When I was a little girl, our house used to receive Crabtree and Evelyn catalogues in the mail. That was back before postage was as expensive, and catalogues and magazines tended to come in more irregular shapes (and larger sizes). The C&E ones were very wide, with lovely pictures of flowers and ribbons, and occasionally, an elegantly robed woman scenting a bath or cutting some flowers. I was always particularly enraptured with their best-selling fragrance, Evelyn, because the famed rosier David Austin had bred the Evelyn rose especially for the perfume (picture, left). It came in a cut glass bottle with a silver stopper, and was the shade of dawn pink. Years later, while living in England, I visited my first Crabtree and Evelyn store in Oxford, on Queens Street, and delighted in the wonderful scents of Lily of the Valley, Peony, and Lavender. Ironically, when I actually had a chance to smell the Evelyn perfume, I didn't like it, but by then, the full romance of Crabtree and Evelyn was well established for me.So, at times like these (by which I mean: times when I have been suffering from the flu for three days, and wonder if life is ever going to get less wretched) I like to reach for a few C&E favorites. They revive the senses and smell marvelous. And, if you're under the weather, they'll cheer you up a bit too.
A friend of mine gave me a wonderfully scented candle by India Hicks for Crabtree (you know who you are, MM!) and I just love it. This is the fragrance diffuser of the same scent. The smell is of orchid, palms, jasmine, and orange blossom, and it is DIVINE. If you're a sucker for packaging like me, you'll also love the faux shagreen oval box it comes in.
Crabtree's Gardner's Cream is well known for being restorative to the hands - whether or not you've been using them to garden. Tote included. Beautiful Wisteria Eau De Toilette.
Images: Rose, http://www.flickr.com/photos/34226483@N00/544172215/; Products, Crabtree and Evelyn.
