What is Tartware?

 Good question!

 It was inevitable that a woman who owns almost a hundred bottles of perfume, has toiletries in her kitchen cupboards were most people keep pots and pans, and is normally is in the thick of using thirty different bath products at any one time was going to have to blog about it!

How I’ve escaped this destiny so far, I do not know.  But it has caught up with me and spanked me soundly for ignoring its voice so far and tutted in my ear.

Mmmm . . . Tartware ; )

 Tartware, dear reader, is my word for any item you use that to prettify, beautify and generally use to make good about yourself. Tartware is perfume, make up, fancy toiletries, body creams, sprays, balms – anything we apply to our bodies and faces that make us feel that extra bit pampered and cared for. It doesn’t have to be expensive, it doesn’t have to designer, it just has to work for you.

Men have tartware too of course, men have their own gentleman’s range in make-up, skincare, bodycare and colognes and scents.  We all like to feel good.

 Tartware is anything that we apply to ourselves which is non-essential, by this I mean beyond good hygiene. Where you set that barometer of what constitutes that, is of course a personal choice.

But I personally, do not class plain soap, toothpaste, basics ranges of toiletries, deodorants unless scented, as Tartware. I do not class implements such as a foot file or shower mits as Tartware. It’s the unguents we apply to ourselves, the things that linger that qualify.

 Tartware is a word I invented well over a decade ago, a word that many of my friends now use but that has yet to enter the lexicon of the Oxford or Collins dictionary. Oh but one day it will! And when it does, I will go to my grave clasping a copy in one hand and a bottle of perfume in the other!

I knew Tartware had made the grade when back in 2002 my best friend was packing up my perfume collection for storage and without any prompting he scribbled, ‘Tartware’ across the boxes.  That was a glorious moment for yours truly I tell you!

Portal to pleasure

Tartware makes me feel good, it makes me feel cared for, it makes me feel special because I am spoiling myself with something sensually precious.  Being a Taurus ruled by Venus with my Venus in Taurus to boot ( ignore me if astrology doesn’t float your boat, I’m used to that), I didn’t  stand a chance. No one in my family is like this, it’s just me. I send out tweets and Facebook updates about my bath potions of choice before I get in the bath. Bathing is one of my favourite things, I make a real occasion of it, I have a corner bath floodlit by a row of feathered lights. Why not? It makes me happy.

Q: Okay, I know what Tartware is now – tell me what the blog is about?

This blog is a CELEBRATION of the wondrousness that is Tartware!  But the thing that’s unique is that it isn’t some fashionista, beauty guru or writer waxing lyrical about new products or some face cream a PR has sent her to flog to you – we already have a multitude of sites that do that, that tell you what you should be using – this site is devoted to you and your love of Tartware, about the things you’ve tried and tested and already use and more importantly like or love.

You get to tell the world and his wife about your favourite piece of Tartware and why you love it and why everyone should know about it. It might be a hidden gem that could transform someone else’s life, it could be something that everyone already uses. It doesn’t matter, all that matters is that you rate it very highly and it does something special for you.   And you also get to tell peeps out there a bit about yourself and what you do if you wish to.

In my opinion, celebrity magazines, newspaper and media are filled with articles and interviews featuring actors, actresses, writers, musicians, politicians and while that’s fine and I love reading those too, I want this site to feature people from all walks of life talking about:

1. Their absolute favourite piece of Tartware, that they feel people should know about or check out.  This could be anything from scent to lip balm to an extra zingy showergel or a cream that just brings out their best in their skin. If it’s Tartware, it’s cool : )

2. Tell me about you, who are you, what do you enjoy in life? Where are you from?  What are you about? If you are part of a club, association, have a talent, skill  or something you’d like to promote or share, the floor is yours. Attach pix, links, it’s all good.  Please don’t be shy.  Enjoy the buzz!  It’ll be fun.

My dream is to have Tartware feature a teacher who has a thing for Chanel no 5 in one one post, next to a model who cannot live without with Palmers Cocoa Butter. I want to read about an engineer telling me about his love of Calvin Klein CK One because he shares it with his girlfriend, and when he wears it, he smiles, because he thinks of her and he runs a cycling club on the weekend. I want a stay-at-home mum with triplets, writing that when when she wears Donna Karan Gold it makes her feel special and she enjoys going to her Mother and Baby group on Friday afternoon and blogging about her love of gardening.  I want a writer telling me that when she wears a claret red lipstick by Revlon to her booksignings she loses all her inhibitions because she knows she looks good.

Let’s have some variety!

I *love* variety, why do you think I have thirty varieties of bath products in the bathroom?

Let’s share the love of Tartware and let’s have everyone being in on it and enjoying their spot in the limelight.  This blog isn’t about me, I already have a blog about me here. This blog is about you. I want to see how everyone else lives.

So I hope you’ll join me, I hope you’ll spread the word, I hope you’ll get involved. Click here to find out more about that

Tartware launches in 2013, but I might be naughty and bring that date forward.

I’ve never been very good with being told what to do, even by myself.

Enjoy your Tartware, I’m off for a bath, this one is Hawaiian Spa by Imperial Leather.

Yasmin Selena Butt  x x

Evening bathtime at the Castle