Brocard

Perfume Chat Room, October 4
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Perfume Chat Room, October 4

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, October 4, and it has been an eventful week! Not so much personally, but since last Friday, my part of the US has seen untold, unimaginable damage from flooding and winds arising from Hurricane Helene. Western North Carolina, a forested, mountainous region with many rivers and creeks, saw floods that were the worst on record, even including a massive, historic flood in 1916. My own region got the most rainfall in 48 hours that it has had since the 1880s. Rescues and repairs are ongoing; everyone from the federal government agencies to local volunteers, and every group you can imagine in between, has offered resources and support. My favorite volunteer group to date is the troupe of pack mules and their keepers, who were trucked to a staging location and are packing supplies up the mountain roads that vehicles still can’t travel.

Mountain Mule Packer Ranch to the rescue!

On a lighter note, this week I’ve been trying out another of my bargain beauty purchases from London: Brocard’s Color Feeling Purple. Wow! This one’s a real keeper, and what a bargain at 15 pounds! It is a sweet violet fragrance with a blackberry accord that mingles beautifully with the powdery vibe of violet and iris. The perfumer is Dominique Moellhausen, whose family owns a Milan-based company that has been in the fragrance industry for over 50 years, both creating fragrances and selling raw materials and aromachemicals.

The notes listed on Fragrantica for Color Feeling Purple are: violet, blackberry, iris, heliotrope, oakmoss, cedar, amber, vetiver, orchid. It opens with a blast of violet and blackberry, and as it dries down it gets warmer and more powdery. I really like the blackberry note combined with violet. As the scent dries down, the violet remains dominant but the fruity blackberry note is slowly replaced by powdery iris and heliotrope. The drydown is warmed by the notes of amber, vetiver, and oakmoss; I don’t really smell cedar, and I never know what perfumers mean when they say there’s a note of “orchid”, since many orchids don’t have a distinctive scent and those that do, mostly smell to me like vanilla (vanilla comes from an orchid plant). Bloom Perfumery, where I bought this, describes the scent on its website as “holding sugared violets candy with leather gloves.” I’m not perceiving leather very much at all, but the longer it dries down on my skin, the more plausible that becomes. Color Feeling Purple has a more complex, interesting progression than one might expect from an inexpensive fragrance.

What a pleasant surprise! Have you tried any fragrances lately that surprised you?

Brocard’s Color Feeling Purple; image from Bloom Perfumery
Perfume Chat Room, September 27
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Perfume Chat Room, September 27

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?

Perfume Chat Room, February 28
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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). Continue reading →

Scent Sample Sunday: Brocard’s Mechta
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Scent Sample Sunday: Brocard’s Mechta

When I last stayed in London, I was able to visit the wonderful Bloom perfumery, near Covent Garden. I highly recommend a visit! They carry an amazing range of niche perfumes and the staff is remarkably friendly, helpful, and knowledgeable. I spent a LOT of time there and emerged with a few discovery sets, including a set of three floral fragrances from Brocard, the revived Russian perfume house. It holds three of the series “Gardens of Temptation”, 15 ml each. This set includes: Mechta, Elegantnost, and Luybov.

Brocard Gardens of Temptation set 1 Inspiration

Brocard Gardens of Temptation set “Inspiration”

The set contains three small, simple flacons, not the funky bottles pictured above, which are the full-size bottles.

Mechta is described on Bloom’s website as a “spicy mimosa”. Its composition is described as: top notes are violet, hyacinth, and grass; middle notes are mimosa, linden blossom, magnolia, and clover; base notes are musk, honey, and cedar.

On my skin, Mechta opens as a bright, grassy violet; no hyacinth that I can detect. One thing I enjoy about this opening is the absence of citrus, which makes it a little different. I do love a good citrus opening, but I like this scent’s different top notes. As it dries down, the mimosa emerges, and it is a soft, pretty, yellow mimosa.  In the process of reading for this post, I discovered a wonderful Russian fragrance blog (thank you, Google Translate!) called Parfumistika, and its review of Brocard’s Gardens of Temptation, which includes the brand’s own description:

… drops of morning dew glistening on the grass and unusual green bitterness of hyacinth. The sun rises, coolness recedes, and the bright, joyful smells of linden-colored, mimosa, magnolia and acacia are revealed in all their glory. A firework of flowers gradually turns into a warm, honey-musky trail.

My experience of Mechta is more soft than bright, but very pleasant. If you don’t care for intensely green scents, fear not — the only green I detect is the grassy opening, which gives way to the mimosa pretty early. I would describe Mechta as a soft, warm, yellow, light floral. It’s very pretty, and very affordable if you can find it. I look forward to trying more of Brocard’s fragrances!