"Perfume is an ephemeral thing, but it has a lasting effect on people". As I hear those words in the melodious cadenza of Melissa Ceria's voice I find myself nodding my head appreciatively. How many times have we not marveled at the power of fragrance, its mystique, its pull, its ability to inflict guttural responses, but also its ethereal quality of having the potential of an objet d'art.
Melissa Ceria, director of Art de Vivre Programs at The French Institute Alliance Française (FIAF) in New York City, graciously granted me an interview in which we talked in detail about their upcoming Series Le Parfum: The Power of Fragrance, we had announced on Perfume Shrine a while ago. (Please refer to our timetable, descriptions on which perfumers to meet and ask questions of, tickets and links on our Art de Vivre announcement).
Melissa is a joy to talk to, a mother and professional who takes the time to answer questions with great care and genuine interest. She's generous and forthcoming with information and someone who really "gets" what makes a perfume lover tick. After all, she used to collect miniatures at the ripe age of 11 and dream of how these scents expressed her budding femininity. She's one of us!
In her words: "There is also a very aspirational angle in wearing perfume. Who do we become when we spray on our favorite perfume? Does it help us project a certain image of ourselves? (We make demands of perfumes.) Women want to get inspired by perfumes, to dream a bit. Advertising images especially cater to that, but also the whole experience of packaging and names and presentation, all these things inspire responses from women."
For the Art de Vivre series of exciting events scheduled as Le Parfum: the Power of Fragrance, kick-starting today, she invited Christophe Laudamiel, who will introduce samples provided exclusively by the perfume museum, L' Osmothèque (where he's co-curator), therefore rare and covetable by all serious perfume lovers, letting audiences discover an array of scents and their stories. Next, she introduces a panel of acclaimed professionals in fields having to do with fragrance and scents, who will discuss the influence of fragrance on identity, memory and desire. Last but not least, Melissa organizes "Speed Smelling", "a really great way for the audience to get to experience the work of great perfumers working today. They will have the chance to see what inspires a fragrance (Anything from grapefruit to graffiti, we say!) and meet with no less than 9 renowned IFF perfumers [...] as they unveil personal creations composed around elements that have inspired them. Each perfumer will sit at a table with guests, talk about their sources of inspiration and then reveal the perfume they created around those ideas. None of these fragrances are available on the market, so there's a surprise element to this that's fun. Attendees will be able to smell, ask questions, interact with the perfumers. Each session with each perfumer lasts for 5 minutes and then attendees will hop to the next table and meet the next perfumer! "
The amount of feedback and requests with questions concerning natural ambergis I have received has been amazing. I have explained about natural ambergris as a perfumery material in the past (contrasted with synthetic woody-ambers) and posted about cooking with ambergris and the joys of actually eating it (yes, you read this right), so it was only natural that adventurous readers asked me about sources and details.
I came to realize that for some of them the whole subject sounds totally inaccessible, so in the interests of being a good sport & doing a public service (and at the same time drawing out some of our lurkers; come on, we welcome questions, there is no such thing as a stupid question) I'm offering for grabs ~out of my own personal stash~ one gram of natural ambergris, ethically harvested from the shores of New Zealand for one (ultra) lucky winner. It will be sent raw in a small glass vial by me to anywhere in the world and you can keep it as is, tincture it in perfumer's alcohol for use in your mixes or just for reference, or cook with it and see what all the fuss is about.
In order to participate in the draw you need to answer to these questions in the Comments:
1) Do you find the PerfumeShrinearoma-materials articles useful as they are or do you have suggestions for them to get better? How?
2) Do you want more materials or terms defined for you? Which ones?
Draw is open to everyone (Anonymous users will be counted by the time-stamp of their post), wherever you are, and will remain open till Monday 7th Nov. midnight. Good luck to all!
Edit to add: the photo shows genuine ambergris, a HUGE "Yeti" piece provided by natural perfumer AnyaMcCoy
Sexy Latina actress Eva Mendes is fronting a soaring best-seller in the perfume world, which now comes in an updated concentration, Angel Eau de Toilette, and she reveals to us what she thinks about being the face of Thierry Mugler's Angel fragrance as well as her memories & musings on the actual scent. Enjoy!
How did it feel to be offered to be the muse for Thierry Mugler's Angel?
Eva Mendes: “I was so excited to collaborate with Thierry Mugler, because it’s a scent that I grew up loving. It came out while I was still in school, and both of my sisters and my mother liked to wear the fragrance. It’s really nostalgic for me! Mugler was definitely a big name in our household when I was a kid.”
You know that women who wear Angel don't change perfumes.
EM: "Yes, it's because it's so special! I recall my mother advising that I should choose a perfume that trails, that stays in the room after I have left to make my absence felt. That perfume can only be Angel".
Which do you prefer? The new eau de toilette or the older eau de parfum?
EM: "Both, so I can wear Angel all day long. The lighter concentration in the mornings, the more intense in the evenings".
How do you like to apply fragrance?
EM: "I love to spray it on my wrists, but also on the back of my neck and in my hair, I find it very feminine...".
Past modeling by Eva Mendes includes fronting the Calvin Klein brand, both in print ads and commercials. The billboards for Calvin Klein were deemed overly sexy at times, while her TV-commercial Secret Obsessionwas banned in the USA for being too sexually provocative. By contrast, her collaboration with the Clarins Group ~who handle the Thierry Mugler portfolio~ has not had any of the same problems.
And just for the heck of it, here's the original music sung by Noel Harrison from the 1968 classic film The Thomas Crown Affair starring (the ultra cool) Steve McQueen and (the divine) Faye Dunaway.
Arguably late on the bandwagon of the celebrity scent phenomenon and a dollar short, the former pop queen of the universe is issuing her first fragrance under her brand bearing the name Truth or Dare, after her (demographically older aimed) lifestyle collection. Sales predictions talk about 60$mil by the end of the following year.
“She always smelled like gardenias and tuberose, an intoxicating mixture [that was] feminine and mysterious. I wanted to re-create this scent, but with something fresh and new about it as well. Something honest and yet daring -- hence the name Truth or Dare.”
We had always heard that Madonna loved classic Piguet fragrance Fracas (a lush, creamy tuberose perfume) exactly because it was her mother's scent (Actually in the mid-90s when the Piguet line was re-issued almost everyone in the media it seemed fwas coming forth claiming Fracas was their mothers', grandmother's, avourite nanny's etc. scent, but I digress). The Madonna perfume reportedly includes fragrance notes of gardenia, tuberose, lily, neroli, amber, and musk. The scent will be encased in a white bottle embazoned with a gold M with a cross through it, and topped off with a round gold cap.
The season of mists is upon us, the fireplace silent with the first ashes lain motionless, morning frost chilling the small of my back as I roll out of bed begrudgingly. The protracted dawn, diminishing in light, reminds me of the dwindling of daytime and brings the knowledge of death closer. The knowledge that, like with all natural things, this is the fate that awaits every one of us too, some day. It is then, at those early morning hours, Halloween looming or not, curling my hands around the steamy cup of malotira tea, looking through the misty windows at the black-billed magpies, gliding from perch to perch with renewed vigour, that I think of my dearly departed. There is deep feeling, akin to drama, in all aspects of commemorating the dead in my culture.
And this is where the "kollyva/koliva" (κόλλυβα) pudding comes in, making me a little choephoros (libation bearer), as I amass pots & pans and test the heaviness of the pomegranates to determine whether their seeds will be juicy enough.
A special memorial dish of the Eastern Orthodox and Greek Catholic church, made of shredded wheat, nuts, raisins, pomegranate seeds and sugar, koliva/kolyva/kollyva is widespread across the Balkans (Serbs call theirs Koljibo for instance) and has an ancient lineage: The word derives indeed from the ancient Greek κόλλυβο, which meant "grain of cereal". The dish is prepared at home but served (and shared) in church for the benefit of departed souls. Participating into preparing and sharing a meal for the dead ~even another person's dead~ is a mystagogy. It's the belief of our ancestors needing life to continue, to be sustained in memory, to still need nourishment; if not in the literal sense, in the spiritual one. By remembering them, we hold them in Elysium.
In a way, it's close to how the Mexicans observe their own Day of the Dead; celebrating life in all its earthen dimensions means honouring the dead; they were a part of life's cycle and can still be, beckoning as we do to visit us in their soul form again and humouring them by relaying funny stories of their passage on earth.
Everything in the preparation of the delicious dish of "koliva" is symbolic, with tentacles griping both the Pagan and the Christian world, as befits every traditional Greek ritual. The boiled wheat is a throwback to rural products offerings to the many gods of antiquity responsible for the good crops. It's also a symbol of resurrection; as the grain of wheat is planted in the soil to take root and bring forth fruit, so is man buried with the promise of resurrection. Nuts and raisins are the most concentrated forms of sustenance, essential for the soul's passage through Hades. Anise seeds help to establish psychic sight and ward off the evil eye. Pomegranate seeds recall Persephone and her tale of diving into the Underworld; pomegranate the common thread between the two realms. Dusting sugar is mounted on top to represent the grave, parsley chopped across the borders to recall "the place of growth, of coolness, of repose" that Heaven stands for, rose water to evoke serenity. The dessert is decorated with a cross and the deceased initials in sugared almonds and sometimes "silver candy" and a small candle is lit while the blessing is read; the pudding is then passed onto bystanders in waxed paper bags with a little spoon to eat on the spot or keep for later. But take koliva home and you have to eat it till night falls, or the magic is lost! But with a sweet taste like that, who's to refuse? The oily and crunchy center of the nuts, the starchy chewy grains, the cool and juicy pomegranate seeds make for a delightful contrast of flavours you will want to repeat again and again, preferably unrelated to anyone's passing on.
HOW TO MAKE BITTERSWEET "KOLIVA" PUDDING:
Ingredients needed:
1 cup of shredded whole wheat
4 cups of water
1 cup of chopped nuts (walnuts, almonds, pistachios)
1/2 cup of holden raisins
1/2 cup of pomegranate seeds
1 teaspoon of powdered cinnamon
1 teaspoon of anise seeds, finely milled
1 tablespoon of rose water
For the top decoration:
1 cup of powdered sugar
3/4 cup of sugar-coated almonds (sometimes sold as "Jordan almonds")
chopped fresh parsley (about 1/2 cup, but it really depends on the borders of the dish you use)
Preparation
The night before:
Rinse and drain the wheat. Cook it as you would rice, for about one to one and a half hours over a medium-low stove. Do not overcook and check the wheat as it's cooking for doneness. (It should retain a tiny bit of crunch). Pour the hot wheat into a large colander, rinse with very cold water to stop the cooking and allow to drain overnight, covering loosely with a towel. Do NOT refrigerate! (The chill hardens the starch in the grain and you don't need that for this recipe, you want it to be fluffy)
In the morning:
In a large bowl mix the wheat with the assorted nuts, the raisins, the pomegranate seeds, the cinnamon and the anise powdered and add the rosewater for flavour. Transfer the mixture into a wide bowl or deep pan. Now place a piece of waxed paper on top of the mixture and flatten the top, so that sugar is evenly distributed. Sprinkle powdered sugar evenly over the wheat mixture. If you want to decorate with specific lettering or a cross or something, you can make your own cardboard stencil and shift the powdered sugar atop the wheat layer accordingly, leaving an imprint, so to speak. Also use the sugared almonds to make designs or just use them to line the bowl/pan. Finally, add the chopped parsley on the edges. A candle is placed in the middle and lit during the memorial service*.
When ready to serve, take large spoonfuls, minding that you put both sugar and the wheat & nuts mixture in each person's portion. Share!
Θεός σχωρέσ'τους και ζωή σε λόγου σας! May God rest their soul and give life on to you!
Music clip: Traditional lament (amané) from Asia Minor "I told you once, I tell you again (do not go to the sea)" sung by rock singer Babis Stokas. (A more traditional version with folk instruments and beautiful photos can be heard here)
*If you want to do this properly as a commemoration** of your dearly departed, plan to be at church before Liturgy begins so that you can give the bowl and your list of names of your deceased family and friends to the priest for the blessing.
**According to Orthodox Christian Church tradition, koliva is offered in the Church at the mnemosynon rite (i.e. commemoration) 3 days after death, 9 days after death, 40 days, 6 months, one year after death, and whenever desired thereafter. ***another recipe and home-taken photos by a half-Greek on Feeding the Saints blog.
Photo of koliva dish via suvin saran, inspired by Maria Speck's book Ancient Grains for Modern Meals. Pic of Pamaretto and portion of Sandro Botticelli's Madonna of the Pomegranate via examiner.com Mexican Catrinas via wikimedia commons.
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