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, July 5, and we had a great Fourth of July yesterday with my husband’s family in New Hampshire. We watched a classic New England small town parade, complete with synchronized marching lawn chairs (my favorite). Then last night, we had town fireworks over the lake, just beautiful.
Wolfeboro Lawn Chair Drill TeamFireworks over Lake Winnipesaukee
We also drove over to the seashore to buy fresh lobsters and see the ocean, where we saw (and smelled) many beach roses in bloom. Of all rose scents in nature, I think that’s my favorite.
Beach roses
For those who celebrate the Fourth, I hope you enjoyed a great holiday! Any special events, or scents?
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 28, and we finally got some rain! Like much of the US, we’ve been experiencing an extended heat wave, with temperatures in the high 90s (Fahrenheit) and high humidity that made it feel even hotter. It’s all I can do to water my plants enough to keep them alive!
On a more serious topic also involving the cultivation of flowers, I recently reposted an article by the BBC that was published in late May: This Is Not Okay. The article is about an investigative documentary from the BBC called “Perfume’s Dark Secret.” It concerns the illegal child labor practices of firms that supply jasmine flowers for processing into oils and ultimately into perfumes. The only company mentioned in the article that appears to be taking this issue seriously enough to have real oversight and action plans is L’Oreal (which owns many brands, including Lancôme; its other brands include Yves Saint Laurent, Giorgio Armani, Ralph Lauren, Viktor&Rolf, Valentino, Mugler, Azzaro, and the former niche brand Atelier Cologne). Most others in the supply chain, including major firms like Givaudan and Firmenich, come across as shrugging that this is the responsibility of someone else in the chain.
Now, I haven’t watched the documentary, and I know some of you have. I need to do so. I hope the BBC continues to follow this story and update readers/watchers on any progress made toward the commitments made by all of these firms. Ultimately, illegal child labor is a failure of governance, in this case by the Egyptian government. But we all have a role in the chain from flower pickers to perfume consumers. I don’t know what my personal response to this news will be, but I won’t be buying any new perfume until I figure that out. This isn’t a big step, as I’ve bought very little new perfume this year (trying to focus on and use the many fragrances I already have). I also buy little from these major brands, but I know that most perfumers at every level are getting their ingredients from part of this same supply chain. I need to research which perfumers may not. If any of you have already looked into this, please share what you’ve learned in the comments below. However, this is a matter of personal conscience, so I will delete any comments that seem to attack another individual commenter’s choices if they arise (I know my regular commenters wouldn’t do that!).
Sorry to be a bit of a downer in this week’s Perfume Chat Room, which is normally quite cheery, but I think this is a topic that’s worth discussing. Feel free to ignore it, though, and chat about something else that’s going on in your fragrant life this week!
Child jasmine picker; image from BBC documentary “Perfume’s Dark Secret.”
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 21, and it is HOT where I live! 93 degrees with enough humidity to make it feel like 94. Interestingly, the heat revealed a facet of Pelagos that I hadn’t expected. I had applied very small spritzes, one to my neck and each of my wrists, three in all, so very little. I should have remembered that Pelagos comes in extrait strength! Because when I left my physical therapy appointment around 11, it was a bit too much. And it also “read” to my nose as more masculine, whereas when I first tried it, I felt it was truly unisex. I can’t even explain why my perception changed or what note/accord changed it, but here we are.
The good news is that I’ve completely recovered from COVID and my sense of smell is intact. Only my sense of taste was temporarily affected by Paxlovid, and it returned to normal by the evening of the day when I took my last dose. That’s a relief! The bad news is that Japanese beetles have arrived in my garden, seeking out my scrumptious roses, their favorite treat. I have gone to war. In researching the best methods that won’t harm beneficial insects or pollinators, I learned something new — Japanese beetles apparently have some kind of sense of smell and they release a pheromone when they find a food source, which attracts all their fellow Japanese beetles! Ugh.
Are you going through a heat wave? My sympathy if you are. Happy Summer Solstice too!
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 14, and I took my last dose of Paxlovid this morning — hurray! As some of you know, I came down with COVID last weekend. As it turned out, my husband had it first and probably caught it on the plane trip home from France, then both my daughters and I came down with it. I was able to start Paxlovid on Sunday evening, and I’m grateful to have had it although it did leave a bad metallic taste in my mouth all week. Luckily, it doesn’t seem to have affected my nose, and I’m told the bad taste stops by the day after one’s last dose.
Meanwhile, I received a free sample of Parfums Dusita’s newest fragrance, Pelagos, in the mail and I like it very much! The name means “sea”, but this is not an aquatic fragrance. Per Fragrantica, the notes are: top notes: Cypress, Oakmoss, Bergamot, Pine, Litsea Cubeba, Clary Sage and Orange; middle notes: Orris, Thyme, Tonka Bean and Jasmine; base notes: Sandalwood, Patchouli, Vetiver, Amyris, Ambrette, Benzoin and Incense. It is more of an aromatic fragrance than anything else, with a strong hint of chypre. Truly unisex, it would smell great on anyone. It comes in extrait strength, which is also very appealing. I’ll have to spend more time with it to share any deeper thoughts, but it’s a winner so far!
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!
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, May 18, and we’re in final preparations for our trip to Normandy and Brittany, the one we were planning to take in 2020. This will likely be our last big all-family trip abroad for the foreseeable future. Since our youngest was 5 years old and able to pull his own rollaboard bag, we’ve taken our kids to Europe or another international destination almost annually, riding the coattails of my dear husband’s travel for work. Usually he flies to Europe, works for a week or more, then we have joined him using some of his millions of frequent flyer miles. It costs less take to take our family of five to Europe for a week than it would to take them to Disneyworld! (I know that because one of my sisters used to take her three kids every year to Disneyworld).
1789 map of the provinces of Brittany, Normandy, and others; image by Ty’s Commons.
Now that the kids have all finished college and launched into jobs (the youngest will start his on July 1), it will be more challenging to coordinate schedules. And now that I’ve retired, and my husband will likely follow in a year or two, we need to spend a bit less on travel, lol. But for 17 years, minus pandemic time, we’ve been able to share some favorite countries and discover new ones with our three children, which has been a privilege and a blessing. I hope we’ve shown them enough that they continue to explore Europe and other continents on their own.
Green hot air balloon; image from vistivictoria.com
Thanks to rickyrebarco, I no longer have to try to figure out how to get my hands and nose on Patricia de Nicolai’s limited release muguet scent. Thank you so much! Since we are bypassing Paris, it would have been challenging to find it even in France and even if it hadn’t sold out so quickly. With that itch scratched, I don’t have any particular fragrance in mind to bring home as a perfume souvenir, which is good because I truly have so, so many. I. packed most of them away to make room for the stuff we had to move out of the basement so our oldest could move into that as an apartment, and I plan to sort, organize and catalogue them this summer after we get back. I think my upcoming olfactory adventures this month will focus mostly on food and drink, which are excellent in both regions we will visit!
Have you planned any upcoming olfactory adventures of any kind? Do tell!
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 10, and I got a facial earlier today, in anticipation of our big graduation weekend. The young woman doing the facial spritzed me with the NICEST smelling toner: neroli. I’ve always liked neroli but it hasn’t been at or even near the top of my list of favorite notes. That may need to change! Do you have any neroli fragrances you would recommend?
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 3, and I am still obsessing over roses. Real-life roses, in my garden and online, and also in perfume (though I don’t wear much perfume on days when I’m spending a lot of time working in the garden).
But in fragrance, I have taken my usual May detour into the realm of muguet, or lily-of-the-valley, honoring May Day and the yearly appearance of these fragile, fleeting blooms. Unlike roses, lilies of the valley don’t rebloom during their flowering season. One and done! They’re also challenging to grow en masse here in the hot, humid Southeast, though my sister-in-law has succeeded in growing the kind of large patch of LOTV here that she and I both knew from our childhoods in Connecticut, where they grow and spread like weeds.
Nurturing hopes of perhaps getting my hands and nose on a tester of Patricia de Nicolai’s new — and already sold out — muguet perfume, Une Fleur en Mai, I recently tried her 2009 creation Un Coeur en Mai for MDCI. It’s not a muguet perfume but it is a floral green fragrance and very lovely. Dominant floral notes are rose and mimosa, with a hefty dose of green galbanum. I really like several of her fragrances for her own line, like Odalisque, Rose Royale, Odalisque, New York, Musc Intense. I think I need to add to my reviews of her fragrances!
Do you have any of Patricia de Nicolai’s fragrances, either under her own line or created for others? What do you think? Any favorites?
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:
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?
Serenity Now Scents and Sensibilities 
