The Win, the Surprise, his colours and the Lovers

It has been an interesting week in perfume terms. On Tuesday I won my first ever sample from a fellow bloggers perfume draw, thank you Elena. Then I managed to get totally star struck when I met Frederic Malle at the stall in Liberty. I had come to have a look at the new packaging, based on Liberty designs chosen by the man himself, and there he was, being all charming and pleasant. After I had regained my wit I did ask him about his synethesia and he very humbly played it down with the words:" Yes, I do see perfume in colour but its not a big deal." It certainly helps when you go through Liberty's vast textile and pattern archive to find the right designs for your creations. The designs are lovely, all completely different in terms of style, colour and period, ranging from 18th century to modern day patterns. My favourites are probably the floral ones for Lipstick Rose and Lys Mediterranee and the bold and graphic interpretations for French lover, Angelique sous la Pluie and L'Eau d'Hiver.  Basenotes shows them in all their glory:

For someone who creates surface pattern designs AND loves perfume it cannot get much better than that. Those will be Liberty exclusive (obviously). 

And then there was the London Perfume Lovers meet up. My very first. It's always a bit nerve wracking to go and meet a bunch of strangers on your own, but I needn't have worried. The bunch was a lovely one, the host Lila super welcoming and the whole feel of the evening was a bit like children left alone in a candy shop. I mean, how often can you sit around with 30 people and sniff perfumes? In this case quite regularly once a month and I plan to go back. The theme of this evening was Orientals and a summary will be written by Tara of Olfactoria's travels, but my personal highlights/surprises were:

1. Oud smells of cowshed

2. I don't like Ambre Sultan anymore

3. But I love Tom Ford Shanghai Lily

The evening ended with Portrait of a Lady, this most wonderful Frederic Malle creation. 

The design he chose for it is this elegant and slightly mysterious 18th century fabric that manages to be entire timeless and wouldn't look out of place as a modern day wallpaper: 

And here comes the weekend. Have a good one.

Frederic Malle limited edition for Liberty images via basenotes.com

Portrait of a Lady, best in Bloom

In my childhood photo album there is a picture showing me all dolled up in a red velvet dress, white knee socks and black patent leather shoes. I have long forgotten who got married that day and made me a flower girl, but the dress and the shoes I remember. Or better, I remember how proud and pretty I felt wearing them. To this day velvet holds an irresistible magical fascination and when I see a velvety item in a shop I will need to touch it. Sometimes also buy it. There are a few velvet things in my wardrobe, but they don't get out much. The little bolero found in a second hand shop in N.Y. 15 years ago is now worn permanently by the vintage mannequin, the Ibiza style dress for which I'm now 20 years too old, the black graduation dress hand made by my Godmother and a few other oddities. They all mean something to me and made me very happy at some time.

So as the soft and shiny texture of velvet, its opulence and figure hugging properties will always seduce me, a perfume that can translate this into scent will have no problem to entrance me. Meet the "Portrait of a Lady" by Edition de Parfums Frederic Malle.

My visual interpretation of Portrait of a Lady by Edition de Parfums Frederic Malle

She is a rose, of course, this Lady. No surprise here. Velvety petals of the darkest red rose, soft, seductive, rich and and proud. But be aware that his is no innocent rose, probably not even a lady.... She has smoke and spice in her, and sparkling wit. I don't know what parfumeur Dominique Ropion's inspiration was, may be the Henry James novel, but I like to think that it was a very special woman and that he wanted to make any woman wearing his perfume feeling beautiful, seductive and ever so slightly dangerous. For the colour interpretation I wanted to show the shiny wafting ripples of the scent and its amazing sillage accompanied by the black resin that gives it its darker side. It doesn't change all that much on me during the dry down, it just gets a bit softer and lasts amazingly long. I think someone should name a rose after it.

How and where to wear:

The Chelsea flower show, grubby Jeans and T-shirt, killer heels, red lipstick

Rose image via flickr by aling_, some rights reserved