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, January 3, and it is 2025! Happy New Year to you all! We had a more social New Year’s Eve than usual, which was nice. We had two casual parties to go to, both of the drop-by-if-you-can type, and both close by — the second one was next door. So we socialized, had a drink at each party, and were home before 10:30 pm. We did stay awake until midnight and enjoyed seeing replays of the fireworks from around the world. Wow, Portia, those fireworks over Sydney were wonderful! And I loved the fireworks in London, too. I hope you all had enjoyable New Year’s Eves! Did you wear any special fragrances? I wore Hiram Green’s Arbolé, which I find I’ve been craving lately. Kafkaesque had a long review of it when it first came out, though it wasn’t really to her taste. I’ve realized I am sometimes very drawn to patchouli, based on my reaction to both Arbolé and SJP Stash, though I’ve never thought much about it and wouldn’t claim it among my favorite notes. It does play nicely with rose, though, which is one of my top favorites. If you have any patchouli loves, do tell!
Our next international trip will be to Vienna, Salzburg, and of course Barcelona (where the European office of my lovely husband’s employer is based). I can’t wait to see Vienna and Salzburg! We’ll be there the same week as the famous Vienna Opera Ball, though of course we’re not attending that. We are, however, going to see an opera at the Vienna State Opera House the weekend before the ball. We plan to take in museums, concerts, palaces and cathedrals all week. Do any of you know of any particularly excellent perfumeries in Vienna you would recommend I visit? And if you were going to the Opera Ball, what fragrance would you wear??
This is a great post and interview with Diane St. Clair, a very gifted independent perfumer. Thank you, I Sniff Before I Sleep! I love her fragrances, starting with Gardener’s Glove and First Cut.
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.
Sunflowers, by Van Gogh, at The National Gallery
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?
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 20, and we are back from London! What a great visit we had — especially me, since my dear husband had to work and I got to play. I have a lot to share with you in upcoming posts; I visited Harrods’ Salon de Parfums for the first time, as well as Liberty London’s Fragrance Lounge. I also went to Les Senteurs, Jo Loves, Jovoy, and Bloom. Among other cultural experiences, I saw the National Gallery’s exhibition of Van Gogh paintings, “Poets and Lovers”, which was wonderful. I met lovely people who shared their insights with me and helped me try some wonderful scents. What a generous community fragrance lovers are!
Right now, I’m fighting to stay awake, so this will be a short post, but do share in the comments any recent fragrance experiences or discoveries!
Today is the first of May, traditionally celebrated in France by giving bouquets or sprigs of muguet, or lily-of-the-valley. As regular readers know, I love lilies of the valley and I love muguet fragrances. In some past years, I’ve done a “May Muguet Marathon“, posting every day about a muguet fragrance or the flower itself. I won’t do one this year, because of our son’s college graduation and then our family’s two-week trip to France itself. Got a lot going on!
I did want to share this lovely photo of Maison Dior’s flagship in Paris, decorated with huge sculptures of lilies of the valley:
Muguet at Maison Dior; image from Maison Dior.
Isn’t that magnifique? Christian Dior is much on my mind these days, after having watched the Apple TV series “The New Look.” I loved it — so well done, and the acting was terrific, including Juliette Binoche as the very unappealing Coco Chanel. The series is about what happened to Christian Dior and his sister Catherine during the Nazi occupation of Paris, with the parallel story of Chanel’s alleged collaboration. Only Binoche could have pulled off the balanced acting required for that role. Both narratives are based on separate books by Justine Picardie: a biography of Chanel that includes the war years, and one of Catherine Dior, focused on her experience as a member of the French Resistance and also as an inspiration to her brother. The perfume Miss Dior was named for her.
I’ve read the book about Catherine Dior, Miss Dior; A Story of Courage and Couture, and I highly recommend it. Have you read it, or watched the series?
Welcome to this month’s “CounterPoint” about a newer fragrance: Chanel’s Paris-Édimbourg, one of Les Eaux de Chanel”, which has been a very successful series of lighter, more casual Chanel fragrances focused on freshness and named for particular destinations to which Coco Chanel regularly traveled, such as Biarritz, Deauville, and Venice. Most of “Les Eaux” are truly unisex, but Édimbourg, the fifth in the series, launched in 2021, smells to me more traditionally masculine than its predecessors. And indeed, perfume Olivier Polge has said: “Both fresh and woody, PARIS-ÉDIMBOURG could be the fragrance of a tweed jacket borrowed from the men’s wardrobe that was such an inspiration to Gabrielle Chanel.”
Apparently, Coco Chanel spent a lot of time in Scotland in the 1920s during the years when she was having an affair with the Duke of Westminster, who owned vast estates in the Scottish Highlands — a wild, forested, mountainous area, where nevertheless the visiting landed gentry and their guests still dressed for dinner after a day of fishing, shooting, tramping, and other outdoor pursuits.
Les Eaux de Chanel: Paris-Édimbourg; chanel.com
How did you first encounter Paris-Édimbourg and what was your first impression?
Portia: Being an Aussie we tend to get everything a little behind the rest of the world but I always check in with my local CHANEL Beauty stand alone store in the Westfield just down the road. Everyone was raving about the newest from the Les Eaux range and that they’d picked such a strange place to be the destination. I’ve no memory in my readings of Coco hitting the Scottish Moors but that’s probably my memory. Anyway, I went into CHANEL Beauty on the off chance and lo and behold there was a Tester and stock. Did you know they also have body products? So cool. Tried it, walked around the mall doing my shopping and went back to buy it before leaving. Honestly, I would have bought it anyway because I’m a completionist and I already had the rest of the line. That it was so bloody gorgeous was just the cherry on top.
Old Herbaceous: I was able to get a travel spray decant of it from a monthly fragrance subscription, after I had done the same with the earlier “Eaux de Chanel.” With the first three, I had tried them as samples pre-pandemic at Nordstrom, and liked them very much. So when my subscription started offering decants of them, I quickly added them to my queue! Also, I have a thing for complete collections (Portia calls that being a “completionist”, lol), which I usually try to restrain, but chose to indulge with Les Eaux. After all, travel sprays don’t take up much space!
My first impression was that this is a traditionally masculine aromatic fragrance, and that is still my impression. I ended up giving my travel spray to my 22 year-old son, and he loves it so much that he requested a full bottle for his birthday this summer. His very chic girlfriend loves it on him, which I’m sure clinched the matter! It does smell very nice on him, and he likes the fact that it reminds him of Scotland, a country we have visited as a family and enjoyed very much.
Fragrantica classifies Paris-Édimbourg as woody, aromatic, and aquatic. Top notes are listed as cypress and juniper berries, middles not as cedar, lavender, and vetiver; base notes as musk and vanilla. I’m not sure why it includes “aquatic” in its description, because to me, it doesn’t particularly evoke water or watery notes. It does have the bracing, cool quality of aromatic evergreens.
2. How would you describe the development of Paris-Édimbourg?
Old Herbaceous: The opening is quite strong, and redolent of juniper even more than cypress. I like that a lot (the only hard spirit I drink, on the rare occasion when I have a cocktail instead of wine, is gin, which is flavored with juniper berries; perhaps that is the perfumer’s clever reference to the cocktails undoubtedly enjoyed by Chanel and her friends). The cypress and juniper notes combine to smell very herbal and green, to my nose — another plus for me. At this stage, Paris-Édimbourg has strong sillage, so one might want to apply it lightly. One light spritz on my wrist carries well beyond my arm’s reach, and I expect most wearers will want to apply scent to more than just one wrist.
As it moves into the heart phase, Paris-Édimbourg becomes less green and more herbal with the lavender accord becoming prominent. The cedar and vetiver accords lend warmth and woodiness to this stage, and contribute, with the lavender, to the impression of a more traditionally masculine fougere-style fragrance. The light application to start pays off in this stage, as it now feels “just right” to my nose, though still a fragrance I would prefer on my husband’s skin to my own. It just goes to show you how engrained these cultural impressions can be, aided by the fact that both my husband and my late father have leaned toward classic “barbershop” fougeres in their fragrances.
The dry-down stage is very pleasant, becoming the scent of warm “skin but better” with its base notes of musk and vanilla. The lingering traces of lavender lend it a soapiness that is very pleasing, evoking not just warm skin, but clean skin.
Portia: The opening woods are green and spicy. The tart citrus even veers towards grapefruit and I’m smelling something spicy like nutmeg, maybe cinnamon. Could it be the juniper berry? I’ve always smelt that as a cool spice, like capsicum as opposed to chilli.Ahhh, the heart resolves into juniper and pine.
Paris-Edimbourg smells so fresh and clean, like a modern fine fragrance version of Norsca. Yeah! I remember thinking that on my first wear. Reminiscent, not same. Just a jump started memory. There is a warm sweetness as we head towards dry down. I’d have said a not very vanilla heavy amber, resinous sweetness.
I’ve been and had Korean BarBQ, a few drinks and chatter, then watched some footy. There’s still an oily grass, pithy citrus and fluffy musks with some torn green twiggy branch. Now feeling done in a very Jean-Claude Ellena vein. A soft wash of it. That’s a long ride for what is basically a cologne style of fragrance.
3. Do you or will you wear Paris-Édimbourg regularly? For what occasions or seasons?
Portia: Amusingly, until today Paris-Edimbourg had sat unopened in my wardrobe. You can see the wrapping in the photo.
Les Eaux de Chanel: Paris-Édimbourg; image by Portia Turbo.
We are heading into our warmer months in Oz. Already the days are 20C/70f and above. Paris-Edimbourg fit the day perfectly and has even been a good fit for this evening. Last summer I wore Paris-Venise and Paris-Riviera so much they secured places in the grab tray. I think Paris-Edimbourg will be taking Paris-Venise‘s spot.
Old Herbaceous: I doubt that I’ll wear it myself, but I’ll enjoy smelling it regularly on my son! I think it’s just right for an occasion when one wants to smell a bit more “dressy” but still at ease. Paris-Édimbourg strikes me as the scent equivalent of male or female “business casual” — a fragrance that goes with a crisp collared shirt and neatly pressed, tailored pants. Classic and well-mannered.
4. Who should/could wear Paris-Édimbourg?
Old Herbaceous: Aside from the standard reply, “anyone who wants to”, I do perceive this as a more masculine fragrance based on my own scent history, but it could be worn to great effect by a woman or really anyone of any gender! In that sense, like the other “Eaux de Chanel”, Paris-Édimbourg is absolutely unisex. Perfumer Olivier Polge and Chanel have called it “androgynous”, which I think fits.
Portia: The joy of the Les Eaux line is they are wearable by all. Paris-Edimbourg is no exception and I think it might even be the most masculine leaning of the set. The bottles are a beautiful hark back to vintage CHANEL and I love that they’ve used the regular box lining-card for the outer presentation. The price point is affordable for a luxury brand and I’m thinking this could be a very good gift for someone special. Who doesn’t love a little bit of a CHANEL logo?
Most of us need another perfume like an extra hole in our heads but if your collection is missing a very wearable, spritz and go cologne style scent then you could do a lot worse than Paris-Edimbourg.
Have you tried this, or any of the other “Eaux de Chanel”? Any favorites? Do you have any on your wish list or “to-try” list?
Les Eaux de Chanel: Paris-Édimbourg; image from chanel.com
Cabochard may be the best known fragrance issued by the house of Grès, at least to this generation of perfumistas. It is not the only one, but it was the first and it is one of only a few that came out while the real Madame Grès still owned the perfume line, which she sold in 1982. (Others I own are Cabaret and Cabotine). It was created in 1959 by legendary perfumer Bernard Chant, who also created strong fragrances like Aromatics Elixir,Azurée, Aramis, and the original Halston, now called Halston Classic. It is a classic leather chypre, originally with a full symphony of notes and accords, which Fragrantica lists as: aldehydes, sage, spices, tarragon, asafoetida, lemon and fruity notes; middle notes of geranium, orris root, rose, jasmine and ylang-ylang; base notes of leather, oakmoss, tobacco, vetiver, patchouli, sandalwood, musk, amber, and coconut.
Madame Grès was a legendary designer of haute couture, based mostly in Paris and dressing its elite from the 1930s into the 1980s. Her creations are truly unique – you look at one of her garments and you know it’s by her. They are in many collections, including the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which describes her work thus:
“Madame Alix Grès’ career spanned five decades and throughout them all she excelled in her ability to manipulate fabric and use its innate characteristics to enhance her designs. She executed flowing body-skimming forms inspired by ancient Greek dress; minimalist, sculptural forms and voluminous, dramatic shapes.”
I chose Cabochard as this month’s “Counterpoint” fragrance to write about with Portia (of the blog Australian Perfume Junkies) because I saw a rare exhibit of Madame Grès dresses and other outfits a few weeks ago. Most of the items displayed were from the private collection of the late Azzedine Alaïa, another genius of garment construction who studied Madame Grès and her techniques. This post will be liberally sprinkled with photos I took! There were so many gorgeous dresses that it was hard to choose.
Cabochard and Madame Gres
Apparently the fragrance took inspiration from a trip to India that Madame Grès took in the late 1950s to look into the reorganization of traditional Indian textile manufacture, a project of the Ford Foundation and others. It was named Cabochard because of her well-known stubbornness and determination, on full display during the Nazi occupation of Paris in the 1940s, when she refused to serve German clients (who were mostly wives of Nazi officers). Another example is that when she was ordered to stop using so much fabric, at first she defied the order, and they shut down her atelier, then she complied but her next collection was all in the colors of the French flag: red, white, and blue.
How did you first encounter Cabochard and what was your first impression?
Portia: I cannot remember the first time I smelled Cabochard. Maybe it was on an Aunt or one of Mum’s friends, or one of my friend’s Mums. It could have been a sniff session in a department store in the time that I loved perfume but wasn’t internet connected to you all or maybe I read about it in the initial stages of discovering the scent blogosphere. I do remember that I bought a tall slender bottle with a black lid, maybe even from overseas way back in the time of postal ability. That bottle was given to a friend when they fell madly in love. Then I scored an extrait that had my mind whirling (still does, though it’s a second bottle now) and lastly, when the bottle was redesigned and the fragrance given a spruce for modern day I grabbed a tester for next to nothing. Perfumer Bernard Chant created Cabochard in 1959, Aramis in 1966 and Aromatics Elixir in 1971. A trilogy or family of fragrance, all similar but riffing different elements.
Dresses by Madame Gres
Old Herbaceous: I got a heavily discounted bottle of Cabochard eau de toilette after reading Luca Turin’s hilarious but scathing review in “Perfumes: The A-Z Guide”, in which he famously called this reformulation “Cabochard chewed down to a frazzle by accountant moths” and compared it to a time-ravaged Peter O’Toole whom no one recognized any more. I had previously bought another Grès fragrance, Cabaret (which came out long after she had died), and liked it very much, so I thought I would see what Cabochard was like and whether it deserved such criticism. Of course, I don’t have the original vintage for a comparison, but I was curious anyway. And I also found the name charming: stubborn, like a donkey, but also resolute and determined.
Cabochard has been reformulated (as have so many classics), and for a long time, what was available was the version I first bought, in a tall, slender bottle with a bas-relief bow on front. However, in 2019, the current owners of the brand reissued Cabochard in eau de toilette and eau de parfum, in shorter bottles with real black ribbons on the neck. These improve on their immediate predecessor and have been well-received, so I own both!
My initial impression was that Cabochard reminded me of Chanel No. 19, which startled me until I re-read the list of notes and saw that the 2019 eau de parfum has a strong dose of galbanum as one of its top notes. I like the opening very much, no surprise! When I asked my 21 year-old son to tell me what he thought, he sniffed my wrist and said “I can’t say I LIKE it, but I wouldn’t say I dislike it either. It’s really different!” How is that for a diplomatic answer?
How would you describe the development of Cabochard?
Old Herbaceous: I’m wearing the 2019 eau de parfum, which has a different list of notes from the original, according to Fragrantica: top notes of aldehydes, galbanum, and sage; heart notes of ylang-ylang, rose, and jasmine; base notes of oakmoss, leather, patchouli, and sandalwood. Right away, the aldehydes and galbanum hit the nose; the aldehydes drift away, but the galbanum remains a leading player. I barely smell any of the floral notes at all, then the base notes arrive — and wow, do they persist! Very true to the fragrance’s name, lol. Of those, the one I smell the least is sandalwood, which is a shame as that is clearly a reference to India. The oakmoss note is potent, and in 2019, it might still have had some real oakmoss atranol, though it was heavily restricted by then, and atranol was banned entirely in Europe in 2021. I’m guessing that by 2019, Parfums Grès was already using a modern substitute, both for cost reasons and because the ban was on the horizon.
The 2019 eau de toilette also has its own slightly different list of notes, which Fragrantica lists as: top notes of aldehydes, bergamot, and sage; heart notes of ylang-ylang, rose, and jasmine; base notes of oakmoss, leather, patchouli, and sandalwood. This is actually a more classic chypre structure, with bergamot among its top notes which the eau de parfum lacks.
Neil Chapman, author of The Black Narcissus blog, wrote about Cabochard in his marvelous book “Perfume: In Search of Your Signature Scent”, and described it as “a dark and brooding scent of greys, purples, and blacks that hovers, tantalizingly, above the skin” (I think he was describing the vintage extrait). To my nose, because of the galbanum and base notes, the eau de parfum is indeed “dark and brooding” but varying shades of dark green and brown.
Portia: Wearing vintage extrait and modern EdT. The opening fruity sparkle is herbaceous, aromatic and dense. Imagine being in the storeroom of an Indian bazaar, the spark and buzz of faulty electrics, fruit and veg in waxy cardboard boxes, sizzling spices, bitter herbs, and the scent of dozens of boxes of sandalwood soap. Cabochard is as full on as you can imagine. A heavy, hectic, psychedelic scent that manages to be all this and warmly classy too. That is quite a feat to keep something so big from flying out of control. It’s definitely a hark back to perfume of yesteryear but much of today’s product could learn a thing or ten from one sniff of Cabochard.
Cabochard eau de toilette (2019) and parfum; image by Portia Turbo.
Through the heart flowers are a bouquet and I can’t pick any of them out, not really pick them out, though I get flashes of ideas of flowers. It doesn’t matter anyway because already the base notes are coming through: sandalwood, tobacco, patchouli, leather and oakmoss are the ones I can detect but what I really smell is Cabochard. It’s the base of Cabochard that IS Cabochard to me. That long trail of golden darkness that floats mysteriously around me for hours and hours.
Do you or will you wear Cabochard regularly? For what occasions or seasons?
Portia: It’s funny. I just put my Cabochard EdT in its box to give it a rest. I keep the extrait out for sneaky swipes. Cabochard is an excellent foil against the downward spiral of depression. Something so thick, rich, tapestried and enigmatic can derail the slide brilliantly if I catch it early enough. So yes, Cabochard gets wear.
It’s also a perfect glamour scent for nights working a drag. Cabochard’s fine line between masculine and feminine in scent is a perfect match.
Old Herbaceous: I don’t wear it often, and when I do, I realize that I really have to be in the mood for Cabochard. To me, it is a fragrance best suited to fall and winter, when it appeals to me most; to my nose, it’s a bit much in the hot, humid weather we get here in the summer.
Who should/could wear Cabochard?
Old Herbaceous: I find Cabochard totally unisex – wearable by men or women without startling anyone with traditional expectations. Not surprising, given that its original creator Bernard Chant also came up with Aramis, a legendary masculine fragrance that is still a top seller, and strong feminine fragrances like Aromatics Elixir and Azurée (also Beautiful, more floral than many of his other creations).
Portia: Cabochard is truly unisex. Anyone with the chutzpah to wear such an iconic fragrance should definitely get some on. It’s a big perfume but a single spritz could even be low key enough for the workplace. Should you need armour, to make an entrance, to become an object of power then a couple of sprays more. 10 sprays should gas those nearby, dry clean your curtains and make people give you a wide berth. I’m wearing 10 sprays right now, home alone and in my perfume room/office. Bloody heaven!
Did I mention that Cabochard can be had for very little money on the discount sites? So, affordable glamour. YAY!
Have you tried Cabochard, vintage or modern? Which version, and what do you think?
Welcome to a new feature that I hope will appear monthly! Portia Turbo of Australian Perfume Junkies and I had so much fun doing “Scent Semantics” with some other fragrance bloggers in 2022 that we decided to launch TWO regular features as a new collaboration in 2023. The first, which we plan to post on the first Monday of each month, is “Notes on Notes“, in which we choose one note and write about it however the spirit moves us; our first Note was oakmoss. This second feature is “Counterpoint“, in which we ask ourselves the same handful of questions about a single fragrance and post our separate thoughts on it, on the third Monday of each month. We’re still experimenting with format, so comments on that are welcome too! This month’s Counterpoint fragrance is Chanel No. 5.
Today’s Advent scent, by independent perfumer Dawn Spencer Hurwitz, is Sugar Plums. Every year, her house DSH Perfumes releases a new, limited issue holiday fragrance. (Fear not, you can still buy the prior years’ fragrances in her holiday sample sets). Sugar Plums is number 22, this year’s holiday fragrance, also particularly apropos on December 22.
Ms. Hurwitz says that Sugar Plums was inspired by her love for the ballet “The Nutcracker”, and especially the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy. Her description:
A dancing, celebratory plum chypre fragrance with a frangipani heart bouquet, soft cardamom & ginger spices, touches of incense, and delicious gourmand elements in the drydown. How beautiful and festive! This year’s inspiration comes from a perennial holiday favorite “The Nutcracker”. I have long loved this dreamy ballet; especially the dance of the sugar plum fairies. I have to admit that I have long considered this theme (it’s been in my notebook of ideas for years) for the dancing, dreamlike quality that the concept invokes. Sugar Plums is not really all that sweet… instead it is a celebratory swirl of rich plum, delicate spices, warming incense, and a surprising combination of gourmand elements in a classical chypre structure in the drydown. This may sound like a cacophony of elements, but it comes together beautifully to make a true holiday classic.
Atlanta Ballet Nutcracker, 2014, Waltz of the Flowers with the Sugar Plum Fairy; image from Atlanta Ballet
Finally, a fragrance in which I can really smell the cardamom! Sometimes I see it listed as a note or accord and I just can’t detect it; that makes me sad because I love the smell of cardamom. Sugar Plums is a very beautiful fragrance, with just the right level of spice and incense. I think the gourmand aspects of the drydown, mentioned about, come from tonka bean; it seems to be combined with some patchouli, giving this modern chypre its base note that in a prior era might have been oakmoss.
Sugar Plums has a spiced fruit opening, which I believe is a combination of a plum accord with the cardamom. The incense slowly appears and rises; it is a soft, gentle incense. I’ll have to take Ms. Hurwitz’ word for it that the floral heart is frangipani; it’s beautiful but I don’t think I could have picked out frangipani as the floral accord. The cardamom and incense persist after the floral notes have receded, and they carry on right into the base notes, two of which I think are tonka and patchouli. This isn’t a sweet fragrance, though it has some sweet accords. My sample is the Voile de Parfum formulation, which is oil-based, and it lasts well on my skin, still very detectable several hours after application. I like it very much! Now I’m eager to try the rest of DSH Perfumes’ holiday fragrances.
My favorite version of The Nutcracker is the former production by the Atlanta Ballet, choreographed by John McFall, in which our daughters appeared as children for several years. I always loved the sets and costumes, which looked more Russian than Victorian, and the choreography was spectacular (ignore the advert for ticket sales, this production ended 4 years ago!):
Is going to The Nutcracker, or watching it on film, a tradition in your family? Do you have a favorite version?
My Guerlain Advent scent today is Néroli Outrenoir, another “citrus aromatic”, created by Thierry Wasser and Delphine Jelk and launched in 2016. It’s very, very appealing. Per Fragrantica, top notes are Petitgrain, Bergamot, Tangerine, Lemon and Grapefruit; middle notes are Tea, Neroli, Orange Blossom, Smoke and Earthy Notes; base notes are Myrrh, Vanilla, Benzoin, Ambrette (Musk Mallow) and Oakmoss.
That citrusy opening is very uplifting, a mix of greenness and, well, citrus. It reminds me a bit of Miller Harris’ Tangerine Vert. To my nose, the most prominent notes are the petitgrain, tangerine, and lemon, but I definitely smell the bergamot, and a whiff of the grapefruit. Very soon, tea is served, and it is a black tea with lemon in it. It does have a floralcy that comes from the néroli and orange blossom, but to me the strongest impression is of black tea and lemon, with a tinge of smokiness. Almost like a lapsang souchong tea, but not as smoky or tarry.
This scent is like chiaroscuro, the painting technique that famously contrasts light and dark, the leading examples being the paintings of the great Caravaggio. It starts out very bright and sunny, with all the citrus notes in the opening. Then the brightness dims a bit, and softens and blurs, with the arrival of accords of tea and flowers. As it dries down, it gets gradually darker but also warmer, with the base notes especially of benzoin, ambrette and oakmoss. Myrrh and vanilla accords are present, but to a lesser degree.
Neroli Outrenoir has decent longevity on my skin, though nothing like Épices Volèes. It’s also a different kind of citrus/tea fragrance, one with more depth. I think it’s totally unisex and it would smell wonderful in warm weather, especially warm summer evenings. It’s fresh enough for hot weather but sophisticated enough for evening wear.
Very nice! Do you have any fragrances that contrast light and dark this way?
Nativity with St. Francis and St. Lawrence, by Caravaggio; image from Photo Scala
Serenity Now Scents and Sensibilities 