Nicolas de Barry - impératrice Sissi
The indomitable
Elisabeth of Austria, called Sissi born in Munich in 1837, was first the impetuous little Duchess of Bavaria, raised in a mannerless and loose environment who in true tom boy fashion, threw propriety to the wind in the name of freedom. Then she became Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary. Marrying François Joseph, future monarch of Austria and initially destined for her elder sister, as an adolescent of 15, she was far from being the young woman in love with the prince charming. Furthermore, she abhorred the burdensome Viennese etiquette which estranged her from her children...
Based on vanilla, which leaves a tingling velvety feeling just beneath the skin, Nicolas de Barry added a floral note distilled by violet, slightly quirky, and Iris, with fresh and light bergamot as top note.
The story
Elisabeth Amélie Eugénie de Wittelsbach was born the 24th of December 1837. She was known as Sissi (Sisi in German), and was the daughter of Maximilien, the Duke of Bavaria and at the age of 15 she married the future Emperor François Joseph of Austria. She was tragically murdered in Geneva in 1898 at the age of 41.
Contrarily to general clichés, she was not the glamourous young woman in love with her Prince Charming, the future monarch, although she accepted to comply to the constraints imposed by the court she continually fled high society. Instead she focused on her passions; travelling (incognito), her beauty care, classical arts ...
She marked her century by her beauty : she was very slim - like a super top model - 41 kg for 1m62, she was often ill but always radiant. She travelled extensively in Europe, cruised on the royal yacht to Madeira and Corfu where she had a magnificent classically-styled villa constructed.
An emancipated woman for her time, she called herself a seagull of the seas; she also loved poetry and horse riding through the forest. She spent a lot of time and money on her beauty care, and paid special attention to her hair which was largely admired in Europe. She invented creams for her hair and she rinsed her hair daily with a vanilla-scented lotion that she made-up herself.
Like the ladies of her times she perfumed herself with violet (violets from Parma or Paris) : this encounter between the typical powdery perfume of the European High Society of the nineteenth century and the generous and sensual scent of vanilla which is almost the opposite illustrates Sissi's appealing and unusual perfume ...
Floral Woody Musk
Notes:Bergamote, Violette & Iris, Vanille
