While packing for a weekend in London this morning, I realised that my current favourite body products have a certain theme – namely their citrus twang. I’m not sure if it’s the need for something fresh and clean to counteract all the spicy, wintery scents around at the moment, or whether I’m just hankering after an olfactory reminder of the Amalfi Coast. Wild herbs and the almost sweet, sun-warmed skin of an Amalfi lemon are, for me, intrinsically linked to my husband’s family town (Ravello) and (not that I married him because of it or anything…) my favourite place in the world.
First up, a long-time favourite, the blood orange and white pepper body butter from Bliss. I was already a huge fan of the sugar scrub in this bestselling scent from the US spa gurus, so when a generous travel-size body butter arrived with this month’s Harpers Bazaar I was pretty chuffed. I love that the white pepper makes sure the fragrance stays clear of any ‘candied’ notes, it’s not too sweet, not too spicy and a great one for those back of the arm/elbow/knee dry patches in winter (the lemon and sage is great, too).
The Jetsetting Blonde has been picking me up bottles of this dual-purpose lemon and vitamin E oil from Burts Bees, Stateside (so much cheaper) for a while. You can add a capful to the bath or, as I prefer, baste it onto wet skin when you come out the shower. It’s a really ‘happy’, clean smell that doesn’t interfere with any perfume I’m wearing but just keeps the scaly skin at bay. Also, worth noting for new mamas, I swear that applying this daily to my tummy post pregnancy has SIGNIFICANTLY reduced my stretch mark scarring and faded my c-section scar fast. Much kinder to the skin than bio-oil (full of nasty petrochemicals), too.
A new addition this week, Basil Lemon body milk from Korres. I wanted something a bit runnier that sunk in immediately for my legs. The basil adds a really fragrant note to this zesty moisturiser, I love anything from this Greek apothecary brand so perhaps a little biased here, but a great all-purpose ‘slather it on liberally’ product.