New Toes and Other Loves

November 24, 2014 by Lavanya

We have some new toes in our home!! Our daughter Sitara arrived a few weeks ago. It has been a crazy month and, with two babies under two, I anticipate crazier days ahead but I am trying to slow down and savor all the delicious babyness around me (which is easier said than done). I thought I’d crawl my way back into blogging with a list of a few things that I have been enjoying lately (other than tiny fingers and […]

Categories: Food/Drink, Memories, Picture Memories, Scent, writing • Tags: Aftelier, argan oil, baby, body oil, Farmer's Market, mandy aftel, natural perfume, persimmon

The Figurative Fig : Review of Aftelier’s Fig

September 2, 2011 by Lavanya

I LOVE figs. The ooey gooey richness of the dried version. The bright yet fleshy richness of the ripe fruit. Yes, the recurring adjective when I think of all forms of fig is their scrumptious richness. Aftelier’s Fig definitely has a richness borrowed from the fruit. Yet, it has an elegance that I haven’t encountered before. A fruity, boozy elegance, if you will. More like forbidden than fresh wholesome fruit, with almost a plummy prune-like quality.  I happened to read […]

Categories: Art, Perfume Review, Scent • Tags: Aftelier, fig, natural perfume, Perfume Review

Perfume Review: Anya’s Garden Starflower

February 19, 2010 by Lavanya

“I received samples of both Moondance and Starflower from Anya, at the same  time. I put off sampling Star Flower for a while, and revelled instead in the lush beauty of Moondance.I assumed, that I wouldn’t find the gourmand quality of Starflower too enticing- but boy was I wrong!! I loved Moondance, but it is the audacious and voluptuous Starflower that I feel like reaching for when I need a ‘sniff’ before sleeping. The large lollipop of a beginning leaps […]

Categories: Perfume Review, Scent • Tags: anyas garden, natural perfume, starflower

Perfume Notes : Tuberose and Tuberose Absolute

October 18, 2009 by Lavanya

Tuberose, or Rajnigandha as it’s called in Hindi, is my mother’s favourite flower. In Delhi, one of my father’s friends, when invited for dinner, would bring a bouquet of fresh tuberoses for my mother as a thank you. And then for the next day or so, a cool elusive smell would float in the living room – sweet, dewy and incredibly beautiful.That is my first memory of smelling tuberoses and it has been my favourite flower too, since. I have […]

Categories: Perfume Notes, Scent • Tags: memories, natural perfume, perfume, Serge Lutens Tubereuse Criminelle, tuberose, tuberose absolute