A jewelry designer with an interest in fragrance, Ann Gerard is channeled her creativeness into marrying the two, enlisting the help of master ( and very prolific!) perfumer Bertrand Duchaufour into her new fragrance line, exclusive available at Luckyscent.
The fragrances nicely reflect upon materials which make every woman dream a little, smooth and onctuous like mother of pearl or shiny and multi-faceted like opals...
According to the blurb:
“Jewelry, in its ultimate expression, turns into Perfume”
A partner of every moment, the mirror of our emotions, a secret adornment. The first three fragrances of the collection were composed by the great perfumer and friend Bertrand Duchaufour.
Sculpting his materials to display their facets, radiance and transparency, he has fashioned fragrances that translate Ann Gerard’s vision. Uncompromising compositions in the noblest materials: An innovative, timeless debut collection.
Cuir de Nacre - An elegant intrepretation on leather: Notes of Iris, Sandalwood and Styrax magically transform into the most melting calfskin.
Perle de Mousse - In a masterful reinvention of the green floral chypre, Bertrand Duchaufour stretches out the muguet theme until it becomes a full orchestra.
Ciel d’Opale - Is there anything more intoxicating than basking in the heady, honeyed scent of a linden tree?
Remember we had talked about the Paris exclusive bell-jar coming out of Le Palais Royal de Shiseido in September back when we had announced both Lutens releases for this year? The other was of course the stupendous Santal Majuscule, for the export market.
Une Voix Noire by Serge Lutens (a black voice) is finally out for purchase in Paris and online at the official Lutens site, tagged with the cryptic -as always- text: "The stars rise in focus. The night sky is filled with the light of the moon." Read a bit more about it on the link provided, before we embark on a full review shortly.
Pacifica, a range of well-priced, good quality scents that circulate in the US (and have been fortunate to been able to try in some of their scents in the past and see their delightful packaging) are introducing a new sampling program that is worth your attention. Their top 17 scents are now available as mini .1oz solid samples for just 2$ each, so you can pick your favorite without just relying on a written description. Plus there's a free sample for every order over 25$ and two free samples for every order over 50$.
Meanwhile, Pacifica is introducing a new solid perfume in those adorable little tins that you can slip into your purse or airbag when flying on a carrier with instructions on liquids: it's Island Vanilla, one of their best-selling fragrances combining vanilla absolute, jasmine and fruit with a touch of tea notes on top. Retailing at 9$ for the full size tin.
A mutual passion for scent, botanicals and art brought Anthropologie and Ineke together to create the Floral Curiosities limited edition line of fragrances in 2011.
Sweet William (Dianthus barbatus) is a clove-scented flower in the family of carnation that is bi- colored in white/pink/red tones.
Kate Middleton included it in her bridal bouquet, presumably for both the lovely scent and the name, and that was it: a trend was born. Ineke Ruhland has created a Sweet William soliflore fragrance that is anchored with rich wood notes and opening with a juicy peach note. Cinnamon, clove and cumin essential oils provide spice. The dominant wood notes are a blend of cedarwood, sandalwood and patchouli, sweetened with Bourbon vanilla.
Sweet William is now available at all Anthropologie stores and anthropologie.com
Also, Ineke parfums is doing a giveaway of the new perfume at the following link, if you want to participate:
http://promoshq.wildfireapp.com/website/6/contests/291550
My childhood summers were spent mostly outdoors, till very late at night. The Mediterranean nights are balmy, warm entities with inviting arms, when the nature is still buzzing in full force, the sky is pitch black but the stars can be clearly seen, and the energy from the sun-soaked bodies which have enjoyed their siesta in the early afternoon (unless us children rebelled by sneaking out of the room as soon as the elders slept to catch cicadas) take a long time to unwind and get ready for a good night's sleep. It was only natural that staying out so long produced its own pattern of rituals: backgammon-playing by the blue-tinged lights of the terraced porch watching the boats dock at the bay in the distance, chasing frogs by the small watering poodles in the yard, hanging fresh herbs from the fields upside down to dry, raiding the fridge for watermelon & feta cheese if bored and of course the "ceremony" of lighting incense coils for repelling mosquitos at sundown. Those tiny insects sure knew how to bite if left unattended, making us scratch and scratch our legs ad infinitum...or so it seemed.
We affectionally called that spiral (hey, we still do!) φιδάκι "fee-THA-ki", i.e. "little snake", due to its shape. These mosquito coils have their detractors who can't stand the smoky smell; they insist the product relies on a placebo effect ~one's mental perception of the insect bites is blunted by the fumes, as if smoking cannbis or something (come to think of it, the smell does have a cannabis note in there). And they have their ardent fans who love them just because of that particular smelly smoke they emit. You can count me among the latter...I just love it; does this come as any surprise?
Typically mosquito coils in this part of the world (and in Asia) are held at the center of a spiral, suspending it in the air, or wedged by two pieces of fireproof nettings to allow continuous smoldering. Burning begins at the outer end of the spiral, slowly progressing toward the centre, taking hours; a process that is as navel-gazingly, painfully slow as to render it almost a philosophical pastime.
Katori Senkou mosquito coil ad, 1900-1929, originally uploaded by Gatochy.
via oldadvertising.blogspot.com
Do not be fooled, the history of the mosquito coil is an old one, as befits these pastimes, clicking audibly like the amber on a lazy man's beads: Pyrethrum (Chrysanthemum cinerariaefolium) was used for centuries as an insecticide in Persia and Europe and the mosquito coil was developed around 1890s by a Japanese business man, Eiichiro Ueyama. The Japanese used to combine pyrethrum powder with sawdust and burn it in a brazier or incense burner. Initially, Ueyama created incense sticks mixed from starch powder, dried mandarin orange skin powder, and pyrethrum powder. It was his wife who had the idea of coiling the incense into a spiral so as to extend the duration of the mosquito-repellent smoke for maximum practicality and his company, Dainihon Jochugiku Co. Ltd, became a powerful player in the game of insect repellent products.
The variety we used to buy ~and still buy~ locally has always been a vivid, dark forest green. I don't know if this is indicative of a specific formulation, as I have also seen coils in tan and deep brown in other parts of the world. These mosquito coils have a very distinctive scent: sweetish like a sweet-shop burnt sugar note, intoxicating and resinous, with smoky, incense-y peppery notes; a mingled aroma that oscillates between sassafras, labdanum, cloves and camphor/eucalyptus.
But how does the mosquito coil work, you ask. And what about the origin of that scent?
The active ingredients in mosquito coil are pyrethrins, naturally occurring in the seed cases of the perennial plant pyrethrum (Chrysanthemum cinerariaefolium, grown mainly in Kenya, the Med coast of Dalmatia in Croatia and in Japan), which has long been grown commercially for its insect repellent properties. Pyrethrins are chemically classified as terpenoids, being derived from dimethylallyl pyrophosphate, which combine by the action of the enzyme chrysanthemyl diphosphate synthase. The extract of the pyrethrum plant is solvent-extracted and yields pyrethrin I and II, cinerin I and II, and jasmolin I and II [the I tagged molecules are esters of chrysanthemic acid, while the II tagged molecules are esters of pyrethric acid]. That's enough of chemistry though. I'm pretty sure that besides the naturally gasoline and terpenes scent of the active ingredients in the coil there are additives which impart a more complex "bouquet" so to speak, rendering the coil pleasant smelling. The sticky brown residue that remains if you burn on a ceramic disk is viscous enough and bittersweet-smelling enough with amber-leather facets to suggest that a smidgen of labdanum incense is indeed used.
I have heard that the OFF mosquito coils sold in the US are also pleasant smelling with an incense whiff (and they're green too!), though I haven't been able to compare side by side so far. And mosquito coils are apparently not that new in that market either, which gives a nicely vintage-y factor to it all! Vintage coils even surface on Ebay, proving their cult status I suppose.
For all its sweet, smoky scent, certain precautions are of course de rigeur when using a mosquito coil, as with everything involving use of chemical and combustible materials: You should only use mosquito coils outdoors (being the equivalent of smoking 57 cigarettes if indoors!), never leave it burning close to anything in risk of catching fire (though it burns without a flame, it can transmit heat and produce sparks into combustible materials) and not use it more than occasionally -if that- if pregnant, especially during the 3rd semester. The pyrethroids in particular (used synergistically in some coils) are considered xenoestrogens [Garey et al., 1998], so take care if concerned, as should people with asthma and respiratory ailments. Also best avoid if you keep cats or fish, as it can be toxic to them if used by accident or they're exposed to the fumes. [For a full list of health/environmental concerns you can consult this article. ]
Pyrethrins are not fatal to insects in low doses ~especially to these modern, "mutant" ones which seems to have escaped from camp movie Mimic~ but they do have some sort of repelling action on them still. At the very least, these incense coils provide a smoky, scented ambience that is very evocative of the languor and mysticism of an exotic part of the world. Can't knock that.
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“Jewelry, in its ultimate expression, 
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