Fashion/Beauty

Schiaparelli

Home Decor

Murals

Sunflowers

Gardens

Soaps

Perfumes

Soap and Perfume Prints 

L'Amande Marseilles Line

Some products from the Menage Line

Almond Milk and Honey products from the Armomatique Line

The line includes the local Ligurian scents of:  Anise and Blackberry, Lemon Balm and Black Cherry, Masterwort and Pomegranate, Elder and Strawberry Trees, Wormwood and Black Current, Almond Milk and Honey, Lavender and Myrtle.

The Elder and Strawberry Products / Armomatique Line

Eau di parfum from the Fleuri Line

The line includes the local Ligurian floral scents of:  Honeysuckle, Cornflower, Citrus Blooms, Broom, Butterbush, Gillyflower.  You can read about these scents on their site.

The Perfumed Soaps from the Fleuri Line

Cucina's Lemon and Olive Oil Kitchen Soap at Amazon

Soaps

Italians, like most Europeans, prefer liquid soaps in their baths and for their hands.  Those soaps tend to be international brands from international companies.

But there are some Italian companies that produce the traditional bar soaps, like the Sapone di Marseilles (a castile soap made with olive oil).   One of those companies is L'Amande.  They have a wonderful website that I link through to so you can get more information on their beautiful products.

L'Amande has done a wonderful job of keeping the old products, while adapting to the new products customers want.  Their Marseilles Line, for example, includes shampoos, liquid soaps, oils, creams, deodorants, lip moisturizers, even toothpaste!  And they have several other lines too:

Sapone di Marseilles gift packs

Ligurian scents, natural bath and beauty products

Ligurian floral scents in bath foams, soaps, and eau di parfum, in boxed sets

L'Amande distributes exclusively through select erboristerie (herbalists) and farmacie (pharmacies) in Italy.  So when you're in Italy, check for one near you on their distributor map.

And when in Italy, be sure to check out some of the other erboristerie and farmacie.  Many produce their own soaps and scents.

If you're not in Italy, or planning on being there anytime soon, the on-line store Cybercucina has a line of scents, creams and soaps called L'erborlaio.

L'erbolario at CyberCucina  

If you're not in Italy, you can always find pure, olive oil castile soap on-line from Caswell and Massey America's oldest chemists and perfumers (from 1752). 

Another source is Amazon.com's Olivella olive oil soaps:  bar soaps, liquid soaps, and moisturizer.

 Olivella Olive Oil Soaps at Amazon.com

But for a truly Italian/Mediterranean scented soap, there can only be one:  rosemary soap.  

Rosemary grows wild throughout the Mediterranean basin, and has been used for centuries in incense, ointments, and beauty products.

Rosemary's aroma is known to stimulate the memory, and to reduce nervous tension.  So when you use rosemary soap, you can first remember, and then lather your cares away. 

You can normally find rosemary soap, often in combination with lavender, at herbalist or health food stores.  And there are many rosemary soaps available from Amazon.com (oils and creams, too). 

 Rosemary Soaps and Oils at Amazon.com

One of the soaps available from Amazon.com is Cucina's rosemary and goat's milk exfoliating soap.  

They offer other interesting items such as ginger and Sicilian lemon hand cream, and a kitchen soap with lemon and olive oil, to remove food scents from your hands.

 Cucina Products at Amazon.com

Perfumes

History

The history of perfume begins with the burning of incense made of aromatic plants, woods, resins, spices for religious ceremonies.  (The word perfume comes from the Latin for 'by smoke'.)  

From at least 7000bc scents of plants were mixed with olive oil and sesame oil for use directly on the skin and hair.  There is some evidence that the distillation of scents from plants in the form of essential oils  was a common practice in 3000bc.  

The transfer of knowledge went as so much did, from the far east, to the near east, to the Mediterranean basin.  In the case of perfume, there it remained.  The Medici of Tuscany, Italy, brought perfumes to Paris with Catherine de Medici (image below is of a young Catherine with the typical Renaissance plucked forehead to raise the hair line).  Italian perfumers set up shop there, and sourced their materials from near and far.  Much came and still comes from Montpellier and Grasse, in the south of France.

The biggest advancement for perfumes was the development from 1868 of synthetic fragrances.  The advantage and benefit of synthetics in perfumes, combined with natural scents, is the luxurious quality of the scent.  It's the synthetics, mainly aldehydes, that give perfume it's 'perfuminess'.

The Perfumes of Caterina de' Medici

Dr. Giovanni di Massimo, a Florentine perfumer, apothecary and founder of I Profumi di Firenze, discovered Catherine de' Medici's perfume recipes as well as other Medici fragrance formulas when the Arno River flooded his perfumery-apothecary shop and much of Florence in 1966.

While removing the water that flooded his store, he found in his laboratory's basement, an antique manuscript containing the formulas.  It was a remarkable discovery but not completely a surprise.  The perfume shop had been a perfume/apothecary shop since the Middle Ages.  During the Renaissance, the Medici Palace was across the square and the Medici would commission fragrances from the shop.

From the formulas commissioned for Catherine de' Medici, Dr. Massimo chose the one he thought most beautiful, named it for her and trademarked her Italian name, Caterina de' Medici, for the perfume.  The other fragrances of the I Profumi di Firenze collection are based on actual Medici formulas discovered in the manuscript or blends favored by the Renaissance nobility that were passed down through the shop owners.  Interestingly, they called the potions odorifere acque, or scented waters.

Many of the I Profumi di Firenze fragrances are available via Amazon.com.  Each product description says exactly the fragrances in the perfume, such as Bergamot, Magnolia, Grapefruit, Lemon, Orange, Damascus Rose, Iris, Jasmine, Cardamon, Vanilla, and Honeysuckle.

 I Profumi di Firenze Perfumes at Amazon.com

How to Choose a Perfume

Every Italian designer offers a perfume line.  Below, I feature many of the more popular ones, with descriptions of the scents.  You may want to get several scents for your various moods and settings (home, work, play, elegant event...).  

• Be sure to try a perfume on your skin (not just the paper strips or 'touches' sellers use) because all scents change after a few moments in contact with your skin, and they change differently with each person.

• Test a perfume's 'persistance' or persistence, meaning how long does it remain on your skin.  Until recently, Italian perfumes were notorious for having almost no 'persistance'.  Now all major perfumes are made by multi-national conglomerates, so all have 'persistance' but not all are the same.  

• Test a perfume's 'sillage'.  The 'sillage' is smell that remains after the wearer has gone.  Some perfumes have revolting 'sillage' that overpower the senses, that's when you see people trying to wave away a scent after someone has left the room.  You want a 'sillage' but not an overpowering one.

• And lastly, do not be deceived by the meaningless distinctions marketers have created between 'male' and 'female' perfumes.  That difference does not exist.  It was created because marketers did not believe they could convince men that wearing the same perfume a woman might wear would guarantee his irresistibility to women, which is the sales pitch for most men's scents.  So try all scents, and see which suit your chemistry and tastes.

Perfume Discount Stores On-Line

Perfumes are expensive to create, produce, market, sell, and expensive for the consumer to buy.  But for many traditionalists, one is not really well-dressed if one does not wear a scent!  So to be well-dressed, and not break the bank, here are two links to on-line sellers that offer their discounted (but genuine!) perfumes via Amazon.com.

 99Perfume Products at Amazon.com     Fragrance Net Products at Amazon.com

Damascus Rose,

Lily of the Valley,

Florentine Iris

Two fascinating and entertaining books about perfumes, available via Amazon.com

Beautiful Soap Prints from AllPosters.com

Perfume Prints at AllPosters.com

Perfume Trio IV
Angelini, Mariapia & Marinella
Art Print at AllPosters.com

Perfume Trio II
Angelini, Mariapia & Marinella
Art Print at AllPosters.com

Perfume Trio I
Angelini, Mariapia & Marinella
Art Print at AllPosters.com

Perfume Bottle Setting I
Art Print at AllPosters.com