Even for those who eagerly await its crisp mornings and quietly dazzling colours, autumn is a season which arrives with a certain sense of melancholy in tow. Summer has drawn to a close, the equinox has passed; the balance tipped in favour of darkness. But with that comes great excitement and distinct sensorial pleasures. The air is filled with a new bouquet of complex, leafy aromas; the light takes on a protean quality, infinitely more variable than the unending brightness of summer. The cooler air allows for greater clarity of mind, and new opportunities arise for reflection and meditation.
In short, it is a time to be welcomed, with a proper seasonal salutation. Prepare your mind and body, and bolster your skin against the coming cold with this specially designed regimen comprising nourishing formulations, embellished with cultural accompaniments. Find a moment of quiet, a comforting space, and read on.
A warming, cleansing shower
Eleos Nourishing Body Cleanser
Dosage: As needed
Key ingredients: Cedar Atlas, Patchouli, Clove Bud
Rejuvenate Intensive Body Balm
Dosage: Desired amount
Key ingredients: Tangerine Rind, Vanille, Sandalwood
On a chilly day, few things are as fortifying as a hot shower. Heighten the sensory satisfaction of this simple pleasure with Eleos Nourishing Body Cleanser, a formulation that refreshes the skin with a gentle touch—a necessity as temperatures begin to dip—and imparts a woody, spicy aroma. As an epilogue to your ablutions, use Rejuvenate Intensive Body Balm for further nourishment and hydration, and a complementary aromatic character.
Adapting your skin care to autumn
Purifying Facial Cream Cleanser
Dosage: Half a teaspoon
Key ingredients: Lavender Stem, White Clay, Chamomile Bud
The glow of health and vitality that the summer months bestow upon us is not an easy thing to relinquish, and so the onset of autumn requires something of a change of tack when it comes to skin care. Gentler formulations—like Purifying Facial Cream Cleanser—help the skin to adapt to colder temperatures while crucially retaining moisture.
Mandarin Hydrating Facial Cream
Dosage: Half a teaspoon
Key ingredients: Mandarin Rind, Lemon Rind, Tangerine Rind
Following a cleanser with a carefully chosen moisturiser becomes ever more important at this time of year: as with the body, the face may begin to feel drier than usual. Designed with cooler weather in mind, Mandarin Hydrating Facial Cream is lightweight yet thoroughly moisturising, and its bright, citrus aroma is certain to enliven the senses.
Taking a leaf from George Eliot
As mentioned, autumn is a season filled with sensory delights to rival the heady depths of summer. But if you remain unconvinced, then consider George Eliot’s love of this occasionally overlooked season. In a letter to a friend, Eliot wrote these words of rapturous praise:
The birds are consulting about their migrations, the trees are putting on the hectic or the pallid hues of decay, and begin to strew the ground, that one's very footsteps may not disturb the repose of earth and air, while they give us a scent that is a perfect anodyne to the restless spirit. Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns.
A fall fragrance
Dosage: Apply as desired to wrists and neck
Key ingredients: Cypress, Frankincense, Vetiver
Formulated to evoke an aimless amble in an ancient Hinoki forest—mist whirling and eddying through the towering trees—Hwyl is a distillation of the pleasures of autumn. Smoky, woody notes and a bracing freshness conjure those complex aromas that only emerge at this time of year.
‘People don't notice whether it's winter or summer when they're happy.’
Anton Chekhov
