While traveling in the UK and Ireland (Perfume Tourism: I’m Ba-a-a-ack!) this summer and fall, I was given a sample of Lumiere Blanche by the delightful sales associate at Parfumarija in Dublin, with my purchase of the Ormonde Jayne discovery set. I haven’t opened it until now, but since I bought the Olfactive Studio discovery kit at the London independent niche perfumery Bloom, I have started exploring that brand and thought it was time.

Bloom

And yes, it’s time — because Lumiere Blanche is an ideal scent for the kind of dry, sunny fall we are having in my part of the world.  Its top notes are: cardamom, cinnamon and star anise; middle notes are iris, cashmere wood and almond milk; base notes are musk, sandalwood, cedar and tonka bean. In other words, it smells a lot like milky masala chai tea, something I love.

Chai tea spices; thecheapluxury.com

Luckily for me, it is light on the cinnamon. I love cinnamon, but I don’t want to smell like a cinnamon broom (I’m looking at you, Dasein Autumn!). Lumiere Blanche reminds me a bit of Carner Barcelona’s Palo Santo, but lighter. At first spray, I get a delightful waft of cardamom, a spice I love, with a tinge of star anise, warmed by just a hint of cinnamon. The overall effect is milky, too, which I attribute to the almond and tonka bean notes. Those are definitely present throughout, from start to finish. Very quickly, I also smell the woody notes, mostly sandalwood and cedar, but the “cashmere wood” adds, I think, to the soft, milky impression. After a little more time, the iris note emerges, but lightly. It really adds nuance and depth to the progression, with its rooty, earthy, but sweet floral scent. I am enjoying its contribution to Lumiere Blanche, and its addition to the spices and wood notes is an unusual, creative combination that works.

Lumiere Blanche is a soft fragrance overall. On my skin, it is really lovely and I could see wearing this a lot during the fall. It is not as strong as Palo Santo and would probably, therefore, work better than it as an office scent. Olfactive Studio’s website says:

Lumiere Blanche is a comforting cocoon, between milky mildness and cold spices. It evokes the sweltering heat of a sun at its zenith, which erases colors, leaving only a blinding white, and surprised by its spicy freshness.

For the perfumer, [it] is “A cold-hot accord for a perfume of contrasts,” a bright and fresh surge and a creamy softness and a strong signature, warm and sensual.

I don’t perceive this as a scent of “sweltering heat” or “blinding white” light. It is definitely a sunny scent, though neither citrusy nor green, notes which are sometimes associated with sunniness in fragrances (probably why the name emphasizes white, versus yellow or green). For these long, unseasonably warm, sunny autumn days in my part of the world, it is just right.