First, a definition: a “palimpsest” is a material, such as a parchment, that’s been written on, erased, and written on again. With a palimpsest, you may see traces of the story written before. (Another word that evokes this sense of story within story is “pentimento,” the glimpse of a painting under a painting. Maybe the name of an Aftelier Palimpsest flanker?)
Mandy Aftel, Aftelier’s founder and nose, says she was inspired to create Palimpsest while she was researching her newest book, Fragrant: The Secret Life of Scent. “I wanted to capture the feeling of how the past is alive in the present, but transformed into a beautiful, shadowy feeling of layered richness and sensuality,” she writes…
