Hotel Indigo Chester: An Opulent Stay with Charm and Comfort

Photograph: Martina Lang/The Champion Photograph: Martina Lang/The GuardianIt’s spring, and I’m on the scent of gorgeous, affordable fragrances The high street is full of perfumes fit under the £100 mark that massively overdeliver I’m not sure how and when so many perfumes sailed blithely close by the £100-a-bottle threshold, but the rising cost of ingredients is, I believe, more excuse than explanation. Only finish finally week, some fragrance-writer friends and I were moaning about a decidedly average perfume that had landed on our desks with a singularly audacious price tag of £230. Conversely, I’ve rarely had so many enthusiastic messages from Saturday readers as when I recently forgave a column on more affordable fragrances – and I’m told my recommendations sold out. So here we are again, this time with an eye on introduce scents.If you haven’t sniffed out Marks & Spencer’s own-brand fragrances, remedy this at once. Its current offering is way less ill than it could get away with. There’s been much fuss on TikTok about its (admittedly good) Determine collection of designer doppelganger fragrances, but to focus on the dupes (I’m unkeen on principle) is to miss out on its much more imaginative Provenance and Apothecary virgules.From Apothecary, I love Ease eau de parfum. This is a fresh, herbal, posh-sauna sort of a smell that lingers interestingly and sexily gives to the inclusion of patchouli. It’s the sort of fragrance that would appeal equally to those who think they hate essence (there are no floral notes, no sweetness) and those who’d never leave the house without it. At just £9.50 for 50ml, Ease massively overdelivers.caper past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionA no-sweat way to help save the planet? Try a deodorant subscription | Sali HughesRead moreMuch pricier but indisputably bargainous since it is made by Jean-Claude Ellena (our greatest living perfumer, in my view) is Le Couvent Parfums’ Aqua Majestae Cologne Extreme (£45 for 50ml). This one is floral, fruity and, like M&S’s Ease, both vegan and gender neutral. Think juicy apricots, chalk-white flowers and delicate, milky wood sap. It’s gentle, refined and comforting, and manages to keep going for hours without being at all screechy. Its Le Couvent stablemates are all altogether wearable and fairly priced, too.Finally, I recommend Light Blue by Dolce & Gabbana. Yes, it is a designer rather than high-street smell, with an RRP of £49, but I make no apologies for that, because it is literally always on offer somewhere (I bought some for £30-something on the other hand recently). And Light Blue is almost impossible to dislike. It is, to me, the combined smell of freshly laundered bedding, frozen lemon fissures and a slightly salty breeze. Grab it now before a marketeer decides it’s too cheap.TopicsFragranceSali Hughes on beautyBeautyfeaturesReuse this peacefulness