Tag: fragrance

MAKE YOUR POINTE

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Inspired by the world of ballet and (of course) the ballerinas, Les Parfums de Rosine presents BALLERINA. 

Nothing against commercial perfumery, but if you ever got tired of them and looking for special perfumes that tell real stories behind the creation, you might love Les Parfums de Rosine. You see, Marie-Hélène Rogeon (the perfume maker that created Les Parfums de Rosine) is a grand grand daughter of Louis Panafieu who created fragrances for Emperor Napoleon III. And she loves all kind of roses which she delivered into variety of perfumes. What amazed me the most, she can built a lot of different aromas from roses, making it a classic, fresh to sensual fragrances. 

Her latest creations available in my home country are: Ballerina No 1 (the pink bottle), Vive La Mariee (the white bottle) and Ballerina No 2 (the grey bottle). As I’m an avid fan of beautiful packaging, they already had me at the bottles. Matte, opaque porcelain bottles embellished with tulle around their necks, do remind me of tutus. Youthful, sweet without being frilly, that’s what I thought of Ballerina No 1. Even though I wasn’t into ballet since I was a little girl (weird, right?), but I do not mind watching ballet and certainly I wouldn’t mind of the soft powdery scent from Ballerina No 1. Rose was indeed in the heart note of this, with florals (freesia, peony, violet), fruits (pear, peach, bergamot, raspberry) and base note such as milk, vanilla, musk, and sandalwood. Truly love this feminine fragrance. 

However, Ballerina No 2 seems to represent more mature prima ballerina (imagine, Black Swan). More woody and stronger, thanks to the base note of sandalwood, patchouli, ambrette seeds, vanilla & amber. Yes, rose is still in the very heart note of this perfume, along with florals like magnolia, violet, eglantine and iris. At the top note, there are bergamot, raspberry and orange blossom.

Separating itself from the Ballerina Collection is Vive La Mariee. The bottle is similar with different placement of tulle skirt. More bride than ballerina, it did remind me of a bride’s bouquet. Using Rose Mousseline, roses with white flower smell, I can imagine a bride wearing this on her most glorious day. But then again, if you already way overdue to wear that silk veil (like me, LOL), this soft floral perfume will remind you of that happy celebration. 

Photo: Shinta Rosvita

LIFE IN ROSY HUES

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As Valentine’s Day is approaching so fast, this will be the perfect scent to accompany that bouquet of roses.

If someone asked me why I’m so picky when it comes to my perfume choice, I’d gladly answer: “That scent is going to stick with me the whole day, as I’m not really into fragrance touch-ups or changing my day to night fragrance. And I’ll make sure that fragrance won’t annoy me (read: cause dizziness) or worse… annoy someone close enough to sniff me." 

Scent of roses always intrigued me, I guess I’m a romantic that way. But as my journey of scents continues, particular roses won my heart. Bulgarian rose to be precise. For special reasons (their qualities and method of productions), Bulgarian-grown roses produce the world’s best and most expensive oil. And Maison Francis Kurkdjian described Damascena Rose from Bulgaria as one of his Olfactory Description from his latest fragrance, À la Rose. No wonder, it had me at the first sniff. Apparently 250 precious Centifolia Roses from Grasse were also enriched this feminine scent. 

Along with citrus (bergamot & orange), flower (violet & magnolia blossom) and a touch of musk plus cedar wood, À la Rose is like love in a bottle. It hugs me in a subtle and soft romantic way, feels very light and velvety like touching the actual fresh rose petals.   

Photo: Shinta Rosvita 

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THE ART OF CLEANING

It’s a fountain cleaning ritual in the House of Caron. 

Every two months, these precious perfume fountains will be clean by their staffs. And last week, I was invited to witness the special ritual in their first boutique in Plaza Indonesia, Jakarta.

These precious perfume fountains were created in glass and crystal by Baccarat. They’re the perfect storage for the extracts, therefore they need to be clean to keep their transparency and to preserve the highest quality of their perfumes.

First, they’ll empty the leftover perfume extract from the fountain and pour it into a special container using special paper filter. FYI, the leftover will be pour again inside the clean fountain if they didn’t change color or texture. Then, they’ll pour 60% alcohol into the fountain. Using a special brush, they started to brush the inside of the fountain. After the alcohol was put away, they will dry it with clean tissues, making sure that it dried 100% (as leftover alcohol will interfere the extract’s scent). The same extract (one fountain will always filled with the same extract) will be poured inside the fountain, about 500ml of them. They also cleaned the outer side of the fountain, using dry tissue. Voila! Clean and shiny, it’s ready to fill the Caron’s bottle. 

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MUSK HAVE FRAGRANCE 

Love the particular scent of musk? You’ll fall deep for MODERN MUSE by ESTEE LAUDER.

Here’s the history of my Estee Lauder’s fragrance: First was White Linen and the last one was Sensuous. And now…Modern Muse. Dedicated for strong & confident woman, enhanced by her own intrinsic femininity & individual style, it features a lush blend of rich florals & sleek woods. A contrast blend of exotic mandarin, jasmine sambac, amber wood and patchouli. 

I found this fragrance as an easy to wear and clean scent. Perfect for day use, as Modern Muse is so light (even though they came in Eau De Parfum). First spritz (in this hot & humid weather) lasted for about 3 hours, so might need to reapply. I love the chic packaging with the bow-like top (like a representable display for its’ feminine scent), and yet easy to spritz (with no cap, yeay!). When I said feminine, please do not imagine sweetness, it’s so not. As I’m very picky when it comes to fragrances (who doesn’t as it will stay with you throughout the day), Modern Muse won my attention. And it seems my hubby’s attention too. I always said that if someone (especially loved ones) even bothered to ask you what fragrance you’re wearing, it must be a winner! Don’t you think so?

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IT TOOK 3 YEARS TO CREATE THIS…

….latest luxurious fragrances from BVLGARI, LE GEMME. 

Last week I was invited by L’Officiel Indonesia to witness the latest launch of these unique fragrances in The Bimasena, The Dharmawangsa Hotel, Jakarta. Inspired by semi-precious stones and their historical trade routes, they are named Le Gemme (that’s Italian for the gems). Six pieces of high end Eau De Parfums are: Lilaia (Peridot), Ashlemah (Amehtyst), Amarena (Tourmaline), Noorah (Turquoise), Maravilla (Citrine) and Calaluna (Moonstone). All were created by master perfumer Daniela Andrier and it took her 3 years to create these perfumes. Well, it wasn’t easy to create scents inspired by stones, don’t you think?

At the event, there were only 3 available scents (which apparently only these 3 are sold here in Indonesia): Ashlemah, Lilaia & Maravilla. From all 3, I was attracted the most to the purple bottle, Ashlemah. Inspired by the amethyst, it’s a symbol of perfect balance. The essence of lavender, iris absolute and musk are quite an elegant dream, considering the name Ashlemah was taken from “Achlemah” which means sweet dreams. I am sure I’ll dream about having this one day!

With the bottles inspired by the Roman urns, I wasn’t surprised by the pricing of these luxurious fragrance. I mean, it is Bvlgari, people! 

WHEN EVERY FRAGRANCE HAS THEIR OWN STORIES

After their home Paris, New York and Dubai, now Jakarta, Indonesia has our own CARON PARIS flagship store.

Located in Plaza Indonesia level 2, it actually had opened since the first of September. But they made the grand launching just last night. I was invited to the event and I believe this is the first time I ever took so much pictures in one place. Not just a place, the CARON Paris boutique is so….Paris. What can I say? Just look at the pics above and see if you agree with me. 

When I stepped into the store, the Parisian charm and the scent of luxury perfumes greeted me. Let’s just say every corner of the boutique had me at hello. Pretty artsy displays, yet very informative with every fragrance description and for me, the best part is their Fountain Perfumes. Something new for me, but CARON’s Fountain Perfumes is actually legendary. They offered their customers to fill a bottle (and you can pick the bottle there) and the fragrance will be dispensed from a little bronze tap. FYI, these Fountain Perfumes ‘dispenser’ will be clean by a special sort of ceremonial cleaning process every month in the store. Wow, I’d love to see how they clean that. 

As Indonesian, I’m proud that CARON Paris considered Jakarta as a potential market. I mean, CARON is one of the major perfume houses and Jakarta’s store is number 6 in the world. How awesome is that? Its’ unique history amazed me too. In 1904, Ernest Daltroff opened CARON’s first door in 10 rue de la Paix, Paris. His love for his colleague, Felicie influenced his constant fragrances creations. He and Felicie created “N’Aimez que Moi” in 1916, “Tabac Blond” in 1919, “Fleurs de Rocaille” in 1933 and the men fragrance “Pour Un Homme” in 1934. Each fragrance has their own stories, and the one that intrigued me is “Royal Bain” which was created in 1941. Back then, it was created exclusively for a Californian billionaire who wanted to replace his extravagant champagne baths. This one of the very first unisex Eau de Toilette is believed to bring happiness. Ever since they were created, those fragrances remains the same for their formulas and scents (they only changed the packaging nowadays to suit a more modern era). Until today, they work with their own perfume creator. 

In the 30’s Ernest also developed a manufacturing process for “Poudre Libre”, the loose powder. His method remains a trade secret until today, making their loose powder ‘the finest in the world’. I got the chance to try their loose powder and I love it. The expensive scent of Bulgarian Rose and its’ delicate feather puff added the pleasure of powdering your nose. If you love more indulgence, try their special “Powder Puff”. It was made of genuine soft goose down, but don’t worry, no goose was harmed. They plucked the bottom part of the feathers which will eventually fell off by time, anyway. 

Yup, you can find more than just perfumes in CARON’s boutique. They have porcelains and glass collections too. Every single one of them are just too fine to describe. Go visit their boutique, because seeing is believing! 

NEW FRAGRANCE DUO

To complete Francis Kurkdjian’s fragrance wardrobe, he launched PLURIEL.

Bursts of floral scents for the féminin Pluriel, and classic manly scent for the masculin Pluriel. Simple yet elegant 70ml packaging with Rose Gold cap for the féminin (EDP) and titanium cap for the masculin (EDT). 

Here are their notes:

  • Féminin Pluriel: Florentine Iris to Violet, Grasse Rose, Egyptian Jasmine, Lily of the valley, Orange Blossom & Indonesian (yes, Indonesian) patchouli.
  • Masculin Pluriel: Lavender from Provence, Eastern red cedar, vetiver from Haiti and (yes again) Indonesian Patchouli.

Available in September 2014 in Papilion Duo, Jakarta. 

YOU KNOW YOU’RE WEARING THE RIGHT PERFUME, WHEN …

A person next to you said, “I love your scent. What are you wearing?”

That’s exactly what happened to me when I was wearing GRACE by Anggun. And if someone ever even bothered to give you compliment for the scent that you were wearing, (from my humble opinion) it’s already a winner!

It took two years for Anggun to create GRACE (by the way, that’s Anggun’s name if translated in English) with a renowned French fragrance master, BEL Perfumes. With sultry & refreshing top notes of ginger, bergamot and lime, enchanting & sophisticated heart notes of white tea, syringa and jasmine, sensual & relaxing base notes of amber, velvet musk and rice powder, GRACE embodies the elegance and confidence of a woman.

Just look at the packaging that embodies a woman’s curve. It completes this fragrance as a very womanly fragrance. Super feminine, sexy but not overpowering. Currently, I’ve been using GRACE on daily basis, more spritz for night time. And the best part: GRACE comes in Eau de Parfum 100ml bottle. Perfect for a woman like me who spritz fragrance like crazy (LOL) and demand more long lasting fragrance (because I’m just too lazy to do fragrance touch ups).

GRACE by Anggun is now available in Transmart, Carrefour, Metro Department Store and C&F Perfumery Indonesia.

FUN FRAGRANCE

Betty Boop, the flirty cartoon character with black hair (thanks for the thought). Now in fragrance too!

A classic look of Betty Boop now standing tall on my beauty drawer, thanks to Beauty Box Indonesia who sent me the fragrance “PRINCESS”. Comes in 75ml bottle of Eau De Parfum (yes it last longer!), with fruity top notes such as Grapefruit & Bergamot, dries down to floral middle notes like Jasmine Petals, Gardenia & Velvet Rose, to the base notes Liquid Amber, Sandalwood, Tahitian Vanilla & Soft Musk.

If you love vanilla scent, its’ light vanilla will not overwhelm. It’s truly a fun & flirty fragrance, just like its’ character. IMHO, perfect for day use for its’ lightness. After I finished the whole bottle, I’ll definitely keep the Betty Boop figurine for collectibles. She’s just too cute.

SHADES OF BLUE

When I met you in the summer..to my heartbeat sound…

That Calvin Harris song “SUMMER” straightly went to my mind when I got the chance to sniff at this new range of fragrance from COMME des GARCONS, “BLUE INVASION”. 

Three ‘blue’ unisex fragrances, BLUE ENCENS, BLUE CEDRAT & BLUE SANTAL presented in blue gradation bottles, were created to accentuate radical contradiction of fresh and non fresh, cool yet warm. Very unexpected, with cooling look yet warm notes like cedarwood & sandalwood. 

They all come in Eau de Parfum 100 ml Natural Spray. And, my favorite will be BLUE SANTAL. I found it unique and more feminine amongst the other two. Now available at The Papilion Duo, Jakarta, Indonesia.