A selection
It's coming up to that time of year again and the (sometimes) painful task of buying gifts is here! I have noticed over the years that the people who are the least frazzled by gift buying seem to follow a few simple rules:
1. buy early;
2. buy thoughtful; and
3. buy small.
I think buying for men is particularly difficult for some people, but here at Shanghai Lil and The Scarlet Fez, I have a few solutions for you:
Top Row
The Emperor's Chai delicious cardamom
Mister X... green and earthy vetiver
Lemon Meringue lemony may chang
Middle Row
Smokey Joe sophisticated smokey cade
Evening Star aromatic star anise and basil
A Siberian Wood a dry wood
Bottom Row
Spearmint Julep fresh spearmint
St Clement's zesty sweet orange and may chang
The Fez No. 1 the gin and tonic of soap, lemongrass, may chang, juniperberry and
wormwood
Each soap is available from the Shanghai Lil and the Scarlet Fez shop for $7.50, plus postage. Each soap is hand crafted from all natural ingredients, vegan and without palm oil. Packaged and labelled in a range of beautiful boxes, these soaps make a thoughtful (relaxed gift-buying person's number 2 rule) and small (relaxed gift-buying person's number 3 rule) gift for men. Buy now and I can help you with relaxed gift-buying person's number 1 rule too!
My further advice is, if you have to buy a gift for a fellow like curly-locks below, I'd suggest Smokey Joe. He looks the type.
Photo from Shanghai Lil and The Scarlet Fez collection.
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.
The Emperor's Chai
So, it's the first day of winter and looking out of my window at the dark grey skies and glistening puddles I never doubted it for a second. I've already brushed off the tweed and corduroy, brought the cashmere scarves to the front of the wardrobe and stocked up on Yorkshire Tea. Winter, I'm ready. Well, that's not quite true as I found out in yesterday's rain when my small umbrella with the broken arms just wasn't cutting it. The poor thing looked like a screwed up ball of paper on a stick.
Coming home in the rain, armed with muffins, tomatoes and cheese, I was welcomed by the scent of the new soap I had made during the week. The Emperor's Chai is a warm and delicious concoction, full of the gingery spicy smell of cardamon. It looks good too, with a creamy caramel swirl. I packed this beauty with cocoa butter, macadamia oil and pine nut oil, so it will have a silky smooth and luxurious lather.
Of course, I don't need to add that this soap is totally natural. It will be in Shanghai Lil & The Scarlet Fez's store soon.
