An Intimate Conversation with Gisele Bundchen About Fragrance

Chanel has uploaded a video with face of Chanel no.5 perfume Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen where wrapped in a huge soft wool blanket (and later wearing a thin cashmere jumper) she talks about her rapport to nature and to scent. She talks about a mom's fragrance (her mom's and her own) and how the scent of wet earth after the rain (i.e.geosmin) affects her. She also opens her East Coast home for the camera for the first time. Worth a look.

Perfume Book and Companion Kit of Essences Giveaway: Fragrant the Secret Life of Scent

This is the first of our Perfume Shrine giveaways for the holiday season and it's going to warm the cockles of the winner's heart; because it not only involves a perfume book that's sure to be referenced again and again along the way but it's also accompanied by a compaion kit that includes 5 natural essences among them the rare and precious ambergris for a better understanding of how perfumery works. The book in question? Fragrant the secret life of Scent by Mandy Aftel. Mandy has generously offered to give one signed copy of her book and a companion kit of essences to one lucky reader of Perfume Shrine.
So if interested don't miss your chance by writing a comment below this post. Draw is open internationally till Monday midnight and winner will be announced next week.

via rimanlibrary.com

The book doesn't simply address the fans of natural perfumery but aims at the hearts of everyone with an interest in the sensual and spiritual aspects of scents. It's more of a journey into discovering what the world around has to offer as well as the mystical bond between the senses and our grasp of the cosmos. Using scent as the medium Aftel with her usual sensuous prose explores basic essences and rarer or more exceptional ones with the same passion for observation and analytical deconstruction. Without requesting insider knowledge or expertise in perfumery jargon Fragrant takes the reader into a 5 part adventure; each punctured by a single momentous essence that can turn into fragrance.

Cinnamon marks with its spicy trail the beginning of man's search for the exotic East and the wealth it offers.

Mint is the smell of familiarity. Know throughout the world and marking home and homeland mint can act as a powerful symbol for that which is luxurious in its easing into the comfort of the "here and now".

Incense stands for mysticism and for a spiritual endeavor. The smoky trail these resins produce which rises in the air is our gateway to the realm of the gods.

Ambergris from the whale is the seafaring adventure turned prized loot; a substance as soft as a sable coat and as sensuous as bare supple skin itself. It's symbolizes human curiosity and evokes all the quirkiness that animal essences stand for.

Jasmine stands for beauty and the unapologetic pleasure in savoring that beauty; whether it be permanent or ethereal... like the vapors of a perfume.

Little anecdotes are dotting the pages and recipes for easily composed perfumes (in a variety of forms such as solid or oil or alcohol based) are included. A few of them involve the addition of one rare and unexpected ingredient into an otherwise familiar mix; like the chocolate drink laced with ambergris that Charles the I of Englad used to enjoy!

Fragrant the Secret Life of Scent is a book that should be part of every well versed library on scent and olfaction but also a welcome gift to anyone wanting to explore the sensuous facets of our everyday life.

Editor's Picks and Miss Popularity Perfumes of 2015

There are two schools of thought in shortlisting the most impressive products of the fragrance industry for the past year. One is amassing the popular-by-vote fragrances, the ones which most people wore and bought and searched for; this makes for very interesting reading, especially since these don't always include solely 2015 releases, much like we match last season's jupe-culotte with this season's blanket scarf. The industry would be wise to listen to.
And the other is addressing a panel of experts and perfume aficionados to name their own picks for the best perfume releases of the past year; a sort of Top 2015 Perfumes. Luckily for us, someone did the legwork for both.

Fragrantica has kept the tradition and has compiled, thanks to its impressive database data (over half a million of archived reviews, thousands of dedicated members) a concise and internationally relevant compilation of the most talked about and worn perfumes for 2015. You can the article on this link and you can also read the rationale of how the results are sorted out.

The second approach, Editor's Choice 2015 Perfumes, can be accessed here. You will find the top 3 picks of yours truly, alongside a pleiad of dedicated perfume lovers who also post their top 3 choices. Please hop over to find out and do search on Perfume Shrine for dedicated reviews of two of my choices (will revert to the other one shortly).

And please share your own discoveries, most worn perfumes or best fragrance releases for 2015 in the comments. I'm looking forward to hearing everyone's opinion. 

Mariuccia Mandelli (Krizia): 1925 -2015

The woman behind the fashion design brand Krizia is no longer with us after 90 fruitful years on earth. The admirer of Plato who named her fashions after a female character of the famous Greek philosopher referencing feminine vanity opened her house in 1954. Her status as a pret-a-porter legend remains unfazed.

On her honor I'm wearing K de Krizia perfume today. And remain hopeful that her vision will go on under the new direction of the house; it was fortunate the purchase of it happened when it happened.

She been known to have said: "The only thing I wanted was to change woman's image with simplicity and respect; without shouts or troublemaking."

Serge Lutens: The Hammer and Sickle Limited Edition Bottle

Ιt was too good to pass up. In a single instant the poignant image of Eastern Europeans waiting in line immersed in furs and hard leather boots for their daily quota, as well as that of the solitary peddlers with hair pins on hand, waiting for hours on end at the edges of the market. Ironic timing now that Serge Lutens is opening a luxury niche fragrances boutique in Moscow!

L'Eau Froide ushers the...cold war.



“HAMMER AND SICKLE” ENGRAVED BOTTLE (L’EAU FROIDE)
“A bottle named Cold War, which we hope, in communist parts, will bring a smile to the face of capitalism.”
- Serge Lutens

For information: sprs@shiseido.fr
Le Palais Royal - Serge Lutens
142 Galerie de Valois, 75001 Paris
Tel : +33 (0)1 49 27 09 09
Monday through Saturday, from 10 AM to 7 PM.

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