A perfume is not just for Christmas.

As I lie here in bed, with half a wad of loo roll in my sleeve, a mug of hot lemon, ginger and honey at hand and a nose filled with mucus, I reflect upon one of the most important things to me. In those "If you HAD to..." questions, I imagine the sense of smell is one that would often be given up over the other four primaries, but to me smells are a very important part of my life.

To those who know me personally, they'll most likely agree that I am a very nostalgic person. I enjoy reminiscing over past events and tend to own keepsakes of various things that I've experienced throughout my life (trust me, I have A LOT of theatre tickets around the flat). As a visual/kinetics learner, I tend to remember through visuals or carrying out the same action, but another strong focus for me is scent. If I smell something familiar, it will always bring me back to the moment where it was most prominent and, to me, that's something nice that I would never want to let go of.

Palmer's Cocoa Butter - something that will always
remind me of my Dad

So, think about someone who comes to visit your house, or vice versa. One thing that you might remember is the smell of them or their surroundings. Everyone has their own unique smell - the smell of their skin which is mixed with whatever they use to wash, perfume themselves, things they often eat and even the pet they own. This smell becomes tied to you and can act as a comfort, a nostalgia and an identity. Currently, I have a t-shirt of my boyfriend's, which he had forgotten to pack after visiting me last. When I found it amongst my own washing, I could tell it wasn't mine because it didn't smell of jasmine perfume; I could tell it was his because it smelt like him and it genuinely made me smile. The smell for me is one of comfort; a smell that reminds me of someone I care for very much, and a nice reminder of their visit (our Halloween costumes were nothing short of amazing). The thing is, now that I've washed it, it will smell more like me and my patchouli/oakmoss washing liquid. The t-shirt will be returned with a faint smell of something he might link to me, and possibly bring a similar smile. A prominent smell that I really love is the smell of cocoa butter, as it's something that my Dad uses on his skin to keep it soft. I have grown up my entire life with that scent on his skin, and now there is something homely about it. Cocoa butter has become nostalgic, warm and reminds me of the man who used to fall asleep on the sofa whilst we watched old Westerns on television.

In my 1st and 2nd year of uni, I used to have pink hair and
wear a candyfloss perfume. The sweetness of the perfume
was SO different to the style of clothing I wore that I think
it really reflected my personality behind the fashion choices.

 Another example of this would be from my first year at university. I had left something in my room whilst I was visiting family and desperately needed to know if it was there. I phoned my flatmate and asked him to go in and find it whilst he was on the phone to me. Once he entered my room, he breathed in heavily and said to me "I miss you so much right now!" We hadn't seen each other for a while, but this was rather out of the blue. I responded that I missed him too, and he proceeded to tell me that once he had opened the door to my room, he had been engulfed in the smell of my perfume. To me, this is something beautiful - to know that smell can evoke emotions and memories.

This is why I feel that perfume is so important, and not just a fall-back gift. When I buy a perfume for someone, I try to think of their personality, the smells that they surround themselves with already, and the sort of things they like to do in their day to day lives. For instance, I have a friend who enjoys travel and spent a lot of time in hot countries like Spain. Her personality is vibrant and excitable. For her, I would find a scent that smelt of warm holidays, with oranges that reminded her of the tastes and smells she might've taken in. I think the citrus would also compliment her loud personality, leaving a fantastic and zesty atmosphere wherever she's been.

 Okay, so before you choose to buy the poshest looking perfume, or the one that's endorsed by their favourite celebrity, think about who they are, the foods they enjoy, their favourite holidays or even something wonderful that they might have done with you. Think of those things and then relate it to a smell, and THEN find a perfume that is similar, or even has those things in it.  Don't just give a perfume for Christmas, give a perfume that evokes something every time they wear it, and in turn becomes a reflection of them in a scent. Trust me, it's more personal.

Why is religious studies an important subject?

Over the years, it has become clear that Religious Studies (RS/RE) is becoming less appreciated. Today, the UK seems to be more and more secularised, and I have often seen facebook, twitter, a variety of memes and more mock religion. Unfortunately, with this comes an amount of ignorance and insult to those who do believe in a deity; people are scrutinised for putting their faith in God and, often in the case of Islam, victimised for the extremist minority who belong to their faith. I believe that the lack of attention paid to RS is unhelpful in this.

My school only offered half a GCSE in RS, which was then paired with a half GCSE in Citizenship. However, the focus throughout the years leading up to this point was a healthy mixture of religions - Christianity (and the different denominations), Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and many more. The focus for GCSE was predominantly Christianity and Islam and our exam focused on comparing our own views to the views of a Christian or Muslim when facing issues such as euthanasia and the death penalty. The course was interesting and made way for debate, discussion and exploration. People of different belief systems in the classroom were encouraged to speak and express their views without fear. I remember enjoying the class and leaving with a sense of understanding for those with different customs to my own. I remember  going to a shop in the old part of my town and being given free posters that displayed a variety of gods from Hinduism, which I excitedly brought into school and donated to our RS department.

I then moved to a sixth form and discovered that this was not the standard religious education everyone was receiving in the UK. One girl expressed her excitement that her A Level RS course was going to teach her about "other religions". When I asked her what religions she had learned at secondary level, the response was "oh, just Christianity really". I was surprised.
"Why?" I asked "Didn't you learn about Islam at least?" She shook her head. She had gone to a Catholic School. Another boy chipped in, saying that Islam and Christianity were the only religions he had studied. I was shocked that Sikhism, Buddhism, Hinduism and so many more that I had studied were left from their criteria.

Now, RS is slowly being pushed out of the curriculum. People openly admit that they "Don't see the point" and that saddens me. I see it as one of the more important subjects at primary and secondary level. I believe that a healthy mix of religions, as well as an atheist and agnostic point of view should be taught throughout the education system. The UK is vastly multicultural, but it also struggles with issues to do with racism. The fact is, most people who make racist or anti-religious comments just aren't aware of the culture, customs and faiths of others and that is why RS is so important in our younger years. It teaches the younger generations about people's differences, their standpoints on various issues and leads as an example to accept and respect these views. More so, RS teaches above the media, which is often saturated with terrorism and religious warfare. If RS isn't in place to offer an alternative viewpoint, and to provide an understanding of extremism in religions, then how can the government, and the UK as a whole, expect people to accept religion and the customs of others? RS is so very important, and I can only hope that it remains on the school curriculum for a very long time.

My Ethical Bathroom.

This is my bathroom. To the left, is my toilet, to the right is my shower. Tiny, my own and probably the most ecological and ethical part of my bedsit. Confused? So was a friend of mine, who raised one eyebrow and said "How? Surely it's the least eco-friendly with all the water?" Well, I considered that, and this is how I answered.

My Sikkim Girls Perfume, Sea Spray Hair Mist and Olney.

My Angels on Bare Skin Face Cleanser
(put back in the fridge after my shower),
Fair Trade Honey Shampoo and
Miranda Soap.

My first and most obvious answer to my statement is within the products I use to fill my bathroom. I have been an all-time Lush fan for about four years, and am very, very lucky to have gotten myself a Christmas Temp job there this year. Having been a vegetarian since I was seven years old, and profusely involved in a number of different charities and community events, it was only natural that I was drawn to this wonderful company who put ethics and the environment first. Their range of products are vegetarian and vegan, and strive to be as preservative free as possible. They also trade as fairly as they can and are against animal testing. Oh, and they recycle the plastics they do use and all the glitter in their range is PET free and safe to go back into the earth. No, really, they even invented a glitter made out of agar (that's seaweed!) just so that they could make sure their glitter wasn't going to damage the planet. So, as you can see, aside from my little plastic Octopus (his name is Olney and he glows) my bathroom shelves are filled with Lush products, wonderfully ethical and, once I use these lovely pots up, ecological. You see, another great thing Lush does is ask their customers to bring back their pots so that they can be recycled. In return for five pots, you get a fresh face mask too!

Okay, so we've looked at the ethical side, and some of the ecological side of my bathroom, but what about all that water? Well, this is where it gets pretty good. I'm a very lucky girl to be living on my own because not only do I NOT have to figure out where all the bread is going, but I also have no opportunities to be embarrassed. That's right, ladies and gents, I can use my toilet without thinking about who might use it after me and that makes me immensely happy. Of course, this also means I have control over who flushes it - me. The European Commission recently conducted a study and found that us Brits flush our toilets the most out of any other country in Europe and the average person could use around 150 litres of water a day just from flushing. THAT IS A LOT. So, I combat this by being very selective in my flushing. If it's yellow, yes, I will let it mellow for a bit, except when I have guests. Aside from those very rare moments when people are in my bedsit (really, it's no place to socialise), my toilet will only see one or two flushes a day - if I need to "flush it down", and one after all those yellows have mellowed for a while.


Brushing your teeth with running water is also a huge waste of water. I have never fully understood why people have this compulsion to leave the tap running whilst they're not using it. My tap stays off until I need to rinse my toothpaste from my brush and down the sink. Simple. We don't need the tap running and by leaving it to do so, you could waste up to 6 litres of water. At last, we came to my shower. I don't have a bath, but that's a very good thing. A shower is already has the potential to be more ecologically sound than a bath, all you have to do is limit yourself.

Now, the final thing that I liked to show off about my bathroom was this wonderful tub right here. It may not seem very special, but this piece s actually where I wash my clothes. Hand washing my clothes may seem like a long and difficult chore, but it's not only saved on the amount of water and electricity used in my flat, but also on the amount of pounds I would have to spend in the laundrette. This tub saves at least £6-8 a week in laundry (including drying), excellent savings for a student like myself. The stuff that's in the tub? That's also a Lush creation. FUN is a fantastic soap that you can model, re-use and wash yourself and your clothes in (though don't wash your clothes with the red one - I have pink pants because of this). It also gives a donation to a charity that supports children effected by the Fukushima disaster in Japan each time you buy it. This stuff lasts a long time and leaves your clothes smelling gorgeous and fresh. It's worth mentioning that you can wash your clothes in some of the shower gels that Lush offers also, just ask a Lushie in store!



So, there you have it - my ethical bathroom. Why not try to make a difference in your home, whether it's from swapping to something fair trade to just making sure you switch off a light you don't need, it's all worthwhile and I can tell you now, it feels great knowing what you're doing.