Victoria: 2669 posts

“Whether you believe in Valentine’s Day or not, are currently attached or flying solo, there’s one thing we can all agree on—the best part of this holiday is the candy.” I cannot agree more with Saveur, and here are some delicious ideas for Valentine’s Day treats from my favorite food magazine:

A Dozen Mail-Order Valentine’s Day Sweets

A Red and Pink Valentine’s Fête

How to Make Molten Chocolate Cakes–I highly recommend this fantastic recipe to any chocolate lover.

Rich Chocolate Desserts–a mouthwatering selection; The Darkest Chocolate Ice Cream in the World delivers on its promise.

And some related posts published previously on Bois de Jasmin:

Aphrodisiac Dinner for Valentine’s Day and Beyond

Love Potion #99

The other day as I was helping my friend to find a new perfume, she remarked that the rules of dating have become very complicated, especially with the advent of new communication technologies. How long do you wait before you reply to his email, how fast should he text you back, etc? Thinking about this gives me a headache far faster than any of the latest celebrity fragrances. As I left my friend to select between Stella McCartney and Hermès Kelly Calèche, I went home to browse through the most famous manual on love for some dating guidance.

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Star rating: 5 stars–outstanding/potential classic, 4 stars–very good, 3 stars–adequate, 2 stars–disappointing, 1 star–poor.

As I wrote in Running with the Boys, some fragrance types seem so quintessentially masculine that I find it hard to wear them. The fougère style fragrances combine herbal notes with the rich sweetness of amber, tonka bean and musk and are among the most classical of masculine perfumes (think Calvin Klein Eternity for Men!) I have used words like virile, burly and hair-chested to describe this genre, but it is a gross generalization. Manly though this style is, it can also be elegant and polished. I only need to reach for Tom Ford Lavender Palm and Penhaligon’s Sartorial to find two recent examples.

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Feminine, masculine? Does it really matter when it comes to perfume? I wander over to  Sephora’s masculine section and bravely spray Ralph Lauren Polo on my wrist. After all, I had to wear Drakkar Noir as a perfumery student to learn its nuances and once spent a whole day drenched in Paco Rabanne, which a friend described as burly and virile. Neither of those words has ever been applied to me, but as I get a piney leathery waft of Polo I start to fidget. As much as I want to be open minded about disregarding gendered divisions, some smells seem too masculine to be comfortable for me. The biggest offenders are the fougère style fragrances like Guy Laroche Drakkar Noir, Davidoff Cool Water and Yves Saint Laurent Kouros–the style which combines the aromatic richness of lavender with citrus, geranium, amber, musk and oakmoss.

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A piece of dark chocolate is my idea of a perfect dessert. It is bitter and creamy, sweet and nutty, tender and animalic. Chocolate has such a kaleidoscopic range of flavors and aromas that it would seemingly be perfect as a perfume note. Yet, instead of conveying luscious darkness, most chocolate fragrances go no further than the creamy cocoa impression suggested by vanilla and milky notes.

As beautiful as true dark chocolate can be, it is extremely challenging to work into a composition. The very qualities that chocolate lovers crave—bitterness and richness—can register more like a gamey stew than a mouthwatering confection. Enter Arquiste Parfumeur Anima Dulcis, a fragrance that does not shy away from bringing out the animalic facets of bitter chocolate, while remaining harmonious and tempting. It is an oriental composition that hints at gourmand, but ends up in an unexpected chocolate incense territory.

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