Etat Libre d'Orange Une Amourette

One is prepped for interesting things, since Roland Mouret was intent on commissioning a perfume collaboration to the maverick French firm of Etat Libre d'Orange for some time, eyeing creative director Etienne de Swardt as a fellow pioneer.

Mouret consolidated his fashion imprint through the arc of several designs of his divising: the Galaxy dress, the Moon, Pigalle, Titanium, and others following those. To paraphrase Christian Dior, each and every one of them appears coming out of his perfume named Une Amourette and composed by refined craftswoman Daniela Andrier Roche; best known for her Prada opus, Andrier settled upon an illusory and deceptive contraption. Designs and dresses like that might look like they could be made by anyone, but actually entail high skills and imaginative powers.

In Une Amourette the patchouli is rendered in the modern "cleaned up" style (less of the animalic darkness and more of the minty, camphorous quality) that makes for an excellent folding material for the pepper-leather axis from one angle and for the neroli-iris (which comes across as starchy-tart) axis from the other. The balance is precarious, yet in typical Andrier style the effect in Etat Libre d'Orange's Une Amourette Roland Mouret is sublimely modern; clean, powerful, rather masculine in a cornucopia of ersatz fruit salads & cotton candy vats in the feminine fragrances aisle. It's a rather weird scent, nonetheless, that truly deserves its place amongst the sophisticated line-up of the Etat Libre d'Orange collection.

A fairy tale without a dragon; only cerebral and sensuous enjoyment.

Scented Waters: Beyond Clean

Our modern interpretation of water as a scent component, however, has nothing to do with the time-honored tradition of scented waters dotting many a historical manuscript or literary relic. It also bears no relation to the allusion to sea water notes which pervade a cluster of modern fragrances as well. Actually, "waters" are more or less the predecessors of alcoholic cordials as well as fine fragrance with an alcohol base, but using a complex process of preparation in order to render the fragrant final product.

"Without permitting anyone else to lay a hand on him, the lady herself washed Salabaetto all over with soap scented with musk and cloves. She then had herself washed and rubbed down by the slaves. This done, the slaves brought two fine and very white sheets, so scented with roses that they seemed like roses; the slaves wrapped Salabaetto in one and the lady in the other and then carried them both on their shoulders to the bed... They then took from the basket silver vases of great beauty, some of which were filled with rose water, some with orange water, some with jasmine water, and some with lemon water, which they sprinkled upon them."
~Boccaccio (1313-1375), Decameron 

The tradition of scented waters goes even further back in the times of Hippocrates.
You can read the rest of my historical article on this link on Fragrantica.

The winner of the draw...

...for the Neela Vermeire Creations giveaway of Pichola eau de perfume purse bottle pack, a scent created by Bertrand Duchaufour, is Cathy from Australia.

via

Congratulations and please email me using Contact with your shipping data so I can have this out to you soon!

Thanks everyone for the enthusiastic participation and till the next one.

Giveaway: Full Size Niche Perfumes for our Readers

There is a time when silence descends. Dear readers you have seen it. And I apologise for it. "And even if you're not here to stay I'm happy the universe allowed your soul to stop by." So let's proceed beyond the silence and venture into new adventures.

To usher in the new beginnings I am hosting a giveaway for two purse bottles of Neela Vermeire Creations' wonderful (really gorgeous!) Pichola. The bottles are as depicted above: 15ml Eau de Parfum concentration. I have posted a detailed review of Pichola by Neela Vermeire Creations on THIS LINK.

At the time I had written that "Pichola is not a travel "selfie". This shape shifter of a fragrance has backbone, finesse and above all the charm that makes a fragrance go beyond the mere pretty into addictive. [...] This creature purred...and I purred with delight over it."

The fragrance has been developed by Bertrand Duchaufour who has excelled in his work for Neela.

To enter the draw please post a comment under the post stating your prefered flowers in fragrance and why they work for you.  The draw is open till Monday 5th February midnight.