At this time of the year, I always find myself torn between a little sadness at the passing of summer and the prospect of a long, cold winter full of muddy boots and runny noses, and a happiness, a giddiness almost when I think about all the options my perfume closet offers.
My favorite perfumes are predominately winter scents, so I look forward to indulging daily. Classics like Shalimar, L’Heure Bleue, Mitsouko, Vol de Nuit and Nuit de Noel, as well as everything starting with Ambre comes into rotation again. So will all the gorgeous gourmands, anyone Like This perfume?
My colognes and fresh summer scents go into the back of my closet, surely to be searched for again frantically in February, when a bit of sunshine is sorely needed. I love living in a place with distinct seasons, it makes the perfumed life so much more interesting.
As for the last week in Perfumeland – let’s see what was in store:
Dee of Beauty on the Outside inspired a massive, what am I saying, a huuuuuge lemming in me for something so very hard to obtain… Roja Dove Unspoken, oh please, how can I get my hands on some without breaking the bank??? (Ideas welcome!)
Ines of All I Am – A Redhead comes to Serge Lutens’s rescue, does he need it? Does he deserve it?
Sigrun of Fragrantfanatic wrote an unusual and lovely review of Le Labo Neroli, take a look!
This week two of my favorite lines have been featured on Olfactoria’s Travels, Kilian’s Love and Tears and Vanille by the fabulous Mona di Orio.
At the moment I am most curious to thoroughly test the new Pierre Guillaume creation, Indochine and Bottega Veneta‘s eponymous scent. For now I’m wearing a lovely and surprisingly unique gourmand, what it is? You’ll see next week…
Aroma M, an indie line created by perfumer Maria McElroy is inspired by Japanese Geisha culture. Maria lived in Japan for years and her immersion in the culture is deeply ingrained in her interesting and beautiful work.
To make it clear upfront, this is a topic I know nothing about.
Sure, I could read up on it and regurgitate newly acquired facts here, but I’ll do something else instead: Tarleisio has already written wonderful pieces about geishas and japanese traditions along with her inimitable reviews of Aroma M.
Here is her post. And Part II. (I will still read up on Japanese traditions though, it is a fascinating culture.)
What I can do is review the perfumes, share my thoughts on the fragrances themselves, about that, I do know a little bit.
Although that was the second problem I ran into, I initially planned to do mini-reviews of all the perfumes, since mini-reviews are what people like and ask for, and a compact line like Aroma M (where I also have all the samples thanks to Maria’s generosity) is predestined to be reviewed all at once.
Somehow this approach didn’t work for me. Instead of happily diving into the scented world of Geishas, I found myself strongly drawn to one perfume, so much so that I couldn’t even bring myself to properly try the others, let alone wear and subsequently review them.
So I postponed and delayed…
Obviously this one perfume, the one to trap me and make me unreceptive to others, is the one I should take a deeper look at first. Maybe when I review it first, all the others will get their chances.
Regular readers will know that I like ambers, that I like heavy orientals, so it is not hard to guess which one of the Geishas had me at “Hello”. (Plus the title is always a dead giveaway, it is hard building up to a surprise when you have to put the surprise in the title.)
Geisha Noire includes notes of black amber, sandalwood and tonka bean. It is said to have aromatherapeutic properties and “combats stress, clears the thought processes, undoes the inhibitions, assists in meditation and prayer”. Maybe that explains my craving for it.
That, and the form incomes in. There is an Eau de Parfum of Geisha Noire, but its primary form and the one I tried, is a perfume oil. This richly dark brown oil is a major factor of attraction for me.
I apply it and it feels like a caress, I love how my skin gets soft and perfumed, it feels like a ritual, a calming ritual that certainly helps to combat stress. Application alone makes me smile and relax.
Geisha Noire is a powerful perfume. It is rich in spices, dark, sweet and very powdery on my skin. It is a perfume of old, meaning it makes a statement and is as far from fresh and clean as I am from speaking Japanese.
There is a smoky note that diffuses the dense, enveloping nature of Geisha Noire a bit, but still this is no lightweight, on the other hand I can wear this throughout the day, since the oil stays close to me, for all its weight and warmth, Geisha Noire is entirely comfortable to wear. But, then again, as a word of caution, I don’t sit in the closed environment of an office all day. I have heard many pronounce it not office-appropriate.
Geisha Noire has very good tenacity, it lasts the day.
From a smoky and spicy opening, Geisha Noire develops into a softly powdery and sweet drydown that is very beautiful and comforting. The first hour can be a bit much sometimes, but after that it is pure bliss.
I love to wear Geisha Noire, it is warm and enveloping and not just a bit sensual as well. Like I imagine a vintage fur coat to feel, luxurious, heavy and warm.
Geisha Noire had me at Hello, and it keeps my attention and devotion, until it bids a soft, powdery farewell the next morning.
A good rice note, or any rice note at that, is hard to find in perfume. There are not many such fragrances around. I adore that note and when I find one it is mostly love.
Ormonde Jayne Champaca comes to mind, but that is dominantly a floral, I always longed for a stronger accent on the rice. Parfum d’Empire Equistrius has some too, but again the accent is somewhere else.
Enter Dolce Riso, a perfume of Silvio Levi’s line Calé Fragranze d’Autore. Rice is in the name and rice is in the perfume, along with many other ingredients to make the perfect fragrant dessert.
But let us take a look a the brand first.
Fragranze d’Autore is a Malle-style line of perfumes created mostly by perfumer Maurizio Cerizza and edited by Silvio Levi, founder of the line and owner of the Milanese perfume distributor and store Calé. There are currently ten fragrances in the line.
Dolce Riso is an Eau de Toilette with very good sillage and longevity. Notes include apple, lime, mugwort, rice, cereals, white pepper, musk, vanilla and tonka bean.
Dolce Riso is a delight from first sniff. It makes me smile and sigh with pleasure. It starts fruity, a bit of apple, a lot of lime, but both sit on the gorgeous note of steamed rice that is present from the start.
This rice is a bit sweet, a bit nutty/wheat-y and very peppery. The pepper is strong throughout and makes what could have been an overly sweet and bland dish into a masterpiece. Yes, I realize I said dish, and this perfume is very foody, but it balances perfectly on thin line between edible and non-edible. It is a perfume, not merely a good smell.
The base is warm and comfy, a soft melange of tonka and musk, with rice and cereal notes holding on and even a hint of pepper staying until the very late drydown, pepping things up, keeping it interesting.
I highly recommend to give Dolce Riso a whirl, if you love rice and if you love gourmands in general.
I am glad to having discovered this line and will certainly take a closer look.
Dolce Riso is available through First in Fragrance, where I bought my sample.
One of the four latest releases of Mona di Orios Nombres d’Or collection, Vanille is an atypical vanilla, a spicy ride into the darkest depths of exotic vanilla pods. A must for friends of the unusual gourmand scent.
Vanille includes notes of Brazilian orange, Indonesian cloves, petitgrain, rum extract, Bourbon vetiver, ylang-ylang, Indian sandalwood, gaiac wood, Vanilla absolute from Madagascar, amber and tonka.
Mona di Orio tells a story, when asked about Vanille, a story of a sturdy ship made of gaiac wood, orange eating (to prevent scurvy) and rum drinking (to prevent boredom) sailors making their way from Madagascar, shipping loads of finest vanilla pods, bundles of vetiver and sandalwood from India along with a dozen spices to Europe. Close your eyes and imagine to standing the cargo hold of that ship. Can you smell it? That is Vanille.
But to compare them to Mona di Orio’s Vanille, they all lack something. SDV is more boozy and sweeter, Shalimar OV is not really comparable in the first place, it is Shalimar – so that’s a different story after all, Goutal VE is smokier, rougher and on the whole more transparent, and so is the Atelier Cologne.
The rich and spicy composition that is Mona’s vanilla, wins this contest in my perfume closet hands down.
Upon applying, Vanille starts out almost green and with a fresh orange accord, before the heavier spices, woods and the dry vanilla kick in. A bit of rum makes it boozy, the smooth sandalwood and the cool vetiver lend a dry, entirely unsweet base, like a floor, upon which dark vanilla and sweet ylang-ylang can do their languid dance.
An amazing combination of dry and boozy vanilla and spices, Vanille is as far from the cheap, overly sweet vanillin, as the ship of Mona’s imagination, is from a boat ride in Disneyland.
Highly recommended.
Image source: fragrantica.com, Caspar David Friedrich Segelschiff via zeno.org
Okay, let’s see what we have here – a jasmine soliflore. That is usually grounds for dismissal. Jasmine is loud and often indolic, and even if it is clean and whitest white, it is overbearing and acts like a diva. Jasmine for cowards is what I want and need and I found Ormonde Jayne Sampaquita to fully satisfy my every jasmine need.
But you know me, when I explore a line, I explore the line. Jasmine or not, Love and Tears, Surrender needed to be tested. And that is what I did, I wore my sample down to the last dregs and even if I am no born again jasmine fiend now, I really like Love and Tears, and I see the appeal a bit better now. I went from wondering why the heck people loved jasmine, to appreciating its beauty on myself as well as on others.
Love and Tears, Surrender is the ninth in the L’Oeuvre Noire Collection. Created by Calice Becker it includes notes of bergamot, petit grain, cypress, jasmine, orange blossom, ylang-ylang and cistus.
Love and Tears opens very green and fresh, and although the jasmine – only slightly indolic in the beginning and morphing to clean territory over time – is present and accounted for from the very beginning, the green is here to stay as well. Fresh and green at first, budding you might say, the jasmine note gets sweeter in its development, the flowers bloom, become radiant and sparkling almost, before devolving back into a deeper, mossier green in the drydown.
Love and Tears is no shy flower (pun intended), but states its presence clearly, but it manages to stay on the side of being opulent and radiant rather than verging into loud and obnoxious. If applied with restraint, sillage is above average, but perfectly acceptable for me. Wear time is excellent.
What Love and Tears does to me, was very unexpected. I find myself basking in its light. For me Love and Tears has an almost visible glowing aura, I feel like I am in my own private ray of sunlight when wearing it. Like a halo, it surrounds me and bathes me in its white light. It softens contours, it makes my vision fuzzy and my outlook mellow and benevolent. The people around me get to deal with a less stressed and less high strung person. Maybe I should read up on the aromatherapeutic benefits of jasmine, I don’t want to jinx it though.
As long as Love and Tears acts as my personal soft focus filter, I’ll enjoy it and shut up for once.
What perfume house does not get enough attention on the blogs, in your opinion?
Are there any kinds of features you would like to see more or less of (like polls, interviews, etc) ?
What are you missing on Olfactoria’s Travels?
My Answers:
I thoroughly enjoy blogging and the freedom it gives me to write about what interests me. But Olfactoria’s Travels would not be the joy it is to me, without you, my lovely readers.
That is why I want to improve the blog according to your needs. If you have any suggestions or feedback, please let me know. This is an interactive medium after all, and I want to make the most of that fact.
And here is my answer to this Monday Question: I love to see lots of comments on Olfactoria’s Travels! 🙂
Fall has arrived. Mornings are decidedly cooler, the air is fresh and bracing, fog is rolling in and taking a while to dissipate. The trees are starting to turn all colors and loose the first leaves. That means heavier perfumes are in order. I love to get out my ambers and orientals and dark and mysterious scents once more. Wearing Chanel Coromandel the other day made me perfectly happy with the approaching colder season.
We are spending our Sunday at the Little House on the Prairie, as we have come to call our weekend house. My younger son is in love with the cows, he plays with his toy cow all day and it happy when he gets to see the real ones. He is mooing along with the best of them…
Let us sit down and take an hour of time for ourselves and see what the last week in Perfumeland had to offer:
Carrie on Eyeliner On A Cat indulges in a Mandy Aftel body oil that (for the umpteenth time) makes me wish the internet had a scratch and sniff option.
The Non-Blonde discussed a topic very dear to my perfume-obsessed little heart – exclusivity.
Tommy, The Candy Perfume Boy had a great week, but if I have to pick a favorite post this week, it is this.
Ines of All I Am – A Redhead is giving advice to new Perfumistas, and great advice at that!
Suzanne’s Perfume Journal reviews Annick Goutal Heure Exquise and compares it to one of my favorite movies, set in my city, a must read!
And finally, my favorite future bestseller author, Tarleisio of Scent Less Sensibilities has me salivating over – what else? – an amber. I hope she doesn’t doubt my motto, “Always room for one more amber!” any longer. 🙂
Have a good Sunday? Exiting plans anyone? Let me live vicariously through you!
I am posting again on PST today. This week I am taking a sniff at a wonderful candle, home scents were my first priority on PST after all, so it’s back to the roots…
I often react to a perfume in a synesthetic way, I see a color or a texture, or more predictably like most people, I react emotionally. A memory is evoked or a certain mood is triggered.
Mandy Aftel’s perfumes make me hear music. It is astounding, but what started with Tango and found its continuation in Haute Claire, also happened and happened in a way that was a revelation to me, with Cepes&Tuberose.
Music filled my head and my heart, coupled with a primordial feeling of love and hate, yearning for closeness and longing for freedom, all at once.
Please listen to the music below, while you read on – this is Cepes&Tuberose transformed into music and lyrics.
Cepes&Tuberose was created by Mandy Aftel and includes notes of rosewood, tuberose, Moroccan rose, cepes absolute and benzoin.
By all means Cepes&Tuberose should not be something that appeals to me, on the contrary, for years I have been afraid of it. Dirty, animalic mushrooms with my most detested floral, tuberose? No, thank you.
But it does work. Somehow I feel like I have vaulted a huge Perfumista barrier with trying and loving Cepes&Tuberose. It just shows me that nothing in Perfumeland is predictable, something to love, to move you, to enhance your life, can be found in the most unlikely of packages.
I found an incredible oud perfume this year (Mona di Orio’s Oud) and in Cepes&Tuberose I found inspiration and a perfume that brings out aspects of my personality that usually lie buried. Buried underneath a mountain of daily drudgery and socially acceptable compromises we make each and every day, just to function and fit in. Layers that also protect us, make us act maturely and responsibly and see to it that we are not burned by our own emotions.
But there are times when we should be true to ourselves, even if it is just for the lenghth of a song, or the two to three hours a perfume fuels our emotions and carries us away on fragrant wings.
As is so often the case with Mandy’s creations, I feel reluctant to try to analyze them and dissect them, they seem like living, organic entities to me, truly created rather than assembled, inspired with life, breathing and being. There is not always a need to dig deeper, sometimes just sitting back and saying: “This is a great perfume, just smell it and you know.” is enough.
But what I am compelled to do, when I sit and feel myself getting drunk almost, with the deliciously intoxicating fumes of Cepes& Tuberose surrounding me, is telling you about the way it works.
It makes me see the best and the worst in myself at the same time. It makes me want two opposites, two extremes, it makes me want what I cannot have and it renders me crazy and angry and sad and deliriously happy at once.
Cepes&Tuberose brings out the base layer of my soul, the one that only knows black and white, good and bad, hot and cold, big and small, and nothing in between. The layer of my soul that wants it all at once and knows it’ll get nothing, because there are no levels of grey for this part of me.
This borderline layer that separates my raw, animal nature from my human makeup that I acquired over the years of growing up, of becoming an adult, trembles with exited tension, because in Cepes&Tuberose it recognizes itself and dares to show its face, kicking and screaming, laughing and giggling, exited, exalted, free.
Just gonna stand there And watch me burn But that’s alright Because I like The way it hurts Just gonna stand there And hear me cry But that’s alright Because I love The way you lie I love the way you lie
I can’t tell you what it really is
I can only tell you what it feels like
And right now there’s a steel knife
In my windpipe
I can’t breathe
But I still fight
While I can fight
As long as the wrong feels right
It’s like I’m in flight
High of a love
Drunk from the hate
It’s like I’m huffing paint
And I love it the more that I suffer
I suffocate
And right before im about to drown
She resuscitates me
She fucking hates me
And I love it
Wait
Where you going
I’m leaving you
No you ain’t
Come back
We’re running right back
Here we go again
It’s so insane
Cause when it’s going good
It’s going great
I’m Superman
With the wind in his back
She’s Lois Lane
But when it’s bad
It’s awful
I feel so ashamed
I snap
Who’s that dude
I don’t even know his name
I laid hands on her
I’ll never stoop so low again
I guess I don’t know my own strength
Just gonna stand there And watch me burn But that’s alright Because I like The way it hurts Just gonna stand there And hear me cry But that’s alright Because I love The way you lie I love the way you lie
You ever love somebody so much
You can barely breathe
When you’re with them
You meet
And neither one of you
Even know what hit ’em
Got that warm fuzzy feeling
Yeah them chills
Used to get ’em
Now you’re getting fucking sick
Of looking at ’em
You swore you’ve never hit ’em
Never do nothing to hurt ’em
Now you’re in each other’s face
Spewing venom
And these words
When you spit ’em
You push
Pull each other’s hair
Scratch, claw, bit ’em
Throw ’em down
Pin ’em
So lost in the moments
When you’re in ’em
It’s the rage that took over
It controls you both
So they say it’s best
To go your separate ways
Guess that they don’t know ya
Cause today
That was yesterday
Yesterday is over
It’s a different day
Sound like broken records
Playin’ over
But you promised her
Next time you’ll show restraint
You don’t get another chance
Life is no Nintendo game
But you lied again
Now you get to watch her leave
Out the window
Guess that’s why they call it window pane
Just gonna stand there And watch me burn But that’s alright Because I like The way it hurts Just gonna stand there And hear me cry But that’s alright Because I love The way you lie I love the way you lie.
Now I know we said things
Did things
That we didn’t mean
And we fall back
Into the same patterns
Same routine
But your temper’s just as bad
As mine is
You’re the same as me
But when it comes to love
You’re just as blinded
Baby please come back
It wasn’t you
Baby it was me
Maybe our relationship
Isn’t as crazy as it seems
Maybe that’s what happens
When a tornado meets a volcano
All I know is
I love you too much
To walk away though
Come inside
Pick up your bags off the sidewalk
Don’t you hear sincerity
In my voice when I talk
Told you this is my fault
Look me in the eyeball
Next time I’m pissed
I’ll aim my fist
At the dry wall
Next time
There will be no next time
I apologize
Even though I know it’s lies
I’m tired of the games
I just want her back
I know I’m a liar
If she ever tries to fucking leave again
I’mma tie her to the bed
And set the house on fire
Just gonna stand there And watch me burn But that’s alright Because I like The way it hurts Just gonna stand there And hear me cry But that’s alright Because I love The way you lie I love the way you lie
Chambre Noire, the dark chamber of a photographer, is the darkest of the three Olfactive Studio perfumes, and maybe the most unusual.
“What happens in the darkroom? Mystery. In the darkroom, light is queen and darkness the heir apparent. Light uses the closed space to cast shapes and contours. Thedarkroom is magical. In the darkroom, shadows are promises. Isolated in this space, something from the realm of intimacyand secrecy occurs.
A lover’s ritual takes shape. Patienceand attention are required for the enchantment to happen, forthe dark to illuminate. The darkroom re-wakens focus and contemplation and keepsspeed and haste at bay. It is a temple for the eye to meditate; atemple, for it shelters as much as it reveals; captures as much as it delivers.”
– from the Olfactive Studio press map
Chambre Noire was created by Dorothée Piot and includes notes of Schinus, Jasmine, Papyrus, Violet, Incense, Prune, Sandalwood, Patchouli, Musk, Vanilla, and Leather.
Chambre Noire has a very sharp top note, Schinus. Since I had never heard of it, I didn’t think I had smelled it before. It is a sharpish, spicy, strongly peppery and actually quite familiar note (which is what I wrote down initially), a quick Google search revealed the mysterious Schinus to be nothing else than pink pepper, so that mystery was rather quickly solved, and my nose was happy having been right.
This top note, strong and clear, is juxtaposed with the rest of the fragrance that lies in shadow. A dark, mysterious scent where dried plum and patchouli on a dark leather base are engulfed by smoky tendrils of incense.
A perfume that comes to mind immediately is Histoires de Parfums Marquis de Sade, the two are similar although the most marked difference, is the interesting counterpoint provided by the singing top note that illuminates the perfume like a ray of light. An hour into the development the pepper is mostly gone, so are the harsher elements of the scent and I am left with a wonderfully soft and comfortable warm leather scent that proves to be very long lasting, if close to the skin.
I like Chambre Noire, especially the drydown is totally my thing. The first hour is harder to get used to. I felt myself a bit irritated by the insistent pepper during the first few wearings, but I learned to appreciate it and by now I am almost addicted to its bracing stringency.
What I perceived as a bit alarming and screechy in the beginning, has morphed into something like my personal drill sergeant, who with a loud and rough voice and no outward friendliness whatsoever gets me to do what is best for me, having my best interests at heart. Believe me there are many moments when I crave such an engine that gets me going.
Chambre Noire by Clemènce René-Bazin
So don’t let that difficult top note fool you, after an hour of commands and orders, you are allowed to sink into that soft and smooth leather arm chair, put your feet up and take a little nap in front of the smoky wood fire.
———————–
This review concludes my Olfactive Studio week. What do you think? I am impressed with this launch, as those posts have shown, and I am glad that in these days of plenty (or rather: way to much) releases there are some in the crowd that really focus on art and on the product itself more than on clever marketing and empty promises. Also, you will have noticed, there is not a fruity floral in the lot. 😉
Please share your thoughts about the new brand, or what you think about the current state of things when it comes to new releases.
As for the last week in Perfumeland – let’s see what was in store:
Olfactoria's Travels 