When Immortelle was the "It" note: L de Lolita Lempicka pure parfum by Lolita Lempicka

It you stay perfume enthusiast long enough you will find two things 1) Over time things you bought randomly or cheaply or both will sometimes become perfume treasures and 2) you will go through a few "It" note trends. L de Lolita Lempicka pure parfum encompasses those two experiences easily.

Currently in my perfume stash I have two bottles of L de Lolita Lempicka by Lolita Lempicka one in the original eau de parfum strength and the other in the pure parfum strength. These are both the original version before the reformulation and then the eventual discontinuation. I'll be honest I am still in shock that L de Lolita Lempick is not in production, it is excellent gourmand, and yet Lolita Lempicka seems to have never figured out what to do with it. It had only one flanker and then it was gone. Currenlty L is selling for a lot of money on ebay if it is original the pre-reformulated version.

 L de Lolita Lempicka is the perfect example of the perfume cycle, originally released in 2006 as the first new perfume from Lolita Lempicka it was never quite marketed right. The visual is a mermaid and the bottle a fun blue ocean hued shaped pebble with an oceanic motif. I love it, but inherently it probably confused many because inside is the ultimate gourmand mixture of vanilla, cinnamon, and orange all on a bed of maple infused immortelle. This is not a typical tropical beach scent but rather a beach scent for craggy coastlines or coasts that know all too well cold winter storms, it is sunny in that it is the bright light with brisk winds. I reminded of French coastline in Normandy and Brittany and you are eating an delicious buttery pastry of some sort.

More confusing to the average perfume buyer is the immortelle note, now this is probably the most likable immortelle you will meet but L has that heaviness of immortelle that probably takes awhile to get used to. Immortelle right around the time L was released enjoyed a brief moment in the spotlight, we in the perfume community were wanting salty maple laced notes and immortelle could provide that. L is the only mainstream release that I can think of and since then that featured immortelle but not much has happened since its release in mainstream perfumery with the note.

The scent was created by Maurice Roucel and is not completely original, it bares quite a bit of resemblance to his other creation Frederic Malle's Musc Ravegeur, the difference of scents was that L was more vanilla forward and used immortelle where as Musc Ravegeur was about musk and vanilla with spices and featured a more fougere quality. The thing is they are both examples of very modern perfumery, neither of them go through many changes on the skin but rather keep a constant reverberation of vanilla and spice going. Nothing wrong in that though because frankly they just smell really good.

L de Lolita Lempicka in the pure parfum version smells a great deal like the eau de parfum variation. the main difference being a tiniest hint of patchouli and hints of cocoa in the drydown. The citrus is more tampered down and thus the vanilla, cinnamon, and immortelle are the main stars. The lasting power is incredible and it is a scent truly meant for cold weather.

First Image from The Perfume Base Line
Second Image Ransom Mitchell

SOTD: L de Lolita Lempicka

Today is the last day before the tempture begins rising again, I'm taking full advantage of a wonderfully cool morning, and a comfortable day: I'm wearing Lolita Lempicka's wonderfully honeyed smokey ambered citrus sprinkled vanilla scent, L de Lolita Lempicka. This took close to over two years before it made its way to the US market and I immediately snatched it up when it showed up on parfum1; there first fragrance, Lolita Lempicka, being one of my first loves. This one of those beautiful buy without sniffing scents that actually worked. It also turns out that it one of those fragrances I prefer in eau de parfum form rather than more ambered pure parfum form. In the edp variation you smell variation of notes far more easily and get to enjoy the smoky honeyed immortelle middle notes, where as I find that the pure parfum immediately moves to a more ambered bottom with just a hint of citrus.

Another way I am enjoying the cooler is by baking bread, I'm not quite sure why but when I bake bread I feel like I have baked an incredible feat, especially when you use this recipe:
http://kitchenmusings.typepad.com/my_weblog/2006/11/no_need_to_knea.html

Also, onto another cooking feat, I finally made good polenta, that did not require more than four stirs, how you ask? With my most amazing of appliances: the rice cooker. I am now becoming a big rice quicker proponent, you can do so much with them. Steam dumplings, vegetables, rice of course, soup, and polenta. These are a god send in hot weather country. If you get yourself one or already have one, I highly recommend you get this cookbook:
http://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Rice-Cooker-Cookbook-Porridges/dp/1558322035
I ate my polenta last night with my homemade marinara sauce and well it was divine.

More food talk, sometimes you forget that simple ingredients, that when used with proper technique can make the most wonderfully lip-smacking food. Last week I made Mark Bittman's Green Onion Noodles from The World's Best Recipes by Mark Bittman: the recipe required about 6 ingredients fresh chinese egg noodles, green onions, chives, peanut oil, sesame oil, and soy sauce; most of use have these ingredients sitting in our cupboards. What I got was crispy fried noodles with wonderfully sweet bright green onions that tasted caramelized but were not. This was due to technique and not based on having perfect ingredients (these are favorite types of recipe simple with the ingredients but use a technique that really make the food a treat).

image provided by artmagick.com
image: Golden Light by John Atkinson Grimshaw 1893