I love Natalie Tran. I think half my mannerisms come from communitychannel, and the other half come from xiaorishu and I’m so glad she’s gotten so influential.
Most of my opinions on asians in media can be found in my Fresh Off the Boat post, and Natalie reminds me that it’s an ongoing battle to be recognized! Gotta fight with my dollar I suppose, not just my voice.
Ms. Giacobetti is 49 years old today. She is my newest woman crush that I should have high-lighted a long, long time ago.
Olivia Giacobetti is an amazing French perfumer who has created fragrances such as Frederic Malle’s En Passant (my favorite Frederic Malle), Diptyque’s Philosykos and Ofresia, a whole host of L’Artisan fragrances including the infamously difficult to get Tea for Two (my favorite L’Artisan!), and fragrances for Hermès, Guerlain, and Penhaligon’s. I love her for her delicate simplicity and the subtle way she crafts her fragrances. I have loved everything she has touched that I have smelled so far, and can’t wait to smell more.
The L’Artisan website claim that she was inspired by the depictions of perfumery in the film le Sauvage which means I need to seek this film out with English subtitles in a hurry (or learn French. I feel I have more of an incentive to learn it than even mandarin.) She trained from the age of 17 at Robertet, a huge French distillery known for developing new ways of obtaining natural raw material from its distillation sources before opening her own firm Iskia, which I unfortunately couldn’t find any information about. And she does all this while staying oh so effervescently lovely.
She is currently working as creative director at one of the oldest perfume houses, Parfum Lubin.
Sorry about the disappearance! I need a little more time to lace my boots together and I’ll be right back. I’ll finish off the rest of my trip to Miami and start some real updates, and start writing again, I promise! Just a lot of strings to tie and a lot of excess to organize 🙂
Originally we were supposed to just stay out all day, but yesterday’s sun knocked us out about halfway through, so we ended up driving back for some rest at around 4, and stayed there until 10. I did get a tan though, and it was from walking around Wynwood, Miami’s art district.
New favorite cute animal of the moment: piglets!
Happy snow day everyone! Here’s to hoping my 6-9 class is canceled along with the other 4 classes I would have had today, while also simultaneously hoping spring starts immediately.
Piano as an accompaniment to string today! I think I first heard this song when I was 16, though I don’t quite remember why. I try not to question discoveries of beauty.
Norihiro Tsuro’s Last Carnival, from the Acoustic Cafe album
Field Notes From Paris
Wet: lavender, coriander, citrus, leather, wood
Dry: coriander, lavender, tobacco flower, patchouli, cedar, tonka bean, lime, maybe a little rosemary
This is my new sexy scent, directly in competition with all of the jasmine I adore. It’s incredibly delightful: deep, dark, and warm, as well as complex. It moves in a swirl like a gust of warm wind, something absolutely welcome in this frigid cold. Strangely, it’s the herbs, the coriander and the bit of rosemary I get that reminds me most of the coffee implied in the description, though the tobacco comes through and keeps the fragrance warm. I love that its sweetness is wholly tempered, and it gives it depth and dimension that I don’t normally come across. It reminds me of bedroom eyes on an attractive person, or simply a person you’re in love with, as love automatically makes them beautiful.
I wear this personally, and I think this is a scent that benefits from a little dancing and sweat, but it’s a beautiful scent and I can see it on a guy who isn’t afraid to wear purple, and is trained in some art or another, which he pursues with passion.
AKA “Candy Sales Eve” and “Single People Cry Bitterly Into Their Alcohol Day” and “Welp. It’s First Mother’s Day Again.”
Damn, Seahawks shot out of the sky.
Also, Coca-Cola, good choice on the music.
Actually called: Wix Breakfast: Life Attracts Life- Give Your Brand a Personality Boost! 
School’s getting closer, so I decided to retrain myself for it by going to bed ridiculously late and waking up ridiculously early for a lecture! Yay! I found it on Eventbrite while browsing and took a chance.
And I’m really glad I did. It was a really interesting seminar, a little on the short side, full of little tips I would have never thought of, like how important emotional touchstones, big and small (“anything from a big brand experience to a tweet”), are to a customer base. There are tons of examples of these connections with consumers that I can think of. Some smaller gestures include Xbox’s (T, F) and T-Mobile’s (T, F) avid usage of their twitter handles and Facebook support apps to annual events like Krispy Kreme’s Day of the Dozens, Talk Like a Pirate, and National Doughnut Days. Everyone remembers larger political gestures like Oreo’s support for gay pride, to well-established, company-wide policies like Starbucks’ C.A.F.E Practices (they work with Conservation International to keep the farming sustainable) and TOMS Shoes policy of donating a pair of shoes for every pair purchased. All of them work to improve the perception of the brand and endear its consumers to it, while actually decreasing a little of the bad in the world at the same time. And of course, little gestures like that are key for small business owners to create their own communities; Milk Sugar Love’s content on their Facebook page regularly attempts to engage users with questions and relatable expressions.
I hope you had as much fun and felt as much love as I did last night. Here’s to the new year!
Pomelo girl thoughts 