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, February 2, and it is Groundhog Day here in the US. Apparently, groundhog “Punxsutawney Phil” did not see his shadow this morning, which is supposed to predict an early spring. Unfortunately, Phil and his predecessors have been right less than 40% of the time over decades, but I’m choosing to believe. I’m ready to start pruning roses for spring and summer blooms! I’ll be uncovering the rest of my plants this weekend, having already removed the frost covers from many in the past week. And yes, I’ve checked the actual weather forecast; we may get down to 32 degrees Fahrenheit next week, but that seems to be the worst of it.
I try to grow mostly fragrant plants in my garden when I have the option. Most of my roses are varieties that have been bred for good fragrance. I also have some beautiful lavender (mostly “Phenomenal”, which was the only kind that survived the hard freeze we had in December 2022). Sage, basil, thyme, oregano are fragrant, of course. A new favorite geranium, which I saved by moving indoors as well as taking cuttings, is “Attar of Roses” and yes, when you press its leaves, it smells exactly like a rose! Then we have gardenias, hardy jasmine, evergreen clematis, magnolia trees. Right now, the most fragrant plant in my garden is mahonia, whose yellow flowers smell like a mix of gardenia and lily of the valley. I don’t recall ever seeing mahonias until we moved to the Southeast and bought an old house with an old garden that had some, and now it’s a favorite plant, ungainly as it may look. Its scent reminds me of Natalie, a gardenia-centric fragrance created in memory of the late actress Natalie Wood.
Mahonia in bloom, winter; image from UT Gardens.
Do you garden? If yes, do you deliberately seek out fragrant plants? Or do you have a favorite fragrance that evokes a particular plant, floral or not?
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 26, and we’ve had a nice break from cold weather by going to visit friends in Florida. Thankfully, the weather here warmed up while we were gone, and it looks as if my plants have survived unscathed. Whew!
I had a massage this week, with aromatherapy, and the fragrance was described as “earthy lavender.” It was very nice, soothing without any sharpness. I should have asked for details but I was so relaxed at the end of the massage that I forgot.
It was fascinating to see how different and tropical the native plants are in Florida. Very fragrant, too. When you think of the tropics, what fragrances come to mind?
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 19, and baby, it’s cold outside! Earlier this week, our nighttime temperatures dropped as low as 13 degrees Fahrenheit, which is very unusual in our area (USA Zone 8a, for you gardeners out there). Yesterday saw temperatures up as high as 50 degrees, but another cold front is moving in and we’ll be back down in the teens tonight. Thankfully, I’ve now done as much as possible to protect my garden and plants in pots, which I got done before the last cold snap, so let’s hope we get less damage than last year, when a hard freeze killed or damaged several plants.
Thank you all for last week’s suggestions as to fragrances for this time of year and climate! I’ve added another note that works for me right now: carnation. It is floral but also spicy, so it feels warm to me. Today’s SOTD will be Caron’s Bellodgia, a classic, in its cologne version. I also have an audiology appointment, so I don’t want to wear anything too overwhelming, out of consideration for the staff!
Do you have any favorite carnation-focused fragrances?
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 12, and baby, it’s cold outside! Update: it is now Saturday, January 13 — my posting got delayed! I’ve been running around my garden adding mulch like mad and planning which potted plants we can move into our screened porch before temperatures dip below 20 degrees Fahrenheit. Last Christmas, we had a similar hard freeze, and I lost a number of plants. So I’m determined to do better protecting them this year!
I feel as if I’m betwixt and between, scentwise. Christmas is definitely over, so the warm, spicy scents that I enjoy during the holiday don’t really fit right now; and we are still quite far from spring, so I haven’t brought out greens and florals yet. I know it’s not mandatory to match one’s fragrance to the season, but the seasons do affect what appeals to me. And right now, I’m having trouble deciding! What are your fragrance choices for a chilly January?
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 5, the first Friday of 2024, and it is Twelfth Night!
Ross Valley Players poster, 2018
Twelfth Night is traditionally the night before Epiphany, the day the Christian church celebrates as the time when the Magi, or Three Kings, arrived in Bethlehem to see the newborn Jesus. The tradition holds that they brought gifts of frankincense, gold, and myrrh.
The Three Magi, following the star of Bethlehem.
I hope you’ve all had a wonderful holiday season, no matter what you celebrate. Have you discovered or received any new fragrances? I’ve been wearing Papillon Perfumery’s Bengale Rouge a lot as the weather has gotten colder; it is just lovely, especially in the drydown, and very cozy.
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, December 22, and the winter solstice has arrived! In this hemisphere, the days will slowly get longer and the light will get stronger. To be honest, I don’t feel the dark days of winter as I used to when I lived in New England, when it would be truly dark by 4 pm in December. Since we’re at the western edge of the Eastern Time Zone in the US, and also in the South, it still doesn’t get dark until after 5 pm here. The real cause for celebration in our house is that our new refrigerator is now in place — hurray! A lovely countertop “fabricator” was able to come and cut just enough from the countertop to squeeze it in between the cabinets. It’s a great improvement and a much better fit than the old one.
As Christmas is only a few days away, are you planning to give any fragrance gifts this year? I have the back-up bottle of Ginger Biscuit for our older daughter, and I finally thought of something for our second daughter. She loves Miss Dior Blooming Bouquet and isn’t looking to branch out, but she has a tendency to “save” Blooming Bouquet for dressier occasions. So I’ll give her a gift set of Philosophy’s Amazing Grace Ballet Rose, which share some of Blooming Bouquet’s notes and smells similar but isn’t as expensive, so she can feel free to wear it often. I hope she likes it! Our son is well-supplied with the Chanel Eau Paris-Edimbourg, since he got some for his birthday, so I won’t seek out another fragrance for him.
I’m late posting my contribution to December’s “Notes on Notes”, but do read what Portia has written about frankincense, traditionally said to have been one of the gifts the Three Kings brought to the newborn Jesus, and I’ll add my Note after Christmas. Right now, in the Christmas story, the Magi are still en route, following the Star, not knowing exactly where it will lead them or what they will find. To all who celebrate Christmas, I wish you a very happy one.
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, December 15, and yes — I forgot to post last Friday. So sorry! Well, the refrigerator saga continues — the new one got delivered this morning, and it turns out it is 1/2 inch too wide for the space where the old one was, despite my multiple attempts at measuring. However, we think we can deal with it by hiring someone to adjust the kitchen counter on one side, so we’re keeping the new fridge. Right now, it’s sitting in the middle of our kitchen floor, plugged in and running, but empty until we can move it into place. Luckily, our plan was to keep the old one anyway and move it downstairs, so we still have a full-sized, functioning refrigerator. Never a dull moment around here!
We’re very happy that our son is home for his university holiday break, and he has a job lined up for post-graduation! We’re all happy to see the end of this difficult semester for him, and end on such a positive note. Christmas preparations are in full swing, and the tree is up and decorated. If you celebrate Christmas, how are your preparations going? If you celebrate Hanukkah, which ends tonight, I hope you had a blessed and peaceful holiday.
What smells do you most associate with the winter holidays? For me, it has to be the scent of evergreens. Pine, cedar, balsam — I love them all.
Metropolitan Museum of Art Christmas Tree and Creche
This is the last month of Portia’s and my collaboration, so the last “Counterpoint” unless I decide to resume in January. For December, we agreed to write about Jo Malone’s Ginger Biscuit, first launched in 2013 as part of a limited edition collection called “Sugar and Spice.” The perfumer who created it was Christine Nagel. It was released again this year as a holiday special release, just in time for me to grab some for my daughter’s birthday. Jo Malone’s Global Head of Fragrance, Céline Roux, describes its creation:
“Ginger Biscuit is not sugary sweet at all. If it was, it just wouldn’t be wearable. We have a lot of creamy wood notes in the formulation; you need the elegance of the wood to make it wearable. There’s also some natural ginger, which brings a zingy freshness and balances out the sweetness, and vanilla absolute. When you create scents like this, you need the best quality vanilla so that it is not candy sweet. So, what you get instead is a mouth-watering gourmand.”
1. How did you first encounter Jo Malone Ginger Biscuit, and what was your first impression?
Old Herbaceous: Ginger Biscuit was one of the small 9 ml bottles that came in a holiday fragrance sampler set from Jo Malone several years ago (basically the same set is now available again as a holiday coffret, with some really nice scents). I tried it and liked it, but I liked all the fragrances in the collection! Then my daughters asked to do a fragrance-sniffing session over Christmas a couple of years ago, and my oldest absolutely fell in love with Ginger Biscuit. Of course it had been a limited edition and was discontinued for the time being, available online only for exorbitant prices. I didn’t realize just how much she loved it until she told me of her many searches for a dupe or something that might come close. She rarely falls for a fragrance so hard, so I kept looking myself and hoping to find a stray bottle for her.
Well, lo and behold, someone commented on a Facebook group for fragrance fans, back in October, that they had seen Ginger Biscuit briefly listed on the Saks Fifth Avenue website, though it had quickly vanished. This raised the hope among many perfumistas that it was due to be re-released for the holidays. My city has a Saks Fifth Avenue store and it’s not far from where we live, so I made a rare trip to the mall to ask a sales associate for any information. The lovely woman who helped me confirmed that it would be a holiday release, and said she thought it would arrive at the start of November. I also stopped by Nordstrom, and another lovely sales associate told me the same thing. Both of them took my name and phone number. Just a few days later, the SA from Saks called me and said she had just gotten in a few bottles and would hold one for me. Shortly after that, the SA from Nordstrom made the same call. And so, dear readers, that is how I ended up with not one but two bottles of Ginger Biscuit. We gave one to our daughter in November for her birthday, and she was thrilled. Imagine her surprise when the second bottle appears under the Christmas tree! She’ll be set for life, or at least for several years.
Portia: I’d never heard of Jo Malone Ginger Biscuit before Old Herbaceous told me about it and how excited she and other perfumistas have been about its re-release for Christmas 2023. TBH Jo Malone perfumes just aren’t on my radar. Jin wears the woody number one and I had a couple of bath oils, Red Roses and Blue Agave. They were nice but the perfumes I’ve tried have all been totally underwhelming.
So it was with mild trepidation that I ventured into town and grabbed a small decant from the tester bottle (all samples had gone in the first few days of arrival, the SA was really lovely and even did the sample into my own little decant).
My first impression was. OH! it really is what is says on the bottle. A delightful waft of freshly opened iced gingerbread man wafted out as the SA was decanting. I was very taken but off to another perfume event so couldn’t douse myself.
2. How would you describe the development of Jo Malone Ginger Biscuit?
Portia: HA! I can’t help but smile like a fool when I spritz Ginger Biscuit. It’s just so freaking lifelike. Photo realism in fragrance. Ginger Biscuit smells like a ginger biscuit, or what is much closer to my heart an iced gingerbread man from Pizza Hut. I smell my wafting gorgeousness and am transported back 45 years and more to family events. We had a really lovely one in the next suburb and went for every occasion. The staff knew us, it was wheelchair accessible for Dad, there were banquettes that Mum and I loved to sit in with a chair for Jodie (my sister) and space for Dad. They had all you can eat salad and soda. At the end of every meal as we left the staff would give us kids an iced gingerbread man. THIS IS THE SMELL.
As we move from the top into the heart the ginger remains but less intense. Here the whole fragrance becomes a soft, chewy caramel that’s heavy on the vanilla.
It gets more and more vanilla essence as it dries down and is the softest, merest wash of gorgeous gourmand for hours and hours and hours.
Old Herbaceous: Right out of the bottle, Ginger Biscuit smells to me like a true gingersnap, spicy, sweet, and warm. It smells like a cookie or gingerbread that was made with real ginger and spices instead of artificial flavoring. I don’t usually gravitate to gourmand fragrances, as I find many to be too sweet and heavy for my taste, but Ginger Biscuit stays light and spicy. It is sweet, and there is a lovely vanilla that pervades the whole development from start to finish. A dominant note is said to be caramel, but I smell brown sugar more than caramel. The cinnamon and nutmeg bring depth to the sweetness of the vanilla and brown sugar, just as they do in real baking.
The vanilla persists even after the spiciness fades into the background. I do like a good vanilla, and that is how Ginger Biscuit ends up on my skin. It smells wonderful on my daughter; I enjoy it more on her than on myself, just because of her obvious delight in it. Smelling this light, sweet vanilla fragrance on her skin reminds me of how sweet she and her siblings smelled as babies, a very happy memory.
3. Do you or will you wear Jo Malone Ginger Biscuit regularly? For what occasions or seasons?
Old Herbaceous: Ginger Biscuit is absolutely perfect for the winter holiday season and beyond. Given the associations with gingerbread, I would wear it most in autumn and winter. It would be lovely to wear to a workplace during the holidays, as it isn’t overpowering. If you do wear it to work, you should be prepared to have people follow you trying to figure out what smells so nice!
That said, I don’t see myself wearing it very often, and now it will be a signature scent of my daughter’s, so that makes it even less likely that I would wear it often myself. But I might get in the habit of pulling out my small bottle at Christmas every year! It would be the perfect fragrance for Christmas morning breakfast, when our family tradition is to make cinnamon rolls.
Portia: Honestly? Though Jo Malone Ginger Biscuit is very nice, has excellent memories and smells good I just can’t imagine myself wanting to smell like this. I’ll definitely use up this decant over the silly season but am much more comfortable in Nuit Noel and Exultat for my hit of Holy. Maybe also because in Australia we are usually at around 35C/95f by 10am and thinking more about swimming pools and beaches than roaring fires.
4. Who should/could wear Jo Malone Ginger Biscuit?
Portia: Anyone who wants to smell like they’ve just been baking gingerbread or who loves the idea of smelling utterly edible. Even though I’m not putting my hand up for a bottle I really can imagine Jo Malone Ginger Biscuit smelling wonderful on both the major sexes and anything in between. It would be so nice to hug people over the holiday season who smell of it and I can imagine in the cold northern hemisphere that many compliments and questions about this beautiful scent would come your way.
Imagine on Christmas morning while hugging in thanks for gifts, smelling so divine! It would be the cherry on top of the magic.
Old Herbaceous: This could be happily worn by anyone, of any persuasion. It is as non-gender-specific as baking is. It’s a cozy scent, so anyone who wants to smell warm and cuddly should give it a try. It might attract some cuddles! I know many perfumistas were ecstatic that it has been re-released this year, and I can see why. Wouldn’t it be nice if Jo Malone would release it for every holiday season, as Clinique used to do with Wrappings?
Have you fallen for this or any other limited holiday release fragrance?
Rabbit rabbit! 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, December 1, and I managed to avoid making any fragrance purchases in the weeklong “Black Friday” sales that were swamping my inbox! I’m patting myself on the back because some were quite tempting. Undina’s Saturday Question last weekend was whether one had bought any fragrance items during the sales, or planned to, which elicited some confessions, lol. I used the sales to get ahead on some Christmas shopping for family members and to buy a new refrigerator.
I feel very productive this week: I’ve gotten ahead on some volunteer work, I went to three workout classes at our local YMCA, and I’ve gotten quite a few plants and bulbs planted, including moving an entire climbing rose. I hope all this activity will help me drop the pounds I gained over Thanksgiving, just in time for Christmas! Also, our son who will graduate this spring got a terrific job offer, which he has accepted and which is located in our city, so he’ll be close by. It’s a happy close to the very tough semester he’s had this fall. We’re very proud of his patience and resilience!
Here it is, December 1, and I haven’t decided whether or not I’ll do another “Scented Advent” series this year. I think if I do, it won’t be every day, because I’ve got a lot of tasks to get done. These include clearing out the lower level of our house so our oldest daughter can use it as an apartment while she applies to graduate school and saves on rent with the goal of buying housing sooner. I do have so many samples and decants that I have plenty of material with which to generate content. Maybe I’ll just do it on Sundays … stay tuned. And come back on Monday for another Portia/OH collaboration!
We put up our tree last weekend and it smells wonderful. We still get a real tree, though my DH wants to revisit the issue of an artificial tree. Maybe for next year … So many holiday preparations going on all around us! Hanukkah starts next week and this Sunday is the first official Sunday of Advent. I need to get out my Advent wreath candles and buy the actual wreath. That is a Christmas tradition I do love.
Are you getting ready for any particular holiday or holiday traditions?
Advent wreath with candles, including Gaudete pink candle
Serenity Now Scents and Sensibilities 