Eve’s Bayou closes with the lines:
“Memory is a selection of images. Some elusive, others printed indelibly on the brain. Each image is like a thread. Each thread woven together to make a tapestry of intricate texture and the tapestry tells a story and the story is our past.”
If I were to tell my story it would not be a selection of images, but a selection of scents.
Since I was teenager, I have always enjoyed splashing a little bit of that seduction juice on my non-specific erogenous zones. Parfums and Eau de toilettes are liquid keepsakes to many of milestone events of my life. There are fragrances that instantly remind me of past stages in life [middle school with Versace Blue Jeans, Upper School with Curve, College with Boss by Hugo], scents that recall forbidden crushes [ Escada Rockin Rio], signature colognes that are retired because each spray reminds me of who I was in past relationships [Chanel Allure, Acqua de Gio, Casaque by Jean Louis Vermeil] Aromas that force me to recall feminine forces of a nature [ La Prairie Silver Rain] and redolences that causes olfactory hallucinations of dangerous liaisons [Chanel No.5]. Some parfums re-live traveling adventures [Voyage D’ Hermes ] and odorous moments of knowing you are loved and celebrated [Custom Fragonard prepared in Grasse].
Yesterday I was in search of my scent for turning 30 and stopped in Kilian Boutique NY …. For someone who hates smelling like everyone else, who enjoys luxury items, and appreciates luxury service more, I was instantly carried away. Back to Black: Aphrodisiac captured everything I wanted to say at this point in my life and inspired me to create tonight’s Drink du Nuit, which I present for your imbibing pleasure called: Scent of Temptation.
DRINK DU NUIT: SCENT OF TEMPTATION
INGREDIENTS:
1 1/2 ounces Hennessy Black Cognac
3/4 of an ounce Lavender-Honey Simple Syrup
1/2 ounce Grand Marnier Signature Collection No. 2 Raspberry Peach
1/2 ounce fresh lemon juice
A dash of orange bitters
Lavender Sugar for garnish
GLASSWARE: Chilled Martini Glass
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Rim a chilled cocktail glass with the lavender sugar.
2. Pour the other ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice cubes
3. Shake well.
4. Strained into the prepared cocktail glass
5. Garnish with a lemon twist.
Drink Well and Remember:
“Perfume is the key to our memories”
― Kate Lord Brown, The Perfume Garden
“Odors have a power of persuasion stronger than that of words, appearances, emotions, or will. The persuasive power of an odor cannot be fended off, it enters into us like breath into our lungs, it fills us up, imbues us totally. There is no remedy for it.”
― Patrick Süskind, Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
“Perfume is magic. It’s mystery. We recreate the smell of a flower. Of wood. Of grass. We capture the essence of life. Liquefy it. We store memories. We make dreams,” he told her once. “What we do is a wonder, an art, and we have a responsibility to do it well.”
― M.J. Rose, Seduction
“What we talk about less often, because it is harder to explain, is the way a perfume can give breath and body to the phantom selves that waft about us as we go through our days — not just the showgirl, the femme fatale, and the ingenue, but all the memories and dreams of the taller, meaner, sharper, sweeter, softer people we have been or long to be.”
― Alyssa Harad, Coming to My Senses: A Story of Perfume, Pleasure, and an Unlikely Bride
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