Deep Green: Bella Basura by Haught Perfumes

There is something deliciously modern and vintage about the perfumes created at Haught Perfumes by Jarekhye Covarrubias. They almost always start very fun and modern and yet frequently morph into the lovely tasteful classical. I don't usually encounter this combo in perfumes so it was nice to see someone playing with these ideas.

I am not the sort of person who usually wears green floral fragrances, I most definitely admire the ideas they convey, but frequently when I try to wear them I run into a few issues. Bella Basura joins the very small cadre of green florals I can wear (the others I can wear are Le Temps d'une Fete by Nicolai, Phenomene Verte II by Lalun Naturals, and Climat by Lancome).

Bella Basura starts with a big bitter blend of lime and bergamot beneath it I get hints of basil and spices enough that for a moment there is a hint of mossy freshness that reminds me of good clean soap scent.

Yet, before anything mundane can happen smoky creamy jasmine incense note enters. This is my favorite stage. I didn't realize I could like a green florals until I realized that they could have green creamy incense notes, Bella Basura is one of those few scents that does that, yet before you go running to the hills thinking that this scent is going to get vanillic it never does. No, Bella Basura reverberates a constant bitter green, it's like a good amaro in the summer.

Bella Basura reminds me of the things I have always wanted to appreciate but never quite could, Jarekhye has tempered the green notes that frequently cause me so many problems, and made a green scent that is wearable for me. I am in fact reminded a bit of the classic Vent Vert by Balmain but made more wearable. The dry down is a consistent bitter green with the citrus and jasmine weaving back and forth there is a smoky blend of olibanum and vetiver that reverberates through out it.

Try Bella Basura if you like Vent Vert by Balmain, A Scent by Issey Miyake, or Jasmine White Moss Private Collection by Estee Lauder. 


Disclaimer: I received the sample from Haught Perfumes.

First image from Haught Perfumes
Second image 'Tropic (Tortuguero)' by Ben Blatt 
Third image 'Dahlia" by Inside A Black Apple

A Summer Garden: Ninfeo Mio by Annick Goutal

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.

First Image from Basenotes.net
Second Image from Frances Benjamin Johnston
Third Image from Hellen Van Meene
Fourth Image from Tom Killion

Serenity and Spring and Tackling A Classic: Climat by Lancome

It took me about 8 years to appreciate this scent and yet yesterday I had one of those total zen moments when your perfume is exactly what you need for the day and matches the beauty you see in the day. This does not happen often. Climat, I finally get you. I couldn't get you in my mid-twenties and maybe I needed a terrible drought to appreciate you but damn yesterday you were the perfect embodiment of what my heart needed to get through the day.

Climat is an example of family of perfumes that has taken me a very long time to appreciate, a green floral emphasized with aldehydes. This scent smells classic and it is very classic in the sense that it has no sweetness. Climat probably works for me because it does not feature the signature green note that most green perfumes use: galbanum. Yet, there is no mistaking Climat for being anything else than a green floral scent.

Climat is stepping into a cool green spring forest. There are lush green hills, a creek in the background, cool dark damp earth, and lily of the valley and narcissus blooming. Below all that is a warm civet accented musk, on me this is all very clean and warm, but for others I can see this is either where the scent plays nice on you or becomes something else. The beginning of Climat is aldehydes, thankfully not too pungent or nose searing, in fact they are fairly gentle. You then enter a perfect melange of woods, narcissus, and lily of the valley. This melange stays around for quite awhile with the florals slowly leaving, what then enters the dry down is a mossy mix of musk and woods with a good dose of vetiver. It is an incredibly clean and earthy scent, I want to say soapy, but this is not the traditional soapy, this violet earthy soapy, there is a very mineral like quality to the dry down which I attribute to the mix of earthy and clean.

The variation of Climat I am reviewing today is from Lancome's La Collection release from my understanding there is a great deal of variation in the releases of Climat so try with caution. This one is by many considered the best of the recent releases because it is especially close to the original offering.

Try Climat if you like Trefle Pur by Atelier Cologne, Balenciaga Paris by Balenciaga, or Au Dela - Narcisse des Montagnes by Bruno Fazolarri (I actually have a theory that Climat Inspired this scent).

First image from Fragrantica.com
Second image 'Dreaming of Pomegranates' by Felice Casorati

The Variations of Orange: Monserrat by Bruno Fazzolari

Do you need to smell something that smells close to the sublime moment of a seed sprouting in soil? If so you need to get your hands on Montserrat by Bruno Fazzolari.

This scent is for me that strange juxtaposition that citrus ripens in the winter. We consider the scent of citrus to the scent of summer at times but add cloves and you think winter. Montserrat does not go into clove combination but rather it plays with the idea of citruses out in the cold fields of spring and winter in California. In fact under the layers of grapefruit you smell the green buds of citrus about to bloom. Yet, what I love more is that he is able to capture the scent of citrus as you pick it from a tree the dry earthy green scent of the break between fruit and branch.

This scent is heightened with the intriguing note of plaster which appears in the dry down. With addition of this note Fazzolari creates a full image in my head. Think white walls of old farms houses in the countryside think in the style of Italy or Spain, especially the ones that may have a courtyard, and in that courtyard are citrus trees.

There is a strange beautiful quality of lushness and austere-ness in this scent. The grapefruit and citrus notes verdantly singing and yet the addition of earthy notes of carrot seed and plaster keep in grounded in a cooler contemplative mood.

Try if you like: Orange Sanguine by Atelier Cologne, Concentre d'Orange Verte by Hermes, and 4711.
image from Riochico

Tackling the Classics: Coriandre by Jean Couturier

We all have a category of perfumes that is a challenge one that others will rave about and will leave you puzzled wondering was there a mix-up, did I get a bad batch, why I am not getting this wondrous scent that everyone is talking about? For my chypres have rarely worked and by that I mean the classic chypres where oakmoss reigns supreme and you better like it. The beauty of Mitsouko completely lost on me, Miss Balmain a disaster, and Chanel Cristalle a game of galbanum wrecking ball. Once in awhile though I find a miracle, chypre of the classic era that I get, the first was Femme by Rochas, the second Yvresse by Yves Saint Laurent, and finally Coriandre by Jean Couturier. Now there arguments about the current formulation and the truth is I know nothing about the vintage but to me Coriandre is still recognizably a classic chypre and a lovely one at that. Now you may have not heard of Coriandre but it has been around since 1973 making it an underground classic at the moment.

So what makes Coriandre such a lovely experience? For me Coriandre softens its green notes with a soft rose and musk making a plush pillow for the greenery and spices. What I love about this scent is the use of coriander, I cook with it freguently, and I am always entranced by the green orange piquanty scent of it. Coriandre uses coriander to create a mellow lovely earthy soap in the scent. The scent then reminds me of family's ranch with earthy dusty herbs in the sun, cattle in the pasture, and hay warming in the sun. It is for me a combination of classy soap and my family's ranch. It takes the elegance of a French perfume and introduces it to the countryside in summer. Please do give it a try if you feel like you have had no luck with classic chypres.

Try if you like the original Agent Provocateur, Le Temps d'une Fete by Parfums de Nicolai, and Ivoire by Balmain.

Gorgeous forest image is by Tatiana Plakhova
Coriandre image from fragrantica.com

A Trick of Light: Jour d'Hermes by Hermes

How do you make a floral that does not scream floral? Well I would go talk to Jean Claude Ellena because he has just done that and that is where this fragrance makes the most sense as in why I really like it. To explain it better, I should mention that I am not the woman who gravitates towards fragrances called floral, there are floral notes I love, but scents marketed in the floral category are usually not my ouvre.

Jour d'Hermes is such a wonderful trick though, starting off with a stemmy green milky mango rhubarb green peach skin grapefruit note that catches you with its zippy tartness yet strangely creamy quality. The scent moves on to opal like floral middle where facets of flowers move in and out of focus much like an opal in sunlight as you tilt it to see all the colors. I get rose then jasmine followed by sweet pea. Then a warm musk comes out just lifting the flowers up enough that the scent blends to the skin, at this point the fragrance is somewhat hide and seek, at moments I get rose then a shift to ylang-ylang or tuberose, and then a shift to gardenia all the while it maintains a gauze of musk. Some days it is very earthy on me with vetiver quite obvious other days it becomes a rather balmy tropical gardenia scent with the tart musk to never let it stray to much.

This scent is a changer and never in the same direction in a row. It is fantasy floral and in my mind it is the scent of the lovely flower rununculus that has no scent but has incredibly layered petals.

The amazing image above is from No Wordz Photography.

SOTD: Figue Amere

Today I am trying on something that I didn't really consider much of because I tried it on in the middle of Winter, Miller Harris's Figue Amere. Right now I am quite enjoying it, this may be the greenest fig scent I have ever smelled, I am picking up hints of angelica. When I tried it on in Winter all I got was an incredibly dry scent full of cedar, but now it is wonderfully green with sap. And I was right there is angelica in this beauty. I am going to have to give this one more testing. Bizarrely lush in a very dry way.

image provided by http://www.filmkultura.hu/2005/articles/reviews/index.hu.html

image: Kardhal, Mexico (1998) by Flor Garduno

SOTD: Do Son by Diptyque

I can't explain the need for a white floral right now, I suspect once again it is the season, to simply put it Spring scents are the least loved in my collection and yet all the sudden I am wanting the scent of cool white florals and sappy new greens. I am mostly a child of winter and autumn scents, so this is a new one for me. Today I am sampling Diptyque's ode to tuberose and childhood: Do Son. Later on today when I stop at the mall to order contacts I will be trying Private Collection Gardenia Tuberose. Spring fever has definately hit and hopefully the stuffy nose caused by spring allergies won't be to awful this year.

image provided by artnet.com

Easter Parade by Robert Kushner 1997

SOTD: Chanel 22

Going with the luminous and powerful, Chanel 22. Such a lovely sparkling dry scent. Envelopes you in green and white (this is what always comes to my mind when I wear it.). Perfect for Spring.

image provided by artnet.com

Green Heart by Christopher Reilly 2007

Scent of The Day: La Parisienne

So we are having that weird weather in the Bay Area, where in the middle of Autumn, it looks like spring, like the glorious early part of spring, when green is just beginning to peep through, but there is still a chill in the air. Suddenly I am yearning for the scent of silver, green, and lily of the valley; so I put on La Parisienne, a gorgeous silvery aldehyde scent, that just screams spring.

Ava Luxe Tea Rose

(tea rose http://www.lynsnow.com/tea_rose.html)

I figured I needed to do a fragrance review considering I haven't done one in so long, so out of my box of samples I chose Ava Luxe's Tea Rose. Her note listing for the scent is: tea rose and green notes. The scent is pungent as is to be expected with tea rose scents, it has a hint of spice but overall tea rose scents have always smelled slightly lemony to me with a hint of airy notes. I consider them the original precursor to Calvin Klein's Eternity (which to me is a tea rose scent amped up with white flowers and ozone notes and all together headache inducing). This one luckly is not headache inducing. As the scent enters its middle stage in takes on an almost indolic quality (think there must be a little jasmine in this blend), it then drys down to a green musk laced with rose. The image that pops up into my head for this for a young wannabee hippie girl who doesn't want to wear patchouli oil but wants to wear some oil and so she chooses this. Just not a scent for me, although I do remember once mixing it with Egyptian musk oil and finding the combo quite nice.

Datura Noir part. 1

I'm going to admit it now, I rarely wear tropical scents, what can I say I rarely think I can pull off the sunny lushness that tropical scents often have going for them, and yet Datura Noir by Serge Lutens is one of the few tropical scents that I can. I suppose if I were to sum this scent up it for its character it would be "a gothic tropical scent, a moodscape of the icy arctic meeting falling petals of creamy luscious tropical flowers." This is the scent of a jungle at night with the coldest white full moon in the sky illuminating everything in its brilliant silver light. And yet this scent is softly narcotic there is no screeching gardenias or tuberoses, the tuberose in this is mellow and edged with a buzzing green note, the osmanthus is the more promenent floral giving off its gentle greeness with its hints of apricots soaked in cream, the coconut is subdued never reminding of sunscreen but rather the scent of freshly cracked coconut, and the hint of bitter almond through out giving it that hint of high pitched sweetness that is cold and wonderfuly sweet. Datura Noir is a soft scent yet has a sharp edge with its unheady narcotic quality.