To all my readers – people who still think this blog might be brought to life and haven’t lost faith – and to those who think otherwise (whom I hope to prove wrong 😉 ) – I wish you all the most fulfilling Christmas – may it bring you the true happiness and contentment we all deserve to feel in our lives.
This is one my trees this year – the other one is on the wall but somehow isn’t photogenic (I really tried taking a good photo but failed).
P.S. I’ve been trying to re-ignite my love for perfume and the farthest I got so far is enjoying immensely the original Feminite du Bois.
God, that perfume is so good!
And it makes me remember the initial enthusiasm I had.
It’s that time of year when we all want to write about our Christmas scents. A big thank you to Undina and Natalie for bringing us all together for another fragrant blogging event.
Today we are pairing Christmas music and perfumes and I just have to say it’s the best idea as I love Christmas music and well, you all know I love perfume.
My choice of music was Dean Martin‘s Winter Wonderland – the idea of winter wonderland paired with his voice makes for a perfect song to indulge in during this time (at least for me it does).
“Sleigh bells ring, are you listening, In the lane, snow is glistening A beautiful sight,We’re happy tonight. Walking in a winter wonderland. ..
…Later on, we’ll conspire,
As we dream by the fire
To face unafraid,
The plans that we’ve made, Walking in a winter wonderland. …
When it snows, ain’t it thrilling, Though your nose gets a chilling We’ll frolic and play, the Eskimo way, Walking in a winter wonderland.”
I skipped parts of the song and just focused on those I will feature in perfumes. That said, I’m still looking for a perfume embodiment of snow I have in my mind.
Each time I consider a winter wonderland, I think of white woods and walking through them in the snow. I guess all the skiing did its thing. 😉
So, my perfect perfumes embodying the smell of a walk in the winter woods would be Serge Lutens Fille en Aiguilles, making you feel you’re still close to the cabin and its fire while also smelling the pines around you, and Winter Woods by Sonoma Scent Studio which is such an incredible depiction in perfume of exactly what the name says.
Then there are perfumes that might not smell like snow exactly, but they smell white and cold and sparkly, and come very close.
I find it funny that I would list Byredo’s Bal d’Afrique among them but I do. It smells white to me and light and when I smell it, I feel the same as I would when I breathe in the snowy air.
Then there is Le Labo’s Gaiac 10 , with its incense and cedar and it makes me think white and clean, and therefore snowy. It’s strange that when a perfume has an incense note that smells white, I am fine with it (otherwise it’s a no-no for me on incense).
My third choice for the tranquility of the white world (winterland) is Montale’s White Oud. It’s as serene and peaceful as a white, snowy landscape where you are alone to find peace.
And as we go back to warm ourselves by the fire, I always go back to Piment et Chocolat, a perfume to warm you up that you wouldn’t mind drinking by the fire either, and Festive, the one you might want to wear if you need warming up of another kind by the Christmas tree. 😉
Please visit my fellow participating bloggers for their choices on what songs smell Christmas-y to them:
Organized by Natalie of Another Perfume Blog with the name coming from Undina of Undina’s Looking Glass, bloggers will be posting their own thoughts on Ghost of Perfumes.
As we’re doing this right before Christmas and on the first day of winter, my thoughts naturally turned to smells and perfumes associated with this period.
I believe one of the first smells I ever associated with winter and the one I enjoy the most in this period, is the smell of snow in the air. Sometimes the air will smell of snow even though none will appear.
It might not really be the smell of snow, it could just be the crisp, cold air of bright winter but as days like that are hard to come by in Zagreb (the air is neither clear nor bright), on those rare occasions it smells like that – it reminds me of snow. The way air smelled in my childhood when it snowed or when we went skiing in the mountains. The one you breathe in as much as you can and the one that feels like it’s bringing health back into your body with every inhale.
If you know of a perfume that smells like that, I would very much like to know. I know one will eventually appear – it happened so far several times when I wished for a perfume to fit the idea I had in my head. This is the Ghost of Perfume from my past.
As for ghosts of present perfumes, I will be calling those forward before Christmas when I plan on doing vanilla crescents (that’s my free translation of the name of cookies) and again the meringues with cinnamon and almonds.
The warm scent of vanilla and spices will work its magic and I expect bring more calm into my life (and pleasure to my taste receptors). The perfumes that evoke such sweet and spicy things – Spiriteuese Double Vanille (review by Olfactoria), Piment et Chocolat, and basically any warm vanilla or warmy spicy oriental (some ideas would be welcome on this part as well). 😉
My futureperfume ghosts still tease my mind.
Those are the perfumes I imagine when I read the notes and then when they come, they are not what I imagined. Not that they are bad, just not what I imagined.
The smell of Christmas trees, candles, mulled wine and cookies. As a perfume. All at once.
The dry smell of dirt and asphalt during summer in the city.
As my day was full of Christmas cheer, family and friend gatherings, food and drink and lovely presents, I’m a bit late wishing all of you a merry, joyful Christmas full of happy encounters, positive thoughts, some forgiveness and generally more optimism in regards what awaits us in the future.
So, merry Christmas everyone and hopefully all our optimistic thoughts and ideas come true as life can gift you most of all!
Here are are two pictures of what Christmas time looks like in Zagreb:
We’re happy tonight.
All I am - a redhead 