The Making of a Miss Behave Collab: Mary Shelley by AJ

“The stars may behold my tears, and the winds drink my sighs; but my thoughts are a sealed treasure, which I can confide to none. But can I express all I feel? Can I give words to thoughts and feelings that, as a tempest, hurry me along? Is this the sand that the ever-flowing sea of thought would impress indelibly? Alas! I am alone.”

Mary Shelley

Our Mary Shelley moodboard during the development of the fragrance

Why I chose Mary Shelley

When a friend suggested that I should try reading science fiction, it knocked me out of my four-year reading slump. I began furiously devouring books like I did in elementary school. I, and other avid sci fi lovers, can thank Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley for the emergence and popularity of the genre. Her book Frankenstein began a sci-fi revolution. When we celebrate science fiction authors, we owe thanks to Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, the mother of science fiction.

Initial vision for the Mary Shelley scent

When Joelle reached out about collaborating on a scent, my mind drifted towards a sparkly, green, petrichor-y/dirt-y, and bookish scent. Something like sitting in the woods near a lake, reading (or writing!) a book in the shade, while the water sparkles and bends the sunlight out in front of you. As if I were part of the group sequestered away at Lake Geneva during the year without summer. I shared my vision with Joelle, who then worked her magic.

Thoughts on the final scent

I love how Joelle took different snippets from my ideas and transformed them into the most lovely & unique scent. There’s a super funky mushroom note in the beginning that dissolves pretty quickly into a spicier scent/book note. As it dries down, I get an airier, slightly sweeter note - almost an atmospheric note. The book note feels just a little spooky because of the underlying mushroom and the graveyard dirt notes. You can also almost feel the ink drying and the plane trees swaying in the wind. Thank you so much to Joelle and the incredible Poesie team for lending their talents towards making this earthy and mysterious take on a Mary Shelley scent a reality - I’m so excited for everyone to try it! I know I love it.

AJ

About AJ

AJ is a full-time graduate student pursuing her PhD in neuroscience. Perfume testing and reviewing is a passion that she explores in her studies as well. She loves finding ways to incorporate her South Indian culture and heritage into her love for perfumes! AJ began her perfumetok account reviewing Poesie’s Studio Ghibli inspired collection Magic in the Wind. Her favorite Poesie scents include Mysterious Fossils, Bookish Brew, Awakening - but her all time fav. is Queen Bee.

Weekend in Paris Itinerary

L - R: Au Vieux Paris cafe, peonies at Parisian flower market, Eiffel Tower overlooking sunset cruise on the Seine

Go to Paris, if only in your imagination. For the most immersive experience, listen to our curated Spotify playlist, smell the Weekend in Paris discovery set as you read, and maybe get yourself a little treat from your local bakery.

Day One

Au Vieux Paris

Morning in a Small Cafe

You start your morning with a walk through the ancient cobblestoned streets of Île de la Cité, a Roman settlement that was the birthplace of what became the City of Light. Admiring the gothic towers of Notre-Dame Cathedral reaching into the soft gray clouds above, you duck into a cozy cafe to escape the patter of spring raindrops that are leaping down from the heavens as if they, too, wanted to explore Paris. 

With a wistful look at the bedewed outdoor seating, you slip onto a velvet couch that allows you a view of the cathedral as you sip your coffee. The interior of the cafe is charmingly romantic. Figured wallpaper and exposed 16th century stonework as the background for the antique portraits and angels who wryly observe your petit-déjeuner in a decidedly unimpressed Parisian fashion.

The smells of rich, roasted coffee and buttery pastries mingle with the underlying notes of old stone and wood.For a moment, you can almost smell the cathedral incense and imagine that you’ve traveled back in time a few decades or even centuries. Any sense of hurry you felt about your time in Paris melts away, and you just enjoy the moment. The magic of Paris is already taking effect.

Marché aux Fleurs

A Flower Market after the rain

When you step outside, the air is freshly scrubbed by the quick burst of a passing spring shower.

 The architecture gives you a little thrill, reminding you that you’re in Paris! This isn’t a dream! You peek into a few tempting boutiques and make a mental note of which ice cream shop you’ll visit on a sunnier day in the future. You already know this won’t be your last trip to the city that has won your heart. 

The sky above is resolving itself into an impossible blue, with puffy white clouds punctuating its expanse. When you round the next corner, you see a crowd of flowers, frilly petals ruffled in the breeze, green stems sparkling with diamond droplets. You've stumbled upon the oldest flower market in Paris; you remember reading about it in the guidebook, but the serendipity of the encounter only endears it to you more. You stroll through the market, picturing yourself in a Breton striped shirt with a basket of flowers under your arm.The flowers sway on their stems, seeming to say “bonjour, bonjour mon amie.” 

La Vie En Rose

Sunset Cruise on the Seine

After an afternoon of museums, while crossing the Pont Alexandre III bridge, you take a moment to admire the Eiffel Tower at its most romantic in the golden hour glow. You’ve decided to embrace being a tourist and enjoy a sunset cruise of the Seine. The boat is more like a tiny floating bistro, complete with small cafe tables and moody lighting. The coral pink of the setting sun spreads across the water as you embark. As dusk falls, tiny Champagne bubbles rise and twinkle in your glass as though communicating in time with the amber lights that are twinkling on the waters. The City of Love continues to tease all your senses: you bite into a crisp, juicy slice of chilled pear while an accordion softly plays La Vie En Rose from the stern of the boat, and you feel as though you are in a beautiful dream. It's the ending of your perfect first day in Paris.

L - R: Rue Saint-Honoré, Ladurée confection shop, Montmartre neighborhood

Day Two

Rue Saint-Honoré 

Luxury shopping + pastry

After an early morning walk through the Tuileries Gardens, you continue your day on one of Paris’s chicest streets, Rue Saint-Honoré. Lined with elegant Haussmann-style mansions, it has seen centuries and now houses some of the most luxe boutiques in the city. Luxury brands may not be your thing, but you want to take a peek. And while you’re strolling up the street, you stop at Pharmacie Saint Honoré,  which once supplied cosmetics to Marie Antoinette. (Get yourself a little treat, because if it was good enough for Marie…)

The scent of carefully curated luxury stores and their rarefied atmosphere has you feeling like royalty yourself, or like a fancy Fin de Siècle pedestrian being captured by an Impressionist painter as you climb into your gleaming horse drawn carriage while someone else takes care of a large pile of purchases, wrapped in elegant paper and tied with satin ribbons. 

The afternoon tea you have planned feels ever so far away, and there’s the leisurely walk between here and there -- you might as well have a bite of Gâteau St-Honoré. You slip into a posh cafe with floor-to-ceiling windows and invitingly plump chairs, where you are swiftly served an artistic pastry constructed of  caramel and crispy tuiles then garnished with mascarpone and vanilla chantilly cream. A modern interpretation of the classic dessert. Life is sweet in Paris, no matter the century.

Champs Elysées

Afternoon tea at Maison Ladurée 

The gold-rimmed saucers in shades of  Ladurée green and palest pink, pastel rows of macarons, glittering chandeliers. It could only feel more Parisian if it were perched atop the Eiffel Tower. You carefully select a few impossibly perfect macarons (already making a mental list of which flavors you’ll purchase to take with you) and order the Marie Antoinette tea blend you’ve been dreaming of trying since you first read the description: “a delicious marriage of Chinese and Indian black teas combined with rose petals, citrus fruit and honey.” 

While you wait for the delicacies to come, you sink into a velvet cushion to people-watch and admire your surroundings. Branches garlanded with dainty cherry blossoms seem to grow from the black and white marble floors, the pink flowers mirrored in the delicately crafted desserts and sumptuous cascades of pink roses. The tea cup placed silently on your table calls for your attention as the steam rises before you, the aroma blooming in its own kind of beauty, invisible but intoxicating. The macaron is all at once delicate and soft with a perfect and chewy almondy center. 

Although you leave this enchanted establishment with some regret, the sunny avenue beckons, and you are, after all, carrying a small, pale green box whose light weight belies the bijou jewels within. You stroll up the Champs Elysées, and every time you see a branch bewreathed in candy-spun blossoms peeping out of a private garden, it feels like a little signal from the city that you’re in exactly the right place. 

Montmartre 

A sunny afternoon stroll

After a stop at the Arc de Triomphe, you head to the famed 18th arrondissement, Montmartre. The neon windmill on the roof of the Moulin Rouge marks its rural roots; there are no processional avenues here, just steep and winding cobblestone streets. The character that made this place an inexpensive haven for artists, writers, and other bohemians is what now draws you here. Montmartre has a fabled history for art lovers, and you want to see it with your own eyes. The Moulin Rouge dancers as sketched by Toulouse-Lautrec, Le Chat Noir its iconic advertisement, the dreamy modernism of Erik Satie’s Gymnopédies. And, of course, Amélie Poulain, whose quirky fringe and magical approach to life made you fall in love with Paris and wish to ride a motorbike through its streets.

As you wend your way towards Sacre Coeur, the shining white monument with its unique view of Paris, you stop to explore the more intriguing shops and peak at the art exhibits in the Halle St-Pierre. Each doorway seems full of possibility. You don’t linger for long, however. This is your last afternoon in Paris, and you’re eager to take in the city from the overlook at the top of the hill. The day is sunny and bright, and you feel charged with your sense of aliveness as you continue towards your goal. Once up there, you’ll take it all in, soaking in the city’s vibrancy, that joie de vivre that has made it a lodestone for romantics of all sorts. You'll carry it with you when you go home. 

And you know for certain this won’t be your last weekend in Paris.  

Josephine Baker: The Triple Threat

Josephine Baker by Paul Nadar 1930

Josephine Baker may be best known for her provocative dances in Paris music halls, but her global contributions go beyond a feathered skirt.

Josephine Baker was born into poverty in St. Louis, Missouri in 1906. She ran away from home at age 13, started dancing as a street performer around age 15, and by age 19 had earned enough small time success to be invited to Paris as part of a revue ensemble. In 1925, Paris was just entering the art deco period, and Parisians were thirsty for all forms of non-Western and exotic arts. Baker found herself in the right place at the right time.

As part of this ensemble, Baker’s performance of the “Danse Sauvage” wearing only a feathered skirt garnered instant attention from the music hall crowds, and she followed it up in 1926 performing in “La Folie du Jour” wearing a skirt made only of 16 bananas. The latter performance turned out to be a defining moment in Baker’s career. 1920’s France proved to be the right venue for her to push past the limits of her humble American childhood, and Josephine Baker became the most popular and highest paid performer in Europe. Over the next several years, she leveraged her success as a dancer to earn roles as an actress and, later, as an opera singer--achieving a classic triple threat status that Hollywood and Broadway would not afford her.

The French embrace of Baker was easily a mutual feeling of adoration. However, while France adored her, the United States rejected her harshly with racist sentiment. An attempt to translate her European success into success across the Atlantic ended with showgoers refusing to see her performances, and the box offices tanked. In 1937, Baker returned that rejection--shedding her United States citizenship and officially becoming a French citizen.

In 1939, her newly adopted country called on her to serve after France declared war on Germany. Baker worked for the Free French forces, entertaining troops stationed in the region and in northern Africa, and she also worked for the Red Cross. After Paris fell to Nazi occupation in 1940, Baker harbored refugees and French Resistance fighters at her estate in the southern part of the country. During this time, the French government recruited her to spy on Axis leadership, and Baker proudly accepted. She attended social events where she would get close to high ranking officials and gather information about the troop placement of Axis forces. Baker hedged her bets, believing that her international success exempted her from suspicion and interrogation, and she was right. She smuggled messages in her undergarments and in her sheet music, using invisible ink to hide her transcriptions.

After the war, Josephine Baker continued to serve the French people, who she felt had given her everything. When she returned to Paris following the occupation and recognized the plight left to citizens, she sold a number of her personal valuables and donated the money to the less fortunate so they could afford basic essentials. The scope of Baker’s heroic efforts were rewarded with some of France’s highest honors: the Croix de Guerre, the Médaille de la Résistance, and the Légion d'honneur with the rosette of the French Resistance.

The end of World War II did not slow her down. Though Baker dedicated some time in the late 40s to her family and numerous adopted children, she was seemingly empowered by what she was able to accomplish by leveraging her celebrity to be a successful spy. In 1951, a Miami nightclub invited her to perform, but Baker refused because of the club’s policy of segregating the audience. The club offered her more and more money to change her mind, but she held firm. Her contract included a provision that she would not perform at segregated venues. Ultimately, the Miami club lost the public battle with her and changed their policy. Baker’s performances there sold out.

She embarked on a United States tour, continuing her message of integration. She wrote articles and gave speeches describing the abuse she had suffered, including repeated refusal of service at hotels along the tour, and promoting an integration of public spaces and music venues. Later in 1951, the NAACP acknowledged her efforts, naming a day in her honor and granting her a lifetime membership. Baker’s outspoken position and stature were instrumental in the integration of Las Vegas’ entertainment venues.

Following her success in the 1950s, Josephine Baker was inspired to become more active in the wider Civil Rights Movement. In 1963, she participated in and spoke at the March on Washington. After the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., she was reportedly offered a leadership position alongside Coretta Scott King.

As evidence of the progress she worked to achieve, Baker headlined Carnegie Hall in 1973, and she was greeted with an emotional standing ovation--just shy of 40 years after New York crowds wouldn’t buy tickets to see her.

Josephine Baker’s memory has mainly been remembered by her work as provocative entertainer and a “classic” triple threat, but she reset what it really meant to be a triple threat: an entertainer, spy, and activist.