Thursday, December 22, 2011

Happy Winter Solstice!

Winter Solstice

8hrs 6min 59sec of daylight in Vancouver today. And after that, the days will gradually increase - a few seconds at a time at first, gradually improving.

I'm celebrating with candles, eggnog and a winter solstice bath scented with refreshing yuzu to welcome the return of the sun after the longest night of the year (the eggnog knocked me down early so I didn't get around to it till the morning hehe).

Scented candle of the day: Hugs & Kisses by Gabriel's Aunt. Classic combination of cloves, cinnamon and orange with a bit of cardamom for a little exotic twist. Nothing like spices to warm you up on a cold winter day :-)

Happy Winter Solstice!

Eggnog

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Friday, December 03, 2010

Candle of the Day: ArbitRary


Today was my friend's housewarming party and guess what? She burnt my ArbitRary candle!
I can't think of anything more touching than my own friends enjoying and admiring my scents. Such a wonderful feeling...
As I come back home late at night and this place smells like stale latkes from yesterday, I think this is exactly what I should be doing here: burn some ArtbiRary candle to chase out the fried scent with some nice freshly crushed basil eaves and squeezed lime...
It smells like summer, which is sometimes exactly what I want to be reminded of in the middle of the winter.

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Thursday, December 02, 2010

Second Candle

Happy 2nd night of Hanukkah!
Today I was burning another Gabriel's Aunt soywax candles - Hugs n' Kisses. Spicy with cloves, cinnamon and orange and very much like what you'd expect a pomander or mulled wine to be - but with a twist thanks to a touch of cardamom. This candle is warming, a little woodsy and dry because of the high content of clove oil. It's nice that it's not overly sweet, but I somehow wish it was a little sweeter, with a note like honey. Perhaps it's just my current mood. It has a soft, gentle throw that you can only expect from a naturally scented candle.
For tomorrow, I need to find a candle that will clear out the scent of fried latkes from my home. Opening the window did not help much - the neighbours downstairs were barbqueing (!) of all things. Just when I thought that no one could surpass our stench of burnt oil...

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Wednesday, December 01, 2010

Happy Hanukkah!

Happy Hanukkah to you and yours!
May the holiday be filled with light, warmth and lovely latkes.

The next coming 8 days I'm going to try to mention (can't promise daily full blog posts during market season) scented candles that I enjoy. Today my place smells like Gabriel's Aunt Bohem. And not because the candle is lit, but because it was placed too close to the heater, and when I noticed that, I opened the travel tin to see just at what stage of melting it was... Pretty advanced, I discovered as I spilled a good portion of it on my carpet! That was a very silly idea of a curious mind...
But my living room smells like a pack of fresh tobacco awaiting rolling and it's very lovely even if a little naughty and not particularly Hanukkah-appropriate.
It's a beautiful candle and if you are into quirky, leathery tobacco scents you must try this. It rocks!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

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Saturday, July 25, 2009

Lemon Bar


There is no mail delivery to my building for 3 weeks now, so you can imagine my delight when I went to the main post office yesterday to pick up the mail (usually there are only bills there) - and found out that two packages I was long expecting finally arrived and I was able to pick and unpack both on the same day.

One packages was from Gabriel's Aunt in Seattle, containing a new batch of White Potion candles as well as several of her candles that I was dying to try for quite some time*. Nikki is so talented with her candle ideas, it's only a matter of time for her to be discovered and considered the big name in natural home-fragrance. Her candles don't only smell great from their tin or jar, they smell great when they burn. Whoever told you that you can't make a naturally scented candle that has a throw or smell interesting simply don't know what they are doing.

Well, Nikki surely knows how to make a candle work without the aid of any aromachemicals or pre-blended candle fragrances that come from a cookie-cutter fragrance factroy. Her scent ideas are fun and original, and her candles burn clean and steady for hours and hours on end, releasing the unique aroma that was given to them before they were poured and moulded. It's so different to smell the real essences in a candle as opposed to an imitation of everyday olfactory pleasures. In Nikki's candles, when you smell chocolate, you know it came from a real cacao bean, and you can really feel that difference. There is a reason why I chose to work with her on my own candle collection, and the results are nothing short of stunning.

I alway check to see what's new at Garbriel's Aunt, as Nikki always manages to surprise with her Just For Fun candle collection. I was particularly eager to try her Lemon Bar scent. I love lemon pastries so much it's a mystery I don't ever wear lemony scents. I find these scents fun to smell as body care or home fragrance but become easily bored with them as a personal perfume. Just a couple of weeks I made a coconut-lime scent that although I liked very much, I thought would be better as a body oil than an acutal perfume (at least for me personally).

With essential oils of lemon, lime and butter CO2, I knew Lemon Bar candle will smell heavenly. And it does. It smells exactly like how my entire house smells like when I bake lemon-lime wafers, and the scorched butter and sugar take over the space and carry along the citrusy zest of lemon and lime. A particularly fun candle to burn in the summer, when baking is out of the question but you want to be in a cloud of lime zest. The butter, I find, adds an almost coconutty nuance, which could be just my own association, but nevertheless makes the candle feel a little tropical.

* I will tell you about the contents of the other package on Monday.

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Monday, December 22, 2008

The Virtues of Bathing


Bath, originally uploaded by lady eighty.

Hot bath water
No place to throw
Insects singing all around
(Onitsura)

The time leading to the holidays can be stressful and strenuous both mentally and physically. Lots of work to get done before the long winter break. Many parties and social functions to attend and/or organize. Even Holiday preparations such as shopping, cooking and baking can take a toll on your health and stress you out if you’re not careful.

Being in the midst of the holiday rush myself, I’ve found that simple little rituals really help to ease out the stress and balance out the overall intensity of these past two months. Giving yourself a little attention, quietly, and being mindful about yourself in the midst of this chaos – even if just for a few minutes – can make all the difference and might save a lot of trouble (i.e.: fatigue, headache, back pain, meltdown or whichever way your system tends to cope with the stress).

Soaking in a hot tub in the evening is a great way to relax and also get your body nice and tired before bedtime. It allows to wash off the worries of the day along with the dirt. In Japan, bathing in the evening is an important ritual that all member of the family take part of. Everyone washes before entering the bath, and all use the same water, which is of course very hot! It is also customary to use whole plants (i.e.: Shoubu, a type of iris) or fruits (yuzu) in the bath depending on the season. These plants are believed to help maintain one’s health.

Traditionally, the Japanese bath tubs are made from wood such as hinoki - a Japanese cypress with a very pleasing aroma. I found these awesome bath salts at Daiso (a Japanese twonie/100 yen store located in the Aberdeen Mall in Richmond, BC), which smell wonderful and surprisingly natural (especially knowing their price). I particularly enjoy bathing in the soft light of candles, especially scented; and my Bois d’Hiver candles make a beautiful compliment to this woody bath soak.


The virtues of bathing go beyond basic hygene practices. The sound of the water flowing into the tub and swishing around is relaxing and calming. In the soft light, you mind can relax and put behind all the day's worries and stress and ready itself for a peaceful slumber. The act of washing and bathing brings awarness to every part of the body and to the body as a whole. Bathing with your partner can also be a shared time of relaxation and intimacy (schedule and bath size permitting...). And of course you could also argue water's many symbolic meanings of a source of vitality, a place where our life began (the womb), and purity.

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Tuesday, June 10, 2008

ArbitRary Candle

Last night the first sample of my perfumed candle arrived. You can imagine my feeling opening the package and discovering in it something that I did not make and that smelled exactly like my perfume ArbitRary... I was ecstatic.

The candle was custom-made for me by the talented artisanal candle-maker Nikki Sherritt of Gabriel’s Aunt. Nikki and I have been working on adding all-natural perfumed candles to my line since the fall. The first candle we worked on was Bois d'Hiver for the winter. The candle is not quite ready and we both felt it was time to create a different candle. I have been fantasizing of an ArbitRary candle ever since I’ve smelled Nikki’s masterfully crafted perfumed candles (and her Summer Vacation in particular convinced me that ArbitRary would be gorgeous in a candle form). The results haven’t failed: the candle has a cold throw that is nearly identical to the perfume. It burns with its lovely, refreshing aroma, filling the room gently with its mélange of basil, lime, lemon verbena, oakmoss and hay.

Each 8oz candle burns for 50-60 hours and retails for $45. They are now available for ordering and will be in stock next week.

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Monday, November 12, 2007

Candle Making Workshop & Other Upcoming Workshops

THE ART OF PERFUMED CANDLEMAKING

Join our guest instructor Nikki Sheritt, an artisan candle maker of Seattle-based Gabriel's Aunt, for an afternoon of candle-making. You will learn how to make beautifully fragrant soy candles using essential oils and natural vegetable waxes. You'll be guided step-by-step in the process of blending the essences, moulding and crafting a high-quality, clean-burning candle. By the end of the class, you will take with you a specially scented candle, beautifully packaged and gift wrapped - ready to go under the tree!
Date: Sunday, November 18th, 1:00-3:00pm
How much: $45 including materials

AROMATIC COOKING with FRESH HERBS, SPICES & FLOWER ESSENCES

"We cook and complain that it's a waste of time, when we should be pouring our love into making that food" (Paulo Coelho, "The Witch of Portobello")

We'll learn the principles of preparing your own unique spice-mixtures, and using fresh herbs and floral essences in cooking and baking. We'll be cooking (and eating!) the following exciting dishes:

1. Druze Root & Spice Brew
2. Winter Salad with Fennel & Tarragon
3. Couscous from scratch, with a hearty and fragrant Morrocan Vegetbale Stew
4. Moroccan Mint Tea
5. And for dessert - a very unusual crème brulee which you will only know about once you've signed up for the class and ate it yourself ;)

When: Thursday, November 15th, 6:00-9:00pm
How much: $55 per person, including materials


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