Victoria's Secret Love Spell Midnight. That was what I thought the first time I took a whiff of Fruity Blooms Frangipani and Brown Sugar Body Mist. The former was my aunt's signature scent for so long. She especially wears it when she hears mass. I think it's the floral note. VS Love Spell Midnight is hypnotic blossoms and vanilla. I've always wondered what hypnotic blossoms are. The flower on the VS Love Spell Midnight bottle looks like Blue Paradise which I don't know the smell of. I don't know the smell of frangipani either.
See, frangipani is known as kalachuchi in the Philippines. When I was a kid I was told it was a flower for the dead, bulaklak ng patay. Too scared, I stayed away from it even if a tree produces a lot of blooms. I didn't bother asking why it is regarded as such.
Apparently, there's word similarity, color association, custom and folklore at play.
Frangipani's Thai name, lantom, is similar to the Thai word ratom which means sorrow.
While in western culture black is worn during funerals, is the color for mourning, polar opposite white is regarded as the color of death in eastern culture. Vietnamese myth have ghosts residing in trees with white fragrant flowers. Singaporeans relate white flowers with funerals and graveyards. And wouldn't you know, there is a frangipani white flower-bearing species called Singapore graveyard flower.
In Southeast Asia, frangipanis are often planted near graves and temples, the flowers seen as offerings to the dead or to deities. True enough, when the LRT train passes Chinese Cemetery, one could see kalachuchi/frangipani trees standing guard over graves.
See, frangipani is known as kalachuchi in the Philippines. When I was a kid I was told it was a flower for the dead, bulaklak ng patay. Too scared, I stayed away from it even if a tree produces a lot of blooms. I didn't bother asking why it is regarded as such.
Apparently, there's word similarity, color association, custom and folklore at play.
Frangipani's Thai name, lantom, is similar to the Thai word ratom which means sorrow.
While in western culture black is worn during funerals, is the color for mourning, polar opposite white is regarded as the color of death in eastern culture. Vietnamese myth have ghosts residing in trees with white fragrant flowers. Singaporeans relate white flowers with funerals and graveyards. And wouldn't you know, there is a frangipani white flower-bearing species called Singapore graveyard flower.
In Southeast Asia, frangipanis are often planted near graves and temples, the flowers seen as offerings to the dead or to deities. True enough, when the LRT train passes Chinese Cemetery, one could see kalachuchi/frangipani trees standing guard over graves.
(UP Diliman has frangipani trees. Not allowed to stay beyond classes on campus though so never got around. )
While both Fruity Blooms Frangipani and Brown Sugar Body Mist and Avon Naturals Hand and Body Lotion Silky Vanilla and Soy Milk mention brown sugar as a fragrance note, they bear no similarities. Fruity Blooms Frangipani and Brown Sugar Body Mist is heady and spicy and because of this, it's more of a colder weather fragrance. The scent hangs in the air for about three hours then drapes around you after, lasting almost the entire day. Tupperware's website describes Fruity Blooms Frangipani and Brown Sugar Body Mist as floral and, fittingly, oriental.
If the floral note is accurate, this is the perfect scent to wear for Halloween. But take heed when you suddenly smell frangipani at night and you haven't spritzed this. There could be a pontianak (an evil blood-sucking Malay mythical creature) in the room with you.
Frangipani sources:
https://www.nparks.gov.sg/florafaunaweb/flora/3/0/3072
http://www.allthingsfrangipani.com/frangipanis.html
If the floral note is accurate, this is the perfect scent to wear for Halloween. But take heed when you suddenly smell frangipani at night and you haven't spritzed this. There could be a pontianak (an evil blood-sucking Malay mythical creature) in the room with you.
Frangipani sources:
https://www.nparks.gov.sg/florafaunaweb/flora/3/0/3072
http://www.allthingsfrangipani.com/frangipanis.html
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