~Blooddrop Exquisite Sweets Update~
This is not a big update, but it is a really, really, really sweet one. The last twelve months have been filled with a lot of heartache and loss for my family and me. As a result, I have just been craving to create something opposite of what life has brought my way. This update is that. I wanted to make a line of candy inspired perfumes, but not just plain ol’boring candy. I wanted to take some traditional sweets and put a chichi, couture twist to them. I wanted to make sweetness and smiles and happiness and joy and pour it into little bottles for you. Making others happy makes me happy.
Exquisite Sweets is a line of ten perfumes plus two of them put into a bath treat (one Flutter and one Bath Salt Soak), and the return of one of last year’s linen sprays (La Confiserie) because it works so well with this series.
The Exquisite Sweets perfumes:
Blackberry & Sage Guimauve
Guimauves are French marshmallows. I’ve taken the traditional vanilla-neutral guimauve and modernized it with blackberry jam and soft sage. (Also available as a Flutter.)
Candied Rose Cream
Imagine a little bonbon that you might find in a luxury sweets shop, filled with cream that has been infused with rose petals, rose water, sugar and a hint of vanilla bean. The center is pale pink, the outside is ivory fondant and it is topped with the tiniest faux rose also made of fondant. That image is this perfume.
Grape & Honeysuckle Bubblegum
Every sweet shop must have some sort of chewing, bubblegum to offer. This one is a bubblegum taken up several notches with tiny, purple champagne grapes that have been harvested just after the first frost and contrasted with summer’s warm honeysuckle blossom, set over the traditional, confectionary pink, powdery bubblegum flavoring.
Green Apple & White Tea Hard Candy
Tart, Granny Smith apples infused with the finest white tea and sweetened with a touch of honey. Little translucent gems for the delight of your taste buds!
Maraschino Cherry & Verbena Jelly Beans
Can you have chichi jelly beans? I’m trying with these! I’ve taken all the Maraschino cherries out of every Manhattan cocktail in Vegas, crushed them into a puree with wild garden verbena and compressed them into dainty little jelly beans.
Orange Cream Truffle
Sitting next to the Candied Rose Cream bonbon is this little “truffle.” It is actually without chocolate and altogether prettier than a truffle and vying for attention next to its neighbor. It boasts a sweet orange and vanilla cream center, is covered in soft orange fondant, and is decorated with the tiniest dimples like a miniature orange.
Peanut Butter Cream Truffle
Peanut Butter has its place in our boutique of couture candies as it is done in a most delicate manner. This is a very gentle peanut butter infused dark chocolate truffle, rolled in a blend of cocoa powder, confectioner’s sugar and peanut dust.
Pear Garden Gummies
Another take on a childhood favorite, but brought up to adulthood. First, I took a variety of bright, not quite ripe pears and added floral and green notes with a hint of lily to evoke a “garden” aspect and set them into a sugared base. The final touch is shaping them into the tiniest of tiny pear shapes and ensuring they are just the right amount of chewy without ruining any bridges.
Strawberry Cream & Chamomile Hard Candy
A little homeopathic, but a lot of delicious, this sweet is a good excuse for indulging! Sticky sweet strawberry syrup swirled with vanilla cream infused with soothing, gentle chamomile. (Also available as a Bath Salt Soak)
Vanilla Lemon Ginger Creams
The last offering for you just might be the best of the bunch. I wanted to imitate the fabulous taste of iced lemon cake and put it into a bonbon. The result is creamy, cakey, vanillaed lemon with some candied ginger in a soft, chewy candy interior and a beautiful pale citron fondant exterior decorated with tiny whimsical curlicues.
La Confiserie Linen & Chamber Spray
Walk into la Confiserie (sweet shop) and smell sugary, sweet treats from hard candies, to little colored dots on paper, rock candy, lollipops, conversation hearts, bags of cotton candy, creamy taffy, chewy fruit jellies, and anything else your taste buds could desire!
I'm very happy to announce a new Blooddrop retailer: The Rhinestone Housewife! Jeanine is a long-time Blooddrop customer and has a few Blooddrop corsets in her closet. When she contacted me about doing a line of goods for her new online shop, I was so excited! I have created a line of all-exclusives which include a rotating series of perfumes inspired by precious and semi-precious stones, a selection of Linen & Chamber Sprays, plus a new product altogether, Cuticle Charm! Also, I'd like to toot Jeanine's horn for being very active in dog rescue, which is something I can totally get behind!!
I would like to thank everyone for their kind messages after the death of my mom. Last March she was diagnosed with type M0 Acute Myeloid Leukemia. (If you recall I was away for two months last Spring... That is why. I was with her during that time.) Her oncologist gave her weeks to live, but she ended up surpassing that by months. She decided to move back to France with one of her sisters for her final time on the Earth. She died very quietly with one of her sisters at her bedside and I was one the phone with her at the time. It's strange when something like this happens and you have time to "prepare," but, in reality, you really can't prepare. It is a very strange and surreal wait. Above is a picture of me and my mom, Gaele, taken at my sister in law's wedding in 2002. I think it is one of the nicest pictures of her and me, so I wanted to share it with you.
My goal for Blooddrop is to make this a very beautiful and happy year for the business. I want to go above and beyond to bring love, light and beauty to my work to pass that on to you. I have some exciting things planned and if William lets me have a little time to work on them ;) I will bring them to you!
With gratitude and joy,
Astrid xxoo
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