Brocard

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!