Un Jardin Sur le Toit

Perfume Chat Room, August 18
by

Perfume Chat Room, August 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, August 18, the end of my third week away from my former workplace! So far, so good — I have so much to keep me busy, and I’m not sad to be missing some of the ongoing turmoil where I used to work. Right now, I’m still available (remotely) to answer questions and help with transition, but my successor will start on August 24, and one week after that is my truly official retirement date. One week from tomorrow, my family is throwing me a “friends and family” retirement party, which is so lovely but it also means I’m doing a LOT of house-cleaning and garden-tidying! Well, it’s good to have a goal and a deadline, and I’m getting a lot done. I’m also enjoying the birds who visit our garden during the daytime, most recently a pair of goldfinches and a very busy hummingbird.

Hummingbird feeding at cardinal vine
Hummingbird and cardinal vine; image from amazon.com

Next Monday I’ll be posting another in the series Portia and I are doing this year, CounterPoint, where we record our responses to a fragrance using the same questions. Please drop by and add your own observations in the comments!

Today’s Community Project at Now Smell This is to wear a scent that has a note of something edible you might grow in a garden — just up my alley! Already this week I’ve worn Un Jardin en Méditerrannèe, Un Jardin sur le Toit, and First Cut. Today’s SOTD will be Sarah McCartney’s Le Jardin de Monsieur McGregor. Love it! I may continue the trend this weekend with St. Clair Scents’ Gardener’s Glove. I haven’t kept pace with Diane St. Clair’s newest releases, have any of you? Thoughts?

Fragrance Friday: Rosemary
by

Fragrance Friday: Rosemary

I grow rosemary. I love the small blue flowers, the grey-green evergreen foliage that resembles needles. But most of all, I love the scent of rosemary. Freshly picked and minced, rosemary adds fragrance and complexity to so many dishes. In ancient Greece, rosemary was thought to improve the mind and memory, a belief later supported by some modern studies of aromatherapy. It later came to signify remembrance: “There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance. Pray you, love, remember.” Ophelia, in Hamlet, Act IV, Scene 5. Rosemary was also carried in a bride’s bouquet or worn in a bridal wreath as a sign of fidelity. All in all, an herb and fragrance with many meanings and nuances. Some lovely quotes about rosemary, and its uses, can be found at the blog The Herb Gardener. Even more detailed information about its varieties and culture is at Auntie Dogma’s Garden Spot.

Coincidentally, a fragrance that currently fascinates me also has rosemary among its notes: Diorissimo. I used to wear it many years ago, in the 1980s. Diorissimo is another scent that seems to send the perfume blogosphere into orbit — not because people hate it but because they mourn its reformulation. I loved it because of its strong lily-of-the-valley fragrance, another favorite scent and plant of mine. (I grew my own to carry in my bridal bouquet and for my husband’s boutonniere). I hadn’t realized Diorissimo also has notes of rosemary until I did a search for rosemary-inflected perfumes on Fragrantica.com. Another surprise? It appears in Hermes’ Un Jardin Sur le Toit, which I am lucky enough to have received as a gift but haven’t tried yet! Can’t wait, as I have loved the other Jardin perfumes. Tomorrow, perhaps?

Rosemary may be having a cultural “moment.” The most recent catalogue from the Metropolitan Museum of Art has a gorgeous rosemary necklace with patinated metal “leaves” dangling from freshwater pearls. The jewelry maker is Michael Michaud, and his company makes a whole line of rosemary jewelry. I plan to enjoy this moment while it lasts! And maybe I’ll even try today’s Diorissimo.

Photo: Auntie Dogma’s Garden Spot.