holiday fragrance

Counterpoint: Ginger Biscuit
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Counterpoint: Ginger Biscuit

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?

Bottle of Ginger Biscuit fragrance by Jo Malone
Jo Malone holiday release Ginger Biscuit
Scented Advent, December 22
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Scented Advent, December 22

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.

DSH Perfumes and Now Smell This
The Nutcracker ballet, Atlanta Ballet
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?

Scented Advent, December 5
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Scented Advent, December 5

Mona di Orio’s Bohea Bohème is today’s Advent calendar scent. As soon as I dabbed it on my wrist, I thought, “Mmm, incense?”. It’s not really an incense scent, but it has many of the facets that make up a good incense, such as resins, fragrant woods, spices. It is built around a tea accord that evokes Bohea oolong tea from China, which is smoked with pinewood; a few floral notes are added (iris, osmanthus, geranium). The complete notes list on Fragrantica is: bergamot, cardamom, Florentine iris, chamomile, balsam fir, boxwood, geranium, black tea, juniper, smoke, oak, sandalwood, beeswax, bay leaf, benzoin, vanilla absolute, poplar buds.

That last one is unfamiliar to me; it is said to bring “a peculiar balsamic green and bitter-sweet scent” to a fragrance. It turns out, though, that I’ve encountered it before, in Tom Ford’s Vert des Bois, which was one of his quartet of green fragrances launched in 2016. Bohea Bohème was also launched in 2016, but was created by a different perfumer, Fredrik Dalman, while the perfumer who created Vert des Bois is Olivier Gillotin. Cafleurebon’s interview with Fredrik, linked above, is well worth reading; he is Swedish, though traditionally trained in France, and he prizes the scent of cardamom, a common ingredient in spiced Swedish recipes (I myself make an excellent Glögg, a Swedish mulled wine, with cardamom, using a recipe that was handed down through the family of a Scandinavian friend). The interview also includes his hilarious story of dressing up as Santa for the flagship store of L’Artisan Parfumeur, the company where he was apprenticed to master perfumer Bertrand Duchaufour. He went back upstairs to the lab on his break to continue working on a formula before returning to Santa duties, and was found there by his startled mentor.

Perfumer Fredrik Dalman dressed as Santa, at his perfume organ
Fredrik Dalman as Santa; image from cafleurebon.com.

I am loving Bohea Bohème! It is masterfully blended, so that the floral notes emerge slowly as the spicier opening fades. The notes list on the brand website is shorter than the one on Fragrantica: Black tea oil, Florentine Iris, Blue Chamomile, Poplar Bud Absolute, Fir Balsam Fraction, Smoked Juniper, Oakwood absolute, Beeswax Absolute. I love spices in fragrance, but there are some I can only take in very limited quantities (cinnamon and cloves, I’m looking at you!). Bohea Bohème is perfectly spiced, and it feels to me like a perfect holiday fragrance, with its combination of cardamom, balsam, scented wood, and a smoke as gentle as candlelight. Truly, as the website says, it is a “luxurious woody fragrance with a balsamic vibrato, unconventional and seductive.”

Do you have any favorites from Mona di Orio? Also, don’t forget to join me and my collaborators tomorrow for “Scent Semantics“! We have a particularly nice holiday word and reflections for you.

Bottle of Bohea Boheme perfume from Mona di Orio
Bohea Bohème, by Mona di Orio; image from monadiorio.com.

Perfume Chat Room, December 25
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Perfume Chat Room, December 25

Merry Christmas, and 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 25, and it is Christmas Day! Happy Christmas to all who celebrate it! This year, it is a strange holiday, with church services online, many fewer gatherings, less Christmas shopping, etc. Not to mention the ongoing distractions here in the US from our crazy-making election year, which seems never to end. But, as “How The Grinch Stole Christmas” reminds us, “Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before. ‘Maybe Christmas,’ he thought, ‘doesn’t come from a store. Maybe Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.’” And so it does.

At Christmas 2020, my family is so thankful for our many blessings. As some of you readers know, I occasionally do a post on “What Went Well” which is a mindfulness and gratitude exercise also called “Three Blessings.” The idea is that one lists a number of things that went well, or turned out to be blessings, in a given period of time. So here are some of mine, for 2020:

  • Good health for all of us, despite one daughter having had COVID 19 this fall (thankfully, she recovered quickly);
  • An effective COVID 19 vaccine, which was given this week to my beloved father-in-law (our sole remaining parent/grandparent) at his assisted living facility;
  • Continued employment for 3 out of the 4 working adults in our family, and an upcoming callback interview for the 4th in the New Year;
  • A roof over our heads in a home we love, in spite of unexpected plumbing repairs and gaping holes in plaster ceilings beneath dismantled bathrooms (!);
  • The ability to afford the repairs;
  • Our loving family that has been able to live together amicably, back together under said roof, during this pandemic;
  • The opportunity and ability to give gifts to each other and to various charities in these troubled times.

What about you, what are the blessings that come to your mind? Or what went well for you recently? And of course, since I mostly write here about fragrance, what fragrance are you wearing for the holidays? I’m currently in Bond No. 9’s I Love New York For Holidays. I expect to try out some of Jo Malone’s Christmas Cologne Sampler later today!