Early spring scented egotrip of 2012.

Spring in Sweden can be divided into two phases. The latter is "real" spring when the trees starts getting leaves, there are tiny flowers on the ground and the air starts to warm. And there is the "not-really-spring" (yes, I'm paraphrasing Undina here :) ). A season that is winter by most peoples standards, it's just that it happens during months normally associated with spring.

When peeking at what other perfume bloggers seem to like during that fragile time of the year many seem to mirror their environment in the scent they choose, going for taut green scents and cold florals, especially roses. I've been doing the very opposite. When the view outside my window says "snow" I've been reaching for my biggest and boldest florals, compensating for everything that's not there. I'm naming this trend of mine "Escapism by Florals".

And, for "not-really-spring" of 2012, there are 3 notes I've been craving more than anything else, they are:

Tuberose - it started out when I unintentionally scented my phone with by Kilian Beyond Love. All of a sudden I wanted to cuddle that poor thing and never let it go. Then, again and again, when I went to stores to sniff perfume, and when I found a tuberose I just relaxed and thought, "Mmmmmmmm, yummy, THIS is what I've been looking for!" Tuberose has become my "relax" note. The note I "slip into" when I come home on Fridays after a hectic work week and want to get a break from any professional, responsible and serious parts of myself. Some scents featuring tuberose that I've loved to wear are Honore de Près Vamp á NY, Penhaligons Gardenia, L'Artisans La Chasse aux Papillons and Frederic Malles Carnal Flower.

Aldehydic florals - in my blog post Winter recap 2012 I wrote about how I was starting to appereciate the "aldehydic clean" note. I guess the next logical step was "aldehydic florals". So, I've been enjoying scents like Amouage Gold, Chanel 22 and Lanvin Arpege. I love how they have this old fashioned luxury feel. While wearing them I can imagine being a wealthy lady during the 50-ies whose biggest worries are weather the servants are careful while cleaning her fur coats or if she's gonna wear rubies or diamonds for dinner. It's a little fantasy I like to nuture when, in reality, my dinners mostly consist of me watching my daughter mash her fish fingers into her hair...

Peach - all of a sudden, I smell peaches everywhere. They're in the exquisite dry down of Amouage Gold Woman, they're in Mitsuko (yes, I seem to be her type, after all). Ormond Jaynes Frangipani comes across very peachy and there is Etat Libre d'Oranges Vrai Blonde. First time I tried it, about a year ago, I was expecting the detonation of a fruit bomb. That's not what I got, and I was dissappointed. Fortunately I've tried it again since and after having unintentionally prepared myself using all those aldehydic florals, I was able to approach the composision from another angle. And it's lovely! Bright and happy like a Bellini champagne cocktail - and it's a well know fact we all need lots of thos in order to get through winter ;)

And, since this is such an ego tripping post anyway, let me share my current music love, Frida Hyvönen. This is a great love song and big nostalgia trip for anyone who grew up with Dirty Dancing...

Image: staffanhuss.wordpress.com

Quick spritzes

View through my window on April 14, 2012

Look at the photo, that was the view outside my window a few hours ago. It has snowed ever since so now there's a 5 inch layer of snow covering everything. Spring just doesn't seem to be happening this year :(

But, fortunately, perfume does happen! About a month ago I discovered that hidden in the ugly mall next to where I take the train to and from work there are not one, but two small perfumeries. Thay both have a very basic mainstream selection, but still, they are there, just when I need a little pick-me-up-spritz after a long day of heavy thinking.

And yesterday I discovered this bus behind the house where I work, it basically takes me door to door in 5 minutes to NK, the department store with the biggest selection of niche scents here in Stockholm (it's not the nicest store, that's COW Parfymeri, but it is the biggest). So now, at any time when things at work seem to be going ugly, I just hang on to the thought that when my shift ends I'll be mere minutes away from drenching myself in good smelling juice, all for free, and then just drift away in the fumes and be happy :)

So these are some of the scents I've tried lately. My opinions here are all based on one times spritzes in stores and should not be taken as serious reviews. I've ordered them from "love at first sniff" to "worse than horrid".

L'Artisan La Chasse aux Papillons. Happy, playful and lovely mix of tuberose, jasmine and orange flowers. I hadn't expected to like it so much but it seemd to get right into my smiley reflexes after a long tedious work week, lifting both my mood and spirit. I'll be trying it again very soon and, so far, I think it's FB worthy!

Lanvin Arpège. A bright floral with a classical feel to it. Aldehydic at first, then jasmine and lilies of the valley. Felt like a great spring or early summer scent (or when you're just longing for spring very much). Must also try again soon! 

Chanel Cristalle Eau Verte. Reminds me of a very watered down version of Bandit. I get greenery and a hint of leathery rubber. It's nice, but I rather just wear Bandit.

Prada Prada (Amber). A perfectly good amber. If I ws looking for a typical amber in a pinch I might very well get this one.

Chanel No 19. A scent widely loved in the parfumista community. I do think very well put together, long lasting, distinct etc etc, but as I do admire it, unfortunately I can't bring myself to love it.

Stella McCartney L.I.L.Y. A clean floral with an aquatic feel about itself. Does it make you smell good? Yes. Does it make you smell interesting? No.

Chanel Allure Eau de Parfum. A mainstream peachy fruity floral with a vanilla base. Hm, probably smells great if you don't know what's more out there.

Viktor and Rolf Flowerbomb. A nightmare! I hadn't been reading up and thus expected a big blast of white flowers, based on the name. What did I get? Cloying burnt sugar from its very worst side. The only good thing I've got to say is that it washed off gracefully, so at least, thanks for that.

Tea for Two - l'Artisan Parfumeur

Tea just has to be one of the most comfortable and versatile scent notes around. It can be light and dainty, perfect with crustless cucumber sandwiches. Green tea goes from tasting like lightly toasted rice towards tasting like whole bales of hay, begging for something intensly sweet to cut through the astringency. And there is smoky tea, black tea, spicy tea, the list goes on and on. And, weirdly enough, most of them can, at some point, be detected while wearing Tea for Two.

First thing that happens when applying is a huge blast of smoky Lapsang Souchong. It's very intense and smoky but somewhere behind that smoke one can detect a balancing gormand note. To me it smells like biscuits. Dry, not very sweet, but with a smattering of vanilla added for flavour.

After an hour the smoke has faded and now we're having a very robust green tea. It tastes strongly of hay and unlit tobacco. The gormand note has also evolved, it's still sweet but it's also spicier now. Mabye there is gingerbread served with the tea?

Fast forward two more hours and most of the hay is gone. Now I get more of a regular, good quality black tea. It's served hot and a teaspoon of honey has slowly melted and been stirred into the cup.

At the extreme drydown all the tea and spices seem to meld together, forming a cup of nice, sweet Indian chai. The perfect warm, comfy ending of an intense day


I percieve Tea for Two more as a olfactorian recording of a series of nice moments than a classical perfume. It's amazing how it manages to morph from one cup of tea to the next. The notes seem to  swirl one around the other and I'm very intrigued how the sweetness first seem belong to the gourmand half of the scent, then in the tea. Same with the spices, first they go with the cake but thy end up in the chai. And its's not just an "interesting" scent, it smells very good indeed. I love it on cold winter days when you'd rather stay cuddled up under a blanket. And it's even better on days that I've anticipated as going to be rather bad. It's like carrying around a warm cuddly teddy bear, nudging you through any challenges out there that you'd rather not have known anything about.


Official notes from l'Artisan: ginger, smoked tea, honey

Notes from Fragrantica:
Top: bergamot, star anise, tea
Heart: cinnamon, ginger, spices
Base: honey, vanilla

Created by Olivia Giacobetti

Foto: http://old-photos.blogspot.com