SCENTS

Fragrance du jour, recent sniffs, random notes.

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Vetyver & Bergamot

Large 4711 Acqua Colonia cut crystal bottle with brown and gold label.

Lime and oak leaves.

The bottle says “Relaxing” in many languages. The eau is certainly not exciting, but it’s pleasant enough, I suppose. Lasts the usual 4711 quarter hour.

Perhaps one for unassuming gentlemen with good taste in hats?

Edit – 6/18/21

I had a good cup of Earl Grey tea this morning, and pulled this one out to compare the bergamot.
The soft green citrus was easy to recognize in both, but I was struck by how much of the vetiver comes out when sniffing them side by side–almost nutty, like filberts or walnuts.

Also, nicer in the summer than the winter–less lime notes and more herbal vibes, and not so oaky dry.

Starry teacup and saucer, and cologne bottle and box, on my back patio. Good morning!

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Love this relaxing Louis Armstrong cover of Irving Berlin and Fred Astaire’s classic.

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Tabu

tabu edgy
Vintage 80’s Tabu violin bottle on a retro 60’s print with a femme fatale in black gloves. The illustrator, René Gruau left the Italian aristocracy for Paris, supporting himself and his mother at age 14 by selling drawings to fashion magazines. He became the advertising director Christian Dior in 1947, and is also known for his posters of The Moulin Rouge, and Fellini’s La Dolce Vita.

A stray cat in heat reeking of orange and cloves.

Tabu was that night you wore thigh-high stockings but forgot your fake ID, so someone’s older sister gave you rootbeer schnapps and after the party you watched the sunrise drinking Constant Comment tea with the guy your friend wanted.

I wore this once in high school and the boy who never noticed me asked my name, and the skirt I’d worn all year got measured with a ruler twice. My mother took the bottle away and told me I could have it back when I went to college.

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Tabu came out in 1933, designed to be “the fragrance of a whore.” Jazz was taking Paris by storm then, led by Django Reinhard at the Hot Club.
Here’s Gretchen Menn’s take on Minor Swing.

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Contemplation

Square bottle showing vintage illustration of cranial study on back printed label.

TokyoMilk No. 7 touts: Crushed Herbs, Exotic Teak, Crisp Citrus, Cedarwood.

One bite of lemon ice–eaten with a wooden spoon–then it’s gone. I wanted more.
Some herbal hardwoods lay a few inches above the skin for an hour.
Might be nice as a boy’s first cologne.

Edit – 9/17/21

The dry-down is pleasant enough, but the performance is not worth the collector’s prices–unopened one ounce bottles are scarce and run as much as $150 now.

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Yvresse

Vintage champagne cork shaped mini bottle, detailed with indentations of the muselet–the wire cage that “muzzles” the top–and rumpled gold foil, with red lettering.

Happy, happy.

The best New Year’s party ever, that changed its name from Champagne for copyright reasons.
(Perfume is technically alcohol, so it cannot legally be sold with the word champagne unless it is made from specific grapes by a specific method in a specific region.)
The new name is a play on YSL and the word ivresse, which means intoxication.)

Yvresse does sparkle out of the bottle, a joyful room-filling effervescent peach muddled up with delicious spices, that calms to petal-soft fuzzy apricot florals in slow dance space for the evening.
Finishes with lovely sweet wine notes over resinous woods–another pun on the cork–that last the night, leaving rosy dregs on the skin in the morning.

Rich and light-hearted, but not silly.
‘Til next year!

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Marie

TokyoMilk pot of solide parfum, with matchbox featuring Marie Antoinette holding a fan, on a dupioni dress with beaded lace.

Marie wants to be “Candied Lemon, Honeydew, Cassis, Sugared Violet, Ylang-ylang, Creamy Musk & White Woods,” but winds up being pale lilac clementines, in a surreal watercolor wash of cake icing.
At the very bottom is a wisp of incense smoke that makes it decadent and sexy, fruity sweet dessert dressed in Rococo ruffle lingerie of sheer organdy, while getting stoned on joints rolled in gardenia scented paper.

My favorite of all the TokyoMilk’s I’ve sniffed. I wish it were offered as an eau–I’d bathe in the stuff.

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I Made You A Mix Tape

Silver lidded perfume pot with TokyoMilk crest and matchbox package featuring a glittered clear cassette tape.

I sometimes wonder about how perfumes get named–is it made with the intent to smell like a specific thing, or is the name a retro-fit, an oh-we-meant-to-do-that?

I Made You A Mix Tape absolutely has a cellophane vibe, that sweetly nostalgic chemical plastic note of audio tape, which works rather well with the white rose musk.
But would it be special to anyone under thirty?

This has really good performance for a solid–a foot of the skin for two hours, over half the day on skin–but it makes my head throb after a while (which is what my parents said about my music, so fair enough.)

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“I made you a playlist” doesn’t have the same ring to it…

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Mon Jasmin Noir L’Eau Exquise

Solid perfume pot shaped like a gold and mother-of-pearl pocket watch, on a pale green gift box.

Refreshing grapefruit tea, at the edge of a swamp.

Edit – 1/20/23

Found a solid of this and am enjoying it much more than the spray tester I wrote off years ago–the cedar musk is cleaner, the almond topping less muddy–much more pretty marshland than bog.
I’ve seen a few comparisons to Un Jardin Sur Le Nil, and while I get a bit of that sunny water garden vibe, this one is more crystalline.

Collector prices are fairly steep, so snag it quick if it’s within the budget. Or just get a bottle of Guerlain’s Pamplelune, if you want a slice of grapefruit.

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I’ve been stuck on this song lately.

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Waltz

TokyoMilk bottle with label featuring painting of dancing couple, and a pink rose from my garden.

TokyoMilk No. 14 advertises linden, honeyed rose, wisteria petals and white musk, and yep, that’s all in there, for two hours.

Soft clean lime notes and honeysuckle vibes, with a gritty musk that takes it out of the country and into urban garden territory–grape-sweet wisteria hanging from pergolas, but with some city grunge in the background.

I prefer a mazurka.

Edit – 8/15/21

Found this one in a box with a post-it marked “Try In the Summer?” so here I am.
87 degrees F, and 84% humidity on the east coast of the Bluegrass, today.

The linden has a much bigger presence on warmer skin–greener, with bright citrus florals–and the musky rasp at the bottom seems less synthetic than I remember.
I’m always fascinated by how much perfume changes with temperature and weather.

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You can waltz (or mazurka) to this one–

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Envy

celery
Tall, square, matte-black bottle of Envy Eau de Parfum nestled in the heart of a bunch of celery stalks.

In a happy mood, Envy shimmers with lime and hyacinth and spring pine, but when it’s angry it sulks with celery and wilting roses and verdigris tarnish.
Amazing in the rain.

This was my “divorce perfume,” twenty years ago, my splurge at the duty-free shop when I’d run off to cry on a few shoulders, along with the new haircut and leather jacket.

This song, like Envy, came out in 1997–I saw it in concert.

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Chanel No. 5

Mini Chanel bottle in the center of a fuchsia daisy.

Chanel No. 5 is the most famous fragrance of the world, and for good reason.
No other perfume manages to be such a combination of opposites–clean yet filthy, powdery but also syrupy, delicate and heavy, soothing yet provocative, mature but gamine–all at the same time.

The 80’s eau de parfum splashes on with soapy peaches, juicy but aldehydic, and starchy boned lingerie falling to the floor, in a release of structure giving way to voluptuousness.
The flowers in the middle blend to effervescent floral cordial, chased by a Southern Comfort base–smooth woody whisky sweetened by vanilla.

I love it, but I’m no Marilyn Monroe, and this one takes a hefty pair to pull off. (I was 16 when it came out, and Lady Stetson was a bit more my speed.)
Wear with a corset and no shame.

Edit – 7/9/21.

Perfume in time of COVID-19:
Out of curiosity, I sniffed my mini bottle yesterday, and it smelled like mustard.
Today it smells like nothing at all.

The guy asked, “What texture should we have for dinner tonight?” (Flavorless potato chips are very strange!)
I’m sure I’ll be okay–I’ve been double vaxxed–so hopefully this will pass soon.

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This song also came out in 1986. Madonna was our Marilyn back then.