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Citronelle & Geranium

Bottle and box with cute flower drawings, in front of a can of Deep Woods Off and a tube of Skin-So-Soft body lotion.

Holy shitballs, it works.

Mosquitoes LOVE me. The little vampiric assholes feast on my flesh like I am manna from above.
So I am always looking for a good smelling repellent, and while Diptyque actually makes no claim to Citronelle & Geranium being proof against the bloodsucking fiends, it boasts lemongrass and lemon eucalyptus. Both are effective bug deterrents, and along with citronella, can even kill the little effers in large enough doses.

This “summer body spray” goes on comfortingly strong, with that invasive green citrus that immediately stops the annoying tinnitus whine that is not “just in your head.”
In a half hour or so, orange blossom and neroli ease in to soften the sharp sting of the lemon leaves, for a glorious insect free afternoon.

Would it stand up to the fanged pterodactyls that live in Vermont marshes?
No. You need DEET for that.

Is it as sweet smelling and nostalgia inducing as Avon’s iconic Skin-So-Soft?
No, but it’s a lot less oily and doesn’t stain the clothes.

Is it pricey?
Yes, especially when compared to a can of Off from the drugstore.
But since hats with full netting aren’t apropos for garden parties anymore (a shame, that) it might be worth it for fancy outdoor events when waving and slapping and swearing and welting and itching seems undignified.

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Zinnia

Vintage Floris bottle with iconic royal blue label and cap, and dwarf orange and pink zinnias from my garden.

I wish my zinnias smelled like this.
Mine smell like dusty bee pollen, green stems and maybe some petrichor from this morning’s rain.

Floris Zinnia smells like peach sweet tea and clove carnations and a bouquet of powdery roses and lily-of-the-valley–that should seem matronly but are pure coquette–in a garden, with lawn games involving a mallet or a racquet or something, played by people who say “ta” and “cheers” a lot.

Good performance, fresh and bright in social distance for several hours, then spicy and warm in personal space for the rest of the afternoon.

First in the catalogue in 1860 and relaunched in 1990, bottles can still be found at reasonable prices. I’m surprised they aren’t snatched up more quickly.

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Looks like evening rain, too.

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Poison Ivy

Black bottle with white ivy illustration and silver cap, and dark green flocked silk leaves

Velvety green roses and lily-of-the-valley out of the bottle, soft in personal space for an hour, then sits with lime sherbet dust on the skin for a few more.

This one is the last of the newest TokyoMilk Dark set. I’m not so impressed with this release–First Base is good, but the other three seem weak in both performance and creativity.

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Dreamy soft song…

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Stunned

Rainbow blown glass, and Bel Rebel sample spray and envelope.

Y’know the skanky convenience store two blocks down, that has as much lampwork glass paraphernalia as munchie snacks on the shelves, and sells the best cheap vanilla incense anywhere?
The guy at the counter is fat and comfy with some nice swagger, and if you’re a regular he’ll give you a zip-lock bag of the green with your $50 roll of Butter-Rum LifeSavers.

Stunned is stunning.
Funky, verdant, sweet, resinous, and joyful.
Goes on with a draw of labdanum smoke, then exhales long–with sticky cannabis cupcake frosting and relaxing cloves–in personal space for most of the evening. You wake in the morning with a smudge of sugary patchouli on the skin, and only a vague idea of what actually happened the night before.

I love that Bel Rebel didn’t go the haute couture route that Florabotanica did–here they embrace messy weed culture full on, with head-shop cliches, creosote smeared bongs and gooey candy excess.

Medical card not required.

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Lavender & Thyme

Cut crystal flask with a purple and gold label, and blooming lemon thyme from my garden. (My herbs did really well this spring!)

A nice clean herbal, but almost too soapy to wear on the skin–I feel itchy in it, like I haven’t rinsed enough.
This one stays in the laundry room, to spritz on wet towels before they go into the dryer. (Did you know fabric softener sheets make your towels less absorbent?)
Doesn’t last long, even on cotton, but the folding is more fun.

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Moroccan Leather

Memo Paris black white and gold promo card and test spray on a jade dyed leather wallet bought in Marrakech.

If leather grew on trees, with patent leaves on on suede stems–
This is the finest full grain, sultry green, almost pulpy, tanned by smoke bark plants and orange blossom, with smooth iris and ginger underneath.

Both animalic and verdant, yet also clean and polished. I really like it.
Lasts half the day a few inches off the skin, and turns all clothing to mossy nubuck hide for a week.

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A great tune by Moroccan artist Chawki-

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Un Matin d’Orage

Beads of water on a frosted Annick Goutal bottle sitting in a puddle, with prismatic sunlight.

This “Stormy Morning” dawns with lemony ginger and a lot of wet green notes that turn into an enjoyable petrichor–and stays dewy on the gardenia and jasmine all day.

Very sweet and very white, with the same mixed-message quality of pristine indolics in La Chasse aux Papillons.
Also similar to Reflection–a bit less grounded by the sandalwood–and about two-thirds the cost.

Pretty, but not terribly exciting–a good storm should have a bit of thunder and lightning, yeah?

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This morning is sadly just dreary.

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Wakening Woods of Scandinavia

White cat with a very pink nose, and a large pale green cut crystal flask and leafy printed box.

(Meet Lucy, our newest household addition.* She likes to eat rose petals, chase hair ties, and watch sandwich-making.)

I’m rather devoted to the House of 4711, but I’ve been putting off opening my bottle Wakening Woods of Scandinavia–even though it received kudus from People Who Know What They’re Talking About, and was designed by the Escentric Molecules guy–because I didn’t want to be disappointed.
I have such fond memories of the various forests in Sweden I’ve seen and smelled (Trollskogen on Öland is amazing).

Wakening Woods is lovely…!
Crisp green bergamot and some herbal spice at the start, ridiculously fresh and breezy, then after a few seconds, cool fir and alpine roses–the tiny ones that smell almost apple-y, but not sweet–over forest floor bracken.

Fills the room at first spray, but settles quickly to a few inches above the skin with nice ferny trails for two hours.
Evergreen, but all-year-round.

* Adopt, don’t shop, yeah? Second-hand cats and wild-grown kittens have the best personalities!

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Tori going Nordic.

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Un Jardin sur le Nil

Promo card illustrated with lily-pads and Hermès bottle, and sample spray.

I’ve never been to the Nile, but the Lily Pool Terrace at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden smells a lot like this–standing water in the sun, but nice, with that marvelous fruity green aquatic plant funk.
There’s other stuff blooming too, indistinct but still there, bulbs from the fragrance garden, and distant herbal vegetable leaves, with a bit of city haze underneath.

Perfect for summer, but good for hot autumn afternoons with Chardonnay, too.

Lasts the morning on skin in personal space, and most of the day on clothes.

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Hossam Ramzy was an amazing percussionist–he’s worked with everyone from Led Zeppelin to Shakira. (Y’know the riff in Jay-Z’s Big Pimpin’? That’s him.)

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Fanghorn

Pineward sample vial and paper test cutout of Fanghorn bottle, burlap pouch and a taxus tip with green needles.

Nice.
Fanghorn is a bit brighter than Murkwood and less sweet, with an earthy forest floor petrichor replacing the myrrh and incense.
Realistic pine in a summer rainstorm for an hour, then green lichen on the skin for the rest of the day.
Semi-permanent on cotton, with the wet fir opening.

Leans to unisex trees with rough bark.

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More Tolkien inspired art: