Perfume Prize Draw and Wedding Fragrance Question

Perfume Prize Draw: One 50ml bottle of Estee Lauder Sensuous from my collection (completely full, save for a 5ml sample that was decanted out of it) and a 5ml sample of Serge Lutens fragrance of your choice.

How to Enter Prize Draw: leave a comment explaining what fragrance you wore for your wedding and why you selected it. Or you can simply offer any musings you like on the subject of wedding scents, whether you are married or not.  Each entry will be assigned a number, and a winner will be selected via a random number generator software. The comments section will be closed on at midnight on Sunday Monday. Prize Draw is closed. Thank you to all from the bottom of my heart for sharing your wonderful stories and musings!

The lucky winner is Eric! Eric, please email me. 

The reason I selected a wedding fragrance question is admittedly self-serving, as I am preparing for my own wedding in the winter of 2010. Therefore, I am very curious as to the fragrances other brides selected, why those particular scents were chosen, etc. I also promise to share my own thoughts on wedding fragrances in a longer article, once I narrow down my list a bit!

Image from Weddingbee.

Basenotes Print Magazine : Perfume News

"Award-winning online fragrance resource Basenotes.net is celebrating its 10th birthday by launching a print version of its fragrance consumer website. The magazine will contain the news, reviews and interviews that have helped Basenotes.net become the long-standing website of choice amongst consumers and industry professionals alike and will also feature completely new and original content." Congratulations to Grant! These are excellent and exciting news. Please read more about it in the Basenotes press release.

Also, I would love to take this opportunity to say congratulations to Robin of Nowsmellthis for winning in the 9th Annual Basenotes Awards Best Blog category! Also, congratulations to Perfume Posse and 1000 Fragrances for the Silver and Bronze awards, respectivelly. I raise my champagne glass to all of you!

Lagman Uzbek Lamb and Noodle Soup with Black Cumin : Flavor and Fragrance

When zeera, or black cumin, hits hot oil, the scent that rises up is complex and rich. It hovers above the sizzling pan as a warm cloud, woody, crisp, with sweet clove and leather undertones. Bunium persicum or black cumin is a plant in the same wonderful family, the Apiaceae or Umbelliferae, that gives us carrot, parsley, cumin, coriander, dill, caraway, fennel, parsnip, celery, and Queen anne's lace among others. Its black slender crescents are similar to both carraway and cumin, but the flavor bears only a slight resemblance to either. Lacking the intense animalic note of regular white cumin (Cuminum cyminum) and the musty darkness of caraway (Carum carvi), black cumin has an elegant flavor, possessing a hot sweetness and mineral chill. It has a natural affinity for meat, cruciferous vegetables, onions, garlic, and acidic vegetable-fruit like eggplant and tomato. It is able to refine their flavors, while retaining its own unique character. Black cumin in widely used in Afghani, Pakistani and North Indian cooking, but it is Uzbek cuisine that truly extols black cumin. The Uzbek palette of flavors is bold, yet streamlined, which makes their dishes very memorable. In perfumery, black cumin can be found in fragrances such as Idole de Lubin, Cerruti 1881 Black and Kiss Him by Kiss.

Marc Jacobs Lola : Fragrance Review

Lola, the newest release by Marc Jacobs following his highly successful Daisy, was another surprising discovery of the season. Created by Calice Becker in collaboration with Yann Vasnier, the fragrance is an interesting study in contrasts. On the one hand, it is a girly pink cocktail of red fruit and warm musk, a contemporary refrain that is found in many successful (and not) new launches. Yet, to classify it in this manner is to underestimate the structure of this fragrance. Lola offers a number of surprising facets, hiding its retro glamour under an inviting and easygoing fruity-floral veil.

Musabbaha Whole Chickpea Hummus with Cumin and Parsley : Flavor and Fragrance

Hummus, a creamy paste of chickpeas and tahini scented with lemon and garlic, is rightly one of the most beloved Middle Eastern dishes. Similar chickpea pastes flavored with cinnamon, ginger, parsley and olive oil are mentioned in medieval Arab cookbooks as early as the 13th century. In recent years, hummus and baba ghanoush have become the emblematic dishes for pan-Middle Eastern cuisine. Yet, despite its ubiquity, when properly made, hummus offers one of the most comforting and satisfying dishes with its complex interplay of flavors and rich contrasts between spice, tartness and creaminess. In addition to the commonly encountered creamy hummus, Middle Eastern cuisine offers a number of interesting regional variations, out of which the Syrian-style hummus, musabbaha, is one of my absolute favorites.

Hermes Kelly Caleche : Perfume Review

I finally had to admit to myself that Kelly Calèche disappointed me. It did not deliver on the promise to evoke the prized soft leather of Hermès bags, which naturally possess a subtle floral accent; nor was the signature of genius perfumer Jean-Claude Ellena fully obvious in the final result. The fragrance in my mind was glorious, the scent on my skin turned out but a pale shadow of it.

Christian Dior Escale a Pondichery : Perfume Review

Given that this summer has been rather chilly until the past couple of weeks, I have been wearing ambers and orientals rather than fresh colognes. For this reason, I was not in a rush to seek out the newest addition to the Dior “Voyage” collection, which debuted in 2008 with a light and fizzy Escale a Portofino. However, Escale à Pondichéry suits my current mood perfectly, for not only it has enough warmth to make its straightforward cologne structure enticing on a chilly summer day, but it evokes the memories of my Indian adventures. While my next trip is not until the winter, I am consoling myself with scents that remind me of India.

Top 10 Favorite Summer Fragrances 2009

Mark Twain once said that “The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco.” He should have visited New York this summer! I have been wearing my fall jackets in the middle of July and packing an extra sweater just in case, along with an umbrella and a trench coat. As much as I would like to complain, I have to admit that I enjoy cold summers because they allow me to fully appreciate the delicate scents that fill the air. The green foliage that tends to dull and faded by this time is instead bright and crisp. The wild roses are still covered with raspberry scented petals. The strawberries are still delicious and sweet. I have also enjoyed darker, richer perfumes that ordinarily would have been too overwhelming in the summer heat. Yet, this summer the voluptuous roses of Guerlain Nahema are as appropriate as scintillating Hermes Eau de Pamplemousse Rose. All in all, every cloud has a silver lining. Please see my list below for the favorite fragrances that made this summer enchanting. NB: I added my perfume descriptions!

Maria Tallchief, Balanchine and Guerlain : Perfume Vignette

"One afternoon, we went to the House of Guerlain. George [Balanchine] wanted to choose a perfume for me. We sampled several before he settled on L'Heure Bleue (the expression the French have for twighlight), a beautiful, subtle fragrance that I still use today. George dabbed some on my neck below my ear and lowered his head. His lips softly touched mine. The solemnity with which he conducted the perfume ritual, and the unexpected display of affection, was a surprise and was more fulfilling because of that. I felt gratified and loved" (p.66, Maria Tallchief By Maria Tallchief, Larry Kaplan)

The first time I've read this passage from the autobiography of a renowned ballerina Maria Tallchief, I felt both moved and saddened. The former reaction was ellicited by the effect of perfume on these two people. The latter by my realization that obviously the love for L'Heure Bleue outlasted Tallchief's marriage to Balanchine, a genius choreographer who changed the face of American ballet. 

Whether one knows anything about ballet or not, this passage is a wonderful and rare glimpse into another woman's relationship with scent. I hope to share more of such vignettes on these pages.

Photo: Maria Tallchief from Fargo Film Festival.