Posted by Jessica
on
2 December 2011
I know a bank where the wild thyme blows,
Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,
Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine,
With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine:
There sleeps Titania sometime of the night,
Lull’d in these flowers with dances and delight…
— A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Eva Luna was released in late June of this year, which was perfect timing since this fragrance was inspired by Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Indie brand Providence Perfume Co describes Eva Luna as “a spring green floral…a walk in a moonlit garden”; its composition includes top notes of Russian carrot, fresh mint leaf, French mimosa, and bois de rose; heart notes of tuberose, plumeria, rose de Mai, jasmine, and violet leaf; and base notes of Oman frankincense, ambrette, and orris.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream is one of Shakespeare’s best-loved comedies, a fantastic roundabout of characters falling in and out of love over the course of one moonlit night, in a plot driven by magic potions, mistaken identities, and plays-within-plays. The comedy’s setting, an enchanted forest inhabited by an assortment of fairies, is the perfect analogy for an all-natural perfume. As Angela recently wrote, natural fragrances do have an allure and romance all their own, and it’s always a pleasure to encounter a natural perfume that delivers on its promise…
Read the rest of this article »
E. M. Forster’s A Room with a View (1908) is one of my favorite novels, and its Merchant-Ivory film adaptation (1985) is one of my favorite movies. I’m also a longtime admirer of CB I Hate Perfume, so it’s strange that I only recently realized that this niche perfumery offers a scent inspired by a scene from the novel. Christopher Brosius created M4, or A Room with a View, for CB I Hate Perfume’s Metamorphosis Series and designed it to evoke “the moment when one simple beautiful gesture can transform an entire life.”
In the passage that gave Brosius the idea for this fragrance, the young heroine of A Room with a View, Lucy Honeychurch, is picnicking with several other proper English tourists in the Tuscan countryside. She strays from her prim chaperone and, after passing through a wooded area, finds herself looking down a hillside blooming with violets; the only other person enjoying the view is George Emerson, an enigmatic and free-thinking fellow traveler. George impulsively steps forward and kisses Lucy, thus opening her mind and her senses to new possibilities (in romance and in life) and setting the rest of the novel’s plot in motion…
Read the rest of this article »
Posted by Cheryl
on
24 September 2010
Quick reminder: join me for an online book club in October. We’ll be talking about Remembering Smell by Bonnie Blodgett.
Between my usual work commute, and an unusual amount of travel, I’m finding it difficult to curl up with a book these days. But I haven’t cut back on my reading. All of this road and plane time has led me back to one of my favorite indulgences — audio books, and to one of my favorite authors — Margaret Atwood.
I heard Atwood speak last April at a nearby university. She was promoting her newest book, The Year of the Flood (2009), a novel about environmental catastrophe, mass extinction, genetic engineering, world hunger, exploitation, the end of literacy, and the future of humanity. You will understand that although I was eager, I refrained during the Q&A from voicing my one burning query: “What perfume do you wear?”
This question isn’t quite as gratuitous as it sounds. As Atwood spoke, my mind filled with half-memories of her novels, many of which I’d read over a decade ago. While the details had blurred over time, I was still haunted by the olfactory ghosts of each and every one of them. There is a passage in Bodily Harm (1998) that I just can’t shake — only a sentence I think — where changes in a Lora’s bodily odors lead to a disturbing revelation. Early in Alias Grace (1997), the protagonist describes the word “murderess” as having the musky, oppressive smell of dead flowers in a vase. Later, Simon Jordon is distracted by Grace’s scent of skin, smoke, laundry soap, mushrooms, ferns, crushed fruit, and unwashed scalp. She in turn has detected his odor of lavender, leather and ears…
Read the rest of this article »
Posted by Robin
on
8 June 2009
Will we one day be able to sniff appreciatively and ask "is that the new Salman Rushdie you're wearing? I'm getting hints of post colonialism ..." What might a JK Rowling smell like? Unwashed teenage boy, perhaps, with a whiff of owl droppings. Ian Fleming would be suave, sophisticated – sandalwood, maybe, with topnotes of gunfire. I don't think I'd want to smell what they'd come up with for Irvine Welsh.
— From Making scents out of novels at The Guardian, an article that wonders what might ensue if others follow in the novel-as-perfume footsteps of Floris Madonna of the Almonds. Many thanks to Nancy for the link!
Posted by Robin
on
18 May 2009
Floris has launched Madonna of the Almonds (shown above left), a limited edition perfume for women. The scent is being introduced in conjunction with the novel of the same name by author Marina Fiorato — “an unforgettable story of love and art set against the backdrop of the Italian wars”.
Fresh zesty citrus notes of bergamot and lemon, so redolent of Italy, mingle with the delicate floral accord…
Read the rest of this article »
