This National Poetry Series-winning collection emerges from half-remembered fairy tales and reconstructed dreams.

'Their combined passion for fragrance is infectious, and they love teaching.' Telegraph Not only is candle making and scent development a wonderfully relaxing craft, it is also a unique way to create personalised gifts or to create a signature scent for your own home or special event. Earl of East London Paul and Niko of Earl of East London share the secrets behind the gorgeously scented candles they create at their studio. As well as the basic steps required to prepare and pour candles at home, the pair include a fascinating exploration of the art of building scent, so you too can create your own signature fragrances. Paul and Niko are devoted to capturing memories and feelings in scent, and explain how to combine different essential oils to trigger different emotions, whether that may be a recollection childhood holidays conjured up by a hint of mandarin and seaweed, or an imagined walk in your grandparents' garden, scented with basil and parsley.

A jewel of a short story from the bestselling, award-winning author of Atonement—“My Purple Scented Novel” follows the perfect crime of literary betrayal, scrupulously wrought yet unscrupulously executed. Published to celebrate Ian McEwan’s 70th birthday. “You will have heard of my friend the once celebrated novelist Jocelyn Tarbet, but I suspect his memory is beginning to fade. . . . You’d never heard of me, the once obscure novelist Parker Sparrow, until my name was publicly connected with his. To a knowing few, our names remain rigidly attached, like the two ends of a seesaw. His rise coincided with, though did not cause, my decline. . . . I don’t deny there was wrongdoing. I stole a life, and I don’t intend to give it back. You may treat these few pages as a confession.”

Dozens of inspired ideas for using dried flowers and herbs in the home for fragrance and visual beauty, as well as how to shop for, grow, dry, and store them; by the owner of Cherchez, the elegant New York store.More than 110 full-color photographs.

Both men and women devote time and effort to removing natural body odour and replacing it with sexual attractant odours derived from plants and animals - we seem to need to smell of something other than people! Yet of all the apes, we are the most richly endowed with scent producing glands. This book examines the sense of smell in humans, comparing it with the known functions of the same sense in other animals. Odorous cues play a role in sexual physiology and behaviour in animals and there are claims that odour can play the same role in humans. The place of odours and scents in aesthetics and in psychoanalysis serves to illustrate the link between the emotional centres and the brain. The book presents arguments to explain the way in which our ancestral past has given rise to our modern day olfactory enigmas. The material is presented with as much explanation of the technical detail as possible to make the book accessible to a wide readership.

A compelling and poignant search for identity through perfume. Granny Seren told me I had a natural talent for perfume making, and I believed her because she seemed to know what she was talking about and she never lied. It was Seren who introduced me to the idea of a signature scent. As a university lecturer, Siân didn’t need a signature scent to know who she was. But, prompted by her job loss following restructuring of the humanities - and the effect this has on her identity - she begins to construct a perfume of herself. Note by perfume note, referencing scent memories and recent events, she rebuilds herself, Scented.

The untold story of Marie-Antoinette's perfumer, Jean-Louis Fargeon. Montpellier, 1748: Jean-Louis Fargeon is born into a family of perfumers and soon becomes apprentice to his father's modest perfumery. But he dreams of the glittering court of Versailles and of becoming perfumer to the young queen, Marie Antoinette. His ambition carried him to Paris where his boutique became one of the most elegant and well-patronised in France. Concocting sumptuous perfumes and pomades for most of the French nobility, Fargeon eventually caught the attention of the queen. After meeting Marie Antoinette in the Trianon Palace, he began creating lavish bespoke scents that perfectly reflected her moods and personality. He served as her personal and exclusive perfumer for fourteen years until 1789 when the darkness of Revolution swept across France, its wrath aimed at the extravagance of a now hated queen. Fargeon, a lifelong supporter of the Republican cause but a purveyor to the court, was in a dangerous position. Yet he remained fiercely loyal to Marie Antoinette, beyond her desperate flight to Varennes, her execution and even through his own imprisonment and trial...

This beautiful note book, scented with the sweet smell of heliotrope and decorated with Flower Fairies, is the perfect place to record special thoughts.

A comprehensive and stylish guide in using the ancient practices of aromatherapy for modern wellbeing. Discover the power of one simple breath. Aromatherapy is the practice of using pure essential oils extracted from plants as remedies for emotional, physical and spiritual wellbeing. The healing properties of essential oils can relieve headaches, muscular pain, and cold and flu symptoms. A few drops in your skincare regime can increase hydration, treat acne and regenerate damaged skin. What's more, essential oils can shift your mood, improve your sleep patterns and lower feelings of anxiety to make you feel restored, relaxed and renewed. A Scented Life is a journey into the senses, bringing this ancient practice into today's world. Aromatherapy expert Pat Princi-Jones details what different essential oils can do for you and demonstrates the many ways to mix and apply oils in your daily life for maximum long-term benefits.