Category Archives: World of Perfume

Vienna calling!

Perfume shopping, Perfume thoughts, World of Perfume April 16, 2013 Comments: 22

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. 😉

Donnerbrunnen_Fountain_Vienna_Austria

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

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

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

Impatience isn’t a virtue but it might be a teacher

I've been thinking, Perfume thoughts, World of Perfume April 9, 2013 Comments: 20

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 littel gem

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.

Perfume works in mysterious ways

I've been thinking, Perfume thoughts, World of Perfume April 1, 2013 Comments: 27

vino2The 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)

Happy Easter and spikenard oil winner

World of Perfume March 31, 2013 Comments: 9

Happy Easter to all my readers celebrating Easter.

easterA little postcard from our day today

The winner of the spikenard oil is : Rosiegreen62
One bottle of Spikenard Foot Oil from Brie in New York is yours.
But Brie has also made  a more complex blend called Alabaster Wrists. It is an anti-anxiety blend. A sample of this will be included with the Spikenard foot oil.
Please send your address by Tuesday, otherwise a new winner will be drawn.

Eagerly awaiting!

Perfume thoughts, World of Perfume March 28, 2013 Comments: 5

The new perfume collaboration by Neela Vermeire and Bertrand Duchafour – Ashoka (eau de parfum).

Ashokacard7

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…

The winner of the 4 years draw

World of Perfume March 25, 2013 Leave a comment

is Natalie! 🙂

 

Please send me your address so I can get the winnings in the mail.

Thank you, once more,  everyone for the lovely comments and participation. 🙂

The Oil in the Alabaster Box – Spikenard Giveaway

Joint blog project, Perfume thoughts, World of Perfume March 22, 2013 Comments: 18

Alabaster Box

A Guest Post that will be appearing on several blogs today in preparation for the celebration of Easter. Featuring my favourite character from the New Testament, one whose name I share (my Christening name that is).
Today we taking a fragrant journey back in time with Jordan River from The Fragrant Man.

We also have a gift to give away. 🙂 Brie in New York has made some spikenard foot oil especially for this post. If you would like to encounter this scent and look after your own or your loved one’s feet please leave a comment below.

The gift recipient will be announced on Easter Sunday and mailed to you on Tuesday.

Spikenard or nard originates in India and Nepal, high in the Himalayas. The root of the plant is the source for one of the rarest and most precious oils.

Brie would like to say that she is not a professional perfumer. This is an interest for her. She blends with the best of intentions, carefully choosing oils for their healing properties as well as for the enjoyment of smelling. Brie says that spikenard is quite tenacious and challenging to work with as in her experience it takes over the blend (similar to tea tree oil).

Are you spending too much on perfume? Here is a scented tale for you.

The Oil in the Alabaster Box
There are many faiths in this world. There are also many myths and legends. It’s up to you to find the truth on your fragrant journey. Let’s travel to the east this Easter to visit with a woman living on the boundaries of her culture. She has recently met a man. She believes him to be her spiritual guide. He is surrounded by men at a dinner party. She is uninvited and has to make her way past the guests to be able to offer her teacher a scented gift. The gift is spikenard oil, a costly perfume ingredient which at this volume, a Roman litra, costs the equivalent of spending a year’s salary on a scent; a scent so potent that the home where this story takes place becomes filled with fragrant air.

image

The room grew still
As she made her way to Jesus
She stumbles through the tears that made her blind

She felt such pain
Some spoke in anger
Heard folks whisper
There’s no place here for her kind

Still on she came
Through the shame that flushed her face
Until at last, she knelt before his feet
And though she spoke no words
Everything she said was heard
As she poured her love for the Master
From her box of alabaster

Don’t be angry if I wash his feet with my tears
And I dry them with my hair
You weren’t there the night He found me
You did not feel what I felt
When he wrapped his love all around me and
You don’t know the cost of the oil
In my alabaster box

– lyrics: Janice Sjostran
for chanteuse Cece Winans
– an interpretation of Mark 14:3-9

Judas the accountant thought this money would have been better spent feeding the poor. Nevertheless the teacher accepted this gift from a woman’s heart.

Jesus looked at her with a smile “your deed will never be forgotten. Your story will be told throughout all the lands and for all time and in ways you have never even dreamed of“.

Little could she have imagined that one day the story of her alabaster box would be told on the World Wide Web.

– a Roman litra ~ 327 grams


Album Version – Cece Winans – The Alabaster Box
A more melodic version.

Ines:

I’m guessing that by now you all know who was the person I spoke of in my introduction. Long before I had any connections to the world of perfume, back when I was a child choosing to have a baptism after the fall of communism, my heart chose the name of Magdalene. She was the character from the New Testament I somehow understood the best and felt a connection to. It was only recently I learned she was also the patron saint of perfumers (shame on me for being so slow in learning that information).

Although that is no wonder if she chose such a precious fragrant gift for Jesus. 🙂

Visit other participating blogs for more chances to win. 😉

Australian Perfume Junkies

CoolCookStyle

Scents Memory

The Perfume Dandy

It’s been four years…

I've been thinking, World of Perfume March 20, 2013 Comments: 41

Since I wrote my first post. 🙂

I can’t believe how time flies.

I still think my blog is a work in progress and keeping it personal allows me to get away with not writing regularly or about perfume as much as I’d like to.

Which is why I want to thank you, all my readers, for sticking with me and still checking out my musings even though they don’t come often.

And to celebrate another blog year gone by – I’m giving away a Croatian box of chocolates and an 8ml roll-on bottle of Dawn Spencer Hurwitz Festive perfume to one lucky commenter.

Here’s champagne for all of you my dear readers!

champagne_toast

Let’s hear it! Where do you apply perfume…

I've been thinking, Perfume thoughts, World of Perfume March 12, 2013 Comments: 32

apply shalimIt only dawned on me yesterday that I am the most conservative type of person when it comes to perfume application. That was a bit of a shock! 🙂

As that is the label I would never apply to myself.

Anyway, my perfume applicating ways haven’t changed much in the recent days but I did evolve from applying it on the sides of my neck and sometimes doing a sweep and applying some on my decollete as well, to taking advantage of the fact that I have short hair and applying some on the back of my neck, thinking it would make for a nice sillage circle. 🙂

So that’s what I’m doing these days.

Which is what got me thinking – what are the places where you apply perfume? Do you have some more innovative ones? Do some work better than others?

The only time I have perfume somewhere else on my body is when I’m testing it. And that only applied to arms.

I really am a conservative perfume wearer it seems…

Vagabond Prince: Enchanted Forest (or going back to childhood)

World of Perfume February 19, 2013 Comments: 13

I wonder if my idea about this perfume will have any connection to the actual idea behind this perfume.

But it can’t be helped, ideas and associations coming through smell are not conscious.

The thing is, I actually enjoyed smelling this perfume. That said, I don’t think I will ever wear it. And that said, I wonder if it actually might get popular with the younger crowd.

You see, it smells to me the same way as the blackcurrants taste. That is, the taste of the fruit is

bajkaexperienced through the nose in this perfume. The juicy sweetness and the bitter tartness all there, practically exploding in the air around you. Even the menthol-like hints of what a blackcurrant candy would taste like is there (I’d say the combination of rosemary and aldehydes might be responsible for that).

I didn’t even try to smell the notes when the general idea was so clear. Eventually you lose the juiciness but the candy feel remains. And that is basically why I wouldn’t wear it even though I find it novel enough to like it a lot. That is also the reason why I think it might go well with the younger crowd.

It is also the reason why I wondered about the idea behind the name – no forest really smells like this except possibly the ones from fairy tales. I’m pretty sure many kids would sooner imagine this as the smell of forest than what the forest really smells like. After all, if it’s enchanted, of course it doesn’t smell like the usual kind. 😉

TOP notes: pink pepper, aldehydes, sweet orange (traces), flower cassis, blackcurrant leaf, hawthorn, effects of rum and wine, rosemary, davana.

HEART: blackcurrant buds absolute (by LMR from Grasse), CO2 blackcurrant (by Floral Concept from Grasse), Russian coriander seed, honeysuckle, rose, carnation, vetiver.

BASE: opoponax resinoid, Siam benzoin, amber, oakmoss, fir balsam absolute, Patchouli Purecoeur®, castoreum absolute, cedar notes, vanilla, musk.

 

Notes and my sample by: http://www.fragrantica.com