Roses for Valentine's Day

Who Doesn't Like Roses?

The rose is the queen of flowers. Rose can be combined with fruity, spicy, woody, or green notes. Rose perfumes can be sheer and light, rich and hypnotic or dark and dirty. There's something for everyone in a rose. This Valentine's Day, give your sweetie (or yourself) a new rose perfume. Here are some unusual and excellent roses to try.

For the Traditionalist: Czech and Speake, Rose Cologne

Czech and Speake is a luxury English line of bath products and perfumes, They do a gorgeous rose soliflore. Nothing fancy, just a real English rose, with some green leaves up top and a hint of earthy patchouli in the base. Lovely.
Nose: ?
Notes: bourbon rose, geranium, ylang ylang, mimosa mingle, patchouli

For the Sexpot: Frederic Malle, Une Rose

Une Rose is a "master's rose." This is the whole rose bush, from green leaves, to full blooms. Even the dirt still clinging to the roots is represented by the soft and earthy "truffle accord." The heart is is rich red rose drizzled with animalic honey. The honey note is pure sex for some, but can smell a bit "pissy" to others. Not for the faint of heart.
Nose: Edouard Fléchier
Notes: Turkish rose absolute, fruit, honey, geranium, wine dregs, truffle accord, dark woods, animal notes

For the Dangerous Sweetie Pie: By Kilian, Liaisons Dangereuses

The full name for this lolita is Liaisons Dangereuses typical me. Like Britney Spears in "Oops, I Did It Again" he or she will fool you with the face of an angel but underneath, something smells not that innocent. Dangerous Liaisons starts very green with a huge hit of green leaves and grape-y fruit. As the rose note opens up, the fruit deepens into a plum pie. Underneath is all is a soft, recently slept-in bed of musk, vanilla, woods and moss.
Nose: Calice Becker
Notes: blackcurrent buds, plum, peach, cinnamon, ambrette, rose damascus, geranium, sandalwood, oakmoss, vetiver, woods, vanilla, white musks

For the Exotic Pussy Cat: By Kilian, Rose Oud

Another gorgeous rose by Calice Becker. Rose Oud is rose petals scattered on the rich woody oud. The oud feels light and airy, not heavy. It's like smoke. As the perfumes sits on your skin it gets warmer and sweeter. The spices, mostly cardamom, become noticeable.  It has an almost gourmand quality, like some kind of middle eastern toasted pastry. The rose beomes fruity like a fine red wine. Rose Oud wears close to the skin but has remarkable staying power. The next day my skin smells like candied roses and incense.
Nose: Calice Becker
Notes: rose, oud, saffron, cardamom, cinnamon

For the Sourpuss: Hermes, Eau de Pamplemousse Rose

There's always the one who says "I Hate Valentine's." Give him or her a great citrus perfume with subtle  rose note. I fell in love with Pamplemousse Rose on first sniff. It smells like a sparkling, mineral grapefruit, like Pink Grapefruit Perrier. It's only after the first 15 minutes that you start to smell sheer pink roses under the dry and tart citrus. Pamplemousse Rose would be a perfect summer scent, but it also brightens up a dreary winter day.
Nose: Jean-Claude Ellena
Notes: pink grapefruit, rose

My Favourites of 2011

Another year, and dozen bottles

Well, another year is almost past and my perfume cabinet is getting pretty full. One of my New Year's resolutions will be to go through it and take out bottles I never wear. They can be boxed up and moved to a dresser drawer or perhaps traded. Dan, who organizes the wonderful meet-up events at Noor, tells me he's planning a bottle/decant swap event for 2012. Perfect timing, because if I can't make more room in my closet, how will I buy the new perfumes on my wish list?

I sniffed a lot of perfume in 2011, most of it OK, some of it astoundingly beautiful.  In December, as I contemplated my Christmas list, I began to feel that there was nothing left for me to buy or ask for. I have so many great perfumes. As you can see from the photo above, I could wear what I have for the rest of my life and probably never run out.

So, here are my top 10 favourite perfumes of 2011.

1. Parfumerie Generale Papyrus de Ciane

Number 1 on my list and my biggest surprise of 2011 is Papyrus de Ciane. Dry, dark, mossy and green, this tribute to the famous Mousse de Saxe base is perfect. I was passionately obsessed with PdC for most of the fall; it was all I wanted to wear. It seriously interfered with me testing anything else, which was a surprise to me because I had originally tested the sample in 2010 and found it too bitter. How much difference a year can make! In 2011, I had to have a full bottle. My nose is definitely still changing.

2. Jean Patou Vacances

The early part of 2011 was all about vintage perfume for me. The wonderful Mr. Fritch at Fritch's Pharmacy in Kitchener introduced me to many old beauties and I was flattered to be interviewed for an article about vintage perfume in Maclean's magazine. My best purchase from Fritch's was Jean Patou Vacances. Not only is the bottle with it's green glass stopper beautiful, the perfume is a gorgeous green lilac that lifts my mood every time I wear it. It's a heart breaker too, because it's been discontinued and is notoriously hard to find. This is the only bottle I will probably ever have, so I treasure it.

3. Serge Lutens Five O'Clock au Gingembre

Fresh ginger and early grey tea. Spicy, warm, dry and yummy - Five O'clock au Gingembre was the perfume I wore while baking Christmas cookies this year with a good friend. I expect to continue to wear it often this winter.

4. L'Artisan Parfumeur Fleur de Narcisse (Exceptional Harvests Collection 2006)

At a perfume meetup at Noor this year, I met Bryna, who may be my perfume evil twin. What I mean is, she doesn't love what I love and lucky for me, she likes to trade! For a few samples from my collection she gave me a generous decant of Fleur de Narcisse. I had been coveting this limited release for a while. The daffodil smells like the volcanic soil it was grown in, as well as hay and leather. It's a day in the country in a bottle.

5. Chanel Bois des Iles

Chanel finally released its Exclusifs line in smaller bottles! I snapped up Bois des Iles which I had been dreaming of since 2008 but just couldn't justify the huge 200ml bottle. The new, smaller 75ml size is perfect. Now I can wrap myself in its creamy sandalwood and gingerbread cashmere scent anytime I need some comfort.

6. Lorenzo Villoresi Sandalo

My Dear Husband took me to Rome in the spring of 2011, and it inspired me to buy him a bottle of Lorenzo Villoresi Sandalo. I don't think this niche Italian perfumer gets enough love in the perfume blogs; he is very talented. Sandalo is a smooth and spicy sandalwood of high quality which is getting harder to find these days. I can hardly keep my hands off my DH when he wears it.

7. Frederic Malle En Passant

2011 was the year I met the charming Frederic Malle! He gave a fascinating lecture on perfume and the industry at Holt Renfrew. His niche line of perfumes really started the trend of celebrating perfumers, the artists who create the scents, instead of hiding their names like most mass market perfumes do. I purchased a bottle of En Passant by one of my favourite perfumers Olivia Giacobetti. En passant is a story told with transparent drops of water on lilacs and a soft dusting of flour.

8. L'Artisan Parfumeur Ananas Fizz

My first successful eBay purchase was a box of samples of Ananas Fizz. I think this perfume was discontinued because it's a love it or hate it scent. I didn't expect to love it, but the first sniff of fizzy pineapple from a sample received in a trade made me grin. It was one of my favourite hot weather perfumes in the summer of 2011. I had to have more, but when I went to buy it I realized it had long been discontinued. Luckily, I found the box of samples on eBay and with the help on a funnel and an empty decant bottle, I now have one of the few remaining bottles of Ananas Fizz in existence.

9. Parfums de Nicolai Vie de Château Intense

If you haven't tried any of Patricia Nicolai's perfumes yet, make it a New Year's resolution. She is a genius. Vie de Chateau is la dolce vita in a bottle. Sugared grapefruit, fresh-mown hay and soft suede gloves.

10. Jean Patou Joy

Let's end the list with Joy. Joy was a lucky find at Winners, where you can sometimes stumble on excellent older names in perfume that may have fallen out of fashion but are still of great quality and beauty. Besides Joy, I've bought Rochas Femme, Bvlgari Black and Estee Lauder Private Collection Tuberose Gardenia at my favourite Winners. Joy is a classic and beautiful sparkling jasmine bouquet with a smoldering sexy base.

Coming in 2012

Just as I thought I was out, they pull me back in. Samples showed up in the mail and in my stocking that surprised me with their beauty and I am once again covetous. Huzzah sayeth the retailers. Right now I am wearing the heck out of these samples and will be reviewing them soon:

• Mary Greenwell Plum - Maybe the most beautiful thing I have ever smelled.
• Hermes Eau des Merveilles - Sexy perfect unisex skin scent
• By Kilian Liaisons Dangereuses - Green plum, cassis, rose, cinnamon and musk. Yum.
• Parfums d'Empire Azemour  les Orangers - If you love old-fashioned oakmoss heavy chypres, run, buy this now.

Happy New Year!

Frederic Malle L'eau d'hiver

In the lane, snow is glistening

Gentle and powdery as fresh fallen snow, L'eau d'hiver is both fresh and cuddly.

L'eau d'hiver was created for the Frederic Malle line by the famous perfumer Jean-Claude Ellena. Ellena's style is minimalist and sheer and L'eau d'hiver is a good example of that style. It's a light and easy to wear veil of scent. But simple doesn't mean boring.

With l'eau d'hiver, Ellena was trying to create a new concept in perfume, the "eau chaude." When I smell L'eau d'hiver, I smell a  perfume that feels like a sheer cologne, but instead of the traditional crisp and cool experience a cologne can provide, Ellena added warm, comforting notes as well.  L'eau d'hiver is a combination of these cool and warm elements. 

Powdery iris and musk and an ozone-like note create a impression of snow in the opening. Soft and sweet floral notes of heliotrope and clover-honey float in and change the cool grey iris into something warmer. L'eau d'hiver smells like pristine powdery snow and baby skin.When I wear it I imagine an early morning walk though an untouched snowy world, with the sunrise just turning the sky rosy. Around my neck is a cashmere scarf and on my head is my pink bunny-fur hat.

House: Frederic Malle
Nose Jean-Claude Ellena
Notes: iris, heliotrope, honey, musk

Frederic Malle Portrait of A Lady and Heeley Hippy Rose

Patchouli roses for for bare feet or black tie

Patchouli and rose is a classic combination. Something about the rich perfume of roses compliments the dark, earthy-sweet, smell of patchouli.

Recently two excellent niche lines released patch-rose perfumes: Frederic Malle, Portrait of A Lady and Heeley, Hippy Rose. Both are beautiful and excellent quality. They share similar notes but they execute the classic combo in a different ways.

Portrait of A Lady

When I heard Frederic Malle speak in Toronto earlier this year, he reminisced about the creation of Portrait of A Lady. He told us that he worked quite closely with Dominique Ropion on this scent, which was born out of a shared love for their earlier perfume Geranium Pour Monsieur and a desire to re-use the base they loved from that perfume, but turn it into a perfume for women.

And so they took the oriental base of benzoin, musk, incense, sandalwood, clove and cinnamon, and changed it: making the musk more feminine, reducing the sandalwood and adding in some "heart" of patchouli. As M. Malle explained it, real patchouli has a complicated fragrance with many different facets. Before now, perfumers had often wished that they could isolate just the "heart" of patchouli, the part the smells the best, and leave out all the less attractive aspects.  New technology available to modern perfumers has allowed them to do just that in Portrait of A Lady. Malle and Ropion loved it so much they put in as much of it as they could.

They balanced this overdose of patchouli, with a huge amount of turkish rose oil. Malle said he had the opportunity to question someone once on how the famous Guerlain rose perfume, Nahema achieved such beauty, and was told that it used an unusually high percentage of rose oil. Emboldened, Malle and Ropion decided to use what they call a "daring", even "excessive" amount of rose essence for Portrait of A Lady.

According to the Frederic Malle website,"Portrait of a Lady is undoubtedly the perfume containing the strongest dosage of rose essence and patchouli heart." They call it a "baroque perfume" and it certainly is. Like baroque art, it cannot be called conventionally pretty, but it's over-the-top usage of beautiful materials makes it like a Baroque church, full of movement, and life and grandeur.


Hippy Rose

Heeley's Hippy Rose has many of the same notes as Portrait of a Lady, and when I initially sprayed it on, it reminded me quite a bit of the Frederic Malle perfume, but after wearing them side by side for a while, I see how they are quite different.

The rose in Hippy Rose is a fresh, velvety petaled pink blossom, as apposed to the dark red of Portrait. Hippy Rose smells like a just-picked rose; it's soft and dewy. The opening is a little peppery and tart. The patchouli and incense give it a nice dry-woody base and the amber and musk make it a little softer and warmer, smoothing out any edges.

So the question I was asked on Twitter was: which one do I prefer? That's a hard one. If you asked me which one I enjoyed wearing the most it would be Hippy Rose. It's a soft, pretty, mellow, patch-rose that feels really comfortable. Hippy Rose feels natural for day or evening or just hanging out in bare feet in the backyard.

But, ask me which perfume I think is the most important. As a perfume fanatic, I am always looking for the best, the most beautiful, and sometimes the most shocking. Many times I have moaned about how a classic perfume has been reformulated into banal nothingness. I believe that fifty years from now, perfumistas will be hoarding original bottles of Portrait of A Lady. I may find it a little intimidating to wear, like when I was twenty and my aunt offered me a loan of her mink coat. I don't always feel like I can pull off Portrait of A Lady; it's an evening gown scent. But the next day, traces of it linger on my clothes and on my pillow and they smell divine. Portrait of A Lady is going to be a classic; if you care about that sort of thing, buy a bottle now.

House: Heeley
Nose: James Heeley
Notes: Bergamot, green moss, Bulgarian rose, patchouli, incense, Haitian vetiver, amber, musk

House: Frederic Malle
Nose: Dominique Ropion
Notes: turkish rose, red berries, spice, patchouli, benzoin, cinnamon white musk, sandalwood, frankincense



Photo dark rose: mrgarris0n
Photo Sant'Andrea al Quirinale, Rome: mine
Photo pink rose: ~Dezz~

Frederic Malle - En Passant and a long overdue post

The Time of Lilacs

First my apologies for such a long absence. If I have any readers left, you've been waiting for me to complete the post on my seminar with Frederic Malle. That was almost a month ago. Time flies and there were vacations and lunches at my desk and plain old procrastination. I'm sorry.

So... long ago, when I had the pleasure of hearing Frederic Malle speak on perfume and the perfume industry, I asked him how he felt about the IFRA regulations. For those of you who don't know, IFRA is The International Fragrance Association, a body that effectively regulates the perfume industry by creating rules about what ingredients can be used and in what concentrations in perfumes and all perfumed products. It has a great deal of power because, although following their rules is voluntary, all the big perfume companies do.

M. Malle told us that he, as a perfumer, finds the IFRA restrictions extremely frustrating but that he follows them to the letter. Unlike food, a perfume product containing a known allergen can't just label the box with "Caution, may cause allergic reaction" or "May contain..."  Instead perfumes that follow IFRA must cut some materials altogether or reduce them to minute amounts. This cause a great deal of sorrow for perfume lovers when old favourites are changed beyond recognition. It'sone of the reasons why we buy and love vintage perfumes.

M. Malle also mentioned that some updates to the rules were coming from IFRA this summer and that he believes there are many perfumes out there that haven't yet reformulated to the IFRA standards and will have to immediately. This will no doubt change many beloved perfumes. Unfortunately, I can't tell you which ones he thinks will be most affected because just as he was about to continue, he was interrupted by his assistant and had to leave in a hurry to catch his plane.  If you have an old favourite, it may be time to stock up now, or find some vintage online.

Before I left I purchased a bottle I had been wanting for a long time: En Passant. Olivia Giacobetti created this for Frederic Malle in 2000. M. Malle told us that Ms. Giacobetti came to him with the idea already fully formed for the perfume she wished to create.

En Passant captures a moment of happiness. It's a walk on a spring day that passes by lilacs, wet from a rain shower, and a bakery, with the gentle smell of flour wafting out the door. It's light and fresh but also comforting. The lilacs have just finished blooming in Toronto, and I can confirm that En Passant captures the smell of wet lilacs perfectly. It's a linear scent and wears very quietly, close to the skin. I use triple my normal number of sprays with En Passant, but I never feel like I'm wearing too much.

I've moved out of my early spring obsession with dry green chypres, to a more gentle floral phase. Next post I'll write about Vacances, a discontinued beauty.

House: Frederic Malle
Nose: Olivia Giacobetti
Notes: lilac, green notes, cucumber, wheat


Painting: Sophie Gengembre Anderson The Time of Lilacs

Meeting Malle

Il était charmant

Yesterday evening  I attended a talk given by Frederic Malle at Holt Renfew. If you don't know already, M. Malle is the genius behind Federic Malle, Editions de Parfums, a luxury line of perfumes by master perfumers.

It was an intimate setting with were just about 10 of us in the room but there were some familiar faces: Kay and Gwen from Perfume Niche were there as well. We sat in a close circle of tables, decorated with peony centre pieces, in a room scented by one of the candles from Malle's collection, Un Gardenia, la nuit, by Dominique Ropion, which was lovely.

I don't know if you remember, but a little while ago M. Malle made a comment to the press about the perfume world being filled with hysterical "nerds." It rubbed a few of us perfumistas the wrong way. Probably because it's close to the truth. I am totally a perfume nerd. Anyway, I was half expected M. Malle to be somewhat pompous, or distantly elite at this seminar, but I was pleasantly surprised. He was completely charming. He comes across as a cultured Parisien certainly, he has a pedigreed heritage (his grandfather worked with Dior). But he was also friendly, approachable and utterly generous with his time. He spoke for more than an hour and a half and answered all questions enthusiastically, and this after a full day of speaking while suffering from a cold. He talked to us so long that we had to stop him because we were afraid he would miss his flight, and yet still he took two more questions. (I hope he made it.)

He began by speaking about how he started the company and why it was special. The idea came out of a dissatisfaction with the state of the perfume industry 11 years ago. All the perfume was being manufactured by large firms and mass marketed to the public by celebrity faces. The real artists behind perfume, the perfumers who worked for the labs, were being kept anonymous and were constrained by having to design perfumes to the specifications of marketers, who only wanted to please the largest number of people. M. Malle found that all the people he knew in Paris were not even wearing perfume anymore, so bored had they become with the current perfumes for sale.

He had the idea of making and selling perfumes like fine art prints. Each perfume would be a unique work of art and it would be signed by the artist, the actual perfumer (or "nose") who created the perfume.

I'll write more about M. Malle's talk, and some of the questions he answered for me, (like how he feels about the IFRA restrictions!) in another post. For now, you can watch the video below where he tells the story of the creation of Editions de Parfums.

Frederic Malle - Lipstick Rose

Glamour Puss

Lipstick Rose is a perfume that grew on me. In 2008, while I was visiting England, I took the opportunity to do some perfume shopping. Being a budding perfumista, I wanted to smell perfumes that I had read about, but didn't have access to in Toronto. The friendly SA at Liberty pulled out the entire Frederic Malle line for me and I spent a long time sniffing through each perfume. I was determined to make a purchase of something that I couldn't get back home, and I wanted it to be an "important" perfume, something that would be remembered. I settled on Lipstick Rose. It was so different that anything else. It was unique and strong-willed and very glamourous.

Later, back in my hotel room, I was already having second thoughts. At the time, my favourite perfume notes were amber, spices and woods, but definitely not flowers like roses and violets. Also, unique and strong-willed I may be, but glamourous? No. I felt somehow unable to live up to Lipstick Rose. Now, years later, I've come back around to loving flowers, especially roses, and Lipstick Rose has moved back to the front of the cabinet.

Lipstick Rose is deceptively simple and linear. It's a combination of rich red roses and fruity purple violets, with a base of vanilla-amber and musk. But it has hidden depths. I find interesting dualities in Lipstick Rose.  Roses are luscious, grown-up  and romantic flowers, while violets are sweet, girly and demure.

The rose-violet combination in Lipstick Rose smells uncannily like thick, creamy lipstick, maybe something from Chanel and there is a powdery quality to it, like fine face powders. But although makeup is definitely inedible, Lipstick Rose also has an edible, gourmand side to it. The fruity violet ionones are berry-like, and the vanilla in the base makes me think of cookies and marzipan.

Lipstick Rose is also simultaneously old-fashioned and aggressively modern. Roses and violets may be "old-lady" notes, but the perfume is modern in the way it's composed. Spray on Lipstick Rose and you won't picture an old lady. It's a perfume for Dita Von Teese, putting on makeup at her dressing table and lacing up a corset. Maybe I don't have to live up to that. Maybe it's enough that I get to live in it for a while.

House: Frederic Malle
Nose: Ralf Schwieger
Notes: rose, violet, vanilla, vetiver, amber, musk
Where to buy in Toronto: at Holt Renfrew

Frederic Malle - Angéliques sous la pluie

The perfect tonic

I think I'm starting to become a big fan of Jean-Claude Ellena. His style is minimalist, sheer, and luminescent. He takes a limited palette of notes and  finds just the right way to combine them to compliment each other.

When I received a sample of Angéliques sous la pluie, I was expecting a floral perfume, the name made me think of Apres l'Ondee. The story accompanying the perfume is that Ellena created it to pay tribute to the smell of a bouquet of angelica gathered after the rain.

I forgot that angelica is an herb, sometimes used to flavour drinks like absinthe and gin. It has a bitter, slightly spicy and green smell. Ellena has elevated the spicy character by adding coriander, and played with the gin connotations of angelica by adding juniper.

The result is wonderful.  Angéliques sous la pluie sparkles like a cool green tonic and wakes me up when I'm feeling tired. I smell the juniper first, like Bombay Sapphire in a crystal tumbler, then the spicy, green angelica. The smell is effervescent yet creamy. The base notes of sheer musk and wood, are like adding a comfortable chair and a soft grey blanket to your garden. This perfume makes me happy and content.

Men, please wear this! I would love to smell this on more men. So much sexier than the usual masculines.

House: Frederic Malle
Nose: Jean-Claude Ellena
Notes: angelica, juniper, coriander, musk, cedar

We Three Kings: Frederic Malle - Bigarade Concentreé

Gold I bring to Crown Him again

Born a king on Bethlehem's plain,
Gold I bring to crown Him again,
King forever, ceasing never
Over us all to reign.

Welcome to We Three Kings week. This week, I and nine other bloggers (see list below) will each be reviewing three perfumes, to represent the three gifts of the magi: gold, frankincense and myrrh. The first up for me is gold, the gift that symbolized kingship on earth.

Gold is the colour of Christmas for me. Gold decorations are on my tree, gold paper and bows wrap my gifts, and golden candlelight fills the apartment in the evenings.  When I was a child, my sister and I would always receive a golden navel orange in the toe of our stockings. The smell of orange peel brings back memories for me of Christmas mornings.

Nothing captures the glorious, bright golden smell of orange peel better than Frederic Malle's Bigarade Concentrée. Based on a bitter orange essence developed specially for Jean-Claude Ellena, Bigarade Concentrée reminds me most of the smell of clementines. Every year I like to get a little wooden box of these Moroccan delicacies in December and the opening of Bigarade Concentrée smells exactly like peeling one of these little jewels.

As it warms up on the skin the intense bitter orange of Bigarade Concentrée becomes more sheer and floral with just a touch of rose, like a rose, orange and gold sunrise. Then another type of gold becomes noticeable, a beautiful sweet, golden hay note. Hay is like liquid summer sunshine; it's sweet and grassy and works really well with the orange and rose. A light dry cedar provides a base that compliments but never overpowers the other notes.

Bigarade Concentrée was a pleasant surprise for me. I wasn't expecting to fall in love with a bitter orange perfume, especially in winter, when I usually drift towards spices, incenses or warm ambers. Orange seems to me like it would be a summer scent. But after trying Bigarade Concentrée on a window-sniffing lunch break, I knew by the end of the day that I had to own a full bottle. From a deceptively simple list of notes, Jean-Claude Ellena created a golden treasure that I will wear year round.

House: Frederic Malle
Nose: Jean-Claude Ellena
Notes: bitter orange, rose, hay, cedar

Photo: Paul.Carroll
Three Kings Icon ©2010 Megan Ruisch

Please visit all these other blogs during We Three Kings week:

• Redolent of Spices
• EauMG 
• Parfumieren 
• All I Am - A Redhead
• Chicken Freak's Obssession 
• Notes from Josephine
• The Perfume Chronicles
• Bonkers About Perfume 
• My Perfume Life

Window Sniffing: Holt Renfew, Frederic Malle Counter

OMG, they have the booth!

So I spent my lunch hour monopolizing the time of the very helpful SA, Yonge, at the Frederic Malle counter in Holt's. What a fantastic substitute for food! My nose is full.

I was so excited to see that they have "the booth." It looks like a cross between an English red telephone booth and a space-age teleport tube. Perfume is sprayed into the booth, then you can enter or just stick your head in to experience the scent more fully than you can on a card. It's very effective and it saved me from covering my arms in tests and suffocating my coworkers later.

I also left with a couple of samples for more in-depth sniffing. I will do full reviews of the fragrances later, but I thought I would jot down my first impressions of some of these gems, before the memory fades.

Geranium Pour Monsieur: The first spritz made me laugh; mint and geranium! But I kept coming back to the card again and again. It is so interesting and strangely addictive. I don't know how I would wear it but I like it. Maybe the new Portrait of a Lady (which was not available yet) will give me a version I could love.

Carnal Flower: A wedding scent; this is a big white bouquet. It's more wearable than I thought it would be, though. I'm somewhat tuberose shy, but I liked this combination with lily, jasmine and orange blossoms. It's heady and thick and waxy white petals and completely gorgeous. Yonge tells me that women tell him they get tons of compliments in this one. I can believe it.


Le Parfum de Therese: This one I could see buying for myself. It's a rich progression from fruit and spices to flowers to an earthy leather base. Complicated and full-bodied. And the creator, Edmond Roudnitska, also did one of my favourites, Rochas Femme.


Cologne Bigarade: Lovely oranges! If it was summertime I would be dousing myself in this.

I sniffed everything at the counter, but those are the ones that stood out for me.