Santa Maria Novella believes in discretion. Tucked away in a (plush) back street that’s off-off the Fulham Road, the sight of me and my notepad has the sales assistants squirming.
“We don’t advertise,” says the chief assistant, slightly scandalised.
A steady stream of customers suggested that they probably don’t have to. The wealthy residents of Kensington know all about Santa Maria Novella. It’s essentially their local Bath & Body Works.
Santa Maria Novella — the mother shop — is the famous Officina Profumo-Farmaceutica in Florence, Italy, one of the world’s oldest pharmacies and the creator of colognes and unguents whose recipes have been handed down for hundreds of years…
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Posted by Kevin
on
6 November 2008
Santa Maria Novella’s Marescialla fragrance was named after Léonora Dori Concini, La Maréchale1 d’Ancre, who was beheaded and burned at the stake in Paris on July 8, 1617, after being convicted of sorcery.
Or so I think. Santa Maria Novella’s description of Marescialla reads: “This unusual perfume was created by a French noblewoman, the Countess D’Aumont, wife of a Marshal of France, who used it to scent her gloves. It is said that because of her interest in alchemy, she was charged with witchcraft and burned at the stake.” After some research, I could find no mention of a perfumer-witch-alchemist named Countess/Maréchale d’Aumont. To confuse matters further, Crown Perfumery once made a perfume named in honor of La Maréchale d’Aumont (a non-witch) — Maréchale 90 — based on a recipe from the 1600s.
I expanded my search for the elusive Maréchale (Marescialla in Italian) and after reading an opera libretto, a play, some Voltaire, a brief history of the Marshals of France and records of witchcraft trials in France and Italy, I believe she is none other than the Italian noblewoman and wife of Le Maréchal d’Ancre: Léonora Dori Concini, La Maréchale d’Ancre. We’re back where we started…
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Posted by Robin
on
18 April 2007
Nordstrom, so far, is beating out the other department stores in their online selection of fun gift sets for Mother’s Day. Here is a great one for Thierry Mugler Angel fans: a black case with Celestial Showers (3.5 oz.), Celestial Body Cream (1.7 oz.) and Angel Refillable Eau de Parfum Spray (1.7 oz.). $119…
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Posted by Robin
on
5 March 2007
Santa Maria Novella launched Angels of Florence last year to honor the 40th anniversary of the 1966 flood that destroyed numerous cultural works in Florence, including close to a million books in the Biblioteca Nazionale. The fragrance benefits the Angels of Florence, a non-profit organization working to restore those items. You can read more about their “Adopt-A-Book” program here….
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Posted by Robin
on
26 November 2006
More online shopping ideas. See also Holiday fragrance gifts 2006 part 1, part 2 and part 3.
At loccitane, the Ruban d’Orange Complete Regimen, with Eau de Toilette, Shower Gel, Body Milk and Lip Gloss. $71.50 (on markdown)…
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