Pop Culture Fun Series: The Great British Bake Off or as known in the US The Great British Baking Show

Recently a season of The Great British Bake Off showed up on Netflix and I am in heaven. This is the first reality show in a very very long time to catch my attention (the last was the very early seasons of Project Runway). And I'm not alone, suddenly in the US we are mad* for it and with good reason, if this is what reality competitions were all the time then I would watch a whole lot more of them. There is no giant prize, there is camaraderie, everyone is exceptionally civil, and it is all about being creative. The point is to prove you can bake and that is it. Plus, I love Sue Perkins ever since I watched the whole Supersizers series.

So as I have been watching the series I have been thinking of all the inventive and delicious combinations the bakers have been coming up with and have been feeling rather inspired myself (pain d'epice may be happening today). This then all led to me having a sudden Pop Culture Fun Series inspiration. I wanted to do a list of scents with qualities that lend themselves the most to describing baked goods.

The original Lolita Lempicka by Lolita Lempicka, the perfect note of sweet caramelized anise with vanilla, cherry, vetiver, and tobacco. I can't help but think French confection with this one, the love of anise is strong in French culture, and gourmand use of it is the signature of Lolita Lempicka . I like to think of Lolita Lempicka as anise flavored Kouig-Amann. The deeply dark caramelized buttery goodness of Kouig-Amann offset by the dark bittersweet notes of anise, doesn't that sound a bit like Lolita Lempicka?

Next up PHI Une Rose de Kandahar by Tauer Perfumes, the beginning of PHI has one of the most phenomenally delicious beginnings I have ever smelled. Perfectly tart sweet apricot, sweet bitter, almond, and delicious cinnamon pastry. It makes me think of apricot turnovers that have met the Moroccan dish B'Steeya. I can totally see someone trying to pull that off on The Great British Bake Off.

Tarte Tatin meets One Thousand and One Nights, that is how I would describe Hermes Hermessence Ambre Narguile. Supposedly this is inspired by the scent of a hookah, but many perfume lovers will attest that this reminds them the most of sweet caramelized apples. I can attest to the apple connection to the time I did make sweet caramelized apples in the oven and the scent that permeated my home at the time was intoxicating and very very reminiscent of Ambre Narguile. Ambre Narguile takes Tarte Tatin and laces it with cinnamon and sesame and the scent becomes one of the most intensely glorious gourmands you will smell.

Subtly sweet bread, Bois Farine by L'Artisan. I wish I had kept my sample longer of this one because indeed it smelled like bread, sweet bread, think challah or brioche. This is a scent way to ahead of its time. This scent is the love song to the scent of flour and the wondrous things it does when it becomes bread. I suspect Paul Hollywood would dig it.

*Please excuse the sudden use of British lingo, can't help it, happens every time I get into a good UK import.

image from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/great-british-bake-off/11844710/Where-the-Great-British-Bake-Off-goes-we-follow-but-should-we.html

Pop Culture Fun: The Parasol Protectorate series by Gail Carriger

So I just finished the delightful confection of a series, The Parasol Protectorate by Gail Carriger, and after reading the series for the last few years knew I had to do a post for perfuming the characters. It helps that Carriger assigns certain scents to her characters in the book that I immediately had an idea of what would go with them. So without further ado, here is my fragrance assignations to the characters of The Parasol Protectorate by Gail Carriger.

Alexia Tarabotti, later Lady Maccon.
This was far too easy considering Carriger describes through Conall Maccon that Alexia smells of "vanilla and cinnamon." The first scent that came to mind was L de Lolita Lempicka, that absurdly delicious combo of vanilla, cinnamon, orange, and musk. Yet, in the last book Timeless when they were in Egypt, Conall then describes her smelling much like a delicious Egyptian pastry. I then thought of the delicious scent of Hermes Ambre Narguile which also uses vanilla and cinnamon, highlighted by powder, tobacco, apples, and dates. So for me Alexia has two scents: L de Lolita Lempicka or Ambre Narguile.

Madame Genevieve Lefoux
This also was a fairly easy first identification, Genevieve is frequently described of smelling of "motor oil and vanilla" and dressing as a man in the series. I immediately thought of Bvlgari Black, a scent of vanilla, lapsang souchang, leather, and funky urbanism. It is one of the most interesting vanillic scents you can try and immediately fit Genevieve. Yet, as I thought about it more I could not help but think that L'Artisan's Dzing! would be an excellent fit also with the use of vanilla and combination of saffron and leather notes giving it a rather motor-y quality.

Ivy Hisselpenny
So for Ivy I knew that her scent was going to have to be big, over the top, and agreeable. As much her style is discordant her character while trying to be actress-y as possible is also jolly and rather agreeable. I immediately knew she was Victor&Rolf's Flowerbomb, the scent of fruits, caramel, and really well behaved patchouli and vanilla yet it is extremely effusive. You know when you are in the trail of Flowerbomb and for the most part you don't mind even if it is rather ridiculous at times.

Lord Akeldama
To some extent scenting Lord Akeldama was almost like scenting Ivy, they both shared the need for scents that are big and over the top. My first thought was to Jean Paul Gaultier's Fleur de Male if there was ever a scent to hit the sweet spot of very sweet, fluffy, feminine, but kept some masculine qualities this is the one. The bounce of intensely fluffy powdery white orange blossoms with Gaultier musk just makes me think of Akeldama, but I would also add I can easily Akeldama wearing Classique, that spiced boudoir powdery floral of Gaultier's.

Biffy 
Biffy is the epitome of the perfect dandy and that is why I can easily see him in that perfect dandy of a scent, Guerlain's Jicky. That lavender confection of musk and vanilla fitting perfectly with his immaculate style and sensibilities, but by the end of the series Biffy's status in life has changed quite a bit, and I see him while still wearing Jicky on his days of relaxation, but his new scent is Dior Homme. That powdery iris chocolate scent that belie's a bit more power and confidence in his new role in life.

Professor Lyle
Lyle's scent was going to have to be simple, discreet, and very calm. I easily saw him in the easy calm creamy sandalwood scent of Diptyque's Tam Dao. It is unobtrusive but unique easily going with the character of Lyle.

Conall Maccon
This was a bit of a stumper for me, because well the reality is Conall is easily a character I can see not wearing anything at all, but I can also easily imagine at some point Biffy, Alexia, and Akeldama basically in their own ways making him wear a fragrance for events. So I see them choosing Burberry's London for men, a scent of peaty scotch and earth, an easy reference to the Highlands he comes from. He will grumble about it but I imagine every once awhile when no one is noticing he will sniff the bottle with a tiny very masculine sigh of pleasure.

SOTD: Ambre Narguile

Is it so wrong to want to eat your own arm because it smells so delicious? :-)

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image: Golden Harvest by Cora Ogden

Ambering It Up

I suppose I sometimes think of amber as my scent, I feel a certain territorial quality for the note, I suspect it is because it is a note that from a young age has been a part of my life, a note that is always in the background. A note that I know blends well with my skin which is why it was so sad for me a few years ago to realize that chemistry of skin with amber had changed making my ambered fragrances take on overly sweet tarry note, but with time I have found some new loves in the amber category. So out of curiosity I decided to see all the amber fragrances I have and how I would categorize them and came to the conclusion that I am total amber nut:

Ambre Narguile by Hermessence- The ultimate amber pastry, completely defines the idea of amber being a pastry note.
Ambre Russe by Parfum d'Empire- A spicy narcotic decadent amber with a little bit of growling fur going through it.
Ambre Sultan by Serge Lutens- An herbal narcotic amber, very cool and hot at the same time.
Baltic Amber candle by Voluspa- I beautiful smoky creamy amber with hints of pine and vanilla, one of the few candles I have repeatedly bought.
Blackberry Amber by Bath and Body Works- A juicy blackberrry amber patchouli combo, very intense.
Must de Cartier- What I like to call gingerbread amber with smoke and beautiful green notes.
Sensual Amber by Bath and Body Works- A chewy dried apricot amber that has a nice resinous vanilla drydown.
With Love by Hilary Duff- a coffeed piney creamy amber. Bizarrely good.

As you can see I am no perfume snob, I can appreciate high and low end.

image provided by artnet.com

image: Venice Amber Vine Trio by Julie Lazarus

SOTD: Ambre Narguile

It occurs to me I have been in exoticism the last week with my fragrance choices Parfum Sacre, Musk to Musk, and now the delicious Ambre Narguile, funny how you begin to notice a theme.

image provided by artmagick.com

image: The Enchantress by Luis Ricardo Falero 1878

Celebration: What I Wore For My Two Birthday Dinners

So I feel really silly right now with the poll in the corner asking what I should wear, considering my birthday was on Monday. This year I had a fairly quiet birthday, my Sunday night was spent with friends (hard to ask anyone other than direct family who live near by to do dinner on a Monday night) we had dinner at a restaurent and headed back to my place for cake and presents. For that night I wore Fifi Chachnil to go with my somewhat Joan Hollowayesque inspired dress (What can I say part of my adoration for Mad Men is Christina Hendricks and finally seeing someone on the screen who's body I can actually relate too and who is dressed so wonderfully. The only other woman I felt the same way about is Nigella Lawson; who I actually kind've look like). Madame X would have also gone wonderfully with the outfit, but Fifi Chachnil is little bit more cheery so it won out. The next day I had lunch with my grandmother and later on that evening dinner with my family, overall the day was very casual so definately no vavavoom scents, instead I spritzed on the expensively delicious Ambre Narguile by Hermes.

As for the lasting powering of these and taking into consideration the sillage:

Fifi Chachnil edp: Wow this one is incredible 2 spritzs you are good until the next day and it has perfect sillage. I'm just trying to imagine this in parfum.

Ambre Narguile: 3 spritzs and you good for most of the day, has fairly good sillage until about 2/3's of the way through. Interesting in that you really need a full spray on to smell the tobacco note.

As for fragrance presents, well I got a couple of gift cards to sephora, but the truth is Ambre Russe was my present to me for my birthday.

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Image: Untitled #16 , The Birthday Party Series by Vee Speers

Creating Ambre Narguile in the Kitchen

Sometimes I forget that apples for most of their time in history have been a fruit of sensuality, not the humble everyday fruit it has become. I also often forget their connection to the beautifully exotic quince that must be cooked to enjoy the layered flavor of apple, lemon, rose water, and peach. This all stopped today when I yet again I used another recipe from my quickly becoming a beloved cookbook The Worlds Best Recipes by Mark Bittman, once again it was a recipe the used very little ingredients, only four: apples, sugar, cinnamon, and butter, the recipe: Caramelized Apples. I will say this now before going into more detail I think part of the reason this turned out so gorgeously was the organic heirloom apples I got last week at the orchard.

It began with the scent of the apples caramelizing in the oven, topped with with only a 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon, the scent was quite dazzling, and immediately an identification came up in my mind, the uber expensive and frankly delicious Ambre Narguile by Hermes. What was also amazing was the sheer aromatic power of the apples, at one point I was tempted to open another window the scent of apples was so intense. Then I took them out and a few minutes later scooped some out into a bowl, the apples at the bottom had becom translucent in the caramelization process, yet remained firm with a candied texture. The color though was what shocked me it become a light pink tinted amber, reminding me of quinces when cooked. Eat this with a splash cream, creme fraiche, thinned sour cream, crema, or greek yogurt. No ice cream (too sweet and rich).

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image: Venus Verticordia by Dante Gabriel Rossetti