Recap Winter 2012

Finally we've had a few days of non-freezing temperature. It's not yet spring but still a step in the right direction. This has made me reach for a whole new sets of perfumes, colognes, light florals and even some fruity ones. So, lets do a recap of Winter 2012, before we forget all about it. 

My top 3 most used for perfumes during the winter of 2012:

Ormonde Woman by Ormonde Jayne - Conjures an image  of dark green fir trees covered in snow. Cool, delicate and severe at the same time. The scent of an elf queen during winter.

Santal de Mysore, Serge Lutens - It took me some time to "get" this one, the first few tries I could only smell wine barrels. Now it's a cornucopia of gourmet notes like chocolate and mint, spice notes like curry and cumin and above all, divine Mysore sandalwood. Funny thing is, when I made my husband try it, it mostly smelled like coconut!

28 La Pausa, Chanel les Exclusifs - Very hard to describe, it feels like adding an (much needed) aura of exclusivity and refinement whenever I wear it. If there ever was such a thing as class in a bottle, 28 La Pausa would be it.

Top trends:

Evergreens - not your regular "green" scents at all, but somehow with a dark,  green, near teal, feel to them. I do mentally place Ormonde Woman in this category along with Mandy Afteliers sweet and heart warming Fir and Chanels, cooler,  Sycomore.

Orientals - they're soft, warm and spicy, in other words, the best thing to battle winter with. Some much used favorites have been Serge Lutens Chergui and Chanel Bois des Iles.

Cool Iris - if fighting the cold does not seem like an option, join it. Some great options here are (the already mentioned) 28 la Pausa, Serge Lutesns Iris Silver Mist (interesting how I got more damp soil, roots and blood during summer, in winter is all about etheral metallic cold) and the soft and super feminine L'Eau d'Hiver by Frederic Malle.

New acquired tastes:

And, yes, one of the most fun things with having perfumes as a hobby is you think you know it all, "I love this, I hate that, yada yada" and then comes along a fragrance that proves you utterly wrong. For me, two notes that I didn't use to like but now have started to crave RE aldehydic cleanness and pepper. Aldehydic cleanness (I'm lacking a proper name here) is that sharp, scrubbed, slightly chemical clean note that make your eyes widen and at least I think "Should I really be inhaling this?". It's present in the top note of Frederic Malles Iris Poudre and it's in Aldehyde 44 by Le Labo.

Another new friend of mine is pepper. I used to think it was a bit to much, to sharp and not something I liked to smell in a perfume. No more. I now love how it adds character to the top notes of most of the Ormonde Jayne scents and how it's used to create contrast over time in Le Labos Poivre 23.



Image: Free-desktop-backgrounds.net

Secret Grarden and Oud Lubin by Aftelier Perfumes

The secret garden in the sky

 Trying something new from Aftelier Perfumes is always a treat. You never know what will happen, the only thing that's for sure is that you're in for something unique and totally unexpected. Secret Garden was no exception, first thing that jumped out at me when trying it on were bandages and saffron! I was a bit suspicious, neither of these notes were listed among the official scent notes, but within minutes the perfume started to get hold of itself and suddenly it settled into a lovely, mouth watering, fruity floral.

I think Secret Garden is a very apt name. It IS a fruity floral, sure, but these are not fruits and flowers as we usually know them. I'm finding it hard to pin down the exact listed notes, what I am getting are  flowers yet to be discovered, forbidden fruits and every now and then there might be a reflection of an eye or a sharp tooth, barly visible through the shrubbery, belonging to one of the mysterious inhabitants. An image that has been coming to me again and again is of a castle in the sky. A beautyful mirage anyone would wish to possess - but the castle is impossible to touch and merely it's own.

Oud Luban is a whole different thing. It smells of smoke and incense and made me feel the way I do when staying at my husbands familys cabin, far out in the woods. There is no running water and no electricity and all cooking is done, medival style, over a small fireplace. Oud Luban took me back to the state of utter relaxation one gets into after sitting alone, staring into that cooking fire while the rain is pouring down outside for hours and hours. If it would be a person it would be that big, calm outdoorsy type. He doesn't say much but you know you can rely on him anytime you need.

But, then I tried Secret Garden layered with Oud Luban and a complete tranformation happened. My experience when doing this was like I have this Secret Garden floating in the sky and suddenly someone slappes a lower body onto the whole thing, complete with hips, legs and a nice ass. And now we're talking accessability on a whole new level. All of a sudden this is a scent you can dance with and do a whole lot of other stuff to that are more fun than just gazing at something admireably from a distance.

I'm thinking of Secret Garden and Oud Lubin as those kids, back in school, that were not allowed to sit next to each others in class because they would disrupt the order in the classroom. I can understand, from a teachers perspective, why it's a good idea to keep them apart but if you don't mind a bit of fun, chaotic excitement in your life, by all means smear both of them on - because they really enjoy each others company.


Official Notes:

Secret Garden:
Top: bergamot, bois de rose, Geraniol, blood orange.
Heart: jasmine sambac, raspberry (compounded isolate), Turkish rose, blue lotus.
Base: civet, castoreum, vanilla, deer tongue, benzoin, aged patchouli. 

Oud Luban:
Top: elemi, orange terpenes, blood orange, frankincense CO2.
Base: oud, opopanax, choya ral, benzoin, aged patchouli.


These sampels were sent to me for considerations

Cepes and Tuberose by Aftelier Perfumes

The Trolls and the Tuberose

In order to describe Afteliers "Cepes and Tuberose" I'll retell you a short story I read a while ago. It's called "Border" and it's from a collection of stories named "Paper Walls" written by Swedish horror author John Ajvide Lindqvist.

The main character is a woman named Tina who hasn't got the happiest of lives. She married to a good-for-nothing guy who cheats on her and spends her money. Furthermore, she's big boned, scarred and, by most peoples standards, downright ugly. She works at the customers office but the only place where she feels at peace is in the forest.

One day, a man passes her at the customs counter and she just knows he's hiding something. He also smells incredibly good. During a routine customs search, nothing out of the ordinary is found, though.

Paper Walls

Later, it turns out that he's renting a room in the house next to hers. She gets more and more obsessed by him. She breaks in to his room, into his car and just sits there, breathing in his smell, at once musky, woody, beautiful, just RIGHT, somehow.

Now, at this time she might be sounding really creepy, but it turns out that the two of them are not really humans at all, they are trolls. He is one of the last ones to have been raised free. Tina was taken away from her parents at a young age, tail cut off, put up for adoption among humans in an attempt to integrate her into society. Her parents were institutionalized, driven insane from being deprived their peaceful existence in the forest.

I've had this story coming to mind ever since I first put on "Cepes and Tuberose". That is how I picture those trolls smelling. It starts off with boozy orange, chocolate and marzipan accord. When the orange wears off the cepes (=porcini) reveal themselves. A mushroom perfume might sound odd, but just think of the truffle pigs. The reason why they are so keen on finding those truffles is that truffles smell just like a female pig in heat. Ok, she seems to be hiding a few inches below the ground, never a good sign, but sometimes you don't ask any questions. Now, smelling of truffles would be a bit much, at least for me, but the earthiness of cepes are the second best thing on my internal mushroom sexiness ranking chart, and in "Cepes and Tuberose" - they smell good! 

There are other notes as well. I get woody cloves and cedar. Sometimes I get something musky. And there is the tuberose, flickering like an elusive forest fairy. Sometimes she's out in the open, sometimes not, but her glowing pixie dust helps  bringing the other notes to life.

To say that "Cepes and Tuberose" smells like an autumn forest would be true but it would not be the whole truth. This is one of those scents that sum up to a whole lot more than the individual notes in themselves. It IS an autumn forest, but it's a sunny one, a happy one, one that is chock full of pheromones, smiling at you, beckoning to enter.






Disclaimer: I read the story "Border" several years ago and I might not have all the details right. There is a lot more to it than what I tell here.
My sample of "Cepes and Tuberose" I bought at the Aftelier Perfumes Website.
Troll image is by Swedish artist John Bauer.

Cooking with Aftelier essences, part 2 - Ice Cream

One type of food that that lends itself especially well to experimentation is ice cream. People are more open about how it can be flavoured, compared to most other foodstuffs and it's nearly impossible to make a bad batch of it, as long as you taste as you go!

In this post, there are two ice cream recipes, the first one is basically a lemon sorbet that has had some sunshie added to it in the guise of a drop of Aftelier Yellow Mandarin Essence. The second one is also very good but a bit on the nerdy side, to say the least. It was initially meant to be a tribute to the cult fragrance Shiseido Feminité de Bois. By mistake I overdosed the raspberries and it blossomed into a "Serge Lutens Bois et Fruit" Ice Cream. You can fail in worse ways than that :)

Mandarin Sorbet

Mandarin Sorbet

3-4 lemons
4 dl (1.6 cup) water
2 dl (0.8 cup) sugar
1 drop Aftelier Yellow Mandarin Essence

First, make the syrup:
Put sugar and water in a pot.
Bring to boil.
Let the syrup cool down in a refrigerator until completely cool.

Squeeze the juice out of 3 of the lemons into a big bowl.
Add 3/4 of the syrup and the drop of mandarin essence.
Taste carefully.

If it's too sweet, add more lemon juice.
If it's to tart, add more syrup.
Keep on doing this until you can't imagine the sorbet getting any better.

Freeze everything in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturers instructions.

--------------------------------------------------------------

And now, the Bois et Fruits recipe. I had so much fun doing this. I dabbed some Shiseido Feminité de Bois on, trying to match the scent tastewise as I went, borrowing inspiration from the list of notes posted at the Fragrantica website. Doing it this way was a bit like playing perfumer but actually having a clue about what I was doing :)

Bois et Fruits Ice Cream

Bois et Fruit Ice Cream

270 g (8.5 oz) plums, cut into pieces, pits removed
2.5*2.5 cm (1*1 inch) piece of ginger, cut into coin sized pieces
1 clove
1 stick of cinnamon
1 splash vanilla essence (I've a difficult time measuring this properly as I make my own by putting leftover vanilla pods into vodka, use a little but not to much)
5 tablespoons honey
1/2 dl (0.2 cups) water
1 drop of Aftelier Blood Cedarwood Essence
100g (3 oz) raspberries 
1 drop Aftelier Yellow Mandarin Essence
1.5 dl (0.6 cups) whipping cream

For really getting the most out of making this ice cream, if possible, dab some Shiseido Feminité de Bois on one wrist and some Serge Lutens Bois et Fruits on the other. These are your references to smell while cooking the fruit base.

Put plums, ginger coins, clove, cinnamon, vanilla, honey, water and cedar essence into a pot. Bring to boil. Don't use a lid.

Now, FdB is mainly about wood and fruit. The spices are supposed to be team players, binding everything together but not stand out individually. Therefore you need to taste your plum jam to all the time (at least every 30 secs). As soon as one of the whole spice seems to getting too dominant compared to your perfume reference it has to be removed.

I did it like this:
after 1 minute of boiling the clove was removed
after 5 minutes of boiling the cinnamon stick was removed
after 7 minute of boiling the ginger slices were removed

Keep on boiling until the plums start to disintegrate.

By now the fruit base should taste something similar to Feminité de Bois. Feel free to tinker with it.

Add raspberries and mandarin essence.

Keep the pot on the hot stove until the raspberries start to disintegrate.

Now the fruit base should taste like Bois et Fruits.

Chill until completely cold

Whip the cream.

Stir the fruit base into the cream.

Freeze in an ice cream maker following the manufacturers instructions.

And not, finally, you get to eat the ice cream!

Cooking with Aftelier essences, part 1 - Grand Fir

Mandy Aftel does not only make top notch natural perfumes, she also has a range of cooking essences and I've been lucky enough to get to try a few of them. The ones I've been experimenting so far are Yellow Mandarin, Blood Cedar Wood, and Grand Fir. The wooden ones I choose because those flavours are unusual in cooking and I love a challenge. Sweet mandarin I chose because I LOVE the taste of mandarins. Clementins and tangerines we can get all year round here, but real mandarins with their very special happy taste are very hard to come by. They only show up for a few weeks every year in speciality food stores, so having a small bottle of essence is a real treat!

So, what have I been using these essences for? Since I haven't had any finished recipes I've started easy. Doing simple, near fool proof, dishes just to get to get the feel for each essence. Initially I thought that the Grand Fir one would be the hardest one to use, it smells very assertively and resiny. A scent that I associate with masculinity, winter, deep forests and green Wunderbaums, hanging in cars belonging to guys with shady intentions. Fortunately, I've been delighted to find several great uses for it. I've tried adding a drop to a basic balsamic vinaigrette dressing, that works great with veggie salads or Greek salads, especially with sweet ripe tomatoes and feta cheese.

Veggies with Balsamic Fir Vinaigrette

Balsamic Fir Vinaigrette

1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegraitte
1 small drop Grand Fir Essence
Salt and pepper to taste

Mix everything in a small bowl. Taste!


Salad to go with the dressing

Use the any ones you like of the following:
Lettuce
Tomatoes, the sweeter and riper the better
Cucumber
Red onions
Grated carrots
Feta cheese

Cut up the veggies and feta. Put everything in a salad bowl. Either pour the dressing all over the salad or serve on the side.

A well known chefs proverb is "Grows together, goes together". Here in Sweden I think the fir is the most common tree, especially up north there are vast forests of them. All over the forest floor wild lingonberries grow. Their taste reminds me a bit about cranberries, but they are smaller, harder and tarter. The most common use for them is making jam. I was very curious about how lingonberries would take to the Grand Fir Essence so I made a quick, not so sweet, version of lingonberry jam to try. It turned out great, an interesting, and somehow deeper tasting, version of a Swedish classic.

Lingonberry Forest Relish

This is somewhere between a jam and a relish. For making jam, just boil the berries a bit longer and add more sugar.

1 cup of lingonberries
1/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon water
1 drop Grand Fir Essence

Put lingonberries, sugar and water in a pot.
Boil for a few minutes until the berries start breaking up.
Add the drop of Grand Fir Essence.
Stir and serve.

Great served with Swedish meatballs.

So, this is enough cooking for today. I have several more posts coming up using the other two essences, so stay tuned :)



The essences were sent to me for trial.

Shiso by Aftelier Perfumes

"You take the blue pill – the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill – you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes."  -Morpheus

That was what come to my mind when I thing about Aftelier Perfumes Shiso - my little red pill. It's really that different, that unique and interesting. A whole new universe of how a scent can be opened up for me. And luckily, I ended up in a truly beautyful rabbit hole indeed.

But, it's not just the scent of Shiso that is unique, it also seems to wear differently on me than other scents. As far as I'm aware of perfumes wear in 2 ways; there is the classic top->heart->base note thing and there is the simpler linear wear, also called WYSIWYG, the way a perfume smells at first sniff is how it will continue to smell, it will only grow weaker over time.

In Shiso I found one single note standing out the whole time, from beginning to end while the supporting notes changed over time. If I was to compare it to Tango, Tango wears like an orchestra playing a symphony. The notes work like the different instruments, sometimes you can discern them one and one, sometimes they all support a bigger theme. Shiso wears like there is one soloist note, playing a concerto with a symphonic orchestra as  support. I'm very interested in hearing if this is just on me or if others are having the same experience.

And what is that note? Well, here I have a dilemma. I don't know. I suspect it might be shiso, the Japanese herb bearing the same name as the perfume, paired with clove and cassia. But I don't know what shiso smells like so I can't say for sure.

One think I know though, and that is that I have ań active mind that happily makes up for whatever gaps there seems to be in my knowledge, Shiso is no exception. Now, my scent markers tend to go into 2 categories, one for wine related scents and the other is for scents of stuff I felt passionate about as a child - which seems to be mostly candy. That note I feel so strongly in Shiso is very similar to a Swedish candy named "Sura Cola Nappar" (Sour Coca-Cola Pacifiers), I'll call them SCNs hereafter. SCNs are made of gelatine, flavoured by something slightly resembling the taste of Coca Cola and dredged in citric acid, making them extremely sour on the outside with a sweet core.

Sura colanappar

And the supporting notes, what are they? Well, that's the cool thing. It seems like everything goes with SCNs. A first I make out exquisite sandalwood. At times I get resin. There is leather and notes similar of the stable notes found in mature red wines. Toward the end Shiso goes a little sweeter and lighter, I get tart green citrus and I also get a little mellower yuzu. According to the official notes there are green peppers and geranium in there. I wouldn't ave thought of them if I hadn't read up, but they are there, adding structure and a hint of sharpness.

Now, SCNs aren't the most exclusive of foodstuffs (even calling them foodstuff is stretching things), but don't let that scare you off. If they are not available where you live, your mind will probably latch onto something else. Trying Shiso was a grand perfume experience for me. It made me realise that all the perfumes I've previously known just take up a small fraction of the infinite universe of smell. Thank God there are perfumers ready to explore what more is out there, and that there are fumeheads, like me, who just love to get to go on those trips!

Tango by Aftelier Perfumes

Earlier this year I spent some weeks on the "Tim Ferriss diet" in order to get rid of those last post-pregnancy kilos. That means, somewhat simplified, 6 days a week you eat low-cal-high-fat food. The seventh day is your "day off" - you get to eat any amount of anything you like. Tango from Aftelier Perfuemes pretty much sums up what I did on my day off, plus a bit more.

But, lets start from the beginning. First time I put on a few precious drops of Tango, I just went "?????" I couldn't figure it out. There just was nothing familiar I could hold on to. Nowhere to begin to understand this thing. I felt so confused. But then the notes started to unfold. The first thing I got took me back to when I was something like 10 years old and went to the dentist to get braces. The dentist took out this metal mould that he filled up with some type of putty. This he shoved into my mouth in order to make a cast of my teeth. That putty tasted a bit like the first seconds of Tango. A very unexpected first impression.

By then things should only get better, and fortunately they did! I started picking up spices. First charred ginger, then cloves and in no time I had a nice little orchestra of spices playing gingerbread dough on my wrist. I also got, at some points marzipan, Cadbury milk chocolate, Kahlua, chai and lots and lots of sweet pipe tobacco. The notes kept on moving, dancing, sometimes disappearing but then showing up in a new guise. Like watching the face of someone you love, discovering new cute things all the time.

At the time I did the testing for this review I was staying at my in-laws house out in the countryside and I asked my mother-in-law if she'd like to try my Tango sample along with me. She did, and Tango turned out very different on her. In fact, if I had not seen her apply about the same amount of Tango as I did at the same time I had never thought it be the same perfume! When I had this symphony of spices and tobacco, she got a bit of sweet wood and some cinnamon during drydown. No gingerbread and no pipe  for her, whatsoever! It was like her skin was eating all those notes alive. On the other hand, we also tried Mandy Afteliers Honey Blossom and the florals there turned out much better on her, more vivid and longer lasting. So now she is the Flower Power Woman while I'm the Spice Girl.

Also, when reading other reviews on the net, I seem to get a sweeter and foodier treatment than others. Actually Tango is listed as a floral on Fragrantica, and Champaca is one of the official notes, but that one is not revealing herself to me at all. But, as a gourmand scent Tango is fantastic, containing all the stuff I love but shouldn't eat too much of, with a bit of pipe smoking thrown in just for fun. It has grown on me every time I've tried it and now I know, if I ever have to do the "Tim Ferriss diet" again, Tango will be what gets me through those 6 days tedious diet days every week.