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Andy Tauer is a Swiss perfumer who will make you see God through scent. Or for those of us who are atheists, he will simply make you swoon. His lavender creation, Reverie au Jardin, is the one...
If you're familiar with the Armani Prive line, you know that a bottle usually costs about $185. They do sell refills that you can find for about $100 less, but that's still $85 or so plus shipping....
Sweet Absinthe Eau de Parfum
Ava Luxe (first name Serena) is an independent perfumer with great talent. She is very young, but has already built herself a loyal following and quite a catalog of...
Sometimes you just have to get rid of something in your fridge, and you get a little creative. I love those times. Last night I realized I had some ricotta that had been sitting long enough that I...
OK, so this entry is more of a showcase sort of thing than a recipe, since no one really needs a recipe to make a BLT. But I picked up some farm fresh tomatoes from a roadside stand on Friday and...
Alright, full disclosure here: I am predisposed not to like most Bond fragrances, though I do continue to doggedly sample them. Why is this? Well, they are hideously priced, for one thing. If they...
It's getting cold outside. That means I'm in the mood for hearty stews and roasts that let me turn on my oven for hours at a time, heating up my apartment and fattening me up for the long winter....
Christianne Celle Calypso Gardenia is a limited edition fragrance featuring notes of peach blossom, white gardenia, and jasmine. I adore all of those notes, but somehow in this they fall a bit...
I know that all the perfumistas out there have been wondering how I can call myself a perfume blogger without having a Caron page. Well, the thing is, I'm about to commit perfume heresy: I've never...
Before I sniffed Carriere by Gendarme, I thought Les Bains du Marais Musc Blanc was the best clean musk for the price that I could ever find. Hmm. I may be wrong. Because Carriere, you see, is...
I must hand it to Cartier. They make the most beautiful bottles. Also, when they decided to make Delices, they were remarkably ambitious. A prominent cherry note? Danger! Cough syrup territory!...
I was excited to try Chanel's newest Les Exclusifs release, Sycomore, for quite a while, having heard so many good things about it on Makeupalley.com. I do like vetiver, and Sycomore is said to be...
I like my brownies chewy. Not cakey, not fudgey, but chewy. And Fine Cooking magazine, insightfully recognizing the three kinds of brownie people, developed three different brownie recipes to suit...
Welcome to Chicken Pot Pie, My Way. Please be forewarned that there is laziness ahead. Not Sandra Lee laziness (those who watch the Food Network will know what I mean)…but I have included...
Some might scoff that my website now has two chicken pot pie recipes. To those scoffers, I say, whatEVER. Chicken Pot Pie is wonderful in its many iterations and this weekend being a holiday, I had...
Have you ever had one of these?
That is an Ethel M lemon cream chocolate. It consists of a wonderfully sweet-tart lemon cream filling enrobed in dark chocolate. It is divine. You might think that...
Mmmm…chocolate covered strawberries in a PIE! Yum. At least, that's what I intended when I thought this one up. It's very simple to make and in theory the flavors should work. Let's see how it...
I usually try to cook and bake a lot on the weekends so that during the week I can throw some leftovers in the microwave at the end of a long day and put my feet up. Some days there are just no...
Until this year, I'd never brined a turkey. My normal MO for that fowl is to whip up some herbed or spiced butter and go to town with an injector. It works well. But so many people rave about the...
I love independent perfumers. These people are artists of the nose, and when you buy from them, you don't buy from a massive company, you buy from a person, and you get personalized service and a...
I can honestly say that I've never had the slightest curiosity about Clive Christian fragrances. After all, if your claim to fame is that you sell the world's most expensive perfume, you're...
Up for review is Comme des Garcons Peppermint. This one is from CdG's Sherbet line. I can't think of a more refreshing scent for summer. First off, this is no candy cane fragrance. It is a true,...
I'm happy to hear from other fragrant foodies. Feel free to email me at moc.liamg|gtakaras#moc.liamg|gtakaras. But be civil, or you're goin' in my junk mail folder :-).
This was my first foray into cornbread stuffing. I think it complements turkey quite well and lends it a certain earthiness. I made my own cornbread for this recipe the day before, but you could...
In general, I have found myself to be not such a big fan of Creed scents. They are quite pricey, and overall not that original in this blogger's humble opinion. Yet, there are a few I've appreciate...
Continuing the trend of fashion designers branching into fragrance, Cristiano Fissore has come out with 3 fragrances. Two are appropriately named Cashmere (the design house's primary material), but...
I have just acquired an 8 ml decant of Christian Dior's Cologne Blanche from dear Nancy at fishbone fragrances (hint: Nancy is going out of business, so now is the time to purchase from her.)...
I ordered a sample of Diptyque's Jardin Clos because I smelled a fresh hyacinth the other day and was intoxicated anew by hyacinths' sweet, spring scent. I thought, how wonderful would it be if I...
Today I'm testing the new fragrance from Divine, L'etre Aime pour Femme. This is my first Divine test that I can recall, and it is, well, divine! This is one of those fragrances that is so superbly...
Chaos. The long discontinued fragrance that inspired a fanatical following culminating in outrageous prices for rare bottles on ebay. Recently Donna Karan reissued Chaos, and of course-people are...
$180 for 1/2 ounce. That's how much Ellie by Ellie D parfum costs. And that's why I haven't bothered sampling it until now. It seems, however, that I have begun to corrupt my dear mother and bring...
Azuree Soleil vs. Bronze Goddess
Right then. Some say Azuree Soleil and Bronze Goddess smell the same. Others (probably including Tom Ford, creator of Azuree Soleil, Estee Lauder's beachy summer...
I've been getting some email inquiries, so thought I'd start an FAQ section. If you're curious about something I wrote/did on this blog and this doesn't answer you, feel free to contact me at...
Guess the notes: it's every perfumista's favorite game. And while it's quite fun to be right, sometimes being wrong is much more interesting. I'm late to the party in testing the Farmacia SS...
I never thought I would like Fifi Chachnil Eau de Parfum…or Eau de Toilette or even Parfum, for that matter. It hits almost every no-no for me in terms of notes that I usually hate…powdery...
I greatly enjoy cooking and dining out and started this section of the site to share my culinary accomplishments (and maybe some abysmal failures) with the world. Sometimes I follow recipes,...
I promise to post something in this section soon!
I'm ever so happy to make Angelique Sous La Pluie my first reviewed Frederic Malle. Created by the genius nose Jean Claude Ellena, this is one of the more accessible Malle fragrances, but at the...
What do you do on a frightfully cold, rainy day when you get a craving for General Tso's chicken and your last attempt at ordering from your local Chinese delivery place led to a horrendously...
Gelsomino
As my Sarrasins decant dwindles, I've been on a jasmine hunt. I know that somewhere out there, there must be a jasmine scent I can accept as a suitable substitute for Sarrasins. When I...
What better way to celebrate all the fresh produce we enjoy in the summer than with a tangy Greek vegetable salad? Be sure to select good tomatoes for this dish-NOT the awful salmon colored...
Guerlain is such a behemoth of a perfume house and has produced so many classic fragrances that it seems almost sacrilegious that my first official review of a Guerlain fragrance will be for an...
Hermes has its well known line of fragrances you can easily obtain at department stores and discounters (Caleche, Jardin sur le Nil, 24 Faubourg, etc)…and then there are the Hermessences. This is...
Ortensia
Hilde Soliani is known for light, pretty florals, and that is exactly what Ortensia is. I smell lush jasmine and dew on the top notes, and it dries down to a soapy, slightly musky orange...
Sometimes you fall in love with the idea of something, and more often than not, reality fails to live up to expectations. This was the case when I sampled Histoire de Parfums Blanc Violette. A...
Today I present you with a recipe gone wrongly. I rarely use recipes, because I prefer to cook creatively, and frankly, this experience reinforced that practice for me. I got this recipe from a...
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One of my favorite fragrances in the entire world is Keiko Mecheri's Genie des Bois. The fragrance notes are, mysteriously, only violet, cedar and exotic woods. I would add cinnamon to that list,...
I'm intrigued by fragrances with unusual notes-although the recent trend of labeling notes with fantastical names to gussy them up, such as frozen peach kernels and drenched green pear, does not...
Audacious and passionate, says Lancome. Spicy and floral, a mixture of saffron, rose and woods. Thus advertised is Lancome Magnifique.
Is that entire company smoking crack?
I just spritzed...
By far my most expensive perfume purchase ever has been L'Artisan Iris Pallida 2007 Harvest. For those unfamiliar with the special harvest concept, L'Artisan picks one or sometimes two flowers each...
For anyone reading this new to the world of scent, Le Labo is a luxury perfumer that creates all the fragrances in their line by hand in their New York City lab-hence the name. This is their way of...
The April issue of Bon Appetit contained this recipe for Lemon Cornmeal Cake with Blueberry Sauce, and I just had to make it-I love fruity desserts, and lemon in particular. So I made this cake,...
As you've probably gathered by now, I tend to invent things as I go along in the kitchen rather than following a recipe. And when I do follow a recipe, I find myself compelled to change it somehow...
Finding a fragrance that smells 3 times more expensive than it costs, especially in a recession, is a very happy day. Recently I tested Le Prince Jardinier Labyrinthe Libertin. Have you ever...
Every perfumista should have a go-to, barely-perfume scent that is appropriate for all occasions. It should be subtle, and stay close to the skin. It should be the perfume to wear in front of...
Lostmarch is one of the unsung heroes of the perfume world. Much like Parfums Delrae to my mind, they do not come out with new fragrances very often but when they do, their compositions are...
MPG's Jardin Blanc sure sounds like one deliciously heady white floral: seringa, daffodil, honeysuckle, tuberose, leafy green, myrtle, mandarin, jasmine, ylang-ylang, clove, oak moss, sandalwood,...
Manuel Canovas is a French fabric house that makes gorgeous, frequently floral, fabrics.
Recently, they also started making perfume. Their perfume bottles and boxes are just as pretty as their...
I was messing around in the kitchen this weekend trying to figure out a way to use up the tube of almond paste that had been sitting in my pantry for, oh, a year or so. I decided to try and make...
Menardo's L'eau de Kasaneka was created by a Japanese perfumer and it is a triumph of a spicy floral. I am particularly impressed by it because it features Hamanasu, a Japanese rose, in the top...
I've always adored the way Miller Harris fragrances look-the bottles are simple and square, but with a lovely whimsical floral accent. I've had less success with the way the fragrances actually...
Fig scents are ubiquitous in the niche market, and as pricey as most of them are, they are pretty much a dime a dozen. Fig as a note is lovely-fresh, green, a bit earthy and woodsy all at once. You...
Montale is famous for its aoud (agarwood) fragrances, and while some people can't get enough of them, I prefer the non-aouds they have to offer. Call me crazy: I just can't get behind the idea of...
Nasi Goreng is the Indonesian version of fried rice, and I find it extra delicious because Indonesia is such a wonderful fusion center for many different Asian cultures, and that fusion extends to...
Neil Morris is an independent perfumer in New York who recently made a number of his bespoke fragrances available to the public for purchase. I recently ordered three of his creations to try,...
What's New
11/11/09 New review: Keiko Mecheri Datura Blanche
11/9/09 New review: Dior Escale a Portofino
11/8/09 New review: Lostmarch L'eau de l'Hermine
11/5/09 New review: Keiko Mecheri Iris...
What does one do when one has a diabolical dual craving for both oatmeal cookies and buttercream frosting? First, one engages in any activity that causes muscles to burn and sweat to drip for...
It's amazing how evocative smells can be. Some fragrances make me think of landscapes, settings, or specific memories. Others bring to mind textures. Still others seem to evoke pure color. Odori...
No, this isn't an entire page dedicated to Bulgari's Omnia. This here page is for Omnia Profumo, yet another Italian line discovered by the evil geniuses at Luckyscent (they're not really evil…in...
I've been wanting to sample Ormonde Jayne scents for a while, but acquired some samples with no small degree of trepidation: I am hoping I don't like them, in fact, since you have to order them...
This is the best oven fried chicken recipe I've found. In fact, I prefer it to real fried chicken—it's far less greasy and you can taste the zesty spices more this way.
Start with this batch of...
You've gotta hand it to Parfumerie Generale: there is no halfway, and there is no such thing as boring for them. Many PG scents wind up not working on me, but they are always so much fun to test....
One thing about Parfums DelRae: even if you don't care for the notes they use in their fragrances, you can just tell they use outstanding ingredients. Nothing screams plastic or fake in these...
Parfums MDCI..the fragrance house that charges you an arm and a leg for a bottle of perfume and then tops the bottle off with an armless, legless classical bust. I get annoyed with expensive...
I have a fascination with heliotrope. It is such a multi-faceted note: nutty, vanilla-y, even playdoh-y. And I sample Paul & Joe Blanc precisely because of the heliotrope note. At first sniff,...
Last week I found myself with a mound of peaches that had all gone ripe at the same time. This situation clearly called for a peach pie, and since I only had one pre-made pie crust and absolutely...
Sometimes, one gets tired of tomato sauces on pasta. And if you don't like cream sauces particularly (I know, freakish), that leaves you with limited alternatives. There's pesto, but what if it's...
A buckle is a cake that you make by layering fruit on top of batter. It's called buckle because when it bakes, the cake rises and makes the fruit "buckle" in. It's very versatile-you can make it...
This recipe for cranberry sauce is based on one posted at Epicurious. I modified it slightly to better fit my tastes. It is delicious and very, very easy.
Ingredients:
1 cup ruby port
12 oz fresh...
When I ordered a sample of Profumum Volo AZ 686, I had visions of a gardenia version of Serge Lutens Sarrasins. That is, I had heard that though the official notes for the fragrance should lend it...
For a long time, I've been eyeing Pioneer Woman's Pots de Creme recipe. Chocolate and coffee-what's not to like? I finally decided to try it recently, and I must say, it lived up to my expectations...
This is an elegant, tasty, and very simple vegetable side dish that works very well on Thanksgiving when you don't have time to fuss with your veggies. It's also a nice alternative to the gooey and...
Salsa verde is a delightful green sauce based on cilantro and tomatillo flavor. It's very versatile. You can use it as a dip for tortilla chips, on salads, and on pretty much any meat dish. It is...
Hear ye, hear ye! This page shall be dedicated to all Serge Lutens fragrance reviewing…in other words, it's a little corner of heaven!
First up…Sarrasins!
Sarrasins is one of those evil...
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Egg salad is a wonderful summer dish because it is so easy to pair with all of the fresh produce available. It is also very simple and versatile-if you start with eggs and mayonnaise, you can add a...
Soivohle is artisan perfumer Liz Zorn's fragrance line, and it includes both natural perfumes and those that include synthetic ingredients. I know that some people are horrified by the idea of...
Y'all may recall me mentioning on this site one or two times how much I like supporting independent perfumers? Yeah, I know, I do tend to repeat myself. It's strength of convictions, you see…and...
This is a wonderful salad in the heat of summer, and you can use it as an entree or a side dish. It's great with grilled meat and is oh so simple to make.
Start out with these fixins:
And for...
This is a basic white bread recipe passed down by my mother, except I've used spelt flour instead of bleached wheat flour. Spelt is a grain, a close relative of common wheat. I have a mild wheat...
Sweet and sour chicken in Chinese-American restaurants typically arrives with the chicken breaded and fried and then doused in a sticky sweet sauce. I've never understood this custom. If you're...
Some people think Thai flavors are a wonderful symphony of sweet, salty, sour and spicy…others find them kind of revolting. Thankfully, I am in the former group. I adore Thai food, and there are...
Fragrances that purport to evoke a specific scene or mood never fail to capture my imagination. And TDC's Sel de Vetiver claims to be inspired by the smell of salt from the sea drying on skin....
Tocca's fragrance bottles are to die for pretty. So I always sample a new Tocca with a kind of breathless anticipation, hoping, hoping, Hoping! that I will like it and be able to justify buying...
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Swiss perfumer Vero Kern has been making waves in the fragrance world recently with her line of pure parfums. Her scents are billed as unique, and made from the finest materials available. Today...
When I went to the market a few days ago, I discovered to my delight a pile of Vidalia onions. Vidalia onions are grown in Georgia, and are extra sweet because of the sulfur content of the soil in...
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I'm not usually drawn to Yves St. Laurent fragrances. I've tried Babydoll and found it pleasant but unremarkable, and that's about it. However, I got a sample of YSL's Elle in my latest Sephora...
