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

Amouage Gold pour Femme

One of the best aspects, if not THE best aspect, of having perfumes as a hobby is that you get to meet so many wonderful persons. I'm not the first blogger to point this out, but perfumistas are the friendliest and most generous people around and one of the most adorable ones is Suzanne of Suzannes Perfume Journal. In my opinion, her perfume reviews are some of  the best out there, full of cultural references to books, movies and music as well as references to Suzannes own life. Always written with great humour and spirit, draws me in and while I may understand that I might not like a perfume she writes about, according to the notes present, every time I still love to share her olfactory experience through thoughts and words in the blog.

A while ago, me and Suzanne did a little swap and through that swap I got my first real glimpse of the legendary Omani perfume house Amouage (that I thought was named Amourage until a week ago, well yes, I'm a natural blonde...). There were several samples in that package but the one I'm going to write about today is Amouage Gold pour Femme. It was the first Amouage creation, from 1983, and a BIG scent, intended for evening wear.

Gold starts out with a burst of aldehyde and lilies of the valley. As the soapy aldehydes fade the scent slowly opens up and softens. I do get rose and apricots in the heart and in the drydown, some 24 hours later, the flowers have morphed into the most beatiful, myrrh-like peach. Soft and sexy and utterly feminine. Now, just because I can't name that many notes does not mean that there aren't many notes, there are! According to surrendertochance, Gold is made from 120 ingredients. But they are well blended and balanced and fit together like a perfectly tailored dress. Or maybe not a dress, the feeling I get from Gold is more like a wall. A big massive brick wall built entirely out of the essence of femininity.

Sometimes in perfume reviews you see writings like "It didn't feel like I was wearing the perfume, it felt like the perfume was wearing me". Usually this denotes a negative experience. I'm experiencing exactely this with Gold, but in a very positive way. It's like it's connecting me with some feminine aspect of myself that I wasn't previously aware of. Wearing Gold makes me reach for my most elegant skirts and dresses instead of jeans. It makes me take my time putting on make-up in the mornings, going for a full skin routine and red lips instead of the usual transparent gloss. It even affects the way I paint my toe nails. Normally I go for punky neons, crazy holographics and glitters (my former favourite is a Japanese one containing tiny poodle shaped sequins). Now, I've been doing pale pinks and nudes - colors that previously made me shudder in discomfort and boredom. But when wearing Gold, they are not boring anymore, just classy and elegant. And that's the way I feel about myself as well!

Have you ever experienced that a perfume is altering your personality, in good ways or bad ways? I'm very curious to hear if anyone has had a similar thing happening! And, about the video, when I thought about Gold being a song this one popped up in my head. I love Patti Smiths voice, it's so strong and has so much personality. You don't mess with her and you don't mess with Gold.


Official notes (according to Fragrantica)
Top notes: wild rose, lily-of-the-valley and silver frankincense.
Heart notes: myrrh, orris and jasmine.
Base notes: ambergris, civet, musk, cedarwood and sandalwood.