Coming Soon I wanted to create a scent for a soap that suggested an adventurous spirit. Something floral and exotic, yet edgy. I trialed some combinations of essential oils and finally settled on this new scent. A dangerously exciting blend of rose geranium, ylang ylang and black pepper creates the perfect scent for the mysterious and daring souls amongst us. Madame X... is lavishly packed with skin-conditioning oils including olive oil, olive pomace, cocoa butter, apricot kernel oil and musk melon oil. It is coloured with the beautiful muted red of Australian red clay. So, whether you will be riding your horse at full speed across the moors, jumping from one Parisian roof to another in your cat-suit or just making a dramatic entrance into the ballroom, you can rest assured that your skin will be in perfect form for your busy life. Madame X... will be available in the Shanghai Lil and The Scarlet Fez store in four weeks.
Here it is! Lemon Meringue! I have been making this soap for a couple of years now and I love it! It is deliciously scented with lemony may chang and gorgeously coloured with botanicals (annatto) and topped off with white peaks. And it is a treat for your skin too, with its olive oil, apricot kernel oil and evening primrose oil (and a dash of my an old favourite, castor oil, for a silky-skin finish!). Now available for sale in the Shanghai Lil and The Scarlet Fez store - your passport to soap wonderland is one click away on the button, top right.
Now available for your purchasing pleasure I am a big fan of this soap. It looks great - I love that soft green from the botanic colouring (chlorophyll), and the scent is wonderful. Very evocative of bright sunny days and I've never come across such a scent before! This soap is made from a luxurious blend of olive oil, coconut oil, olive pomace, macadamia oil and shea oil, with a touch of castor oil for that silky-skin feel.
One Fine Summer is packaged in the most summery box you'll ever see - a beautiful lemon yellow, and labelled with one of a broad range of gorgeous patterns. Take a look in-store - the button is top right.
Sweet and aromatic, Sunday Spice is a deliciously scented, skin-loving sensation. Mouth-watering like a freshly baked carrot cake, this soap is for the gourmand. With carrot seed and ginger essential oils, the soap is packed with luxuriously gentle oils including olive oil, olive pomace, cocoa butter, shea oil and avocado oil. This is one superb skin-conditioning soap. All natural and vegan, Sunday Spice will be in Shanghai Lil and The Scarlet Fez's shop in four weeks time.
Flea market find I picked up these little paperback books a couple of weeks ago from a local flea market. I can't say I'm a fan of science fiction, but I love the cover art on these numbers! I think my favourite cover is the charming, almost domestic, scene of three guys fixing a spherical ship of some sort. Love the leisurewear and how it looks like the type of illustration used in DIY home renovation magazines of the time - you've got the green lawn, the stepping stones, quite an idylic scene! Great colours - even the aliens look cheerful!
A new soap! If you're a daydreamer, you'll understand how the first days of summer hold a special resonance in your vivid imagination. Whether it be lying in the grass looking up and pondering how blue the sky gets, exploring the pine trees by the beach, or sipping your first Pimm's No.1 for the season, it's a bright and happy time. And bright and happy really does describe this soap! Starting with a base of olive oil and coconut oil, it is further lavished with macadamia nut oil, shea oil and super-charged with olive pomace. A superb blend of oils to condition your skin, with a dash of castor oil to make your skin feel like silk. One Fine Summer is gently scented with green geranium and Madagascan tagetes, a green floral with sweet citrus notes. A sweet and youthful scent. Natural chlorophyll colours the soap a perfect soft green. One Fine Summer is all-natural, vegan and pure luxury! It will be available in Shanghai Lil and The Scarlet Fez's shop in two week's time.
Delicious Lemon Meringue Alert, sweet tooths! I have whipped up a batch of sweet, lemony Lemon Meringue soap! A drools-worthy delight! But it's not all about the smell; it's about the luxurious feel of it too. A luscious blend of olive oil, coconut oil, apricot kernel oil and evening primrose oil make this soap a super skin conditioner. Naturally coloured with annatto, it even looks like a slice of lemon meringue!
But there's one thing you can't do with this soap, and that's eat it! All natural, all vegan and a luxurious treat for your skin, Lemon Meringue will be in Shanghai Lil and The Scarlet Fez's shop in just 3 weeks time!
...out on a rainy night I was sitting at my desk sorting through some old photographs and there was a box of Smokey Joe sitting on a pile of books next to me. The soft smokey scent of cade and vetiver reminded me of
the smell of tobacco pipes, overcoats, old port and the sound of distant
trains clickety clacking over the tracks on a cold, silent night. Of
course, I thought of this gentleman. A found photo of a young man taken somewhere in Germany in the early 30s, it is so atmospheric with his face wonderfully lit by the dim street-lights. Moody and melancholy.
Feel the mood with Al Bowly singing Bie Mir Bist Du Schoen:
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.
