Hi everyone, happy Friday — how was your week?
A HUGE sunny welcome to all new subscribers! However you found us in this corner of the pool devoted to all things midlife beauty and wellness—I hope you’ll love it here!
After a slightly high octane one here, with our youngest wrapping up biggie exams and marking a school milestone, I’m panic-prepping to visit our family in Italy next week, and feeling 100% behind on everything at home.
Packing for our trip means a travel beauty edition is incoming next week, and Cathy Kangas, founder of Prai—the “pro-ageing” skin care range with a big following on both sides of the pond—will be sharing her beauty and wellness secrets at The Midlife Beauty Edit.
Have you moved over to a summer fragrance yet? Any hot favourites? A few days ago, I had a passing spritz of the new, limited edition ILIO fragrance by Diptique, when I was looking for a birthday card in John Lewis and somehow fell into the fragrance department.
First, the packaging - the retro holiday illustration by French artist Alexandre Benjamin Navet is so gorgeous.
They had me at striped parasol. The scent, named for the Greek word for sun and inspired by “blue skies and sweet, slow living”, is gorgeous, but OH-SO-LIGHT (think, all-too-fleeting beauty). The key notes are prickly pear, bergamot, jasmine and iris, but all I can smell is my Italian nonna’s bathroom in summer, and washing off sun cream at the end of a day on the beach (the time-travelling superpower of scent, again). The ILIO line-up also includes a scented Face and Body Mist - which, too, feels fantastically retro.
I’ve mentioned before that I always stock up on the French and Italian bar soaps at TK/J Maxx, which encapsulate that Mediterranean, citrus-floral vibe, for under £5, and last forever. But for a treat of a summer body wash, L’Occitane’s Verbena Shower Gel (£17.50 at M&S, but widely available) is super-fresh, sharp and uplifting.
To watch
I really enjoyed ’s Instagram round-up this week of perfumes that smell like suncream (the “nose” of British beauty journalists, Alice writes on Substack.)
I’m 100% with Alice on & Other Stories fragrances (I love the Sicilian Sunrise scent, and keep the body oil on the bathroom shelf as soon as it warms up). While the much-loved but now out-of-stock Discover Sunrise by M&S she mentions didn’t quite work for me, I have fallen for small, indie perfumer Floral Street’s Arizona Bloom, which is also available at M&S (and the brand’s website, where you can read more about its vegan, sustainability-focused story).
A “floral amber” inspired by the desert, it has a coconut note that I think triggers the beachy associations for me (blame the summer of 1988 and a big fat bottle of The Body Shop’s Coconut Sun Oil).
The high-brow summer
Having talked last week about midlifers’ love for Glossier, including the iconic Boy Brow, the “brow-obsessed” Victoria Beckham has just thrown her taming wand into the ring: the FeatherFix Liquid Lifting Brow Gel (£30). Launched this week, its waterproof, sweat-proof, and so looks promising for summer wear.
“This is a brow gel like no other brow gel you’ve used,” claims Victoria. “It comes with a tiny wand so I can get right into the root and push my brows up to fix them. It lifts my entire eye area.” It comes in five shades, including clear.
Enjoy your holiday!
I want to try that Diptyque- it must smell heavenly! I’m excited about your trip to Italy 🇮🇹 and can’t wait to hear all about it! 😘