Decadent Perfume Rituals: The Earrings of Salammbo

In Gustave Flaubert's antiquity-woven novel Salammbô (1862), lesser known than his enduring classic Madame Bovary but equally masterful, set in Carthage after the First Punic War with Rome, the eponymous heroine indulges in a ritual which is sure to have the antennae of every perfume lover out there twitching with delight.

Salammbo by Gaston Bussiere via pinterest

Salammbô wore earrings made from two little sapphire scales supporting two perforated pearls filled with scented oils, which slowly dripped their perfume over her body throughout the day, entrancing Mathô, the Libyan leader of the mercenaries, in the scene when she wants into his tent: "A little drop would fall every moment through the holes in the pearl and moisten her naked shoulder. Mathô watched it fall. […] He opened his nostrils the better to breathe in the perfume which exhaled from her person". What did these scented oils consist of? How did they smell exactly? "It was a fresh, indefinable emanation, which nevertheless made him dizzy, like the smoke from a perfuming-pan. She smelt of honey, pepper, incense, roses, with another odour still." The writer leaves something to our fertile imagination…

Salammbo by Jules Toulot via pinterest

But contrary to the Salome-imbued images of western perception of the oriental femme fatale, Salammbô's garments are modest and concealing, leaving the thrill of the seduction to her ingenious earrings; Flaubert outlines the mystical thrill of the exotic women of the east in unconventional terms. Of course Flaubert has also delineated the demure exoticism of Madame Amoux in L'Education Sentimentale and was known for his sniffing (almost) fetish ~keeping his mistress's mittens in a drawer to smell when the mood stroke~ which he reproduced into his writing in such phrases as "Her comb, her gloves, her rings were to him things of great interest".

The scent of the desired woman becomes a detail which catches the fantasy quota of the reader like nothing else.

Brazilian Supermodel Gisele the new face of Chanel No.5 perfume

Gisele Bundchen has been announced as the new face of Chanel No. 5 perfume.
According to WWD, the 33-year-old Brazilian model was shooting a video for the campaign this week in the Hamptons, New York, with film director Baz Luhrmann.
She was chosen for her 'natural beauty and modern femininity,' a Chanel spokesperson said.

The leap was natural since Gisele has been gracing the Chanel makeup advertisements and the line Les Beiges de Chanel for some time now. Nor was the elevated fee (Gisele is the highest paid model working at the moment) since it was already into consideration by the Parisian family-owned company.
Still, that's 3 spokes(wo)men in 3 years which makes it a record for the perennial Chanel masterclass.

Cologne She'll Wear…

She'll come, she'll go. She'll lay belief on you.
Skin sweet with musky oil. The lady from another grinning soul.

Cologne she'll wear. Silver and Americard.
She will drive a Beetle car and beat you down on cool Canasta.

The Great She Wolf

Feast your eyes upon one of the (less than) 30 limited edition engraved bottles of Serge Lutens's Louve perfume bottle. The familiar aesthetic will warm the cockles of every sincere collector's heart. The Iron Cross will create discussion…

"The she-wolf returns to her den, leaving nothing but her footprints in the snow.
Shining like a seven-pointed cardinal star.
Engraved with the cardinal coat of arms in enamel."

Numbered from 1 to 30, dated and monogrammed edition.
An exclusive bottle, hand engraved.
A few bottles (3 at the time of writing) are available through the online boutique for 800 € each.

Perfumes of the Rich & Famous: the Duke & Duchess of Cambridge and the Beckhams -what do they really wear?

"More than a third of Britons believe they know whether a date is "the one" within seconds of meeting them after catching a whiff of their fragrance", as quoted in an article in the Daily Mail.

via tumblr

Beyond the obvious (catching a whiff of a childhood scent like your mother's can be relaxing or that smelling something unpleasant might get you off your food for a while) the article goes into mentioning a few mega famous people's choices. If you have been following the Perfume Shrine you know that the Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge is a no brainer, and you even had info on the scent of Kate Middleton's wedding day promptly reported, but the rest is interesting.

"With input from expert master perfumer, Penny Williams, they found two high-profile celebrity relationships had strong scent compatibility ratings.

Indeed, both the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and David and Victoria Beckham had scent compatibility ratings of nine out of ten.

With Prince William wearing Ralph Lauren Polo and Kate wearing Dior Dune, Penny Williams said their choices 'complement without clashing'."

Something tells me they have both moved on (Kate was reported to wear Dune as a student), scent-wise, but let's not spoil it for the Daily Mail. They carry on:

"Meanwhile, David Beckham wears his own cologne Instinct and Victoria opts for Anna Sui's Sui Dreams, Chanel No.5 and her own Intimately Beckham.

Mrs Williams, who has worked in the industry for 24 years, added: 'Her collection of scents range from everyday to spritz [sic: did she mean "glitz"?]. This suggests a multi-tasking lifestyle and fragrance used for benefits beyond the scents themselves. If he wears Instinct and she wears Sui Dreams, it's very harmonious.'"

I bet Victoria has hundreds of bottles back home, if only as gifts from all the designers she is in contact with. 

But the crucial point is: do you match your fragrance with your partner's? Please share in the comments. I find it a great idea myself, more on which on a subsequent article.