My Perfect Wedding Fragrance

My Perfect Wedding Fragrance 

 

Here I am sampling perfume drafts at Fleurage with perfumer, Emma Leah.

photo by Rodger Cummins at the Age Newspaper

 

After some very drama filled and draining long months in the lead up to our wedding, it was simply wonderful to get on a flight to Budapest, get away from it all and just enjoy our big event without distraction.
Gabor and I have now been back in Melbourne for a week and are settling back into our normal life ...finally.
There have been some big changes and I have just started a new job (and already met some amazing people!) which I look forward to telling you more about in the weeks to come!
Despite all the hurdles along the way (read about all that here and here ) I still tried to take time out to plan my wedding day, in particular the small personal details that I know will be especially dear to me in the years to come.

I was very lucky to have had my entire wedding ensemble created by family and friends dear to me.
With the help of my Aunt, my dress came to life through my sketches and her amazing design and dressmaking skills (pictures to come soon) .

Apart from the dress, one very special element of what I wore on the day was my fragrance. I knew that whatever fragrance I chose, I would always remember it as my 'wedding fragrance' and it will always be very sentimental to me.

I was extremely lucky to have had the incredible experience of having the very talented Emma Leah of Fleurage custom make a very unique a personalized perfume just for the occasion. I can't speak highly enough of how wonderful the whole experience was, from the initial starting point to being able to actually wear the fragrance on the day. It was such a thrill to wear a scent that so perfectly captured everything I am and wanted to be on the day.

Of course, having the finished product (which was exquisitely presented in a full size bottle, a travel size presented in a bridal package and refill collection.) was fantastic but I also thoroughly enjoyed the process, getting to sample and discover new scents and be educated by a professional perfumer was a real treat!

The Age featured a great article recently, entitled 'Bespoke Melbourne' and you can read more about my experience at Fleurage perfumery there.

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.

 

Spring Fashion Extravaganza, hosted by Fleurage Perfumery.

Part 1- "Ice Cream Cake"

My apologies for my long absence from the blog, but now I can finally share with you what I have been working on for the last month. Fanantique together with Fleurage presented our first Spring Fashion event, and what an event it was.
There are too many gorgeous images and too much to tell all at once, so over the next few posts I will show you everything. Firstly, I must credit Rob Luxford of Vivid Communications, for all of the professional photography. It's stunning! A big thank you also to our gorgeous models, Adrain of Delilah Hair studio (to find out more about Delilah click here) and to Rebecca of Beyond Andromeda for the beautiful make-up. The stylish hats are all by Ann Shoebridge (excluding a few pieces that are vintage)
To see more gorgeous images and a wonderful overview of the afternoon, please visit the Fleurage blog by clicking here . Emma, sums up the whole event wonderfully.
Set to the romantic sounds of Anna Boulic playing Harp and serenading the audience in French, our show commenced with our 'Ice Cream Cake' collection. Delicious shades of sorbet, the very essence of spring. To compliment this ,  Fleurage coordinated a signature fragrance to each ensemble.....Spring was definitely in the air!
Coming soon, our next collection, 'Hello Sailor'

Here are our gorgeous girls backstage before the show started, what a marvelous job they all did!

Bastille Day!

Well it's Champagne Friday again and this week it has been Champagne Wednesday, Thursday and Friday! Wednesday was of course Bastille Day and being lovers of all things French (especially Champagne!) we thought it was a great excuse to celebrate! Amongst the guests, I had the lovely Natasha Burns. Natasha is a talented artist who has a fabulous blog that you can see here.
I was lucky enough to have some beautiful photos taken of the event by Natasha which she will be posting on her blog soon...stay tuned.

In the meantime, here are a few photos of our cupcakes. Of course we featured the Champagne Cupcake and Parisian flags that I have been working on in my last posts.

Champagne  cupcakes

Marie Antoinette cupcakes (featuring fairy floss 'wig')

'Cocoa Chanel' (Chocolate) and 'La Vie en Rose' (Rose) flavor cupcakes

Thursday the celebrations continued and a group of us braved the Melbourne winter and ventured out for another Bastille Day event at  'Red Bennies'. It was fab! I never realized there were so many French people in Melbourne! With conversations happening in French all around us and the cool sounds of the Martini Sisters (you can listen to them here) It really felt like we had been transported to a cool Paris Jazz club.

 

The invitation for the evening encouraged fancy dress, amongst the costume choices were the Jazz age and the Moulin Rouge , so I jumped at the chance to get my feathers out!

 

Emma of Fleurage and I,  Heather of Trouve accessories and husband Julian

Gabor and Julian share a laugh

In honor of the fantastic performance last night by the Martini Sisters, I thought what better cocktail to drink than a classic Martini?

Martini

Martini glass

3 ice cubes

2 pitted green olives

2 teaspoons dry vermouth

1 1/2 Cups cracked ice

3 ounces chilled top quality gin, such as Bombay sapphire or Tanqueray

1.Rinse a martini glass with cold water, fill with ice cubes and place in freezer for 5-10 minutes to chill completely.

2.Meanwhile,spear the olives with a toothpick. Pour the vermouth into a small saucer. Add the olives and turn several times to coat with the vermouth. Let stand for 5 minutes.

3.Fill a cocktail shaker with the cracked ice. Drain the vermouth from the olives and add it to the shaker. Then add the gin. With a long handled bar spoon, stir very gently to chill, about 15 times in a clockwise direction. Or just swirl the gin shaker until chilled. Either way, work quickly so the ice doesn't melt and dilute the gin.

4. Remove the glass from the freezer and discard the ice cubes. Set the speared olives in the martini glass. Strain the gin over the olives and serve.

Recipe taken from 'Highballs High Heels'- A girl's guide to the art of cocktails. by Karen Brooks,

Gideon Bosker and Reed Darmon. Published by Barnes & Noble

Champagne Friday- Vintage Weddings Part 2

The blushing bride, Lizzie looking stunning. I really love the vintage style diamond hair piece.

Vintage Weddings Part 2- Lizzie and Wesley

When my talented, fashion designer friend, Lizzie announced that she was getting married, I knew that we would be in for a stylish event. Lizzie and her Groom, Wes chose to have a 1920's themed wedding. Once again, the guests enjoyed getting into the theme and dressing for the occasion. The reception was great fun, held at Comme in Melbourne. Pie Gordon, the floral stylist did a spectacular job on all of the flowers, including the magnificent bridal bouquet. (She had a particular challenge as the wedding was held in December which can be quite warm here in Melbourne!)

The live swing band also added to the vintage mood of the event and made the perfect compliment to the evening.

Below: The bride and groom swing, the gorgeous flowers and back detail of Lizzie's Wedding dress

Above, some of the gorgeous flowers created by the talented Pie Gordon.

Below: Flapper girls and gangsters, we guests enjoy the theme!

Vintage wedding ideas from the Fanantique boutique. 

If you or someone you know is thinking of having a Vintage style wedding, there are plenty of ideas at the boutique. Taking inspiration from Lizzie's gorgeous hair piece here are a few pieces that we have in store.

For something really special, The Fleurage range would be perfect. The styling of the packaging and stunning glass bottles are all reflective of the Art Deco period. Anything from the range would add a touch of old world glamor to a vintage themed wedding. Pictured below are images from Fleurage's signature scents, 'Consort' and 'Chaperone'. Special his and her fragrances make a divine gift for a bride and groom.

In addition to their signature fragrances, Fleurage also offer a 'gifting' service for events. 

 

Champagne Friday Cocktail

In honor of the featured bride, Lizzie, today's cocktail is the "Thin Lizzie". It also happens to contain my favorite ingredient, Champagne.

Thin Lizzie

Champagne Flute

15ml Cream de fraise

15ml tequila

splash of Champagne

Strawberry to garnish

Pour cream de fraise and tequila into glass, add Champagne and Strawberry to garnish.

recipe taken from 'Cocktails and Rock Tales' Jane Rocca, Hardie Grant Books.

mmmm Cake and Champagne

Champagne Friday kicked off early this week with 'Champagne and Cake Thursday afternoon'.
While it doesn't have quite the same ring to it, it is delicious. While we shouldn't need an excuse to celebrate, I had the perfect reason with a visit from the lovely Emma Leah, perfumer extraoidinare.
Emma has fast become a great friend of Fanantique (and a dear friend of mine) with a selection of her luxurious range of Fleurage products being sold in store. (look out for a more in depth post about the world of Fleurage in the near future).

A selection of the glamorous Fleurage range available from Fanantique.

As we sat and enjoyed a lovely sunny Autumn afternoon we decided that the only thing better than Champagne, was the combination of Champagne and cake. So in honor of this conclusion, this week's cocktail recipe is cake inspired, served in a Champagne flute of course!

Cheesecake Rodriguez
champagne flute

45ml Licor 43
15ml lemon juice
15ml lime juice
10ml orange syrup
dash of orange bitters
dash of egg white
splash of prosecco
twist of orange and 1/2 split vanilla bean to garnish

Combine all ingredients, except for prosecco and garnish. Shake and double strain into Champagne flute. Top up with prosecco and garnish with a twist of orange and vanilla bean.
mmmmmm.

recipe taken from "Cocktails and Rocktails" by Jane Rocca, published by Hardie Grant books