We love how scent can conjure up a sense of place so perfectly. In celebration of prolonging the great Kiwi summer holiday, we've looked for aromatic ways to bring the outdoors in so, even if you're stuck back in the office, or spending January at home in the city, you can still surround yourself with hints of beach or bush.
Why look to the lavender fields and orange groves of Europe when we have our own subtle scents? Much as though we love being transported, sometimes it's comforting to stay close to home.
The number of locally made room fragrance and body products with a distinctly Aotearoan identity is a small sign that this country is coming of age in embracing its own intrinsic beauty. A new company, started by 28-year-old Aucklander Juliana van Kampen, is taking the concept a step further, by making perfumes inspired by specific domestic destinations, starting with the islands of the Hauraki Gulf. Waiheke Dreams and Rakino Weekend are her first offerings and they speak nicely to escaping the everyday in a relaxed New Zealand way.
Beauty items inspired by our own countryside make great gifts for visitors and if you extend your shopping beyond fragrant items to skincare, there's a plethora of products from local companies to choose from, using the likes of manuka honey, totarol oil and a range of freshly harvested botanicals, be they native or simply grown here. Narrowing the net back to especially fragrant items, we've nosed out a selection of home and personal scents that you might wish to sample.
In the interests of keeping the self-indulgent season going we reckon sometimes it's nice to treat yourself as well, so think of them as an olfactory aid to keeping the camp-fire burning.
