Teenage Kicks: Goya Aqua Manda

For the just teenage me this was the apotheosis of fragrance: the decline of Biba and Quant, the cusp of punk to come - rich and difficult compared to the crisp lemony scents also around, and more intriguing than Charlie and Smitty. It has left me with longing for I never had the money to possess it.

Now in The Green Beauty Bible Jo Wood's Amka is described as reminiscent of Aqua Manda, a long lost Goya fragrance, but I think I need to get me some.

My Essentials: Body Cream

After a scrub in the bath there is the pleasure of massaging in an ungent and my favourite to date is Goodworks' Good As Gold body cream. It smells wonderful, I think it's the orange oil and over time you will see a bit of a theme here. There's ylang ylang as well and that's another fragrance I'm partial to with its pungent, dark floral smell - the indoles I guess, I love jasmine too and that's the dominant note in the blend of essential oils I'm using in my facial oil. It also left my skin softer than I have felt it in a long time.

There are other body creams I'd use again: Aveda's Replenishing Body Moisturiser, Retro Lush's Potion, although I'm trying Lush's Creme Anglaise at the moment - this has orange in it too - and I have a pot of ELH Soaps (http://www.elhsoaps.co.uk/) body cream lined up in my bathroom cabinet.

A bit of fun from Channel 4 - courtesy of The Bloomsbury Bluestocking

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-lady-and-the-revamp/4od#304865

My Essentials: Skincare (continued)

As I said two blogs ago we all need sunblock and vitamin C, as well as cleasing and moisturiser:

I've liked Weleda sun lotion, Paul & Joe sun filter/primer (now discontinued) - that worked really well with a lick of bronzing powder (again Paul & Joe's has been my favourite to date)and Aveda tinted moisturiser. I'm currently using Bobbie Brown's tinted balm but it's not a patch on the Aveda. I'd like to make a special mention for Philosophy's Supernatural as sun protection and foundation.

For cheap and cheerful vitamin C, Sainsbury's Defend! isn't too harsh or sickly - I get the effervescent tablets and get one of my eight glasses of water a day - but Solgar supplements, or Neal's Yard, are among my favourites for a really good quality, buffered product and with these I indulge in my weakness for bottled, sparkling water even though I have a filter on my kitchen tap!

But just now I'm off to watch the final episode of Skins...

My Essentials: A Damn Good Scrub in the Bath

A Damn Good Scrub in the Bath - for me it consists of an excellent bath or/and shower gel, with the scrubbing implement of choice: Japanese wash cloth, ayate mitt, loofah, etc., and a big tub of hot water. I have a very large and old enamel bath tub (it came with the house)and a man of six feet plus will be comfortable in it.

As I've said before I like a soak in oils, but sometimes you just want to slough, and I keep coming back to Lush's 'Tramp' showergel - it's all that patchouli. Patchouli is a big thing for me; the first fragranced product I spent serious money on at 18 was a 3 bar box of Crabtree and Evelyn Patchouli soap in a shop in Little Clarendon Street, Oxford. The smell, not hippy - too balanced, and the packaging, Art Nouveau and Rousseau-esque with it's nearly navy background and wild, lurid foliage, was to me in 1979 sublime.

And, back to scrubbing, soaking in oils is opulent and exquisite in its own way but sometimes the non-conformist relish of excoriation is hard to beat. It has to be followed by a good body cream and my favourite to date is the Goodworks big tub from Boots - it really does leave your skin feeling like velvet.

My Essentials: Skincare

I've been obssessed with skincare from my early teens: from Boots No.17 orange flower range, Clinique, Clarins and Shiseido to Aveda. I've tried many others and my search has always been for a minimal, effective routine - I even hum and ha about eye treatments. Many times I've listed the essentials and repeatedly produced the same list: cleanser, exfoliator, moisturiser, sun protection and vitamin C. I have a few additions that creep in and out such as toner and eye treatments. I don't do masks, too much pfaffing, and they end up sitting in my bathroom cabinet - I want to get washed, dressed and on with the day.

I came around to making my own natural skincare from an interest in aromatherapy and natural perfumery. Encouraged by a friend who had already started making her own natural toiletries, I've voyaged through books and websites, and experimented on my kitchen table. Curiously enough my research has culminated with the lynch-pin to my regime being a toner/exfoliator based on orange flower water in an unintentional homage to my first flirtations with cleansing, toning and moisturising.

The Boots No.17 orange flower range of the 1970s had opaque plastic bottles with orange caps, and swirling orange floral designs printed around the bottles. Orange was the colour of N0.17 in the 1970s: mascaras in orange and white tubes with Art Nouveau inspired detailing, just like the black and yellow packaging of Mary Quant's Special Receipe skincare.

I've also put together a blend of essential oils that not only address my skincare concerns, but should suit all skin types, and I've enlisted my friends and family to try my toner and a face oil. The face oil is made with this blend of essential oils, along with jojoba and wheatgerm oil. I've focused on balancing patches of dryness and oiliness, cell renewal and the dreaded signs of aging - but that's where the vitamin C and sunblock come in.

Essence extrait

'Extrait' is the working title of the first fragrance I have made for myself. I wanted to make the scent of incense, or resins, burnt in an Ancient Greek temple. It is austere - a surprise, as I thought the element of sacrifice in the use of incense would be redolent of devastation. It is far from that and intellectual rather than emotional.

I can't quite remember when the ancient world began to intrigue me but I do remember browsing the old wooden shelves of Caversham Library's children's library for stories of Greece and Rome. Later at university I took classics in my first year, but not a classical language which I have since regretted. I should have studied Greek and I could lost myself more thoroughly in the world that fascinates me so much.

I have a longterm fascination with lotions and potions as well and dreamed of my own personal scents, but the ancient world began to creep back into my ideas after a dream my husband had in which he said my name was Sibylline. Now this is name to give me a lot to think about ...