Number 3 by Cristina Bertrand is a white floral fragrance that is available on Amazon.com as an eau de parfum ($80 for 100ml). 

If you've never heard of Cristina Bertrand with regard to perfumes, this would be forgiveable. She is actually a Spanish artist, based in China, who specialises in paintings concerned with the I-Ching. She has also designed a three-strong range of perfumes, which are sold in China (details on her website) with prices in RMB (whatever they are), but #3 is a discontinued fragrance, hence its presence on Amazon. I actually bought mine on Ebay for a stonking $11.89. 

#3 has top notes of bergamot, wild flowers and orange flower, heart notes of orchid, jasmine and tuberose and base notes of heliotrope, sandalwood and musk.

I came across it because of a blog called Muse in Wooden Shoes, when I was pootling around looking for Serge Lutens alternatives, as I don't really have the money to buy many, and it was suggested as an alternative to Lutens' Fleurs d'Oranger.  Worth a punt, I thought. 

However, it most assuredly is not an alternative to the Lutens. Fleurs d'Oranger is a heavy, syrupy, oriental-style orange blossom, quite heavily indolic and sexy. #3, in contrast, is bright, light and white, and pretty rather than sexy - a white linen shirtwaist rather than a red satin sheath. It could easily be worn by either a young girl or her grandmother without seeming wrong on either, but it is not girly or fusty.

It smells extremely clean without being cheap, and exactly like you always hope a white floral will and yet never seems to. I can detect orange blossom and jasmine, though no tuberose or heliotrope, and it dries down to a creamy (that's the sandalwood) white floral. It is in no way green or bitter, and I don't find it at all lemony either - no bergamot. 

It is a very pleasant fragrance indeed and I think would be foolproof for a business meeting, job interview or anywhere that you wanted to wear perfume without offending anyone - the dentist's surgery, doctor's surgery or meeting with your lawyer. It feels like it's made from quality materials, and it also has astonishing longevity. I applied mine some 13 hours ago and can still smell it. Great for days when you don't want to make a particular statement. 

If you fancy buying #3, be aware that the box looks very similar to that of Blue Orquid, and uses an image of the same painting by Bertrand, but that this is a different perfume with different notes.  

Feniqia is a French/Lebanese company that specialises in quality soaps and other hammam materials such as solid perfumes. 

It's latest range of soaps, Seven Deadly Sins (15 euros), is really about seven delightful indulgences. Based on materials such as olive oil, coconut oil, honey and almonds, the soaps are all spherical and hand-made, and each comes with a little 'soapdish', also made of soap. Slightly oily to the touch, they are absolutely packed with nourishment for dry or sensitive skin.

I tried sin number 1 - Anger, and sin number 7 - Envy.

Anger (Colère) is based on black pepper, geranium and ginger, and the geranium is evident immediately on opening the box, with its intensely sharp, greeny-lemony-rosy smell (geraniol - essential oil of geranium - is also the chief component in rose oil). Unwrapping the soap from its paper, you're suffused with the kind of scents you notice when entering a herbalist or a therapy rooms - lashings of essential oil and herbs. This is a great, refreshing soap with which to start the day, and the ball shape gives the pleasing sensation of handling something hand-made. Feniqia soap also lasts forever, as I know from a previous test, but in this incarnation, it is also an exfoliant, scrubbing you clean with little grains of what feel like crushed rice. 

Envy (Envie) is based on the gourmand scents of cinnamon, cardamom, cumin, fennel and bitter almond, along with orange blossom and aniseed. This is a gentler soap that I found best for evening, and it is less gritty in feel, with a quieter perfume. A great soap for those who enjoy foodie perfumes. A friend who tested it, says: "This is unlike most soaps I have ever used, except those that call themselves cream or complexion bars. It has an unusual texture when handled, almost as if you could used it as modelling material. The smell is gorgeous and I often sniff the soap just for the pleasure of it. In use it doesn't lather - it creams and leaves skin feeling moisturised. I love it, but not the price: it's not something I would buy, but I do enjoy having things like this as a gift.  I have used Floris and Molton Brown and I think - just think - that this one has the edge."

Others in the range are based on sandalwood, cypress, jasmine, neroli, incense, rose, magnolia and citrus, so there should be something to please everyone, and all have the same hand-made, hammam-like quality, and make great gifts for yourself or others. 

The Seven Deadly Sins are available from a range of healthfood stores and sites, and from Feniqia.com  

Fais-moi de l'oeil by Pulpe de Vie is a new eye contour treatment that acts as either an eye mask or a cream. 

A fragrance-free white cream, it's very light and slippery in texture, with a delicate feel. Pulpe de Vie recommends that you apply it night and morning, and then a second coat if required. For makeup-free days, its mica content lends a touch of lightness around the eyes. 

Forty-eight per cent of the cream is a cocktail of organic fruits and flowers - 20 per cent peppermint water, 20 per cent antioxidant kiwi extract, 4 per cent oils of plum and barbary fig, and 4 per cent cornflower and verbena water. It has beech buds to battle wrinkles, rhizobian gum, derived from sunflowers, to hydrate and refreshen, and extract of laminaria seaweed to drain puffiness.

Fais-moi de l'oeil costs 17.90 euros for 15ml from Nature & Découvertes, Beauty Monop', Mademoiselle Bio, Beauty Success, Parashop, Biocoop and www.pulpedevie.fr.

In my recent Lands' End splurge, I also splashed out on a few of their Thermacheck fleeces, simply to see what they were like. 

These gloves are in Thermacheck 100, the firm's finest fleece. This fleece roughly equates to a microfleece in thickness - only some 1 or 2mm - and its useful properties include a featherlight weight and the fact that items can be easily rolled up and stuffed in a pocket or backpack. These gloves are half the bulk of my regular fleece gloves from other companies, so they go easily into a small pocket, and can also be used as glove liners under bigger gloves. The beanie I bought is so thin it can be tucked up a sleeve. Garments made from Thermacheck 100 are good for indoor wear in winter, or an extra layer of a summer evening. 

This parka is in Thermacheck 2, which roughly equates to the same weight as the firm's stretch fleece, but is smoother, less bulky and far less plushy. It gives a lot of warmth without weight and makes great indoor/outdoor garments for cold weather. 

The Thermacheck 300 fleece is the firm's warmest fleece, reserved for just one outdoor jacket in the range, and for the half-lining and hood lining of the Insulated Squall Parka. This offers serious warmth for tough winter temperatures. 

The Heavenly Fleece is quite a different animal - a fluffy fleece for indoor wear. I ordered a scarf in this fleece but was rather disapointed with the handle of it, having found much softer ones in France and so I won't be ordering this again.  

The firm also does a 'Cosy fleece', which is a layer of stretch fleece bonded to an inner Heavenly fleece. I haven't seen these, but would guess they're somehting like similar garments made by Regatta, and probably very useful. 

Overall, for indoor wear I personally prefer the plushy Stretch fleece, and for outdoor wear, the Thermachecks are more windproof.  

Odyssey, released last November, is the latest solid perfume from French/Lebanese house Feniqia, and costs 22 euros for two 20g cakes. 

Feniqia specialises in hand-made soaps, but also produces a range of hammam-style accessories, bath salts, and these solid perfumes, which have a base of beeswax and olive oil. You can rub them on your skin, leave them in a room diffuser, or perfume your linen with them. They are all organic, paraben-free, paraffin-free and non-photosensitising. 

Solid perfumes are among the most ancient ever produced, and they pack a heck of a punch for their small size, so I rate these Feniqia scents as a great discovery, especially for the price. They also last forever, as you only rub off a very little of the wax with each usage. 

Odyssey has top notes of lime, middle notes of magnolia and base notes of incense but I must admit it was the floral notes that struck me first, and only then the citrussy undertone, which nevertheless remains present throughout.

When it goes on, the perfume is headily soapy and bathroom-smelling and I thought at first this would be a problem for me, but it quickly sweetened as the wax melted into my skin and the soft, white fragrance has great persistence and some throw before morphing into a warm, Somalian incense drydown.

Like the other perfumes in the range, the 'concrète' medium gives the fragrance a very skin-scenty feel, as if it was your skin itself producing the fragrance, rather than something you've applied. This is a quality that feels profoundly womanly and sexy. 

I quickly became addicted to the last Feniqia solid perfume I tested - called Escape - but made the mistake (or not) of leaving it next to my watch strap, which picked up the scent and this has remained permanent. Very often, when I'm wearing some expensive perfume, I'll think how nice I'm smelling, and then realise it's actually my watch strap, and my other wrist doesn't smell anywhere near so good.

I have a feeling that the same is going to happen with this more lemony, lighter fragrance. Certainly, I took one cake for testing to a girls' night and was lucky to get away with my life. I ended up chopping it into eight parts and giving it away, as everyone pounced on it. 

Odyssey is available from Feniqia's website, www.feniqia.com and organic shops such as Madesmoiselle Bio.