“Mmmm, thanks darling, that’s exactly the perfume or aftershave that I’ve always desired.” Except it wasn’t, and now you’re left with a fragrance that doesn’t suit you and that dream scent tantalisingly out of reach. Breathe deep, relax, and grab hold of your favourites in Fragrance Mad’s January Sale at slashed-up bargain prices. Replace an old favourite or kickstart that New Year’s Resolution of reinventing yourself by revolutionising your scent cupboard. Amazing deals include: for women, 30ml of Britney Spears Fantasy at just £10.99 and 50ml of Christian Lacroix C’est la Fete for a mind-busting £9.99; and for men, Issey Miyake’s L’Eau D’Issey is only £39.99 for a 125ml bottle, while Carolina Herrera’s 212 Sexy Men 30ml will set you back a handsome £13.99. There are many more great bargains to be had so head to the sale now and beat the queues (plus, of course, in another bonus the queues of which I speak are merely metaphorical, not raging snakes filled with angry shoppers).

Stock is limited, so  blow away the odours of a lazy Christmas spent sweating over the turkey or in front of the telly, and smell like a wonderful and majestic leopard for New Year.

A very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of our wonderful blog readers and customers! Look out for a whole host of new products and special offers on Fragrance Mad in 2011. Have a good one, and don’t drink too much perfume!

The Christmas season is racing towards us almost as quickly as the nights are drawing in, and at Fragrance Mad we’re celebrating with a host of fantastic offers, perfect for gifts for all the family. We’ve separated the costs of our gifts into handy sections, so from sub-£5 stocking fillers, to stunning fragrance gift sets below £40, the perfect present is only a couple of mouse clicks away.

From make-up sets to fantastic value fragrance gift sets, and a selection of our best-selling and best value perfumes and aftershaves, there’ll be something available for mothers, daughters, fathers, sons, grandparents, grandchildren, husbands, wives, friends, and everything in between. Premium bargains include the Elizabeth Arden Intervene 3 Piece Gift Set, which includes Pause & Effect Moisture Cream, 3 in 1 Daily Cleanser Exfoliator Prime, and Pause & Effect Moisture Eye Cream, all for the princely sum of £17.99, and a Nivea Men Essentials Gift Set for just £9.49. If you’re looking for something a bit more fragrant, a 30ml Nina Ricci Eau de Toilette costs £14.99, and for men there’s Hummer 40ml EDT at the super price of £6.99! Make it a happy Christmas with Fragrance Mad, and don’t forget, to save you any hassle we offer a gift wrapping service at checkout for just £1.95.

Halle Berry still holds the honour of being the only African American woman to win a Best Actress Oscar, for Monster’s Ball in 2001. She hasn’t quite reached the dizzying acting heights of this performance since, but has become a hugely recognisable Hollywood figure thanks to roles in the X-Men films and the Bond film Die Another Day. She has also been the face of Revlon Cosmetics for much of the past decade.

Berry has recently ventured into the fragrance market, releasing her first signature perfume, Halle, in 2009. Halle is a woody oriental fragrance, combining top notes of bergamot, fig, and pear blossom; a heart of freesia, mimosa, and hibiscus flower; and a sensual base of sandalwood, olibanum, musk, and amber. Her latest scent is Reveal, brand new to Fragrance Mad, and available in 30 and 50 ml bottles. Halle apparently insisted on the inclusion of iris blossom in the scent to give it an airy and velvety soft quality. Other notes include mimosa, peach, honeydew melon, neroli, vetiver, red berries, and skin musk.

You may have thought that you’d never forgive Halle for the abomination that was Catwoman, but smell one of her fantastic perfumes and you might even let her off if she one day unleashes a sequel!

If the world of fragrance has you scratching your head in a mass of confusion, or if you need the perfect present but have no idea what you’re looking for, Fragrance Mad has just the feature for you. Brand new to our site is the Clueless About Fragrance section, featuring everything you need to turn yourself from a perfume novice into an expert. Features include a Beginner’s Guide to Fragrance, giving you information on how to distinguish notes and styles of fragrance; our Scent Room, where you can browse fragrances according to the different styles available; guides to buying for both men and women: ideal if you’re looking for that perfect present and need some help; our bestselling fragrances for men and women to let you know what’s hot in the world of fragrance; and Summer and Winter advice guides, which will soon be filled with information on how to look after yourself, whatever the weather. We’re hoping that this section will make buying fragrance and cosmetics a thousand times easier, and if you have any ideas for other guides that you’d like to see, please let us know.

Aftershave is used to close the pores after shaving and protect the face against dirt and bacteria, and is a relatively modern solution to an age-old problem. It is documented that the removal of beard hair first began with trapping hair between two shells and plucking it out, the modern style of shaving became possible with the invention of copper tools around 3000BC. In the fourth century BC Alexander the Great encouraged his subjects to shave in order to avoid “dangerous beard-grabbing in combat”.

With the Gilette Mach 3 Turbo not being around, the problem of blunt razors leaving open wounds on faces, which could then become infected, was a pertinent one. Roman barbers formulated plasters soaked in oil and vinegar to stick to the faces of their cut customers, the theory being that skin treated as such would be protected from infection. Aftershave lotions, often containing alcohol, became popular to close the pores and sanitise the skin, and, as male grooming became increasingly en vogue in the eighteenth century and onwards, perfumers added fragrance to the lotions. Today, splash-on aftershave lotion is used to clean the skin and give it a short-term scent, whereas Eau de Toilettes for Men give a longer lasting, more pungent fragrance.

We were very sorry to see in the local news that a British warhero who lost three limbs while serving in Afghanistan, paratrooper Tom Neathway, recently had a quad bike stolen from his home. Tom bought the bike to bring his life back to a semblance of normality after being injured by a roadside bomb, and we were disgusted that somebody had robbed him of this. Unfortunately the quad bike was not insured, so we decided to step in and replace Tom’s bike. Read the full story at the Worcester News website.

As the first good Summer in years belts sun down upon this fair isle, now’s surely a good time to sort out your skin and make sure it has the ultimate protection to flourish this year. You may have spent the last couple of years slathering yourself in cooking oil in a futile attempt to tan as the sun peeked through the clouds for a matter of seconds, but this year things have changed, so get yourself protected.

At Fragrance Mad we have a huge range of tanning products, and some great deals to keep you in change for buckets and spades. Our complete Piz Buin range is on three for two, including tan intensifying lotion, day-long protection lotions, and after-sun to revitalise you after a day soaking up rays. Nivea Sun Care is also on 3 for 2 and, with factors ranging from 6 to 50, there’s protection for everybody, from bronzed beauties to porcelain princesses and all shades in between. Nivea even does a specialist Baby Sun Lotion, in case you want to leave your kid in the garden while you get some rest, or something like that. And don’t forget the old classic, P20, the ten-hour revolutionary protector. Just take a look at the reviews to see how effective this product is, and as a bonus, on Fragrance Mad it comes complete with a bottle of after-sun.

But maybe you’re stuck chained to a desk, or work down the pit. By the time you leave work each day that inconsiderate sun is just disappearing over the hills and far away, and your pasty skin is embarrassing you in front of all those fools jetting off around the world and coming back looking like Donatella Versace. Why not try some fake tan? The complete Fake Bake Beyond Bronze Set is just £13.99 from us, a huge saving on prices on the high street and wildly inferior online retailers. There are also a host of other big brand names in our Tanning section, including the likes of Roc, Clarins, St Tropez, Vita Liberata, and St Moriz. Stock up today, and leave your skin more dazzling than the sun itself! Have a great Summer!

It’s been a lean Twenty20 campaign for Worcestershire thus far, but Sri Lankan legend Sanith Jayasuriya powered them to a comprehensive victory on Friday in front of the difficult-to-please Fragrance Mad banner. Jayasuriya slammed 87 off just 45 balls to make a mockery of Northamptonshire’s apparently challenging total of 140 for 5. The Fragrance Mad logo was hilariously said to be ‘in the pink’ after witnessing the performance.

In other news, as Walkers have invented a crisps World Cup to coincide with the football this Summer, we were wondering about the kind of fragrances leading perfumers could come up with to reflect some of the different countries taking part in the competition. Germany’s presumably would be a sickly-sweet Gluhwein concotion with a leathery base note, the USA would perhaps go for the classic masculine barbecue ribs scent, and England? Top notes of hope and expectation, a heart of bloody-minded determination that things must surely improve, and a lingering four-year base of crushing disappointment. Enjoy the game! Let us know on our Facebook page what you think would make a killer World Cup fragrance.

Just in at Fragrance Mad: the brand new super-stylish Just Been Funked hair straighteners from Fake Bake. These bad boys are high on quality but low on size: they’re small enough to take with you wherever you may go, and can fit easily into a handbag or overnight bag.

Never wake up screaming in sheer terror on the train again after nightmares of yourself starring in Annie, get that hair straight as a die in seconds with either the pink or gold straighteners from Fake Bake. Marvellous.