Water lily

Musings from cottage country

For the first time I actually smelled a live water lily. It's remarkably like what I was expecting. I've read that there is no natural water lily extraction or essence in perfume, all water lily accords are created synthetically. 

The live lily is fresh, lightly sweet, a little aquatic and a little lemony. Sort of like the peony but without any rosiness.

On another topic, I just read The Perfect Scent by Chandler Burr, his journalistic look into the perfume industry in New York and Paris, focused around the creation of two perfumes Un Jardin sur le Nil by Hermès and Sarah Jessica Parker, Lovely. I feel changed. Blinders have come off my eyes. I'm sorry for any stupid things I may have said about perfume or the industry. This book explains so much - about the art form, the formulas, the use of synthetics vs. "natural" ingredients and more. I've already written about Un Jardin sur le Nil and now I am going to have to go get a tester of Lovely, and some of the other perfumes discussed in the book. The paperback itself came with a small test strip of Lovely, but maybe it was old, all that was left was base notes, but they were nice basenotes - a woody musk that lingers on the skin.

For all you Canadians, have a great long weekend. This will be my only post, I'm heading back down to the dock.

Photo: mine

Parfumerie Generale - Drama Nuii

Dry jasmine and herbs morphs into a pale green lily of the valley

Pierre Guillaume likes bitter green. I've only tried two Parfumerie General perfumes, Drama Nuii and Papyrus de Ciane, and both star a bitter green accord.

Drama Nuii starts with a lemony jasmine, and a green rose. The rose is soapy. As it develops a herbalness with a spicy edge comes out, that made me think of clary sage maybe. It's a little like hay, or dry grasses,  not sweet, but bitter and a little tannic like tea. The notes say absinthe, a story for the herbal green bitterness of the perfume.

The green floral smell becomes a light lily of the valley. After a while that's all I can smell, green lily, a little bitter and a little soapy. Then after a while, a little musky.

The whole is a dry, light green take on jasmine and lily. Not too sweet, it would suit a man or woman.

House: Parfumerie Generale
Nose: Pierre Guillaume
Notes: petitgrain, absinthe, jasmine, spices, guaiac wood, sandalwood, musk

Photo: sektordua

Montale - Intense Tiaré

Monoi and suntan lotion

Montale is a niche Perfume line founded by Pierre Montale in 2003. It's mission is to create high quality, unisex fragrances from natural materials. Fragrantica lists 69 fragrances created by Pierre Montale, from 2008 to 2010. That's one busy nose.

Montale perfumes are generally focused on scents from the "Orient and Arabia" with ingredients like oud and frankincense. Intense Tiaré, however, is a perfume from the other side of the world, the Pacific Islands.

When I stayed in Bora Bora, I discovered the local Tahitian monoi oil, an infusion made from soaking tiaré flowers in coconut oil. I used it as a moisturizer, perfume and bath oil. Intense Tiaré reminds me of that time - it smells like monoi and suntan lotion. There's a creamy sweetness, probably from the vanilla and coconut milk, and a soapiness that may be from the rose.

After many hours the only thing left on my skin is a touch of sweet vanilla. Just like in Bora Bora, where they would bring to you cold towels, scented with local vanilla extract, as you lay sun-bathing around the pool.

Intense Tiaré has fair sillage. Stuck inside on a rainy afternoon in Northern Ontario, my companions say I smell like a tropical vacation. That's not a bad way to smell.

House: Montale
Nose: Pierre Montale
Notes: Tiaré. vanilla absolute, jasmine powder, coconut milk, ylang-ylang roses.

Photo: jsmoral

Les Nez - Let Me Play The Lion

Pale, dry golden yellow fur, sand, wood and smoke

Scents of dusty trails,
Of lightly sweetened ochre,
Of sun-weathered wood,
Of silence swept by mild breezes,
Of skies open like an endless azure cut oozing signs
of the coming storm.

Wood and incense, my favourite notes. Those are the first two things I smell. The wood is pale and bleached, the incense light, just a trail of smoke on the horizon. Then suddenly the whole perfume lifts. It almost feels like that, a physical sensation. What it smells like is the sudden addition of a light floral, almost herbal note that reminds me of chamomile. That fits with the pale golden yellow feel of the perfume.

There is a peppery spice note, like you wandered through a souk earlier in the day, and the smell of the spices for sale still clings to your clothes.  The whole thing is dusty dry - not quite desert, but maybe savanna, with tall dry grasses, and a campfire at night.

I don't find that LMPTL has a Head, Heart and Base as much as other perfumes, the notes swirl around and up like smoke.


House: Les Nez
Nose: Isabelle Doyen
Notes: incense, wood, spices

Parfums Nicolaï - Le Temps d'une Fête

Daffodils bloom in a sunny glade, surrounded by the dappled shade of mossy green woods

Parfums Nicolaï was created by Patricia de Nicolaï and her husband Jean-Louis Michau. Patricia comes from a distinguished family of perfumers, the Guerlain's. Her great-grandfather was Director of Guerlain and she was trained as a perfumer by her uncle, Jean-Paul Guerlain.

Patricia started her company to create "haute-couture" perfume - perfume that is not controlled by the marketers and their briefs, but instead allows the perfumer complete freedom to express herself, to use high quality ingredients and to manage the creation from idea right through to production.

Le Temps d'une Fête must be Patricia's idea of a walk in springtime. You can see in the notes, taken from her web site, how she envisions the perfume's development, from green leaves, to white flowers to animal/woody base. It's my favourite perfume structure, the chypre, and it's been done beautifully, so classic and yet so pretty and approachable.

LTdF starts with a sweet, bright fruit, like lemons and apricots. After a few minutes, the galbanum comes out. I'm really starting to love galbanum, it has a slightly bitter, spicy greeness; it's all leaves and stems. Another thing I love about this scent is that I don't have to wait until the drydown for the moss; it's right up top, nice green mossiness, like you've plunked yourself down under a mossy tree to enjoy the sunshine.

In the heart is the thick, yellow-pollen smell of daffodil and the waxy, lightly spicy hyacinth. It's like Easter.  Everything is held in perfect balance, the florals shine, a little fruit is still there but it never gets too sweet. Everyting is dappled by green leaves and the shadow cast by mossy branches. The base has lovely oakmoss and wood. My favourite part is sniffing my wrist in the far-drydown and smelling that deep mossy wood. As far as I am concerned, it's not a chypre without oakmoss and I hope that LTdF is never reformulated to conform to annoying IFRA rules.

Even with the high quality and creativity of her scents, Parfums Nicolaï manages to offer perfumes at a reasonable price. I especially appreciate the option to buy in smaller bottles of 30 ml, which makes collecting them so much more affordable!

House: Parfums de Nicolaï
Nose: Patricia de Nicolai
Notes:
Top notes : Green notes : galbanum, opoponax (sweet myrrh), mousse d’arbre (tree moss)
Heart : white flowers : jacinthe (hyacinth) and narcisse (narcissus)
Bottom notes : Animal and woody : bois de santal (sandalwood), patchouli, mousse de chêne (oakmoss)

Photo: bortescristian

Annick Goutal - Musc Nomade

Sweet, warm, tan skin

I received a package in the mail recently, covered in Hellas stamps, all the way from Greece! I'd forgotten the thrill of presents from far-away. I won a sample of Annick Goutal's Musc Nomade from the Perfume Shrine. Elena has an excellent review of MN, you should go read it.

Musc Nomade smells like sweet, warm suntanned skin. It's honey and hay and slightly woody and cuddly musks. It's sexy but not animalic. It's nuzzling the freshly-washed neck of your lover.

House: Annick Goutal
Nose: Isabelle Doyen
Notes: Muscone, white musk stemming from angelica root and ambrette seed, tonka beans, labdanum, Bombay wood (a papyrus variety)

Thank you to Elena and the Perfume Shrine for my sample!
Photo: jessicarabbit

Ormonde Jayne - Frangipani

I feel pretty, oh so pretty...

Frangipani is such a happy perfume! Frangipani flowers are grown in Hawaii for leis and they are most fragrant at night. I've never actually smelled the flower, but the perfume is lovely and a perfect floral for summer.

It starts with lime - the sharp edge of the citrus taken away by light, sweet florals. At the heart, a beautiful jasmine blooms, and a fresh water lily floats alongside. There is a fruitiness to the florals in the heart - the notes say plum but I think of nectarines. I don't find there's much of a base at all, just a whisper of cedar.

Frangipani makes me wants to put on a light dress, tuck a flower behind my ear and go out on a warm night to patio by the ocean.

House: Ormonde Jayne
Nose: Linda Pilkington
Notes:
Top: Linden blossom, magnolia flower and lime peel
Heart: White frangipani, jasmine, rose and tuberose absolutes, water lilies, plum, and green orchid oil
Base: Amber, musk, cedar and French vanilla absolute

Photo: Saunderses