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Browsing by author: Angela

Nina Ricci L’Air du Temps ~ fragrance review

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Nina Ricci L'Air du Temps brand image

I’d call Nina Ricci L’Air du Temps “youthful,” except that I’m not sure anyone young today would wear it, except ironically. Yet, L’Air du Temps seems ill fit for a mature woman. I imagine it on a mid-century ingenue, say Natalie Wood. L’Air du Temps’s clean, full floral bouquet with a hint of clove is too innocent for most people today over the age of 16, yet, at the same time, too old fashioned to appeal to them.

Francis Fabron, author of Givenchy L’Interdit, also developed L’Air du Temps. The fragrance launched in 1948 — the height of Dior’s New Look…

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How to Make a Fragrant Bouquet

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spring bouquet by Justin Waddell of Bloke Botanical, detail

For me, spring spells time to cut back on burning scented candles and incense and to ramp up the fresh flowers. I can snip a few roses here and whack down some lilacs there with the best of them, but I wanted an expert’s opinion on how to assemble a bouquet that would please a hardcore fragrance addict.

So I asked Justin Waddell, owner of Bloke Botanical, for advice. As he pulled together the simple-yet-knockout scented bouquet in the photo above (and see full view below), we talked flowers. Designing a magnificent bouquet has to do with a lot more than scent, of course. But, sticking to aroma, here’s what I learned…

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Atelier Cologne Oolang Infini ~ fragrance review

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Atelier Cologne Oolang Infini

I have a love-hate relationship with cologne. I love the idea of the clap of a tart, citrusy cologne and how it wakes you as surely as jumping into a swimming pool. I love the luxurious ritual of a splash of cologne between shower and dress. In Perfumes: the A to Z Guide, Luca Turin summarizes it well:

A good cologne is the perfumery equivalent of a postconcert encore: brief, familiar to the entire audience, which sighs with pleasure when hearing the first notes; and completely devoid of any ambition beyond transient joy. It is also one of life’s absolute necessities, perfume for when you don’t feel like perfume, before going to bed, to splash on your kids after the bath and introduce them to life’s finer pleasures, etc. In short, cologne is a cleanser for the soul.1

How could you not want some of that…

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Frederic Malle Une Fleur de Cassie ~ fragrance review

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mimosa on black

Every once in a while, a fragrance comes along that should be labeled “Not For Beginners.” Frédéric Malle Une Fleur de Cassie fits that category.

Of course, perfume agnostics and newcomers can and should enjoy Une Fleur de Cassie. If you swapped out a barfly’s beer can with a glass of good Vouvray,1 he might chug the wine with a lot of satisfaction. But is he going to catch every nuance? Une Fleur de Cassie is all about nuance.

The other barrier Une Fleur de Cassie presents to the beginner is that it’s not pretty. Some people might even say it’s ugly. Yet it sure is beautiful…

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Perfume on a Budget

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money and taxes

In the United States, tomorrow is tax day. I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling the pinch in my wallet. Making things worse, fragrance prices seem to be skyrocketing. Yet, I love perfume. How can we enjoy perfume and still pay the bills?

You already know the basic tips about buying decants, not buying unsniffed, and checking the discount sites. Now I offer you another tip: Don’t buy perfume. At all.

Crazy, isn’t it? And almost insultingly obvious. But I’m serious. Until your financial coffers are replenished, don’t buy any more perfume. Instead, make the most of the perfume you already have. Here are some ideas…

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