This mood board represents our brand and the product. Its lifestyle and health based but also glamorous and luxury at the same time. 

This mood board represents our consumer and what kind of people they are i.e their interests and lifestyle. 

fragrance project: our made-up scent

In a seminar session we created our perfume scent. As ours is to help with sleep we used jasmine as our heart note so the main smell in our perfume. Jasmine has been proven to calm the senses and help you drift of and help with sleep quality. We tried out many other scents such as Herbal, Narcotic and Woody but these just didn't work for us. Instead we included Orchid and Rose as the other two main ingredients and then added Vanilla, Fruity, Musky and Iso E as the fixatives and harmonisers. 

It took a while to get the smell exactly how we wanted it and in the end it smelt very nice! Jasmine in the dominant smell which is what we wanted but the others compliment it well. This scent has to appeal to our target market of 35-40 women in the luxury, premium market.  

The perfume project: ideas for colour scheme for packing and overall brand

My group and me have been trying to finalise our research ideas for our brand project. We discussed that for the packaging and colour scheme of our product we would use pastel colours as these reflect tranquility and calmness which is what our product is all about, plus pastel colours are in trend at the moment so it seemed appropriate. I found most of these images on pinterest and I really like the combination of all the different colours and it could be that the colour(s) used for each bottle represents the colour of the natural ingredient. By doing this mood board it made me think: are the bottles going to be coloured glass? or just clear and the label coloured? These are all things to think through next. Also, how are would it all be displayed in a shop? I will keep updating about my project. The rest of my group are researching the history of perfume, the consumer etc.

the perfume project: research boards

So far my group and I have done lots of research into the perfume market and what would be the best type of fragrance to produce. We chose to produce one that can be sprayed on before bed for a better nights sleep. This is because on a Mintel report we found that there is a gap in the market for this and the only brands that do this are ones like Frebreeze. To differentiate our perfume from others in this market we have decided to have a personalisation feature as personalising products is becoming more popular amongst the consumer.

These are our initial designs so we may have to alter them. We have focused on key research areas which we feel best explain and represent our product. We want our product to stand out and be differentiated from others of its kind and doing lots of research like this will help up achieve this. 

hair: going for the crop- blonde

This season is about the medium- short hair look. Long hair is great and there's loads of things you can do with it. However, shorter more shaped hair seems to look more up to date with current times. It might not be for some people and they may prefer having longer or growing it to be long but this is great if you're bored and want a change! Two celebs I think wear this hair the best in blonde are Julienne Mcough (who most of you will know from the movie Safe Haven) and Margot Robbie (from Wolf of Wall Street). 

Julienne has had various hair lengths but personally I really think she suits this hair length the best. She had also been various shades of blonde (the middle photo showing a slightly darker shade). This look seems to work well if the hair is a block colour with only one or two other tones.

Another actress that suits this look down to a T is Margot Robbie. In Wolf Of Wall Street she mostly had long hair but off set after the film she went for the crop which is slightly longer than Julianne's but still looks great. 

Both blondes would have to look after their hair extremely well and as I am blonde myself I know that this is important. I try to only stick to the more up market brands and as expensive as it is definitely worth it! I stay away from brands such as herbal essence and Vo5. These may work for some people who have darker, thick hair but for those who have coloured blonde hair that naturally isn't that thick. 

I'm going to share with you my current hair products and what I think of them and what I have used in the past. 

 First off is my shampoo and conditioner. This is great to keep your coloured blonde hair vibrant and in good condition. It gets rid of any brassiness and keeps the blonde cool. I think that in conjunction to these products serums etc should be used because I feel like they look after the colour perhaps a bit more than the condition. Still worth trying out!

This has to be my favorite heat defense spray and I've tried a lot of different brands in the past. Smells amazing, probably a bit too sweet but makes your hair look shiny as well as protecting it from heat. I know that there are other really good ones that you can get out there, for example Redken's smooth lock heat glide and also Lee Stafford's (slightly more affordable)flat iron protection mist (which also smells good). I definitely rate S factor products maybe not so much the shampoo and conditioner (as I think there are better ones out there) but the styling products I find reliable. P.s. always used heat protection without fail even if you're just blow drying!! Some people forget how bad heat is for the hair. 

Great for coloured hair. Pureology actually specialise in products for coloured hair and use plant extracts with 100% vegan ingredients so as you can imagine the products are not made up with harsh chemicals. After you wash your hair and towel dry it and put some of this on it your hair is ready to be blow dried. If used over a period of time this ensures that your hair does not snap off whilst blow drying and at the same time adding moisture and protecting your colour- 3 in 1! 

This is a serum also from pureology. This is amazing for coloured hair that is dull and needs some shine put back into it. It lasts for ages as you do not have use much only a couple of drops. It can be used on dry and wet hair so you can top up shine and moisture. 

This is another serum that I own at the moment by Redken. This definitely makes your hair shiny hence its name and it smells great. This is more of an oil than a serum like the one my Pureology but both do a similar job.

You can't go wrong with Moroccanoil. I even use this as well as the serums and cream as shown above just to ensure that I maintain healthy hair. I think that the best treatment mask for  fine blonde hair is the light mask by Morocannoil. Really worth investing in. These are my current products and when I change them or get any new ones I will up date you. 

messages, trends, themes

In my seminar we were taught about messages, trends and themes of fragrances. 

Sensuality and indulgence= forbidden, seductive, erotic, passionate. Such words can describe the perfume adverts of Gucci, Dolce and Gabbanna and Guess. The colours usually used for these adverts are purple and gold as they indicate luxury and glamour. 

Trust and honesty= natural, simple, spiritual, purist. Such words can describe the Calvin Klein perfume advert for Euphoria.

Humour and kitsch= camp, wit, ironic, modern. Such words can describe perfume adverts by Moschino, Pacco Rabanne .

Tradition and heritage= class, vintage, nostalgia, romance. Such words can describe perfume adverts by Ralph Lauren, YLS and Vivienne Westwood (who loves historical referencing). 

From this lecture I learnt that perfume adverts can cleverly be put into categories and this makes it easier to analytically describe the advert which is one of the essay themes that we have been set. We have to think about questions such as does the advert work for the brand and for the intended audience? I've learnt that the trick to tackling analysing this type of advert from a magazine is to break down every part of the photographed image and ask myself what each element means and why it has been chosen by the particular brand and how does this relate to the name of the fragrance. Does it represent the name well? Therefore there are many different angles to look at this essay from. I will let you know what advert I chose and how I get on in a later post! 

current fashion favorites and trends

These are magazines which i recently purchased and have kept me up to date with current trends. 

This is part of a page from my reflective journal where I had ripped out pages from the magazines. I absolutely love this style of heels and also the open toe sandals and are definitely a must-have for this season. High street stores such as Zara are doing barbie pink coloured ones and Dorothy Perkins are doing pastel coloured heels which are great to brighten up an outfit. However, simple black T-bar heels and sandals are classy and elegant and go with most outfits.

This outfit really caught my eye when I was flicking through one of the magazines. I love the colour of the suit and how it goes perfectly with the colour of the bag. Its so simple but so effective.