Mandy Aftel is one of those incredibly gifted creatives who seems to be able to bring a sense of purpose and wonder to all that she does. Not only is she a master perfumer in her studio in Berkeley but she is also a teacher […]
All posts filed under: Perfume Houses A – D

Mood Scent 4 : Relaxing Perfumes
Welcome back to another session of Mood Scent 4 with my perfume blogging friends, I Scent You A Day, A Bottled Rose and L‘Esperessence who is here with us today after a leave of absence. This instalment features our most relaxing perfumes. So when do you feel relaxed? […]

Mood Scent 4 : Scents of Place
Welcome to another edition of Mood Scent 4 with my perfume blogging friends, I Scent You A Day and A Bottled Rose. We’re here to scent moods and occasions and today we’ll be writing about Scents of Place. L’Esperessence is currently taking a break but […]

Aftelier Perfumes : Part 2 : The Scents of Natural Fragrant Wonder : Oud Luban, Cepes and Tuberose and Amber Tapestry
Aftelier Perfumes is based in Berkeley and it’s there that Mandy Aftel crafts her wonderful fragrances. Aftel makes not only natural perfumes but also scented teas, chef’s essences and body products. If you wander over and take a look at her website you will find […]

May Day Muguet
This is a post that I had planned for earlier in the week but my house moving completely took over my life. There was a lot of physical labour involved from dawn to the early hours and a fair bit of angst over what to […]

Aftelier Perfumes : Part 1 : The Scents of Natural Fragrant Wonder : Vanilla Smoke, Velvet Tuberose, Palimpsest and Cuir de Gardenia
When I wrapped up my favourite perfumes for 2017 one of the olfactory adventures that needed to be ticked off the list was the exploration of the Aftelier Perfumes collection. So many lovely words are written about Mandy Aftel‘s natural range of perfumes that I really felt […]

Perfume Favourites for 2017 : And Other Fragrant Finds
Hello everyone and welcome to 2018. Here’s to a Fragrant New Year across the globe 🌺. I’m going to take you through my favourite fragrances of the year and a few musings. This is a year where I blogged less frequently for various reasons, however my […]

Perfume Review : French Lily by Dawn Spencer Hurwitz : A Lily To Love
Have you been daydreaming recently and realised that while you may love a specific flower you don’t have a perfume to match? I like tiger lillies and buy them reasonably frequently. They have an endurance that surprises coupled with a gorgeous fragrance that permeates any […]

New Perfume Review : Pink Wood from April Aromatics : Pink Is The Warmest Colour
Let me introduce you to Tanja Bochnig, a talented natural perfumer based in Berlin. Tanja has a beautifully constructed collection of fragrances called April Aromatics and her work touches me in that wonderful way where I feel a connection to everything she creates. There are other fantastic […]

Perfume Reviews : Aroma M Perfume Oils : Japanese Whispers
One of the great pleasures in this perfume pursuit is discovering indie / artisanal brands that stand apart from the mainstream, designer and luxury niche brands furnishing store shelves. Recently I made a new find with Aroma M Perfumes, a perfume house based in New […]

Quick Sniffs : 7 Chakra Oil Set from April Aromatics
One of my favourite scented treats are these beautiful natural Chakra Oils from April Aromatics. I’ll admit that I’m a novice in the chakra realm but I’m enjoying wearing these so much that they’ve quickly become an everyday wear. There are seven oils, one for […]

Parfums Dusita Giveaway Winners
The giveaway winners of the Parfums Dusita sample sets of La Douceur de Siam and Le Sillage Blanc are : Cath Dunphy (entered via my personal Facebook) jjlook8 (entered via Instagram) Morejasmineplease (entered on meganinsaintemaxime.com) The winners were drawn out of a hat by one of my […]