Hidden Gems: Little Pleasures from Two Sides of the Globe

Some wonderful things in this life are well-known: Veuve Cliquot champagne, the Nutcracker suite, Mercedes Benz S-class and Gregory Peck. The again there are those little things that while not essentially secretive they float with little collective wow as much as they trully deserve it.

The Non Blonde (from New York) and yours truly decided to sit down and reveal some of the "secret" things that makes us tick. Things of a local but also international colour to take you away from your everyday existence into the cosmos of a friend city-trekker and which we hope will inspire you to seek them out this autumn.

Foodstuff and aromatic delights:
Mastic or lentisque, the natural resin of the mastic tree, is one of the local products which I feel few people outside the Mediterranean know about and that's such a shame. Because mastic is medicinally beneficial to so many ailments (soothes the stomach, strengthens the gums, whitens the teeth, refreshes the breath, helps with catarahh), it is also an excellent... aphrodisiac but most importantly its aroma is delicious, unusual and very pliable to so many uses in food, drink and fragrance (Infusion d'Iris by Prada is said to borrow its aromatic note).
Mastiha Shop is the brandname of Mediterra SA company founded by the Chios (the Greek island) Mastic Growers Association. Whenever a foreigner comes to my city I always take them to the Mastiha Shops: a paradise for everything around mastic! The Mastiha site is excellent and you can spend lots of time seeing the products, the shops and reading about how they are collaborating with other Eastern Mediterranean companies such as Al Doucan, Junan Natural Lebanais, Senteurs d'Orient Sarl and Haki Bekir SA. The best part is probably the Recollections section on which there are dots on the map of the whole Mediterranean with customs around mastic for every one on the map (on the Folklore sub-section), tales about travelers and historical references aplenty. Get their gum with rose essence if you can: yum!

Books and films
Jeux interdits (forbidden games), is a novel by François Boyer. The synopsis has a girl of 5 orphaned in an air raid while fleeing a French city with her parents during WWII. She is befriended by a 10 year old peasant boy when cut off from the other refugees and is taken in for a few weeks by his family. The children quickly become friends in the purest and most tender love story of them all in their attempt to assimilate the deaths they both face and the religious rituals surrounding those deaths through the construction of a cemetery for all sorts of animals. However child-like and adult activity often are at cross-purposes till the climactic finale.
The novel got adapted into a 1952 French language film directed by René Clément starring Georges Poujouly, Brigitte Fossey, and Amédée. For once a film respected the book and became according to filmsdefrance.com: "almost unquestionably the most compelling and intensely poignant drama featuring young children ever filmed" . If you have small children or have not forgotten the sensitivity of your childhood, it is highly, highly recommended. Take a box of Kleenex with you too, you will need them. Available through the Criterion Collection. Watch this little montage.

And if you're embracing your cynical, adult side, don't forget the Italian spaghetti western classic from one of my favourite directors of all time, maestro Sergio Leone.
Here is Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef and Eli Wallach in one of the most poignant treatises on war & the individual and the best showdown ever (click to watch): Il Buono, il brutto, il cattivo (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly) from 1966 set to music by Ennio Morricone. "There are two kinds of people in this world, my friend: those with loaded guns and those who dig. You dig!" A masterpiece.

Homage to a tortured soul:
Guillame Depardieu, son of France's greatest living acting legend, died on Monday out of complications of pneumonia according to Google. Gifted in acting himself, with the ill fate of growing up feeling side-tracked by his father's fame, and having to go through the loss of a leg due to a motorcycle accident a few years ago, he had a rough life that ended unjustly. He was 37.
He will always remain in mind fair, young and passionate as he was when he appeared alongside his father in Tous Les Matins du Monde (all the mornings of the world), a 1991 French film by Alain Corneau about the baroque music of Sainte Colombe and Jean Baptiste Lully which I had referenced when talking about O de Lancome and a big-fat-shinning gem of its very own. This is for you, Guillame. Godspeed...

Jewellery:
Another passion of mine, I'm afraid. There are so many things to appreciate in a well-crafted jewel beyond its monetary aspect: the craftmanship, the cultural inspirations behind it, innovative designers making portable art. It makes my day to look at beautiful and inspired jewels and my collection is growing thanks to careful selection and generous gifts.
I tend to prefer vintage pieces with rose-cut diamonds (those grey irregularly-cut stones that resemble hazelnut shreds). Fanourakis is a Greek goldsmith fronted by an admirable woman, Lina Fanourakis, who designs the most ecclectic mix of portable sculpture: small flies become dainty earrings, a corset is shaped into a bracelet, drops of liquid fall off the length of a brooch. Take a look here and if you pass through Ermou St (Hermes street) in Athens, turn on the left before Kapnikarea church so as not to miss their boutique.

Then again there is Rinaldo Gavello: an Italian designer married to a Greek woman and almost a Greek himself now...With boutiques in the glamorous Athens center, Thessaloniki and in always popular Mykonos, he designs the rock-chic pieces with skulls out of the tiniest diamonds and bright enamel that delight my Metallica-loving soul. Take a look at the new Josephine collier, inspired by black gazelle Josephine Baker and prepare to be awed! (click the link to see pic)

Perfume:
One of the fragrances that I have never heard anyone in the perfume communities know is an Italian Eau de Toilette by the French-sounding Jean Louis Gady brandname, christened Musk Oil (it's anyone's guess why they called it thus when it's in fact a spray alcoholic fragrance!) It's my favourite "extra" to include in international packages: there is no one I have sent this to who hasn't spontaneously commented that it is very pleasant and wearable. Warm, sweet but not intensely so, with hints of rose and vanilla, unisex and a proper "perfumey" fragrance rather than a clean musk, it garners compliments from everyone. It's a mystery why it's not widely available.

Another little-sung hero is Sonia Rykiel Woman, not for Men! from one of the more chic and favourite designers: musky, leathery, powdery and with an abstract touch of cosy warmth it's a wonderful, wonderful perfume that is unique, never nauseatingly sweet or heavy and a subtle come-hither. Nota bene, however: all this describes the Eau de Parfum in the bottle with the bronze studs on the cap and the purple accent lettering, not the pink one with the silver studs (the Eau de toilette, which is yet another trite fruity floral).

Demeter's Rain is not exactly what one would call "perfume" and indeed I am not advocating you wear it as a personal fragrance. It's more of a mind-altering mood in a bottle: it is exactly the smell of those baby humidifiers-ionisers which shoot negative ions in the atmosphere to boost energy levels and clear the air. It smells as fresh as the first raindrops from a blue cloud in the autumn sky.

Body indulgences:
The shower gel which I most enjoy during the late summer and autumn months is none other than Felce Azzura (means "blue fern" in Italian) by Paglieri. There is some pungent aromatic and slightly bitter essence like crushed dried herbs gathered on a Greek hill along with a lingering powdery quality about it that never stops having me swooning (a dangerous thing in the shower!). Refreshingly cool in late summer's humidity and unlike any usual citrusy or minty bath product it has an autumnal feel that is a perfect fit for the current season in particular. It also comes as a body powder with the same heavenly smell. And it's relatively inexpensive, making it the perfect everyday indulgence. Once upon a time, as attested by the ad designed by Moltrasio in the 1950's which is clearly inspired by my look-alike, there was also a hair brilliantine. Kill me now!

Hair guilty secret:
I am über-loyal to Elnette hairspray for dry hair ever since I remember using something to hold my stray strands, ever since it was non cool and not fronted by Penelope Cruz and Claudia Shiffer in those nifty ads. Seeing my mother and grandmother using it obvsiouly had a deep and contradictory impact: I wanted to break out of the mold and try "younger" hair stuff, quirky, punky, whatnot. After hundreds of flings with lesser mortals I always return to this one: it brushes off in an instant, does the job well without sticking the hair into barbed-wire and has a nostalgic faint smell that doesn't bother my perfume wearing.

Makeup unsung hero:
Guerlain has my hard-earned Euros on many things; one of the constants however, apart from perfume, is mysteriously enough a highlighter-cum-concealer: Issima Precious Light. A click-pen with a little brush at the edge that delivers the creamiest, most becoming little shot of light for under the eyes, over the brows, at the edges of nose and lips, to give a gentle luminosity to the face to lift it through the darker days of the cooler season. More creamy than the Yves Saint Laurent analogous product and less sticky or thick than the comparable Dior, it is the perfect consistency to blend without tugging. I use Beige Naturel 020 and it doesn't need anything else on top (the sales assistant who insisted my light skin needed the Beige Clair 010 hadn't realised that too white-ish gains a grey-ish pallor over any trace of blue under the eyes...)

Actors to watch now:
This guy has been steadily gaining a small but dedicated fan club, mainly thanks to his inclusion in the Tudors. I fist spotted him in The Count of Monte Cristo. I don't know why they don't employ him in almost everything!
Opposite physionomy to the virile one above, fabulous acting chops, this one is another gem not to miss: I don't know why they don't employ him in almost everything either! Best thing of all: you never hear about their private lives: wise boys...

Music to listen to this autumn:
Manos Hadjidakis is no unknown in Greek music. He shares demi-God status. Yet not many people abroad who only know Greek music from Zorba the Greek instantly recognise him as immediately as the latter's composer (equally talented Mikis Theodorakis). Here is a clip from Gioconda's Smile, his 1965 instrumental album inspired by his stay in...New York City. Available at Amazon.



I'd love to hear from you about your favorite hidden gems (regional or of a wider scope). Share them in the comments and please don't forget to check out The Non Blonde's for another take.

Art photo on top by Charettevia. Felce Azzura ad via trocadero.com. Jeux Interdits poster via Wikimedia. Clint Eastwood pic from the Clint Eastwood Archive.
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Sex and the Parfum

Osmoz has devoted their monthly feature to sexy perfumes and the advertising that accompanies them. "While porno-chic and glam-trash are so last millennium, the trend has in fact evolved rather than disappearing… And there’s no way around it: sex still sells" Nicolas Olczyk writes. From B-Spot, the latest playful hinting perfume from Benefit and Diesel unveiling a new perfume in an ad stamped 'For women only' as well as sure-bets Agent Provocateur's newest Strip in black and powder-pink undies, with a trail of bewitching amber (you can’t help recognizing the allusion), Intimately Beckham Night for Him and for Her duo and Tom Ford's images there is a trend towards boudoirs, libertine women and elixirs of sensuality. (just remember the Elixirs Charnels/ Carnal Elixirs collection by Guerlain!). Guerlain also claimed that their newest masculine Guerlain Homme is set to reveal the "animal in you": a thirsty one, if one goes by the commercial and the mohito cocktail notes it includes.
Sexy scented items are also booming if the success of the massage candle concept is anything to go by. Agent Provocateur even has a nipple "titilation" product! Lately the new “cosmetiques du plaisir” line YesForLov will be launching L‘Affolante Eau de Draps (eau de Sexy Sheets). The sweet-spicy composition suggests that beds aren’t only for sleeping.

The accompanying Osmoz quizz testing your "fragranista" knowledge is witty and light enough to do from work if you want, with a couple of questions that might make you think back a bit. You can take it here: SEX AND THE PARFUM. Fun!

And if you want to find out what a handful of New Yorkers (men and women) think are sexy scents, watch their video here. It's interesting to contemplate what shapes public opinion and how different men's and women's perceptions are about those things.

Pic of David and Victoria Beckham photographed by Terry Richardson for Intimately Beckham Night courtesy of Osmoz.

Ma Dame by Jean Paul Gaultier: fragrance review

Ma Dame, a spoof on the French word "Madame" which could be translated as "my lady" is Gaultier's latest feminine fragrance. A fresh floral blend of rose, sour orange, grenadine, musk and cedar Ma Dame aims to distill the essence of a modern-day garçonne, or "Une fille au masculin, un garçon au féminin" (a masculine girl, a feminine boy) like the song goes. “Ma Dame is not a Madame,” declared the designer (in the sense of a brothel-keeper or bourgeois lady). He puts the emphasis on the "ma" more than the "dame" part. “She is my muse. She amuses me.” (quote via the Moodie Report). I like word-plays. I like that he used a word-play to explain one, too!

Gaultier also explained he loves the bright pink of highlighters and attempted thus to bottle the imagined "scent" of one of his favourite shades. “It’s almost electric,” Gaultier says to Elle magazine. “The perfect color to make into a fragrance.“ Liking the highlighting almost fuschia shade is nothing ground-breaking, as press releases would like you to think; so do I, as I use it to highlight much more "agressive" art listings that depict ancient warriors and cthonian deities and my tastes run a more conservative gamut than dear Jean Paul's. “I didn’t fit in well with the kids in school,” Gaultier continues the confession to Elle. “While the other boys were playing sports, I was busy sketching!” At this point I am beginning to think that Gaultier and I share some degrees of Kevin Bacon! (something that would have my father in stiches)

The commercial for Ma Dame directed by Jean Baptist Mondino has supermodel du jour Agyness Deyn (also seen in Burberry The Beat commercials) literally tearing up the scene, snipping a long platinum wig, ripping off her sleeves, cutting her pant legs with a scissor (an allusion to the ripping that needs to be done in order to access the bottle inside the carton), all the while dancing to the beat of dj.Miss Kittin ~in a remix of "3rd Sex" by French group Indochine. She ends this on the sweet side with a kiss on the cheek of Gaultier himself.
Supposedly the aim of Ma Dame is to shed the cumbersome ideals of femininity for a rebellious, modern, cutting-edge interpretation. The French catch phrase is: ‘Interdit aux dames’ (NOT for ladies), but they changed it to “For the woman who is unique, unconventional, different” in English. Tag anything with a prohibition and you create intrigue. The rectangular bottle that features in its heart the torso bottle of Gaultier's best-selling Classique (by perfumer Jacques Cavallier) set in relief gives the game away though: we're far off the land of controversy or rebeliousness and the only thing that is ambivalent about this fragrance is the decision quota of its intended clientelle. Seeing the street credence of punky (but perfectly angelically-featured) Agyness Deyn makes one think they're buying into a slice of the wild side and the brand is obviously aware of the public being in the know about Gaultier's edgy reputation (how ironic that it is his jackets cut with scalpel-precision that are the best hidden thing about his line)

Sniffing or spraying Ma Dame is a violent surprise at first: an intense, eye-searing blast of citrusy sweet shampoo latheriness jolts you like the lightsabers used in Star Wars, this time hued Bright Fuschia for the person who teeters between Luke Skywalker and Prince Leia (this is the 00s!). The shade and feel has been described as "lurid pink" by Mrs.Veneering on POL and I couldn't find a more perfect description. The composition by talented, almost in-house* nose Francis Kurkdjian (from the Takasago team) revisits the canned peach-candy orange-pink lotus in hysterics of Classique smothered in vats of vanillic powder and a prolonged white musk drydown that is anodyne more than androgyne; in fact the more they dry-down the more they're indistinguishable to me. Thankfully Ma Dame is not cloying like Classique can be, mostly thanks to a very fresh treatment of alleged cedar which veers on aquatic: it's utterly synthetic-smelling and sanitised like being dressed in futuristic tinfoil which is a new direction that Gaultier ommited to include in his amazingly wonderful costumes for the "Fifth Element". Ma Dame is mischievous and diabolical enough in that it will make you wonder whether this is good or bad which I hope reveals humour behind its creation. To take you out of the dilemma I have one admission to make: it's nothing I would wear myself. Consider yourselves accordingly advised.



Nota bene the creative prowess behind the bottle design: the transparent spray mechanism is invisible!

Official notes for Ma Dame
Top: Orange Zest, Grenadine
Heart: Fresh Rose velvet, floral Notes
Base: Cedar, Musk

Available at major department stores since September, 50ml/1.7oz for $95 of Eau de toilette (also available at 100ml/3.4oz). Matching body products as well.

*taking into consideration he's responsible for Gaultier's Fragile, Gaultier 2, Le Male and Fleur du Male.

Pic of Agyness Deyn and Jean Paul Gaultier via zimbio.com Pic of bottle via Vogue.com

Tag, you are it!

Roxana over at Illuminated Perfume Journal tagged me on October 5th. This is all new to me and I discovered being tagged is like playing the game "tag", so I'm "IT" now and the rules dictate I do the following:

1. Link to the person who tagged you
2. Post the rules on your blog
3. Write six random things about yourself
4. Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them
5. Let each person know they've been tagged and leave a comment on their blog
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

My contribution to six random things about me:



1.I trained as a classical pianist in my youth. After getting my diploma I soon found out the error of my ways and realised classical music serves not as a balm for the mores but instead excites them into one of the most vilely back-stabbing and prima-donna-ish sectors this side of arts. I soon found out it's just about the same with every sector really...

2.There has been a nerdy phase in my life when I was maniacally playing board games that usually have other nerdy guys (mostly) retreat to the Hebrides and play with their friends for days. Yup, talk about a guilty secret!

3.I can cook a mean set of tasty dishes in under two hours and not spoil my manicure. Have cornered all the little tricks of making something appear more complex or gourmet than it really is (ie. chopping up some fresh herbs over a simple gratîn or drizzling some balsamic glaze, raisins and croutons over a green salad are two of them)

4.I am pathetically challenged in gardening: gifting me with a pot containing some plant matter in it, no matter its endurance is a sure sentence of death for the poor living thing. Spare them or present them to me guilty-free as in already decapitated beyond my control (not that I am very good with preserving the latter either)

5.I am younger than people who read me online think. This is an interesting phenomenon to watch though: how perception makes for age-related guesses.

6.While on a trip to Austria's historical places I had to live for a few weeks in an old-fashioned, grandiose hotel (rather mansion turned into hotel) that had a communal floor bathroom with a curtain instead of a door (!). I have never felt so constipated in my life since. Fortunately, I might add...

And who I am tagging next? A selection of some of the blogs I peruse; no desire to exclude anyone, just giving credit to unsung heroes this time.

Dain at Ars Aromatica: an all-inclusive lifestyle venue that has some of the best magazines panting in the competition. There is nothing that Dain doesn't do better, including short essays on literary heroes and foes who have entranced or annoyed her.

Qwendy at Notes on Shoe, Cake and Perfume: For some unfathomable reason I had missed this venue all along. I am discovering that was an oversight I should remedy. Lots of interesting stuff going on!

Maria at BitterGrace Notes: This is where I go to read insightful comments on matters pertaining to current events, read about what city-dweller me has been deprived of ~in short, criters, hikes and assorted nature-loving images; and watch a clip or two of divine musical choices.

Jenavira at Scent of Abricots: If blogging is about glimpsing a little of another person's life, Jen has been most generous with allowing us to do so with hers. I love that she uses wonderful paintings or illustrtations to accompany each post.

Pat at Olfactarama: Besides sharing a passion, nay obsession is more like it, about cinematic past and present, I love to read how Pat is discovering her path in perfume LaLaLand and how the surprises are often astounding or disappointing ~nothing like the candid shots of an honest appraiser with taste.

Lucy at LucyFishWife: This Londoner among books which talk about books asks in echo: "Why must you tell me all your secrets when it's hard enough to love you knowing nothing?". I am challenging her to reveal more than the cherry tomatoes her eagle eye has spotted on Minas Tirith. I know she can rise up to the challenge!

The clip "I have a secret" sung by Aliki Vougiouklaki with music by Manos Hadjidakis comes from the 1959 classic Greek film "To xylo vgike apo ton paradiso" (=Spanking comes out of Paradise; lol, it sounds naughtier than it is!) or "Maiden's Cheek" in its UK title inspired by a lyric in the "Ode to Love" in Sophocle's Antigone, taught in the classroom at a crucial scene in the movie ~the quote goes thus:

"O love, thou art victor in fight, thou makest all things afraid;
Thou couchest thee softly at night on the cheeks of a maid;
Thou passest the bounds of the sea, and the folds of the fields;
To thee immortal, to thee the ephemeral yields".

The secret is that the girl is in love with her handsome teacher...

New Ormonde Jayne boutique at Dubai: fragrance news

Ormonde Jayne Perfumery is getting ready to open the doors to its new dazzling store in early November 2008. The breathtaking metropolis of Dubai has been chosen for the first Ormonde Jayne Boutique outside of its flagship store in London ’s Old Bond Street. The new perfumery is part of Boutique 1 in Boulevard at the newly constructed Jumeirah Beach Residence. Ormonde Jayne’s retail space will have the same design as the flagship London store and customers will be served by dedicated staff expertly trained in the brand’s unique range and philosophy.
Founder and creator Linda Pilkington will oversee every aspect of the planning and construction so that it will be a true reflection of Ormonde Jayne’s demanding standards of perfection. Luxury retail interiors specialists Caulder Moore, who created Ormonde Jayne’s spectacular new store in October 2006, have again been appointed to design the Dubai perfumery. Their vibrant design for the boutique earned a 'highly commended' mention at The Benchmarks Awards 2007.
The new store will include the distinctive bronze smoked mirrors, black laquered
testing tables and mandarin leather topped stools that feature in the flagship store. Dubai’s meteoric rise has made it the retail hub in The Gulf and Ormonde Jayne’s founder Linda Pilkington feels that it’s the right place for Ormonde Jayne first international expansion.
Ormonde Jayne was recently awarded "Brands of Tomorrow 2008" by The Walpole, a trade body for luxury companies in Britain.

All is left is the launch of a US site!