Perfume Chat Room

Perfume Chat Room, February 10
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Perfume Chat Room, February 10

Welcome to the Friday 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 10, and next week is Valentine’s Day! It is traditionally a peak season for fragrance sales, since perfume is often considered a romantic gift. I may just put my new bottle of Mitsouko eau de toilette in a Valentine’s gift bag and re-give it to myself on behalf of my husband. We don’t often go out for Valentine’s Day, but we’ll probably make a special dinner at home and maybe share a nice bottle of cava or Prosecco. I won’t mention here what I’m giving him, as he sometimes reads this blog!

Meanwhile, the spring flowers have started popping out all over my neighborhood after recent balmy spells. Yellow daffodils abound, but also forsythia, and my beloved pink magnolias. I just hope their blossoms don’t get nipped by a late frost, which often happens. I must go for a walk around the neighborhood this weekend to enjoy and sniff them, I think their fragrance is just gorgeous. I’ve not yet found a perfume that matches it, though I’ve tried many, many “magnolia” fragrances. The pink ones that bloom in the spring have a lighter, more lemony scent than the heavier white flowers of the Southern evergreen magnolias; we have several of those in our back garden along one fence line, so I’m very familiar with their scent.

Photo by Deena on Pexels.com

Speaking of scent in the garden, our mahonias have been blooming for weeks now. They are the strangest plants — they look very forbidding, with their spiky, leathery leaves and weird forms like some kind of illustration by Dr. Seuss, but they smell like lilies of the valley, one of my favorite scents. Their fragrance tends to drift across the garden, emerging unexpectedly when one is occupied with various seasonal tasks like renewing mulch.

Leatherleaf mahonia plant in bloom
Leatherleaf Mahonia; image from Univ. of Tennessee Botanical Gardens

Do you have any big plans for Valentine’s Day, or a fragrance you’re hoping to receive? Has spring arrived where you live?

Perfume Chat Room, February 3
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Perfume Chat Room, February 3

Welcome to the Friday 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 3, and what a week it has been. On Monday, we buried my dear father-in-law: Rainy Days and Mondays. I appreciate the kind words from several of you! Flew back home late Monday night, had another day off on Tuesday to decompress, then back to work we all went on Wednesday. I’m so glad it’s Friday!

In fragrance-related news, I spent the weekend using my husband’s bottle of New York, by Patricia de Nicolai, because I forgot to bring any of my many decants and samples (my go-to travel options). New York was so interesting yet comforting, for hours at a time, that I used Amazon points to buy a large back-up bottle so DH and I can share it. Have I mentioned lately how much I love Amazon points? Some reputable retailers of fragrances like BeautyHabit have Amazon stores, and you can use your points there. So much for my low-buy resolutions — but I tell myself that using points isn’t really “buying”, lol.

In other, more cheerful news, we are planning a trip to Lisbon, Portugal this spring, with our son and his girlfriend. This will be AFTER our upcoming trip to Barcelona with our two daughters. A work trip for my husband, while daughters and I entertain ourselves all week. I’m making up for all the trips we weren’t able to take in 2020 and 2021.

I know many lovely perfume outlets in Barcelona but have never been to Lisbon. Suggestions, anyone? Please share in the comments! Also, don’t forget to check out new posts from me and Portia on Monday, when we’ll do our next “Notes on Notes“. The note in question will be vetiver. I hope you’ll chime in with your thoughts!

Winter lake
Rainy Days and Mondays
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Rainy Days and Mondays

I feel I should explain why there was no Perfume Chat Room post last Friday, as I try to make sure I set up that weekly space for community chit-chat. My father-in-law, whom I loved dearly, died last Monday and his funeral was yesterday. So yes, the last couple of Mondays have been sad ones.

But, as the Carpenters’ lyrics say,

Nice to know somebody loves me
Funny, but it seems that it’s the only thing to do
Run and find the one who loves me (the one who loves me)

My father-in-law knew how much he was loved, and my husband knows how much I loved his father. He always made me feel that I belonged, right from the start, although I was the first non-Catholic to marry into the family. My FIL, a decorated career military officer, was totally open and direct about his affection for people he loved — he proposed to my MIL on their first date, and he proposed to me on behalf of my then-boyfriend, now husband, the first night I met my future in-laws. He was a dear, dear man, who taught his sons also to be loving, kind men. And while we’re sad to lose him and will miss him, he was in his 90s and had lost his beloved wife of 60 years five years ago. He was clear of mind and loyal of heart until the very end, and he chose not to go back to the hospital when his heart issues worsened. He wanted to be reunited with his beloved, and had the faith that he would be.

It’s funny, because I don’t actually know whether my FIL ever wore Old Spice, but to me he was the quintessential “dad” who would have worn it. Old-fashioned in a nice way. Warm, cozy, and fatherly. Deceptively simple and straightforward, with hidden depths that weren’t demons — just more layers of warmth and sweetness, together with complexities. His funeral Mass was beautiful, and it included the traditional incense, which I found very comforting.

“Now cracks a noble heart. Good-night, sweet prince;
And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest. ”

— William Shakespeare

Pope Francis and statue of Virgin Mary, with incense
Pope Francis uses incense during Mass in Verano cemetery, Rome (CNS photo/Paul Haring)
Perfume Chat Room, January 20
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Perfume Chat Room, January 20

Welcome to the Friday 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 20, and my big fragrance excitement this week was that Portia Turbo (Australian Perfume Junkies) and I launched our second blogging collaboration, “Counterpoint.” (The first one was “Notes on Notes“). Our first Counterpoint subject was Mitsouko; our first “Notes on Notes” was about oakmoss. We hope to do one of each of these monthly, on the first and third Monday of the month, so wish us luck and please join us in the comments!

Our next “Notes on Notes” will be about vetiver; if you have any particular fragrances to suggest we include in our selection, please tell us in the comments below! And our next “Counterpoint” fragrance will be Chanel No. 5 in as many of its forms and versions as we can muster.

Thanks for joining us on this journey!

Perfume Chat Room, January 13
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Perfume Chat Room, January 13

The Perfume Chat Room is back! After a brief hiatus for December’s Scented Advent, then my new collaboration with Portia of Australian Perfume Junkies, “Notes on Notes” (first Mondays of the month), I’m ready to chat again and I hope you are too.

So, if you’re new to this blog, welcome to the Friday 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 13 (yes, it’s Friday the 13th), and here in the USA we are looking forward to our three-day weekend in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday. This year, the holiday falls on Monday, January 16. I don’t have any special plans other than perhaps a lunch with the other volunteers who take part in a prize program to recognize high school students who make positive contributions to race relations in their schools or communities. I helped launch this program many years ago, and it is now nationwide. We’ve met so many wonderful teenagers who are doing great work. I love it.

Heads up — I spent last weekend visiting one of my closest friends in West Palm Beach, and I was able to go to the Guerlain boutique in The Breakers hotel in Palm Beach. Yes, I came home with a bottle (the “new” Mitsouko). Yes, that means I made it one whole week into 2023 before buying a new fragrance. Yes, I’ll do a separate post with photos!

Are you attempting a no-buy or low-buy for 2023? I am going to try a “low-buy” but I’m not exactly off to a good start, lol. Or do you have any particular fragrances on your 2023 wishlist?

Scented Advent, December 18
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Scented Advent, December 18

Today’s Advent scent is Incense Flash, from Andy Tauer’s “Tauerville” line. The “Flash” series were meant to be less expensive than his main line of fragrances, but no less interesting (Rose Flash is a favorite of mine). Incense Flash has an abbreviated notes list: incense, woody notes, leather, musk. That’s a little deceiving, because incense itself can contain different notes, and who knows how many notes are included under the single term “woody notes”? Anyway, incense is what I smell, right away. It is smoky but not harsh.

Incense sticks, one burning
Incense sticks; image from Epicurious.com

I used to associate incense with a sort of hippie mentality, but I find it so interesting in perfume. It seems to have gone more mainstream in recent years, with people buying sticks to burn at home. And of course, Advent is a great time to be wearing an incense-based scent, given various church traditions. I find myself really enjoying Incense Flash. I don’t really smell leather, but I think the musk accord is softening the whole impression.

I would say that the development of Incense Flash is somewhat linear. The lead actor is the incense, and everything else revolves around that, coming and going. I like it, as a straightforward incense fragrance.

Do you use incense in your home? Do you have any favorite Tauerville scents?

Scented Advent, December 15
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Scented Advent, December 15

The Guerlain sample I pulled today was one that I tried and liked in the Las Vegas boutique, Frenchy Lavande. This version was launched under that name in 2021, but it is basically the same as Le Frenchy, which was launched in 2017. Like a few others, it was renamed and moved into the collection “L’Art et la Matière”. It is called an “aromatic fougère”, so classified largely because of the central role that lavender plays, but others have called it a citrusy aromatic. Fragrantica lists its notes as: Top notes, Lemon Verbena, Lemon and Bergamot; middle notes, Petitgrain, Lavender, Citron, Sage and Neroli; base notes, Ambergris, Vetiver and Tonka Bean. Eddie Bulliqi reviewed it and Herbes Troublantes recently for Fragrantica: “Herbs for Winter; Guerlain’s Frenchy Lavande and Herbes Troublantes.”

The opening is lovely, and even my nearby husband looked up and commented, “That’s really nice, what is it?”. While the opening notes are in fact very citrusy, I also smell lavender right away. The lemon and lemon verbena are more prominent than the bergamot, and the lemon verbena adds a distinctly herbal tint to the lemon and lavender. I can’t pinpoint the moment when lemon gives way to citron, but I can say that the partnership of citrus and lavender continues in the middle phase. I only get glimmers of sage, and the neroli is a latecomer to this stage, at least to my nose. It gradually replaces the lavender, as the fragrance moves toward its base notes. Vetiver continues the aromatic, herbal aspect of Frenchy Lavande. I can’t really distinguish the ambergris and tonka bean accords, just that the base slowly becomes warmer and less herbal.

Believe it or not, there is actually a blog called “The Traveling Frenchy” by a young woman named Alex, and in it she has posted a guide to visiting the lavender fields in Provence. I highly recommend it if you are thinking of seeking out French lavender fields; she gives very specific information on the locales she prefers, and even lists particular villages and roads.

French girl in field of French lavender in Provence
The Traveling Frenchy blog’s Ultimate Guide to the Lavender Fields in Provence

Ultimately, though I like Frenchy Lavande very much, it is a bit like Herbes Troublantes in reminding one of a cologne, although it is in a eau de parfum format. I wouldn’t say that it is much nicer than my Jicky eau de toilette or even that it lasts longer; and it certainly costs a lot more. Bottom line: if you want a Guerlain lavender, I recommend Jicky. In fact, that may be my next Guerlain purchase, from its reissue of several Guerlain classics in the collection “Les Legendaires”.

Do you have a favorite lavender-centric fragrance?

Perfume Chat Room, November 25
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Perfume Chat Room, November 25

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, November 25, and it is “Black Friday” here in the USA, so named because traditionally it was the start of the holiday season when retailers would make most of their profits for the year, taking their ledgers from “in the red” to “in the black.” I’m sure your inboxes, like mine, have been swamped with various discount codes and offers. I’ve reposted some of them on the Facebook page for this blog, mostly from independent perfumers and perfumeries, so you may find some there that you can use.

I got the results last Friday of the clinical COVID test I took on Thursday and yes, it was positive. I also did a home COVID test on Friday, before I got the lab results — also positive. So then I was in isolation and had to order most of the Thanksgiving supplies and ingredients online. I felt lucky to be able to do that! My daughters both had it at the same time, about 2 days ahead of me, and one of them tested negative soon enough after her 5 days of isolation that she was able to go to the store and get some essentials for us, like the actual turkey. I’ve continued to produce positive test results on home tests, but was able to do some of the cooking while fully masked and join the family for dinner with me sitting at one end of the long table and everyone else at the other end! Today is the end of the ten-day period since my symptoms started, and I’ve been feeling fine since Monday, so I hope that will be the end of that, at least for now.

One daughter and I went out earlier today so she could do some Black Friday shopping in person, and it was fun to get out of the house and spend some time with her. We’re covered up with leftovers, so I probably won’t be cooking again until Sunday, when her boyfriend plans to come over for dinner. It’s so nice to have all the kids home! We got our Christmas tree and will put it up while they’re here. I’m looking forward to that fresh evergreen smell wafting through the house. Speaking of holiday smells, we went into the local Bath & Bodyworks store, and it was overwhelming! A veritable cacophony of fragrances, all vying with each other for world domination, and most of them much too sweet for my taste. I felt the urge to rush home and plunge my nose into a bottle of Chanel No. 19!

I hope all who celebrate it had a lovely Thanksgiving and continue to enjoy the long weekend! Share in the comments whether you’ve taken advantage of any Black Friday sales, if you wish!

Turkey-shaped bottle of cologne by Avon
Avon Wild Turkey cologne
Perfume Chat Room, November 18
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Perfume Chat Room, November 18

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, November 18, and I am awaiting the results of a COVID test! We had a family birthday dinner with our three young adult children on Sunday, and two of them felt sick and tested positive for COVID on Monday and Tuesday. Then I started having symptoms on Tuesday night. Honestly, I would have assumed it was just a nasty head cold pre-pandemic, but here we are. Took a home test, which was negative, yay! Then I went for a PCR test yesterday, because I still had symptoms. I do feel better today, regardless. Both kids are taking anti-viral medication, which I hope will speed their recovery and reduce any chance of “long COVID.”

The good news is that I haven’t lost my sense of smell or taste although my head still feels stuffy and I’m still coughing. Last night’s supper was Chinese hot and sour soup, which does wonders for stuffed up noses, with its peppery flavor and heat. This week’s community project at Now Smell This is to wear scents with a pepper note, but I’ve mostly just worn scents I find soothing, like L’Heure Attendue. I may branch out today, though, and wear one of my samples of Atelier des Ors; Lune Féline has a pink pepper note, and Crépuscule des Âmes has a pimento note.

I can’t believe Thanksgiving is next week! We almost always celebrate it at home, with just the immediate family, because most of our family live in New England and I hate to travel over those short holiday weekends. I enjoy making a big Thanksgiving feast, with all the side dishes. If you celebrate Thanksgiving, do you have any favorite recipes to share? Regardless, I hope your Thanksgiving is a happy one!

Who knew that Bath & BodyWorks has a room fragrance plug-in called “Golden Turkey”?? Have any of you smelled it?

Bottle of fragrance with turkey-shaped top
Golden Turkey Wallflower; Bath & BodyWorks.
Perfume Chat Room, November 11
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Perfume Chat Room, November 11

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, November 11, the day on which many Western countries mark Veterans’ Day and Armistice Day (it is Remembrance Day in Canada). The commemoration began after WWI ended at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918, with the declaration of peace. After WWII, the name was changed in the US to Veterans’ Day to honor all who have served in the military. Unlike Memorial Day, which is dedicated to honoring the dead and whose date changes every year, Veterans’ Day honors the living and is always celebrated on November 11.

What fragrance to wear on such a day? I chose Jean Patou’s L’Heure Attendue, translated as “the long-awaited hour”, which was launched in 1946. Elena Vosnaki wrote a wonderful piece about it and other post-war legendary fragrances here: “The Senses on Alert: The Smell of War.” The impulse to celebrate and create beauty when long-awaited peace arrives goes deep. My favorite commemoration of Armistice Day was the art installation of hundreds of thousands of red poppies at the Tower of London in 2014.

Installation of 900,000 red poppies at Tower of London to commemorate World War I
World War I memorial ‘Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red’; poppies at Tower of London, 2014; image from TimeOut London.

It is such a poignant reminder of the lives lost, just in Britain, during that dreadful conflict. Both of my grandfathers served during World War I, thankfully not in the horrendous trenches of Europe. My English grandfather was a midshipman in the Royal Navy; my American grandfather served in the U.S. Army at the Mexican border, during the Border War between Mexico and the US.

While I deplore war in all its forms, and I am praying for peace in Ukraine and elsewhere, I am grateful for the service and sacrifice of so many.