Yeah, I've hit that point where Summer has gotten to be too much. I held out for a bit but its finally at that point where I just feel listless in the heat and well so much other psychic trauma from the news. It's a combination where reviewing is well not nearly as interesting as I want it to be. On the other hand I thought I would share my Summer soothers at the moment. These are basically my Calgon Take Me Aways.
Annick Goutal Nuit Etoilee eau de parfum. A delightful dark blue bottle that holds a hot cold combination of Oregon Coast summer coastline with the scent of minty Penny Royal and dark cool coniferous forests beneath it all a creamy combination of iris, amber, and immortelle. Sounds heavy? Not in the least. Full review needed.
Thierry Mugler Womanity, I get it finally. The sweet tart saline fruity wood scent is so bizarro yet in the heat it emerges as the perfect seascape refresher.
Sonoma Scent Studio Fig Tree, a tannic creamy luminous fig that makes me feel like a grown up yet totally refreshing. The dark oaky components sort of reminds me of cool barrel rooms in the summer.
Van Cleef & Arpels Rose Velours, somehow a rose of depth that can be worn in the summer heat. I have to write more about this calm spoken scent.
Lolita Lempicka Elle L'Aime, frothy girl next door tropical scent. Easy going tropical coconut floral with a whole lot of citrus.
Andalou Naturals 1000 Roses Soothing Body Lotion, a cooling lovely rosewater with hints of apricot and violet, really lovely after a hot shower, has an instant cooling calm effect.
The Body Shop Passion Fruit Shower Gel, I actually love the scent of passion fruit, I mean the really juicy tart scent that has a sweet spicy edge of bell pepper (I don't think bell pepper is spicy it just has a rather robust spicy scent). For happiness it a bottle just take a shower with this.
First image 'Toxic Synthesia' by Alexandra Levasseur
Second image from fragrantica.com
Third image from en.paperblog.com
Fourth image from The Body Shop
Somehow I am continuing the themes of the 90s and summer perfumes. Today I am going to tackle a lesser known classic, one that was created in 1991 and has kept on going even when so many 90s fragrances are gone. I think Laguna came to my attention with a fairly recent review of it on Now Smell This, and looking at the date, not so recent review. So I can't explain why suddenly I was rather determined to get a sample of it. Apparently Luca Turin has good things to say about it,but honestly that wasn't the reason why I wanted to try it, and the legendary perfumer Mark Buxton created it, still not the driving force of why I wanted to try it. No, I think the main reason is it is weird fruit. I have suddenly very much wanted to smell fruity perfumes but not the insipid clean fruity florals of my late teens to present. These weird fruit perfumes do not have to smell natural either, although a plus if they do, but some how in this craving I have been okay with fruit notes that are really just the idea of a fruit.
Putting on Laguna by Salvador Dali is like taking a time travel trip. The scent is basically what 'Groove is in the Heart' by Dee-lite sounds like.
What you are doing at the moment is probably watching Cameron Crow's Singles and wishing you had Jane Fonda's fashion from that film but you are most likely dressing like Clarissa from Clarissa Explains It All. You watch Friends and want Rachel's style. You sit through Real World marathons. Like I said this scent is nostalgia, it's not even necessarily my own nostalgia, but it does make me nostalgic for ridiculous 90s fashion and culture. Laguna is 90s retro goodness, it is a saturated over the top neon fruit scent that is emblematic of the 90s perfume era. That weird era when 1980s powerhouses was replaced by the hyper color chunky fruity floral orientals before the uber fresh scents took over. The start is rum caramalized pineapple with hints of citrus and a bizarre dose of tonka and below it all some salty goodness. Going forward the tonka walks out and you left with strange concoction of a peppered coconut pineapple vanilla shake with what feels like something like neon lime thrown in. Laguna is like someone decided to blend a pina colada, a daiquiri, a margarita, and salty sea air together. Strangely Buxton makes this work.
For sheer nostalgic purposes I suggest you hunt down this bizarre beach classic, it feels like the last of its kind considering calone would rise up and for a very long time take over the idea of what a beach scent should smell like.
Try if you like Plus Plus Feminine by Diesel, Onyx by Sage Machado, or Womanity by Thierry Mugler.
First image from recommend.ru
Second image from Clarissa Explains It All
Here is to age letting me learn to love the beach again. In my twenties I hated going to the beach, overly self-conscious being the culprit but thankfully I entered my thirties and have come to the point of not giving too much thought anymore if I have the perfect "beach body". I don't, I'm pale and my figure is not lean, but fuck it I want to enjoy the beach and that is what I am going to do.
The thing is though with that severe paleness, a token of my Normandy French heritage I have to wear sunscreen, like intense high SPF stuff, and in addition I have sensitive skin so a good amount of my beauty routine is spent finding new sunscreens that don't irritate me. I should add everyone should where sunscreen, Baz Luhrman is correct about that. My everyday sunscreen is scentless yet last weekend I found myself on the way to my future sister-in-laws bachelorette weekend and knew I needed a good sport sunscreen. Enter Sun Bum, I've seen it everywhere, it is the "it" sunscreen at the moment.
Sun Bum will never be an everyday sunscreen for me for one simple reason: it is highly fragranced yet it makes for the perfect beach scent. I feel like Sun Bum must have hired a perfumer and said "Give me the most coconut-ty pina colada scent you can think of. We want people to think "This is BEACH in the Summer."" Sun Bum starts off intensely pina colada, it's caramalized pineapple and coconut cream. That scent remains the same for quite awhile yet as time goes by below all that is a vanilla soft serve scent with just a hint of woods but still very much laced by coconut.
As for the formula of the sunscreen itself. This stuff works. That day I was the only person who did not get a sunburn. Inherently I believe part of the problem was many people opted for spray sunscreens that in studies have been shown to not work nearly as effectively. Also I intensely re-applied. The nice thing about Sun Bum is the formula is not too sticky, it moisturizes well but does not leave me feeling greasy. Other things to consider before applying sunscreen, moisturize well before applying sunscreen it will help with even out distribution of your sunscreen.
As for my beach song today, doesn't seem quite right but I love it:
My other summer jam Mitski's "Your Best American Girl"
The book: American Housewife: Stories by Helen Ellis. Amazing bizarro story lines, surreal biting humor, and satire.
first image from Sun Bum
second image from Amazon.com
I finally get Womanity it just took me 6 years and finally trying it in the middle of a heat spell. Although every time I wear it, I think this will always be my first thought "This is fucking weird."
I want to take a trip down memory lane with this one. The first time I tried Womanity was a total "GET IT OFF!" moment in 2010, fast forward to January 2016 and I buy a random sample of it, it is not "GET IT OFF!" bad but still not doing much for me but there is a glimmer of something interesting. And now lets get to last week, Versus by Versace suddenly awoke a bizarre desire for fruity in me, which frankly you really cannot find in my personal perfume collection. So I rummaged through my samples and found Womanity. I then finally gained clarity on this fragrance, enough clarity that I finally bought a little bottle of it.
The clarity I finally got is that Womanity needs heat. In cold weather the vibrant fruit note gets drowned out by the salty animalic note it makes for something akin to smelling slightly pickled. In the heat though the fruit of Womanity gets to shine. Which is where it gets a little weird for me. Womanity touts a fig note and yet my nose does not read it as fig, instead the first thing that pops into my head when I put it on is salted strawberries and, I mean heavily doused in salt, what follows is the enhancement of the pungency of the fruit note with spicy floral fruit note of pineapple guava (I am actually surprised the scent of this fruit has not been mined by perfumery).
The beginning fruit stage is then followed by the addition of something fresh, green, and spicy. Katie Puckrik compares it to green bell pepper, to my nose it is more akin to bruised coriander leaf and chopped pine needles. Either way this is the stage where the pinkness of the scent starts to take on a salty woodsy aspect. Eventually the fruits give up center stage in Womanity and what happens in the dry down is a glowing musky creamy woodsy thing that somehow retains the neon-ness of the opening fruits yet does not smell inherently fruity.
This is my favorite stage because it smells like the best rendition of Northern California coastline at certain part of the day, its right as the fog is rolling in on sunny afternoon, you can smell the sea, and coastal scrub brush heated by the sun, intermingling. There is one type scrub brush that at the right time of day has a spicy fruity scent, I still don't know what it is, but over the years I have known it well from all my visits and hikes near the beach. I find this scent in Womanity. Womanity is also like that scrub brush in that it needs the heat to be understood properly.
Thierry Mugler discontinued Womanity, you can still find it at online discounters, but this is considered his big flop, it is also the only fragrance of his to this date that has caught my fancy. The thing is I am pretty sure released now it might have done better with the prevalence of niche now being found at the fragrance counter. Still this is a weird one, it is definitely a part of the solar family of fragrances. It is one of those ground breakers that tried incorporating savory for the first time, which is now that salty aspect that is now found in many scents currently. I would also like to mention that the tenacity on this scent is amazing and it smells great on clothes.
Try if you like MikMoi's Ao or Jo Malone's Wood Sage & Sea Salt.
I know it's been too long. Long story short: Wedding planning is an insane hobby that will take over your life and after you are done you have to recuperate. That's right I am married person now and thus I must go to Lowe's all the time and talk about scheduling maintenance (at least that is what t.v. has taught me). Yet, I finally have the time and energy to take care of this little blog.
Between the resurgence of brown lipstick and pants that don't cut off your circulation I think we can all officially say that 90s fashion is back. The funny thing is the iconic perfume styles of the 90s stayed around a lot longer than the fashion, remember this is the era that gave us aquatic, fruity florals, and the gourmand patchouli bombs aka Angel. The grand irony is and never did I think I would think this with a nostalgic gaze but lets face it once you have your nose assaulted by the upteenth "praline" sugar bomb of the current era you sort of end up missing the fresher fruity florals that used to populate the landscape known as the perfume counter. Yeah, I still can't believe I just typed that. So on to the perfume.
Supposedly Versus by Versace (2010) is based on the beloved Versus from 1992, from what I can tell the notes have nothing in common. The joke on this perfume though is if they released it now with the mention of the 90s connection I sort of wonder if the sales would be better. You're getting two different perfumes from the 90s with Versus, the first is the creamy fruity bubblgum musk thing you find in Herve Leger and the opus to that genre Light Blue by Dolce Gabbana what follows is a switcheroo into the Calvin Klein's CK One territory with a dry down of clean peppery unisex slightly mineral cologne. It is bizarre yet intriguing, you want to keep smelling it just to try and decipher what the hell is going on in this scent.
In the end all I can think is this is what I always imagined the Spice Girls to smelt like. A lot of rambunctious pink and neon lime with cologne thrown in. A bizarrely nostalgic scent that decided to cover all the bases of what the "cool" kids were wearing.
Last year I was bemoaning the lack of fig and then I found a very true to form fig in Lucy B's Apothecary Royal Green Fig and Vanilla . Somehow in my years I had never gotten around to sniffing Annick Goutal's Ninfeo Mio, I regret it, because Goutal released one of the most interesting fig scents I have ever smelled.
Ninfeo Mio is the scent of a summer garden for me. All the ad-copy will suggest watery spring garden in Rome but for me Ninfeo Mio is an early summer garden with the last remnants of spring holding on. Ninfeo Mio starts with a buzzing candied citrus note combined with the friendliest galbanum note you have ever met. I can't help but think of bees buzzing around in a grove of citrus trees with blossoms and ripe fruit at once. There is a sweetness in the scent that suggests the imagery of candied citrus or lemon peel in honey and yet not an ounce of this is cloying because Isabelle Doyen is keeping it all in check with an easygoing galbanum. The green herbacious note of galbanum is the perfect balance note to the buzzing sweetness of the citron and lemon. It also plays the chauffeur to the next stage of the scent.
Fig is frequently paired with galbanum, galbanum playing well with fig's green notes, yet sometimes they can be an overly harsh pairing on me. Not in Ninfeo Mio, the fig of Ninfeo Mio is all creamy goodness, this is the afternoon of the garden. The buzzing of the bees is gone because everyone is taking a nap in the heat, the citrus keeps going combined with the figs and galbanum, the effect is a milky green quality. It reminds me of the color of celadon.
The third stage of Ninfeo Mio is perhaps the one that catches everyone off guard the most. I like to think of it as the early evening stage. Everyone is awaking from their naps there is a tinge of clean sweat, you can smell the evergreen trees giving off the their resinous scent with the coming of a cooling evening. The animalic note of sweat is utterly there but instead of being off-putting Doyen is genius because it is balanced with resinous note of mastic and creamy fig. One thing I noticed about this clean sweat note is that it is far more pronounced if you spray the perfume but if you dab Ninfeo Mio on it is relatively mild.
Finally Ninfeo Mio settles into creamy resinous combination of fig and mastic there are still hints of citrus but the overall effect is milky green. The effect of Ninfeo Mio feels like going through a full day in a garden on the first warm day of summer, the green is still there, in fact it is peaked at its most lush levels but dry summer heat is edging in.
Try Ninfeo Mio if you like Miller Harris's Figue Amere, Coriandre by Jean Couturier, Lo Mejor di Mi by Mario Tomas, or Le Temps d'une Fete by Nicolai.
Recently MikMoi released five accords and the perfume Ideasthesia. I was lucky enough to be gifted by the perfumer with a sample pack, and as of the last month I have been wearing and thinking about the Ideasthesia project. Recently this last weekend I was able to sit down with Mik and discuss the scents and here is the funny thing as much as we talked about notes and scents, I still came away from our conversation having the exact same feeling and thoughts about the scents that I had before going into the conversation. There was a few clarifying notes, but otherwise one of the nice qualities about Mik and his perfumes is he simply allows the wearer to bring their own experiences to the perfume. Diversity is one of the cornerstones in his perfume philosophy. As I have worn and smelled the accords that make up Ideasthesia and I should mention that these accords are in their own right fully made perfumes, there is nothing missing from these scents when you wear them.
There are stages to life and sometimes they do not necessarily come in the order most known but they do happen.I have been struck with how much these accords remind me of these life stages
The first accord and probably the most on the nose one for me is Birth. Birth is a scent that lovingly references the Southern European and Middle Eastern tradition of scenting babies with orange blossom water and it should also be mentioned that this scent is frequently used for brides. This is probably one of the best orange blossom scents I have smelled in awhile, while it is definitely supported by citrus, and juicy citrus at that the scent reads to me deliciously of rich fresh orange blossom. It is a full orange blossom scent, in the likes of L'Artisan's long gone harvest series. At certain stages I almost read an earthy incense note in Birth that reminds me of the ceremonies involved in blessing children. The final drydown for me is a lovely honeyed orange blossom, it's not sweet, but hints are true orange blossom honey that contains frequently just a hint of branch. The depth and tenacity of Birth are excellent for citrus orange blossom scent and it remained with me all day. It is a wonderfully uplifting scent.
The next accord is Breath, Breath is easily for me the stage of childhood. Tt is a wondrous green happy scent that suggests exploration and a sense of curiosity in the world that I think at times is the most strong in our childhood. There is a wonderful opening of spearmint and grass, I sort of forget that spearmint is a note that can be used in perfume, but there it is naturally sweet and bright in Breath. The combination of spearmint and grass reminds me of getting up early in the morning when I was child and exploring the world in the summer while everyone was asleep. Breath for me is that sort of bright shiny exploration of the natural world, it is lolling in the grass, and really looking at the greenery around you. There is a lovely fig note that runs through Breath that provides a green milky backdrop to the scent along with a fresh dose of petitgrain that I feel references Birth. The stage that follows birth and childhood is a I think one that is far more universal in our older years but definitely only comes to us with puberty and that is the state of romantic awakening. I'll say it now I fell in love with North. I fell in love with it enough that I bought a bottle on the spot. North is romantic radiance, a crystalline melange of floral notes that I usually run away from, but in Mik's hands are exquisitely rendered. There is just no getting around the romantic beauty of North the use of jasmine, tuberose, and rose is a bit of a trifecta of culturally considered romantic notes. Yet, the thing that makes this so utterly wearable and perfect for me is the use of geranium. Geranium doesn't get enough love, but when used provides that bright luminous quality that I frequently associate with aldehydes but geranium does it more kindly, gently, and with just a hint of stemmy crushed greenery. There is a luminous quality to North that suggests glow of when you first fall in love, the one that everyone comments on because frankly you are obscenely happy. North is about as close as I have ever gotten to finding the olfactory equivalent of romantic awakening in a bottle.
The next stage of life is a bit blurrier to understand but we all go through it. I think at times it is one of the longest stages, the age of getting to really know yourself. This is the part I think is the most varied for everyone for some it is the finding of true identity, for others coming to peace with your actual inclinations, or for some a recognition of how you are a singular creature no matter all our connections. I find this stage in the Known accord. Known is a smoky pinon sort of scent, it suggests incense and arid landscapes. It is philosophically pushing to that area in our lives where we learn to make choices on our own. I think the smokiness of Known suggests the birth of identity aka the phoenix from the flames, this is not necessarily a painful process but is none the less a process of fulling recognizing who we are beyond the boundaries of our childhood. The incense and woods also suggest spiritual growth but on our own terms, it is the passage of one stage of life to the next, I want to say adulthood, but I feel that doesn't full encapsulate the process of knowing yourself because it is a continuing process. Known is the scent of independence of thought.
The final accord is Found. Found is the scent of finding the familial in our lives as adults. It is an earthy spicy comforting scent that at the beginning reminds me of quite frankly of cinnamon oatmeal cookies, but this is not a gourmand. The spices in this are hot and strong it is akin to grinding your own spices at home when making spice breads. As Found mellows the scent takes on hint of almond and a deliciously warm slightly furry musk. The musk is utterly comforting, not clean, nor funky but familial. Found is ultimately the scent of getting a hug from a loved one, it is that moment in our adult lives where stability and community intersect, it is deliciously kind and strong..
We finally come to Ideasthesia a scent meant to be an accord of the accords. This is obviously the most layered and complex of the scents and I think in a way represents a life well lived. It is a scent meant to draw on all the aspects of the accords. What it becomes is a scent to my nose akin to the classic Nuit de Noel by Caron. They don't smell alike but in Ideasthesia Mik is able to get that grand layering of floral, gourmand, and incense that I smell in Nuit de Noel. The scent of Ideasthesia is the clear fresh white florals of Birth and North punctuated by the smoky incense of Known at least that is what the scent was on me most of the time. On other days Ideasthesia was a sweeter scent with Found playing a greater role with the floral notes adding a bit of spicy sweetness to the florals, At other times Breath would up the fresh notes and make the opening a bit galbanum tinged giving the scent an even more classic quality. Ideasthesia has proven to be a bit of a chameleon scent depending on the temperature of the day you can get so many different qualities, each wearing seeming to play upon one facet being stronger than the other.
Ultimately the art that reminded of the most of Ideasthesia is David Bowie's song Thursday's Child, a song about life and experience through the lens of age.
It was bound to happen someone finally realized the money to be made in bottling the scent of LUSH's Rose Jam and I mean the actual scent of the bath fizzy or body wash*. Valentina Pink takes the scent of LUSH's Rose Jam smooths it out in places and refines it a bit. I should start now by saying I am a rather unabashed lover of Rose Jam that uber girly mix of roses, berries, and jammy goodness. Oh it is sweet and probably most of all appeals to the 14 year old girl in me and you know what that is okay, the 14 year old girl needs an outlet.
Valentina Pink starts of uber-berries, think currents and strawberries crushed in sugar, actually lets say they are macerating. Added to this mix is splash of bright pink rose syrup, think of the syrup used to make falooda. For awhile you have this over the top girlish concoction.
As the perfume changes the berries tone down a bit. The sugar recedes and the berries take on a musky undertone and the rose becomes much more prominent. There is the slightest hint of lemony tart that keeps the scent from strangling the wearer.
Eventually you have a nice easy jammy rose of scent on a very easy going musk. Yes, this a very expensive dupe of LUSH's Rose Jam but on the other hand if you found yourself disappointed by LUSH's perfume version of the scent this will definitely fill that gap.
Try Valentina Pink if you Montale's Fruits of the Musk, Julietta Has A Gun Miss Charming, and of course LUSH's Rose Jam.
*The perfume version that LUSH put of Rose Jam was a bit of a let down, the beginning very much like the scent of Rose Jam but the dry down was very similar to Pink Sugar, the rose and berries having disappeared.
The funny thing about those pesky summer lists is I am never quite sure that is really will be reaching for, so I thought I would take a look back at what I have actually been wearing this summer.
1. Santal Majuscule by Serge Lutens
I acquired this in July and found myself wearing it repeatedly. A reminder that in the heat, a good sandalwood can bring you delight. Love this confection of rose and sandalwood with hints of immortelle syrup and musk. Mainly though it is a creamy delight of rose and sandalwood.
2. Elle L'Aime by Lolita Lempicka
This choice actually proved true in my summer wearing. Such an easy scent and worked great in brutal heat.
3. Ao by MikMoi
Yet, another scent I actually wore from my original summer choices for the season. It really did prove to be "serenity now" on hectic days and had a wonderfully cooling effect in the heat.
4. Lolita Lempicka L'eau en Blanc by Lolita Lempicka
Proving a gourmand can be worn in the heat and not be suffocating. This scent worked beautifully the musk and iris keeping the gourmand elements in check and providing a cool powdery effect.
5. Blush by Marc Jacobs
A cool and fresh floral in the summer heat. Gave off the quality of flowers at the florist in the fridge.
6. Eau de Minimes Cologne by Le Couvent de Minimes
Another one from the list. This was frequently applied after work and before classes. Spritzed with abandon.
7. Rose Flash by Tauerville
I thought it would be too sweet but this beauty bloomed in heat and was grounded by earthy notes of musk and tobacco.
8. Osmanthus Interdite by Parfum D'Empire
Another repeat from the list but then again with all the humid days we had it really proved itself as usual.
9. Un Jardin Apres la Mousson by Hermes
This strange spicy juicy watermelon scent is wonderfully invigorating in the heat.
The two major perfumes of my high school years that would have a major impact on my fragrance choice's are the original Lolita Lempicka and Demeter's Fig Leaf. Oh there are few others that I remember fondly but those are the two scents that really have influenced my taste and frankly seemed to hint at my adult tastes.
I still have my original bottle of Lolita Lempicka and come Autumn spritz it happily although these days it becomes an almost a nostalgic practice as I watch the bottle get lower and lower.
As for Demeter's Fig Leaf well I have then had a very long affair with the fig note. As a teenager it made me feel different and unique because no other girl or adult woman wore perfumes that smelled like fig, I would still say that scent of fig has kept its bohemian roots even though it can be found more easily in perfume and home scents these days it is still a note that remains unique.
As a teenager I used up my bottle quickly of Demeter's Fig Leaf, which is easy considering it has no longevity.
I then followed that perfume with Fresh's aqueous Apricot Fig scent, a rather green and 90s hinting fig scent with the use of Calone. I wasn't completely in love with it but still it filled my fig needs.
This was followed by my first indie/niche fig scent and one that I will admit I thought utterly sexy but now admit it is kind of garish, Dream by Fresh Scents by Terri, which really is more like the scent of a fig newton. Which is not a bad scent if you smell them but could easily become overbearing.
At this point I was in my early twenties and having my first major relationship and being the perfume lover of course I was going to get him a perfume to wear. The scent was Marc Jacobs for men, one hell of a delicious creamy spicy fig scent for men, don't know how it is now, but in the early 2000s it was divine. I still think of that purchase fondly considering all the men's scents I sniffed at the time and then smelling that one.
At this point I had a decant of L'Artisan's Premier Figuier and found it far too green on myself and running into my first of many times where galbanum took over. Call it an arch-nemesis sort of relationship, I eventually swapped the decant. I was then gifted by my boyfriend of then with Victoria Secret's Mood: Ripe, a rather fun vanilla citrus fig scent, nothing innovative but it was fig that I could wear and enjoy, unfortunately the damn thing came with a bulb atomizer and quickly evaporated from the bottle.
This was then followed by Body Time's uber green Green Fig oil which frankly suffered the galbanum problem, I eventually used it up as a bedding spray.
In all of this I had quite a few fig scented candles.
For awhile after this I was using a decant of Miller Harris's Figue Amere, a delightfully bitter woody amaro fig scent. That evokes the Mediterranean coast.
After this came the long slump of not a whole lot of fig. I think I had been rather burned by all the galbanum forward fig perfumes. I eventually though ended up with a bizarrely large batch of samples of Diptyque's Philosykos. That creamy delicious black fig scent. As far as the two classic pillar scents of figs go you know which one is for me. Grand irony these scents were both created by Olivia Giacobetti.
And recently I have been on the fig hunt again. Which began with the acquirement of Olivina's Hand and Body Wash in Fig and their Body Cream in Fig, which is a rather loverly fig scent that clearly takes its heritage from Philosykos. That was followed by South of France's Mediterranean Fig bar soap, a yummy tart take on fig. I tried Pacifica's Mediterranean Fig which was far too green and harsh on me (although, I have found many of their older perfumes have become this way due to reformulation). I then had high hopes for Atelier Cologne's Figuier Ardent and found it not to work, it was too similar to Marc Jacobs for Men and uses cumin-y cedar base that while works great on others ends up smelling sweaty on me. I then purchased a regret, I Profumi di Firenze Vaniglia e Fichi, an excellent fig opening but then a pure lemon butter cake dry down on me that is far too sweet. I finally took my cues from another another fig lover Victoria from Eaumg.net and because it was on uber-sale bought a roll-on of Lucy B's Royal Green Fig and Vanilla Wood perfume oil. Oh, this is a green one but thankfully enough smooth vanilla and coconut to keep it in check. Not in the least bit layered but that is okay because this is probably the best fig you can get on the market that won't cost you an arm and a leg.
If you really want to celibrate fig I recommend you make yourself a fig shake.
Fig Shake Recipe:
4-5 figs
ice
milk, at least 1/2 a cup depends on thick you like your shakes.
a splash of vanilla if you like
maybe a date if you have any around.
-Put it all in a blender and blend and get ready for a divine summer drink.
The beginning of Lo Mejor di Mi immediately makes me think of perfect bittersweet green limes which have been heightened with bittersweet green herbs. It is one of the best and most interesting takes I have smelled on citrus in awhile other than Bruno Fazzolari's Monserrat. It is just so zippy and refreshing. Entering the citrus party is cucumber which amps up the refreshing qualities and reminds me of those lovely cucumber waters you drink in the summer. I could swear there is an earthy note of really good tequila thrown into the cocktail too along with hints of galbanum. It is a happy green opening worthy of sniffing for awhile, in fact I kept on finding my nose buried in my wrist constantly while wearing this perfume.
Within this perfect summer mix is pomelo* or a mix of blood orange, grapefruit, and bergamot which is all creating the scent of pomelo. The scent of Lo Mejor di Mi is so refreshing, I am a bit dumbfounded, you want to keep smelling it and feeling like you are in a sunnier and happier place.
I know not very descriptive but Lo Mejor de Mi doesn't necessarily evoke a location for me so much as it really does pull off the great promise of aromatherapy and makes me feel happier. The closest quality I can describe it as is a cafe with a garden and there is a fountain in the courtyard. Birds flutter in the trees and there is lively conversation but it isn't loud. The scent is a combination of chill and happy, an utter rarity to find in a perfume.
As the citrus leaves the stage in walks a dry down of clean creamy musk with hints of earthiness from the violet, iris, patchouli and fig. The musk is deliciously creamy and yet not too sweet and thankfully utterly devoid of detergent qualities.
* If you haven't smelled pomelo I highly suggest in late winter/early spring you get your hands on a pomelo. It will be a pain to eat but the scent of pomelo is one of the most layered citrus scents you will ever come across it frequently reminds me of the scent of jasmine, lime, and grapefruit all rolled up into one. There is a heady floral note in it that I have not smelled in other citrus.
Try Mario Toma's Lo Mejor di Mi if you like Diptyque's Philosykos, Atelier Sud Magnolia, or L'eau de Kenzo Amour by Kenzo.
I'm in school this summer. I've been able to chug away easily for the most part in my program since it began last fall but taking classes in the summer is officially a drag. One of the things making it such a drag is I currently have one of the world's most overly verbose instructors.
What taking classes in the summer has meant the most though is that I have had no real vacation in awhile. I have had a week off between quarters and that has been since last December/January. Currently serving as one of my vacation getaway scents is Lolita Lempicka's Elle L'Aime. A scent that seems to have not reached the US fragrance counters with much ado. What that has meant is that online you can get an absurdly excellent price.
Elle L'Aime is maybe a perfect beginner scent for those of us leary of tropical scents. It is tropical no doubt but thankfully it is not overly heady or overly sweet. It starts off with a sweet lime and coconut accord that is perfectly blissful, in fact it is gone to soon. Then comes a rather lovely sweet creamy white flower heart with hints of ylang ylang (as you know a favorite of mine) just clean enough that it won't feel heavy in the heat. Finally the scent lands in a mix of creamy florals and woods. It is a shock that Elle L'Aime has a good and unique dry down, the mixture of florals and woods creates a much more sophisticated scent than expected. Christine Nagel and Serge Majoullier are able to work some serious magic with undoubtedly very synthetic ingredients smelling surprisingly natural in the drydown. Christine Nagel's taming hand of heady florals can be seen in this scent also.
Overall Elle L'Aime suffers from the fact that the marketing of scent seems a bit juvenile and well the bottle leaves something to be desired. It is a polished take on an everyday tropical scent which you would think would have a fairly large audience here in the US considering how popular Estee Lauder's Bronze Goddess is or the many other tropical scents that are well loved here. Yet, Lolita Lempicka seems to have at some point given up on the American market.
Try Elle L'Aime if you like Estee Lauder's Bronze Goddess, the original Bath and Body Works Coconut Lime Verbena, or Serge Luten's Datura Noir.
As I sit here in the doldrums of summer experiencing a humidity rarely felt in California I am feeling the extreme desire for nothing heavy or sweet. When it gets to this point I reach for colognes or a cooling fresh floral. My answer for the cooling fresh floral is Marc Jacob's Blush. Marc Jacob's Blush is one of those forgotten scents of the early 2000s. Once again it was a bit too early for its time. If released now I suspect it would have stayed on the fragrance counters for a bit longer than it did.
Blush is in the family of L'Artisan's La Chasse aux Papillons, in fact they smell very similar in some aspects that I have wanted to call Blush an almost dupe. Yet, I actually think Blush is the edgier scent for the inclusion of one note in particular: star anise. Blush takes the clean musky florist florals of La Chasse and adds a hint of spicy licorice star anise and in addition it then adds a green peach skin note. The scent then takes on an almost animalic cleanness that is furthered by the clean sweet jasmine note that I find so similar to La Chasse. Blush is interesting combo of the cool florals of La Chasse and cool green spiced peach note, it feels like an almost spiced peach oolong tea scent. In hot weather it is absolutely refreshing. The spiciness of the star anise lending exquisite grounding effect to the scent. It also is the rare scent that emphasizes jasmine that I can handle.
Try Marc Jacob's Blush if you like La Chasse aux Papillons by L'Artisan, Jennifer Aniston's original scent, Estee Lauder Private Collection Tuberose Gardenia, or Hermes Jour d'Hermes.
Considering Summer is now 2/3 of California's year, I was bound to do this list. Sigh, grand irony I'm not a giant summer scent sort of person so part of this list may come off as one woman's attempt to wear anything that can remind her of another season other than summer. Alright, there are a few utter summer choices on the list, but I hope there are a few that seem little different.
Because Summer is Trying to Roast You Alive
Vetiver by Guerlain, perhaps the best cooling tonic I can think of. Wearing this makes me feel cool, calm, collected, and a bit forest-y. A prime example of why vetiver is popular in countries that are hot and humid, also perfect in hot dry places too. Once I run out of my decant of this will have to explore more vetiver scents.
Eau de Minimes Cologne by Le Couvent des Minimes, everyone needs a some sort of classic cologne in their collection for the summer. I recently used up my Atelier Cologne Oolang Infini and Bois Blonds and don't have a bottle of 4711 on me so Eau de Minimes it is for this summer. I bought heavily discounted from Ulta and it fits my cologne needs. This starts with the classic neroli with lemon, orange, and rosemary. It is fine and easy and finishes on a rather modern clean musk with hints of soap. Genius, not in the least but cologne in a middle of the day when crossing the parking is hell should not be genius it just needs to be refreshing.
Osmanthus Interdite by Parfum d'Empire, this scent blooms best in humidity. While I wear it throughout the summer, loving the tart apricot tea leather notes of the scent, only in humidity does the sweetness of the florals in Osmanthus Interdite come out and develop on the skin.
Because You are an Adult Who Works in the Summer and Vacation is Way Too Damn Short Ao by MikMoi, what more can be said about this genius non-cliched take on a tropical mystical vacation in the bottle that is all serenity. The serenity of this scent I suspect is going to save me a few times this summer between work and school.
Songes by Annick Goutal, heavy incense, vanilla, and tropical ylang-ylang and frangipani, sounds like too much doesn't? Nope, the factor that makes it swoon worthy on hot nights is that super dry incense note that keeps everything in check. Sure you are in the tropics and the humidity has the flowers blaring but there is a dry edge that keeps it in check.
Elle L'Aime by Lolita Lempicka, perhaps the poster child for tropicals for the girl next door. Elle L'Aime is all about the pretty. There is no jarring note in this lime, coconut, and ylang-ylang fusion its fresh, sweet, and frothy. Yes, it sounds like a tropical drink and at first veers there but the use of ylang-ylang keeps the scent centered and no one will accuse you of just smelling like sunscreen.
Sicily by Dolce and Gabbana, I feel that this is the closest a Mediterranean scent will ever get to monoi notes that frequently define scents inspired by the tropics. In this case it feels like what if monoi was created in Italy. Creamy citrus flowers, jasmine, banana, spice, and sandalwood are what you would get. This scent is languid and suggests nap filled afternoons with barely a sheet on the bed.
I Need Something Different Coriandre by Jean Courturier, cool mosses with hints of summer dust in the shade, sounds wrong but is oh so right with soapy aldehydes playing their role.
Gris Clair by Serge Lutens, cool lavender with incense and tonka like surrounding yourself in a cool grey mist. Clarity through the haze of heat.
L'Eau de Kenzo Amour by Kenzo, milky sweet oolang tea. Sounds wrong but somehow the rice pudding vanilla and tart dry tea note work it out.
No, I have not stopped thinking about scent. Unfortunately, I have hit the summer slump. For me the summer slump is simply it is too hot for the perfumes I find really interesting and it has been summer here in the Bay Area for awhile. Currently I am reassessing my collection and trying to find fresh scents I find compelling for my wardrobe.
Also on the table has been the fact I have recently moved and currently we are settling down so my perfumes are all over the place in boxes and of course are not necessarily the high priority as much as finding our coffee mugs.
So right now trying to figure out what would make me happy in a summer scent.
Don't let the ad-copy fool Sud Magnolia is neither a southern scent nor a opulent magnolia scent on the other hand it is a very pretty fresh scent with a few tricks up its sleeve.
I'll say it now the best part of Sud Magnolia for me is the opening. It is a wonderful mix of the cool bubblegum note you can get from magnolia with orange and a vibrant note of saffron. The saffron is a fun addition that you don't usually see in fresh floral fragrances and after smelling it in Sud Magnolia I think someone needs to run with the idea. The saffron highlights the spicy coolness of the scent and keeps the orange in check.
As the saffron and orange retreat out comes a fresh rose, which is very peony-esque, and it is coupled with a gorgeous pomelo note. I happen to love the scent of pomelo finding it to be a combination of grapefruit, jasmine, and lime it is wonderfully heady, sweet, and tart all at the same time. The rose and pomelo combination create a cheery and fresh floral scent that cheerfully sticks around. Every once in awhile you catch a hint of cedar but the scent is mainly anchored by musk, the usual clean musk, but one of the trademarks of Atelier Cologne is they are able to keep the citrus around also.
Sud Magnolia has good longevity and should definitely appeal to fans of spritely fresh florals.
Try if you like Dame Perfumery's Cassis, Rose, and Sandalwood, Cacharel's Noa Fleur, Atelier Cologne's Orange Sanguine, Keiko Mecheri's Sanguine, or Kenzo' s Eau de Fleur de Magnolia.
Yes, you read that correctly the weirdest scent in my collection is from Hermes Un Jardin series, which is essentially for the most part fairly easy going and pleasant. The scents are interesting, but weird is not an attribute you give them.
What makes Un Jardin Apres La Mousson such a little oddity is that it plays with the idea of fruit and savory notes. For me it is close to the equivalent of one of my favorite combos in the summer for when the days are absurdly hot. Chilled watermelon sprinkled with chili powder and salt and a squeeze of lime or lemon. My boyfriend's mother prefers her's with a sprinkle of cumin seed and salt instead. So what does Mousson do? Mousson is the combination of cardamom, ginger, and watermelon, it sounds intense, but it isn't. Jean-Claude Ellena is able to do an incredible balancing act of juicy watermelon combined with spicy cardamom all on a bed of vetiver. It is light, tangy, and spicy, with watery notes. Some have accused it of being re-interpretation of the 1990s aquatics but those things always gave me a headache where as Mousson does not. It is a fruity scent that never tips itself into the banal category. I find it refreshing and cooling.
Try if you like: Ao by MikMoi, Voyage d'Hermes by Hermes, or Declaration by Cartier.
I like ylang ylang. I feel at times it is the forgotten tropical floral, everyone either loves jasmine, gardenia, or plumeria but for me it is ylang ylang. On the other hand ylang ylang is a bit of a weirdo smell. It is cold, pungent, at times described as rubbery or like cold cream. More often ylang ylang is a supporting player take for example Chanel No.5. The most known prominent ylang ylang scent though is not a perfume but rather Nivea's original scent, a heady mix of ylang ylang and rose with other delightful notes. Either way as you can see ylang ylang is all over the place.
So what is Pepper Ylang by Smell Bent like? Well, first let me share how excited I am that someone has done another ylang ylang perfume, because there really are not that many around. I think Smell Bent has put out a really nice little scent that shows someone obviously loves ylang ylang there. The scent starts with a full lovely ylang ylang note which I found works best when there is a little heat in the air, with heat it blooms on the skin, and offers an airy quality that reminds me of seaside and sand, but with no coconut. The pepper note offers a really interesting spiciness that emphasizes the hot cold effect in ylang ylang. The base of sandalwood, myrrh, and vanilla are just the right amount of sweetness and woods and meld into skin easily. What I really like about this scent is that it is not too sweet, the creamy woods work wonderfully to enhance the ylang ylang note. I am highly tempted to get a full bottle of this for the summer.
Try Pepper Ylang if you like Eau Moheli by Diptyque, Bronze Goddess by Estee Lauder, or Yin and Ylang by Sonoma Scent Studio.
How does one describe such a transportive perfume as MikMoi's Ao? I think first I need to establish what it conjures in my mind. Ao is a tropical scent that has taken all the cliches out, this is not suntan lotion, or a pikake lei. It is not bright and sunny. Ao is a scent that explores the meeting of the in between areas: dusk, ocean and land, those ephemeral zones that have mystic connotations. So how does the perfumer Mik do this?
Ao creates a fine balance of tropical mysticism by ignoring the sweet aspects of tuberose and coconut. There is no doubt they play a role but the coconut is fresh and green and the tuberose is applied as though you are smelling it in a garden afar; it is noticeable but your face is not pressed into it. He then layers smoky cade, a very green ginger, and woods around these notes. He finalizes this wonderful layering of notes with an airy mentholated note which fades but provides a luminous quality to the scent.
An interesting thing happens as this fragrance progresses to the dry down I get hints of green peach/apricot. The perfumer was actually there when I tried this scent on and he even noted that my skin had heightened this aspect in the scent, he surmised that I accentuating this quality from the tuberose. This little fruit tart note really ends up accentuating the smokiness of the cade and makes the scent even more enchanting.
Another additional quality I enjoy in Ao is the salty note that brings images of the ocean to the mind but thankfully does not make you think aquatic.
I never thought I would meet a perfume that was an introverted tropical. Yet, that is what Ao is, quiet and contemplative but full of tropical notes. It is not jovial and bright and talking about laying out in the sun with an umbrella bedecked drink. This scent is dusk, smoke, and water lapping against boats.
Ao is utterly unique and worth sniffing just to smell how someone can redo the idea of a tropical/aquatic scent. I really can't wait to explore more of MikMoi's scents and smell the new interpretations he comes up with.
Try if you like Serge Luten's Datura Noir, Diptyque Tam Dao, or L'Artisan Timbuktu.
Had you told me I was going to like this scent, I would have guffawed. I actually smelled it about a month ago on paper and really did not think much of it. In fact I would have not given it a second thought had I not read other's reviews of it saying you have to try it on the skin because on paper it is lackluster.
So what makes Wood Sage and Sea Salt by Jo Malone so enjoyable, for me it is the buchu note. The first time I encountered buchu was LUSH's Ponche body wash and what buchu provides is a bright citrus black current hybrid of a scent, but thankfully no cat urine note. In Wood Sage and Sea Salt buchu makes a play between a salty mountainous coast and black currents. For me it is the best type of coast line rugged and full of forests and crashing waves. There is nothing tropical about this scent but it does evoke the ocean. There is a salty tangy thing going on that is rather addictive. I will say I do not smell any sage, in fact nothing particularly herbal about it. What it is though is salt laced berries on a coast line. One major problem though with this scent is the longevity is close to nil, you will have to mad spritz to get it to stay a little, and at its price point that is a big problem.
Try if you like: L'Artisan Mure et Musc, LUSH Ponche products, and Hermes Un Jardin Sur le Nil.
Annick Goutal Nuit Etoilee eau de parfum. A delightful dark blue bottle that holds a hot cold combination of Oregon Coast summer coastline with the scent of minty Penny Royal and dark cool coniferous forests beneath it all a creamy combination of iris, amber, and immortelle. Sounds heavy? Not in the least. Full review needed.
Van Cleef & Arpels Rose Velours, somehow a rose of depth that can be worn in the summer heat. I have to write more about this calm spoken scent.
The Body Shop Passion Fruit Shower Gel, I actually love the scent of passion fruit, I mean the really juicy tart scent that has a sweet spicy edge of bell pepper (I don't think bell pepper is spicy it just has a rather robust spicy scent). For happiness it a bottle just take a shower with this.
