We’re pleased to offer perfume minis in a perfectly portable pocket-sized spray vial, your choice of either the Linden or Spilled Milk (and as our line continues to expand!). Shipping is free to anywhere within the Continental U.S. Pick up a mini today for a refreshing, summer pick-me-up!
You can read the full story about it here! Spilled Milk is a creamy smooth, milky and swirling toffee vanilla–a light confectionary gourmand that offers an irresistible scent featuring top notes of Demerara rock crystal sugar, creamy full fat milk, almonds, plush silk velvet ribbon and hay notes set into a base of honey, sandalwood, toffee and real aromatic vanilla bean. Think of the ultimate crème brûlée! We have 1 oz. and 10 ml travel-sized bottles available!
Listen here for 40 minutes of lovely, Linden-themed music, including an instrumental track written by your perfumer, Julia.
We’re happy to share the news that Air & Weather’s Linden has been included in Michael Edwards’ Fragrances of the World database as a “Crisp White Flower Floral” described as “sophisticated, subtle and warm.” The Fragrances of the World database, which was established in 1984, is one of the most comprehensive and reliable industry-level classification systems available for perfume, with all fragrances classified by family, note and sub-note using Michael Edwards’ Fragrance Wheel.
We’re pleased to announce the donation of a 10 mL travel-sized spray bottle of Air & Weather’s Linden to Bois de Jasmine‘s led fundraiser for the Ukraine. Today is the last day! Visit the link to learn more.
We’re pleased to be featured in this article by the online magazine and podcaster, Subkit, which is devoted to stories of entrepreneurship. It’s a quick-read Q&A!
I’m posting this recipe of my own here because the often-quoted Remembrance of Things Past (Recherche du Temps Perdu) quote written by Proust, “And once I had recognized the taste of the crumb of madeleine soaked in her decoction of lime-flowers…” aka LINDEN FLOWERS. These could be worthy of dunking in linden tea. As you wear your perfume, of course!
As for the jasmine tea used here, the option of black, white or green tea will have to be your choice, as long as it is fresh and fragrant. For this recipe, you also have a choice of using a spice grinder or a mortar and pestle to work the tea down into small flakes to incorporate fully into the batter -OR- you can skip the grinding and use fine mesh sieve to strain the tea for an “infused” batter without including any actual ground tea. I’ll leave it up to you!
If you are using the mesh sieve to strain the tea for an “infused” batter, you may want to prepare the batter the night before and allow it to keep inside the refrigerator overnight to help intensify the jasmine flavor. If you are incorporating the actual ground tea into the batter, letting it sit overnight probably isn’t necessary.
This recipe makes a baker’s dozen.
INGREDIENTS
3 Tablespoons Jasmine-scented tea (read the paragraphs above!)
1/2 cup unsalted butter
2/3 cup sugar
2 eggs at room temperature
2 Tablespoons of honey
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup unbleached flour
INSTRUCTIONS
2. In a separate, larger bowl, mix the sugar with the flour, salt and baking powder. In another bowl, whisk together the eggs well with the honey and vanilla extract. Add the egg mixture to the dry mixture until just combined.
3. At this point, add your choice of the ground tea + melted butter or use a fine mesh strainer to strain the melted butter into the mixture. Stir until fully combined. Depending on which method you choose with your tea and butter, you can let the batter sit overnight or at least allow the batter to sit inside the refrigerator for one hour. If you would like to know more about the science behind the WHY of allowing the batter sit if you’re not infusing it, read here.
4. Preheat the oven to 450F/232C. Flour the madeleine pan or silicone madeleine sheet. Add one heaping tablespoon of batter to each madeleine shell. No need to overfill or smear it around to achieve a level surface as the baking will take care of that! Place tray of madeleines back into the fridge for 10 minutes because you’ve raised its temperature slightly since removing it to fill the pan.
5. Place madeleines into the oven, but now is when you need to keep watch and keep track of the time. After baking 2-3 minutes, a small dip will emerge upon the surface of the madeleines. Reduce the oven temperature to 390F/199C and bake for another 4 minutes or so until a small hill starts to emerge along the surface of the batter. Lower the oven heat to 350F/177C and bake until the madeleines are well-rounded and golden at the edges, approximately another 4 to 5 minutes.
6. Remove madeleines from the oven and pop them out onto a wire rack to cool. If you need to re-use the pan or sheet for a second batch, make sure that is it clean, cool and dusted once again. The madeleines are best eaten warm but may be saved for a day or two inside an air-tight container.
My fascination with how the olfactory ties in with well-being is one of the reasons why I studied perfumery. So many aspects of our lives are linked inextricably to fragrance that it’s easy to take for granted: from basic household cleaning products to common street smell and scents that arise from the changes in seasons—like Pumpkin Spice Everything and fresh, resinous fir needles at Christmas tree stands.
Think of the routine scents that accompany the daily rituals of waking, like making coffee or tea and grabbing breakfast. Coming home at night, a neighbor’s freshly cooked dinner may tantalize, if it isn’t the torturous waft emanating from the food delivery man’s bag inside an elevator. One’s evening ritual might include peeling out of sweaty gym clothes and settling into a hot soapy shower or a tub filled with Epsom salts. On the weekend the scents may shift to that of laundry soap and fabric softener sheets and a late Sunday breakfast with bacon and eggs or maple-syrupy pancakes.
Everything we encounter olfactorily is often taken for granted as part of an accepted routine as our minds race elsewhere and onto the next thing. Yet the sense of smell is powerful in terms of creating lasting memories.
Ask yourself what scents you can recall immediately from childhood? For me: orange peel lingering beneath fingernails, freshly sharpened lead pencils, crayons, fig newton cookies, mimeograph ink at school and the my grandmother’s copious usage of Aqua Net hairspray and Murphy’s Oil of Flax soap to mop the floors.
What’s even more amazing is that the scent receptor in the brain is no bigger than that of a fork tine. Part of my requisite studies at the University of Chicago included a lab dissection of a donated human brain so the image of this tiny little pale tissue flap remains vivid. The olfactory bulb loops around the thalamus and connects directly to the hypothalamus, amygdala and hippocampus, all of which comprise the brain’s central limbic center, which is responsible for human emotions.
We’re often told that human noses do not have the amazing reach and power of a dog’s olfactory capacity, but I agree with this article, which states that the real reason is because we’re not paying attention or giving it much priority.
While the world may prioritize visual and auditory senses to a degree of overstimulation via computers, emails, phone calls accompanied by a bombardment of adverts, life-sized digital LED billboards, television/internet news footage and video games, fragrance can serve as a swift, therapeutic touchstone that offers soothing comfort and familiarity. Scent connects us instantly to the emotions, and well-being is about finding balance, peace of mind and establishing a mood.
Why do you wear perfume?
Filmed earlier this summer!