Upcoming Anniversary & A Special Perfume To Commemorate It...

In a few weeks we will be celebrating The Battle Of New Orleans Bicentennial. Did you also know that on May 29th 2014 we celebrated the 200th anniversary of Empress Josephine's passing? With her 201st anniversary coming up and the Battle of New Orleans around the corner... how should we celebrate and remember her? How about looking at paintings, telling her story, and a Sneak Peek at what we have been brewing up in honor of Josephine herself.  PERFUME... Yes.. we have been hard at work researching Josephine's favorite scents and flipping though all the old perfume recipes to come up with a LIMITED EDITION Perfume that Josephine would have been proud to wear.

Portrait de l'impératrice Joséphine (1763-1814), Appiani Andrea, l'Aîné (1754-1817) 

              L'impératrice Joséphine - Réunion des musées nationaux portrait de Jacques Louis David.

A Very Abbreviated History Of Josephine, Napoleon & A Love Story :

Rosa Indica; La Bengale bichonne'  [Rosa chinensis Jacq. var. minima Voss] (1817-1824) Pierre Joseph Redoute the official flower painter for Marie Antoinette and Empress Josephine 

Josephine was of "Creole" descent and a party girl. She had impeccable style and poise. She loved Roses and Musks ( Above) and used those scents often. Infact she was called "Rose" until Napoleon changed her name to Josephine- which she kept the rest of her life. She even had an amazing rose garden with roses from all over the world and it's her we have to thank for the various species of roses we currently have today!
 Her first husband was guillotined and shortly after she caught Napoleons eye. She fell in love with him too and thus starts a incredibly passionate, dramatic, and enduring love story. Their relationship and letters were steamy. For example in Love Letter dated, 1795 December he writes, "I awake full of you. Your image and memory of last night's intoxicating pleasures has left no rest to my senses. " 

This would be the perfect love story if we stop now- they could live happily ever after, but sometimes people don't realize what they have until it's to late. Old habits die hard and that is what happened with Josephine. With Napoleon gone often, she continued her "party girl" habits and let the passionate flame of her relationship with Napoleon die. He would write her letters and she wouldn't return them. I don't know what she was searching for when it was in front of her, but some people can't escape each other and that is what makes an amazing love story. This is the love story of Napoleon and Josephine Bonaparte .

Napoleon's Farewell to Josephine, 30 Nov 1809 by Laslett John Pott.

 After having his heart broken, he bid her farewell   ( above).  The irony of this is that Josephine had finally realized ( too late) that she was really in love with Napoleon ( notice the roses on the floor). After this she changed her ways and was the devoted wife, but it was to late. Napoleon was trying to heal his broken heart with one affair after another. He could never love as deeply or as passionately as he once did with his beloved Josephine. There was no divorce during this time, even though he kept threatening it. So life was a torment for both- but yet they couldn't leave the other. After some time, they patched things up, but with her being older than him, she wasn't able to conceive and Napoleon needed an heir. He remarried and Josephine was divorced. But by then their love was renewed. He insisted that Josephine retain her title of Empress and be provided for. Josephine continued to love Napoleon and in later years when she was on her death bed, Napoleon's name was one of the last words she uttered. Their love lasted through everything. I was commissioned to make a perfume that commemorated Josephine's love story and embodied the essence of her favorite scents.

Napoleon and Josephine. First met in January 1796, Napoleon proposed to her and they married on March 9, 1796. Until meeting Napoleon, she had always been Rose. Instead of calling her this name, which he apparently disliked, he called her 'Joséphine,' which she adopted from then on.

So I bring to you - just in time for the BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS Bicentennial 2015 a perfume which embodies the romantic spirit and timeless love story of Josephine.  ~Bouquet de L' Imperatrice Josephine~ COMING SOON to LBCC Historical