5 WAYS TO “DO” HYGGE (AND WHY IT’S HUGE THIS WINTER) #helloDenmark

Welcome to a mini-prelude before our HYGGE BEAUTY feature which’ll be up soon, it’s so busy with the awards entries at the moment but like a lot of you I’m hygge-obsessed this season.

Quick note about the candle…if you like the look of the Comfort Candle – Geranium, Bergamot and Clementine, it’s the first ever aromatherapy candle from Scottish skincare and bath brand Beatitude, and it’s filling the flat with the most calming, uplifting scent,  love it. (Great scent “throw”, and there’s the slightest touch of eucalyptus and lavender behind the scenes too but the main notes really stand out). It’s a happy comforter.  You can get it here and there’s a £12 travel size, too:

BEATITUDEPRODUCTS.CO.UK – it’s made with pure vegetable eco soy wax, a lead free wick and 100% natural fragrance and even the box smells good.

So….HYGGE!

What’s hygge? First, how to pronounce it: a bit like hue-geh – sort of.  Not like “GROUP HUG” or “Getting Hygge”. Hue-ga or hue-geh is closer.

Hygge isn’t generally Scandinavian, it’s specifically a Danish word/way of being/”lifestyle”…roughly translated as the art of cosiness…there’s no one definition, in fact even the Danes can’t pinpoint it in English even though their English is incredibly good.

But if you picture a cabin in the woods with three of your best friends, a crackling fire, huge sheepskin slippers, an AW16 array of cable knit cardies and ladle-fulls of hot chocolate, you’re pretty close! It’s simple, it’s natural, it’s about good friends, frugality, cosiness, comfort food and…candles!!! Yes, apparently according to the Little Book of Hygge which is my pre-hit-the-pillow reading at the moment, the Danes burn more candles than any nation – and they’re more contended (happy?). Forget one candle glimmering in the corner, it’s more like six!

(Anyone from Denmark reading this, feel free to correct me by the way).

So before we launch into the HYGGE BEAUTY picks this weekend, here are 5 Ways To Be Hygge.

Cosy up, call your best friend(s), and huddle round the kitchen table in your thickest cable-knit jumpers with cold-combatting snacks and a bottle of something comforting:

1. Surprisingly, Hygge’s not just for winter. It’s picnics at the beach in a VW campervan with a bottle of wine to share the sun set with, or sharing berries, elderflower cordial and crackers and cheese on the verandah in the midsummer evening sunlight.
2. Hygge is all about textures. Silk – OUT. Sheepskin – IN. And cashmere…but old cashmere because hygge is not extravagant, so yes, you’re pampering yourself and your friends but in a more “cycle to work” porridge sort of way, rather than a driving around in a flash car sort of way.  Hygge fashion revolves primarily around loungewear and nightwear that looks like loungewear – Celtic Sheepskin-style, with those Ugg-style boots that work indoors but are sturdy enough to dash out to the corner shop when the stars are out for a pint of milk for a late night hot choc.
3. You cannot do hygge without candles, the more the better. Tealights, pillar candles, 3-wicks, the whole hygge lot!
4. I wish hygge rhymed with snuggle, but no, so maybe we should invent a new word to combine both? “Hyggle”? (OK so it doesn’t work with hue-ge but hey-ho)
5. Anything cosy is hygge…sparkly lights wound around a wooden tree, fireplaces, big cushions, warm rugs, tartan throws (Scotland getting into the hygge act)…and food! Warming hearty soups, your favourite snacks, it’s the absolute opposite of that annoying minimalist Michelin star food trend when you pay £15 for a dessert with one raspberry in the middle and a swirl of chef-concocted custard. Hygge is huge. It’s a refuge in an uncertain world, it’s about spreading the love, and if you ride a bicycle, have a soft, woolly beanie and a scarf collection that would outdo a snowman’s, you halfway to hygge (im)perfection already…

Happy Hygge Season!

Next up (when I’ve blown out my 500 candles), The Beauty Shortlist Hygge Beauty Guide (prob at the weekend!) xx