Plutonic Rainbows

I recently picked this up and have to say it is one of the most incredible gourmands I have ever tried. The opening of Melt My Heart is as irresistible as it is complex, drawing you in with the rich, velvety warmth of dark chocolate. This is no ordinary chocolate note — here, it is bittersweet and luxurious, like the finest artisanal confection. Its smooth richness is immediately captivating, evoking the feeling of indulgence and the allure of forbidden pleasures. The chocolate feels dark and enigmatic, setting the stage for the sensuality that follows.

Interwoven with the chocolate is the elegant and creamy essence of orris butter, which lends a powdery, almost buttery floral quality to the fragrance. The orris root’s softness tempers the intensity of the chocolate, creating a delicate balance between richness and refinement. The orris introduces a sensual, tactile element, reminiscent of the feel of silk against the skin — cool, smooth, and intimately close. This interplay between the edible and the ethereal makes Melt My Heart a fragrance that feels simultaneously grounded and otherworldly.

This sumptuous oriental fragrance contains pure orris butter, a sought-after delicacy in perfumery for which there is no substitute. Like the warmth of true love, orris butter is irreplaceable. Our sensual blend is deepened by the sultriness of beloved oud and sandalwood, soothing ylang ylang combines with a hint of white magnolia and French sage to boost spirits. With their irresistible influence, purified ginger, stimulating mandarin, and luscious dark chocolate complete this enthralling creation.

As the fragrance evolves, a heart of oud and sandalwood emerges, grounding the composition with a smoky, woody depth. The oud here is subtle and refined, not overpowering, but present enough to give the fragrance a sense of exotic allure. The sandalwood is creamy and smooth, adding to the richness of the scent, while the ginger adds a slight spiciness, a warmth that contrasts beautifully with the cool powderiness of the orris.

The drydown of Melt My Heart is where the true magic happens. As the chocolate fades into the background, the base of amber and myrrh reveals itself, creating a warm, resinous cocoon that lingers on the skin for hours. The amber is golden and sweet, while the myrrh adds a smoky, balsamic touch, giving the fragrance a mystical quality.

I've finally finished configuring the CloudFront Distribution for the site. Previously, gzip compression was being enabled in the upload config file. However, it has now been configured to avoid that and only have CloudFront compress static files automatically.

This fragrance has been out for some time now but I recently managed to get a small sample for testing purposes. Vanilla Diorama is a unisex offering from the house that contains a mixture of ambery and gourmand notes.

Vanilla Diorama, the new creation of Dior perfumer-creator François Demachy, is a warm and joyful ode to vanilla. For this noble beauty, he composed a fragrance that is instantly pleasing, round and seductive, both rich, and shot through with freshness, revealing a joyful portrait of true vanilla perfection.

I first tried this a few weeks ago and wasn't totally sold on its qualities. However, it has sort of grown on me a bit and I will try to find a bottle at a decent price.

I am also waiting for a sample of Roja Parfums 'Lost in Paris' to arrive. I will update on that when it finally gets here.

New novel from this British author that sees him delve into the occult world of London. You can pick up a copy of The Great When by Alan Moore published by Bloomsbury on October 2nd.

The year is 1949, the city London. Amidst the smog of the capital is Dennis Knuckleyard, a hapless eighteen-year-old employed by a second-hand bookshop. One day, on an errand to acquire books for sale, Dennis discovers a novel that simply does not exist. It is a fictitious book, a figment from another novel. Yet it is physically there in his hands. How?

Dennis has stumbled on a book from the Great When, a magical version of London beyond time and space, where reality blurs with fiction and concepts such as Crime and Poetry are incarnated as wondrous, terrible beings. But this other, magical London must remain a secret: if Dennis cannot find a way to return this book to where it belongs, he risks bizarre and disastrous repercussions, such as his body being turned inside out (or worse).

So begins a journey delving deep into the city's occult underbelly and tarrying with an eccentric cast of sorcerers, gangsters, and murderers – some from legend, some all too real, and all with plans of their own. Soon Dennis finds himself at the centre of an explosive series of events that may alter and endanger both Londons forever.

OpenAI rolled out the service across parts of the world during the week and the service is now available in the UK since yesterday.

The ChatGPT Advanced Voice feature was first announced in May during the launch of GPT-4o. The feature can respond to audio inputs in as little as 232 milliseconds, with an average of 320 milliseconds, similar to human response time in a typical conversation.

You're still visiting this blog? Wow. Thanks.

As I haven't posted to this site in almost four years, I thought it would be good to rebuild it with Python and Jinja2. Originally, it was all generated with Ruby On Rails. The Python upgrade is done now. There are some new subtle design changes too.

Due to the complexity, quite a bit of the work was carried out with OpenAI ChatGPT o1-preview.

I hope to get back to more regular entries now that all backend work has been completed.

A new gourmand that hopes to become a best-seller for the brand. A larger-than-life olfactive event that will sweep you up in spectacular rush of sensations, ROJA invites you to lose yourself in Paris. Over-indulgence after the sun goes down, this perfume is a glimpse into the glitterati of Parisian high society.

Within an exquisite interior, a Michelin Star chef creates a transcendent dining experience - their mastery of ingredients turning a daily necessity into a sensory art form. A pan of delicious, juicy Oranges caramelize inside a warm pool of Butter and Brown Sugar, with Grand Marnier creating a sugary glaze over a rich base of Vanilla Bourbon and Ambergris.

Becoming a love letter to the spirit of over-indulgence, LOST IN PARIS blends an overdose of sumptuous raw materials to create the crème-de-la-crème of gourmand accords. This is what it means to live life to the fullest.

For most, fragrance is a guilty pleasure – something we dream about and if we allow ourselves to, indulge in. For me, there is a moment that epitomises this feeling that I wanted to capture as a fragrance. As a young man coming up in my career, I was living and training in Paris. Swept up in this new world of French finery, I had the opportunity to visit Le Meurice - a place I had always dreamed of being.

An extraordinary experience had suddenly become my reality and I left the party on cloud nine. Stumbling through the icy streets of Paris, I caught the most delicious smell in the air which took me to a stand selling Crépes. Gleefully shovelling one into my mouth, a self-awareness washed over me: I had come from the smartest hotel and here I was having the time of my life devouring street food in the freezing cold.

That is exactly what this scent is: something so irresistible it acts as a reminder than even when you’re on top of the world, there’s always room for a little more indulgence – a little more luxury in life!

Short list this year - not reflective of the number of releases or their quality. I just wanted to concentrate on what I truly enjoyed. These are in no order. Often, they are difficult listening but also sometimes haunting and yet life-affirming too.

• Oneohtrix Point Never - Magic Oneohtrix Point Never
• Votel, Canty & Shipton - Popular Mechanics 4
• Japan - Gentlemen Take Polaroids
• Blod - Livets Ord
• Yellow Swans - Going Places

Trying out this fragrance for a couple of days now. I bought the first sample some weeks back and felt unsure about it. Now I'm starting to get into it more. It does have a rather addictive quality that sort of creeps up on you.

There is a lot of lavender in the opening. Some apple and a few other rather gorgeous things going on that make it feel regal and expensive smelling.

Is it worth the money? No, absolutely not.

But is it worth it for you? That's an entirely different question that only you can answer.