Scent Babylon: Agraria

I admit it, I’m totally addicted to scented candles. Diptyque stole my heart with its Baies and Mouget candles and now I am totally smitten with candles from Agraria.

Agraria is America’s olderst and largest luxury home fragrance company whose fans include the late Diana Vreeland, Giorgio Armani, Carolina Herrera, Michael Kors, Hubert de Givenchy, John Saladino, Meryl Streep and Ralph Lauren. Agraria also boasts collections by Charlotte Moss and White House decorator Michael S. Smith. If these candles are good enough for Vreeland, Givenchy, and the First Family, I guess they are good enough for me....

Agraria’s Crystal Cane Perfume Candles are clean burning candles that come in a hand-cut crystal cane container that can be used as a beautiful cocktail glass or flower vase once the deliciously scented candle is finished. With scents like Bitter Orange, Golden Pomegranate, Lavender and Rosemary, and Mission Fig I will have a beautiful set of crystal cocktail tumblers in no time!

The candles are sold in two sizes; the petite size {US$35} burns for 25 hours and the regular size {US$75} burns for 50 hours.. BUT my favorite peeps over at One King’s Lane have a selection of the larger Crystal Cane candles on sale for $US39!!! You need to be a member in order to shop One Kings Lane’s fab sales, but lucky for you I happen to be a member and can provide you with an invite! Leave a comment, send me an e-mail or a tweet with your e-mail address and I’ll get you the invite toute de suite! Hurry -- the candles are going fast! (via Agraria, San Francisco)

Musée Jacquemart-André

The Winter Garden

Photo: Culturespaces/C Recoura

A new day, and another museum to visit in Paris!  Today I am going to visit the Jacquemart-André Museum near the famed Champs Elysées.

The museum is housed in a private mansion built by Edouard André and his wife Nélie Jacquemart towards the end of the 19th century when Baron Haussmann was in the process of laying out the new Paris.

The museum includes the State Apartments, the Informal Apartments, the Winter Garden, the Italian Museum and the Private Apartments.

By all accounts, the museum is a “not to be missed” stop on any design- or art-lover’s Paris museum itinerary.

Check back later for lots of pictures and an account of my visit!  I think I might have to stop into the Guerlain shop on the Champs Elysées while I'm there as the interiors there are exquisite. Hmm... might have to sample some perfume while I'm there; no classy and fabulous girl should be without a fragrance wardrobe!

À bientôt!

Bond No. 9

My name is Brett, and I’m a perfume-a-holic. There, I said it. I have a full wardrobe of perfume artfully arranged in a lacquer tray on my vanity table – I love that I have a scent for
every mood and every season. Some scents are appropriate for day, some for night. Same goes for the seasons. It is hard for me to walk into Sephora or Neimans and not buy a new fragrance.

I have a subscription to W, and receive their W Desires.com e-newsletters – in today’s update, Laurice
Rahmé, president of Bond No. 9 is featured as a “Guest Guru” and talks about
the power of fragrance.

She believes that fragrance has the power to enrich one’s life. She also advocates blending different eaux de parfum to create a signature scent – what a fabulous idea! I’m always trying
to find unique perfumes so that I don’t smell like anyone else – I think I might have to try this for myself! She also recommends creating a fragrance wardrobe to use the power of smell to one’s
advantage – a woman after my own heart!

As I am a born-and-bred New York City girl, I have a personal affinity for the names of the fragrances in the Bond No. 9 collection; Each perfume is named after a different NYC neighborhood.

Here are some of my favorites:

Central Park  – “Nature, New York-style….An intoxicating sportive (not overly sweet) jaunt through urban greenery.” Notes: Bergamot, verbena, lime blossom.

Bryant Park – “Imagine an oasis of unflappably serene greenery, improbably nestled in a canyon of
skyscrapers. Now enter the chandelier-lit mega-tents of Fashion Week.” Notes: Lily of the Valley, rhubarb, pink pepper, rose patchouli, raspberry, amber.

Little Italy - Citrus-flavored melt-in-your mouth gelato in spray form. A smooth but zesty mingling of exotic fruits — think of this one as an updated invigorating splash of eau. Oh!.” Notes: Clementine, grapefruit, mandarin.