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Browsing by author: Jessica

Molinard Les Amoureux de Peynet ~ fragrance review

Posted by Jessica on 14 December 2017 4 Comments

Molinard Les Amoureux de Peynet

French perfume house Molinard recently launched Les Amoureux de Peynet, a fragrance inspired by French illustrator Raymond Peynet. That name didn’t mean anything to me at first, but once I did a quick search, I realized I’d seen those “lovers” before. Peynet first sketched the duo of the wispy-haired, bowler-hatted violinist-poet and his perky lady-love in 1942, but they appeared in his artwork and on countless trinkets throughout the 1950s and 1960s. (Just check eBay, and you’ll see what I mean.) The lovers often appeared together on a park bench — that is, when they weren’t canoodling in a gazebo, a rowboat, or some similarly whimsical venue…

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January Scent Project Vaporocindro ~ fragrance review

Posted by Jessica on 7 December 2017 12 Comments

Sometimes the way to my nose is actually through my eyes: I was initially tempted to try Vaporocindro when I saw January Scent Project’s retro-styled illustrations by the line’s perfumer, John Biebel (who’s also a visual artist). They remind me a bit of Guerlain’s classic 1935 “Is She Your Type?” advertisements by Elise Darcy, with a surreal twist. I like the overall dreamy mood of the Vaporocindro image (shown above right), plus the sinuous lines of scent encircling the androgynous central face and the mysterious profile to the left.

January Scent Project’s visual materials also allude to the fragrances’ notes, and with this image we’re given a preview of this scent’s “wood, spice and flower” profile…

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Sana Jardin Revolution de la Fleur, Berber Blonde & Tiger By Her Side ~ fragrance reviews

Posted by Jessica on 30 November 2017 10 Comments

Sana Jardin Berber Blonde

Just in case you haven’t noticed, the phrases “conscious consumerism” and “sustainable luxury” have been appearing with increasing frequency over the past year or two. And now we have Sana Jardin, “the world’s first socially-conscious, luxury fragrance house. . . . created primarily as a vehicle for social change to power social impact through the economic empowerment of women through The Beyond Sustainability™ Movement.”

If you’d like to do some reading about Sana Jardin’s back story and business model, you can find plenty of information on the company website. I’ll limit myself to brief reviews of three Sana Jardin fragrances (from a collection of seven, all developed by perfumer Carlos Benaïm) that I’ve been trying over the past week or so, and you can decide for yourself what socially conscious fragrance might be and how far you’re willing to go for it…

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Five citrusy comforts ~ body product reviews

Posted by Jessica on 22 November 2017 13 Comments

Speaking from my present circumstances: if you ever have the bad fortune to break an ankle and end up basically housebound for more than a month, once you get past the initial pain, you’ll find yourself valuing simple comforts more than ever. Clean sheets, pre-prepared food, a really nice-smelling bar of soap: they all make a big difference when you’re feeling uncomfortable and temporarily trapped. So, not to bemoan my short-term fate ad nauseam, but: here are five citrus-scented products that have cheered me recently.

I think a broken bone merits some indulgence in fancy toiletries you’d normally tuck aside and save “for later,” and Antica Farmacista Grapefruit Hand Cream is one of those…

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Gallivant Amsterdam ~ fragrance review

Posted by Jessica on 9 November 2017 6 Comments

black tulips

London-based niche line Gallivant is back with two new fragrances, Amsterdam and Berlin, bringing its total of olfactory “urban explorations” to six. When I tried Gallivant’s initial four scents, Brooklyn was the one that really won me over. (I wore it frequently last summer.) Now I’m intrigued by Amsterdam, “a genre-defying floral, spicy, woody, ambery fragrance” developed by perfumer Giorgia Navarra. Amsterdam’s composition includes top notes of elemi, schinus molle CO2 extract, pepper and saffron; a heart of tulip and rose; and a base of cedar, musk, sandalwood and amber.

Although I’ve never been to Amsterdam, I enjoyed reading this description as I was wearing the fragrance: “Autumn going into winter. The freedom of cycling, past the former spice warehouses of the Warmoesstraat to a canalside apartment on Prinsengracht on the elegant south side of the city. . . .Flowers in the window. Cake and feeling indulged. Beautifully made wooden furniture. Dark hues on the walls.” Gallivant promises that Amsterdam offers an element of gezellig…

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