Join me on my journey through the worlds of perfumes and books
First I want to thank everyone for participating. 🙂
These are the most visited draws on my blog so far. 🙂
And here are the winners:
Carmine by Christi Meshell goes to – FLAVOURFANATIC (I hope you’re having a great time in Greece). 🙂
And Avalon by Ambrosia Jones goes to – a.k.a. WARUM (Pacific coast midnight was lucky for you). 🙂
Please contact me with your addresses so I can forward them on.
I completely lost my thread. 😦
I went to answer the comments on the blog and my post title disappeared from my mind. This one is the closest approximation but the really good one is missing.
Maybe it will come to me in sleep. 🙂
Anyway, I had a sort of epiphany today (and the usual place where those happen is bathroom). 🙂
It doesn’t matter what the precise subject was, let me just say it was on relationships (the opposite sex ones) and I realized that the older I am, some things seem to fall into place and I understand those types of relationships better (in this case mine). I also seem to give my partner more understanding for things that would drive me up the wall before.
I’m happy for myself and the feeling that I’m growing as a person. Giving someone else the benefit of a doubt or even, trying to put yourself in their position seems to be nowadays a lost art. Ok, maybe not lost, but not really practised a lot (so, on the road to extinction).
I know I’m far from perfect but I also know I want to be a better person. I want to feel happy and at ease with myself, knowing I didn’t do any harm to anyone (intentionally).
At the same time, I’m aware that will not always be possible and people will refuse to listen and hear.
But hey, we do live in an un-perfect world.
Would it be perfect if we all strived to better ourselves? And as optimistic as I am, I don’t really think that will ever be possible. But we could all strive to be better and grow as people.
Eventually the world would be such a better place for our children.
P.S. I don’t want to delete my post, but it feels like meanderings without any goal. 🙂
It also feels like I’m following the footsteps of famous Croatian writers, finding inspiration in wine. 🙂
I don’t think I’ll be able to review all of the Brave New Scents, but I do want to talk about some others in the project that caught my heart.
Jessamine
Top notes: Cedrat, Yutu, Galbanum
Heart notes: Jasmine Auriculatum, Aglaia, Linden Blossom, Pink Lotus
Base notes: orris, hay, Tahitian vanilla Bean tincture
“Evoking Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, southern drawls, Jessamine covered verandas and the hum of cicadas.”
I can’t start by saying that this perfume evokes a cologne-ish feel at the beginning. Because even though that was the first idea that came to my head, the citrusy-green opening isn’t light and floaty, but full while at the same time beaing so fresh. I guess that is needed during Southern summer.
This freshness is soon resting upon a nutty feeling and you are happily starting to enjoy the sunny, fresh smelling flowers in the air. I can’t say I can tease out the participating flower notes but the whole feeling is yellow (and you can see some of the flowers here are yelloy, jessamine stands for yellow jasmine).
I love it that I cannot tease out the individual notes but am left with enjoying their interplay and smelling the lovely mix they made.
But, the evening in the Garden approaches and the sunny flowers are no longer playing and wafting. What we are left is a broody vanilla.
Are you sure you still want to be outside?
Sweet Water
Top notes: clementine CO2, distilled lime, basil absolute
Heart: mimosa absolute, linden blossom absolute, honey absolute, hay absolute, sweet clover absolute, jasmine sambac CO2, mint absolute
Base: tobacoo balkans absolute, amber oil, copaiba balsam, iris butter, tonka bean absolute, labdanum absolute clear, green tea absolute
The first thing that came into my mind upon smelling this was LOVELY! (and I do mean that in capital letters)
But I don’t think that would count as a perfume review. 🙂
I hope you didn’t pay much attention to the notes because they can’t convey the loveliness of this. It starts sweet and spicy, lightly fruity (I’m thinking citrusy/basil combination with mint playing along).
It’s like you are blasted by good chear. 🙂
And then the sweetness blossoms. The flowers and the honey. The real honey. The one you smell when you open your pot. For me, this pot contains chestnut honey, a slightly darker smelling version of honey.
Btw, here is where I have to say that this is not the type of honey that makes people run screaming in the other direction. The one that actually doesn’t smell like honey but like a candied, awfully synthetic imititation of one.
Here, the honey smells as honey is supposed to. And if anyone had a chance to try it, I would love to hear if someone else got the pure honey note from this.
Eventually though, honey sweetness dissipates and you are left lying in dark hay, smelling tobacco from afar.
Like I said, lovely. 🙂
Just a little reminder, you have until tomorrow midnight (October 4th) to enter for a chance of winning either Carmine or Avalon.
Jessamine pic by http://providenceperfume.blogspot.com/
Avalon is one of those imaginary places I wish existed and I could visit it. Possibly with all the legendary characters being there at the time. 🙂
In place of that, smelling it suits me just fine.
Here is Ambrosia’s description of Avalon:
“A Magical Perfume full of sweet apples, waiting for harvest in the sacred groves of Avalon… the soft earthiness of hay drying in the fields on a soft late Summer’s eve… and as the sun goes down, the scent of incense arises and you can almost hear chanting as the Magic begins to grow around you…”
And here are the notes:
Top notes: apple CO2 and distillate, neroli
Midnotes: rose du mai, green mandarin, apple blossom accord
Base notes: labdanum, hay, fir balsam, amber acco
This is a magical perfume.
I get surprised by the opening each time I spray it. The hay in there is full of blooming flowers making the air around it fragrantly spicy. Apple orchard is close by but not much as the fragrant air bears only hints of it. And someone must have bit into an apple as it’s flavour is wafting in the air. I believe that someone prefers the apple with some nuts?
It’s already early afternoon as the sun has beat heavily on the hay to make the air so fragrant.
The late summer languidness is in the air and anything is possible.
Is magic in the air?
Or are we only imagining the possibilites, drowsing in the sun?
Possibly falling asleep and dreaming of the ambery sweetness in fragrant lands.
If only the dream would last…
And now for the best part. Ambrosia is offering a 5ml perfume oil to one lucky commenter! 🙂
Please check out the other participating blogs (and more chances to win some natural bravery):
Feminine Things
Perfume Shrine
The Perfume Critic
Ca Fleure Bon
The Examiner
And Perfumers:
Lord’s Jester
Perfume by Nature
Anya’s Garden Perfumes
Providence Perfume Co.
House of Matriarch
Belly Flowers
a wing and a prayer perfumes
JoAnne Bassett
One Seed Perfume
Ascent Natural Perfumes
P.S. Did you know that Avalon probably comes from Welsh afal meaning apple?
I’m happy to be participating in the Brave New Scents project as it enabled me to learn more about the ingredients used in perfumery regardless of whether they were new – which is what this project is all about. The perfume notes that became available to perfumers after the year 2000.
They were all allowed one “wild card” note – a note that was in wide circulation before the turn of 21st century.
I have to say they all made very good use of both the brave new ingredients and their “wild cards”.
Let me tell you about it. 🙂
Carmine
Notes: Hiba, Kewra, Tagetes, black pepper, Michelia alba, Michelia champaca, Davana, patchouli, vetiver, tonka, oakmoss; white copal tincture, bruizinho tincture, tobacco tincture, Chai massala tincture, Africa stone tincture, celestial amber tincture, sandalwood
Where to start?
Here is what Christi has to say about Carmine:
“A brave new perfume created in an ancient tradition, Carmine returns the wearer to a basic truth:
Nature is the Ultimate Luxury.
A formula of natural ingredients too obscure and costly for use in mass produced perfumes, Carmine offers something strange and unique to the perfume connoiseur.”
And I concurr. I’ve had such lovely time getting to know this perfume.
But now that the time has come to talk about it, the first thing to come to my mind is that I’m seduced by it. It taught me about the natural ingredients I didn’t know the smell of, we were together on a path of learning and now I’m at its mercy.
Carmine reeled me in with its easy to love fruity jungle opening. The fruitiness is hidden among the vintagey oakmoss and the green vine vibe, so that the fruity sweetness can only be glimpsed amidst all this.
There is no point in describing the notes because they all come together to transport you to a place you’ve never been before.
Although learning what hiba, kewdra and davana smell like certainly helped in making this strange place become more comforting to me.
And then you go deeper in, where the light is no longer as penetrating as it was in the beginning and the patchouli/oakmoss/sandalwood bed beckons you to rest in it. Seduction was never easier because once you hear the call, you will lie down, smile and let yourself enjoy the seduction Carmine wrought on you.
You also won’t be getting up any time soon. 😉
If you want to enjoy the strange seduction Carmine will make you experience, please comment as Christi was very generous and is offering a full 4 oz collectable crystal bottle with ground glass stopper and silver flip top (extremely expensive!).
Please visit other participating blogs for other brave scents and a chance to try them:
And here is the list of participating perfumers:
Perfume by Nature
Anya’s Garden Perfumes
Providence Perfume Co.
House of Matriarch
Belly Flowers
a wing & a prayer perfumes
JoAnne Bassett
One Seed Perfume
Ascent Natural Perfumes
P.S. Pictures by http://www.matriarch.biz/ and Anya McCoy (the logo for the project).
Lately I’ve started wondering if I’m losing my ability to write about perfume. I mean, I smell and try to write down what I’m smelling but I don’t get very far.
And although that is still a distinct possibility, I think it’s more the case that lately I’ve been smelling some truly well-blended perfumes.
Because that is what they are supposed to smell like, perfumes, not a parade of notes.
Today I want to talk about 2 such creations from Haydria Perfumery. When Hadria asked me if I wanted to try her perfumes, I jumped at the chance. Her perfumes are inspired by the pin-up girls of the 30s, 40s and 50s and I’m always eager to smell perfumes that talk about a past I didn’t get to know.
So, here we go.
Tainted Love
” A flirtatious and feminine bouquet of violets, berries and light amber drizzled with honey.”
Well, if you were to consider the opening and the description, you might come to the conclusion that someone switched the label on your bottle. Because it opens with a bitter, nettle clean feel. Yes, there is some fruitiness hiding under there along with sweetness, but blink once, and they’re gone. I keep thinking there must be something of the rooty iris in there and possibly licorice or something similar giving off a light anis-like feeling. 
Of course, I could be wrong and except for the violety powderiness, there might be other aspects of violets I’m not aware of.
It’s really strange because each time I smell it, it’s slightly different. Last time, I could smell fruit, bittery violets. So, there you go.
I would classify this as bitter floral, until you get further along, into the drydown, when the bitterness dissipates almost completely
I’ve been testing this for days and this is the best I could come up with. But it does have a retro feel and I LOVE the bitterness of it you can’t really find nowadays.
Gypsy Queen
“an enchanting, mysterious and intoxicating brew of lush florals and rich spices smoldering with deep wood notes”
The lush florals certainly take their time in showing up. For me it opens as a sweet and clean, lightly fruity little thing. And when I say fruity, I don’t mean the fruitiness that permeats the modern perfumes, this is an elegant fruitiness. Does anybody else wonder what exactly that means? 🙂
This one goes through many stages for me, and I’m trailing behind it trying to put my nose input into word output.
Of the rich spices, I get something reminiscent of cocoa and a familiar spice I, of course, cannot name. Then it gets a green whisper of marshes before I finally emerge in the lush territory. It certainly took its time giving me the merry go round until my beloved tuberose peeks through.
But as I don’t have the notes, I sincerely hope I didn’t conjure the tuberose out of thin air. 🙂
In my defense, I really have to say these perfumes are blended into a perfume. They don’t allow for themselves to be taken apart and studied.
You will either take these women as they come, or better leave this instant, these ladies don’t allow to be trifled with…
Notes and pics by: http://www.etsy.com/shop/HaydriaPerfumery
This Saturday was a lovely day which I spent gathering grapes in our friends’ vineyard.
I love going there and enjoy it particularly when the weather is warm and sunny. And since this was a dry year, the yield was great so at the end of the day, I was exhausted. Pleasantly though. 🙂
Some photos from the day.
9 o’clock in the morning
Photos are mine.
I’m finally reading Essence of Perfume by Roja Dove and can’t help but ponder the subject.
Not that I don’t ponder perfumes as a subject regularly. 😉
But at one point, it hit me.
I have a favourite perfume memory!
It was the moment I smelled Shalimar and fell in love (that wasn’t even close to my first try).
Closely followed when the same thing happened with Vent Vert and Chanel 19.
Do you have a favourite perfume moment? More than one?
I don’t use random.org, I put names on pieces of paper and take them out of a bag (box, whatever container I can find). 🙂
So, the 2 lucky winners of small decants are Lindaloo and Undina.
And a sample goes to Diana. 🙂
Congratulations! And please now contact me with your addresses. Thanks everyone for participating.
It seems that lately there isn’t so much love for the SL releases. Beats the hell out of me why that is so, because to me, they are still so very Lutenesque. And by that I mean, it takes several wearings for me to get to know it and then get friendly with it and then, comes love for life.
That’s my usual path with any SL perfume (exceptions exist but aren’t many).
Therefore, I don’t get disappointed if a SL perfume doesn’t instantly sweep me off my feet. It is usually a complex stranger you would be wrong to take at initial value.
So, I don’t. 🙂
I’ve been testing and wearing it for some time now and what can I say? 🙂 I’m a huge clove fan. For some reason, I keep thinking of this as a clove perfume even though it exhibits the carnation most of the time.
Notes: cayenne pepper, black pepper, pink pepper, clove, carnation, wallflower, lily, ylang-ylang, nutmeg.
I guess you can tell by all the peppers it’s going to smell sharp on the start (clove helps too). If you ever smelled an SL creation, you probably know that no description can prepare you for what you’re going to smell. So, when I say it starts peppery sharp with a clove twist, I’m hoping you’re imagining your nose tinkling in response. 🙂
But before that happens, just after the initial spray, before the pepper takes over for a while, you will get the sweet whiffs of nutmeg being propped by ylang-yland and lily. I’m still not sure on how good the lily part is but it seems to work. Later, it will take much more work to smell all this under the peppers.
For me this perfume emits a constant light charge – each time I smell it, it seems my nose gets a little electrical charge. Quite interesting really. And then I smell the carnation. But for the life of me, I can’t think of this as a carnation perfume. 🙂 Yes, most of the time, it smells like carnations. But those are metallic, strange carnations, emiting even a lightly meaty smell at one time. Ok, so that last part might not sound enticing but it’s not bad.
And yes, I noticed my constant use of “buts”. 🙂 That’s because I keep thinking that while I’m describing this, I’m making it sound bad and my opinion couldn’t be further away.
Once the carnation gets going, there’s not much change, it lasts and slowly loses the charge. Less clove-y, more floral.
And each time I wear it, it seems more friendly and easier to love (less sharp, more sweet). Luckily, I’m not going to run out of it any time soon… 🙂
As I was the lucky recipient of a whole bottle, courtesy of Ca Fleure Bon and Serge Lutens (it was supposed to be a mini bottle but they generously sent me the whole), I have 2 little decants and a sample to give. State your interest in the comments, and let me know whether you think you can like this or not.
All I am - a redhead 