Around seven months after I shared my decision to take a break from making products for my products based business, I decided to do something a little out of the ordinary for me (since the nationwide lockdowns, anyway). On a whim one summer evening, I booked flights to visit someone I hadn’t seen in 10 years, a trip that would take me to a small island in the Mediterranean sea they now call home.

My friend had warned me that it was ridiculously hot on the island, too hot to wear clothes around the house even. I thought she was joking, but every night I was there, I would go to bed in a baggy t-shirt I’d soaked in cold water and wrung out, just to feel the relief of cool, damp fabric against my skin.

During the day, with the sun blazing down, it was far too hot to walk anymore for more than a few minutes, and by the time the evening dusk settled in, I was exhausted from the heat of the day. This gave me the perfect excuse to do nothing but relax without guilt - something I have always found difficult.

I knew before I arrived in Gozo that I wanted to take photos of my newest apothecary product, Aphrodite, while I was there. I’d bundled a few jars of the bath soak into my suitcase, along with my trusty old camera I’ve had since I was 16.

On Sunday morning we were up early before the sun became scorchingly hot, and my friend drove me to a beautiful beach on the other side of the island. One end of the beach was covered in old salt pans carved into the rock. Gozitans have been using just the sun and seawater in these pans to harvest sea salt for centuries, passing techniques down through generations.

As for the other end of the beach, it was truly breathtaking. The cliff resembled a lunar landscape, with flowing curved rocks and smooth, clean lines. It felt out of this world, ancient and magical, and instantly I knew this was the place for an Aphrodite photoshoot...

One day, thousands of years ago, Greek goddess Aphrodite was born from the silky sea foam off the island of Cyprus. She was known as the goddess of love and beauty, but more than that she always saw the inner beauty in herself and others, and found pleasure and joy in always following her heart.

I was definitely the kind of kid who followed their own heart. The beach was one of my favourite places, and I could spend hours swimming in the sea and peering into rockpools, searching for tiny green-brown shore crabs. I was a real water baby, swimming underwater for as long as I could, feeling like I was in another world with those soft, muffled underwater sounds soothing my young soul.

A few years ago I sat nestled in the sand on a beach in Greece, the sun was setting and even though it wasn’t particularly warm (it was February after all) the sea was still beckoning me in. My friends were swimming but I hesitated, totally self conscious of my body, and not wanting anyone to judge me for my weight, I didn’t get into the water.

Then we went into lockdown and I didn’t see the sea for over two years. There were honestly times I thought I would never get to see it again and so I made a promise to myself during those dark times that I wouldn’t take the ocean for granted ever again. I wouldn’t put those fears of how other people might perceive me over my own deep joy of being in the ocean.

This year, while I was in Gozo, I spent almost every day at the beach. In between Aphrodite photoshoots, or wandering around for as long as I could bear in the humid heat, searching for succulent golden samphire to nibble on, I would dip in and out of the water all day.

There were so many species of multicoloured fish to admire underwater, and as soon as I was warmed up by the sun, I would be right back in there looking for saddled sea bream, rainbow wrasse, flounders, parrotfish, boops boops and more (yes, there is actually a fish called boops boops, and it’s adorable).

One afternoon, while I was sitting under an umbrella on the beach, eating a sun-warmed, fuzzy and juicy peach, it dawned on me. Not once had I thought about what the other beachgoers might be thinking of my weight. In true Aphrodite style, I had followed my own heart and put my joy and happiness first. I had kept that promise I made to myself back in lockdown. 

The Aphrodite bath soak is intended to be a cosy self love ritual, to transform your bath into a silky soft, pale pink nourishing heaven, reminiscent of the soft sea foam gently lapping at the shore.

A chance to let go and unwind, to deeply enjoy precious moments spent with yourself. Now as the evenings are drawing in and I set aside a little time to run a bath, sprinkling the pale pink powder under the running tap, watching it swirl and fizz, I’m reminded of those days on the beach in Gozo, when I put myself and my happiness first, and it makes me smile.

Aphrodite will be coming back in the autumn restock so soon! I hope you love it as much as I do,

Mila x