It’s that time of year again! Some suggestions for holiday fragrance gifts, big and small…
If Santa is bringing me my heart’s desire, this is it: the Annick Goutal Les Orientalistes coffret. Ambre Fétiche, Myrrhe Ardente and Encens Flamboyant, each in 50 ml, in a white leather box. €500. I haven’t smelled them yet, but at the moment, that just adds to their charm. No idea where you can buy it, but the elves will figure it out…
Voluspa has introduced two new fragrances in the Victoria collection, Malayan Coco and Fleur de Café.
Malayan Coco (shown) ~ “A sumptuous combination of coconut milk accord, shaved coconut bark, rich sandalwood and Eastern hinoki wood. Escape to warm tropical, exotic locales.”
Fleur de Café ~ “An intoxicating combination of African Coffee Flower…”
When I was growing up in Virginia, every summer my grandmother and her sister Delia would take me huckleberry picking. Huckleberry bushes grew along ditches at the edge of woods, so one had to contend with ticks, chiggers, mosquitoes, gnats, horseflies, and the occasional snake as one picked the fruit. To foil this onslaught of biting varmints, my grandmother would wear a striking outfit that made her look like a character from a Charles-Dickens-Meets-Flannery-O’Connor tale: a long-sleeved, ground-dragging dress, a tall straw-and-linen bonnet, a gauze scarf that fell to her hips, and, most strangely, kerosene-moistened cotton rags tied in bows around her ankles and wrists…
The champaca tree (Michelia champaca) is native to India and Southeast Asia and it produces heavily scented flowers in profusion. When a large champaca tree is covered with flowers, whole neighborhoods can enjoy the blossoms’ strange, intoxicating (and naturally fruity-floral) scent — reminiscent of jasmine, quince, banana and magnolia (a relative of the champaca). Champaca trees are often planted on temple grounds and champaca blossoms are placed on Buddhist and Hindu altars as offerings. The scent of champaca can also be found in perfumes: Ormonde Jayne’s Champaca, Christian Dior’s J’Adore and Comme des Garçons’ Series 8: Guerrilla 1 all contain champaca…
Summer is over and done with — adieu to heat, humidity, mosquitoes, yard work, glaring sunshine till almost 9 p.m., and overly bright polo shirts that also tax the eyeballs. As the chill of autumn arrives, I look forward to the crisp air, the early nightfall, rain storms, lighting fires in the fireplace, and burning candles.
But come January, the cold begins to get tiresome and a tad depressing — I want to unravel my sweaters, have fresh flowers in my house from the garden, and eat some fruit and vegetables that were not flown in from thousands of miles away. In deep winter, sun and heat are alluring once more — I even start to think about hot-pink and lime-green colored shirts. I have “reserved” a Voluspa Yuzu Rose Bubblebath (Summer) candle for the icy, snowy days and nights ahead…