Fragrance du jour, recent sniffs, random notes.
Lush’s Kerbside Violet is that totally kissable stranger on the subway platform who eats those weird purple mints from the newspaper kiosk.
There’s a blast of burning coal and then bruised wildflowers and finally ashy sweetness.
Makes me nostalgic for the city.
Any city, really.
This one by Bat For Lashes (also English) has a dreamy edgy vibe, too.
Wore this the entire week that one crazy midsummer.
Still makes me feel hungover.
Edit – 10/12/21
Anisia Bella doesn’t make me ill anymore–I can finally drink ouzo again, too–but it’s definitely a scent for high summer.
The anise and licorice are too spicy for spring, the basil and tea too herbal for autumn. The citrus kick at the top is a lovely summer lemon seltzer, and the drydown was biscotti in another lifetime.
Nice. Leans a bit more butch fade than Teazzurra‘s fringe bob.
For more accessible options, try any incantation of the original Lolita Lempicka, or 4711’s Blood Orange & Basil.
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I played this song a lot that summer.
Tea Rose is cultured pearls and effortless good manners having gin and tonics at a garden party.
Uncompromising rose, it will strip all other scents in the room of their flowers, and curtsies only to Joy.
I wore this in college when I could only afford silver jewelry, and needed my rayon dress to hold its own in a room full of silk.
This one came out in 1977, along with Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours. Here’s a brilliant and eerie cover.
So Sweet is burlesque in a candy-by-the-pound store. Raspberry, rose and tawdry flirting.
Like panties with ruffles–it’s not meant to be taken seriously.
I love it.
Lolita Lempicka’s gourmand musk is sheer, almost lacy, compared to Angel‘s heavy satin sheets, and I like it so much more.
More raspberries.
Huh. So that’s what gentians smell like.
Interesting. And odd!
Not as sweet and delicate as the Regency romances would have one believe–like did the author actually research this? Or did they just go looking for “blue flower that grows in England?”
This is NOT a flower a swooning Georgian debutante would tuck into her bodice, unless she was trying to seduce the groundskeeper. (Which might make an interesting story, actually.)
2/16/23 – Edit
Pulled this out when sniffing Lacoste Match Point yesterday, to compare the gentian. It’s such a weird tangled green garden scent, that touches on tomato leaf and clover honey, bell pepper and sage dust.
Gentiana, after the first grapefruit squeeze, goes fast into that chaotic herbal floral, with a touch of nectar to soften the bitterness, and bit of lavender-ish soap suds to wash off the garden soil.
Some sandalwood on the bottom keeps it from getting too discombobulated.
One of the nicer Aqua Allegorias.
(Pamplelune is bolder and better.)
Also, I just ordered gentian seeds.
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More Blue –
Supposed to be bamboo, jasmine and flowers, and olibanum, and that’s nice, but I mostly get Old Skool lilac. Is that what they mean by “flowers”?
Edit – 2/18/23
I bought this set of minis–The Silk Road Collection–curious about what kind of scents Shanghai Tang (a very cool fashion house dedicated to the revival of Chinese culture of the 1920’s–I’ve used several of their pieces on stage) might put out.
Turns out their perfumes were designed by two French-trained Western bigwig master perfumers.
There’s an excellent article over here about China’s fragrance history–Mao banned perfume in the Cultural Revolution.
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This album came out at the end of 2013, just before Spring Jasmine was released. Hebe Tien was the front woman for the Mondopop mega band S.H.E.
(TokyoMilk No. 83 lists Cake Flour, Dark Cacao Bean, Osmanthus and Bronzed Musk.)
Big cocoa powder and apricot spice, a little musk at the bottom, but ooh, is this one rather delicious, sexy and gourmand yet a little prissy–like tea-time in the viewing boxes at a Victorian orgy.
The opening seems derivative, Angel without the wet patchouli, then settles to Hershey’s Syrup on the skin in 30 lovely minutes, with creamy florals on linen for an hour.
I’ll go through this quickly.
Edit – 1/29/2023
Yeah, I drained that bottle in a month. Not available any longer, but sometimes one can be spotted for resale.
This is the one that made me take notice of TokyoMilk Dark–and it was discontinued even back then–I think I scored mine at TJMaxx for $20. (Now they go for $150 or more.)
I’ve been going through old notebooks, and finding my scribbled thoughts on scents. I wrote about this one exactly six years ago, right after an awkward paragraph about the smell of dried kiwi (which is neither sexy or delicious.)
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A bittersweet song.
#32 – Witchy grape soda.
This brand is ridiculous.
“Earth & Moss” and “Crushed Herbs?” Just say wormwood and stop being coy.
“Wild Grass?” Ookaaay.
The Jasmine I get.
It’s actually pretty good.
Edit – 2/12/2023
Well, I went back for it.
There’s an effervescent sweet wisteria purple that lingers for hours with hints of absinthe, that makes it enchanting and a little evil–poisoned soda pop at a birthday party.
Might be too young for me now–lately I’m more kitchen crone than fairy princess–but I don’t care.
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kira a. gold 