Fragrance du jour, recent sniffs, random notes.
A long sweet lemony opening, with black currant herb tea, and then birch bark. The pine needles develop an hour later, woodsy green but sugary, the way a forest smells after snow.
Lasts the morning on the wrist, and on the cuffs all day.
It’s swanky, in an understated way–clean projection but mouth watering up close–and makes me look forward to winter.
Måns Zelmerlöw, of Swedish Eurovision fame, released this cheerful tune in 2016, too.
A twist of green sappy resin, then the cinnamon hits soft and heavy, and spreads with amber over dried apples and warm mulled cider. Fades in half an hour to sandalwood and shadows of roses on benzoin skin.
Brief, but gorgeous.
I recently discovered the Turkish group Taksim Trio–a bit new age, a bit traditional.
Hüzün means sadness, google translate tells me.
Peach blossom candy and fortune cookies, creamy tuberose sharpened with cardamom, and a bite of sandalwood on the bottom.
There’s a voluptuous mystique to it, gorgeous but with an edge, the sweetheart next door with a femme fatale secret.
Elusive on skin and lasting on silk.
I love it.
I loved Chinatown, too, all the crazy smells and the languages and the colors, the shops with fish and spices and trinkets. The restaurant with the sweetest old man who taught me to eat with chopsticks when I still needed to sit on a phone book to reach the table–
Deee-Lite is also from New York. This song always makes me happy.
Starts harsh but finishes mellow.
Cardamom bombs the opening, the same throat closing assault when entering any truck stop store outside Paris, Appalachia–menthol cigarette ash and candy bars–but then it slowly melts into the skin with tobacco and vanilla a la Tom Ford.
Not many people realize Tom Waits actually wrote this one–also harsh and mellow.
Leather motorcycle gear in the sun.
Animalic asphalt, and a marvelous tomato leaf–this guy goes off-road, too. A bit of sour fruit and herb-y flowers round out the long ride.
I love the way the vibe switches back and forth from urban to rural.
Chevelle’s Take out the Gunman came out in 2014, too. A good driving song.
Sea Buckthorn and Gooseberry
(This one came from Russia. Cool stamps.)
The gooseberry hits with an acid bite at the back of the throat, but fades quickly into a fruit compote with creamy sea buckthorn syrup. Ends on a solid wood base of bathroom potpourri.
Luna came out with this one (also Russian) in 2018, too.
The Cloud Collection perfumes are lava lamp groovy, with separate liquids rolling around in the bottle. One is advised to shake it for four seconds (shaking a lava lamp is not suggested, though the result is the same) until it turns cloudy, before spraying.
Spicy-tart sea buckthorn at the opening, and leather, then thirty minutes later the berries turn sweet and creamy, with a smooth oud-y base.
The fruit lasts on the skin for three hours–about the time it takes for the perfume salad dressing to separate again–but the sweet woods project much longer and louder, and linger on clothes all day.
The scent lives up to the novelty of the liquid. The seaberry (which I love in tea and candy) is unusual, a berry version of the lemon custard in Aqua Allegoria Teazzarro; and the base is rich as any Fort & Manlé, with twice the longevity.
I’ll wear this one a lot this fall.
Farveblind is is also weird and fun and Danish (like Zarkoperfume).
Lemon cremes and iced sweet tea with chamomile.
Fresh, light and lovely, yet also soothing, the way laundered linen feels on the skin.
Stays just inside personal space all day, and lasts on clothes forever.
I could live in this stuff all summer long.
Adele’s 25 came out in 2015, too.
The solid goes on with cool waxy watermelon and warms up to a creamy tuberose with a bite of peach.
Lasts for an hour with faint but big sillage, then dissolves into caramel on the skin.
It’s much nicer than I expected–delicate and lighthearted and fun–so nice to find a teen perfume done really well.
This song came out at the same time, cliche and cute (with a teenage fantasy revenge video), but still charming.
A princess on a shopping mall spree.
Candied strawberries and caramel apples, framed by galleria escalator glass and chrome.
Trendy and young, but with impeccable taste–the patchouli gives a tartness to the berries, a metallic edge that takes it out of Flowerbomb territory and puts it more in league with House of Sillage Chevaux d’Or.
Elbow length projection for three hours or so.
kira a. gold 