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Festivity chic – ‘Brilliantly British’ Eau de parfum by Penhaligon’s



Counting down to Christmas just made people exhilarating, especially this year, given all the tough moments we’ve been through, I have to say that this year’s Christmas is one of the most worth-celebrating ever! Therefore, by making this worth-celebrating, which means to make extra effort to make everything more joyous, festive, and of course, stylish. As mentioned from my previous blog, I was madly drowning myself in the Hallmark Christmas movies lately, well, not only it helps to ignite my inner Christmas fantasy, but also getting some inspiration on how to make the celebration more magical and look dashing as well! One of it, derived from the movie titled ‘Christmas in Rome’, starring the charming actor, Sam Page (as ‘Oliver Martin’), whom I am fond of, and, actress Lacey Chabert (as ‘Angela de Luca’); the story is about a smart and charming American businessman, Oliver, flew all the way to Rome, 5 days before Christmas, on negotiating a business deal of acquiring a traditional Italian ceramic and Christmas decoration company, and meeting an incredible American lady, Angela, who works as a tour guide in Rome however being fired right before Christmas, an accident brings these 2 people together, and cut the story short, one of the scene that I like, is the one that both Angela and Oliver were making a Panettone, a traditional Italian dry fruit cake for Christmas, in an Italian Bakery, as a present for the ceramic family owner. The reason that I love that part is not only the rationale behind, which Angela suggested Oliver not to simply ‘buy a present’ to the traditional family when it comes to doing business in Italy, but with sincerity and heartfelt effort to show them with his work, through his hands, and his heart by make something for them, which I truly impressed! But another thing that it brought up here, is the connection between festivity and pastry – the scent of Christmas; apparently, a wonderful meal, dessert and even beverage do add up much celebrative elements, the scent of the hot mulled wine, the tasty ginger-bread and Panettone of course, even an post-dinner whiskey that mixes with the sharp and green pine needle smells, it just makes the perfect scene of how a wonderful Christmas should smell like, a gourmand style meets classic festivity chic! Perhaps you may not feel the same way before you actually smell like it, but why not just find a fragrance that evokes such kind of festivity chic and experience it over the holiday? If you haven’t find the right one yet, I have a recommendation here, let’s try the newly launched ‘Brilliantly British’ Eau de parfum by Penhaligon’s.



As a limited edition with a unique ‘Union jack’ bowtie decoration on the bottle, this fragrance not only brings one a little English classic and winter festive feel, but something rather gourmet smelling as well. My first spray of ‘Brilliantly British’ takes me to the joyous scene of golden fine shimmers floating in the air, it’s the sparkling freshness from the Bergamot, combined with the light-hearted sweetness from Lavender, which is pretty soothing, the Lavender scent prolongs to the middle and then it evolves into something rather ‘dessert’ smelling, perhaps it’s the Toffee oil but it seems to me more like a cup of hot Crème Brûlée with a bit of floral petals on top as garnishing or something similar, a crisp of caramel and light custard smell but not the intense and thick Vanilla smell at all. Interestingly, I also applied extra sprays on a piece of blotter while trying on this fragrance, and after a couple of hours later, I decided to have another sniff over the blotter again, and then, I find something pretty intriguing, the fragrance smells just like a full table of festive pastries and fresh baked cakes right in front of me – not just the Crème Brûlée but the butter cake with red wine pears, the golden butter cookies and Tiramisu, a complete ‘gourmand’ style finishing which makes this fragrance unexpectedly delicious, at the same time, utterly chic in a modern gentlemen way, with a touch of classic English winter festivity.



Either it’s the romantic encounter that makes the Panettone much meaningful, or the dashing and charming Oliver Martin that makes me wishes this Christmas to be much magical and joyful, I know that’s one thing for certain, in between a festive pastry and a dapper gentleman, a gourmand style fragrance seems like a perfect fit to complete the picture. To all my dear readers, I sincerely wish you all a joyous, harmonious and stylish Christmas and New Year holiday!


Image courtesy of Penhaligon’s Asia

https://www.penhaligons.com/uk/en


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