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, October 19, and I am the lucky and grateful recipient of several new fragrances! Our oldest daughter returned from her trip to Italy with a roller bottle of extract de parfum from Casa Amalfi, called Blue Grotto. It’s a very pleasing, unisex, citrus aromatic, launched in 2025.
My husband just got back from a work trip to Las Vegas, where he stayed in a hotel with an onsite Santa Maria Novella boutique. He asked which of their fragrances I might like, and since I already have a couple and didn’t know much about the others, I requested their discovery set. I also (shame on me) admitted that there is a new fragrance I was eager to try: the 100th anniversary flanker to Shalimar, Shalimar L’Essence.
My lovely gift!
Reader, I love it. I was pretty sure I would, and I knew that at least I would like it, based on the reviews I had read, which prompted the blind buy. It is really gorgeous, and I say that as someone who has had a mixed reaction to Shalimar and flankers. Of the older versions, the one I’ve liked most was the eau de cologne, because it didn’t have a strong tarry note, which is what “leather” notes in fragrance sometimes smell like to me.
Enter the 100th anniversary flanker, in its beautiful bottle!
Shalimar L’Essence
It has lots of vanilla, with just a soupçon of lemon at the start, then just a hint of lavender and leather or tobacco, undergirded by iris and rose. It lasts for several hours on my skin, and a little goes a long way; I’ve been applying light sprays to my wrists and one at the base of my neck, and that’s plenty. I will enjoy getting to know this new addition, created by perfumer Delphine Jelk.
Do you have a favorite version or flanker of Shalimar? Have you tried this new one?
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, April 25, and we had a lovely Easter with family last Sunday. My husband’s brother, his wife, their older daughter, her husband and their baby joined us and our three children, so it was quite festive. The roses in my garden cooperated by producing many blooms, and the weather cooperated by staying sunny!
I don’t normally comment much here about masculine fragrances, because my own taste and collection are much more floral than most “masculine” scents (which anyone can wear, of course). But our twenty-something son was wearing a fragrance he had requested and I gave him for Christmas, and he smelled so good! It is Azzaro’s The Most Wanted Parfum, and it came out in 2022. I don’t know who the perfumer is. Top accord is ginger, middle accord is “woody notes”, and the base is Bourbon vanilla. It smells warm and just a bit spicy, with soft sillage. Downright cuddly, without being sweet.
I’m very happy that our son has developed a nose for nice fragrance. He only has a couple, that he wears in rotation depending on his mood and the occasion, but he always smells appropriately nice, in a preppy sort of way. His first fragrance, which I picked out for him, was Davidoff’s Cool Water, which suited him as a teenager (and he could afford to buy it himself if he wanted to, an important consideration). He still wears Chanel’s Paris-Edimbourg. And now he has The Most Wanted. I just wish its bottle wasn’t made to look like the chamber of a revolver, sigh.
Do you have any recent new favorites among more masculine-leaning scents?
Bourbon vanilla beans and extract; image from nativevanilla.com
This is the last month of Portia’s and my collaboration, so the last “Counterpoint” unless I decide to resume in January. For December, we agreed to write about Jo Malone’s Ginger Biscuit, first launched in 2013 as part of a limited edition collection called “Sugar and Spice.” The perfumer who created it was Christine Nagel. It was released again this year as a holiday special release, just in time for me to grab some for my daughter’s birthday. Jo Malone’s Global Head of Fragrance, Céline Roux, describes its creation:
“Ginger Biscuit is not sugary sweet at all. If it was, it just wouldn’t be wearable. We have a lot of creamy wood notes in the formulation; you need the elegance of the wood to make it wearable. There’s also some natural ginger, which brings a zingy freshness and balances out the sweetness, and vanilla absolute. When you create scents like this, you need the best quality vanilla so that it is not candy sweet. So, what you get instead is a mouth-watering gourmand.”
1. How did you first encounter Jo Malone Ginger Biscuit, and what was your first impression?
Old Herbaceous: Ginger Biscuit was one of the small 9 ml bottles that came in a holiday fragrance sampler set from Jo Malone several years ago (basically the same set is now available again as a holiday coffret, with some really nice scents). I tried it and liked it, but I liked all the fragrances in the collection! Then my daughters asked to do a fragrance-sniffing session over Christmas a couple of years ago, and my oldest absolutely fell in love with Ginger Biscuit. Of course it had been a limited edition and was discontinued for the time being, available online only for exorbitant prices. I didn’t realize just how much she loved it until she told me of her many searches for a dupe or something that might come close. She rarely falls for a fragrance so hard, so I kept looking myself and hoping to find a stray bottle for her.
Well, lo and behold, someone commented on a Facebook group for fragrance fans, back in October, that they had seen Ginger Biscuit briefly listed on the Saks Fifth Avenue website, though it had quickly vanished. This raised the hope among many perfumistas that it was due to be re-released for the holidays. My city has a Saks Fifth Avenue store and it’s not far from where we live, so I made a rare trip to the mall to ask a sales associate for any information. The lovely woman who helped me confirmed that it would be a holiday release, and said she thought it would arrive at the start of November. I also stopped by Nordstrom, and another lovely sales associate told me the same thing. Both of them took my name and phone number. Just a few days later, the SA from Saks called me and said she had just gotten in a few bottles and would hold one for me. Shortly after that, the SA from Nordstrom made the same call. And so, dear readers, that is how I ended up with not one but two bottles of Ginger Biscuit. We gave one to our daughter in November for her birthday, and she was thrilled. Imagine her surprise when the second bottle appears under the Christmas tree! She’ll be set for life, or at least for several years.
Portia: I’d never heard of Jo Malone Ginger Biscuit before Old Herbaceous told me about it and how excited she and other perfumistas have been about its re-release for Christmas 2023. TBH Jo Malone perfumes just aren’t on my radar. Jin wears the woody number one and I had a couple of bath oils, Red Roses and Blue Agave. They were nice but the perfumes I’ve tried have all been totally underwhelming.
So it was with mild trepidation that I ventured into town and grabbed a small decant from the tester bottle (all samples had gone in the first few days of arrival, the SA was really lovely and even did the sample into my own little decant).
My first impression was. OH! it really is what is says on the bottle. A delightful waft of freshly opened iced gingerbread man wafted out as the SA was decanting. I was very taken but off to another perfume event so couldn’t douse myself.
2. How would you describe the development of Jo Malone Ginger Biscuit?
Portia: HA! I can’t help but smile like a fool when I spritz Ginger Biscuit. It’s just so freaking lifelike. Photo realism in fragrance. Ginger Biscuit smells like a ginger biscuit, or what is much closer to my heart an iced gingerbread man from Pizza Hut. I smell my wafting gorgeousness and am transported back 45 years and more to family events. We had a really lovely one in the next suburb and went for every occasion. The staff knew us, it was wheelchair accessible for Dad, there were banquettes that Mum and I loved to sit in with a chair for Jodie (my sister) and space for Dad. They had all you can eat salad and soda. At the end of every meal as we left the staff would give us kids an iced gingerbread man. THIS IS THE SMELL.
As we move from the top into the heart the ginger remains but less intense. Here the whole fragrance becomes a soft, chewy caramel that’s heavy on the vanilla.
It gets more and more vanilla essence as it dries down and is the softest, merest wash of gorgeous gourmand for hours and hours and hours.
Old Herbaceous: Right out of the bottle, Ginger Biscuit smells to me like a true gingersnap, spicy, sweet, and warm. It smells like a cookie or gingerbread that was made with real ginger and spices instead of artificial flavoring. I don’t usually gravitate to gourmand fragrances, as I find many to be too sweet and heavy for my taste, but Ginger Biscuit stays light and spicy. It is sweet, and there is a lovely vanilla that pervades the whole development from start to finish. A dominant note is said to be caramel, but I smell brown sugar more than caramel. The cinnamon and nutmeg bring depth to the sweetness of the vanilla and brown sugar, just as they do in real baking.
The vanilla persists even after the spiciness fades into the background. I do like a good vanilla, and that is how Ginger Biscuit ends up on my skin. It smells wonderful on my daughter; I enjoy it more on her than on myself, just because of her obvious delight in it. Smelling this light, sweet vanilla fragrance on her skin reminds me of how sweet she and her siblings smelled as babies, a very happy memory.
3. Do you or will you wear Jo Malone Ginger Biscuit regularly? For what occasions or seasons?
Old Herbaceous: Ginger Biscuit is absolutely perfect for the winter holiday season and beyond. Given the associations with gingerbread, I would wear it most in autumn and winter. It would be lovely to wear to a workplace during the holidays, as it isn’t overpowering. If you do wear it to work, you should be prepared to have people follow you trying to figure out what smells so nice!
That said, I don’t see myself wearing it very often, and now it will be a signature scent of my daughter’s, so that makes it even less likely that I would wear it often myself. But I might get in the habit of pulling out my small bottle at Christmas every year! It would be the perfect fragrance for Christmas morning breakfast, when our family tradition is to make cinnamon rolls.
Portia: Honestly? Though Jo Malone Ginger Biscuit is very nice, has excellent memories and smells good I just can’t imagine myself wanting to smell like this. I’ll definitely use up this decant over the silly season but am much more comfortable in Nuit Noel and Exultat for my hit of Holy. Maybe also because in Australia we are usually at around 35C/95f by 10am and thinking more about swimming pools and beaches than roaring fires.
4. Who should/could wear Jo Malone Ginger Biscuit?
Portia: Anyone who wants to smell like they’ve just been baking gingerbread or who loves the idea of smelling utterly edible. Even though I’m not putting my hand up for a bottle I really can imagine Jo Malone Ginger Biscuit smelling wonderful on both the major sexes and anything in between. It would be so nice to hug people over the holiday season who smell of it and I can imagine in the cold northern hemisphere that many compliments and questions about this beautiful scent would come your way.
Imagine on Christmas morning while hugging in thanks for gifts, smelling so divine! It would be the cherry on top of the magic.
Old Herbaceous: This could be happily worn by anyone, of any persuasion. It is as non-gender-specific as baking is. It’s a cozy scent, so anyone who wants to smell warm and cuddly should give it a try. It might attract some cuddles! I know many perfumistas were ecstatic that it has been re-released this year, and I can see why. Wouldn’t it be nice if Jo Malone would release it for every holiday season, as Clinique used to do with Wrappings?
Have you fallen for this or any other limited holiday release fragrance?
This month’s Counterpoint fragrance is Un Bois Vanille, from Serge Lutens. Launched in 2003, the perfumer who created it is Christopher Sheldrake. It is one of several offspring of Feminité du Bois, created in 1992 for Shisheido by the team of Serge Lutens, Christopher Sheldrake, and Pierre Bourdon. It seems that after FdB, M. Sheldrake explored the innovative woody accords in different directions, including Un Bois Vanille, Bois de Violette, Bois et Musc, Bois et Fruits, Bois Oriental, and Un Bois Sépia.
Un Bois Vanille by Serge Lutens; image from Portia.
Un Bois Vanille is a complex scent that plays off the botanical origins of vanilla, most familiar to us as the sweet ingredient in so many baked goods. Vanilla extract comes from beans that grow in pods on vining orchids in tropical rain forests. The vines climb up trees in their natural habitats; in cultivation, they are often grown on wooden supports. Wood, then, is a suitable companion to vanilla, and they are well-partnered in Un Bois Vanille. The green aspect of vanilla vines is evoked by an anise accord; other notes include coconut milk, beeswax, sandalwood, tonka, almond, benzoin, guiac, and musk.
How did you first encounter Un Bois Vanille, and what was your first impression?
Portia: I’m not sure exactly but it could have been while sniffing with friends in what was our most glamorous Sydney department store David Jones. It also might have been through an early Serge Lutens sampler from Posh Peasant. Maybe around 2010? Yeah, I came to you all quite late. It was a very solo perfume journey for me till finding the scent blogosphere. I liked it early on but it didn’t compete with some of the more outrageous scents in the line. At the time I was all about pushing boundaries, being daring, shocking and pushing every fragrant envelope to its farthest shore. Since those heady days I’ve come to love many of those outrageous perfumes but the ones i tend to wear are much more comfortable.
Old Herbaceous: I came into possession of Un Bois Vanille a couple of years ago, when I found a tester online at a very reasonable price. Since I was, and am still, in the process of educating my nose, I knew I wanted to try some of Serge Lutens’ fragrances, and I had read in many places that Un Bois Vanille was one of his most approachable fragrances, easier to appreciate and enjoy than some of his more innovative scents. So I bought the tester, and it was the start of a small Lutens cluster in my collection. My first impression was that it is a sophisticated vanilla while remaining sweet, but it is never sugary. The beeswax and coconut milk give it a smoothness that I find quite soothing, and I enjoy the anise accord.
2. How would you describe the development of Un Bois Vanille?
Old Herbaceous: To my nose, the vanilla is obvious right away, with a milky undertone. It remains dominant throughout, with anise emerging, followed by phases that smell woody (sandalwood, tonka, almond), then resinous and warm (guiac, benzoin, musk).
Portia: Un Bois Vanille doesn’t have an enormous range through its development when I wear it. It opens hot vanilla caramel bakery, fresh from the oven. As it moves through the heart the nuttiness dries it out but we don’t lose that warmth. Even in dry down when the woods have taken over vanilla heavy amber reigns supreme.
3. Do you or will you wear Un Bois Vanille regularly? For what occasions or seasons?
Portia: Honestly, I’m lucky if Un Bois Vanille gets a wear annually. Vanilla, woods and amber make up a large percentage of my perfume wardrobe. There are a few favourites that are in easy reach, on the grab tray or on my mind. Since my Serge Lutens bottles grab tray got repurposed in the revamp of the perfume/dressing/office room and they are all in a box their wear has reduced a lot. In the 10 years I’ve owned this bottle it has probably only had 10 wears. Hopefully us writing about Un Bois Vanille at the start of the cooler months here in Sydney will rejog my memory and I’ll give it a few more outings. Wearing it the last couple of days, once for bed and today for work, I’ve really enjoyed it. Though it’s not important a couple of people have asked what it is I’m wearing and if it’s still available. So that’s nice too.
Old Herbaceous: I don’t wear it regularly, though I like it whenever I do. Since I’m on the other side of the planet from Portia, we are entering our summer months, and the vanilla fragrance I like for summer is Vanira Moorea by Berdoues. I will try to remember to pull out Un Bois Vanille this fall, though, because I agree with Portia that it is very suitable for autumn and winter.
4. Who should/could wear Un Bois Vanille?
Old Herbaceous: Un Bois Vanille is definitely a unisex scent. Apparently, the genesis of its forebear Feminité du Bois was to show that a woody fragrance, traditionally associated with masculine fragrances, could be made more feminine. Almost every time I wear any vanilla-centric fragrance, I get more compliments than with almost any other scent, usually from men. So it clearly works well as a feminine scent! Conversely, I would find this very appealing on a man, and I need to find out what it smells like on my husband!
Portia: When I spritz Un Bois Vanille it always feels like a rich dessert or cocktail. A fountain of molten vanilla, caramel, coconut and nutty biscuit. Lavish, delicious and playful. It works from slouching in front of the TV to elegant awards nights. While cool weather is my preferred wear time, I can also imagine it working for spring weekends and sensual tropical evenings. Smelling good enough to eat, but in a sophisticated way, is always a winner. Unisex but leaning towards what society expects women to smell like. I say go for the subversive guys, wear against the grain. I can only imagine how amazing this would smell on some beefy hunk of a tradesman as he turns up to fix your power box.
If huge stories float your boat, then Un Bois Vanille might be a little boring for you. On the other hand, if you love to smell good. You like a hefty, rich, not too confectionary oriented gourmand that lasts all day and into the night then you might just have found a new grand love.
Please add your answers to one or more of the questions above, in the comments!
Today is the winter solstice, the turning point from dark to light, or at least lighter. We still have much winter to come, and December 21 is considered the first day of winter in the Northern Hemisphere, but the days will start getting longer and the nights shorter.
Stonehenge at the winter solstice; image from BBC Science
In England, the group that owns and manages Stonehenge is English Heritage. They will stream winter solstice celebrations taking place at Stonehenge tomorrow, December 22.
And — surprise! My stash of Guerlain samples had a couple of duplicates, so today’s Advent sample is Angelique Noire, again! This time, the caraway seed accord was a bit more forward. I still don’t perceive this fragrance as “noire” at all.
As before, Angelique Noire has good longevity on my skin. I’m going to try it side by side with some other vanillas, like the vanilla discovery set from Sylvaine Delacourte.Mme. Delacourte was the Creative Director for Guerlain fragrances for 15 years, and Angelique Noire was created under her supervision, so I think that will provide some interesting comparisons.
Happy winter solstice! And all of you in the Southern Hemisphere, enjoy your own seasonal changes!
Another pleasant surprise today for my Advent SOTD: Carner Barcelona’s El Born, which I’ve worn before and like very much. I’ve also stayed in the neighborhood El Born, for which the fragrance is named, and it is a completely charming, fascinating part of Barcelona.
Street in El Born, Barcelona; image from barcelonaconnect.com.
So, first, the neighborhood. El Born is one of the medieval neighborhoods of Barcelona, full of tiny, narrow streets that barely fit one car or aren’t wide enough for any cars at all! It is now a trendy, funky city neighborhood full of art galleries, restaurants, boutiques, museums, but also very family-friendly, containing residential apartments, food stores, pastry shops, schools, and parks. Its most famous structures are the Basilica of Santa Maria del Mar, which signals its proximity to Barcelona’s waterfront (the waterfront is now in Barceloneta, ten minutes away; the church used to be on the actual waterfront before Barcelona was expanded, and its parish consisted largely of fishermen, dockworkers, and their families); the Picasso Museum, housed in five combined medieval palaces or large townhouses (like the “hotels particuliers” of medieval Paris); the El Born Centre Cultural, a fascinating museum about the neighborhood’s history, in a restored covered market; and the Parc de la Ciutadella, a park built on the site of a demolished citadel fort that had been built in 1714 by King Philip V of Spain to control Barcelona after conquering it during the War of Spanish Succession. The fort was a hated tool and symbol of conquest and military occupation, and it was demolished in the mid-19th century during a rare period of Barcelonan independence.
“El Born” is traditionally understood to be the medieval district south of the street Carrer de la Princesa and east of the “Barri Gotic”, or Gothic Quarter, starting at the Via Laietana. However, nowadays many use the name to refer to the area that is technically a neighborhood called “La Ribera”, between Carrer de la Princesa and Barcelona’s legendary Palau de la Musica (“Palace of Music”), which includes more residential streets as well as the Mercat de Santa Caterina, a restored covered food market full of Catalan epicurean delights. Can you tell that I love Barcelona? I’ve been lucky enough to visit a few times, thanks to my husband’s work that used to take him there once or twice a year, pre-pandemic, and it is now one of my favorite cities. It is also home to some very happy perfume hunting-grounds, by the way, where I have delighted in serious “perfume tourism” in niche boutiques and perfumeries.
Carner Barcelona is a fragrance brand that was launched in 2010 by Sara Carner. It aims to capture the spirit of Barcelona and Catalonia in its fragrances: “We are captivated by Barcelona’s Mediterranean soul; its architecture, culture and the unique way in which history merges with the contemporary lifestyle and the vitality of its people.” El Born is part of its original collection and was launched in 2014. It is described as an “amber floral”, and that’s accurate — I would say it is mostly amber, slightly floral. The notes listed on the brand website are: Sicilian Lemon, Calabrian Bergamot, Angelica, Honey (top); Fig, Heliotrope, Benzoin from Laos, Egyptian Jasmine (middle); and Madagascan Vanilla Absolute, Peru Balsam, Australian Sandalwood, Musk (base).
Right away, when I spray El Born on my skin, I smell the honey and angelica top notes. They provide a soft, warm, but slightly herbal sweetness: a bit like caramel but not sugary, if that makes sense. It is more like clover honey, i.e. honey from bees that have feasted on clover nectar. There is a brief spark of citrus at the start, but it doesn’t linger. As the middle phase develops, the sweetness is carried by the fig and benzoin, with heliotrope contributing a subtle floral dimension. I don’t really pick up the jasmine at all, and I’m okay with that! The other accords are very soft, and the honey lingers among them. The vanilla accord joins in pretty early in this fragrance’s progression, and it’s just the kind of vanilla I like — more botanical than gourmand. Balsam, sandalwood, and musk notes in the base carry forward the soft warmth that characterizes all stages of El Born.
El Born, the fragrance, is just as ingratiating as El Born, the neighborhood. I should note, however, that the actual El Born neighborhood does NOT smell as wonderful as this fragrance! It has that damp, stony smell that many medieval neighborhoods have, sometimes with a soupçon of sewer due to ancient drains. Never mind! It’s a truly delightful place to visit, with wonderful food, restaurants that serve meals until very late in the night (late per this appreciative American tourist’s POV), interesting things to see around every corner (and there are LOTS of corners in El Born).
The photo below isn’t specific to El Born, but it demonstrates (again) the incredible sense of style and color that characterizes Barcelona, and it comes from the city’s annual competition to design holiday lights for some of the major city streets (one of which is Via Laietana, the western edge of El Born). This shows lights in the Diagonal neighborhood:
Barcelona. Christmas lights, Diagonal.
Now really, if those lights don’t put you in a holiday frame of mind, as we enter the last week of Advent, what will? Have you visited Barcelona, or tried any of Carner Barcelona’s scents?
It’s the second day of Advent (and the second day of final exams at the university where I work — ugh). As regular readers here know, some of us were chatting back and forth about Advent calendars on our blogs, and lo! a plan was born. I have a refillable Advent calendar, and I have placed in it some of the surprise samples sent by a kind perfumista, only looking to make sure the samples will fit in the little drawers. So I don’t know what I’m going to get on any given day!
Today’s SOTD is Diptyque’s Eau Duelle, in the eau de toilette fomulation, created by Fabrice Pellegrin and launched in 2010. Wow, vanilla! I like this a lot, because it’s not a very sweet vanilla; it smells more botanical than gourmand. The website lists only vanilla, pink peppercorn, and cypriol as “raw materials”. Fragrantica lists its notes as: Bourbon vanilla, elemi resin, cardamom, juniper, pink pepper, olibanum, black tea, ambergris, bergamot, saffron, musk. The brand also describes it as “an ode to travel and vanilla. Along the spice route, the vanilla at the heart of Eau Duelle takes on new aromas: luminous, addictive accents of calamus and dark, smoky nuances of cypriol. Travelling through time and over borders, Bourbon vanilla from Madagascar reveals itself between darkness and light.”
Cypriol is a fascinating substance. It comes from the root of an ancient plant in the same family as papyrus. The Society of Scent describes its aroma as a combination of vetiver, patchouli, and cedar, with hints of pepper and bay leaf. That would explain the non-gourmand aspect of Eau Duelle; it really is more botanical — an herbal vanilla. When I first applied some to my wrist, most of what I smelled was a gust of vanilla, and that remains strong throughout. As it dries down, though, more and more of the herbal and woody facets of this fragrance emerge, in a pleasant, cozy way. One commenter has said that wearing Eau Duelle is like wrapping yourself in a cashmere blanket; I would add that you’re also drinking a cup of vanilla chai or other spiced tea while wrapped in said blanket.
Bourbon vanilla beans and extract; image from nativevanilla.com
I can’t distinguish all the notes listed on Fragrantica, but I do pick up hints of cardamom and juniper. The website also mentions calamus, both in its description and as an “olfactory accident”, whatever that means. Calamus is another ancient plant; Egyptians wrote about it as early as 1300, when it may have been used in perfumes. In our own literary history, the poet Walt Whitman used it as a symbol of homosexual love between men, and his masterpiece “Leaves of Grass” includes a series of poems known as the “Calamus Poems” or “Calamus Sequence.” Its odor is said to be warm, spicy, woody, with green notes. It’s entirely possible that the many notes listed by Fragrantica are really different aspects of just two substances: cypriol and calamus.
I could definitely see myself getting a travel spray of Eau Duelle some day. I’ll be interested to see, once I’m out and about more, whether I get any comments on it; there’s something about vanilla notes that really attracts people. It reminds me of Le Couvent des Missions’ original Eau des Missions cologne, a cult favorite with many perfumistas. Interestingly, it came out just a year after Eau Duelle, in 2011. If you’re yearning for that long-discontinued scent, try Eau Duelle.
Jeffrey Dame is well known to perfumistas, as the founder of Jeffrey Dame Perfumery and creator of indie classics like Dark Horse and Black Flower Mexican Vanilla. He and perfumer Hugh Spencer have created a line of what he calls “post-modern perfumes”, one of which is a major favorite of mine (Duality). But today, I’m trying out another in the line: Vanille Farfelue. The name translates to “crazy vanilla”, as Mr. Dame explained:
“It’s hard to make a great vanilla perfume, but it’s so very easy to make a good vanilla scent. Basically, you can put on a dab of vanilla food extract from your kitchen pantry and someone is bound to tell you how wonderful you smell. So vanilla is easy then. Using aldehydic notes in perfumery is also so very easy, but using aldehydes well or in an interesting manner is exceedingly difficult. A decent slug of aldehydes blended with say a classic rose note will transport you immediately to….a fusty and dry old-fashioned perfume from eighty years ago which is somehow one-dimensional and overwhelming at the same time. Aldehydic perfumes are often nose-wrinklers. But in a perfume workbench eureka moment, using aldehydic notes as a lift to slice through a sticky vanilla note and seeing the composition elevate up into the air to a place perfume normally doesn’t go to — now that’s crazy, a crazy vanilla….JD VANILLE FARFELUE. Sprinkle a touch of this and that into this aldehydic vanilla blend and you have a short concise perfume formula from JD JEFFREY DAME which turns heads every which way you go.”
The opening of Vanille Farfelue is indeed strongly aldehydic, and I love it. One immediately smells the kinship to Chanel No. 5 and Chanel No. 22. The heart notes are all floral: rose, violet, lily of the valley, ylang ylang. Base notes include vanilla, sandalwood, and vetiver. This combination really is clever; Vanille Farfelue starts off like a vintage floral, albeit with a lighter touch, and evolves into something like a modern gourmand, without being sweet or cloying. It got an enthusiastic response from my husband, who is drawn to vanilla scents (as are so many people).
Real vanilla is a very complex compound, and in recent years, the cost of vanilla beans has skyrocketed, due to major storm damage in Madagascar, an important producer of vanilla. Chemists have known how to create synthetic vanillin since the 19th century, so we’re not in danger of losing our beloved vanilla. And believe it or not, there is actually an ice cream flavor called “Crazy Vanilla”!
Crazy Vanilla ice cream, from Newport Creamery
Vanille Farfelue is a delightful, happy fragrance. It is friendly and comforting, without being sticky or gooey. I like it very much, though I think my heart still belongs to JD’s Duality, of that line. There are so many outstanding fragrances with strong vanilla notes, like Shalimar and its flankers, that I can’t say Vanille Farfelue will displace any of those classics. But it is charming, it lasts a good while, and it does have that aldehydic opening and a floral surprise at its heart. I will enjoy wearing it!
My journey with Sylvaine Delacourte creations began many years ago. Yet then I didn’t even know that this beautiful lady is the nose behind the famous Guerlain Insolence, and could not even imagine that years later I would be chatting to her in Milan…. Back in 2009 I was just making my first steps into […]
A great summary of Sylvaine Delacourte’s new collection! Right now, the Discovery Box for this collection is reduced from 12 euros to 4 euros with free shipping, I’ve just ordered mine, and if you follow this link, the website says you and I both get a small discount on a subsequent order. Ms. Delacourte’s website also has some very appealing holiday offers, so check those out!
I have a soft spot for the Commodity line of fragrances, as Commodity Moss was one of the first niche-type fragrances I tried when I started getting serious about fragrance (I say niche-type, because once you can buy a fragrance in Sephora, I’m not sure it’s a true niche fragrance any more!). I really like Moss, but my oh my Velvet!
Commodity Velvet is a new 2018 release, and the perfumer is Jerome Epinette. Its top notes are listed on the Commodity website as roasted almond, clove buds, and coconut water. Heart notes are: heliotropine, vanilla flower, velvet rose petals. Base notes are blonde woods, white birch, black amber. Commodity has a short film in which M. Epinette describes his intentions in creating Velvet:
Velvet is a unique rose fragrance, with its notes of roasted almond, white birch, and black amber. There are many fragrances that combine rose and vanilla, but Velvet’s lightly smoky, nutty opening is unusual and very pleasing. The only other fragrance I’ve been able to find that combines roasted or toasted almonds with rose, vanilla, and birch is Soivohle’s Vanillaville, in which it seems that the rose is much more of a bit player, and tobacco and leather notes dominate. (P.S. Vanillaville sounds great! I haven’t tried it but it’s now on my radar).
M. Epinette focused on evoking the soft texture of velvet fabric or the velvety feel of real rose petals, and he has succeeded. He says of his concept: “I was inspired by the image of vibrant pink Turkish Rose Petals floating gently over a mysterious, dark background of richly warm vanilla and black amber with a delicious touch of roasted almond drifting in the air.” The almond is present right from the start. I don’t smell any coconut in the opening, but it may be there as a support to the roasted almond, which I do smell.
I don’t experience the base or drydown of Velvet as “dark”, if by dark one means edgy. The dark of Velvet is warm and soft, shot through with subtle shades of color, as fine silk velvet often is. M. Epinette describes vibrant pink rose petals against a dark background, but I perceive Velvet as being more like one of the dark, velvety roses that have shades of pink on their petals.
Dark red rose; image from Flowers Healthy.
Black Beauty Velvet Rose
Velvet is a beautiful rose for cooler weather, when many roses, like those in my garden, put forth a new flush of blooms. It reminds me a bit of Montale’s Intense Cafe, though without that fragrance’s powerhouse sillage and longevity. Its longevity is reasonable; I can still smell it on my wrists seven hours after first application, although it has become faint. Its roasted almond top note is different and very appealing. Velvet is warm, soft, slightly spicy, and utterly charming.
Serenity Now Scents and Sensibilities 