Scents That Remind Me Of Chinese Lunar New Year And My Singapore Home

If you saw the movie Crazy Rich Asians you got a glimpse of Singapore, the setting for the story. It hinted at the vibrancy of this modern city, referred to fondly by locals as The Red Dot, and although only five times the size of Manhattan it packs a great deal of diversity of cultures and experiences into its small footprint on the map. Chinese Lunar New Year is an  exciting time to be in Singapore when the streets of Chinatown are festooned with decorations, savory treats symbolic of the holiday are offered for sale, and parades and fireworks offer amazing punction marks to finalize the celebration. It has been a little over a year since my husband and I left Singapore which was our home for fourteen years. During Chinese New Year the large population of expats leave the city to take advantage of time off from work to experience one of the myriad vacation locales nearby, emptying the city and leaving it to the locals for the holiday. My husband and I always stayed, enjoying the space that the exit of a couple of million people brought to the streets, and enjoying the colorful festivities. This will be my second year to miss the festivities but there are certain scents that bring thoughts of my time spent in Singapore back.

If I was looking for a specific perfume to recommend to capture the sights and smells of Chinese New Year it would contain the smell of gunpowder which hangs heavy in the humid air as the fireworks explodes in a dazzling display and as the small red strings of firecrackers sold all throughout Chinatown release their acrid smell with a pop, pop, pop. I don't have any such perfumes in my collection, so instead I will talk about some of the scents that bring me back to the many happy years I spent in Singapore with just one sniff.

Buddah Tooth Relic Temple, Chinatown, Singapore. Https://cityseeker.com

First up is Chang Chang by En Voyage Perfumes. Perfumer Shelley Waddington created this perfume in 2012 as part of the Cosmologie Collection. My recollection is that this was part of a joint project between several indie perfumers to make perfumes based on the various elements of fire, water, air, earth, but I don't see any mention of this so perhaps I am remembering this wrong. On her website Ms. Waddington says that Chang Chang was inspired by the element of fire, specifically the sun, and is meant to express the bold elements of summer.

I own several En Voyage creations: Poete de Carmel, Fiori di Bellagio, and the whole Souvenir de Chocolate collection, but I only have a sample of Chang Chang. My sample is several years old and down to the last drop and because of its age I think it has lost the opening note of blood orange that I vaguely remember. The other opening notes are marigold and solar notes, heart notes of summer blossoms in sweet cream, and base notes of white wood and musk. I am not sure what "solar notes" are but the effect they impart to my nose is a certain warmth. This warm effect is heightened with the very distinct smell of marigolds and a sweet cream richness. Marigolds are a much more revered flower in all parts of Asia than in the Western world, where prettier, more delecate flowers seem to get the attention. The bright colors of marigolds grace the alters of both Buddist and Hindu temples and their smell, which I believe mostly comes from their stems, is sharp, pungent, and slightly acrid. They also smell dry and a little dusty.

The way Ms. Waddington combines the scent of marigold with the very strong scent of sweet cream is a very unusual combination and brings one of my sharpest scent memory moments in relation to Singapore. When I smell Chang Chang I get an immediate image of visiting the Chinese temple, and even more so the Hindu temples in Little India. As you approach you would see a thousand little flickering flames from tiny candles. Some were tea lights but often they were little stubby candles which formed molten puddles of wax as they shrank into a waxy pile beneath the flame. Around the flames would be flower offerings of jasmine or marigold, but the marigold in particular had the more pungent aroma in this setting. Chang Chang brings this image to life for me, the creaminess of the melting wax and the pungency of the marigolds carefully placed by the candles. It is such a strong image that I don't think I could ever comfortably wear this scent because I am so overcome with this visual. However, other reviewers comment on the feelings of the warmth of sun, summer blosssoms, and an exquisite creaminess that the perfume gives them. It is an extremely unusual scent, and the one that has the most specific memory tied to it for me.

Bond No. 9 Chinatown is a romanticized version of a stroll down the crowded lanes of Chinatown in Singapore, or any other city where their is a Chinatown. I love its peach opening which is plush and sweet but before it can turn to candy Chinese five spice powder notes give some spicy feistiness to the scent. Gardenia and tuberose notes enter to give a floral sensuality but peony will eventually overpower these flowers and merge with the peach to give an exuberant and joyful fragrance celebrating the revered place peonies hold in Chinese lore.

From a Singapore-based artist, www.Louise-Hill-design.com

Chinatown was the very first scent I wrote about on this blog, in part because it was a perfume that catapulted me into a serious love of scent. This perfume keeps transforming into something new on my skin, and really captures the sensation of strolling by the stalls of a Chinatown market. Here are some ripe fruits, here are some plush peonies, now we have a shrine with candles burning and dissolving into waxy trails with scents of paraffin and honey. Rosewood boxes emit a rich scent of wood and mystery. All these scents meld together to form a thread of scent that I can only describe as Asian and which instantly reminds me of all the years I lived in Singapore and other ports of call in Asia. Chinatown will always be a top perfume love of mine, not just because I love the scent but because of how it takes me on a time travel trip through chapters of my life that I longingly remember.

Another part of my scent memory of Singapore involves the beautiful scent of flowers from the many beautiful green spaces. Twice a year the jasmine bushes on my street would burst into bloom and an evening stroll was likely to turn into a euphoric smell experience. We lived in close proximity to the Singapore Botanic Gardens and in season after the sun set and evening dusk fell, the scent of jasmine would drift through the air like a stealth cloud of blissfulness, leaving gorgeous but fleeting scent trails in its wake. It was the very fact that this scent was hard to capture that made it so alluring. You could walk right up to a bush and bury your head amongst the tiny star like white blooms and smell....nothing. But two hundred feet away you might be surrounded by a cloud of green-jasmine-laced scent so strong that you wanted to sink to your knees in a swoon. One scent that has come close to capturing the beauty of these moments is Grandiflora's Madagascan Jasmine.

Grandiflora Fragrance is the brand of Saskia Havekes, Sydney-based florist and perfumer, who teamed with Perfumer Michele Roudnitska to present this realistic interpretation of Madagascan Jasmine. Technically this is really stephanotis, a jasmine varietal, but here it is a fresh and sweetly innocent representation of the jasmine bloom. It begins with touches of green, like the tender stem and stamen of the blooms. The white floral scent is creamy and sweet, and really does smell as if of nature. I have other realistic jasmine scents but what makes this one really special is it holds on to that opening beautiful jasmine note and doesn't let go. When I smell this I'm carried back to walking down my Singapore street. It was less than a quarter mile from busy Orchard Road with its tall modern buildings full of designer stores, yet our street was like living in a little village. It had a quirky Chinese grocery shack, a dirt floored 7-11 if you will, with his chickens roaming down our street and behind the high iron fence was a hidden gambling den for local taxi drivers. One building housed a small nursery school with the pleasant chatter of children playing within its confines. Small modest homes siddled up to the home of a millionaire. Even in the midst of the city we were surrounded by towering green crowned trees and tropical birds that would do fly bys from the nearby Botanic Gardens. The warm temperate night, the crescent moon hanging in the inky sky, the ever present humidity that seemed to amplify the scents of the night; all these images flow back when I smell Madagascan Jasmine.

From www.inkandadventure.blogspot.com

When I first saw Singapore in the late 1980s it seemed to me an exotic and foreign place. There were wet markets where one bought groceries in outdoor stalls, Sunday puppet shows on street corners, and higgledy-piggledy laneways lined with Asian shophouses. The Raffles Hotel, which today can cost $1000 a night, was a crumbling relic with screen doors and falling-apart lawn furniture where one could sit and order a Singapore sling. It reeked of faded granduer, but Singapore was in the early stages of a metamorphis. Historic buildings were being torn down to make way for modern skyscappers. Along the river little hawker stalls and huts gave way to a polished new mall area of restaurants and bars to attract tourists. Through the 1990s it seemed that all traces of old Singapore would disappear. I wasn't there at the time but at some point the powers that be must have realized that they were loosing the hodgepodge of historical buildings that made Singapore unique and charming. Today there are still pockets of Singapore where you can find narrow shophouses converted to restaurants and boutiques, with their long shuttered windows and hanging lanterns speaking of a bygone era.

The perfume that perfectly encapsulates this experience for me is Tom Ford Fleur de Chine. Although Fleur de Chine is a limited edition that came out in 2013 and is mostly sold out online -- Sephora had it up until about six months ago but doesn't seem to now --  I still see it on many counters such as Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus, but it is becoming increasingly scarce. To avoid ever having to worry about running out in my lifetime I sprang for the big 250 ml size. I tried this when it first came out, and to date the four in this Atelier d'Orient collection remain my favorite limited edition line ever released by the brand.

“For Fleur de Chine, I imagined the romantic and mysterious women from Asia’s cinematic past – from the ’30s femme fatale in a cheongsam and dark lipstick, to the ’60s Hong Kong heroine of In the Mood for Love. I wanted to capture that fascinating, exquisite and slightly scandalous feminity.”

– Tom Ford

I've looked at other reviews online and my experience is quite different from many of theirs, some of whom seem to experience Fleur de Chine as a white flower perfume. For me it is so much more complex. There are moments when it feels like an aldehyde perfume, then a chypre, then a no-holds-barred green scent. From the first moment I tried this back in 2013 the mixture of florals, wood notes and sharp green notes in the scent spoke to me of retro scents from a more romantic age. There was something about it that was distinctly Asian in feel to me, whether it was from the hinoki wood or the peonies, I'm not sure.

The perfume feels large and dense at first but quickly becomes something more manageable and with a scent cloud contained to my direct vacinity. There are creamy florals, in particular magnolia. Plum and peach add a rich deep fruitiness that is dry in texture. Styrax influences the oriental feel of the perfume, lending a spicy note that is further amplified by the benzoin and amber. Hyacinth adds to the feel of green notes that wash through Fleur de Chine. There are so many notes: tea, hinoki wood, peony, rose, wisteria. Most of the notes blend together in manner of fine French perfumes and in structure Fleur de Chine wears like a momento from the past, but perfumer Rodrigo Flores-Roux, who just may be my favorite perfumer, managed to impart a thread of Oriental mystique that makes me reimagine my Singapore home every time I wear Fleur de Chine.

These are just a few of the perfumes that remind me of my many years spent in Singapore and in particular, the festivities celebrated there.

Top photo: www.China-family-adventure.com. Perfumes are from my own collection.

Does Clothing Color Influence Your Perfume: A Look At Purple Perfumes

I snagged a pair of drastically reduced boots back in the early fall in a rich purple suede. Naturally this required a few additions to my wardrobe to compliment the boots, as I was woefully short of purple clothes in a closet full of too much black. But what surprised me was how wearing head to toe purple affected my choice of perfume. I wanted to smell of juicy sweet plums or tart blackberries. Just like perfumes can have "seasons" to me, some perfumes also give me the impression of color by their scent.

I've always thought that it would be fun to make up the names of paint colors. Some are so inventive. Names like Jam Session, Silk Kimono, or Plum Pudding,   And how to identify the color of the boots? Of course they are purple, but color offers so many descriptives: violet, eggplant, lavender, orchid, blackberry, currant, maroon,

www.Digitalsynopsis.com

I decided that my boots are mulberry, a deep rich color between purple, berry and brown, with so many positive connotations, like the mulberry syrup put in the salad dressings I so enjoyed in Turkey. Did you know crayon colors get "retired"? Mulberry left us in 2003.

Photo from www.TheOdysseyOnline.com

Purple has been the color designated for royals throughout history and there is a factual reason for this. The materials needed in the Middle Ages to create purple by mixing reds and blues were all costly and rare so became a sign of wealth and power. The color that became known as royal purple was produced by the Phoenicians in what is today Lebanon. The dye came from a species of sea snails and this inky color was more costly than gold. 

What perfume notes smell like purple? Most of these are scents with plum notes but blackberry or redcurrant can give that feel of purple too. Here are some perfumes that "speak" to me in purple.

Pele-Mele by Galimard

I suppose if you live in Europe Galimard is a familiar brand, but I had never heard of it before my trip to France this past summer. I bought a sample box with a variety of six small bottles and one of them was Pele-Mele. It is a what has become a ubiquitous floral fruity fragrance but in this case it is a reminder that this category can smell fabulous when a little restraint is used. The top notes are peach and plum, followed by rose and green tea, then finally musk and sandalwood. On my skin the rose mixes with the plum to give a watery but nice version of plum which persists throughout the wear of the fragrance.

 

Plum Japonaise by Tom Ford

The opening moments of Plum Japonaise are to die for. I loved this whole collection--Shanghai Lily, Fleur de Chine, and Rive d'Ambre--in addition to this one which were released in 2013. There is an electric moment in the opening that has such an Oriental vibe, just like Fleur de Chine, which I own in the giant sie. This moment is short but sweet and evaporates quickly, followed by a haze of smoke and incense. Notes such as The plumy wine note is strongest in the beginning of the scent and oud eventually dominates the fragrance on my skin. I enjoy the opening the most but with notes of saffron, cinnamon, camellia, benzoin, fir, and amber, this aura reminiscent of Japan infiltrates the scent. When I wear this scent I feel like I am wrapped in a purple silk kimono and waving sticks of incense inside a Buddhist shrine deep in a forest of pine and fir. This scent is sexy, sophisticated, and a bit mystical. Even though this was a limited edition it is still somewhat readily available.

One Umbrella For Two by Floraiku

Floraiku is a new brand that features minimalistic scents loosely based on haiku poetry. This spare Japanese style of poetry emphasizes that every word count, and Floraiku features spare perfume designs with minimal notes. Beautiful presentation is part of the package and the package will be expensive! Nevertheless, it is very beautiful, but what about the scent? One Umbrella For Two open with a nutty aspect, some have called it the smell of a Japanese rice cake. A note of plum is there but it is dry and has a sparkle like a plum brandy. The grain scent continues to be quite strong throughout the opening. Eventually this nuttiness fades and the blackcurrant takes center stage. The only other notes listed are tea and cedar. The tea is a variety called Genmaicha and it has the scent of roasted rice, which enhances the grain aspect of the scent. The blackcurrant note is fruity but dry, not succulent. I am experiencing the tartness of the fruit, although not as tart as something like Jo Malone Blackberry and Bay. 

Enchanted Forest by The Vagabond Prince

This perfume open with a hyper-fresh note of fir forests and a very fleshy blackcurrent. There are a host of notes but the overall feel is walking through a forest with a very strong blackcurrant note, as if you can smell the skin of the fruit and are peeling it back to discover the shivering globes of fleshy fruit. There is a slightly unsettling note for me that makes this scent seem very realistic of place, but that is slightly disquieting. I am not quite sure what I am smelling but this could be the note that makes some reviewers not care for the scent, while others adore it. I remain undecided.

Bibliotheque by Byredo

Bibliotheque opens juicy and lush with an explosion of dark plum. This takes all the attention but is soon followed by  notes of peach and rustic leather. The leather is dry and dusty as opposed to smooth and buttery and for a moment it subdues the plum.  After about thirty minutes everything settles down and Bibliotheque becomes a softer skin scent on me, quite a surprise after the big opening! 

Mirabella by DSH Perfumes

Perhaps Mirabella was an early study for perfumer Dawn Spencer Hurwitz's  more recent series of fur-based scents, because from the first I smell the civit and castoreum. Dawn is not one to shy away from these notes and in fact she embraces them, especially when trying to create a perfume in the classic/vintage style. Mirabella is classified as a chypre floral and opens with bright bergamot, spicy notes and fruits. There is a strong hay scent from notes of broom and a very feral beeswax. Like many of the DSH Perfumes there is a basket of florals: rose, jasmine, orange blossom, osmanthus, orris root, tuberose, and ylang ylang. The plum note feels dark purple and dry. Basenotes of sandalwood, leather, benzoin, oakmoss, and vanilla give this perfume a classic feel. As you might imagine, with all the notes I've listed the plum is a member of the chorus, not the soloist, but it does provide an integral component and it is what makes this perfume "read purple" to me. Dawn gave it the name Mirabella for the mirabella plum, so she must have meant it to be the grace note of the perfume. Mirabella smells like a serious perfume but after the first hour the animal notes give just a teasing whiff. This smells like a perfume from the past you find at a garage sale, and when you open the bottle your eyes roll to the back of your head as you remember what women used to smell like.  Today, of course, men would be equally fragrant wearing this perfume. I was going to post a picture of a Mirabella plum, which I assumed was purple, but in fact they are golden in color! 

Black Tulip by Nest

Black Tulip enjoys the beautiful artwork that is on all the Nest bottles and in this case the art is a good representation what you will find inside the bottle. The perfume opens with a blast of grape-scented plum and patchouli. The patchouli makes it reminiscent of Angel by Mugler but after the first thirty minutes the patchouli is a lot less aggressive. With its name, Black Tulip, the perfume definitely references flowers on the darkest end of the color spectrum. The plum note used is called black amber plum, and I had to look that up to see if it was a real thing or one of these made-up notes, like unicorn tears or kitten breath, but indeed, these are a real thing and are in fact grown prolifically. The skin of the black amber plum is so dark purple it almost looks black and the inner fruit is amber colored. There are also notes of violet and jasmine, but I can't pick either one out. Although Black Tulip made me think of Angel, other reviewers on Fragrantica mentioned Bath & Body Works retired Black Amethyst or Black Opium as being similar. If you like fruity florals and can handle a tame patchouli, this might be for you.

Tulips by Ida Ten Eyck O'Keeffe 1936

Now for a quick art fact. I can't resist as it ties in so perfectly. The Dallas Museum of Art is hosting an exhibition of Ida O'Keeffe's paintings. She is the younger sister of Georgia O'Keeffe, and although very talented she received no help from her sister or Georgia's husband, Alfred Steieglitz, a legendary photographer and art gallerist who successfully promoted Georgia's career. In fact, Georgia insisted that her sister stop promoting and displaying her art, and that there could only be on female O'Keeffe painter in the family, ultimately leading to an estrangement between the two. A curator at the Museum has gathered Ida's paintings from many individuals and for the first time her work is being displayed in a museum. I thought it was such an interesting story, and when I saw this painting just a couple of days ago I knew I had to put it in my story. Now back to perfume. 

Feminite du Bois by Shiseido

Sometime in the past--maybe twenty years ago-- I acquired a bottle of Shiseido Feminite du Bois and at this time it was already becoming rare. Way back in 1992 Serge Lutens and Pierre Bourdon came up with the concept for a scent built on cedar, plum, and spice and  Christopher Sheldrake was brought in to finish it. Feminite du Bois would eventually gain cult status. Sometime before 2006 it was discontinued and this is around the era that I acquired my bottle. Then in 2009 Serge Lutens was given the rights to Feminite du Bois and reintroduced it under his brand. I never have tried the Lutens version and although he maintained it was virtually identical the rumblings were that it lacked the magic of the original. When I spray Feminite du Bois it has a cedar note that bursts forth in a shimmering wave of freshness, and gives the impression that you have stepped outside and the air is unexpectedly cold and the smells from the woods around you are heightened and magnified in their fresh briskness. Through reading more about the perfume's creation I conclude that the Super E is responsible for this supercharged shimmer. I know nothing about chemistry so I'll stop there but it is a stunning effect. Notes of deep purple violets and dry plum merge with the wood note to eventually give the cedar note a calmer, deeper aura. The scent will go quiet and then hours later burst forth with little explosions in mysterious waves of scent. I have not tried the Serge Lutens version which is available still today so I don't know if it lives up to the original but I suspect not, as I never really hear chatter about it on the fragrance forums. I would like to be wrong, though.

Mure et Musc by L'Artisan Parfumeur

L'Artisan Mure et Musc is the most subtle scent listed here; not at all surprising as it is L'Artisan after all. I believe this is their oldest scent as Mure et Musc is the earliest fragrance I see listed for the brand and was created in 1978. In 1993 an Extreme version was released as there were grumblings about the lack of projection and longevity, but it is still more of a watercolor scent and on my skin it takes a while to pick up steam. My sample may be old but I don't get a strong shot of blackberry at the beginning. It is more subtle with the blackberry muddled with the musk notes. As the scent begins to mix with my skin the musk blooms and there are moments when I catch a salty note which reminds me slightly of the salty caviar note in Womanity by Mugler. Even though this is the Extreme version I find it to be a light skin scent but the combination of blackberry and musk is very pleasant and a nice background scent.

These are just a few of the many scents that remind me of the color purple. Do you have more?

Parfums Dusita Erawan

January is for many a month to press reset, a time to define goals, detox the body, simplify or declutter living spaces. In other words it is a time to start afresh after what may have been a holiday season of excess. Erawan by Parfums Dusita strikes me as the perfect perfume to accompany you on these tasks.

Erawan is Pissara Umavijani's scented tribute to Erawan the elephant god of historic Thai myths, as well as Erawan National Park, home to beautiful cascading waterfalls. The Erawan of Hindu mythology is the mount of the god Indra. Together they ride across the heavens and bring rain clouds and lightening which results in life-giving rain. An area northwest of Bangkok in Kanchanaburi Province is the location of Erawan National Park and Erawan Falls with its seven tiers of falls and pools. It is located in a lush green area surrounded by rainforests. Erawan the perfume captures these colors and sensations: the green of the forest, the freshness of the pooling waters, and the sense of calm that a day communing with nature imparts.

Just before the close of 2018 I read an announcement that Erawan won "The Breakthrough of the Year" Prize at FIFI Russia. This was a gentle reminder that I have been meaning to write about this perfume ever since I sprayed it all over myself when visiting Pissara Umavijani at Parfums Dusita in Paris back in July, and consequently spent the rest of the day in a perfumed cloud of blissfulness.

It is a good thing no one asked me to name the perfume for I would have called it Serenity, a truly descriptive depiction of the scent but not nearly as evocative of a name as Erawan. For me wearing  Erawan is like a visit to a day spa, cocooned in a robe and turban, soothing music, mellow lighting and a therapeutic head massage. The day in Paris when I doused myself in Erawan, I walked in a happy cloud of calm, and neither getting lost five times or long ticket lines were able to shake that cool equilibrium.

How is this achieved? First there is a distinctive note of hay and tobacco. It is strong and very identifiable, but very quickly green notes enter and soften the scent. Clary sage gives a herbal/green scent and as other notes start to emerge I find this scent is very distinctive with notes that aren't easily identified. Petitgrain Paraguay adds a herbaceous and floral touch. Soft lily of the valley gives the impression of clear pools of spring water. This is a whisper of floral, a very soft and subtle interpretation of the muguet note. Gradually notes of vanilla lend a creamy texture to Erawan, and notes of oakmoss and vetiver give it a slightly smokey, earthy vibe which gives it a masculine touch.

Liatris, or deers tounge, was the mystery ingredient for me. I looked it up and courmain liatris as is used in Erawan gives off a herbaceous and sometimes balsamic note and can resemble tonka. It also enhances the smell of green hay and forest notes and is used in fougeres, chypres and oriental perfumes. There was something in the green creaminess that slightly reminded me of another perfume in my collection and I finally realized it is DSH Perfumes Celadon. Although they smell differently overall, they both share this creamy green aspect and sure enough latrix (or latris) is listed as an ingredient in both, leading me to conclude that this dusty vanilla/tonka aura may come from the latris/latrix note.

When I visited Parfums Dusita in Paris this last summer I talked with Pissara about the creation of Erawan. I asked if she started out wanting to make a perfume about the legend of Erawan, the Thai name for the elephant god, or did the notes come together first.

"For Erawan, it came from the idea that I wanted to express the natural forest with a masculine touch," said Pissara. "At the same moment I listened to the material and I realized that there is a petit grain that really had this masculine but soft presence; there is an aspect that is a fougere structure. The clary sage is similar to that I use for Issara. I did many formulations. I gave myself this charter, to make it softly masculine, but I tried different styles. I did one extremely smokey formula, then I went to this formulation and realized it is something that I like. After that I thought, this perfume should be like Erawan, because of the Erawan waterfall in Thailand. It's always a name I personally relate to because I lived near the Erawan shrine in Bangkok. After that I chose the poetry from my father."

I did not know how I got there,
I walked through an autumn wood,
It was wonderful how I 
Journeyed into the light. 
- Montri Umavijani

"My father talked about walking the transition of life. After I chose the poetry I imagined that this poetry can relate to the elephant Erawan, and the forest."

When Pissara introduced Erawan last year she wrote, "The perfume Erawan, will I feel appeal to both women and men, with its sunny, slightly earthy and woody fragrance, similar to a fougere style. What is sure is that a large percentage of the men to whom I have presented it have loved it."

What I find most appealing about Erawan is the calming green hay notes that persist through the life of the perfume on my skin. It is a calming scent that hearkens to the comforting grains that have nostalgic memories of cereals and comfort food. This is combined with a very mellow green that feels like you are breathing in nature's scents. Like Issara, it brings images of a walk through a woods, but for me Issara is a trek through piney woods and Erawan is a natural rainforest with pools of clear water nearby. Both are soothing and offer the comfort of a return to nature that I think is wired into our DNA. With the introduction of Erawan, Parfums Dusita has added another totally distinctive fragrance to the brand.

Photos of waterfalls and elephants show Erawan National Park and are from www.ThaiNationalParks.com. The perfume sample was generously provided by Parfums Dusita. The opinions are my own. 

A Look Back At 2018 and Welcome to 2019

I sailed through the year blogging at a fairly steady pace until the holiday season, and starting at Thanksgiving time I hit a wall. Although I had lots of ideas for Christmas posts I was so busy that I never got them out. And now I am less busy but the writing lethargy remains, so I decided that looking back at the year on The Fragrant Journey would at least be a good mental exercise for me, and possibly highlight some stories that newer readers may have missed.

Is this the gate to Heaven? The Guerlain entrance, Paris, des Champs-Elysees

The strongest theme of this blog has always been scents of place and fragrances that resonate with visited locations, and later can serve as a reminder of these pleasures. A summer trip to France provided lots of inspiration for scented posts, from visits to the grand Galeries Lafayette, pictured above, which remind me of a tall spectacular wedding cake to small boutique shops that one stumbles across regularly when walking the streets of Paris. But perhaps nothing topped the thrill of wandering through fields of lavender and seeing patchwork fields of purple and green, every bit as beautiful as I had dreamed it would be. If you dream of such a trip or are interested in scents that remind you of France you can follow my journey here with Everything Is Lavender and follow the links to seven more stories.

Interviewing perfumers has been one of the biggest bonuses of blogging, although I'm not sure if readers enjoy it as much as I do. This year I got to meet two fabulous perfumers who were so generous with their time.

First was the gracious and beautiful Pissara Umavijani who welcomed me to her Paris shop. It was such a wonderful morning spending time with her and shop-dog Bambi in her elegant atelier. If you missed it you can read it here.

Pissara Umavijani of Parfums Dusita.

I also met Olivier Durbano who resides in Grasse and is passionate about the revival of this town which is so important to the history of the perfume industry. His shop is a magical lair full of wonders and he was the kindest of hosts. His perfumes seem to breathe with his positive energy. You can read more here.

Olivier Durbano 

The most unusual interview I had was with author Louise Penny, whose mysteries set in the imaginary town of Three Pines deep in the woods of Canada are perennial best sellers on the major book lists. I talked with her about why she scents her main characters as she does, and she was just as delightful as you would imagine if you've read her books and enjoyed the quirky characters she brings to life on the pages of her books. You can read more here.

Me with Louise Penny

A move right before the end of 2017 meant that 2018 was the first time in 14 years that Singapore was not the place I called home. Besides the numerous personal upheavals, this move directly affected my ability to source and sample perfumes. I had been spoiled with the convenience of taking a stroll to the nearby shopping district and having access to so many brands and being able to spray the newest perfume offerings, getting my exercise along with a new review. It was heaven! It's been a year and I am still adjusting!

It was a great honor to be listed as a nominee for a Perfumed Plum Award in 2018. The article which was in the running was a story from a trip to Rajasthan, India, in 2017 and you can read it here.

Last year at my end of year wrap up I said I hoped to be a more prolific writer/poster in 2018 but that did not happen. I will again state the desire to write more, as a discipline for an aging mind if nothing else!

Also as I stated last year, I don't do a best of list because there are so many bloggers who do that so well and who have sampled so many more perfumes than I was able to. On a personal level, I noticed that I have a developing appreciation for lighter more transparent scents. I still love the big dogs but I also now see places in my life where softer, less intrusive scents are welcome.

Reading these best of lists from Cafleurebon and Colognoisseur has spurred a sample order and you will be hearing more about those as the year develops, at least the successful scent trials. I hated to close out without at least one perfume review. I read about Essence Rare Houbigant on several blogs and it seemed just the sort of scent I would love. I don't have access to many brands where I live but I knew the local Neiman Marcus would be carrying this one so I went to give it a try, hopes high. Initially, it was a big disappointment. It's not that I didn't like it but at that price point I expect to be moved. 

Essence Rare takes an hour before I begin to understand the fuss. When I first spray it I actually dislike it, and that is not that common for me.  I do not smell the profusion of flowers or the mandarin notes. Eventually I do begin to smell lily and powdery notes but everything stays muted and quiet and never develops and blooms as I would expect from a perfume of this stature. I do believe in the effects of skin when mixing a perfume so your experience may well be delightful. Essence Rare is extremely pleasant but color me underwhelmed. This is what sometimes happens when the build-up of expectations is so enormous; it's the perfect setup for disappointment. At the end of the perfume's evolution I conclude that while I would happily wear this if someone were to gift it to me, I would never, ever, lay out the money it would cost me to add this to my collection. This quick review is based on one experience and I had something else sprayed on the other arm so it's possible if I gave it a more serious try I would come to a different conclusion.

Now all I can hope is that the rather large Luckyscent sample order I just placed based on other bloggers end of year recommendations will turn out to be more successful.

Thank you to those of you who have read some of my posts this year and to those who took the time to comment, either here or on my Facebook page, bless you! These conversations and these "online friendships" with fellow perfume lovers is a big part of the joy for me.

May we all have a 2019 filled with happiness and new discoveries!

Cheap As Chips: Roberto Cavalli EDP

Have you ever heard the phrase, "Cheap as Chips"? I first heard it when I started dating my future husband who was Australian. I put it down to other funny words and phrases he used, like jumper (sweater or sweatshirt), carpark (parking lot), bogan (trashy people), chook (chicken), dummy (pacifier), fringe (bangs), torch (flashlight), well, you get the idea. I think many of these phrases have British roots and Cheap as chips is a phrase I heard used a lot in Australia. There is even a chain of stores with this name, akin to what we call the Dollar Store in my area of the USA. It's a phrase I've adopted for its succinct descriptiveness and the ease with which it rolls off the tongue. It occurred to me recently that the vast majority of scents, mostly niche, that I write about are very expensive and I am verging on becoming a scent snob, so I decided to start a series on inexpensive scents that are fun to wear. This new series will be called Cheap As Chips, and the fragrances I talk about will be under $100 and usually readily available for far less at the discount sellers.

Roberto Cavalli is an Italian fashion designer best known for his proclivity in using animal prints in his designs, and as the creator of sandblasted jeans. He is the grandson of a well known Italian painter, Giuseppe Rossi. Today in addition to his designer line he has a men's line and the brand Just Cavalli, aimed at the youth market. His signature, though, is the animal print design and in particular, leopard prints. One of his quotes on his use of animal prints: "I copy the dress of an animal because I love to copy God. I think God is the most fantastic designer." 

A Cavalli design

Cavalli sold his perfume line to Coty sometime around 2012 and Roberto Cavalli EDP was one of the first releases. The box gives a nod to Cavalli's leopard print style.  It is sometimes referred to as Roberto Cavalli Signature, to distinguish it from the many other perfumes that now bear his name. I came across an old sample of Roberto Cavalli eau de parfum while cleaning out my boxes of perfume samples and decided to give it a try.

I sprayed the sample which is goodness knows how many years old with zero expectations, and for a moment I thought my low expectations would be met. Not much happened. But then in just a minute a lovely syrupy African Orange Flower note began to unfold, and cocooned in a soft cushiony amber-like blanket.  My first thought was did this resemble Elie Saab perfume which is an orange blossom powerhouse, but when I sprayed them side by side they are quite different. Elie Saab features the radiance of the orange blossom while Roberto Cavalli EDP uses it as part of recipe for an Oriental-style perfume. Benzoin, vanilla, and tonka are used to create this balsamic amber effect. As I've stated before in reviews, the vanilla and tonka combination can be absolutely beautiful but too much is like eating cotton candy with a bad tooth. Here in Roberto Cavalli EDP  I think the perfumer, Louise Turner, got it right. I love big scents so for me this is a softer oriental which I would be as comfortable wearing during the day as at night, but I can imagine that those used to frequenting lighter scents could find this titanic. I find it to be a cozy scent  but at the same time throwing off some sex appeal. It think it does a pretty good job of alluding to the leopard print wear for which Cavalli is famed. It is a warming scent but alluring and to me it seems to cast a golden glow. I think it is scent where you get a lot of bang for the bucks. Have you tried any of the Roberto Cavalli scents?

Eartha Kitt

Top photo of Joan Collins a Google image. Perfume sample my own.

By Kilian Woman In Gold and Gold Knight and Paris Atelier des Lumieres Exhibit

There is an immersion exhibit of painter Gustav Klimt's art in Paris at the Atelier des Lumieres, and when I was in Paris this summer it was on my "must do" list. I read the book The Lady In Gold: The Extraordinary Tale of Gustav Klimt's Masterpiece, Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer by Anne Marie O'Connor when it came out a few years ago, and I really enjoyed the story of the origin of the painting, how it was stolen in the war years, and its eventual return. I am interested in books about World War II and this book was especially fascinating as it used the story of the Bloch-Bauer family's stolen art as a way to tell about the Nazi invasion of Austria.

Before the book and movie about his portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer, Klimt was probably best known for his painting The Kiss. It was also painted during Klimt's "Golden Period". These paintings were influenced by the art nouveau movement and additions of gold leaf and gilt were a defining element. The early 20th century was a time of wealth and culture for the Viennese Jewish community before it all went horribly wrong with the Nazi invasion, and these paintings capture some of the palatial style and grandeur of the era.

Klimt's art works are sumptuous, luxurious, and quite daring for the time, and it was bliss being surrounded by the various paintings, and small elements from the painting blown up to a giant size as they appeared on the huge walls, then melted into a kaleidoscope of shapes and colors, only to rush back like water falls of pattern and color, all to a background of Viennese waltz music. Eventually we just sat on the floor and let the art surround us, but when you first enter there is the sensation of swimming in the paintings. The exhibition was originally set to run from April 13 through November 11 ending this weekend, but due to its success it has been extended through January 6 so if you're anywhere near, go!

The perfume choice to wear to this exhibit was obvious, my sample vial of Woman In Gold by  Kilian which I had brought with me on the trip. Kilian Hennessy and perfumer Calice Becker sought to introduce a perfume which portrayed the gold leaf in the painting and the interplay between light and shadow in the artwork. Do you get an impression of color when you apply perfume? I sometimes do, and when I sprayed Woman In Gold I saw a luxurious purple, not gold. The scent gives the feeling of lavishness as the notes all smell rich and full, lending an air of opulence.

Woman In Gold opens with bergamot and mandarin orange notes but these don't come across as citrus, instead they are deep and oily like you are smelling a purer, richer version of the oil. Then you get a bit of aldehydes which gives the fragrance some lift. Heart notes of rose, vanilla, and tonka lend a rich almost syrupy sweetness. The rose note is definitely there but not in the way you would say, "Oh, a rose scent." It is used to add fullness and is well blended with the vanilla and tonka. For me the richness of the scent references the wealth and luxury of Klimt's patrons during the time frame the portrait would have been painted. Eventually base notes of patchouli and Akigalawood lend further depth. Akigalawood is a Givaudan trademark, and is a patchouli derivative with peppery notes and aspects of agarwood.

Overall, though I didn't see gold when I sprayed the scent, it does give a resplendent aura of wealth, culture, and luxury that defined early  20 century Vienna in the time period between the two great wars. This is initially a very strong scent so spray with care. I enjoyed wearing Woman In Gold, and I really can't imagine wearing it except in cooler weather as I feel it would radiate too strongly in heat. Me and tonka have a touchy relationship and a little goes a long way with me. There were times when I was wearing Woman In Gold that I was ready to say goodbye to the tonka scent, but when I awoke the next day there was still a reasonable trail of beautiful scent emitting from the skin on my wrist where I had sprayed, and it smelled really good on Day 2! The enamel box that comes with Woman In Gold is an homage to Klimt's style during his golden period, beautiful stuff if you can afford it. In researching this perfume, many people compared it to Tocade by Rochas which is a much cheaper alternative but I wasn't able to get my hands on any of this in time to do a direct comparison.

Gold Knight is the companion scent meant for the male market and it definitely does engender golden images due to the extremely heavy use of the honey note. I like the bergamot opening which is very different from its counterpart the Woman in Gold. It is brighter, fresher, and more light and sunny. It starts to become aromatic and then about ten minutes in the honey note starts coming on. Wow, the honey comes on thick and fast, picture a river of honey flowing toward you, enveloping everything in its sticky path. This is a woody vanilla scent with a patchouli base but for me, the honey dominates totally and it pretty quickly becomes a honey bomb on me. Yes, there is definitely the idea of a shimmering gold so perfumer Pascal Gaurin succeeded in that regard, but I am distracted by the edible factor in Gold Knight; it is almost too life like for me. However, if you have been searching for a perfume with a dominant honey note, welcome to your holy grail.

And finally, if you want to experience art in a new fantastical way, or if you are just an admirer of Klimt's work, get yourself to this exhibit before it closes at the beginning of 2019!

Photos and perfumes my own.

Happy Diwali! Celebrating With Jo Malone Jasmine Sambac and Marigold & Honeysuckle and Davana

Deepavali, or Diwali, depending on where you are, was always my favorite holiday in Singapore, and there they celebrated pretty much everything. I loved the colorful lights, I loved the warm and spicy Indian food--delicious and cheap as chips in Singapore's Little India community. As my husband and I moved from Singapore late last year, this will be the first time in fifteen years I've missed the lights and the celebration.

A couple of years ago I wrote My Marigold Scented Deepavali Perfumes: Profumum Roma Tagete and En Voyage Perfumes Tagetes Femme to commemorate this event.This year I'm doing something similar but surprisingly I am featuring reviews of the veddy veddy British Jo Malone, two of which inspire with references to India and the scents I encountered there years ago.

Is Jo Malone having a bit of an India moment or what? Romancing the memory of the British Raj era? For Jo Malone Jasmin Sambac and Marigold, a new addition to the Cologne Intense line, the perfume was actually inspired by the jasmine fields of south India. Jo Malone's Head of Fragrance Development (best job ever?), Celine Roux, and Master Perfumer Mathilde Bijaoui visited south India in 2016 and were inspired by the beautiful scent of the sambac jasmine and its use as an adornment for hair and as temple offerings. They also noticed the colorful orange and yellow marigolds that have great significance in Hindu worship. When I lived in India I always found it interesting how reverentially people treated the marigold, which is not really used in floral arrangements in the Western world.

www.Rediff.com

I have always admired how Jo Malone fragrances sometimes twin two disparate notes, like hitting a discordant tune on a piano that somehow makes music. In the case of Jasmine Sambac and Marigold I think it works well. The first time I tried this perfume the marigold was very evident and really reminded me of scents in India. It added that slightly discordant note which makes the perfume more interesting and not just another jasmine, albeit a very lovely one. As for the jasmine, Ms. Bijaoui said her intention was to make that note as realistic as possible, and she added orange blossom and honey to achieve this luxuriant freshness and opulence of the jasmine petals. To bring warmth to the mix, in addition to the marigold she added vanilla, ylang ylang and benzoin. When the jasmine eventually loses some steam, these are the notes that keep the scent warmly generating a lovely scent for many more hours. Jasmine Sambac and Marigold is one of the more interesting from the line that I've tried in a while, but if you don't like jasmine I can't see this swaying you to buy.

When Honeysuckle and Davana Cologne was released earlier this year I was eager to try it because I love honeysuckle scents! (Go here and here to read more about that). The reason I thought to put this perfume, which Jo Malone markets as the quintessential English countryside fragrance, in a post on India and Diwali, is the addition of Davana to the perfume. 

The davana plant is native to southern India, the same place that had the fields of jasmine sambac that inspired Ms. Bijaoui and Ms. Roux. The davana flower and the oil that is gathered from the plant are known for a sweet and boozy odor, but it can show other aspects such as herbaceous, balsamic, woody and bittersweet. It is the bittersweet that interests me the most because that is the sensation I got when I first sprayed the cologne, along with the herbaceous note. It gives an interesting twist to the otherwise virginal honeysuckle note. When the honeysuckle appears it is very sweet, delicate and appealing. Jo Malone calls it a "sunny" fragrance and I would agree with that. Ultimately is goes to a mossy base note and on my skin becomes a bit muddled and indistinct at this point.

I enjoyed both of these perfumes and I have been known to be critical of Jo Malone, as some of their offerings I simply struggle to smell anything. Bear in mind that I am a huge white flower lover and factor that into my affection I'm showing to these two new offerings from the house of Jo Malone. Nevertheless I am encouraged that I have positive feelings and it makes me look forward to see what next they will produce.

Happy Diwali or Deepavali to those who celebrate and apologies for my lateness in posting, as the holiday is about to draw to a close.

Top photo www.littledayout.com. Bottom photo Google image. Perfume sample my own.