Happy Rosé Wine Day! Perfumes To Put You In The Mood

I envy those of you in the Northern Hemisphere entering summer because rosé wine is in season! Here in the Southern Hemisphere, I'm shivering, and it's red wine time, but when the sun is warm, there is nothing better than a glass of pink.  Rosé is the perfect balance between white and red; when the former is to light or tart and the latter is too heavy, rosé is just right! The fact that is comes in multi-shades of pink like a rosy stained glass window only adds to the perfection. The second Saturday of June is Rosé Day, so I decided to do a short post on perfumes that remind me of the wine.

The obvious choice would be rose perfumes, and wouldn't it be perfection if every time you tilted the glass toward your mouth you got a whiff of roses? Alas, this is not the case but there are aspects of rose to be found in the wine's scent. The most rose-centered scent I am putting forward that reminds me of the pink wine is:

Rose de Siwa by MDCI Parfums

Francis Kurkdijian created this beautiful rose perfume for MDCI and it is the sparkling litchi opening that gives it a wine-like feel to me. It opens with a slightly tart radiance, a little like the taste of grapes, and then rose and peony. The rose here is dewy fresh and remains fruity for quite some time. The overall feel of this scent is the euphoric serenity that rose can impose if you are susceptible and welcoming to the aromatherapy effects of rose scent, as I am. 

www.Parade.com

Chloé Le Eau Eau de Toilette by Chloé 

Let's talk about Chloé perfume. I was a fan of the original Chloé; it was my signature perfume in college. It was a big tuberose bomb but this was in the era of Opium, Poison, Georgio, etc. so it actually was considered pretty tame and ladylike. So the first time I smelled the ravamped  Chloé many years later, I almost threw the bottle across the room, I was so shocked and not in a good way. And I know they still sell a version of Chloé which they cunningly call "The Original" but it is not. Did you see that Angelina Jolie movie about ten years ago called The Changeling? Her son has been kidnapped and disappears for a couple of years, when the local lawmen present her with a boy they've found and claim it is her missing son. She doesn't believe it and keeps telling everyone who will listen, "This is not my son!!!", and that is how I feel. "This is not my Chloe!"

However, we are not talking about the original, or the remake, which I still don't like. But the lighter, watered down version from last year, the Le Eau flanker, from a long line of flankers is one I can handle. It opens with rose, grapefruit, and litchi which give it a sour rose scent. Again, these sour fruits remind me of the pucker you can get from the grapes in wine. The rose is not too pronounced in this version. I get very watered down rose and magnolia, the tartness ever present, and eventually cedar and musk take over. I find this light and easy to wear, and I have to admit the bottles with their little ribbons and pleated glass, are cute.

www.WineFolly.com

My Buberry Blush 2017, Burberry Her 2018, Burberry Her Blossom 2019

All three of these are by Francis Kurkdijian, like the first one on my list. Does he possibly drink rosé? These are all somewhat similar in style, but emphasize different aspects of the fruits and rose notes.

My Burberry Blush is the most tart of the three, and if sour notes bother you, avoid. I find it a little weird, yet I also kind of like it. It does very much have the sour tartness which I find in wine. Lemon, pomegranate, and green apple are the fruity notes, along with rose, wisteria, jasmine, and geranium. Green apple is a strange note on my skin, so I think it's that note that keeps me unsure whether I like this. And although the juice is a pretty pink, the geranium gives it a very unisex edge.

My glass of rosé at Adelaide beach.

Burberry Her was introduced in 2018 to appeal to the youth market with Cara Delavigne as its face. I would like to think that Kurkdijian, being a class act, contained the fruity floral formula to a not too sugary format. Burberry Her is not earthshaking but it is pretty and easily likable. It has a nice strawberry note on the opening, but it also has raspberry, blackberry, cherry, and grape. Oh my gosh, it sounds hideous when I type the notes! But trust me, it's fine! The florals are subdued; it is the musks, cashmeran, vanilla, and amber that soften the fruitiness. This very much has the easy nonchalance of a glass of rosé.

Burberry Her Blossom is probably my favorite of these three, and on my skin has a sparkly, bubbly opening. The notes are quiet different from the original Her, less fruit and more flowers. The  mandarin is accompanied by peony and plum blossom. It lacks the tartness of My Burberry Blush, and the slight sweetness of Burberry Her which remind me of the wine, but it does have a slight effervescence. I wish I got more longevity.

www.TheSistersWine.Co.NZ

Kelly + Jones Reserve, Notes of Rosé 

Kelly + Jones have a line of perfumes based on wine and spirits. I have a sample of the original Notes of Rosé, a light scent with rose, green herbs, blackcurrant, and suede. But when I went to their website I see that just like with wine, there is a new vintage of Notes of Rosé from 2019, and the notes have changed, not slightly, but completely. Now it features mimosa, pink jasmine, marine notes, cardamom, and tonka. It sounds like a totally different perfume, so I'll update when I get to try it.

Lust In Paradis by Ex Nihilo

This one has similar notes to the ones above: peony, litchi, musks, amber, cedar, and I feel like I smell a slight rose note, which is not listed. Well I'm no Scooby Doo, but there is an obvious trend going here. Evidently, to my nose, litchi=rosé wine. Lust In Paradise is not what I expected. With lust I thought it would be erotic white flowers, or in paradise, I expected beach, water, sand. In fact, Lust In Paradise fits in very neatly with the perfumes listed above. It has a soft peony rosy note with the sourness of litchi that fit my rosé profile. I find it very pretty, but again, I wish it lasted longer.

www.shopcelebrated.com

These are just a few rosé-leaning perfume selections. What are your favorites?

Top photo: www.MonikaHibbs.com. 

Travels In Spain, Part Five: Granada and the Alhambra

Reviewing: Rania J Cuir Andalou, L'Artisan Histoire d'Oranger, MDCI Nuit Andalouse

A visit to Granada would complete our tour of Spain's Andalusian region. We had stopped at the beach along the way after our departure from Ronda so our arrival was in the late afternoon. Catholic monarchs may have conquered this area in the 1400's but the city's medieval Moorish past is alive and well in the Albaicin, the old part of the city where we were lodging. Our accommodation was atop a steep hill accessed by thread-narrow streets with impossible 90-degree turns amongst claustrophobic walls, navigated in our now obviously too-large car. We gratefully arrived at our destination and after settling into our very comfortable apartment atop the hill we went to get directions to the city below. "Right at the bell tower, left at the carpet shop, past the lantern stall and down the hill," we were told.

The directions sounded a little bit like Peter Pan's directions to Wendy: "Second star to the right and straight on 'til morning." When we arrived at the bottom of the hill we were spilled into a rabbit warren of narrow cobblestone paths lined with stall after stall selling leather goods, colorful glass lanterns, fancy spices, and indeed, it did seem we might have stumbled into Neverland, or at least Morocco.

It truly felt as if we'd left Spain and sailed across the Strait to North Africa. It was admittedly a tourist trap of goods, but the food in the colorfully decorated restaurants was amazing and the place came alive at night.

I had brought a couple of leather-based perfumes with me and decided that Cuir Andalou by Rania J  perfectly reflects the smells and exotic attitude found in these shops of the Albaicin. Cuir Andalou opens with the smell of new leather, such as when you first purchase a quality leather bag. It is nice but fairly linear on my skin for the first thirty minutes and I am starting to be disappointed, as I found Jasmine Kama by Rania J (reviewed here) very interesting. I was expecting more than this. Just about the time I've forgotten about the perfume I suddenly start smelling something wonderful. My chin is resting in my hand and the scent wafting up off my wrist smells divine as the perfume starts to bloom. I'm still smelling the leather but it has been muted with the scent of flowers and a trail of smoke. As time passes I'm smelling the whole ambience of these lanes and the narrow shops filled with exotic goods. I smell the warm spices, the faintest touch of flowers in the iron window boxes overhead, dust, and earth. There is a curious combination of smoke and oud, like warm incense and candles burning against the cold stone of the sanctuary walls. This perfume feels as ancient as the streets I'm walking. Castoreum makes the leather more pronounced and gives it an animalic quality. Patchouli and vetiver give the perfume its earthy appeal. Notes of neroli, rose, iris, and violet are responsible for the floral mid notes and saffron adds spice. The base notes include sandalwood and oud.

If you can't tell from my description, I find this perfume very appealing. I often have trouble with leather notes so when I find one I like it makes me happy! To date my favorite leather perfume has been Bottega Veneta but this one is a contender. My only gripe; its longevity is not what I expected. It throws off such a mesmerizing glow for several hours that I assumed it would be one of those perfumes that I could still faintly smell at night and even into the next morning, but such was not the case. However that is easily solved by spraying again. This is another win for me from Rania J.

This is the Alhambra. It is why people come to Granada. Like a magical palace cast from tales of the Arabian Nights, the Alhambra looms high above the town of Granada, and it is one of the largest and busiest tourist attractions in Spain. In fact since we were going to be in Granada during August, the height of tourist season, we had to book tickets to view the Alhambra a couple of months in advance as if going to a concert. Show up without tickets and you probably won't be able to get inside. You can choose morning or afternoon viewings, and as I had read that most tour groups go in the morning slots I opted for the afternoon. It is a huge complex and it took us several hours to make our way through the grounds, palace, garden, and ruins.

As in Seville, my visit was not timed for the blooming of orange blossoms but since it is such an iconic scent of the region I decided to review two more orange blossom based scents. My fellow blogger, Undina, will probably be happy this is my last orange blossom review as I just found out she doesn't care for the note!

Pinterest image of Generalife Gardens in the Alhambra.

L'Artisan Histoire d'Orangers was introduced in 2017 and perfumer Marie Salamagne asserts that the inspiration for the perfume came in the form of a scented memory from a trip to Morocco. L'Artisan has not had a pure orange blossom scent (correct me if I'm wrong here) since the release of its limited edition scent, Fleur d'Oranger 2007. There was the release of Seville a l'Aube which features the orange blossom note, but it is really too complicated of a scent to call it just an orange blossom perfume. I have a bottle of the limited edition from 2007 and I will be comparing this new orange blossom scent to L'Artisan's older model.

Histoire d'Orangers has a beautiful opening, all gauzy and floaty with tendrils of orange blossom releasing their scent on the warm soft breeze. The orange blossom feels wispy and almost transparent and opening notes of neroli give green aspects of the plant to lend a scintilla of bitterness which balances the flower's sweetness. In contrast to this graceful opening, the 2007 limited edition version begins with the clash of fragrant cymbals as notes of orange blossom make a dramatic entrance to the stage, accentuated with great dripping lashings of honey. Whereas Histoire d'Oranger feels like you're strolling down the path and suddenly catch the scent of some distant orange blossom trees, the 2007 version feels like you've lain in a hay field bordered by a grove of orange blossom trees in full bloom, the scent of nectar is thick in the air, and the sound of bee's buzzing gives a somnambulant, almost tipsy effect.

Garden in the Alhambra. 

The new Histoire d'Oranger begins to quietly build in intensity. The structure of the smell hasn't changed; it's just building steam and gaining more presence. The musk has entered the scent and to me it intensifies the gauziness of the orange blossom, amping down the sweetness to a manageable level and thus intensifying it's fuzzy comfort effect. Ambroxan in the base intensifies this aura, and with a tonka bean note adds  a slight creaminess to the scent. There is supposedly a note of white tea in the perfume but I don't smell it; for that matter, when I drink white tea I don't taste anything, so there's that. Meanwhile, my arm sprayed with the limited edition is smelling more like a jar of orange blossom honey than orange blossom. The beeswax has intensified and it is much heavier and more gourmand than the Histoire d'Oranger. I'm taking into account that my bottle is ten years old and the top notes may have dissipated somewhat. My memory of what it smelled like ten years ago is unclear and my tastes have changed since then anyway.

When comparing the two orange blossom L'Artisans side by side the new Histoire d'Oranger seems a bit pale in comparison to my 2007 version. But when I tested it again on its own I was able to appreciate the art of the way perfumer Ms. Salamagne has delicately rendered the orange blossom, making what can sometimes be an almost obnoxiously dominant white floral into a diaphanous white scent trail. I really enjoyed wearing Histoire d'Oranger and believe it deserves to stand on its own accolades within L'Artisan's stable of scents. However if you are not an appreciator of that flower I doubt this perfume will win you over.

MDCI Nuit Andalouse is the last of the perfumes I'm reviewing that were inspired by the Andulusian region of Spain  and it's a favorite of mine. I think all the MDCI perfumes are well done, but this one! It literally makes me swoon when I first put it on! My eyes roll back, I'm weak at the knees, and all the little happy! happy! receptors in my nose are bursting into the Hallelujah! chorus. Ok, maybe I'm laying it on a bit strong but this smells so good! The blurb on the Parfums MDCI  site describes Perfumer Cecile Zarokian's 2013 olfactory representation of an Andalusian night thusly: "An enchanting composition around the gardenia theme which carries us at the heart of a warm summer Mediterranean night, languid, with the rustling whisper of the fresh fountains and of voices and far-off signings (sic) which can be heard in the splendor of the gardens."

The listed opening notes are orange, violet, and green notes. There is something magical happening in that opening but I would never have been able to pick those notes out, not even the orange. The combination smells ebullient and lilting and serves as a launching pad for the next stage, the entrance of the gardenia, ylang ylang, and rose. These notes have never smelled better together. The creaminess of the ylang ylang, the lushness of the gardenia, and the primness of the rose, all together in one big beautiful bouquet. Later base notes of sandalwood, vanilla, and musk will soften and ground the bouquet. Once I'm about thirty minutes into the wear of this perfume the notes start settling down and my initial excitement abates. Several hours after application I mostly smell creamy vanilla and ylang ylang with a slight hint of the gardenia. At this point in the perfume's life, I've been to this party before; it's nice, I'll stay, but it's not sending me over the edge as it does initially. While it would be nice to live in the perpetual state of bliss that the first spray delivers, it's just not meant to be. Even in nature, beautiful scents are fleeting. If you are continuously exposed to something it loses its magic, at least that's what I believe. Clearly, I love this perfume, but if you don't like bursts of big florals or the creamy sweetness of ylang ylang and vanilla then this may not be your cup of tea.

As for me: have you ever been someplace that is so beautiful that you think I have to remember this. Or had a moment that you think I'll pull this memory out next time I need to be reminded that the world can be beautiful. I have had several of these moments when I travel and a couple on this trip. The opening notes of this perfume is the olfactory equivalent of those moments: something that can't be sustained for too long or it would lose it's specialness, but oh, how beautiful it is while it lasts.

This wisteria is why I need to go back in the spring! Only a few blooms when I was there in August.

And now for Serendipity. The hardest thing in the world for me is to get rid of books. We had to clear out my parent's house eight years ago after my mother passed away, but I still have a couple of boxes of my father's random books that I wasn't able to find space for or rehome. During the time I was in the midst of writing this review I decided it was time to get those boxes off the floor. I went through the boxes and hiding at the bottom underneath the other books I found this.

When we were at the Alhambra there were several references to the writer Washington Irving, his stay there, and the book he eventually wrote called Tales of the Alhambra. I had decided I would seek it out to read once I got back home, so this discovery felt like a gift from my Dad who's been gone thirteen years now, delivered at exactly the right moment!

Read more about Spain, this trip, and my perfumes at Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, and Part Six.

Top Alhambra shot: www.RayburnTours.com. Second Alhambra shot: from Architecture Arts and City. Wisteria shot from Pinterest. All other shots my own unless noted. Perfumes my own.

Travels in India: Part Four

Reviewing: Parfums MDCI Rose de Siwa, DSH Perfumes La Reine des Fleurs and Oud Wa Ward by Berdoues

My husband and I had left a bit of wiggle room at the end of our India trip itinerary for spontaneity. When I was googling online for interesting places no more than a half days drive from Jaipur, the little town of Bundi kept popping up. Seemingly the destination for hippies, backpackers, or intrepid French travelers, Bundi was described as a sleepy little town with a magical forgotten fort castle. The castle had stunning murals that one can observe up close because the place is basically deserted. The town is unused to tourists so you walk down its narrow lanes totally free of the hassles that can besiege tourists in India. I recently saw the new Beauty and the Beast movie, and this little town with its hilltop fort reminded me a little of the Beast's castle; distant, sleepy and forgotten.

There is a fort at the top of the hill that looms over Bundi dating back to the 1300's. We made the rather arduous climb, accompanied by a troop of eager and curious macaques, to find that the fort lies in ruins although it is still an interesting place to explore. The palace is situated below the fort and building began in the early 1600's. The palace is not maintained by the Archaeological Survey of India so sadly it is gradually losing ground against the elements. However, this is also part of it's charm. It is as if you have stumbled upon a hidden place, perhaps the first one to view its beautifully painted walls for hundreds of years. We saw only one other person looking around as our guide led us through the palace.

The entrance to Garh Palace is through the Elephant Gate, two huge stone elephants meeting nose to nose. Like all the palaces we viewed, you enter via a steep climb but make a ninety degree turn to access the gate. This was to prevent enemy's elephants from gathering speed to crash through the heavy wooden doors. You enter into a grassy courtyard which would have been for the commoners, and the first floor above was where the royals lived and met with distinguished guests. It is full of beautiful carved elephants, fountains, tiled floors, and beautifully painted murals similar to the miniature style of Indian painting. One can imagine the opulence of life when the fountains provided soothing music, the tiled marble floors were spotlessly clean, and the Maharaja would have been sitting on his throne in all his finery. Musicians played from little balconies such as is pictured below.

Every inch of the bedrooms and gathering rooms were covered in exquisite mural paintings. Until recently one could wander into the castle and look at these rooms but due to some vandalism to the paintings you must now hire a guard who will unlock the rooms to view. The murals below are actually from another part of the castle, Chitrashala, which was built starting 1749 and features paintings illustrating the life of the Maharajas and Maharanis.

This palace, the last we saw on our tour of Rajasthan, was a little jewelbox of a place. I was carried away by imagining life within its walls. Roses were ever present when we were in Bundi, from huge stone bowls in our lodging to overflowing baskets of petals and bouquets from flower sellers on the streets. I picked three rose perfumes inspired by this magical place:  Parfums MDCI Rose de Siwa, DSH Perfumes La Reine des Fleurs, and Oud Wa Ward by Berdoues.

In Part Three I described how grass screens were used to cool and scent the Indian palaces. Water droplets wet the screens and scented waters added beautiful fragrance to waft through the palace as the breeze passed through the screens, or as they were fanned by an army of servants. Since Rajasthan roses are commonly distilled into oils, I imagine Garh Palace redolent with the scent of roses and I have picked three of my favorites to discuss and review.

Rose de Siwa by Parfums MDCI is the scent I imagine wafting through the palace as produced by the rosewater dampened screens. If I were rich this is the scent that would greet you as my doors opened, enveloping you in a cacoon of silky rose luxury. I don't mean to compare this to a room freshener; far from it! It is just that the scent is so beautiful I would love to be surrounded by its lilting tranquil notes. Rose de Siwa was created in 2006 by perfumer Francis Kurkdjian and is classified as a floral woody musk scent. It features top notes of litchi, peony and hawthorn; heart notes of rose and violet; and base notes of cedar, musk and vetiver. Notes aside, what I smell is the absolute freshest, most innocent and joyous rose scent ever created.

Sparkling notes of litchi and peony make the opening dance and soar. The perfume's name comes from the Siwa oasis in Egypt, which is surrounded by a dry and sandy terrain not unlike Rajasthan. The notes in the opening make me picture the palace's cool marble floors dotted with tiered stone fountains, the falling water providing tinkling background music to the court and the occasional errant splash providing cooling relief.

Photo www.lujoveiejeaindia.com. (Not Bundi)

The rose notes smell opulent and a touch fruity yet manage to maintain the feel of a freshly picked rose, innocent in its purity of scent. The rose has a cool note, as if plucked in early morning with droplets of dew lacing the petals. The scent of rose can have lend a sense of calm and serenity and this perfume very much affects my senses in this way. Violet can sometimes carry a perfume into powdery territory but this doesn't happen on my skin with this perfume. After a couple of hours the woody and musky notes began to mingle more strongly with the rose, slightly toning down its vibrancy. Another hour in and the perfume becomes more of a personal scent, but still maintains the beauty and freshness of the rose from the initial spray. 

The Maharaja spying in the women's palace. Details from one of the murals at Chitrashala.

How to scent a Maharani? I didn't have to look further than my own bottle of La Reine des Fleurs by

DSH Perfumes. Translating to The Queen of Flowers, what could be more perfect for an India queen in her palace? This is one of those perfumes that when you smell it you instantly know it's something special, and wearing it makes you feel dressed up and glamourous. It is truly befitting for a queen or a Maharani.

Maharani Gayatri Deva of Jaipur, the Jackie Kennedy of her era.

La Reine des Fleurs has the lush and grandiose feel of a vintage perfume, something I often find in perfumes created by Dawn Spencer Hurwitz. The perfume opens with a rush of bergamot, mandarin and peach and it is succulent! The juiciness of the peach note is accented by the brightness of the bergamot and mandarin and the overall result is reminiscent of a peach freshly picked off the tree, its fuzzy skinned warmed by the sun, and so juicy that at first bite the sweet yellow-pink juice streams down your arm. When I am in Singapore some of the year I sometimes shop at Isetan, a Japanese department store with a grocery below. They import in-season special fruits and I recall being stunned the first time I saw the Okayama white peach carefully packaged and selling for $18. That's one peach, folks. I was stunned and amused but I'm here to tell you, if I could find a peach smelling of this rosy ripeness I would probably pay $18 to try it. 

The opening is followed by notes of rose: a mixture of Bulgarian rose absolute, Moroccan Rose Absolute, Russian Rose Otto, and Egyptian Rose Geranium. A touch of jasmine is indiscernible but amps up the lushness. It is an extravagant, palatial display of roses; picture the patterned marble palace floor scattered with velvety petals crushed under bare feet. The perfume is a collage lavish with wine red roses and luscious juicy peach. Is it peach perfume with rose or a rose perfume with peach? It shifts on my skin, with first one note dominating, then the other. La Reine des Fleurs is a head turner and at the time of this writing, it appears to be on sale at the DSH Perfumes site linked above. This perfume lasts for hours on my skin, and is even softly present the next morning.

A gathering of Rajasthani Maharajas, including Raghubir Singh, king of Bundi.

The Maharajas of Rajasthan were a special breed. Notice their luxuriant mustaches and their turbans, each elaborately twisted and contoured into a unique design. Mustaches and turbans were both important to the Rajasthani ruler as well as the common man, and even today these traditions continue. In the earlier eras they had to be fierce warriors to hold on to their riches, but they also appreciated and cultivated the arts and knowledge in general. Like male peacocks, their daily wear was elaborate and splendid. Imagine the awe they inspired as they rode atop an elephant passing through the streets of their kingdom. Such men inspired me to pick a masculine leaning perfume, yet also richly beautiful and continuing the rose theme: Oud Wa Ward by Berdoues.

The list of notes for this perfume is succinct:  patchouli, Turkish red rose, oud. But that doesn't tell the whole story. Rose and oud isn't a new idea but it's a popular one for a reason, they're the perfect marriage. Oud deepens the richness of the rose note but gives it depth and mystery. The subtle sweetness of oud wood makes the sweetness of the rose less pretty and more sensuous. This isn't the fresh rose of an English garden, but a wander into the enchanted forest with dark tangled trees and red roses with sharp thorns. The patchouli adds an earthy grounding and at times overcomes the oud and makes the sweet note recede. I like the way that in the first couple of hours this perfume shape shifts, even with so few predominant notes. There is a moment when the perfume reminds me of Atelier Rose Anonyme, but the oud takes Oud Wa Ward in a different direction. The Berdoues is richer and reaches for oriental roots with its oud notes. And even though I mention it leaning masculine it is still a totally unisex perfume. To clarify how much I like this: Oud Wa Ward, along with DSH La Reine des Fleurs reviewed above, were two of my very few full bottle purchases in 2016.

Rudyard Kipling spent time near Bundi in the late 1800's and was inspired to write Kim, otherwise known as The Jungle Book for Disney fans. At that time tigers freely roamed the nearby hills and hunting was a kingly sport. Kipling had this to say about Bundi:

"Jeypore (Jaipur) Palace may be called the Versailles of India; .... but the Palace of Bundi, even in broad daylight, is such a palace as men build for themselves in uneasy dreams, the work of goblins rather than of men."

My traveling partner and I agreed with Kipling. Bundi was such a special place that we cut short our last day of sightseeing planned for Delhi and headed straight for the airport, flying standby back to Singapore. I felt that nothing could top the dreamy spell that this fragile, crumbling castle of dreams and imagination had spun, and that this was the perfect exclamation point ending to our India sojourn.

I hope you have enjoyed my perfume picks for this last installment of my India travels. For more perfume picks see Part One,  Part Two, and  Part Three.

Top photo Google image. Other images my own unless otherwise noted. Perfumes from my own collection.