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. 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 Friday, September 27, and we have just had what was left of Hurricane Helene pass through our area. We were lucky: lots of rain, and flooding in lower areas especially near creeks and rivers, but our own street didn’t flood or lose power. Whew! We were ready, though. Fully stocked up with food, water, batteries, etc. Hybrid car fully charged. We’re still staying inside, though, as the power company crews are out and there are trees down across some roads.
I was sad to read earlier today that some protesters threw soup (again) on Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers” paintings that I just saw at the National Gallery last week. The two who had done that in 2022 were sentenced earlier in the day to prison time. Thankfully, the paintings were protected then and now by glass.
In honor of “Sunflowers” and to share some of my recent trip to London, let me tell you about one of my purchases at Bloom Perfumery. I love Bloom! The staff there are always very friendly, helpful, and knowledgeable, and the store carries many unique and interesting brands. One of those brands is Brocard, a revival of an old Russian fragrance house:
“As a brand, Brocard dates all the way back to 1864 when Henri Brocard opened up his first luxury soap shop in Moscow, the Russian Empire. In the years that followed his business flourished and blossomed and come the end of the 19th century Brocard had become the largest soap maker in Europe. It was nationalised in 1917 and became the legendary Soviet beauty giant Novaya Zarya. For a century Brocard’s name remained history untill a new company started in 1994 as the modern Brocard.”
I bought two Brocard fragrances at Bloom on this trip: Color Feeling Yellow and Color Feeling Purple. Bloom has stopped carrying Brocard fragrances, but they had a few of these left in stock and took 50% off their already very low prices, so in perfume math, they were practically free! Launched in 2020, Color Feeling Yellow is meant to be a floral woody musk. It has notes of lemon, musk, narcissus, orange blossom, freesia, lily, jasmine, amber, vanilla, tonka, and cedar.
To my nose, it starts off with a strong lemon tempered by musk, from which white floral notes slowly emerge. Quite a few Fragrantica readers have said that it reminds them of Ex Nihilo’s Fleur Narcotique, a much more expensive fragrance. I don’t know Fleur Narcotique so can’t comment on that, but this is perfectly nice. When I first spritzed it, it reminded me a bit of the smell of dandelion flowers, yellow and polleny. The lemon opening is pretty dominant, so if you don’t like the smell of synthetic lemon, you probably won’t like Color Feeling Yellow. However, wait just a little while and the lemon steps back, though I smell it still humming in the background.
Of all the floral notes listed, the one that my nose most readily perceives is freesia, followed by orange blossom. Those both smell lemony to me in real life, so I’m not surprised. I also pick up a woody undertone, which I assume is meant to be cedar. I don’t smell any vanilla, tonka, or amber, although there is a pleasant, light warmth as the fragrance dries down. All in all, a very nice bargain beauty, especially for about 15 pounds!
Have you been contending with any challenging weather? Or have you found any new bargain beauties?
Serenity Now Scents and Sensibilities 
Here in the north of England we have been swinging from warm sunshine to pouring rain (up to two months normal rainfall in two days), back to warm sunshine then overnight frosts! Much of the midlands have been flooded up to 7 feet.
Personally, other than the sudden frosts, we haven’t been affected. The sudden cold has set off my tyre sensors in error & flattened the hybrid’s 12v battery. Really frustrating, but certainly a problem of privilege!
Managed to get Shalimar Millesime Jasmin. I have held off getting Chloe Nomade Jasmin Natural Intense until I could try the Guerlain. Guerlain won
LikeLiked by 1 person
Congrats on getting the Guerlain! Sorry about the frosts — I’ve had the same issue with tire sensors in past winters, but so far (fingers crossed) no issues with my hybrid’s battery. The sun is starting to peek out here and the remaining clouds are moving out, so maybe we’ll get a nice weekend and everything can dry out.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The hybrid battery is fine it’s the 12v that goes flat. I bought the car in February & it’s already had one new battery. It means it isn’t dependable. Really annoying
LikeLike
That is very unsatisfactory for a new car. We love our hybrid car, but it has a Prius type battery that is charged as you drive.
LikeLike
Mine is a Toyota Yaris. The hybrid battery charges as it’s driven but it’s the tiny 12v starter battery that keeps draining. If it loses 3v there isn’t enough power to start the car. Even when I’ve used it everyday it loses charge. It’s a pain in the kabeezer! If DH relapses I will need a car that will always start. I’m debating whether to return it & swap for an Aygo X. Not hybrid but should start when needed!
LikeLike
Interesting. We’ve had to replace our battery that runs the AC, lights, and starts the car once since we’ve had the car. We’ve had the car about a year and a half now.
LikeLike
This is so interesting to me, since I drive a Kia Niro plug-in hybrid. We haven’t had any issues with batteries. I’ve read, however, that sometimes the battery drain is caused by a third-party gadget installed in the car, like a dealer’s GPS tracker or a wireless Android adapter dongle.
LikeLike
Your new perfume sounds delightful. We have definitely had some challenging weather in Florida. The eye of Hurricane Helene barely missed us by about 20 miles so the damage was much less than expected, thank goodness! Our house is fine and power was restored today. I had feared the worst, so we evacuated with all our important documents and my Chanel’s, Guerlain’s and Parfums de Nicolai’s. Feeling very lucky right now 🙂
LikeLiked by 2 people
I’m so glad you and your house stayed safe! Not to mention your perfumes. I feel lucky too — there are several huge old oak trees on the property behind us that aren’t very healthy, and I always watch them carefully when we have storms with a lot of wind. (We had another neighbor’s oak fall on our house in a storm almost 30 years ago). But they seem to have come through unscathed!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m glad you’re fine. I was just recently thinking how hard it would have been if I had to decide what perfumes to take with me if I had to evacuate (and had time for that).
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sounds like an excellent Saturday Question to me!
LikeLike
One SQ question, coming up! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m pleased you missed the worst of the storm. I admit to smiling at you saving your preciouses! Do you keep them & your documents in a couple of grab boxes just in case of emergencies?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, I do! The docs are in a briefcase, but I had to grab the perfumes. Amazingly it wasn’t hard to decide what to take. I also took my Dior La Colle Noir and my Neela Vermeire Iris. I figured everything else was easily replaced and less expensive than the ones I took with me. I probably should check to see if there is a special collector’s insurance for perfumes. My dolls are insured by a collector’s insurance policy.
LikeLiked by 2 people
That’s a good idea. Those of us with large collections of anything should check out insurance policies. Thank you
LikeLiked by 1 person
Glad to hear the hurricane didn’t affect you as badly as feared. It is sad about the protesters in so many ways.
That’s great that you found a cheap and cheerful perfume in a niche perfumery! My recent bargain find was Paul Smith Rose, from one of their sale shops in London.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Paul Smith rose 🌹 is a good one.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Art destroyers are ASS.
That Colour Feeling Yellow sounds fabulous and only 15 quid! BARGAIN. Glad you’re loving it.
Also glad you were safe from recent hurricane.
Portia xx
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ll be interested to try Color Feeling Purple next! Yes, we were lucky with the recent storms. The western part of North Carolina was particularly badly hit, and that’s just north of Georgia. Feeling thankful!
LikeLike
Barbarians! I do not care what they are protesting, this isn’t justified. I hope they get enough time in prison to think about their behavior.
I’m glad you’re safe and with electricity. The weather was scary! What would you have done if you would’ve lost power? Did you have food that could be eaten “as is,” or do you have ability to cook with something portable?
Perfumes sound good (especially the one with narcissi’s, especially for the price. Enjoy!
LikeLiked by 1 person
We were ready for a power outage (I grew up in suburban New England where they were more common). I got bottled water for things like brushing teeth and filled one bathtub with water for flushing toilets. We already had lots of seltzer water and other beverages. I cooked up a bunch of things ahead of time like pasta, couscous, beans, that could be eaten cold with other stuff mixed in (like tuna, cheese, or the cherry tomatoes and herbs I grow). We have an outdoor gas grill that can be lit with a manual lighter, so we could cook on that if necessary. I also bought fruit like apples, bananas, tangerines. We already had enough bread, peanut butter, jelly for sandwiches. So we were well supplied!
The worst thing here is to have a power outage when it’s really hot so you can’t run air conditioning or fans. If it’s cold out, you can always bundle up, but it’s hard to stay safely cool without power in the summer. That happened to our next door neighbors once when they had just brought home their newborn baby — their house lost power (just their house). When they finally told us, because their house had become dangerously hot, I insisted that they and the baby come to our house immediately to spend the night! It’s much harder for newborns to regulate their body temperatures.
LikeLike
Pingback: Saturday Question: Which Perfumes Would You Take If You Had To Evacuate? – Undina's Looking Glass