The weekly wrap up from the Beauty Desk

bb's Senior Manager Sam gives you the latest and greatest from bbHQ this week...

Landed!

Every week, I have loads of new products landing on my desk, not that I’m complaining! This week’s favourite is Terax Crema, the queen of all conditioners. I have chemically straightened hair, so I love anything that is super moisturising. What I love about this conditioner is you can use it as a mask as well! Just leave it in on for 15 minutes under a hot towel and your hair will be silky smooth. This is definitely a cult product and the celebs who love this stuff would read like a who’s who of Hollywood beauties.

Smelling!

This week I am burning a candle by Miller Harris called Fleur Oriental. Admittedly, I am biased about Miller Harris as I used to work for them in London, but for me this is the perfect winter scent. Top notes of spicy carnation perfectly compliment the base notes of amber, vanilla and Turkish rose.

Interesting candle fact – Miller Harris candles use a vegetable wax created by a French company called Cire Trudon. Cire Turdon have been making candles since 1643 and are the leaders in the high-end candle market globally. When Emperor Napoleon’s son was born, they made him a candle adorned with 3 pieces of gold featuring his father, and when Napoleon was exiled to Elba, he took a stock of Cire Trudon candles with him so he would never be without.

Talking About!

Chanel No 5

After reading a short article about Chanel No 5 that was slightly incorrect, the bb girls and I started talking about this iconic perfume. Being the resident perfume guru at bb, I felt it was my duty to tell (lecture) them about the correct origins of No 5. Brandishing several books, I related the below story.

Chanel No 5 is the best selling perfume in the world. Did you know that a bottle of No 5 is sold every 30 seconds? It is known as Le Monstre; in an industry that launches around 800 perfumes a year, no perfume had been able to dislodge it from its spot at the top of the best selling list!

One of the reasons No 5 is so famous is that it is commonly believed that it was the first perfume to use synthetic materials. This is not the case; the honour belongs to a French company called Houbigant, who created a fragrance called Fougère Royale using the newly isolated coumarin in 1882.

There are a lot of myths surrounding the creation of Chanel No 5. One story is that the lab assistant accidentally mixed too much aldehyde into the formulae. The truth is, the perfumer Ernest Beaux, had worked with aldehydes before when he was a perfumer in Russia. He had created a perfume called Bouquet de Catherine that though was not a commercial success, was itself an elegant modern perfume unlike any other. The use of aldehydes had given it a sparkling top note that highlights the beauty of the other materials.

Once he was introduced to Coco Chanel by the Russian Duke, Madame had to work very hard to convince Ernest that she was serious about perfume; only 2 couturiers had ventured into perfume before. She wanted a modern perfume different to any of the heavy florals that were available at that time. Ernest presented 10 variations of his fragrance and Coco chose the fifth vial labelled No5. Not only did she love the simplicity of naming a fragrance after a number, five happened to be her lucky number as she launched her new collections on the 5^th day of the 5^th month. And the rest is history...

But really, this is just the beginning of the story of No 5, if you would like to know more, let me know and I will continue next week!

Sam x

Sam is one of our bb Brand Partners as well as head of The Powder Room, a boutique agency specialising in niche fragrance and beauty brands