ELLE AND JESS: Paris

Bonsoir, mon amour!

A while ago, we had the pleasure to visit the city of love with Lux and other influencers from around the world to enjoy some perfume-related experience! Let's get into it! :D

DAY 1

After a 15-hour long flight, we finally landed in Paris and arrived at our stylish hotel, Hotel Bachaumont. This is the view from our room :)

Greeted by this cute purple box from Lux on the bed! What's inside: a box of Ladurée macarons, Lux body wash, notepad, mini Eiffel, and a robe with each of our names embroidered on it!

Jess took the opportunity to pose with the robe immediately! I wanted to but couldn't because I had menstrual cramps, you know that pain in your lower tummy? Ugh.

So, instead of taking insta-worthy pictures, I just laid in bed all afternoon nomming my macarons. Such a shame though, because the weather was so nice that day:

Look at the clouds! They looked like a pack of cotton balls <3

Here's Jess with her OOTD picture wearing sweater from GOWIGASA and holding a bouquet of flowers from Lux :)

Around 7 PM, we all went to dinner which was held at this restaurant called Maison Blanche.

From this trip, we learned that Parisians love to take it slow, especially when it comes to food.

Before our actual dinner started, we sat down for like 15 minutes chitchatting with everyone over wine and Amuse-Bouche* like this:

This is super yummy by the way, make sure you get your hands on it when you visit Paris!

*)Amouse-Bouche is a little bit of food which is served before the meal to stimulate the appetite. The difference with Hors d'Oeuvre is that an Amuse-Bouche is not ordered by the customers. They are brought to the table free of charge. Everyone in the restaurant gets the same amuse-bouche. (Source: http://www.yourdictionary.com/amuse-bouche)

It happened at almost all restaurants we went to. I think they wanted us to sit back and relax before we enjoy the meals, which is totally different than our Asian culture where everything is "chop-chop"!

So, after a short time of mingling, we were seated right away and here's the menu:

The most spectacular aspect of this restaurant was the Eiffel view from the balcony:

This was taken right before the sunset. Sooo pretty with the cotton candy sky!

And when the sky gets dark, it's just as magical. ❤

DAY 2

On the second day, we visited the famous Givaudan Perfume House or Givaudan Perfumery School! It was quite far from our hotel, took a 45-minute ride on a mini bus. And for me personally, this is my most favorite and memorable activity during my trip with Lux, you'll see why in a bit! ;)

(Image credit: https://twitter.com/CEEVO95)

Givaudan has a long history of innovating scents and tastes (over 250 years!), and some of the world's most famous scents were created by their perfumers. No wonder there are thousands of applicants from all over the world each year, yet they only accept 1-3 applicants! Imagine how proud you are if you got selected!

Welcomed by foooood! <3

Anyway, in the USA, Lux is branded as Caress.

First session: Theories!

We were gathered at this meeting room, seated, and listened to the moderators and perfumers like good students, but it was anything but boring!

Here are the examples of what we learned:

↑ How our nose works. How the odours get translated into smells in our brain.

↑ The three parts of perfume: Head (top notes), Heart (middle notes), and Base (base notes).

For those who are interested to know:

Perfumes are a blend of different levels of scent, also called “notes”. When you spray a fragrance on your skin, it moves through these notes in the following order:

- Top notes are what you smell first. They are also what disappear first, usually within 10 to 15 minutes.

- Middle notes appear as the top notes die off. These are the fragrance’s core, determining which family the perfume belongs to — for example, oriental, woody, fresh, or floral.

- Base notes accentuate and fix the fragrance’s middle notes, also known as its theme. They comprise the fragrance’s foundation, making the scent last up to 4 or 5 hours on your skin.

(Source: wikihow.com)

↑ Perfume trends over the years.

Besides watching slides, we also got the opportunity to compare A LOT of fragrances or 'notes' from well-known brands, such as Versace, YSL, Chanel, Prada, and so on.

Sniff all day long~

Next: Lunch Break!

The lunch itself was a unique experience because all the meals had a touch of edible flowers. YES, you can eat the flowers! This was the first time we tasted flowers, and it was quite nice actually!

↑ Our absolute favorite:

Pan-Seared Scallops with Herbs & Fennel Mousse

↑ Dog filter FTW!

On to the main session aka LAB SESSION (Wheeee!!)

↑ Before we went to the lab, we were shown three of Givaudan's students' creations. They created not only perfume, but also various types of beauty products, like body lotion, candle, and shower gel.

Seemed fun and easy, right?

Ok, now it's our turn!

All ready with our lab coats and safety goggles!

Our task was simple: we were given Lux Magical Spell fragrance to smell (which smelled so good, btw) and we had to RECREATE it by mixing the Head (top notes), Heart (middle notes), and Base (base notes)!

The challenge here was the RATIO. We had to do a lot of trial&error to find the correct ratio of the fragrance!

Just keep sniffing~ (Candid by Pratama Eka Dharma)

When you realize you just messed up.

Geez, I'm telling you, it wasn't easy at all! Well, unless you have a very sharp nose that can differentiate and identify each scent easily like Jean-Baptiste Grenouille from the movie Perfume!

We all failed btw, but the whole experience was all that matters. We felt so happy for learning and experiencing new things! That's what makes us feel alive, don't you think? Never stop learning :)