Get in the mood with Neal & Wolf

I can't imagine that it has escaped your notice that today is Valentine's day. It is also the half term holiday, so I'm likely to be spending the day watching films about Marvel superheros and playing with Lego mini-figures (we have one that looks like Justin Lee Collins as a Storm Trooper, it never ceases to amuse me). It's a hard life!

Although I might not be devoting my day to romance, I will be trying to entice Mr. MB with my beautiful smelling hair, courtesy of Neal & Wolf. The Neal & Wolf signature scent was actually created by a perfume house and all ten products in the range boast the same scent; white thyme and saffron combined with a blast of mandarin, a base of sweet vanilla and palisander wood. It's alluring rather than girly and I think it's a scent that will appeal to both sexes. Which is good news if you're still at that sweet nothings in your ear stage!

The Ritual Daily Shampoo and Harmony Intensive Care Conditioner leave my hair soft and nicely conditioned. Although I often leave my hair to dry naturally, I have been using the Elevate Volumising Lotion before blow-drying. I have been surprised by how much I like this product and it's probably my favourite of the five products that I have tried. I've admitted before that I don't really go in for big hair but this adds a nice bit of lift at the roots and makes my hair feel more bouncy.

The Super Shine Spray is obviously designed to give your hair shine but I like it most of all for the lovely fragrance and think it's perfect for refreshing your hair. I could have done with something like this  when Mr. MB and I first started going out, back in those days it was pretty standard to smell like an ashtray after a night out in the pub or Uni bar. Now that's a signature scent that I'm glad to see the back of! I haven't road tested the hair spray properly yet but it is of the pump spray variety and has the same lovely fragrance as the rest of the collection.

 

I've really enjoyed using the Neal & Wolf products as they have turned what is often a routine chore into a lovely sensory experience. I'm terrible for not paying much attention to my hair and I'm hoping my new bouncy, fragrant hair will inspire me to finally book a trim!

The Neal & Wolf range is available at hair salons nationwide, or visit the online shop at www.nealandwolf.com. The prices range from £10.95 from the Ritual Daily Shampoo to £12.95 for the Harmony Intensive Care Treatment.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Disclosure: PR Samples

Jo Malone Red Roses Travel Candle

Mr. MB and I have been together from 14 years. Back in the early days, Valentine's Day used to quite the occasion, involving gifting and fancy meals. I remember my very first Valentine's gift from Mr. MB and, in fact, I still have it.

Ooh, doesn't he look young?

I loved Baz Luhrman's Romeo + Juliet. I loved the soundtrack too and many years later, we chose one of the songs from the film as the first dance at our wedding. Nowadays I'm more likely to be watching this version of Shakespeare's play...

FYI this version has a happy ending, it's not one for the purists!

We don't tend to go in for celebrating Valentine's Day much anymore. This probably makes me sound cold hearted but it falls between our anniversary, both our birthdays and Mother's Day, so it just gets overlooked. This year my heart has been defrosted a little by the early Valentine's present I received from Jo Malone.

I think Jo Malone make wonderful gifts. It's not just the item inside, it's the presentation that I really like: I like the boxes, the tissues paper and I much prefer the black ribbon to something more girly and frou-frou. This is grown up gifting at it's best. So, thanks to Jo Malone, I'm bringing romance back!

The candle inside the elegant box is from the Red Roses scent collection. It is quite fragrant even when unlit but once lit, the fragrance spreads and scents the surrounding area. Or, as Mr MB put it "that candle smelt really strong when I walked in to our room last night". The old silver-tongued smoothy! The scent is an intense version of pressing your nose into a bouquet of roses. I think that anyone who has ever tried to make rose-water as a child will know what I mean by intense, so often roses are not keen on giving up their scent. The fragrance is apparently a blend of seven roses from around the world along with crushed violet leaves and a hint of lemon.

The travel candle is new to the Red Roses collection which already includes a cologne, body crème, body wash, hand & body lotion and bath oil. There is also a new Red Roses Fragrance Chronicle. I have never tried any of the fragrance chronicles before but London Makeup Girl gave a fascinating overview of the various chronicle releases in her review of the English Pear & Freesia Chronicle. This year's Red Roses Fragrance Chronicle still contains the Honeycomb mini but I believe the Sweet Lemon and Scarlet Velvet Rose mini colognes are different from last year.

The Red Roses Travel Candle costs £22 and is available from Jo Malone stores and concessions as well as online from the Jo Malone wesbite.


Disclosure: PR Sample