Did you know that Chantecaille makes fragrances to complement its gorgeous makeup? My favorites Chantecaille fragrance is Frangipane ($58 or $95, depending on size). It's not new, but it continues to have a place on my dresser.Frangipani is the common name for plumeria, a fragrant, night-blooming tropical flower that blooms on shrubs. Plumeria flowers range from white to yellow and pink, depending on the cultivar.
Frangipani was used as an offering to the gods in some Asian temples, and on several Pacific islands, the flowers are used for making leis. They are the essence of warm climes.
Sylvie Chantecaille was inspired to create the fragrance by the gardens of a 12th-century palace in Udaipur, the City of Lakes in western India. It's also a city of palaces, dating back to 1559 - and gardens.
The top notes of Chantecaille's Frangipane are water hyacinth, violet leaf, and orange, so the first rush is immediately pleasurable to me. The middle notes are jasmine, incense, ylang-ylang, and frangipani. It's a good thing I don't smell the incense. Going to church, with priests launching that stuff out toward the congregants, used to make me gag and cough. The lingering base notes are vetiver, musk, and vanilla (and some have suggested amber). Despite the "rogue" scents, the notes blend to create a unique, full, sensuous floral with a sultry, powdery finish.
This is a soft, sweet fragrance. I love wearing it to work. It's not as heady as pure plumeria can be (I love that too!). While I'm not a big vanilla fan, the vanilla in this scent does not make me smell like a cupcake. It seems like I've told you about every note in the fragrance I don't like, but I do like the integrated result. Those Chantecaille ladies sure have it together!
Frangipane is available in perfume, bath and shower gel, a heavenly body cream, and a scented candle that will turn your room into a tropical paradise. The Frangipane Body Cream ($60) is enriched with vitamin E and tocotrienols, wedelia essential oil, and extracts of grape seed, algae, rosemary, and aloe to heal and protect the skin. Layered under the perfume, it's a treat.
Check out Frangipane at the Chantecaille Web site or a Chantecaille counter near you. Let me know what you think!
Photos courtesy of Chantecaille and wikipedia.com
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6 comments:
this sounds like a perfect scent! i have been craving all tropical scents now that the weather is so much warmer
Hi Anna,
And it's affordable too. Try the smaller size. Plus, if you aren't sure, you can usually talk a Chantecaille rep out of a sample. It's been out long enough that samples are easy to come by. :)
I agree that this fragrance is beautiful and easy to wear. It isn't overpowering like a lot of fragrances based on tropical flowers. There is enough vanilla to ground it without smelling like a cupcake. I like to have a touch of vanilla to soften florals, and one of my favorites combinations is Serge Lutens Un Bois Vanille with his Fleurs d'Oranger. I also have a bottle of CSP Vanille Abricot (which DOES smell like a cupcake) to share with my 5 yr old daughter. I like a small spritz with some of my heavier orientals. You have inspired me to get some of the Frangipane body lotion now.
Kathy, I think you will love the body cream. It's rich and fragrant.
I have a weird relationship with Serge Lutens Fleurs d'Oranger. It's a bit heavy for me. I probably have 10 orange flower fragrances, and I think it's my least favorite. I'll give it a whirl again tomorrow and see if my taste has become more sophisticated!
It is a difficult fragrance, and I know that some people have trouble with the cumin. Luckily it doesn't show up on me, but it is a heavy fragrance. I do think that a touch of vanilla or dry woods can help lighten it a bit. Bourbon French makes a wonderful orange blossom fragrance as well as a great tea olive one, and they both remind me of wonderful sultry Southern evenings. The Serge Lutens' orange blossom is something else altogether!
Kathy, indeed - it's the cumin in Serge Lutens Fleurs d'Oranger that does me in!
I'll have to try Bourbon French! Thanks for recommending it.
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