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