A New Product
The last couple of weeks have been very busy as Shanghai Lil & The Scarlet Fez prepared for a market and the release of a range of new skin-care products.
I have had an excellent cleansing face soap out for some time now - the unscented Pink Moon Face Soap. Then, the Rose and Cucumber Face Mist, a soothing and fresh toner for the face. Rosehip and Pomegranate Face Serum completes the range. This oil is made from organic rosehip oil and is blended with pomegranate oil, camellia oil, meadowfoam seed oil, olive squalene and vitamin E.
You only need 3 or 4 drops of Rosehip and Pomegranate Face Serum, gently massaged over your face and neck after toning. It is a relatively 'dry' oil, so will sink in quickly and is, therefore, suitable for use under make-up. It suits normal to dry skin. What I like about the serum is that it is made with only the ingredients I want to use on my skin, no padding, extending or emulsifying with water. Just simple oils with all of their nutrients and benefits in a small bottle. Good things come in small packages, right? (I sound like Mary Ann Singleton from Tales of the City!)
I have made up a small face-care kit with all three of the above products, which are available from my stall at any market I will be at. You can also buy each separately, of course! Sign up to my newsletter (the button is in the sidebar) for up-to-date news of where I will be, special offers and new products.
Autumn, Aspire and Annuals
I know it is stating the obvious, but autumn is here. It seems to be a bit early, the leaves are well under way to their new colours, there are dahlias out, it smells smokey at night, it's cooler and now, daylight savings is over. As much as I really don't like (I'm being mild here) the very hot weather, it is sad to see the summer go. Sad in a melancholy way.
But I love the small rituals of a change of season. The decision to pack away the linen and pastel coloured argyle socks, switching from rose scented tea to chai, dusting off the Balmoral boots, raking leaves, ordering violets and looking through bulb catalogues, moving from citrus and herbal scents to woods and resins. They are small and personal things - I'm certainly not a 'no white shoes after labor day' type of person - but each one is a rediscovery of things forgotten (if only for 6 months), and an anticipation of cool days ahead, rugged up and cosy.
Here's a flower. A dahlia from our garden, no less, and I see we aren't the only ones keen to have a piece of this:
I was very proud during the week to have picked up a copy of Aspire Magazine, a free publication circulated at various venues around Adelaide, because I am in it! Well, it wasn't about me in my gracious living room (a la "Hello" magazine), but there was a small article about Shanghai Lil & The Scarlet Fez soaps! I was very happy about it and I'm chuffed to be in this new, very smart, magazine. Here's the article, but I recommend reading the whole magazine, of course!
And finally, I am at the Wattle Street market in Fullarton on 12 April 2014, and Pop up at Prospect (Prospect Road) on 26 April 2014. Come by and say hello and smell the soaps, bath salts, room sprays and perfumes I have on offer!
What do you get when you mix Mary Poppins with an African lily?
Chincheree! Beautiful and long lasting, chincherees are the perfect cut flower!
Further thoughts of spring
Fresh from the market
A Friday night treat, Haigh's cardamom dark chocolate and a bunch of sweet peas. Happy weekend people!
Keep an eye out for Madame X..., to be launched this weekend!
Hurrah for Spring!
Today I found the first blossom on the plum trees. That's it; spring is here.
Flowers, ribbons and diamonds abound
I love it when the days start getting milder and you can see signs of new growth on the trees. It's hard not to have a spring in your step this time of year!
But the changing season isn't the only reason I am chipper. Karena at Magic Jelly has given this blog a spring clean and I am very happy with the cheerful, festive feel it now has. And there are new patterns for the ribbons on the soaps too! It's great fun putting together the packaging for the soaps I have made, it gives me a real lift seeing them waiting for their new owners. Here is what I mean:
So, these are in my shop right now. See the fancy "Visit the Shop" button to the right? That will take you straight to the shop and you can make your selections there.
Yes, That's Right
Finally, after some time, I have opened the shop! You can buy soap, if you want it, right here!
Shanghai Lil and The Scarlet Fez
I hope you love the design of the shop and the packaging as much as I do. I have been lucky enough to have Magic Jelly design all of this and give a beautiful, nostalgic but modern feel to Shanghai Lil and The Scarlet Fez.
As you know, dear reader, Shanghai Lil and The Scarlet Fez soaps are all natural, vegan and full to the brim with luxurious skin-loving oils. But not only that, the essential oils used in the soaps will bring the world's flowers, spices, herbs and woods to the palm of your hand.
There will be some further tweaking to this blog too - I will have a button in the side column which will be your very own chauffeur on the glamorous road to soapsville, Shanghai Lil and The Scarlet Fez! So, you can read about it here and buy it with a twitch of a finger!
I have already received some orders from some wonderful people (they must be wonderful, such exquisite taste!) and I am finding out what people are favouring. I have almost run out of The Emporer's Chai (so hurry!) and South Pacific is a winner, as is Love Lies Bleeding. Spicy and floral.
In the pipeline, I have a surprise new scent. For those with a sweet tooth and a longing for bright summer days, you are in for a treat - a candy-sweet scented soap, packed with olive oil, olive pomace, macadamia nut oil and shea oil. It's a bright, happy and luxurious soap.
I have also just completed a batch of Lemon Meringue soap which will have you drooling! A wonderful sweet lemony scent in a rich blend of apricot kernel oil and evening primrose oil. No, you can't eat it, but you'll want to!
So, there is a lot lined up here at Shanghai Lil and The Scarlet Fez. Not just soap here on the blog; you'll have the usual found-photographs, flowers, melancholy musings, a bit of jazz music, graphics, design, art and what-not (do you like the word what-not?). Have a look around.
Spring Sherbert Gets a Facelift
The recent (and briefly) sunny weather has put me in the mood to make a favourite: Spring Sherbert. Containing the usual cocoa butter, apricot kernel oil, meadowfoam seed oil and vitamin E-rich rice bran oil, I tweaked this recipe to use annatto colouring for the yellow swirl. The mica colour I had previously used seemed to disappear, so I was keen to amp up the depth of colour for this batch.
I am very happy with the results. A perfect pale yellow, just right for spring. The wonderful fizzing floral scent of lemongrass and lavender complements the colour well. And it nearly will be spring when it's ready!
Nature's Whimsy
A surprise in a bunch of otherwise pure white tulips.
Paul Jones Watercolour Menus
A
perfect wintery day to be poking around a flea market stall and I have
come up trumps! A batch of menus from the early 1950s for the Orient
Line. The cover of each menu features a flower in honour of one of the
destinations frequented by the cruise liner. The artist is the highly
regarded botanical watercolourist, Paul Jones (1921 - 1997).
Spring Sherbert
Winter is the season of indulgence. It's also the time to plan - it's about anticipation. You know what is just around the corner - SPRING! Well, it's months off yet, but it's good fun planning ahead. Dust off those gardening books, get out those holiday brochures, buy a ridiculously lightweight and cheerful shirt online.
Avid readers of this blog (!) will remember I made a batch of Spring Sherbert a couple of weeks ago. You know the one - it was brimming over with olive oil, apricot kernel oil and cocoa butter and it was scented with a floral dreamcloud - or lemongrass and lavender essential oils to be precise (for those more practical types). The soap appears to be a modest little number, a soft and creamy yellow like the finest alabaster, but it fizzes with springtime joy when you smell it. Yes, I love it! And this is what Spring Sherbert is doing today:
Winter Wonderland
Spent a lovely afternoon taking snaps in the Adelaide Botanic Gardens. A nice way to spend a wintery Sunday afternoon. I can't make soap all the time you know!
The Last Day of Summer
While there will still be warm weather ahead, the edge has been taken off the heat now. The days feel shorter and, sometimes, mistier. While autumn is one of my favourite seasons, it is sad to see summer fading. Sad in a melancholy way. And don't we love a little bit of melancholy?!
Here is our (newly mown) garden in the last rays of summer:
A bit of Harinezumi 2+++ camera madness. Speaking of which, look at that edging! I'll be out there this weekend with a pair of lawn clippers, or at least, someone will be...
Farewell summer!
Floral fun with a toy digital camera
Further softness and light from our garden. Taken with a Harinezumi 2+++.
Verbenas know how to party
Colour Inspiration
Like a swag of awnings and umbrellas on a sweeping lawn at a 1950s garden party, these verbenas provide a smart and joyful bed of colour in our mid-summer garden. Love those stripes.
