By Vesi Maslenishka.
It’s true we get a lot of our beauty tips from our mothers. It’s something passed on from one woman to another, maybe not intentionally but I have been watching my mother for years, fascinated, studying her beauty regime without even realising. She was never the type of woman to cover her face with makeup. Her skin is beautiful. No blemishes, just smooth gorgeous skin and I think a lot of that is down to what she uses or doesn’t use on her face.
I remember as a little girl she would pick the ripest strawberries from my grandmothers garden, the ones that were so ripe and sweet, they were almost inedible. She would pick the ripe fruit and mash it up in a bowl, then massage onto her face and neck. At that age it wasn’t something that appealed to me, in fact, I thought it wa s a little strange. Little did I know, strawberries contain natural anti ageing properties, are packed with Vitamin C and prevent damage caused by free radicals. Thinking about it, I’m not sure my mother knew this herself, it was just something she did because her mother used strawberries on her face and so on.
Natural skincare has been around for a long time. It didn’t always come packaged up, it was homemade and it worked just as well. Today though, we’ve lost touch with those homemade beauty remedies, maybe because there’s so much choice of beauty products but we don’t always consider what’s inside each pot.
Enter beauty power couple Victoire de Taillac and Ramdane Touhami with their extraordinary illustrated book, An Atlas of Natural Beauty. The book has been inspired by their travels around the world on their quest for beauty secrets that they have fed into their cult Parisian apothecary, L’Officine Universelle Buly. The book is made up of recipes and formulations to help enhance your beauty rituals. You can learn about a diverse range of over 80 seeds, flowers, oils, trees, fruit and herbs. To me, it’s a tribute to the natural beauty my mother and grandmother used and I love the idea of it.
The book itself is beautiful. The illustrations inside are in such detail and the book explains their historic usages, as well as modern ways to use them as simple but effective solutions. It’s something I would buy as a gift for my mother. For £20, it’s available as a hardcover and it makes the most wonderful Christmas gift, especially for someone who’s into their natural beauty.
The apothecary L’Officine Universelle Buly itself has the most wonderful products so if you like what’s in the book, it’s worth having a look. Take their body milk. The packaging is divine, it’s a piece of art and it’s one of those things you’ll be too scared to use and would want on your dressing table or bathroom shelves forever.
An Atlas of Natural Beauty £20 is now available online.
L’Officine Universelle Buly is available at Dover Street Market and Selfridges.