All Hail Sweet Tea Apothecary!!!

I have found love! And it's in a bottle! And I can't drink it, but I am addicted to its aroma! Sweet Tea Apothecary is based in Seattle, Washington and is owned by a lovely person who goes by the name, J. T. Slems. All of the perfumes that are on offer are handmade with, I assume, loving care and historical precision, seeing as the tagline is, "Historically Inspired Perfumes". I love handmade stuff! It's like they made it just for you before they even knew you existed!

The other day I was searching online for perfumes. In particular, anything Zelda Fitzgerald would've worn because I am going to be channeling her during the premiere of "The Great Gatsby". I did find an interesting website that is all about perfume, but alas, all of the perfumes mentioned were all too far out of my thin bank account's reach. So then, I went in search of a perfume perhaps inspired by Zelda and her flamboyant ilk and came across a blog, called BookRiot, describing a perfumer who has a line of perfumes called "Dead Writers". Sadly, there wasn't a Fitzgerald perfume (cologne?), but there was a perfume based on Clara Bow!

"Clara" is a perfume that is a part of Sweet Tea Apothecary's "Pomp and Circumstance" series of fragrances that also includes Marie Antoinette, called "Antoinette", Queen Victoria, called "HRM Victoria", Queen Anne Boleyn, called "Boleyn", and Duchess of Devonshire, Georgiana Cavendish, called "Georgiana". I got "Clara" and "Antoinette" because who doesn't want to smell like a queen or a legendary actress.

They're about
2 1/2 inches tall.

Here's what the site said about the sexy starlet, Clara Bow: “Clara Bow, the original “it” girl, came to define sex appeal in the Roaring 20s. With spunky grace and style, Clara was the quintessential flapper girl. Rumors of her sexual escapades are legendary, she was “engaged” to five men in just four years (including Gary Cooper) and was regularly referred to as the “Mantrap” thanks to her big brown eyes and hour glass figure.

“This lean-in-closer perfume, named in honor of the silent era’s sexiest siren contains sultry Sandalwood with earthy-sweet Tuberose Moss and is topped off with the flowery citrus of Bergamot.”

It is definitely sensual, but you need to watch how much you put on because it is quite potent. A little goes a long way. It certainly made me feel special and sexy, which is a good pick-me-up for when you're having a bad week, like the one I'm having right now. And it came in this cut little sack that I will totally use for organizing something, I just don't know what yet.

They have a very
pretty amber
color to them.

And here's what they had to say about "Antoinette": “15 year old Marie Antoinette was a bit surprised when she arrived at Versailles – instead of the grand imperial palace of the Sun King, Louis XIV, the royal halls were in disrepair and the French court at the time was a bit less than what she’d call hygienic. Feminine and beautiful, the young Dauphine was France’s biggest trendsetter with sky-high coiffures and daring gowns. She put her womanly touch on the palace, helping with extensive redecoration to bring Versailles back to its original glory.

“She spent many hours in the gardens of the Trianon and at her idyllic, pastoral Hameau de la Reine (a thirty minute or so walk from the palace). It is no surprise that she enjoyed the smell of fresh florals. La Reine Antoinette is inspired by the actual perfume worn by France’s most famous queen. Gentle notes of Rose, Bergamot, and Jasmine accented by fresh moss will make you feel as though you’re picking wildflowers in the gardens of Versailles.

“Mythbusting: Marie Antoinette never actually said, “Let them eat cake,” it is largely believed the phrase was made up by Voltaire in an effort to smear the queen. While she had periods of favor, the French courtiers and people mistrusted her due to her Austrian roots – France had been in a particularly devastating war with Austria only a few years before her debut at court.”

After having read a book based on the life of Marie Antoinette's perfumer, the "Antoinette" perfume is perfect. I have no doubt in my mind that she would've worn this perfume herself. It sounds a lot like the perfume she did wear. I am in love with both perfumes and I will definitely buy a bigger bottle of them when I get the chance. Especially since she gave me a 10% off coupon code!

Here are the roll tops.

The perfumes are available in 5ml ($20), 15ml ($30), and Solid Perfume Tin (1/2 ounce) ($10) and they have roll on tops. You use a drop down menu to choose after you have picked your fragrance. You can also purchase a sample pack. You can find Sweet Tea Apothecary at her website or on Etsy. I kind of wish I had bought them on her Etsy store, so I could have left a review of her wonderful products. 
Oh well, to the blogs!

"Flapper" Book Review

Flapper: A Madcap Story of Sex, Style, Celebrity, and the Women Who Made America Modern by Joshua Zeitz
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

"Blithely flinging aside the Victorian manners that kept her disapproving mother corseted, the New Woman of the 1920s puffed cigarettes, snuck gin, hiked her hemlines, danced the Charleston, and necked in roadsters. More important, she earned her own keep, controlled her own destiny, and secured liberties that modern women take for granted. Her newfound freedom heralded a radical change in American culture.

"Whisking us from the Alabama country club where Zelda Sayre first caught the eye of F. Scott Fitzgerald to Muncie, Indiana, where would-be flappers begged their mothers for silk stockings, to the Manhattan speakeasies where patrons partied till daybreak, historian Joshua Zeitz brings the era to exhilarating life. This is the story of America’s first sexual revolution, its first merchants of cool, its first celebrities, and its most sparkling advertisement for the right to pursue happiness.

"The men and women who made the flapper were a diverse lot. 

"There was Coco Chanel, the French orphan who redefined the feminine form and silhouette, helping to free women from the torturous corsets and crinolines that had served as tools of social control. 

"Three thousand miles away, Lois Long, the daughter of a Connecticut clergyman, christened herself 'Lipstick' and gave New Yorker readers a thrilling entrée into Manhattan’s extravagant Jazz Age nightlife.

"In California, where orange groves gave way to studio lots and fairytale mansions, three of America’s first celebrities—Clara Bow, Colleen Moore, and Louise Brooks, Hollywood’s great flapper triumvirate—fired the imaginations of millions of filmgoers.

"Dallas-born fashion artist Gordon Conway and Utah-born cartoonist John Held crafted magazine covers that captured the electricity of the social revolution sweeping the United States.

"Bruce Barton and Edward Bernays, pioneers of advertising and public relations, taught big business how to harness the dreams and anxieties of a newly industrial America—and a nation of consumers was born.

"Towering above all were Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald, whose swift ascent and spectacular fall embodied the glamour and excess of the era that would come to an abrupt end on Black Tuesday, when the stock market collapsed and rendered the age of abundance and frivolity instantly obsolete.

"With its heady cocktail of storytelling and big ideas, Flapper is a dazzling look at the women who launched the first truly modern decade."

I've always liked and had an interest in the flapper and the 1920's. It seemed unusual that in such a short amount of time, not even two decades, the flapper changed the course of women in American society and it was fascinating to read about how and why this occurred. All of these changes happening at once: women entering the workforce, people moving en masse to cities, the proliferation of ready-made clothing, a whole new genre of music being played in the streets, the Feminist Movement, Prohibition and speakeasies, the movie industry and the birth of Hollywood and celebrity, and with that, the new gossip rags. It seems sad that, with the flick of a switch, the flapper was no more. The economy grew so large that it couldn't contain itself and it collapsed. Very like what just so recently happened.

Some of it I already knew about, like how the advertising business started (I have a degree in graphic design and we had to learn about it), I knew most of the authors and the Lost Generation set, the clothing and their designers (although I did not know about Mademoiselle Vionnet and Paul Poiret), and I had heard about the Hollywood starlets, but didn't know much about them so that was interesting.

Lois Long/Lipstick was a fascinating person and I would love to read more about her. Her persona reminded me of the tv series and book series "Gossip Girl". It wouldn't surprise me at all if the original author had been inspired.

I didn't realize how racist everything was, but that shouldn't really be a surprise I guess. Sadly, this book was very white-washed. African American flappers were briefly discussed, but there was no mention of musicians, or how Jazz music started, no Langston Hughes?! Come on now, his poetry is absolutely beautiful and some of the only poetry I ever liked! A Chinese American actress was mentioned, but she wasn't spoken about in depth like the other actresses in the book. I would've liked to have known where she came from and where she ended up. Jazz music was such an important part of this time period and, as an American, I take pride in it because it is one of the few art forms that America came up with and gave to the rest of the world. Think about it, most other popular music forms started elsewhere and is very old and steeped in tradition. In comparison, Jazz is very new to this world.

Also, artists of the time and the Art Deco movement was missing completely. Not even mentioned. Very disappointed with that. Cole Porter and the Ziegfeld Follies were mentioned, but they weren't the only things happening on Broadway.

Even with all that information missing, I enjoyed reading it. It was more of an incomplete summarization of an era, rather than a well thought-out history. It could've used some more psychological assessment of the people of the age. I mean, Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung were right there. Overall, I would consider this a good book to start off reading about the 1920s. Just don't expect A LOT of information about the era.

View all my reviews

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars.