Social Media Archives

The EU has voted for a permanent ban on pesticides that are harmful to bees

27/04/2018 by Josephine McCarthy

A statement by the United Nations stated that the ‘Decline of honey bees is now a global phenomenon’, today the EU has voted for a permanent ban on pesticides that are harmful to bees. Earlier this year a report released by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) found that most uses of neonicotinoid pesticides represent a risk to wild bees and honeybees. Under the new regulations, the use of imidacloprid, clothianidin and thiamethoxam outdoors will now be banned in EU member states.

These chemicals have been linked to large-scale extinctions in bee population, and are known to impact on their learning and memory. Bees face chronic exposure to these chemicals, as they persist in the environment and are dispersed to other plants besides the ones they were initially applied to. There is currently a ban on neonicotinoid use on flowering crops in the EU, however the new report suggests this is not sufficient, as the use of these chemicals in any outdoor setting poses a high risk to bees. It also identified that high risk does not result from direct exposure to non-flowering crops, but to subsequent indirect exposure from field margins, adjacent crops and succeeding crops. The report confirms the significant threat these neonicotinoid pesticides pose to our bees, however, indoor use of the pesticides in greenhouses, for example was not found to have the same harmful effects,

Insects make up about two-thirds of all life on Earth, but the last 25 years has witnessed the most dramatic decline in the numbers of flying insects having dropped by 75 per cent. Insects play an essential role for life on earth as pollinators of plants and prey for larger animals, their loss would and is already having a profound impact on our World.

This wonderful news today from the EU gives us hope that we can halt the decline in our Bee populations, and with our help we can over time hopefully reverse this unrepresented loss of our insect life, especially our hard working Bees. One of the ways we can help save the bees is to plant flowers, by planting flowers especially ones indigenous to your area we provide food to feed the bees and other valuable pollinators. By planting a pollinator-friendly garden you are not just saving our Bees, we are ultimately saving ourselves and the Planet.

PAIRFUM natural fragrance wardrobe sachet honeycomb beeswax

Grinning like a Cheshire Cat

21/04/2018 by Huib Maat

Why we should all try Smiling More !

The simple act of smiling can transform you and the world around you. Try Grinning like a Cheshire Cat.

Research has shown that a smile is contagious. As it turns out, it is not just our lob-sided or cheesy grins, but all of our facial expressions that are contagious. We tend to mimic the smiles or frowns of those we come in contact with because it helps us better understand what other people are feeling, which allows us to respond appropriately to the situation we find ourselves in.

Just think about it, it would not be very helpful when your best Friend or Colleague is telling you something dreadful that happened to them, and you sit there Grinning like a Cheshire Cat. Or, they are regaling you with a good ‘Belly Laugh’ of a story and you burst into tears.

As perfumers we love creating fragrances to make you feel happy and beautiful within yourself, and we realise how powerful the sense of smell is.

There is however also magical power in a genuine smile to change the world. It can light up the darkest day and change your mood in an instance.

This is why Smiling is so good for your health, the simple act of smiling activates neural messaging in the brain that benefits your health and happiness. Our feel-good neurotransmitters such as dopamine, serotonin and endorphins are all released when a smile crosses our face.

So when you smile at someone, they find it very difficult not to return the compliment, they can’t help but smile back!

Try it at home or when you are out and about, make an effort to smile at the people you meet or the people you are speaking or dealing with.

We are convinced that it even works over the phone, if you are speaking to someone on the phone with a smile on your face, they can pick-up the sound of your smile in your voice. Every time you smile at someone, their brain urges them to return the favour and by doing so you are creating a symbiotic relationship that allows both of you to release feel-good hormones in the brain.

It really is a ‘Win-Win’ situation for both of you.

You are both more attractive, more relaxed and more likely to agree and you increase the chances of you both living longer, healthier and most definitely happier lives.

Apart from the rare occasions in life that crop-up now and again, I can’t think of a single good reason why you should not greet someone with a heartfelt smile.

Bedroom Reed Diffuser Luxury Scented Candle Room Spray

Relieve Stress and get a Better Night’s Sleep

20/04/201819/04/2018 by Josephine McCarthy

Having a good night’s sleep can make a big difference in your quality of life. Just ask any ‘New’ Parents how sleep deprivation has impacted on their lives. In the busy world we live in, it is not only parents of young children that are not getting enough snooze time but we could all do with a better night’s sleep. How do we relieve stress and get a better night’s sleep and why is it so important?

Studies have proven that sleep deprivation can adversely affect the brain and your cognitive function, a study by the Harvard Medical School and the University of California at Berkeley revealed, that sleep deprivation causes the brain to become incapable of putting an emotional event into the proper perspective and incapable of making a controlled, suitable response to the event. Put in a ‘Nut Shell’, even the simplest tasks become harder or impossible to preform. It not only effects our physical but also our mental health.

There are so many things that we can do to help improve our sleep patterns, from insuring that we have a comfortable mattress and pillows, that has not exceeded their life expectancy. To making sure that we regulate our body’s clock, by scheduling a routine of the same bedtime and wake up time, even on the weekends. Try to avoid eating a heavy meal or having that last sneaky peak at a mobile device before bedtime, your body needs time to shift into sleep mode, so spend the last hour before bed doing a calming activity.

An excellent way to help relieve stress and unwind so that we can all have a better nights sleep is to ‘Use our sense of Smell’, our olfactory nerve is connect directly to the brain and sends signals directly to many different parts of the brain, including the limbic system and amygdala, which are in charge of emotions, mood, and memory. So why not use a scent or perfume to help relieve stress, relax the body, and promote better sleep. A number of essentials oils have been shown in studies to lower blood pressure, heart rate, and skin temperature as well as changing brain waves to a more relaxed state.

From Lavender to Bergamot, Ylang Ylang to Clary Sage , these are just some of the wonderful essential oils that have been used in Aromatherapy to tap into the healing power of scents in order to help calm, de-stress and relax both your mind and body. So why not try and find one that is suitable to you.

Incredible Facts About Your Sense of smell, people can detect one trillion distinct scents.

Your Nose can detect ‘One trillion distinct scents’.

10/05/201917/04/2018 by Huib Maat

Most of us take our sense of Smell for granted and it is only when something happens to it, from something as simple as a ‘Head Cold’ that we realise how much of our World we perceive through our sense of smell. Our sense of smell is so much more powerful than you could ever imagine, research done by the Rockefeller University showed that your nose can detect ‘One trillion distinct scents‘.

Our sense of smell is completely unique from our other senses, in that it is the only one that travels directly to the forebrain without going to the thalamus. It is our oldest sense detecting chemicals that relate to smell or taste, which gives us the information we need to survive in the environment that surrounds us.

Our nostrils are ‘Ipsilateral’ ( which means ‘on or affecting the same side of the body’ ), each nostril is directed onto a separate side of the brain, where the right nostril corresponds to the right side of the brain, and the left nostril corresponding to the left side of the brain.
This allows us to smell two odors simultaneously, and even when smells are received simultaneously the brain will perceive and process them one at a time.

Another interesting fact about our sense of smell is that Women have a better sense of smell than men, one reason for this may be that women have a more developed orbital prefrontal region of the brain, or it may also have evolved to help Women choose the best possible mate, it may also have developed to help women better bond with their newborn babies.

However before we get carried away with just how wonderful our sense of smell is, and the fact that we can detect ‘One trillion distinct scents’. Mans ‘Best Friend’ the Dog has 220 million odor-detecting cells, as compared to Humans that have five to six million. Still we think five to six million odor-detecting cells is very impressive ( and not to sniffed at!! )and should be put to good use.

So for all budding ‘Wine tasters and Foodies’ out there, here is how to savour that wonderful glass of Wine or Meal even more. Try combining your ‘Olfactory and Gustatory’ Senses (‘Smell & Taste’), we know that you already use both when eating and drinking, however to increase your sensory experience when having you next meal or glass of wine. Try breathing in before drinking or eating, then exhaling as you take a drink or a bite of food, practice makes perfect and you will be amazed at how much it enhances your enjoyment.