It's summer at DURANCE and it smells like Tiaré Flower!

Bordeaux is all hot, bright and sunny these days and your Lala is loving it! Nowadays, all I need is an excuse to go out and what better excuse is there to find something worth writing about on this blog for you all?

DURANCE was one of the first few authentic French brands which I came across in Bordeaux and wrote about in my Bordeaux Diaries series on this blog. Not only do they manufacture organic handmade skin and body care products but also handmade soaps, scents, perfumes, candles, essential oils and various other products targeted to enhance the overall sense of well being around you. If you haven't previously read my first ever review of DURANCE, click here to read it:  Bordeaux Diaries: DURANCE - Art de vivre - Art de la terre

Last week, I stopped by the beautiful boutique to greet Mrs. Catherine Fender, the DURANCE boutique manager in Bordeaux and inquire about any latest products I may be missing on. The timing was in fact great! With the same enthusiasm and friendliness for which I remember her since my first interaction with her, Mrs. Catherine Fender informed me about the latest summer special arrivals at DURANCE. The theme of the summer at Durance is Tiaré Flower and the many things I learned about this flower ensured that I share my knowledge with you all.




Tiaré Flower or as it's called La Fleur de Tiaré in French is the national flower of French Polynesia. I may have never studied much about plants and flowers in my past life but this time around, through a brand like DURANCE, it seems like a great investment of time to learn and research a bit more about the natural ingredients involved in their products. Last time I learned about Durance's place of origin i.e; Provence and this time around it's Polynesia.

La Fleur de Tiaré

Tiaré Flower has a reputation of the queen flower of the Polynesia possibly because it's one of the few cultivated plants native to this overseas country of the French Republic. It consists of many Islands of which we are well acquainted with the one name Tahiti. Now that I have mentioned Tahiti, if the first image that just popped into your mind is of Tahiti festivity and beautiful women adorned with white flower around their head and necks, that, my dear reader, would be a Tiaré Flower. The flower itself is extremely beautiful, sweetly scented and is also known as the symbol of Love in Tahiti. If you research a bit about it, you will be glad to learn the lovely cultural traditions formed and practiced around this flower in Polynesia. 

DURANCE has launched a limited edition range of products for summers which includes handmade scented candles, perfumes, very intricately designed flowers which function as decorative fragrance dispensers (air freshening product)  in homes or where ever else you want to create a feel of summer! Although the official Durance website also shows a Tiaré Flower scented dry body oil and a shampoo but personally I have only seen the candles and the fragnance dispensers at the Bordeaux boutique. Mrs. Catherine Fender emphasized that the range is selling away pretty quick and I believe that the last two products I am talking about are already sold out. The candles too are catching massive attention from DURANCE fans and I was told that once the remaining stock at the boutique gets sold, there will probably not another re-stocking of this range.

The reason for why this range is designed around Tiaré Flower seems evident to me now. Apart for its very own sweet fragrance (I smelled those yummy candles!) the patient and careful procedure involved in the the extraction of the world famous Monoi perfume oil adds to the range's exclusivity. The flowers must be hand picked at a particular stage of growth and are than submerged in coconut oil for a natural process to take place thus resulting in pure Monoi Oil. At DURANCE, when we hear about Tiaré Flower and Monoi Oil, we are actually being referred to the authentic Authentic Tahitian monoi oil meaning that the ingredient involved has been acquired through a genuine culture practiced within Tahiti from the planting of the flower to the end product.

Authentic Tahiti Monoi Oil is widely recognized for it's skin soothing characteristics apart from the fragrance itself but since I didn't get to see any skin care or body care product at my local DURANCE shop, I cannot comment on their characteristic but what I learned from the display of candles, there are two subcategories in their Summer range dedicated to Tiaré Flower. The first one being Monoi Oil itself and the second one is Tiaré Flower's sweet scent infused with Ylang Ylang. This is to say that each of these two subcategories can be linked to certain kind of ambiance one may be trying to achieve. With Monoi oil's fragrance what comes to my mind is the image of a warm friendly joyful evening and with Ylang Ylang, the mental image gets much more romantic, calm and relaxing.

Each one of the two scent variations of these hand made candles and decorative fragrance dispensers comes in distinguishable color packaging i.e; The Monoi candles are held in a glass jar wrapped in an attractive blue wrapping whereas the Ylang infused version is an elegant grey. The quality wax used in these candles ensures a bright flame for up to 40 hours and an even scent dispensing.

At the other end of the shop, a beautiful platter displays an assortment of scented candles as well. They don't belong to the Summer edition range but nonetheless smell divine! Placed next to these little goodies was this large 500 grams weighing candle with four flicks held in a beautiful jar, covered with a silver lid which was probably the biggest candle I had seen that day at Durance.  It's a cotton flower scented candle and is an exclusive piece these days in Durance boutique in Bordeaux due to it's special presentation and grand size.

DURANCE indeed has its significance locally but just like the last time, I recommend this place to all the tourists planning to visit Bordeaux. I, myself, consider this to be one of the few places where I am going to splurge my money gracefully when the time comes for me to purchase presents for those to whom I want to bring a feel of authentic French traditions. If you aren't coming to Bordeaux, visit www.durance.fr and you can see the list of boutiques in other cities within France as well as in other countries.

The time I have ever spent at Durance has always been educational and pleasant to my senses. I always walk out feeling like my time was well spent because of the things I learn and the new experiences I come across in the form of exotic new aromas. Thank you Mrs. Catherine Fender for welcoming me each time with such genuine approach to my curiosity, for understanding my faulty French, for answering all possible questions I can come up with and for allowing me to take all the photographs that I need (including the fact that you always let me move the products from the display to an entirely different place to get a better angle, Ting!)

I am not only glad to have written a post on this blog but also the fact this one got me researching  on internet about things and places I didn't know much about earlier on. Not only blogging satisfies the writer/author in me but it also takes me places, makes me socialize and share my own personal impressions with you all. Technology, wooohooooooooooo!!!

  
My opinions of a brand or a product as expressed in Bordeaux Diaries and/or other articles on this blog are entirely unbiased and unpaid for. The posts are based on my personal experience of the customer service of a brand and the authenticity of the product's nature.