Parisian secrets from Arielle Dombasle

French actress and former model Arielle Dombasle, the one who refused 10 000 times to be a muse for anyone, is launching her first perfume with Mauboussin.

A pure essence, anti-mass market bewitching, presented in a vial. A love potion that she wanted irresistible, for a woman in love.

The occasion to give us a pretty lesson of seduction around a cup of tea…

Picture credit : Angeline Mélin for Do it in Paris

I totally resist the social network craze “Me, myself and I”...

in the sense that I don’t expose myself. I like for words to belong by half to those who have written them. And one is not necessarily the best judge when it comes to one’s self!

I think that the future is to let others put you on stage. Not yourself.

Picture credit : Mauboussin

This perfume is a dream come true. I was offered 30 times to be a muse, but a perfume is also the tell-tale signature of a being. It’s the first note of civilization. What did the Three Kings bring for the birth of Jesus? Myrrh!

I often wore my own concoction… Twenty years ago, Karl Lagerfeld gave ma a bottle of Cuir de Russie by Chanel that I liked a lot.

In Washington, while riding in a taxi, one day, I was literally thunderstruck by an animal smell, both bewitching and sexy. It was white musk.

From that moment on, I mixed these two essences which I liked a lot. Everyone asked me what was the perfume I liked so much so I decide to analyze it ten year ago.

It was the beginning of a long initiation. A perfumer’s laboratory course, since it’s pure essence. There is nothing artificial in this bottle. One finds more particularly the scent of pheromone—the molecule of attraction!

Le secret d'Arielle, Mauboussin 15ml 240 €

Picture credit : Facebook Arielle Dombasle

If I can give some advice, it’s to wear lovely nightwear and pretty lingerie. It’s linked to the grace of being a woman. I prefer not referring to any brand or house.

One does not necessarily need a lot of money. It’s important to look around, discover pretty fabrics, lace or cottons. It’s hard to find, but important and bewitching for a man!

Obviously there is perfume... Not a spray… You wear it on the tip of the tongue, to kiss, behind the ear, on the wrist … My perfume has a scent of alcove. There is the innocent note of white flower and something troubling and animal like. My perfume leads to attraction!

Picture credit: Kos

I truly adore taking baths, in fact I’m psychotically addicted! You can listen to music and read. It’s marvelous. So I spend a lot of time in my tub!

I also like amazing oil and naturally putting drops in my bath, on my hair, my body...

I am very faithful to the “huile prodigieuse” oil by Nuxe… But I also discovered KOS oils and organic products made from rare plants at the Ritz. Fabulous !

Picture credit : Mariage Frères

Green tea is in fact raw tea that has rotted … So no way! I like lyophilized tea—particularly smoked tea from Mariage Frères. The science of tea goes back to a Chinese Shennong Emperor, two centuries before Jesus Christ.

He was persuaded there was demon in the water which he boiled and drank very hot. The legend says he had a sore heel. One day, a small leaf from a bush fell in his cup. He drank it and was cured!

Picture credit : Angeline Mélin for Do it in Paris

The real Parisienne is in the poem “La passante” by Baudelaire:

Ô toi que j’eusse aimée, ô toi qui le savais!

This is a woman who understands that by walking on the Parisian pavement she can attract all the attention.

This incarnation of femininity, the importance of allure, of gestures, a gaze, the way one wears things. That’s style!

Picture credit : Facebook Gloria

I have 10 000 lives — it also depends on the context. With my darling, we can very well go out to dinner at Chez Laurent or in brasseries. I often change universes...

With my rock group, for example, we often go chez Gloria, the fiancée of the boy on the keyboard, near the Théâtre de l’Atelier in Montmartre.

I swim a lot! I have always been a swimmer. For a long time, I went to the Ritz… Now, I go to La Réserve, a small pool where it’s nice to be alone. I also walk a lot. But I hate jogging and even more mechanical running carpets…

And on the plate? I’ve been 100% vegetarian for 20 years. I eat no meat at all—impossible for me to digest agonies...

Picture credit : Le Roy René

I have many. I really like almonds and calissons… I eat handfuls...