L’Antichambre Le Chocolat Parfum (Le Chocolat Ambre)

Posted on December 16, 2014 by Kafkaesque

Source: luckyscent.com

Charles Schultz, the creator of Charlie Brown and Peanuts, once said “All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn’t hurt.” Le Chocolat might help as well. It is a pure parfum from the Belgian house of L’Antichambre, a boutique in Brussels that originally made only customized, bespoke creations. In 2013, its founder and nose, Anne Pascale, launched a line of parfums or extraits available to the public, one of which was Le Chocolat, though it was originally called Le Chocolat Ambre at the time. The name may have changed, but the scent supposedly remains the same.

According to Luckyscent, Le Chocolat’s notes are:

Lemon, jasmine, chocolate, amber, vanilla.

Source: kcchocolateschicago.com

Le Chocolat opens on my skin with delicious, rich, very expensive-smelling chocolate. It veers between something like a chocolate truffle, a chocolate mousse, a Mars bar with its caramel center, and Cadbury’s. If you’ve ever smelt Cadbury’s chocolate, you know that it has a certain aroma that is strong and simultaneously a bit milky. Le Chocolate, though, smells much more expensive than a mere Cadbury’s bar.

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A Lab on Fire Paris/LA

Posted on December 15, 2014 by Kafkaesque

Source: A Lab on Fire website.

Los Angeles as seen through French eyes in a perfume that tries to capture the gourmand essence of both cities in one bottle. Coca-Cola and Macarons are the symbols chosen to represent each city in a new fragrance from A Lab on Fire called Paris/ LA. (The scent is sometimes written alternatively as “Paris L.A.“, but I’ll just refer to as “Paris/LA.”) It’s a very original idea which Paris/LA tries to accomplish by marrying the zingy, zesty brightness of Key lime, ginger Cola with the creamy vanilla of a Parisian macaron dusted with “neroli petals” and then wrapped in ambered warmth. Some of you are probably blinking at the sound of all that, and trying to wrap your head around the thought of ginger-lime cola infused with the creamy filling of a macaroon (never mind adding “neroli petals” to the mix), but it somehow works. At first.

Source: Twisted Lily.

Paris/LA is an eau de parfum that was created by Laurent de Guernec and released last month. On its website, A Lab on Fire describes the olfactory interplay between cities as follows:

When they speak to each other, it’s a filtered language, a private exchange. One adores, the other abides––for the lover sees what the beloved cannot. LA, captured through Parisian eyes, succumbs and is made new. A refreshing Coca-cola marries a smooth-shelled macaron. When you look around, are you still in the same place you started?

According to Luckyscent, Paris/LA’s notes are as follows:

Key lime, ginger, cola accord, neroli petals, coriander seeds, thyme, macaron accord, amber, musk.

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Oriza L. Legrand Marrions-Nous (Let’s Get Married)

Posted on December 14, 2014 by Kafkaesque

Gloria Swanson, photo by Edward Steichen, 1924. Source: galleryhip.com

Love and marriage, virginal propriety and lusty naughtiness. Marrions-Nous runs the olfactory gamut from the virginal, cool aloofness of an aristocratic aldehydic floral, through the consummation of lust with darkly skanky notes, before ending with a sigh as creamy smoothness. The fragrance was released by Oriza L. Legrand (hereinafter just “Oriza“) in 1928 and feels very much a product of its time, a decade when the cool hauteur of Chanel No. 5 had become a runaway hit that revolutionized perfumery, but one in which Josephine Baker also ruled the stage and naughty, animalic seduction was in the air. I find Marrion-Nous to have been influenced by both competing trends, resulting in an elegant fragrance that is one-part aristo in white, one-part Mae West and a Folies Bergère showgirl doing the can-can in black.

Source: Oriza L. Legrand.

Technically, however, Marrions-Nous was inspired by “Gai! Marions-Nous” [“Great! Let’s Get Married”], a successful 1927 novel by Germaine Acrement that later became a famous play. As Oriza explains on its website, the perfume house was moved by the play to make an eau de parfum that was meant to be “an expression of sensory playfulness.” The various notes were intended to be symbolic parallels to the various stages of the romantic process:

Inspired by love and marriage, which are not always related to each other, “Marions-nous” offers the virginal touches of orange blossom, rose, jasmine, and hyacinth.

Charlotte Babcock Brown, gown by Jeanne Lanvin, photo by Edward Steichen 1928. Source: onewed.com

In an interplay of propriety and informal understandings, the marriage reaches its peak as the heart succumbs to the essences of carnation and iris and the comforting accents of aldehydes and Ylang Ylang.

On the chessboard of Love, mutual consent seals the arrangement… and we slip into the gentle clutches of sweet emotion.

Tonka Beans, Musk Tonkinese accord, Civet, and Sandalwood add their fragrances to the happy ceremony… “Gai! Marions-nous!”

Marrions-Nous bottle and box via Oriza L. Legrand.

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Holiday Gift Ideas 2014

Posted on December 12, 2014 by Kafkaesque

Source: Pinterest. Original source unknown.

The holiday season is upon us and many of you have already started shopping for gifts. I thought I’d present a few ideas, whether it’s for the fragrance lover in your life, or merely an office coworker for whom you have to get a “secret Santa” gift. A few of my suggestions are suited for those who don’t even have a serious interest in perfume. For example, a book of poetry by 100 contemporary American poets who were each sent a different vial of unnamed perfume (ranging from Jo Malone to Tom Ford, Creed, Kilian or others), and then wrote a poem in response to the unknown scent.

As you will see, very few of my ideas have to do with buying actual perfume. I think it’s a truly terrible idea to gift someone fragrance unless you know them and their tastes extremely well or, ideally, have a precise shopping list of the exact perfumes that they want. Otherwise, it’s a potential disaster and, quite possibly, a huge waste of money. Given the vagaries of skin chemistry, you simply can’t know how a perfume bought blindly will actually turn out on their skin and if they’ll like it.

So, it’s far better to leave the choice up to them. For example, you can send an e-card, even on the day of Christmas if you’re a procrastinator who is truly behind schedule. Some people may see gift certificates as a sign of laziness or lack of thought but, for a perfumista, they’re the best thing ever! Even small amounts give one the freedom to sample new things, each a potential passage to olfactory Nirvana. Non-perfumistas might also enjoy certificates to places that sell luxury candles, men’s beauty products, or home fragrances. Or, you can go another route, and opt for fragrance-related things like books, foodie essences, or perfume-making kits. Here are a few suggestions.

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