Strange Invisible Perfumes - Peloponnesian

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Peloponnesian is an "authentic botanical", "certified organic," "wildcrafted," "biodynamic" and "hydro-distilled" imitation of what my kitchen smells like after a thorough going-over with pine and citrus cleansers. Strong ones.

House: Strange Invisible Perfumes
Nose: Alexandra Balahoutis
Notes: Hydro-distilled orange & lime, cypress, orange flower, mountain sage honey & botanical musk


Photo: Photography_Gal and Jim Moran

Comme des Garçons - Wonderwood

I <3 woods

Wood, glorious wood! Wood in the head, wood in the heart, wood in the base Wonderwood is Comme des Garçons' love song to wood - and they know wood. I've already written about my passion for Hinoki, their perfume inspired by Japanese hot spring baths and Scandinavian forests. In Wonderwood, CdG attempts to squeeze in every wood and wood-like note they can into a perfume.

Wonderwood starts with spices and an aromatic pillar of incense smoke. The incense is not as intense as in other CdG scents - just a light swirl of smokiness through the pepper and nutmeg.

In the heart, a fruity wood is paired with a dry cedar, under the shade of pine boughs. The warm spices, sweet wood, and dry, aromatic cedar and pine make the perfume both warm and cool - it floats in the air and yet seems to wrap you in an embrace. In the base, smooth sandalwood joins the party, making me think of far-away places.

Wonderwood is balanced but still allows you to pick out the individual notes as they shine. The notes all gracefully reveal themselves and then twirl back together like a dance.

This is one aspect of modern perfumery I really like, the way perfumers really allow you to perceive individual naturalistic notes, instead of just blending them all together into something new but undefinable. I want to smell like something. I enjoy the enfolding story of different notes, and the "ah-ha" moments of recognizing exactly what that new note smells like. A perfume may be gorgeous, but bore me terribly if it's just a blend with no surprises.

Wonderwood is never boring. I love wearing it and I think it would smell deeply sexy on a man. I'm already plotting ways I can get Desslock to  wear it (he's a plain soap guy.) It's a must try for anyone who loves woods.

House: Comme des Garcons (for Monocle)
Nose: Antoine Lie
Notes:
Head: Madagascan pepper, Bergamot, Somalian Incense, Nutmeg
Heart: Cristalon (?), Cashmeran (pine and patchouli), Gaïacwood, Cedarwood, Carvi Graines (caraway seeds)
Base: Javanol (sandalwood), Sandalwood, Vetiver, Oud (Agarwood)

Photo: mine

Monocle + Comme des Garçons Scent One: Hinoki

The heavenly smell of forests, the summer cottage and saunas. 

Oh, my fickle nose. For today, forget flowers!  I never want to wear anything but Hinoki. I wrote earlier that my perfect summer perfume would include the smell of a dock in the sun by a lake, and a pine forest. Well here it is, baby.

I'd sniffed Hinoki in a shop but it wasn't until yesterday that I received a sample. Comme des Garçons is a japanese fashion label that has launched many interesting perfumes. Hinoki comes from a type of Japanese cypress tree that is commonly used in temples and baths. The perfume was created in partnership with Monocle, an "international affairs, business, culture and design" magazine. According to the Monocle site, Hinoki was "inspired by Japanese hot-spring baths and Scandinavian forests." 

It starts with the woody-spicy tickle in your nose of frankincense. The incense gives you the feeling of a temple. Then it seems to bloom - to rise up from your skin like fragrant billows of steam in a wood sauna.

For a little while it also reminded me of the wood shop behind my friend's antique furniture store. I loved the smell of sawdust there and all the different woods. At the heart, the scent becomes more like pine forest - deep green, mossy and fragrant.

It was quite wafty for the first couple of hours but now, 8 hours later, it's just a snuggly, woody-incense scent close to my skin.

Hinoki is somehow simultaneously dry and steamy, light as smoke and substantial as a tree trunk. I love it now in the heat, because it makes me think of a muskoka cottage, but I imagine it would be great in the fall too, with the smell of leaves and woodsmoke for company.

House: Comme des Garcons (for Monocle)
Nose: Antoine Maisondieu
Notes: cypress, turpentine, camphor, cedar, thyme, pine, Georgian wood, frankincense, moss and vetiver.

photo: okinawa soba