Summer heat has arrived and I am reaching for something utterly soothing: Les Nuits d'Hadrian. The scent is cool herbs, citrus rind, and incense; what suprises me the most is that this doesn't get more love, I find it utterly beautiful.
So I decided to follow my almond craving and had heard some good things about L'Artisan's Jour de Fete and some not so good things, in general the house of L'Artisan and I have had a no go relationship, except for making me love a floral, Le Chasse Aux Papillons. The notes for Jour de Fete are the stuff for making lovely scents: almond, pink laurel, wheat, orris, bourbon vanilla, cedarwood. In truth this is almond water, you can barely smell it, this smells like the memory of a babies head from 10 years ago. I smell this and I wish they had pumped up everything just a bit more.
I sit here eating summer in my palm, a stone fruit, a green plum, achingly sweet at one moment, and wonderfully tart the next moment. Yesterday was the first day of summer, I celebrated it in a soft vanillic musk, making dinner for Father's Day, all the windows open, with a soft breeze going throughout the apartment. Sometimes I forget how much I enjoy summer too often I just remember the blazing heat. I spritzed on Osmanthus Interdite and once again realized the only it really should be worn is in the summer, in other seasons it can rasp and seem high pitched, but in summer it blooms, melds with your skin, and just makes you feel like you glow. As the seasons change I change my fragrance wardrobe, some of them hold over from spring, and some through out the year. So here is what I should be wearing throughout summer.
Once again I am giving my full attention to a sample this week, this time Hermes' s Vanille Galante. What has struck me everytime I have tested it out is the saltiness of the scent. I have this image in my head of lilies by the ocean being misted over with salt water while an vanilla orchid blooms in the background. In my head it is tropical flowers growing on the coastline of Oregon. 
So I can't stop my Guerlain madness at the moment because waftbycarol made remember that I have a sample of Sous le Vent which I will be putting on later after I take my shower. Today is one of those days where I have a ton of housework and errands. What I do remember of Sous Le Vent is the opening with lavender and enjoying it, but I remember not being to happy with the drydown, we'll see if this has changed.
The weather is incredibly strange this June right now it is cool and overcast, usually at this point in the year the heat and I are battling it out, but not right now. I was going to wear Nuit de Cellophane today, but couldn't find my sample, so I reached for the ever beautiful Chanel N. 22. So yesterday evening after Apres L'Ondee wore off I put on a couple of dabs of Cuir Beluga and came to two conclusions 1) excellent strength and sillage and 2) It smells very similar to Ambra del Nepal (which does not have a $200+ price tag).
It's official I have found a new favorite photographer: Iris Brosch. So once again I try to delve into Guerlain and I think quite frankly it may be time I gave it up. Last week I ordered three samples: Cuir Beluga, Spiriteuse Double Vanille (may be one of the worst fragrance names ever), and Apres L'Ondee. So far I have tested Apres L'Ondee a few times and it has not meshed, but today I am giving it my full attention. SDV turned into a very regular vanilla on me. While I have enjoyed Cuir Beluga the price tag on it is well not going to make me buy it, I liked it but it was not love. The thing is I really do want a Guerlain to rhapsodize about...but none of the women's fragrances ever really mesh for me and while I love Guerlain's Vetiver it is not a scent that creates a dramatic response in me, it is a great cologne, sigh. Guerlain where did you and I go wrong? Okay we were never right in the first place.
Lately I have been having one of those note obsession moments, the one where you are looking for a new note to fall in love with, or in this case looking for a new variation on a note you love, in this case vanilla. For the heck of it I ordered a sample of Vanille by Calypso St. Celle, intrigued by the use of orange blossom. Well this isn't exactly what I was looking for while many have described this as non-foodie, but to me this smells like dulce de leche with a dash of sea salt and airy notes of orange blossom, pretty but not what I am wanting.
Sometimes a floral surprise comes along that you completely and utterly did not expect to like. I love big blooming magnolias and here in Northern California they are everywhere but too often when fragrances are supposed to be based on magnolia they smell like gardenia. The case of Kenzo's Eau Fleur de Magnolia is a true magnolia scent and one that is interesting entwined in this beauty is smoky lemony pine quality and a creaminess that never veers into sweet. Now I am going into blasphemy with a comparison but this sort've reminds me of Herme's Osmanthe Yunnan. This really is a treat I did not expect. 
I had a long weekend on Saturday I met up with my boyfriend's friends and on Sunday I had dinner with my boyfriend's mother and stepfather, and I am having one of those Monday's where I want a weekend for my weekend. So I am going to spend the day in Annick Goutal's somewhat subdued amber, Ambre Fetiche, strangely esoteric and yet also very animalic. 
