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Perfume Chat Room, February 28

Welcome to the weekly Perfume Chat Room, perfumistas! I envision this chat room as a weekly drop-in spot online, where readers may ask questions, suggest fragrances, tell others their SOTD, comment on new releases or old favorites, and respond to each other. The perennial theme is fragrance, but we can interpret that broadly — I’ve been known to write on this blog about biryani, one of my favorite dishes to eat and one I am still learning to make! (If you have a great recipe for it, please share!).

This is meant to be a kind space, so please try not to give or take offense, and let’s all agree to disagree when opinions differ. In fragrance as in life, your mileage may vary! YMMV.

Today is February 28, and tomorrow is Leap Day, a rare event in the calendar. My SOTD is supposed to be a “unicorn”, following the Now Smell This community project, which has defined a “unicorn” scent as “a perfume you suspect no one else (or almost no one else) on Now Smell This owns, or something that you very rarely see worn or mentioned.” If I still had any, I would wear the unicorn scent I wrote about some time ago, L’Iris de Fath. Alas, it is such an expensive unicorn that I had the rare privilege of trying it once, but I don’t have any more (I did, however, put a drop on a ceramic scent disc, which still smells faintly of it).

So instead, today I am wearing Brocard’s Aphrodisia, one of its “Once Upon A Time” collection, because I rarely see any Brocard fragrances mentioned, and the fairy tale title of the collection goes well with unicorns. The company, based in Russia, has a fascinating history. The nose behind Aphrodisia is Maurice Roucel (yes, THAT Maurice Roucel) and it was launched in 2016. Top notes are bergamot and black currant; middle notes are palisander rosewood, ylang-ylang and jasmine; base notes are musk, vanilla, heliotrope and animal notes. Bloom Perfumery in London, one of my favorite stores, which carries many Brocard fragrances, describes it as “a minimalist gourmand floral where crisp jasmine is drowning in musks and almondy heliotrope.” Miguel Matos reviewed Aphrodisia for Fragrantica in 2017; it was his favorite of the collection.

I like it a lot, although gourmands are not a top favorite category for me; to me, it is more floral and vanillic than strongly gourmand. The heliotrope makes it powdery, in a very pleasant way. I smell the ylang-ylang more strongly than the jasmine, but they are well-blended.

Are you doing the Now Smell This community project? What is your SOTD? Or have you had any particular fragrant adventures you’d like to chat about?

Three fragrance bottles from Brocard perfume collection.

Once Upon A Time collection by Brocard; image from brocard.ru.

35 thoughts on “Perfume Chat Room, February 28”

  1. I have been sick all week so I honestly forgot about the unicorn project. Today I’m wearing Tauer Wowilla oil because it’s easy. I think my unicorn might be Blocki This Grand Affair- I picked up a travel spray last summer at Tigerlily in SF, but I don’t hear much about the brand.

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  3. Although I’m not following the Now Smell This project, I think I can justify a claim to unicorn status today, which is the 29th. I’m wearing some Jicky that dates to somewhere around 1913-1918., in the flacon carre bottle. It smells creamy and sweet, but not excessively so. There’s not a lot of citrus or florals left there, but it is still a very wearable unisex perfume. It’s lasted 9 hours on me, which is excellent performance from such a vintage item.

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  4. I wore The Persian Gold as my unicorn scent yesterday. I thought of Avon Nearness or Vintage Ma Griffe, so I sprayed Ma Griffe today. It’s not bad, but not my favorite Chypre. I prefer Niki de Saint Phalle or Empreinte.

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  6. Actually, I was looking where to talk about that unicorn project! 🙂

    I was thinking about it and came to the conclusion that it was a “bad” community project: people mostly enjoy talking about perfumes they know or at least heard of. 10 years ago, probably, any mention of a new/unknown name would probably send people looking for more information and asking the wearer questions. These days an unknown brand/perfume barely registers with readers: unless something really attracted their attention, which isn’t easy to do in a 200+ comments thread, they gaze over it and continue to more familiar names. So, the “better” your unicorn is, the less chances you get to strike the conversation.

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  8. Hey there crew,
    I love the idea of a perfume unicorn. There are a few of them around here.
    One that arrived recently as a gift is something I’d never heard of 2004 modernisation of the eternal Worth favourite Je Riviens. This one called Je Riviens Couture. An aldehydic floral leaning heavily towards narcissus, ylang and lily with a soft focus vetiver/musk/tonka dry down that doesn’t really smell of any of them. It’s also got a bit of a hairspray vibe.
    Comes in a dark blue, ribbed, pillar bottle. Very Ra-Sha-Sha!
    Portia xx

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  10. I don’t know the Now Smell This community, but I’ve spent some time with Isabey the past couple of weeks. Gardenia, Fleur Noctures, Lys Noir, Route d’Emeraude. They are all so gorgeous with great longevity!

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  11. Popping back in on a windy Wednesday. Wearing Kierin NYC 10 am Flirt. Now that it’s warming up I’m starting to crave fig, iris, Violet, and other spring flowers!

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