As I scrape the very last remnants of cream from the bottom of the glass jar, I find myself missing Herbivore’s Pink Cloud Rosewater Moisture Cream before it has even reached the recycling box. Unusual for me, because quite a lot of the time I’m in a rush to try the next new product. Very few creams and balms and potions get an emotional reaction – though it has to be said that it’s the cleverly-scented things, usually with an aromatherapy lean, that tend to get subconsciously bumped up the list.
Results-driven skincare products – the acids and the retinols and the peptide serums and the sticky, grainy Vitamin C pastes – don’t tend to smell spa-like, or mind-transporting, or even that pleasant. They often smells of raw meat or of cat wee. And although I get very attached to these items, because they’re effective and give visible results, I don’t have the same happy feeling when I apply them. I’ve spoken about this before; the feeling of utter joy that I get when I take the time to apply certain things to face and body. Darphin’s Aromatic Cleansing Balm, Aurelia’s Dry Oil, Aromatherapy Associates Bath & Shower Oil, Omorovicza’s Queen of Hungary Mist. There’s a bigger list, but not that much bigger – it takes a lot for a product to really make me stop and take notice.

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So it’s worth noting that the...