Two Stories for Mom

You probably read the winning story for Mom's Day contest that Tijon fragrance boutique and lab organized the other day (if you haven't check it out). Today, in anticipation of tomorrow, I'm posting the two other winning mom stories for your enjoyment. And please share your own in the comments!

Immersive Journey into the Outer Reaches of Scent: Fragrance Lab at Selfridges

On the ground floor of Selfridges, participants enter a futuristic laboratory-like space peopled by scientific-looking assistants in white lab coats. Guests are given an iPad and asked to take a personality test that consists of multiple-choice questions and pictures.

via psfk.com

After filling that out, visitors don a pair of white headphones and make their way through an audio-guided tour of spaces filled with various objects and scents. They might, for example, open a mystery drawer, selecting an object that speaks to them in some way and identifying the smells that rouse them most.

These choices help determine their personal fragrance, concocted by perfumer Givaudan and presented to them at the end of the tour in a private, silver-colored room. Along with the bottle, they get an "about you" description

Read the whole article following this link and learn more on this link.

Back to Marrakech: Perfume Inspiration

Back to the origins of perfume:
MARRAKECH

"Up until the late 1960s, I had no interest in perfume whatsoever. It was during a trip to Morocco in 1968 that it took hold of my senses and reawakened my past.

Over there, I saw women armed with long poles, hitting the orange trees to bring down the blossoms, which they collected in large white sheets laid out on the ground like a blanket of snow.

"Marrakesh Pink" - Royal Theatre in The Rose City/The Pink City/The Red City; 

Names for the Jewel of Morocco ~ Photography by Edwin de Johgh via pinterest

My walks through the medina of Marrakech completed this rediscovery of the fifth sense. There I felt the voluptuousness and sweetness of different woods – a mingling of air, sun, dust and the scent of animals, diffused by that confection of woods: cedar being carved in the tiny carpenters’ workshops I passed.

These impressions became so firmly implanted in my mind that, in the early 1990s, I set about creating Féminité du Bois, which made its mark in the perfumery world. A few years later, I reaffirmed my interest in perfume by creating Ambre Sultan, which began as a small piece of amber, which I also found in the souks and had kept in a small thuja wood box. The scent that was released when I opened it was exactly as I remembered it."

Serge Lutens

Tijon Mother's Day winners & the winning, touching Mother's Day Story

Jovan van Drielle has sent me the announcement of the winners for her grand prize for Tijon Mother's Day Contest and it's my pleasure and honor to share the names of the 3 winners (yes, Jovan is that generous she decided to hand out 3 prizes) as well as the winning story for you to enjoy.

1st prize - $1000. value package - Cynthia Nielsen
2nd prize will receive a $700.00 value package -  Hollan McBride
3rd prize - $500.00 value package - Cindie Roeder Leonard

And below, please read the winning story.
What is YOUR mother's day story/reminiscence/etc?

Dior Cuir Cannage (La Collection Privee): new fragrance

Dior's La Collection Privée (formerly La Collection Couturier Parfumeur) is supplemented for 2014 with a new addition called Cuir Cannage. The "leather fragrance" in question is inspired by the scent of the insides of a leather handbag and reflects that beautiful combination of flowers and leather "notes" which is the mettle of many gorgeous classics in perfumery.

May I remind how the legendary, late perfumer Guy Robert described a long lost Lanvin perfume, Scandal, "like a beautiful flower snapped inside a leather handbag".
In the case of Cuir Cannage, the flowers in question are orange blossom, rose, ylang ylang and jasmine, buttressed by the leather accord (from birch wood and cade oil notes) and given the downy treatment thanks to the inclusion of orris. The perfumer is Dior's steady Francois Demachy.

The name is inspired by the beautiful "woven" treatment of the Dior "cannage" handbags, which reprise a popular technique of weaving calamus and daemonorops for furniture use and basketry (producing a beautiful effect that reminds of lacework). By reference the name then predisposes for a dry, rasping fragrance.

The new Dior exclusive perfume, Dior Cuir Cannage, will be available in the usual 125ml and 250ml sizes of La Collection Privée as well as the giga 450ml size at the specialized Dior boutiques catering to the exclusive collection buyers. Available in June 2014.