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 25, and we’re back from our short beach trip, which was lovely! I’m enjoying another sample I got from the Jo Loves boutique in London in September: Jo by Jo Loves. Fragrantica classifies it as a “citrus aromatic”, which seems about right. Notes include grapefruit, lime, bitter orange, black pepper, vetiver, mint, guiac wood, cedar, and hedione. I happen to like a grapefruit note, though I know some do not, which is good because that is the strong opening accord. I like the way the citrus notes engage with each other, with lime and bitter orange playing hide and seek with the grapefruit. As it dries down, I smell more of the vetiver and mint, which bring an attractive green tinge to the composition. Basically, Jo by Jo Loves smells to me like a spicy, woody grapefruit! It is wholly unisex, in my view, and I think many men would enjoy it as a fresh cologne that doesn’t smell like everyone else’s. I’ll have to ask my son what he thinks!
Next week is Halloween in the US, but many of the parties celebrating Halloween will take place this weekend, when all the young adults can costume themselves, drink, and generally shed their inhibitions. I’ll be staying home, thank you! I do love the actual night of Halloween when the children come trick-or-treating. Our neighborhood goes all out for Halloween; we block off a couple of streets to cars, and it’s a very safe locale, so families from other parts of the city often come to walk around and ring doorbells.
Do you have any scents you associate with Halloween? I’ve enjoyed some of the offerings of Solstice Scents, which can be very spooky, such as their Riverside Hayride. Happy Halloween, everyone!
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 11, and I’m still working my way through samples I got in London during our recent trip! Today I am enjoying Jo Loves‘ Golden Gardenia. It’s very intriguing, as it is a white floral, somewhat sweet and narcotic, but it has notes of suede, cardamom, incense, and elemi that spice it up in a nice balance with the white floral vibe. White florals aren’t usually a favorite category of mine, much as I love floral scents generally, as they often smell overpowering to me. And I think Golden Gardenia could smell overpowering if applied with a heavier hand than mine. That said, I’m really appreciating its lovely blend, especially as the gardenia opening doesn’t hang around too long. It doesn’t disappear completely, but it recedes as the spices and suede come forward. Very nice! I was also glad to find out that Jo Loves now has a US website and warehouse, so American customers can easily order from them.
Jo Loves’ Golden Gardenia
My return visit to the Jo Loves boutique on Elizabeth Street was a happy one, not least because I love Elizabeth Street. It is also home to legendary niche perfume boutique Les Senteurs, which any perfumista visiting London should not miss. Their staff are very nice and knowledgeable, and will happily help one try a number of the unusual fragrances they carry (for instance, Cloon Keen and Papillon creations, for which they are the only UK stockists). There is also an extremely pretty tea shop up the block, Peggy Porschen, where I fortified myself (again) during a day of perfume tourism.
Les Senteurs, Elizabeth Street
Peggy Porschen tea shop, Elizabeth Street
I can’t believe it has been a few weeks now since we returned from London, but those have been eventful weeks in the US, with Hurricanes Helene and Milton following each other in quick succession, wreaking havoc in the Southeast. We were lucky to have very little impact here from Milton’s visit a week ago, and Helene’s before that, but western North Carolina, western and central Florida, the northeast of Georgia, and parts of South Carolina were badly affected and declared to be disaster areas. It will take years for some areas to recover, which is heartbreaking.
My lovely hubby is away again for work, but we plan to take a short trip to the South Carolina coast next week, one of our favorite spots for over thirty years. Luckily, that particular area is unscathed; let’s hope it remains so!
Do you have any trips planned for this fall, big or small? Any new fragrances to report?
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!
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 13, and I wish you all the best of good luck today! I’ve never really understood why Friday the 13th is supposed to be unlucky, but here we are. I’m happy to share the recent announcement below of an online (Zoom) Bois de Jasmin class with Victoria and Luca Turin. I’m sure this will be most interesting, and it’s for a good cause. I will not be taking part, because I’ll be on my way to London! I have a full week planned of cultural outings, which will include seeing the cinema release of the National Theatre production of “Prima Facie” with Jody Comer, which I’ve been dying to see and which hasn’t been announced for any showings near me in the US. And yes, there will be at least one perfume-related outing — a trip to Les Senteurs with my friend who lives in London, at her request. And since we’ll be so close by, a stop at Jo Loves too! Stay tuned for any more additions to the list …
Jo Loves boutique
Since I’m currently in Ukraine, I see the dire need in my local community for the most basic things. While there are plenty of charities and government-level programs, the only way to ensure that money goes to the people in need is to locate those communities and help them directly. I’ve been doing this ever since my arrival to Ukraine two weeks ago.
Raising money for local school to supply their bomb shelters with water.
Purchasing art supplies for the free-of-charge art studios that rehabilitate children suffering from post-traumatic shock.
Supporting animal shelters run by the individuals I know.
Working with local outreach programs to respond to the lonely elderly and their needs.
Supporting local cultural preservation projects and traditional crafts. I will share more information about these and other projects as I continue my work.
Full disclosure: 50% of the funds raised will be donated to these charitable initiatives. The rest will cover our time and my Belgian tax obligations.
The session will take place online via Zoom and will last for 1 hour. If you have questions for me and Luca, you can email them beforehand. You’ll receive full instructions before the start of the class. No recordings will be made available for these sessions. Thank you for your understanding.
Location: Zoom Class duration: 1 hour September 14, Saturday, 18:00-19:00 CET (12:00-13:00 EST) 50€ Book Now
For more information on Bois de Jasmin classes and other course offers, please visit the Perfume Classes page.
Do you have any special plans for this weekend, fragrant or otherwise?
Welcome to this month’s installment of “Notes on Notes”, a monthly collaboration between this blog and Australian Perfume Junkies! Every month, we pick one fragrance note and write about it, posting on the first Monday of the month — fragrances we like that feature it, what we like or don’t like about it, anything else we know about it, whatever takes our fancy. For February, the note is vetiver.
Welcome to this next installment of Scent Semantics! This month’s word, supplied by yours truly, is “vernal”, which means “in, of, or appropriate to spring.” Happy April!
As regular readers know, I love to garden and grow flowers, so spring is a marvelous season for me. I also love Easter, and my husband and I were married many Aprils ago, so I have plenty of happy associations with it. For my “vernal” fragrance post, I have chosen Jo Loves’ No. 42 The Flower Shop.
What a happy fragrance it is! At first spray, it positively bursts with zingy green notes, behind which lurks a fruity sweetness and light spring florals. Those would be the top notes of green leaves, mandarin orange, and peony. As it develops, the floral notes get stronger and take center stage: lily-of-the-valley, freesia, narcissus, and jasmine. It really does smell like an actual florist’s shop, with the afore-mentioned flowers waiting in buckets of water to be chosen and gathered into bouquets. If I did as some perfumistas do, and put my fragrance into a refrigerator to chill, No. 42 The Flower Shop would smell even more exactly like the walk-in fridges professional florists fill with their wares.
I especially enjoy the combination of green leaves and lily-of-the valley (muguet), one of my favorite flowers (the other two being daffodils and roses). The green notes and citrus accord balance the muguet beautifully. Most of the time when I wear No. 42, it is muguet that dominates, but sometimes the freesia comes forward more strongly. The name, No. 42 The Flower Shop, refers to the actual flower shop on Elizabeth Street where the young Jo Malone worked as a teenager:
“As a sixteen-year-old, I worked as a florist in Elizabeth Street and loved the moment when early each morning the scent of fresh flowers filled the room. This fragrance celebrates that magical memory.”
Jo Loves’ London boutique is actually located at No. 42 Elizabeth Street, and I have visited it, which I highly recommend. Elizabeth Street itself is absolutely charming, with many lovely shops and flowers bursting out everywhere (especially during the Chelsea Flower Show, when the stores compete to display the most lavish floral decorations). The Jo Loves boutique is a peaceful haven of white with touches of the same bright red that graces its packaging.
The photo below shows its Chelsea Flower Show decorations in 2019, when I last visited.
Jo Loves boutique, Elizabeth Street, London, May 2019.
Jo Loves boutique
As the fragrance No. 42 dries down, it becomes slightly warmer and softer, but the green notes persist throughout, and one of the base notes is iris, which I usually think of as a “cool” scent. The other base notes are white musk, moss, and patchouli. I can barely smell the patchouli, which is fine; I think it adds a suitable earthiness to the drydown of No. 42, but I prefer that it not dominate a fragrance.
This is the perfect month for wearing it, because my own garden is positively bursting with flowers! In bloom right now: lilies of the valley; pink camellias; weeping peach trees; a weeping cherry tree; purple redbuds; white dogwoods; Lenten roses (hellebores) of all hues of white, pink, and purple; daffodils; evergreen clematis; forsythia; Lady Banks rose; pansies; rosemary; spring starflowers; summer snowflakes; wild trilliums; and above all else, pink azaleas. We have dozens of them, planted over decades by longtime former owners who were also enthusiastic gardeners. Soon to come: iris, dwarf lilacs, David Austin roses, white foxgloves, daisies, white phlox, magnolias. Later in the summer, we will enjoy crape myrtles and hydrangeas, and, one hopes, vegetables and herbs from my raised beds. Lest it sound as if we have acres of gardens, I should note that several of these plants grow in pots and other containers; our lot is one third of an acre and it also holds a house!
Le Jardin de Old Herbaceous
What do you think of when you read the word “vernal”? Many people are most familiar with the word when it is used in conjunction with the spring, or vernal, equinox. The equinox is one of two moments in the year when the sun is exactly above the equator, and day and night are of equal length. For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, it takes place in March and marks the start of astronomical spring. For others like Portia, in the Southern Hemisphere, the March equinox marks the start of autumn and is the opposite of “vernal.”
Now that I’ve turned ourselves thoroughly topsy-turvy, please make sure to read the other Scent Semantics bloggers’ thoughts on “vernal.” The link to all of them is in the caption below! And do share your own thoughts in the comments, here and on their blogs.
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 5, and here in the US we are looking forward to the Superbowl football championship and we are also celebrating Black History Month. American politics continue to be turbulent, but I won’t dwell on that although I do pay close attention. Valentine’s Day is on the horizon, and a favorite independent retailer of high-end fragrances, Twisted Lily, has a sale this weekend, 14% off on a select collection of fragrances with the code VDAY14. Do any of you know of any other tempting sales?
Do you have a fragrance you particularly like to wear on Valentine’s Day or other romantic occasions? Like many people, I associate roses with Valentine’s Day and romance, so I think I will wear Jo Loves’ Rose Petal 25. As regular readers here know, I have many rose fragrances from which to choose! Do you have any special plans for Valentine’s Day, in this constrained environment?
I have been eagerly awaiting the US launch of Zara’s collection of fragrances, Emotions, in collaboration with perfumer Jo Malone. I love some of her fragrances under her own brand, Jo Loves, so I was curious to see what she came up with for Zara, well-known as a destination for budget-conscious shoppers. Zara has released many, many fragrances under its own name, some created by famous perfumers, such as Vibrant Leather, created by Jerome Epinette. The Emotions collection launched in Europe in late 2019, but it took another year to become available in the USA. Luckily, it arrived in time for the holidays, and I treated myself and one of my daughters each to the sample/discovery set. It costs $25.90.
The discovery set is a nice size: eight long, narrow vials of eau de parfum, each holding 4 ml of a different fragrance. The collection consists of: Amalfi Sunray, Bohemian Bluebells, Ebony Wood, Fleur de Patchouli, Fleur d’Oranger, Tubereuse Noir, Vetiver Pamplemousse, Waterlily Tea Dress. The vials are “dabbers”, not sprays. Each fragrance lists only three notes, and I think they would be ideal for layering, with each other or with other fragrances. In fact, the Zara website sells “layering sets” with various combinations of the collection’s fragrances, with one scent in a 15 ml “paintbrush” format and two more in 10 ml sprays. The sets offer some ideas for layering which I plan to try with my discovery set.
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 18, and it is exactly one week before Christmas Day, as well as the last day of Hanukkah. What fragrant gifts do you expect to give, or hope to get? I have a few ideas: for instance, IKEA still has in stock its line of scented candles from its collaboration with Byredo’s Ben Gorham. I bought some when they were first in stores, and they’re very appealing: nice scents in pretty ceramic jars with matching lids. Everyone in my family likes scented candles, so they’ll get some of those. Zara has finally brought its “Zara Emotions” line to the US, the fragrances created by Jo Malone of Jo Loves, that launched last year in Europe. I’ve bought the discovery set, I’ll be interested to try them. There are several gift options on the website, including sets with candles in matching scents.
I’m planning to assemble a box of unused or underused fragrances from my collection for my kids to rummage through and choose what they like. I don’t have many options to put in there for my son, but he likes Cool Water, so I’ll give him that, and I’m going to see if he likes Gucci’s Memoire d’Une Odeur. I have plenty of options to offer my daughters! I’ve bought a few things for my husband to “give” me, lol, mostly from independent artisan perfumers like Dawn Spencer Hurwitz, and Sarah McCartney of 4160 Tuesdays.
I sent my two sisters in New England sets of Stash’s “Christmas in Paris” tea, with china mugs decorated with scenes of Paris. The tea is supposed to combine flavors of chocolate, lavender and mint! It sounds lovely and I may have to get some for my own family to try. I’m also looking forward to starting some real holiday cooking, which always makes the house smell wonderful.
Roaring back from yesterday’s disappointing sampling of scents I thought would be rosy, and weren’t, today’s entry is Jo Loves’ Rose Petal 25, the fragrance perfumer Jo Malone (the person) launched last year to celebrate 25 years of her career in perfumery. This is really, really rosy, friends. Thank goodness! Continue reading →
Serenity Now Scents and Sensibilities 