Join me on my journey through the worlds of perfumes and books
If by any chance you are visiting Zagreb and/or are free this Friday evening (June 14), Maurice Roucel will be talking on the subject of noir perfumes at the Velvet cafe/gallery as part of the Noir Festival.
There are many other interesting topics being covered by the festival, but the perfume one is the one I will be attending. 🙂
After several years of, well not actually scorning but not wearing for sure, fruity-florals, I am now back where I started from.
Well, not exactly where I started from but back where I actually enjoy the smell of such perfumes and enjoy wearing them.
It was the fact that all perfumes started smelling typical how I accidentally stumbled upon the perfume community. I don’t remember how it happened, I just remember it happening and after discovering this new perfume world, the fruity-florals lay forgotten by me in my pre-perfumista days.
I got a hint that things might be changing after discovering Aqua Fiorentina by Creed but I dismissed that as just a really good example of perfumes I no longer consider good.
As it happens, my scorn went and bit me in the, well, you know where.
it doesn’t mean I will be wearing solely fruity-florals from now on, it is just that I can enjoy wearing them again, along with the rest of the wonderful perfumes out there.
The other day there was a post of Victoria’s on Bois de Jasmin which got me thinking.
I realized that I can’t smell perfumes consciously while at work, trying to work out notes for a review for example, as I just can’t focus on that many things. And in the evenings, I’m usually tired so it’s much slower and not as efficient.
As it was Corpus Christi day on Thursday, this being a holiday in Croatia, I took Friday off in order to get some sleep and rest.
It seems my subconscious mind thinks I had quite enough rest, as wherever I go, I smell traces of perfume. That shouldn’t be so surprising as I have samples and decants lying everywhere and I decant perfumes in the house, but I never actually had traces of perfumes come at me unexpectedly as I was reading or just doing chores around the house. Especially as I haven’t done any sampling or decanting recently.
But these days, it seems wherever I turn, some perfume is teasing my nose. I guess being home and rested did its thing – my mind seems ready to smell again and more. Because if I am catching those wafts from forgotten drops of perfume (anyone who did some decanting knows you usually end up with perfume not only being in the bottle), when on most days I usually don’t, it must mean my mind needs the fragrant stimulation (possibly that my nose is getting a bit better too?).
It also makes me smile more often – as perfume always does.
All I need to do now is find a way to stimulate my mind into writing down what it perceives…
Especially if the hauntings continue. 😉
Is behind me. 🙂
I’d say it went rather well considering it was more of an informal meeting of friends and aroma-enthusiasts (no true perfumista except for me).
Spring garden
There was only 8 of us so we could discuss everything around two tables in the museum’s coffee shop where we met.
I am very glad I listened to Undina’s advice and made a little helping card with the flowers to be featured represented in pictures. It was good that I did that because some floral notes were a difficulty for them even with the cards. But all together, I think everyone had fun, sniffed some good perfumes and probabyl wasn’t as excites as me as in my excitement I completely forgot to take a single photo (and I meant to).
So, without further ado, here are my choices for particular floral notes:
1. Dior: Diorissimo
2. Givenchy Harvest Amarige Mimosa 2007
3. Andy Tauer: Zeta which didn’t go well as linden (no on could smell it) so I gave them my back-up choice, MAC Naked Honey
4. Serge Lutens: Un Lys
5. F. Malle: Angeliques Sous la Pluie (that one turned into a clear favourite)
6. Yves Rocher: Lilas Mauve
7. Diptyque: Ofresia
8. Hermes: Hiris
9. L’Artisan Parfumeur: Fleur de Narcisse (I’m rather upset it’s no longer available)
10. Guerlain: Apres l’Ondee
11. Serge Lutens: Bas de Soie (but the hyacinth wasn’t what they managed to tease out)
Turned out Hiris wasn’t a good choice for iris, I had some samples with me that would have worked much better, Iris Ukioye wouldn’t have worked either it turned out, but TDC Bois d’Iris and DSH l’Eau d’Iris would have (we ascertained that afterwards when I gave them those to smell).
I might be doing another one in 2 months it seems – on tuberose. 😉
I admit to having a certain romantic propensity toward warrior types of men and I can’t help it, after reading the description and notes but be smitten by the stories and images those have conjured in my mind.
See for yourself:
Aromatic materials from the lands of the Red Branch knights and their travels to prehistoric Scotland – smelted iron, larchwood, thistle – emboldened with bitter rose and amber
From Ulster fort to Argyll’s holy top, Red Branch nights, proud chiefs in wool, faded dyes – rowan berry, bitter rose, hunt in wood-of-wonders, melancholy thistle, for feasts, water-of-life, Caeawg’s amber wreath, smelted iron, wine-in-horn, now broken spear and empty hills
A call to the fabled isles of archaic Norse and Celtic myths. Resinous Norway spruce and fir cones with narcotic jasmine, island wildflowers, honeyed mead and bulrush straw.
To the Blessed Isles, past the Manx seaman’s myst and thundering valour, past Balor’s blackened bulrush, the Summer Raider in ashwood shyp, his northern woods, saps, cones, honeyed mead, wax, golden gorse, meadowsweet, to inner loch, of inner isle, always ryding west
A chilling air of wood, water, stone, and shrubs that grow on a mythic mountain in Armagh.
Up pale grey mountain, through silver fog, bracken, bramble, dry heather shrub, past gravestone pile from forgotten time, facing west in whipping wind, the small black lake keeps witch’s ring, where the doomed king looked out to sea, Fenian blood in turf, the chilling quiet, the cry of hounds
Spring garden
Is loosely the name I gave the little perfume presentation I will be holding on May 21. 🙂
I still can’t believe I was asked if I wanted to talk about any perfume related subject I chose, as part of an informal group of perfume enthusiasts meeting every third Tuesday of every month.
I still haven’t had a chance to go listen to someone else and now I will be the one talking.
My idea is to bring around a dozen perfumes featuring a flower note that can be easily distinguished and to ask the participants to figure out which flower they are smelling. After that we can talk about the perfume and then move on to the next.
I am very much looking forward to it and I hope people will enjoy our little flowery search.
It’s an open thing and anyone can come so I hope people show up.
I’ll post my choices and how it went afterwards.
I was in Vienna this past weekend and had a wonderful time. 🙂
As you could have read on Olfactoria’s Travels, Birgit’s recap of our meeting, let me tell you what it looked like from my perspective.
Firstly, the reason I decided to run the Vienna City race is because it would enable me to finally meet Birgit in real life. As reasons to choose a race to run go, I think mine was rather good. 😉
I was actually almost late registering for it, I was on the waiting list as I wasn’t aware of the fact that so many people want to run it and you shouldn’t leave your registration to 3 months prior to the race.
The first thing to do on my arrival to Vienna was to pick-up my starting number so I could proceed to meet Birgit and Sandra without any worries.
One thing I learned so far is that when you meet with perfumistas, no time in the world is enough to talk about everything that’s on your mind. Which is exactly what happened. And I always get sidetracked by many things and forget to say half of the stuff I wanted to.
So, after sitting down for drinks, the girls took me to the most lovely little perfume shop you could imagine – Le Dix-Neuf. Which I would also recommend if you are a guy and want to take a look at beautiful Austrian women. 😉 The SA there was everything you could imagine, and quite pretty I should add.
She took me through one Viennese line of perfumes and one from Berlin, but unfortunately, I don’t know the names of the lines (Birgit might though).
In the end, I tried on my arms the Opus VI which I found would fit me great in winter and Byredo’s Inflorescence which smells absolutely lovely and springlike but only in theory. I wouldn’t want to smell like that personally.
Spring garden
Here is also where I parted ways with Birgit and Sandra, after getting extremely good instructions on how to get to Pure Day Spa in order to try the new Malle (people are rarely this good in giving instructions on how to get someplace in my experience).
I limited my curiosity to just the Malle line (forgoing all the beckoning cosmetics on display) and realized I really like the French lover too.
But my main reason for going there was to try Dries Van Noten. Even before trying it, I was pretty sure the chances were high of me taking it home with me. It seems I was correct. 🙂
I just can’t tell you what exactly it smells like. I was sure it smelled floral when trying it in Planet Spa, then when I came home and applied it for work, I smelled the sandalwood that’s in there but I still have no idea in my mind of what exactly am I smelling, I just know it is incredibly lovely and likeable.
Start of the race
On Sunday, I ran in the VCM, my half of the marathon. The weather was gorgeous and the race was an incredible experience. Running with so many people, always in a crowd, I never experienced anything similar. And the atmosphere was so enthusiastic and supportive.
Which is why my heart broke yesterday when I learned of the bombing in Boston. My heart goes out to everyone affected by this terrible tragedy.
Runners are like perfumistas in so many ways but the most important being – they radiate positive energy. We shouldn’t have that forcefully taken from us (the humankind).
Photos taken from: http://cuabroad.cua.edu/programs/austria/vienna-european.cfm and http://www.vienna-marathon.com
Many people around me think my greatest fault is that I’m stubborn. But if I were to say what my greatest fault is, I’d say impatience, closely followed by pride (which can easily be misconstrued as stubbornness).
If you are wondering why am I talking about my faults instead of perfume (or books) it is precisely my impatience what I believe is not letting me enjoy perfumes as I should.
It all came to me when I decided to put on Santal Majuscule the other day (after having reviewed it when it came out), only to realize in my mind, it’s not really a winter perfume (it’s how I thought of it)
Impatient for this little gem
but more of a cold spring perfume – perfect for the time we are having now (it would probably work in autumn too).
I cannot describe how perfectly it felt these few days I’ve been wearing it. Which is something my impatience didn’t make me realize at the time I decided to review it.
And the fact that I look at my VAST collection of samples with what now seems dread is not helping my impatience.
So many times now I said I would start writing short reviews of samples, one each day, and that was my impatience to go through those samples at its best. I hate the fact that I am not familiar with them and they just lie there pretty much forgotten.
The truth is, perfumes don’t approve of impatience. You can try and force your way through the growing perfumes you have/want to try, but then it stops being pleasure. And if it’s a chore, you slowly stop doing it when you feel you can get away from doing it.
That is what wearing Santal Majuscule showed me. I liked it a lot when I reviewed it but it wasn’t a perfect fit at that time. Now it is.
There are several perfumes at the moment I am impatient to write about, but they won’t let me. They know I like them and now they are waiting for us to get to know each other without hurry, just for pleasure. Otherwise they won’t let me write (the words aren’t coming).
And they are right. Because if I don’t let go, I won’t enjoy myself.
Words will come later.
The strange thing is, I want to talk about wine actually. 🙂
Yesterday I was lucky (well, I consider that luck) to try 3 rather expensive wines, all of which were good and all of which would work great as perfume drydowns.
But the third one we tried, said on the bottle it should be decanted, and once we poured it into glasses after decanting, I noticed a rather interesting smell. A manure type of one. 😀
Honestly, I never thought I would smell a wine with such a note and consider it a more interesting aspect of the wine.
I know it probably sounds disgusting but the wine smelled reminiscent of it, not really as manure. I have to admit, smelling it and identifying it made me feel rather good about my nose. 2 years ago, I don’t think I would have been able to distinguish it. And I know the only reason I was able to now was because I’ve been smelling perfumes every day for years now.
Btw, decanting helped lose that particular note (we guessed that was why it was recommended).
UPDATE:
Here are the wines in the order we tried them
1. Carmelo Ortega: Saxa Loquuntur Tres 2008 (DOC Rioja)
2. Casato dei Medici Riccardi: Sangiovese Shiraz 2008
3. Le Cloitre du Chateau Priure-Lichine 2007, Bordeaux (Margaux)
The new perfume collaboration by Neela Vermeire and Bertrand Duchafour – Ashoka (eau de parfum).
The only problem I see here – it’s going to be available in early autumn 2013. 😉
I can’t help but wonder, judging by the notes, if it would make a good spring perfume…
All I am - a redhead 