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Feature: Jenny Coggins
HAVING benefited from a recent revamp, Herbal Linea is more welcoming
than ever before.
It’s more like a little country cottage than an East End
shop, with both fairylights glowing in the window and a delicious
smell.
The ethic behind the products is to hand-make everything to
the highest quality using only natural ingredients.
Plenty of shops make the same trendy claim, but it’s the
real deal at Linea.
They make everything themselves in their London workshop and
test all the natural ingredients on their lucky friends and family.
It’s a dinky shop; so take a tour with us from your armchair…
Soaps
The soaps are Herbal’s speciality. There are nine scents
to select from, all with fun names like Seady Ceader and Bed of
Roses. Sizes start at 100g, but you can get one cut as big as
your grimy body requires! When you purchase, it is lovingly wrapped
in tissue paper with flower petals.
Teas
Much is being made at the moment of the benefits of drinking natural
teas. They can help with all manner of problems, from IBS to detoxing.
Herbal have a range of six teas, all designed to help with specific
problems.
The women’s tea may help relieve PMS and period pains. £4.50
will buy you a 50g bottle and, at that price, it’s worth
giving it a go to banish the evil monthly pains!
Less practical (but more fun!), is the Love tea, concocted with
aphrodisiac ingredients. Drink during the day and who knows what
will happen in the night! Again it’s £4.50 a bottle.
Just as a tip, you can also buy the tea in loose weight if you
would like to try first before buying a whole bottle.
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Body
One of life’s real luxuries can be as simple as a hot bath
followed by a rich body lotion. Herbal offers both and more.
Aromatherapy foam baths come with different intentions, from getting
you loved up (Love Bubbles) to helping a cold (Eucalyptus Bubbles).
At £3.95 for 100ml, they rival Radox any bath day of the
week.
To follow on from the chilled-out bubbles, Herbal have a small,
but perfectly formed range of body lotions. The IndieLondon favourite
has to be the delicious smelling Orange and Ginger lotion which
has real warmth to it. Rosemary and Grapefruit is also yummy and
as the price is reasonable (£6.95 for 100ml), you can afford
to try them all on.
Feet
With Summer well on its way, it’s time to reassess our bodies,
and check out what damage the winter has done to our pasty bits.
Nothing is likely to be as neglected as your tootsies.
Having spent the Winter hidden in stuffy socks and shoes, your
toes are probably in a right old state.
With a whole range of products dedicated to your plates of meat,
Herbal comes to the rescue.
An unflatteringly named, but highly-effective product, ‘Smelly
Feet Bath’ (£4.50) is a great place to start. Pop
a drop in a foot bath, or bowl, sit back and have sweet smelling
tootsies once more. Follow with their less offensively named ‘Foot
Cream’ (£6.95) to massage away any aches or pains.
If you find the Summer heat makes your feet swell, you might want
to try the products in the ‘Swollen Feet’ range. Prices
start at £4.95.
Gift Boxes
If you are looking for a gift, then your recipient will be in
your debt if you give them one of Herbal’s original gift
boxes. You can either go for a soap box (Nine soaps for £15)
or for
a combination of soap and tea (one bottle of tea and six soaps
for £16).
The boxes all come beautifully decorated in recycled brown paper
boxes with natural raffia tied round. If you are too lazy to write
your own tag, Herbal will write a message of your choice for you.
Room for Improvement
The only improvement we would like to see happen is for the shop
to be open more!
Herbal Linea Shop
167 Brick Lane, E2 7EE.
Wednesday 12pm - 7pm
Sunday 10am - 5pm
And if you can’t make it to the shop: The Apple Market,
Covent Garden.
Tuesday - Sunday, 10.30am - 6pm
Buy online at: www.herballinea.co.uk |
