Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Turkish Delight

This week I have been enjoying wearing the gorgeous, exotic fragrance. 'Turkish Delight' by the exclusive Melbourne Perfume house, Fleurage. The scent is just as good as you would imagine it to be and better.  It offers a  mature and more complex take on the theme and has notes of rose and almond interwined with vanilla.
Anyway as a result of wearing the fragrance it has given me a week long craving to eat some Turkish delight. I finally got my fix today at the local Turkish kebab shop where you can get the real deal handmade by a little old lady in a black dress and scarf. (I also picked up some Baclava while I was there....yum!)

While on the topic of Turkish delight, I have to share with you one of my most delicious, rose infused , flavour delights ever. This is the Turkish Delight martini at Maha bar and grill in Melbourne City.

Gabor and I were treated by some dear friends who gave us a voucher to go and eat there. I would highly recommend the entire experience . (We had the sultan's feast, you can see the menu here.)
The food was amazing but I am here to tell you about the cocktail. It was like drinking nectar from the gods, the ingredients as listed on the menu are enough to make the mouth water: cariel vanilla vodka, massenez rose vodka, lillet blanc, amaro montengro and rose water. Even though I didn't know exactly what all the ingredients were I knew it would be divine and I was right!
The best thing was, it was served with a lump of Turkish delight in the glass which when eaten by the time the glass was empty was soaked in liquor.
I have been trying to track down a recipe for such a drink and have found these to be the closest. I will definitely by adding this drink to my cocktail repertoire!



Chocolate Turkish Delight Martini
2 shots Rose vodka
2 shots creme de cacao white
2 shots chocolate schnapps
dash cranberry juice

mix and shake over crush ice. Strain and pour into Martini Glass .

Turkish Delight Martini - from Gourmet Traveler Magazine
½                     lemon or lime
To garnish:      drinking chocolate
45 ml vodka
3 tsp white crème de cacao
3 tsp good-quality rose syrup
2-3 drops rosewater
To garnish: rose petals (optional)
 
Rub the rim of an chilled elegant martini glass with the lemon or lime, then dip into a saucer of drinking chocolate. Combine the vodka, crème de cacao and rose syrup in a cocktail shaker with a handful of ice. Stir well, then strain into the martini glass. Add a few drops of rosewater and garnish with rose petals, if you like.
 





Thursday, September 15, 2011

French Flowers

Last week we held our Spring Fashion workshop which was co-hosted by the lovely Ms Candice DeVille and milliner extraordinaire, Peter Jago. We were joined by a lovely group of ladies and everyone left looking very glamorous indeed, newly armed with some new tips and techniques to try.
just some of the lovely ladies that attended our event


However, the lead up to the event was not as smooth as I would have liked, with my order of hats not arriving in time. As you know Spring time in Melbourne is all about hats, so this was a cause of great anxiety for me. Never the less, the show had to go on. Luckily, I am a hoarder by nature and have long been hanging onto a collection of fabulous vintage millinery supplies, so I pulled some out of my collection to use for the day. Peter did an 'on the spot' demonstration and created this gorgeous headpiece in minutes using a combination of vintage velvet leaves from my collection and gorgeous fresh roses.

Looking at how gorgeous this is, it has inspired me to go through my collection, sort it out and share it.
I have decided it is a shame to have these things sitting in boxes when the could be made into something gorgeous like this!
I do have my work cut out for me though!

A pile of flowers that need sorting!
Some gorgeous wire edged French ribbon, just wait until you see the rest of the collection!

Now because it is Friday it would be unlike me not to list a cocktail, but today for a change I am drinking a glass of Rose´ . It is often an underrated drink of choice but on a nice sunny day like today, when Spring is really in the air and the sun is shining I think it is the perfect choice (besides I love the colour!) so cheers!

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Coordinated Colours - Choosing lipstick

I am getting excited about the Spring Fashion Workshop that I will part of this weekend.  Fanantique will be working with Candice DeVille, (aka Super Kawaii Mama) Australia's première vintage stylist and pinup model and milliner Peter Jago to present a three hour session demonstrating techniques for creating a glamorous, vintage inspired Spring look.
To make it even more fun, I have just received the entire collection of Besame Cosmetics to play with.
The Besame range combined with some of the gorgeous  hats I have in store, will go towards creating some very glamorous ladies indeed!
When it comes to creating a 'look' I really believe that the right lipstick plays a key part. During my years working at retail fashion boutiques, I would constantly see women trying on clothing and complaining that certain items 'washed them out' . 99% of the time these women would be wearing little or no lipstick. Each of the images show beautiful women in stunning hats, but I think in each instance the lipstick really pulls all the elements together and gives each look that 'wow' factor.

I adore this look (I am really liking orange tones at the moment. I really like the simplicity and playfulness of the hat. The orange band on the hat is complimented perfectly by the matching lip color. The hint of a matching bag completes the outfit! To create this look, Besame have two gorgeous lipsticks in this shade. 'Carmine' is quite a bold orange-red that is a fabulous Spring/Summer shade. 'Coral' is also in this color family but is a softer copper orange with a hint of gold, another beautiful warm tone.

In this image below, the stylist has cleverly matched the lipstick to the floral print of the headscarf. When something is being worn this close to the face, a good match is crucial because even a slight shade off will make a big difference to the look. If you can't match the colour a complete contrast can work well too. If contrasting though, the colour should be the same strength. (Besame 'Dusty Rose will help you create this gorgeous look)

The image below is a good example of contrasting colour. The depth of colour in the gorgeous blue hat is equaled by the depth of the berry lip colour. (Try Besame Cherry Red)




This outfit below is an unusual mix but still works. Although a strange pairing of colours in the hat and blouse, the soft patchwork texture of the pieces is what they have in common so they work. The soft green beads also repeat the colour of the soft green leaf of the flower on the hat. The deep red lip colour pulls the darkest colour from the blouse and finishes off the look. Try Besame red velvet.



When wearing black (or black and white) it's hard to go past a classic true red lip. Try Besame red .

To have a closer look at (or purchase) any of the lipsticks mentioned, please click here

If you would like to come to our fabulous workshop, please visit www.fanantique.com.au
Related Posts with Thumbnails