lily of the valley

Perfume Chat Room, May 8
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Perfume Chat Room, May 8

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, May 8, and it is both VE Day and David Attenborough’s 100th birthday!

I’m about to enter a serious Dior phase, because our local fashion museum has just opened an amazing exhibit of Dior’s fashions. This is the same place that hosted a wonderful exhibit devoted to Madame Grés. I may have to wear Miss Dior all weekend, in honor of Christian Dior’s very brave sister Catherine, who was a Resistance agent during the Nazi occupation of France. If you haven’t seen the TV mini-series “The New Look”, about the siblings’ experiences during WW2, I highly recommend it.

One of my favorite fragrances, that contributed to my falling down the fragrance rabbit hole, is Diorissimo. As longtime readers here know, I love lily of the valley flowers and fragrances, and I have many of the latter! In past years, I’ve written about some of them in a “May Muguet Marathon”. My latest favorite of that genre is Parfums Dusita’s Cavatina. Have you discovered any new ones recently?

Perfume Chat Room, April 12
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Perfume Chat Room, April 12

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 Sunday, April 12, and we had a lovely Easter weekend, filled with flowers, family, and food. I’ve been very occupied with my garden, even more than usual, planting new roses and companion plants in our new front flower bed. It looks great! Most of my roses in pots have started to bloom, and they’re so fragrant. Usually I wear a lot of green scents at this time of year, especially ones with lily of the valley notes, but my own garden is pushing me back to the rose scents I also love.

I’ve been enjoying Parfums Dusita’s Cavatina, a muguet scent, and will probably start wearing Rosarine soon. Do you have any favorites from this house?

Bliss Parfuma rose
Perfume Chat Room, March 20
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Perfume Chat Room, March 20

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, March 20, and we are on our way home from Athens! We’ve had a great trip to Barcelona then Greece, but we’ll be glad to get home. Meanwhile, I hit the airport duty-free store to investigate new-to-me fragrances, and tried Lefko by Korres. Its dominant notes are lily of the valley, peony, and rose, so — surprise! I like it very much, lol. Other notes include musk, powdery notes, and white sandalwood.

Some comments on Fragrantica compare it to Byredo’s Blanche, but I haven’t sampled that recently enough to know. Lefko is soft, floral, and pleasant, well suited to spring. Since today is the vernal equinox in this hemisphere, that feels right.

Have you tried any new-to-you spring fragrances lately?

Spring in Greece
Perfume Chat Room, September 14
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Perfume Chat Room, September 14

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 Sunday, September 14, and this week it’s time for my husband’s birthday! Yes, we’re both Virgos, and the less said about that, the better, lol.

I have two fragrance tidbits to share: one, our second daughter recently returned from Greece (where she and a friend had the BEST time), and she brought me a very nice fragrance she found in a boutique in Athens called La Maison de Stefanie. The fragrance is called Artemis, and it has an intriguing opening that smells like a mix of fruit and spice, but nothing like apple pie, for instance. I think the fruit may be fig. I’m still puzzling over the spice notes.

The other is that my BFF who lives in Florida felt the deep need for self care and re-centering that many of us in the USA are feeling in these disorienting times, and she got herself an item from her wishlist: Amouage’s Existence. She’s in heaven! It is centered on a muguet accord, so you know I’ll have to go try it locally. Have any of you tested it?

That’s all for now — gotta go think of birthday plans for my beloved.

Van Cleef & Arpels jeweled lily of the valley clip with diamonds and emeralds
Van Cleef & Arpels jeweled lily of the valley clip; photo from Van Cleef & Arpels.
Perfume Chat Room, May 2
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Perfume Chat Room, May 2

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, May 2, and yesterday was May Day in many countries. In France, a May Day tradition is to give bouquets of maguey, or lily of the valley, to loved ones and friends. Apparently this was a tradition faithfully honored by M. Christian Dior, whose favorite flower was the muguet. This inspired, in turn, his work with Edmond Roudnitska to create the legendary Dior fragrance Diorissimo. As regular readers here know, muguet is one of my favorite scents and the flowers are one of my favorite flowers. In past years, I’ve done daily posts in May for a blogging “May Muguet Marathon”, which has been great fun!

Today I’m wearing my newest muguet fragrance, Cavatina by Parfums Dusita. I really love it, especially at this time of year when the weather shifts between late spring and early summer.

Lilies of the valley, green moss, and ferns in woodland garden
Lilies of the valley in woodland garden; image from Pinterest

Did you do anything special to celebrate May Day? Do you have any new-to-you favorite muguet or other spring fragrances?

Perfume Chat Room, April 12
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Perfume Chat Room, April 12

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 Saturday, April 12, and I have another new fragrance by Parfums Dusita! The latest is Cavatina, a beautiful tribute to vintage muguet fragrances like Diorissimo, Muguet des Bois, and others. Listed notes include: top notes of bergamot, litsea cubeba, petit grain; heart notes of lily of the valley, tea rose, jasmine; base notes of ambrette seed, Siamese woods, vanilla. Additional notes mentioned on the website, presumably used to create the lily of the valley accord, include tuberose, ylang-ylang, heliotrope, and aldehydes.

Coty "When You're in Love" ad for Muguet des Bois fragrance, by Eric
Coty “When You’re in Love” ad for Muguet des Bois
Muguet du Bonheur ad by Caron
Close up of lily of the valley flowers
Lily of the valley; image from http://www.pixabay.com

As longtime readers here know, I adore lily of the valley flowers and fragrances, and in past years I’ve amused myself by writing a “May Muguet Marathon” series of daily posts during the month of May. (In other years, I’ve done a “Roses de Mai” Marathon).

I was curious about the litsea cubeba listed, and it turns out that it is an evergreen tree or shrub native to China. According to Eden Botanicals, its essential oil has “an intense, clean, fresh, sweet-green, lemon-like aroma with light woody-floral undertones.” Seems like a perfect ingredient to create a Muguet fragrance, since lilies of the valley share some of those fragrant traits.

Lily of the valley fragrances list on Fragrantica
Photo: http://www.fragrantica.com

Cavatina is a lovely muguet. It is light, floral, elegant. The bergamot gives it a little zing at the start, and it must be the litsea that adds the lemony note that I do smell in real lilies of the valley. The muguet accord is very realistic, even without the molecules that made Diorissimo a legend but are now banned or can only be used in tiny quantities.

I won’t be doing a May Marathon this year, as I’ll be traveling (including a trip to the RHS Chelsea Flower Show! If I did another marathon series later this summer or fall, what would interest you most?

Happy Passover to all who celebrate it!

Singers with giant flower hats and flowered dresses at RHS Chelsea Flower Show.
RHS Chelsea Flower Show, May 2019.
Perfume Chat Room, March 28
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Perfume Chat Room, March 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. 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, March 28, and last Friday was International Fragrance Day, which I totally missed! OTOH, I did visit the niche fragrance boutique that opened a few years ago in a nearby suburb, Indiehouse. I had first visited its pop-up store before it had its fixed location, and I’ve been to its intown location, which isn’t far from my house, but I hadn’t yet visited its main store. I’m delighted to say that it was lovely, with many interesting rinds, and the staff could not have been nicer.

Indiehouse fragrance boutique

I bought a discovery set I’ve been eyeing for a while, from the brand Grandiflora. If I can’t get to Australia this year, I’ll wear Australian fragrances!

Indiehouse fragrance boutique

The two sales associates were very warm and welcoming, and managed that great balance of offering help but then letting me wander around sniffing until I had a specific question. They were both knowledgeable and enthusiastic, and we had a great chat about Christian Dior, his sister Catherine, and the original Miss Dior.

I haven’t p,urged into my new discovery set yet because I’ve been enjoying the Rosarine by Parfums Dusita that I was “ given” in February. I’m using quotation marks because as usual, I bought it for myself then handed it over to my patient, nice husband to give me for Valentine’s Day! He’s a very good sport. Next up: Cavatina, for Mother’s Day, lol. The lilies of the valley I grow here (barely, they don’t seem to like the heat here) are already in full bloom and very fragrant.

Spring is in full swing now, and I’ve been very busy caring for all the roses and other plants I put in last spring and summer. All seem to have made it just fine through our erratic frosts, and I’m tackling the usual bugs and diseases early and preventatively.

Have you discovered any new stores, fragrances, or plants recently?

Indiehouse fragrance boutique
Perfume Chat Room, June 7
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Perfume Chat Room, June 7

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, June 7, and we’re back from our trip to France! It was an amazing trip through Normandy and Brittany, where we visited D-Day sites, prehistoric standing stones, landscapes of great natural beauty, and several museums along the way. We also enjoyed many outstanding meals, including our first ever dinner at a Michelin-starred restaurant. All in all, it was a wonderful, though delayed, celebration of major birthdays, wedding anniversary, and graduations; this was the trip we had planned for the summer of 2020, which of course we had to cancel. It is also likely to be our last big trip to Europe with the whole family, as our three young adult children now all have full-time jobs, significant others, and more scheduling challenges. So we pulled out all the stops!

I did not come home with any fragrances, but I was able to try some really nice ones in the duty-free area of Charles de Gaulle airport. The Guerlain extraits were so luxurious! I sampled Iris Pallida and Rose Centifolia. Just gorgeous! I also tried Chanel’s Comète and was unimpressed. Quite pretty, but it may have suffered by comparison with Guerlain’s Iris Pallida extrait, which was simply stunning. If I were longing for a powdery Chanel iris eau de parfum, I’d probably be satisfied with No. 19 Poudré, at a much lower price.

We also visited the garden at Christian Dior’s childhood home in Granville, which inspired many of his designs and fragrances. It was absolutely beautiful, and all the roses were in full bloom, including a lovely, fragrant one named “Jardin de Granville.” I wish it were available in the US, to add to my own garden!

Jardin de Granville rose

A big thank-you to rickyrebarco, whose package with Nicolai’s Une Fleur En Mai and another lovely goodie arrived while we were away! They’re both beautiful, and I love them. I’m wearing Une Fleur En Mai today!

We won’t be traveling overseas for the rest of the summer, though London is a possibility this fall, and we may go visit family in New Hampshire in July. Do you have any summer travel plans? Any planned acquisitions of new fragrances? Do tell!

The Musee Christian Dior in Granville, Normandy
Happy May Day!
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Happy May Day!

Today is the first of May, traditionally celebrated in France by giving bouquets or sprigs of muguet, or lily-of-the-valley. As regular readers know, I love lilies of the valley and I love muguet fragrances. In some past years, I’ve done a “May Muguet Marathon“, posting every day about a muguet fragrance or the flower itself. I won’t do one this year, because of our son’s college graduation and then our family’s two-week trip to France itself. Got a lot going on!

I did want to share this lovely photo of Maison Dior’s flagship in Paris, decorated with huge sculptures of lilies of the valley:

Huge sculptures of lily of the valley decorating Dior's flagship boutique in Paris.
Muguet at Maison Dior; image from Maison Dior.

Isn’t that magnifique? Christian Dior is much on my mind these days, after having watched the Apple TV series “The New Look.” I loved it — so well done, and the acting was terrific, including Juliette Binoche as the very unappealing Coco Chanel. The series is about what happened to Christian Dior and his sister Catherine during the Nazi occupation of Paris, with the parallel story of Chanel’s alleged collaboration. Only Binoche could have pulled off the balanced acting required for that role. Both narratives are based on separate books by Justine Picardie: a biography of Chanel that includes the war years, and one of Catherine Dior, focused on her experience as a member of the French Resistance and also as an inspiration to her brother. The perfume Miss Dior was named for her.

I’ve read the book about Catherine Dior, Miss Dior; A Story of Courage and Couture, and I highly recommend it. Have you read it, or watched the series?

Perfume Chat Room, April 27
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Perfume Chat Room, April 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 Saturday, April 27, and we’re almost at the start of May! I won’t be doing a blog May Marathon this year because we’ll be out of the country for the second half of the month, and before that we have our youngest child’s college graduation. So I’ll be running a different kind of marathon getting ready for all that! However, as most of you know, I just love lily of the valley, or muguet — both the flowers and the scent. The first of May in France is traditionally a day when the French give or wear sprigs of muguet, and French perfumers in particular have created some wonderful muguet fragrances, the most famous being Christian Dior’s Diorissimo.

Maison Dior, Paris

Guerlain also issues a muguet fragrance every May in a limited edition flacon.

Bottle of Guerlain Muguet 2016 fragrance
Guerlain Muguet 2016

So you can imagine how excited I was when I read two weeks ago on “Now Smell This” that Patricia de Nicolai was releasing her own limited edition muguet fragrance, to be sold only in their boutiques, called Une Fleur en Mai. I began immediately to plot how I might get a bottle, since our trip in May will be to France. Alas! according to the company website, it is already sold out! Maybe we’ll get lucky and the firm will add it to their regular line.

I know that muguet is polarizing to many perfumistas — some love it, like me, and others loathe it. Where do you fall on that spectrum?

Fashion model Sasha Pivovarova with lilies of the valley; Vogue magazine.
Sasha Pivovarova with lilies of the valley; Vogue magazine.