African Beauty-Timbuktu

Timbuktu - the L'Artisan fragrance inspired by wusulan, a traditional African incense of spices and woods and something like fresh rain on earth, was the accompaniment to my super cold sunny winter day yesterday. Both energetic and seductive, it reminds me of the scent of stroking cat's fur, crossed with static electricity, crossed with fresh air warmed by the sun. I suspect the very slight hint of mango is the fundamental element to that quality of freshness. The sweetness of mango is restrained by the undertones of deep sandalwood and dry and smokey vetiver. I want to find out what happens in the summer heat with this fragrance. I love it in the cold bracing air of January. A modern/traditional, masculine/feminine scent, it appears to be well beloved, though not by as many as I would expect. However, those few, Luca Turin among them with his radiant 5 star review, are true believers.

I think since we have a new president who is half African, media savvy and quite elegant, with a strikingly stylish family, Americans are taking yet another close look at the African aesthetic. African aesthetics have been an enormous, often uncredited cultural influence here all along, but not since the late sixties black is beautiful movement has so much attention been focused on one particular ethnic group.

Most of the continent of Africa is still a cipher to our Euro-centric culture. There are many types of beauty within it that are not so commonly known in the West. Sometimes forms of unfamiliar beauty take repeated exposure in order to "get" or appreciate them fully. There are still a number of very ancient, still lively African cultures, which practice very traditional and specialized ways of living and forms of self adornment. Recently I became aware of the Kenyan Samburu, a tribe known for their personal adornment and interest in beauty, called "butterflies" by the nearby tribes. They live in the midst of spectacular natural beauty and appreciation of beauty is an important part of their culture. They highlight and emphasize their own facial features with color and intricate bead-work jewelry that includes the hair and face. I wonder what their sense of smell culture is like? I am sure it would expand our parameters to know...
Above photo from site with wildly imaginative treatments of black hair.
More on the Samburu culture.

Ayurvedic Beauty Wisdom

There are a number of books by Bharti Vyas, one of my favorite beauty writers, available new and used on Amazon, that give detailed recipes and techniques for home therapy routines using the basic principals of Ayurvedic beauty wisdom. Aryuvedic body treatments are about 5,000 years old and were developed in India at the same time as Yoga and other highly sophisticated techniques to balance the body and mind into optimal health.

Facial self massage, using easily obtainable cold pressed oils such as almond, olive or jojoba is explained in detail. The benefits are that the techniques cleanse and stimulate circulation and stimulate lymphatic drainage, giving the skin a brighter, smoother appearance and the face a healthy glow, while relaxing the facial expression. Acupressure points are used as she explains how to use your hands and develop the richly sensitive sensors of the fingers in different simple movements. I have found that after a number of such treatments the skin develops a velvety feel and the sinus area remains clear even during a cold.

It is best to rely completely on your hands by not looking in a mirror so as to connect with the nerve endings underneath the skin by sense of touch. About a half an hour is set aside, finished by a good soak in a bath or shower, to be added to the time calculations. It is best to read through the instructions first, because your hands will be full of oil and you of course won't want to get the pages of the book full of fingerprints. (Afterward you can always rub any excess oil further up into your arms and legs so as not to waste any).

Sitting straight in a chair, you begin at the collar bones, firmly pressing beneath them at the breastbone at least five times. Moving out to the shoulder area, firmly pressing with the balls of the fingers, you will immediately feel the stimulation unlocking muscle tension held in the neck and shoulders. Then using opposite hands taking three fingers and massaging the shoulder muscles, and moving back to continue pinching the hollow behind your collarbones with thumbs downward, repeatedly, moving out back and forth to the shoulder muscles, for about five minutes. Stimulating this area is an essential foundation to the facial massage. Then the neck should be palmed, one hand at a time, rhythmically stroking upward, with the right hand stroking the left and vice versa. This will stimulate the glands in the neck area and also pay attention to a frequently neglected place. The jawline is firmly pinched with your thumbs under the bone, from beneath the chin to the earlobes, in about four steps, ten times.

Now the face, with the first two fingers on each side, just under the cheekbones, from the center out and back again, about five times. This will familiarize you with the structures that support and define your own face. This action will also eventually refine definition in the area. Then the nose area, from each side of the top of the bridge, at the top between the eyes, a firm pressure of each index finger, working down to the end of the nose and back again, for about one minute, pressing firmly into the cartilage. I find this stimulation helps keep the sinuses clear and relaxes the facial expression.

The skin around the eyes is thin and delicate, so make sure you have enough oil on the skin so there is no "drag" and use the ring fingers to trace around the rim of the sockets starting from the outside, going around in circles ten times. This helps to reduce puffiness and dark under eye circles.

The forehead is massaged by spreading your fingers on either side of your nose with your thumb at the temple and the index between your eyebrows and pinching very lighting up to the hairline and back again. There is very little play of skin to pinch here, so this is a shallow pinch, done for a couple of minutes. This releases muscle tension in the forehead and gives your face a calmer and clearer expression.

After this, rub any excess oil in your hands into other areas of your body as necessary, such as knees or arms, and then wash the face with lukewarm water, using some product other than soap that you know is compatible with your skin type.

Doing this once a week will make this preventative as well as curative. At first this may seem self indulgent, but once you start noticing the difference in your appearance and how you feel, you will bend over backwards to make the time. Doing it yourself will also put you in charge of your own well being and is a much less expensive way to have frequent treatments.

Above illustration, a Dancing Celestial from a 12th Century Indian temple, a semi-divine being often decorating the outside of Hindu sacred places. She personifies the ancient Indian ideal of female beauty. From Wallyg's photostream on Flickr, and you can access more such Indian images of beauty here.

Siena/Fare Bella Figura

The Italian way of life known as fare bella figura (make a beautiful figure) combines a personal appreciation of beauty, appropriateness in behavior, and pride in self presentation. It is wholeheartedly embraced in Italy as an enjoyable way to make the world a better place for yourself and everyone who comes into contact with you. The essential element is to present yourself at your best. To keep yourself beautifully groomed, wearing an elegantly designed, thoughtful and well made ensemble, while maintaining a graceful, self confident and gracious demeanor. It's all about the strength of cultivating the power of beauty and proportion. As a philosophy of life it is one of the reasons Italy itself has maintained its beauty and richness over the vagaries and vicissitudes of time.

This attitude of fare bella figura in combination with the beauties of the past in art and architecture, as we see in the conception of Ambrogio Lorenzetti's image of The Effects of Good Government (something I hope to see get started in our own country before the month is out) results in the experience of a satisfying, complex and hospitable atmosphere as people go about the business and pleasures of life, harmoniously.

Siena and Siennese artists and architecture of the 1300s and 1400s are a preciously beautiful example of using natural local materials, color and composition with the priority of achieving beauty. Amazing to think after all the wars and plagues and tribulations that so much is still standing from those days in Siena. The earth itself, as raw siena and burnt siena are still the staple earth colors of oil paint. The rich auburn golden brown of the earth and the walls of the city and the color are the same.

There are two scents I have on today, one on one arm and one on the other, that are vastly uplifting my winter day, as I hover on the brink of a cold. Sienne l'Hiver (Sienna winter) by Eau de Italie, created by Bertrand Duchafour (who has my vote as the most refined skillful and inventive perfumer alive) on one arm, and Terra di Siena by i Profumi di Firenze (Siennese earth) on the other. Both have a similar cool earthy herbaceous crispness surrounding a burning center. T di S is the more sheer and transparent one. It is slightly more herbaceous than S l'H; more about citrus and mint plant material being poured over a soft vanilla sandalwood core. On the other hand, the heart of S l'H keeps the tang of the body present in the form of earthy smokey leather under a sheer mimosa veil. The notes that are listed for both perfumes are, I am sure, only partial and do not explain the subtle beauty of the resulting compositions.

I would say they are both a sharp quiver in the bow to target the heart in winter.

Perfuming the Pages of Books

I am a reader. Fiction, history, memoirs, biography, history, art history, poetry, and of course books about perfume and nature. I have been accused of living in a world of books. It is the closest thing I know of to time travel. I wish there were 72 hours in the day and I could spend half of them reading. It occurs to me to start perfuming my books, or perfuming the books I give as presents, or perfuming their bookmarks. I am sure some people would howl at this idea, especially those who hate the scent strips in magazines, but it is unlikely those particular people will be opening my books or any books from me any time soon.

There are three kinds of fragrances that immediately come to my mind for this use. First, anything with aoud or sandalwood, or some other wood note such as cedar; second, wholesome organic/natural mood enhancing types such Ineke's Balmy Days and Sundays, or Red Flower's Guaiac or Roxana's oak leaf tincture, or certain CB Water perfumes such as Just Breathe, or In the Summer Kitchen, or other herbal, leafy green or tea scents; and third, classic home fragrances such as L'Occitane or Jo Malone's, especially the citrusy or pine-y ones. I also like single note essences and absolutes such as black spruce or galbanum, or even vanilla for this purpose. One drop or two on the opened cover near the spine -- on the wrist of the book, so to speak.

On a much lighter side than most perfumes or their close relatives, Le Cherchi Midi's line of home fragrances, based on color and type can be used as room or linen or personal fragrances and would be perfect for books. They can also be used on clothing or the lining of a handbag or leather gloves. They have a clean and sheer nature. None are peculiar or strange in any way so it is highly unlikely they would start to cloy or get on one's nerves over time. Their essential light pleasantness is subtly uplifting, especially during these long indoor-spent cold months. These fragrances are numbered rather than named, and identified with a color corresponding to the type. For example green equals a green fragrance, violet equals an oriental type, black for leather, etc. (The color to fragrance connection is beginning to be examined more frequently in a number of recent releases, I see). White 01 is their ocean/beach signature fragrance with marine air and summer herbal notes. Green o5 is my favorite because of its clear cut-grass air. Violet 09 is a brandy amber which could be useful for certain British mystery and suspense stories. Orange 14 is a light rose and orange flower, very sheer, good for the nineteenth century French chapters that describe the toilette of Madame Bovary or the details of Colette's mother's home in Sido. Black 20 is leather and cedar, perfect for Russian novels and short stories by Turgenev or Chekov, and also Black CT01, vetiver crossed with fir and cedar. 21 Red is a spicey winter holiday scent, cardamon and berries, good for scenting gift wrapped boxes for sweaters and scarves.

There are always the perfumes of coffee and tobacco and chocolate, the classic scents to accompany the experience of reading...

Image above from the On Demand Books site, something new coming which sounds exciting. They will be able to print books to order, single copy, of any book, out of print or never published, current or backlist.