~Fragonard’s Year of the Mimosa~

March 9, 2010 • Comments (18)

*** GIVEAWAY DETAILS AT THE END OF THE POST***

On a short train ride from Cannes, into the lush green hills and past thousands of Mimosa trees bursting with brilliant yellow flowers, we traveled to the town of Grasse where the perfume industry materialized in the Middle Ages.  For more that 400 years, Grasse has been the very center of the perfume industry.  It was preceded by the leather tanning industry until 16th century Italian glove makers began to use local lavender, roses, jasmine and aromatic herbs to scent the gloves and offset the lingering odor left from the tanning process.  The fashion of scented gloves was popularized by Catherine de’Médici, giving birth to  the new perfume industry which has now thrived for many centuries.

How fitting that when we arrived at the Fragonard Parfumerie and Museum we discovered that 2010 had been declared the year of the Mimosa.

The golden Mimosa theme goes well with the colored facade of the Parfumerie.

Inside the museum you can discover centuries old equipment and copper vessels that were used in the perfume making process.

Well guarded formulas together with Mimosa, Rose and Violet infusions.

My favorite indulgence was exploring all of the amazing bottles and flacons.

This staircase was lined with beautiful labels of the past…

I can never resist studying the architecture and grounds and really like the way this reflecting pool just clings to the side of the Parfumerie.

The Fragonard Parfumerie is named after the well know French artist Jean-Honoré Fragonard, a native son of Grasse  who was born into a glove making and perfumer family. Across the road is the Villa that was inhabited by Fragonard and his family in the 18th and 19th centuries.

The Villa gardens

The well of the Villa’s staircase is believed to have been painted by Alexandre Evariste Fragonard, the son of Jean- Honoré.

Originally commissioned by Madame Du Barry, panel paintings depicting “Love’s progress in the heart of a young girl” were painted by Jean-Honoré and adorn the walls of the Villa’s salon.

Madame Du Barry rejected the paintings she commissioned for the home Louis XV had given her.  Nevertheless, she paid Fragonard for them and he eventually brought them to the Villa.

The beautiful paintings aside, I was more drawn to this fascinating box of ancient essences and tinctures.

Something about this display brought to mind the eerily beautiful motion picture “Perfume”.

~If you go to the “Perfume” link above, be sure to click on “Image Gallery” and then on “360 Panoramas”~

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I would love to bring each and every one of you gifts from my travels, but since that is not possible I wanted to host a series of travel GIVEAWAYS.  It just so happens that the GIVEAWAY for this post is this pretty little bottle of “Soleil” by Fragonard.  If you would like to be entered to win, it’s as simple as leaving a comment on this post.  The winner of this and all other French Riviera/Paris GIVEAWAYS will be announced on March 2Oth.

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~Cote d’ Azure~

March 8, 2010 • Comments (15)

French Kissed will be coming to you live from the Cote d’ Azure for the next few days.  The last hour our so of our train ride from Paris to Cannes was enough to take your breath away.  Rocky coastline and sandy beaches against the crystal blue of the Mediterranean sea easily convinced us we had made the right choice to come here rather than heading to the snowy slopes of the Alps.

After dropping our bags at the apartment, we immediately headed to Boulevard de la Croissette.

We got the best table right at the water’s edge.

This colorful champagne bucket of flowers echos some of the many vivid hues of Cannes.

Of course, I was joined by Bardot in Blue…

and this was our seaside view.

We dined on salads of avacado, crevettes and chevre.

There is a wide range of architectural periods represented in Cannes.  From the ultra modern, to this mid modern…

to this older more ornate architecture that we see from our very modern apartment window.

Our apartment faces the well know shopping street of Rue d’ Antibes and this is the view from our balcony window.

I wanted to let you all know that there will be a GIVEAWAY associated with some of the posts from Cannes and beyond.  The first one will be tomorrow, so stay tuned for your chance to win a little gift from the French Riviera.

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~Paris Tumbles Down the Rabbit Hole~

March 6, 2010 • Comments (6)

Here you see the hand painted ceiling of very elegant Parisian establishment.

Do the soft pastel colors remind you of some of your favorite sweets?

Yes, that’s right.  It’s Ladurée, and this is their location on Rue Royale.  But even the seriously elegant can be tempted to stray as Ladurée has been swept away by a fit of WHIMSY.

Just as Printemps got caught up in all of the ALICE madness {click here} in Paris…

Ladurée has tumbled down the same rabbit hole into a wonderland of bold and adventurous color.

Of course there are white rabbits and red Mad Hatter hats…

and Alice herself trapped behind the looking glass of Ladurée.

The limited edition Alice in Wonderland box gets packed with ten delicious macarons of your choice.  But the big surprise is that this adorable container is also a music box.

I know this looks like the real Alice in Wonderland with the Cheshire cat, but alas, she is one of the famous trend forecasting sisters who many years ago at the whimsical age of 6 identified and brought to light the wonderland theme only now sweeping through Hollywood and Paris.

You might recognize the other part of this dynamic marketing duo as Bardot in Blue ~ of course here she is posing as Cinderella {will this be the next big trend to take the market by storm?}

Super savvy marketing whiz kids forecast the trend and then promote the heck out of it, willing it to take hold and ultimately prove their genius.  Here Bardot in Blue promoted the trend to a large gathering of 5 and 6 year olds by  insisting on tumbling down the rabbit hole as Alice in Wonderland at her sister’s Beauty and the Beast themed 6th birthday party…

And then many years later, again before the trend sweeps Hollywood and Paris, Bardot in Blue is still promoting the trend by tumbling down that same rabbit hole once more for Halloween.

Wow, she even sacrificed her natural hair color and  bleached that gorgeous head of hair {no that is NOT a wig} to help the trend gain momentum before it recently skyrocketed.

I haven’t seen the movie yet, but I hope these trend forcastes’ checks are in the mail.

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