invigorated when you go to yoga or a gym class, or when you just want to feel uplifted.

Newly found subscription service Sniph, sends a 7ml vial of a different scent each month and offers full-size bottles on its website

‘Then you want a scent for the office which won’t overwhelm your colleagues. For that a pretty floral is ideal — such as Coach Eau de Parfum. Save big, blousy florals for evenings.

‘I also like a power fragrance, that makes you stand a little taller. Chypres, warm, woody fragrances such as Guerlain’s Mitsouko and Sisley’s Eau de Soir, are great for that.

‘Finally you want an evening fragrance that works like a pair of high heels or sparkly earrings. That’s where I think Oriental notes come in — they’re the sexy ones that make you feel glamorous. Try Gucci Guilty and Chanel’s Coco.’

Here are the best places to build up your perfume wardrobe without spending a fortune.

TIME TO EXPERIMENT

sniph.co.uk

Launched in November, Sniph will send you a 7ml vial of different scent every month — if you fall in love with it, you can buy a full-size bottle via the website.

Cost: £17.99/month.

The Fragrance Shop's subscription service Scent Addict sends an 8ml vial of perfume of your choice every month

What’s on offer: You choose a collection or theme — Female Classics, Clean, Avant-Garde — and they’ll send you something that fits with that. The perfumes tend not to be High Street — expect niche brands such as Etat Libre, Swedish perfume house Agonist, and Parisian label Aether Parfums.

CLICK ON A CLASSIC

scentaddict.com

From the people behind The Fragrance Shop, this service sends an 8ml vial of the perfume of your choice every single month. There are more than 200 and you can either reorder the same one, try something new, or use the £12 towards a full-size bottle.

Cost: £12/month.

What’s on offer: Perfumes you’d find in department stores — everything from Abercrombie & Fitch and Azzaro, to Yves Saint Laurent and Zadig & Voltaire.

FOR SOPHISTICATES

Feel Unique offers five samples per month for just the cost of shipping and handling

feelunique.com

Feel Unique’s Pick ’n’ Mix service allows users to choose up to five samples per month and pay only the shipping and handling fee. You’ll also get a £3.95 gift voucher which you can redeem on a future full-sized purchase.

Cost: £3.95/month.

What’s on offer: Big names such as Calvin Klein and Gucci, but also more exclusive (and expensive) perfume houses such as Maison Margiela and Tom Ford.

ECLECTIC ELEGANCE

The Perfume Society offers mixed boxes of fragrances based on a chosen theme

perfumesociety.org

The Perfume Society offer the opportunity to try a range of fragrances, grouped according to theme, in their Discovery Boxes.

Cost: From £17.50 per box.

What’s on offer: Everything from the latest launches (£17.50 for eight samples) to sampling sets from the likes of Miller Harris (£70 for six perfumes) and Prada (£36 for six miniatures).

TAILORED SELECTION

Scent & Co offers a 10ml vial of perfume each month based on your likes and dislikes

scentandco.uk

Similar to ScentAddict, Scent & Co lets you choose from more than 450 fragrances — or if you can’t decide, answer a few questions about your likes and dislikes, and an expert will pick one for you — then you are sent 10ml of the fragrance by post.

Cost: £14.95/month, with discounts for subscriptions of three months and more.

What’s on offer: A pretty broad range of perfumes from mainstream and more niche brands. You’ll find Byredo alongside Burberry, and Lancome as well as L’Artisan Parfumeur.

SCENTS TO SAMPLE

Don’t forget that most independent fragrance retailers offer a sampling service to help you choose.

Les Senteurs (lessenteurs.com) will send out up to four trial sizes at a charge of between £3.50 and £5 for each, plus £4 post and packing. Floris (florislondon.com) sells samples from £2.50 a vial, plus P&P.

Roullier White (roullierwhite.com) will also send out testers of all fragrances in The Perfumery (£2 for a 2ml spray).

Other clever letterbox treats

Don’t stick to the same old wine, treats or even cookery books — these subscription services are the perfect way to find some new favourites . . .

BUFF UP ON WINE

Wanderlust Wine Club, £75 plus boxes from £25 monthly, wanderlustwine.co.uk/wine-club

Forget prosecco — this gives wine buffs the chance to really impress dinner guests. Wanderlust, specialising in wines from far-flung vineyards, sends a welcome box of six of its best-selling bottles, then a top-up box each quarter.

A FEAST FOR FOODIES

Guzzl box, £25 a month, guzzl.club

Try a monthly delivery of really unusual goodies from small-scale producers. Think crispy duck crackling, venison salami and sea salted caramel sauce. There’s a box for veggies, too.

COOK UP SOMETHING NEW

Cookbook service, £49.99 for three months, notonthehighstreet.com

Curry lover? Home baker? This personalised cookbook subscription can be tailored to any cooking style.

Original Article

Daily Mail

Australia

Ben Roberts-Smith: Top soldier won’t apologise for alleged war crimes

Published

3 months ago

June 22, 2023

Europe Disk

Ben Roberts-Smith is proud of his actions in Afghanistan, the former Australian soldier said in his first comments since a judge ruled claims he committed war crimes were true.

A landmark defamation case this month found Mr Roberts-Smith was responsible for the murders of four Afghans.

The Victoria Cross recipient says he is innocent and will consider an appeal.

“I’m devastated… It’s a terrible outcome and it’s the incorrect outcome,” he said on Wednesday.

Speaking to reporters from Nine as he returned to Australia for the first time since the judgement was delivered, Mr Roberts-Smith also said he would not apologise to those affected by his alleged crimes.

“We haven’t done anything wrong, so we won’t be making any apologies,” he said.

Mr Roberts-Smith sued three Australian newspapers over a series of articles alleging he had carried out unlawful killings and bullied fellow soldiers while deployed in Afghanistan between 2009-2012.

But Federal Court Judge Anthony Besanko threw out the former special forces corporal’s case against The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, and The Canberra Times, ruling it was “substantially true” that Mr Roberts-Smith had murdered unarmed Afghan prisoners and civilians, and bullied peers.

The 44-year-old, who remains Australia’s most-decorated living soldier, was not present for the civil court ruling, having spent the days leading up to it on the Indonesian resort island of Bali.

Mr Roberts-Smith, who left the defence force in 2013, has not been charged over any of the claims in a criminal court, where there is a higher burden of proof.

None of the evidence presented in the civil defamation case against Mr Roberts-Smith can be used in any criminal proceedings, meaning investigators must gather their own independently.

This week it was confirmed that the Office of the Special Investigator (OSI) – which is responsible for addressing criminal matters related to the Australian Defence Force in Afghanistan – would work alongside Australian Federal Police (AFP) to examine three alleged murders local media say involve the former soldier.

The killings allegedly took place at a compound codenamed Whiskey 108 and in the southern Afghan village of Darwan.

The OSI was set up following a landmark inquiry in 2020, known as the Brereton Inquiry, which found “credible evidence” that Australia’s special forces unlawfully killed 39 people in Afghanistan.

There are currently 40 matters that are being jointly investigated by the OSI and the AFP.

Earlier this year former SAS soldier Oliver Schulz became the first Australian defence force member to ever be charged by police with the war crime of murder.

Read from: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-65911638

Australia

Why Australia decided to quit its vaping habit

Published

4 months ago

May 28, 2023

Europe Disk

He’s talking about students in his class, teenagers, who can’t stop vaping.

He sees the effect of the candy-flavoured, nicotine-packed e-cigarettes on young minds every day, with children even vaping in class.

“The ones who are deepest into it will just get up out of their seat, or they’ll be fidgeting or nervous. The worst offenders will just walk out because they’re literally in withdrawal.”

Those who are most addicted need nicotine patches or rehabilitation, he says, talking about 13 and 14-year-olds.

is enough and introduced a range of new restrictions. Despite vapes already being illegal for many, under new legislation they will become available by prescription only.

The number of vaping teenagers in Australia has soared in recent years and authorities say it is the “number one behavioural issue” in schools across the country.

And they blame disposable vapes – which some experts say could be more addictive than heroin and cocaine – but for now are available in Australia in every convenience store, next to the chocolate bars at the counter.

For concerned teachers like Chris, their hands have been tied.

“If we suspect they have a vape, all we can really do is tell them to go to the principal’s office.

“At my old school, my head teacher told me he wanted to install vape detector alarms in the toilet, but apparently we weren’t allowed to because that would be an invasion of privacy.”

E-cigarettes have been sold as a safer alternative to tobacco, as they do not produce tar – the primary cause of lung cancer.

Some countries continue to promote them with public health initiatives to help cigarette smokers switch to a less deadly habit.

Last month, the UK government announced plans to hand out free vaping starter kits to one million smokers in England to get smoking rates below 5% by 2030.

But Australia’s government says that evidence that e-cigarettes help smokers quit is insufficient for now. Instead, research shows it may push young vapers into taking up smoking later in life.

‘Generation Vape’

Vapes, or e-cigarettes, are lithium battery-powered devices that have cartridges filled with liquids containing nicotine, artificial flavourings, and other chemicals.

The liquid is heated and turned into a vapour and inhaled into the user’s lungs.

Vaping took off from the mid-2000s and there were some 81 million vapers worldwide in 2021, according to the Global State of Tobacco Harm Reduction group.

Fuelling the rise is the mushrooming popularity of flavoured vapes designed to appeal to the young.

These products can contain far higher volumes of nicotine than regular cigarettes, while some devices sold as ‘nicotine-free’ can actually hold large amounts.

The chemical cocktail also contains formaldehyde, and acetaldehyde – which have been linked to lung disease, heart disease, and cancer.

There’s also a suggestion of an increased risk of stroke, respiratory infection, and impaired lung function.

Experts warn not enough is known about the long-term health effects. But some alarming data has already been drawn out.

In 2020, US health authorities identified more than 2,800 cases of e-cigarette or vaping-related lung injury. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found 68 deaths attributed to that injury.

In Australia, a major study by leading charity The Cancer Council found more than half of all children who had ever vaped had used an e-cigarette they knew contained nicotine and thought that vaping was a socially acceptable behaviour.

School-age children were being supplied with e-cigarettes through friends or “dealers” inside and outside school, or from convenience stores and tobacconists, the report said.

Teens also reported purchasing vapes through social media, websites and at pop-up vape stores, the Generation Vape project found.

“Whichever way teenagers obtain e-cigarettes, they are all illegal, yet it’s happening under the noses of federal and state authorities”, report author and Cancer Council chair Anita Dessaix said.

“All Australian governments say they’re committed to ensuring e-cigarettes are only accessed by smokers with a prescription trying to quit – yet a crisis in youth e-cigarette use is unfolding in plain view.”

In addition to the government’s move to ban the import of all non-pharmaceutical vaping products – meaning they can now only be bought with a prescription – all single-use disposable vapes will be made illegal.

The volume and concentration of nicotine in e-cigarettes will also be restricted, and both flavours and packaging must be plain and carrying warning labels.

But these new measures are not actually all that drastic, says public health physician Professor Emily Banks from the Australian National University.

“Australia is not an outlier. It is unique to have a prescription-only model, but other places actually ban them completely, and that includes almost all of Latin America, India, Thailand and Japan.”

‘We have been duped’

Health Minister Mark Butler said the new vaping regulations will close the “biggest loophole in Australian healthcare history”.

“Just like they did with smoking… ‘Big Tobacco’ has taken another addictive product, wrapped it in shiny packaging and added sweet flavours to create a new generation of nicotine addicts.”

“We have been duped”, he said.

Medical experts agree. Prof Banks argues that the promotion of e-cigarettes as a “healthier” alternative was a classic “sleight-of-hand” from the tobacco industry.

As such vaping has become “normalised” in Australia, and in the UK too.

“There’s over 17,000 flavours, and the majority of use is not for smoking cessation”, she tells the BBC.

“They’re being heavily marketed towards children and adolescents. People who are smoking and using e-cigarettes – that’s the most common pattern of use, dual use.”

Professor Banks says authorities need to “de-normalise” vaping among teenagers and make vapes much harder to get hold of.

“Kids are interpreting the fact that they can very easily get hold of [vapes] as evidence [they’re safe], and they’re actually saying, ‘well, if they were that unsafe, I wouldn’t be able to buy one at the coffee shop’.

But could stricter controls make it harder for people who do turn to vapes hoping to quit or cut down on tobacco?

“It is important to bear in mind that for some people, e-cigarettes have really helped. But we shouldn’t say ‘this is great for smokers to quit’, says Prof Banks.

“We know from

Australia, from the US, from Europe, that two-thirds to three-quarters of people who quit smoking successfully, do so unaided.”

“You’re trying to bring these [vapes] in saying they’re a great way to quit smoking, but actually we’ve got bubble gum flavoured vapes being used by 13-year-olds in the school toilets. That is not what the community signed up for.”

Read from: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-65522841

Australia

Australia: Scott Morrison saga casts scrutiny on Queen’s representative

Published

1 year ago

August 27, 2022

Europe Disk

In the past fortnight, Australia has been gripped by revelations that former Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison secretly appointed himself to several additional ministries.

The move has been labelled a “power grab” by his successor as prime minister, and Mr Morrison has been scolded by many – even his own colleagues.

But the scandal has also dragged Australia’s governor-general into the fray – sparking one of the biggest controversies involving the Queen’s representative in Australia in 50 years.

So does Governor-General David Hurley have questions to answer, or is he just collateral damage?

‘Just paperwork’

Governors-general have fulfilled the practical duties as Australia’s head of state since the country’s 1901 federation.

Candidates for the role were initially chosen by the monarch but are now recommended by the Australian government.

The job is largely ceremonial – a governor-general in almost every circumstance must act on the advice of the government of the day. But conventions allow them the right to “encourage” and “warn” politicians.

Key duties include signing bills into law, issuing writs for elections, and swearing in ministers.

Mr Hurley has run into trouble on the latter. At Mr Morrison’s request, he swore the prime minister in as joint minister for health in March 2020, in case the existing minister became incapacitated by Covid.

Over the next 14 months, he also signed off Mr Morrison as an additional minister in the finance, treasury, home affairs and resources portfolios.

Mr Morrison already had ministerial powers, so Mr Hurley was basically just giving him authority over extra departments.

It’s a request the governor-general “would not have any kind of power to override or reject”, constitutional law professor Anne Twomey tells the BBC.

“This wasn’t even a meeting between the prime minister and the governor-general, it was just paperwork.”

But Mr Morrison’s appointments were not publicly announced, disclosed to the parliament, or even communicated to most of the ministers he was job-sharing with.

Australia’s solicitor-general found Mr Morrison’s actions were not illegal but had “fundamentally undermined” responsible government.

But the governor-general had done the right thing, the solicitor-general said in his advice this week.

It would have been “a clear breach” for him to refuse the prime minister, regardless of whether he knew the appointments would be kept secret, Stephen Donaghue said.

Critics push for investigation

Ultimately, Mr Hurley had to sign off on Mr Morrison’s requests, but critics say he could have counselled him against it and he could have publicised it himself.

But representatives for the governor-general say these types of appointments – giving ministers the right to administer other departments – are not unusual.

And it falls to the government of the day to decide if they should be announced to the public. They often opt not to.

Mr Hurley himself announcing the appointments would be unprecedented. He had “no reason to believe that appointments would not be communicated”, his spokesperson said.

Emeritus professor Jenny Hocking finds the suggestion Mr Hurley didn’t know the ministries had been kept secret “ridiculous”.

“The last of these bizarre, duplicated ministry appointments… were made more than a year after the first, so clearly by then the governor-general did know that they weren’t being made public,” she says.

“I don’t agree for a moment that the governor-general has a lot of things on his plate and might not have noticed.”

The historian says it’s one of the biggest controversies surrounding a governor-general since John Kerr caused a constitutional crisis by sacking Prime Minister Gough Whitlam in 1975.

Prof Hocking famously fought for transparency around that matter – waging a lengthy and costly legal battle that culminated in the release of Mr Kerr’s correspondence with the Queen.

And she says the same transparency is needed here.

The Australian public need to know whether Mr Hurley counselled the prime minister against the moves, and why he didn’t disclose them

The government has already announced an inquiry into Mr Morrison’s actions, but she wants it to look at the governor-general and his office too.

“If the inquiry is to find out what happened in order to fix what happened, it would be extremely problematic to leave out a key part of that equation.”

Former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull – Mr Morrison’s predecessor – has also voiced support for an inquiry.

“Something has gone seriously wrong at Government House,” he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

“It is the passive compliance along the chain… that did undermine our constitution and our democracy… that troubles me the most. This is how tyranny gets under way.”

PM defends governor-general

Prof Twomey says the criticism of Mr Hurley is unfair – there’s was no “conspiracy” on his part to keep things secret.

“I don’t think it’s reasonable for anyone to expect that he could have guessed that the prime minister was keeping things secret from his own ministers, for example.

“Nobody really thought that was a possibility until about two weeks ago.”

Even if he had taken the unprecedented step to publicise the appointments or to reject Mr Morrison’s request, he’d have been criticised, she says.

“There’d be even more people saying ‘how outrageous!'” she says. “The role of governor-general is awkward because people are going to attack you either way.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has also defended Mr Hurley, saying he was just doing his job.

“I have no intention of undertaking any criticism of [him].”

A role fit for purpose?

Prof Hocking says it’s a timely moment to look at the role of the governor-general more broadly.

She points out it’s possible the Queen may have been informed about Mr Morrison’s extra ministries when Australia’s parliament and people were not.

“It does raise questions about whether this is fit for purpose, as we have for decades been a fully independent nation, but we still have… ‘the relics of colonialism’ alive and well.”

Momentum for a fresh referendum on an Australian republic has been growing and advocates have seized on the controversy.

“The idea that the Queen and her representative can be relied upon to uphold our system of government has been debunked once and for all,” the Australian Republic Movement’s Sandy Biar says.

“It’s time we had an Australian head of state, chosen by Australians and accountable to them to safeguard and uphold Australia’s constitution.”

But Prof Twomey says republicans are “clutching at straws” – under their proposals, the head of state would also have been bound to follow the prime minister’s advice.

“It wouldn’t result in any changes that would have made one iota of difference.”

Read from: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-62683210