Serge Lutens - Boxeuses

Tough on top, sweet underneath


I think I'll just keep going with the leather scents this week. So the next one on my list is the brand new Boxeuses from Serge Lutens. Serge Lutens is having fun. I can just tell from his perfumes, that he refuses to be put into a box. Although Boxeuses returns to some of his old palette, with fruity woods, the rest of the perfume is so original it makes me smile, even as it hits me.

Boxeuses starts with a black licorice note, not too sweet, but woody and herbal, like real black licorice. That darkness is quickly joined by another, a tarry, black leather note. The leather is almost charred, with that smokiness that birchtar can have. These two notes duke it out for a while and I thought that maybe Boxeuses was too strong for me. My husband pronounced it "acrid" when I got into the car with him, minutes after spraying it on.

But then a softer side of the fighter starts to show through. Almost stealthily,a  purple plum note creeps in. I thought at first I was smelling that fruity note on someone else. When I pressed my nose to my wrist I still smelled that black leather but plum seemed in the air around me. Gradually, the perfume becomes a lovely plum and wood. It reminds me of the fruity-purple woodiness of Bois de Violette. It makes me want to cuddle up and just sniff my skin. The fighter has become a lover. Even my husband likes it now.

That drydown is so yummy it breaks my heart. Boxeuses is a perfume from Serge Lutens exclusive line and is only available in his shop in the Palais Royale in Paris. A big thank you to Grain de Musc for my sample!


House: Serge Lutens
Nose: Christopher Sheldrake
Notes: wood, leather, plum, licorice


Photo: Rob Beyer

Tauer Perfumes - Lonestar Memories

Fall in love with a cowboy

Lean back against your saddle and warm your hands by the camp fire. The other day I posted a link to a news article about the new Bond No. 9 perfume Saks Fifth Avenue Texas, which doesn't seem to smell like Texas at all. But there is a perfect Texas perfume on the market already, Lonestar Memories by Tauer Perfumes. LM is an olfactory travel log, a smell-o-vision memory, of a night on the open range.

The Tauer web site calls LM "An ode on birchtar" and Andy Tauer, the Swiss perfumer who deeply loves Texas, calls it "cowboy in a bottle." And what a cowboy. This isn't a smooth urban player with a new pair of boots and a shiny buckle. This is the real deal – a man with a slow drawl, rough hands, and a fast horse. His jeans are dusty, he's been working outside all day, but he can build a fire, spread out a blanket for you under the stars and sing you to sleep.

Oh, my... where was I?  LM starts with the realistic smell of a camp fire – charred wood and smoke. After you get used to that, you start to notice grasses and sage brush – a dry, bitter and almost soapy smell. Then, everything gets a little warmer and sweeter and it develops the distinct smell of well-worn leather. I imagine a smooth brown saddle.

Lonestar Memories is a bit rough around the edges but I find the story it tells so masculine sexy, I want to date myself. My husband, who generally only likes to wear soap, may be getting stealth-perfumed with this one.

House: Tauer Perfumes
Nose: Andy Tauer
Notes: Head Notes: Green geranium, and spicy carrot seed blended with clary sage. Heart Notes: A rich smoky leather chord, with cistus and a hint of jasmine. Body Notes: The finest woods and balms from myrrh, tonka, vetiver and sandalwood.

Photo: Padams

Parfumerie Generale - L'Oiseau de Nuit

A warm, sweet and smoky fall

L'Oiseau de Nuit is supposed to be a leather scent, but I don't smell leather. What I do smell is a complicated, warm and sweet, almost gourmand, oriental.

Different notes, dark and light, swirl up from my skin. Sometimes sugary, sometimes herbal, sometimes smoky and woody, OdN keeps me coming back to my wrist to smell more. The resin labdanum is honeyed wood and earth. The davana is a peach syrup floral note. Benzoin, another resin, smells like sweet vanilla.

When I first put OdN on, I thought I smelled cotton candy and beer nuts. In my mind I was back at the old fair grounds, where I've gone every October for around 30 years to the Markham Fair. The fall, for me, is that fair with it's smells of burning leaves and sawdust mixed with the sweeter smells of the foodstands. I'll go again this year, and of course there will be a midway, the rides lighting up the sky like the electric plumage of giant night birds.

House: Parfumerie Generale
Nose: Pierre Guillaume
Notes: cistus labdanum, liqueur of davana, benzoin, leather

Photo: DOS82

Parfums Nicolaï - Maharanih

A "fruitchouli" for the more refined palate

According to The Perfume Shrine, the perfumista term "fruitchouli" was coined sometime in 2009 to describe a flood of unoriginal perfumes on the market that combined sweet, fruity notes with patchouli. In a similar post, Grain de Musc adds "patchrose" (patchouli + rose) to the list of overused perfume accords of 2009. The patchouli frenzy may have had something to do with the popularity of 1992's Angel. It may also have been a result of new EU restrictions on the use of oakmoss in perfumes - making perfumers look to patchouli to add depth to their perfumes.

So what makes this fruity rose and patchouli a great perfume and different from the run-of-the-mill? I think Patricia de Nicolaï's Maharanih, released in 2006, is gorgeous and classically composed because of the way all her notes are perfectly balanced. Maharanih starts with a sweet juicy orange that is combined with a bitter orange peel. In the heart, a deep wine-red rose is combined with a lighter, creamy carnation. The spiciness of the carnation is reinforced with cinnamon - a note that also compliments the jammy rose and holds the two flowers together. There is an earthy patchouli in the base, but I also can actually smell the sandalwood. A smudge of civet makes this a woman's perfume, not a little girl's.

As much as we who sniff whine about boring "fuitchoulis", I find one annoying fact inescapable: the men we love seem to love it. Well mine does. I can be certain that anything in that category will be instantly deemed "sexy" by him. So, if I want to indulge him once in a while, why not do it with a beautiful and sophisticated perfume like Maharani? Plus, it's such a happy perfume! It makes me smile too.

House: Parfums Nicolaï
Nose: Patricia de Nicolaï
Notes: Top notes : Citrus : sweet orange oil, bitter orange zest
Heart : Spicy and floral : rose oil, carnation, cinnamon
Bottom notes : Woody : patchouly oil and absolute, sandalwood, synthetic civet

Picture: Lucy Nieto

Perfume in the News: Saks Fifth Avenue Texas by Bond No. 9

Came across this article today: New cologne gives you the odor of the Lone Star State.

Bond No. 9 has come out with another of their store-exclusive fragrances, like their Harrods Rose (for Harrods in England)  and Saks-en-Rose (for Saks Fifth Avenue, U.S.) from earlier this year. The new perfume, Saks Fifth Avenue Texas, is supposed to smell "like a tour through a south Texas garden with warm vanilla, aromatic cardamom and East Indian vetiver and musk." It's only available at the Saks in Dallas,  Plano, Houston, San Antonio and Austin

The comments are hilarious. Apparently they couldn't find anyone in Houston who thought it actually smelled like Texas. I could have guessed that from the notes. Since when are cardamom and vetiver notes that evoke Texas?

Well, I'll have to give it a sniff sometime and see for myself.

Parfums Parfums DelRae - Amoureuse

An unexpected trip to India

As the weather cools in Toronto but we still have sunny days, I like to wear florals, especially big white florals. The kind of happy girly perfumes that I don't want in the winter, but are also too much for the stickier days of summer.  Amoureuse seemed made to fit the bill: a big, feminine white floral with tuberose and jasmine.

Amoureuse starts with a juicy tangerine note and honey that is more animalic than sweet. The oakmoss helps to tone down the sweetness as well, giving the perfume a vintage feel.  And that's pretty much what I was going to write about, big florals... indolic... honey dripping... va va va voom and tra-la-la.

But the more I wore Amoureuse, the more I started to think that this is not the southern belle, like Peche Cardinal, that I was expecting. Amoureuse beckons to me with dark eyes from a different country - India.

Tuberose and jasmine are both prominent flowers in India but the note in Amoureuse that ties it all together is cardamon. Intensely aromatic, cool somehow and almost minty, the cardamon in Amoureuse lifts this perfume out of the banal. It add a greeness to the perfume that, along with the lily, makes me think of lily of the valley leaves - their shape and colour, which is also the shape and colour of the cardamon pods. The cardamon tones down the sweetness of tuberose, to a level that I appreciate. Add a base of sandalwood and you have your whirlwind olfactory tour of India.

The far dry down, 16 hours later, is mostly that animalic honey. A well done "modern" chypre.

House: Parfums DelRae
Nose: Michel Roudnitska
Notes: tangerine, cardamon, french tuberose, french jasmine, tahitian lily, oakmoss, sandalwood, honey

Photo: Michael Foley Photography

Penhaligon's - Gardenia

Light, breezy and pretty

Originally released in 1976, Gardenia was reformulated in 2009 by Bertrand Duchaufour as part of the Anthology Collection. As he did with Orange Blossom, M. Duchaufour created a sheer pretty interpretation of the flower.

In contrast to the number of notes listed below, Gardenia smells deceptively simple. It starts with a very green note, combined with jasmine and tuberose. There is a tartness that must be the rhubarb. In the heart I smell mainly the magnolia over some gentle, warm, woody spices.

Gardenia is fresh and easy to wear. It seems natural yet classic. I like Orange Blossom better, but I could see spritzing on Gardenia for a summer wedding or a garden party, that's the kind of feel it gives me.

House: Penhaligon's
Nose: Bertrand Duchaufour
Notes:
Head Notes
Violet, Rhubarb, Bergamot, Hyacinth, Magnolia, Green Leaves
Heart Notes
Gardenia, Rose, Ylang, Orange Blossom, Tuberose, Jasmine, Clove, Cinnamon, Lily of the Valley
Base Notes
Benzoin, Sandalwood, Musk, Vanilla