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Browsing by author: Jessica

Compagnie de Provence 20th Anniversary Savon de Marseille ~ scented body product

Posted by Jessica on 13 November 2010 14 Comments

Compagnie de Provence 20th Anniversary Savon de Marseille

Compagnie de Provence has been offering contemporary interpretations of traditional Provençal soaps and toiletries since 1990. To mark its twentieth anniversary, the company has released a limited edition of its popular Savon de Marseille, a liquid hand soap packaged in a hefty glass bottle. For this occasion, the company commissioned artist Stephan Muntaner to create bottle designs based on the culture and legends of Marseille. The result is a set of three images that look like very colorful sailors’ tattoos, with each design named for a fish that would be caught in the city’s ancient port.

All three silkscreened images are vibrant and playful, even as they refer to Marseille’s oldest customs…

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Amouage Library Collection Opus III ~ perfume review

Posted by Jessica on 5 November 2010 60 Comments

Earlier this year, Amouage released its Library Collection, a trio of fragrances designed as a “poetic homage to the art of living.” Opus III is a floral oriental developed by perfumer Karine Vinchon; according to Amouage, this fragrance “was inspired by the art and science of the creative process, from the darkest moments of frustration, to the brightness of enlightenment and discovery.” It includes top notes of mimosa, broom, carnation, nutmeg, and thyme; a heart of violet, jasmine, ylang-ylang, and orange blossom; and base notes of ambrette, musk, papyrus, cedarwood, sandalwood, guaiac wood, benzoin, and vanilla.

Opus III opens with a distinctive note of broom flowers. If you’ve ever tried Santa Maria Novella Ginestra, a broom soliflore, you’ll recognize this scent, something like cut hay and long grass warmed by the sun. If Opus III were visible as color, the dominant shades of its opening and its heart would be the bright, almost sharp yellow of broom blossoms and the buttery shade of mimosa flowers…

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Aroma Sanctum Scarlet Letter ~ fragrance review

Posted by Jessica on 31 October 2010 27 Comments

Map of Salem, MassAroma Sanctum Scarlet Letter perfume

A few years ago, I spent a day in Salem, Massachusetts with my husband. Somewhere between our stops at the town’s historic cemetery, a bookstore or two, and the House of the Seven Gables, we came across a small shop called Aroma Sanctum Perfumes, where I sampled a few “house blend” fragrances and purchased a bottle of perfume oil called Scarlet Letter as a souvenir of our visit…

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Top 10 Fall Fragrances 2010

Posted by Jessica on 29 October 2010 447 Comments

Even though I’ve finally finished my years (and years) of higher education, I still think of autumn as a season of “back to school” anticipation, complete with new books, new shoes, and new friendships — as well as the renewal of older friendships. Angela’s recent post describing her fragrance collection as a group of friends made me smile and made me look at my own fall fragrance line-up in a similar way.

Les Parfums de Rosine Poussière de Rose was one of my first “niche” perfume purchases, and it’s still one of my closest fragrance “companions.” I actually wear it from fall through spring, because it always feels right. It reminds me of rose potpourri in a cedar box; very nostalgic. We’re two of a kind.

Rochas Tocade is another longtime acquaintance, a rose-and-vanilla floriental that I bring back into rotation every autumn. It can feel a bit overdressed sometimes, and it’s definitely not shy, but I always know I can rely on it to boost my confidence for a night out.

Ormonde Jane Ta’if is a more recent arrival to my perfume wardrobe…

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Paddywax Library Collection Edgar Allan Poe Candle ~ home fragrance review

Posted by Jessica on 24 October 2010 33 Comments

Paddywax Library Collection Edgar Allan Poe Candle

Then, methought, the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censer
Swung by Seraphim whose foot-falls tinkled on the tufted floor…

— Edgar Allan Poe, “The Raven”

The home fragrance company Paddywax recently launched its Library Collection, a suite of five scents inspired by authors. Needless to say, I couldn’t resist the idea of these literary-olfactory tributes, so I ordered a few. The Edgar Allan Poe candle was ostensibly a gift for my husband, who is a longtime Poe admirer. However, he’s really not all that interested in fragrance (despite my best efforts), so I’ve been the one basking in its glow and its scent, not to mention its clever packaging (labels that look like bookplates, and a travel tin, shown below, that could be used to hold small desk items when the candle is gone).

Paddywax’s Edgar Allan Poe fragrance is a blend of “cardamom, absynthe, and sandalwood,” and it turns out to be a warm, sweetish, spicy-woody scent that suits a late-autumn evening in a darkening room…

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