REFEEL NATURALS
Cyrielle Maures talks about the skinification of bodycare, the aligning of emotions to reveal the sensuality of self. Re.feel have created a sleek line of exquisite body oils, moreish scrubs and soap bars that hold their shape and scent throughout usage. As soon as you start using the products there is osmosis of flesh, scent, and the tingling flood of olfactive neurons firing up. The limbic system is being seduced, the part of our brain that deals with memory and as such is a vital consideration in perfume composition.
Increasingly more of us want to use ablution time to slow down and indulge the mind and body. Spoiling ourselves, enjoying the routines of washing, scrubbing, trimming, shaving, and moisturising. Factor in a line like Re.feel and you elevate this time spent cleansing and primping into something richer and rewarding. The products make you aware how luxurious and indulgent they are. But with this comes a deeper awareness of something else, the veracity and aromatherapy impact of the scents used. They smell real.
Re.feel has three product types. The milky body scrubs come in glass jars, easy to scoop out and apply. The scrub component is Dead Sea Salts and jojoba pearls blended flawlessly with apricot oil, shea butter and other plant materials. They feel oddly soft on skin and should be gently rolled over the skin, not rubbed in aggressively. The loveliest thing about these emulsifying scrubs is the scented veil of moisturising oil left behind after the scrub has been rinsed. Exfoliating is a satisfying and intimate ritual, but scrubs need to be sparingly used. Once or twice a week is sufficient and be aware they can cause surfaces to become slippery, so rinse the shower or bathtub well.
*Please note these are body scrubs and not to be used anywhere on the face.
The square soap bars are a gentle pale cream colour and shot through with a carefully calibrated dose of perfume. Made using the age-old process of cold press saponification, they require a month’s curing.
The main ingredients are coconut oil, shea butter, rapeseed oil, and sunflower oil. They lather up beautifully and dry well, retaining their shape. Artisan soaps have become very popular over recent years but sometimes they feel and smell a little too raw and detergenty. Like the milky scrubs, the soaps leave behind delicately scented skin.
Finally there is a gorgeous dry body oil containing a blend of apricot oil, pure coconut oil, grape seed oil and perfume materials. Potentially body oils can have a few issues: too oily, superficially blended ingredients and the smell of the carrier oils can overpower any attempt to naturally perfume the products.
The Re.feel oils are sublime and can be applied to damp or dry skin. They can also be used wisely in hair, smoothing flyaway strands, adding a moisturising sheen. The oils feel like a dream, sinking into the skin and leaving it gently moisturised but not oily. Applying after the soap and scrubs, the layering of scent is subtle yet alluring. A few drops of the oil work as a beard oil, softening and gently scenting the hair.
There are three fragrances in the line: Le Sud, La Nuit, an indolic mix of pungent orange blossom, bitter-green bigarade, petitgrain and the green pepper snap and balsamic resin, galbanum.
Lost Alhambra is a delicate realistic rose, any floral excess tempered by ambered woods and a hint of smoky guaiac wood that always exalts rose notes with such elegance.
Poudre Sentimentale (Called Under the Milky Way) in the scrub) is delicious, and as the name implies, a perfume with beautiful vintage boudoir tones from and melange of heliotrope, rice powder, powdery iris, and an earthy breath of patchouli.
There is one soap called Androgyne Rhapsodie that stands alone, a scent of sultry jasmine, geranium and vanillic woods.
It is pure pleasure to discover a new body care collection, particularly one that has been conceived with such care and attention to skin and senses. In theory, Re.feel products are more scrubs, oils and soaps added to a crowded market, but they stand apart due to Cyrielle Maures and Camille Chemardin creating high quality purposeful products and imbuing them not only with such heavenly scents, but a profound interest in the effect such odours have on memory and imagination.
So, take some time out, pamper yourself and treat your mind and body with luxurious rituals that will leave your body feeling out of this world.