Perris Monte Carlo Arancia Di Sicilia

Perris Monte Carlo has introduced a new scent to their Italian Collection, Arancia Di Sicilia. The oranges highlighted in this scent are special to Sicily (Sicilia), and the trees grow on the slopes of Mt. Etna. They are blood oranges, or sanguilella, known for their bright red fleshy pulp and the red, not orange, juice they produce. Perris Monte Carlo are quite proud of the process used to  extract the oil from the fruit which yields a complex and aromatic product.

Imagine holding a blood orange in your palm, just plucked from the tree and still warm from the sun. You use your thumbs to pry into the skin of the fruit and pull it apart. That zesty burst of fresh orange is what you get in the opening note of Arancia Di Sicilia. It is a particularly vibrant orange aroma, like waking up to a beautiful sunny day in your white washed room with blue sea views and an orange tree outside. In addition to the strong orange scent there is a tiny touch of green, as if the fruit has just been plucked from the tree.

www.fruitmaven.com

Then something even more interesting happens. I smell a touch of cinnamon which cuts through the orange scent. It gives a beautiful and unexpected gourmand note. Next vanilla and almond essence join the cinnamon. Too much of either and this would turn into a creamsicle but that doesn't happen. The almond adds a fragrant softness to the scent, like morning haze or diffused sunlight, making the orange scent a bit fuzzy. The vanilla adds just enough sweetness to be mellow but not saccharine. The cinnamon is still simmering underneath. I find the cinnamon the most distinct. The almond and vanilla continue to be identifiable but not overpowering.

Pinterest

Although I always enjoy citrus forward scents, both for the fragrance itself and for the "positive mental therapy" their happy smell invokes, the linear trajectory of these scents can frankly sometimes be a little boring. These unexpected gourmand elements added to Arancia di Sicilia make it more interesting and should also make it a perfume that is as delicious to wear on a brisk autumn day as on a sunny one.

The view from Villa Sant'Andrea, Sicily.

Eventually notes of coffee absolute, labdanum, iris, musk, and amber deepen the scent and add a warm richness. The coffee scent is faint on my skin and the labdanum, musk, and amber have the most impact. Wearing Arancia Di Sicilia is the projection of the perfect day, on holiday in Italy. You wake up to the bright aroma of the blood orange trees growing nearby. At breakfast you are served the perfect fresh juice, then perhaps a pastry with notes of cinnamon, vanilla, and almond. Eventually an espresso rounds out the perfect morning and will carry you through the day.

I find the scent very likable and easy to wear. Projection on my skin was fairly close to the skin and the scent lasted for four to six hours.

Top photo from Perris Monte Carlo website. I purchased my sample from Luckyscent.

Villa Nellcote by 19-69 - Sex, Drugs, and Rock N' Roll

The year was 1971. The Vietnam War raged on. Hippie culture had reached its apex. Woodstock had happened a couple of years before. Rock music was king and the drug culture permeated the creative lifestyle of the musicians. The Rolling Stones had to leave England or submit to a 93% tax rate so in the spring of 1971 they reluctantly made their way to the south of France for a two year pilgrimage. It would make a romantic bohemian story to say they all lived together in a big hippie house party at Villa Nellcote to produce the next Rolling Stones album, Exile on Main Street. The truth was a bit messier. Keith Richards had rented Villa Nellcote to live in with his paramour Anita Pallenberg and the other members of the band were scattered from Grasse to Arles. The grandeur and privacy of Villa Nellcote, located on the ultra-exclusive Villefranche-sur-Mer peninsula in the Cote d'Azur, made this the natural place for the Stones to gather and create music. There wasn't a recording studio nearby so the chateau's dank basement became a makeshift studio.

For a fragrance dedicated to the memory of a significant summer of debauchery and decadence at the Villa Nellcote, the opening is fairly sunny and a touch soapy. The perfume Villa Nellcote opens with the citrus freshness one would picture if standing on the balcony, looking at the expanse of cerulean blue water and the sunlit blue skies above. There is a watery effect that feels like breathing in fragrant sea air. Top notes of grapefruit, bergamot, lemon, and lemon flower bring on the sunshine. Elemi oil adds to the lemony tang but adds a deeper woody, peppery note. But wait! Underneath all this sunniness, I can already smell the mossy undertones which add a bit of mystery and formality to Villa Nellcote. The more formal notes seem to reference that this is, after all, an impressive French chateau with a somewhat storied history. It had been occupied by Nazi forces during WWII and it is located on what is possibly the most expensive real estate peninsula in the world. But in 1971 Keith Richards was renting Villa Nellcote for $2500 a month and it became a scene of partying, extensive drug use, and rampant creativity.

The villa was surrounded by lush and abundant gardens and the scent must have been a backdrop to the languid life that took place while the Stones were in residence.The heart of the fragrance is made up of floral notes but they are subtle and come across as aromatics rather than big florals. This aspect reminds me of some of the Chanel colognes. The green note of violet leaf penetrates and adds a dryness and slight bitterness to the fragrance. Floral notes of rose petals, jasmine, magnolia, and osmanthus are background noise, like walking past a garden but not discerning any one note. There is also a black tea infusion which I can't specifically discern.

"Upstairs, it was fantastic, like Versailles," said Keith Richards. "But down there, it was Dante's Inferno."

The beautiful sea views, the glitter of the jewel like coast, the magnificence of the 18th century mansion, these are all reflected in the lightness and sophistication of the opening of Villa Nellcote. But the actual recording work took place in a dank wet basement, plagued by dripping ceilings and power outages. The base notes in the perfume are cabreuva (a wood scent, I had to Google), cedarwood, patchouli, white amber, musk, moss, and guaic wood. These darker notes still wear gently and aromatically, but the moss does give the vibe of a dank cellar which was rumored to have been a difficult place to record.

www.Madame.lefiguro.fr

I was a bit frustrated testing this fragrance because my sample was in a little dabber and this is a fragrance that just begged to be sprayed. I felt like dousing myself in a spray of the slightly retro, cooling sunshine and moss scent. I liked the sophistication not always found in a citrus scent, a citrus with a veneer of French chic and sophistication that feels a bit dressy and polished. There is a slightly bitter green chord which to me signifies the decadence of this specific time and place. I like the aromatic cooling scent and I particularly like the mossy accord that lends a gentle chypresque feel. I do wish the scent was a bit stronger on my skin. It seemed to become fairly quiet only a couple of hours in. However, there was still a whiff of the mossiness the next morning when I woke up, albeit very close to the skin. This is a citrus with a little extra. I can picture a man or woman wearing this for a polished sophistication to present a cool calm against the heat of summer. Because of the mossy note I imagine this would also be a citrus that would transition well to cooler weather. I liked Villa Nellcote better each time I tried it. I wasn't initially wowed, but am to the point now I would like to own it.

The Swedish brand 19-69 was founded by Johan Bergelin and each scent is inspired by a cultural event, an era, or a setting. All the scents are suitable for wear by either gender. Bergelin says he chose the name 19-69 because, "The year 1969 represents an era of freedom, tolerance, and counterculture. It is also the year I was born."

**Apologies for lack of French punctuation marks. If anyone knows how to get them on blogspot format, please let me know!

The black and white photos are by photographer Dominique Tarle who lived in the Villa for a time, memorializing the moment with photos. The sample was purchased by me from Luckyscent. 

A Visit With Dawn Spencer Hurwitz of DSH Perfumes and New Summer Introductions

Once upon a time there was a wizard of scent who lived in the shadow of the great mountains. From her small shop she created potions that enchanted all who smelled the magical fragrances. Her fame grew to the far reaches of the kingdom and seekers of beauty traveled from far and wide to try her creations.

Okay, I'm being a bit fanciful but it describes the excitement I felt when I realized that I would finally be able to meet Dawn Spencer Hurwitz, one of the most influential perfumers in my personal perfume journey. Her creations helped send me down the rabbit hole of the world of scent and opened my eyes to how creative this medium can be. In June I was visiting a friend who had relocated to Boulder, and the winding mountain road we took from her house in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains literally spilled me out at the intersection where Dawn's shop sits on the main road to downtown Boulder. Serendipity. 

The shop is small and my first thought was how can the large DSH Perfumes catalog of scents possibly be contained here? The space is welcoming and intimate and shelves line every wall, and there is indeed a large collection of perfumes on display.  A cozy couch provides a space for visitors to sit and let Dawn guide them through the scent selection process as the large selection can be a bit overwhelming for the uninitiated (but a bonus for those of us always looking for the next new thing). A small office behind the showroom serves as Dawn's creative area and holds shelves lined with fragrant essences as well as tokens of inspiration, such as a retro mink stole that Dawn refered to when creating  her recent series on fur scents. Packages are prepared for mailing in a small room that showed signs of lots of orders going out to eager customers. This small creative space reminded me of a queen bee and her busy hive of activity!

If you follow DSH Perfumes on Instagram, you know that Dawn regularly does live stream videos from her shop where she connects with her very loyal customers and describes new perfumes she is working on or scents that she think fit the season. Dawn is exactly as she appears on the videos, open and natural, and when we met it truly did seem that I already knew her. A lot has been written about Dawn and how she got her creative start in Boston before moving to Boulder, so I decided to ask about another topic which has always interestsed me, her association with the art world and how it affects her perfume creation process.

Me outside the Essense Studio, Boulder.

It was about ten years ago that I first became aware of Dawn's perfumes. This was back before Facebook was big, and a lot of fragrance chatting went on at MakeupAlley.com and Basenotes, as well as the small number of  fragrance blogs that existed at that time. The perfumed project that  caught my attention was a collaboration between  DSH Perfumes and the Denver Museum of Art. The exhibit was about the court at Versailles, and Dawn created a series of perfumes called The Perfumed Court to illustrate fragrances that could have been worn by various members of the royal court at Versailles. What I found really fascinating was that she limited herself to using materials that were available in that era, and she did a lot of research to find out what scents the more famous historical figures would have been likely to use. I believe this sample set was my first order from DSH Perfumes and I loved the creativity of the marriage between scent and art. I asked Dawn to talk about how this association came about.

Dawn: "The very first time the DMA reached out to me was for the Artisans and Kings exhibit which were artifacts borrowed from the Louvre. They were artifacts that had to do with Versailles and Louis XIV, XV, and XVI. They wanted to do a show around artisans who worked for the King. They had a cheese maker, a winemaker, a baker. They were looking for something to do with all the senses and they wanted something for the sense of smell.They were looking around for a perfumer and they found me, and this is totally the kind of thing I like to do. I love research projects. They asked me to do a lecture on fragrances of the period. So I said, should I design something? And they said that would be great. And that was the very first time. I ended up making a collection of about eight fragrances and the museum would sell the collection during the course of the show. The program was such a success and they had such good feedback that now I'm on their creatives list and they reach out to me when they feel they're going to have a show that would be a nice pairing."

Of the collections Dawn has created in conjunction with the museum, she says that the YSL (Yves Saint Laurent) exhibit and the King Tut remain the best sellers, followed by Giverny In Bloom, which happens to be my personal favorite set. I asked how she approaches making scents for the exhibit.

Dawn:  "Sometimes, like with the Yves Saint Laurent, I go in advance and see the show and pick out what pieces I would like to speak about and be a part of my lecture. Sometimes I do my talks in the lecture hall and other times I will take people through the exhibit, give my talk, and have people literally smell their way through the exhibit, and so it becomes a multi-sensory experience."

Dawn's retro fur served as inspiration for a perfume series based on the smell of fur.

Dawn's creative output has seemed to me, an avid follower, to become even more prolific of late and I asked her if this was really the case. For instance, she recently introduced the Heirloom Collection of scents.

Dawn:  "I had this realization that I have all these notebooks full of ideas. I'm producing quite a lot but I have these creative needs so I have to deal with it. I consider myself an artist first and foremost and I treat this place more like an art studio than a perfume house. I'm making art and presenting it to my audience. But I realized that even though I am producing so much, I still have these notebooks with ideas that I would love to get to, but I don't want to do everything in a full launch that will be produced forever. I was talking to Michelyn Camen of Cafleurebon about this lament of mine and she said I should start doing limited editions and that I could do them rapid fire. It was really her brilliant idea to have this caveat that if you buy a signed and numbered limited edition bottle you get put on the registry and then you can buy it even after the edition is closed, so if you fall in love with one it can still be your signature scent. This way I can keep things to really small batches and be crazy creative and perhaps work with materials that I can only get a small amount of. I have lots of stashes of amazing materials that I want to work with, but can only get in a small amount."

Dawn partnered with Dave Kern of American Perfumer to produce Colorado which won the Independent Award at this year's Art & Olfaction Awards in Amsterdam. I asked Dawn about this partnership to create the award-winning scent, which has already sold out.

Dawn:  "The American Perfumer shop in Kentucky features only artisan American perfumers and is one of a kind in the US.  I was honored to be offered their first limited edition. Originally Dave Kern said, 'I'd love it to be where eventually we have all fifty states represented',  and so that's why it was named Colorado. I wanted to speak to the beautiful atmospheric aroma that you can find here. When the Ponderosa Pine bark is exuding its balsam and amber it has this very unique aroma, kind of like maple syrup and vanilla, so that aspect is the undertone of  Colorado. It has an airy conifer smell because in Colorado when you're in the mountains, even if you're in the forest there still feels like there is a lot of air moving around, not like the East Coast where the forests are more dense."

Dawn keeps an assortment of perfumes that never quite made it to market but are lovely nonetheless. They are for sale at fantastic prices so if you ever visit her shop do have a look. I couldn't resist picking up three originals: Jasmine Light, which is exactly what the name says but morphs into a beauty of a beach scent; Central Park In Spring, a bitter-green dry scent which I'm finding addicting; and Spring Rain, as clean and refreshing as a rain shower and then drying in the sun.

So what's coming next?

One project outside the DSH Perfumes umbrella that Dawn has upcoming is a collaboration with Victor Wong of Zoologist Perfumes. He commissioned her to create a perfume which will be called Snowy Owl, the notes of which she was not leaking when we talked back in June. 

As for DSH Perfumes, Dawn has some fun new fragrances she is introducing for summer. "I'm going to be doing a lot more launches, and by that I mean things that are not going to be limited edition or heirloom,"

"We're doing this thing called Summer Fun in June, July and August," Dawn said. "It will be semi humorous, fun ideas because I like that sort of thing. For June we're doing Avocado Toast - the hipster skin scent. It's an interpretation. If people are expecting it to smell  literally like  avocado toast, which has very little smell, then they are going to be disappointed because it doesn't smell like avocado toast. It takes the elements of avocado toast and amplifies them to create a perfume. A really fresh avocado has this green juicy quality. So it's green to creamy as it starts, then it shifts to warm and toasty. When you toast bread it caramelizes, so you have a little bit of that; not caramel exactly, but a sweet undertone. It was designed to be a skin scent and fun to wear, and just really delicious. It's easy to wear, not like a major perfume. I think it's fun to do things that are serious and things that are not serious."

Find this recipe at www.gimmedelicious.com

Other than the fact that avocado toast is probably my favorite breakfast, especially with fried egg on top, I had no clue what to expect from this scent. Well I'm here to tell you, avocados wish they smelled like this. The opening is a very creamy, yummy gourmand green. The caramelized toast  smell is experienced through notes of grain, warm butter, and a delicious amber-like accord which may come from the notes of immortale. It is a warm, yummy gourmand scent that wears extremely close to the skin. Dawn, if you need anymore ideas, I'd love to see a perfume featuring this burnt toast accord, but stronger. It has me wanting more.  If any of you tried last year's Jo Malone limited edition which included notes of grain it reminds me slightly of some of these scents, but better.

Another recent addition to the DSH Perfumes line is Royal Grey Cologne. Customers had been clamouring for Dawn to make an Earl Grey tea scent and this all botanical perfume is the result. 

www.OliverPluff.com 

Royal Grey Cologne is very bergamot forward and it is a brisk, fresh scent. It feels a bit oily, just like the bergamot oil they use to flavor Chinese black tea to make it in the Earl Grey fashion. The bergamot hangs around for a while but eventually the black tea note creeps in, and that is when I was rewarded with one of the scent memories that hits you ...poof... with a long buried memory revived by the smell of a forgotten moment. When I was very young my Grandparents lived in the Texas countryside and ran a few cattle. We would visit and I loved cramming into their small two bedroom house with all the cousins who lived nearby. My grandmother would brew dark black tea in preparation for the evening meal and the smell of the black tea in this perfume made me remember that moment. My grandmother would put several tea bags into a ceramic bowl that looked like an ear of corn. It is one of two things I took when she died and it sits in my kitchen today. The tea bags were an inexpensive brand, probably Lipton, but she used several and the tea was inky black. Then she would add in two full cups of sugar and the scent became syrupy and rich. I could smell the sugar melting as it met the hot tea. I didn't like sweet tea. My own Mom served us unsweetened tea with mint leaves and that's how I preferred to drink it, but the sweet tea did have a certain fullness and rich undertones that smelled delicious. Dawn describes this on her website as "the dense richness and liquor/floralcy of black tea." As the perfume wears the bergamot is still present but black tea notes along with very subtle floral notes provide a realistic and brisk cup of Earl Grey tea.

Gardenia Vitreaux is the third entry in DSH Perfumes Flowers for Men series. The name translates to Glassy Gardenia and is a modern take on the gardenia flower, which is usually represented in either a lush voluptuous form or with a tropical twist. Gardenia Vitreaux opens with a slight aldehyde lift, followed by notes of musk, ambergris, and eventually leather. This is a very different gardenia than you will have encountered before and does make this flower accessible to men who aren't drawn to the flower in its sweeter form.

Au Crepescule de Lavande, or In the Lavender Twilight was a spring introduction and April bestseller for DSH Perfumes. I went to Provence last summer and got to walk in the fields of narcotic lavender, breathing in their healing goodness and heady scent. Au Crepescule de Lavande perfectly catches that feeling of standing in a a field of lavender, bees buzzing, the air filled with herbal scents, sticky honey, and the soft fuzz of lavender buds. Dawn wanted to create a different sort of lavender perfume, not one with the feel of an aromatherapy session or day at the spa. "I wanted a full blown retro nouveau perfume that has vintage elements and an immense elegance," Dawn says on her website. I love the honeyed sweet herbal lavender mish-mash of notes that takes the smells of nature but gives it a slight gourmand spin and dressy elements that make it feel like a classic French perfume. I personally love lavender and Au Crepescule de Lavande is luscious and a must try for lavender lovers. This will be my next bottle order.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/670808229/night-blooming-flowers-botanical

Dawn has added  a second perfume to her Nocturne series. The first was Je Suis La Lune, a jasmine laced ode to the moon. In her newest,  Vers la Voute Etoilee (Toward the Starry Vault) : Nocturne No. 2, Dawn looks toward the stars for inspiration. Dawn came across a piece of music with this beautiful phrase and was inspired to create a perfume. Dawn says on her website, "I hope that with Vers la Voute Etoilee you will feel yourself hushed among the night blooming flowers of summer as you breath in the awe inspiring stars of the heavens above."

When Dawn heard I love white flowers she told me that I would probably like Vers la Voute Etoilee and she was right. Dawn said, "It's based on night scented stock and there are not a lot of perfumes out there based on night scented stock. It will  have star jasmine and stargazer lily. It's starry, sparkly, so it will have aldehydes in it. And it's nighttime so there will be a chypre background. It will feel classical and retro."

Vers la Voute Etoilee opens with a dewy, earthy floral note, as if the flowers have been ripped from the earth and bits of dirt cling to the roots. I have tried so many of Dawn's perfumes that I can recognize her fingerprint in certain notes, and this reminds me of a similar effect in Giverney In Bloom or l' Opera des Rouges et des Roses. It is such a realistic garden note and gives an authenticity to the florals. In addition to star jasmine, stargazer lily, and night stock there is black petunia. After the fresh lushness of the opening fades the white flowers become softer, almost a touch powdery. There is definitely a retro feel to the perfume. I get the slight sweetness of beeswax, as if there are candles flickering in our white flower garden bower. The florals have staying power on my skin, but the perfume eventually transitions into notes of oak moss, woods, civet, and musk. These notes also make Vers la Voute Etoille feel like it could have traveled through time. I really enjoyed the beauty of the white flowers conveyed in such an elegant manner. I can imagine I'm laying on my lawn in the garden of night blooming flowers as they emit a hazy sweet perfume, looking at the swath of twinkling stars above.

A big thanks to Dawn Spencer Hurwitz for welcoming me into her studio and being so generous with her time, as she had back-to-back interviews that day.

A big thanks to my friend Betsy Zink for the photographs of Dawn and her studio! And thank you to Dawn for providing me with these samples.

Sharkskin by DSH Perfumes, The Newest Heirloom Scent

www.LasVegasMagazine.com. Joey Bishop, Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., and Dean Martin.

I recently got to visit Dawn Spencer Hurwitz' studio in the Rocky Mountains and she showed me some of the new things she is working on, which included the latest in her Heirloom Collection, Sharkskin. I am going to be writing about this visit to Dawn's studio this weekend, but I wanted to hurry and get the review for DSH Perfumes Sharkskin out as it is a limited edition and only available through the end of August.

I love learning new bits of trivia or history, and Sharkskin was such a vehicle. When I first heard the name Sharkskin I thought in a very linear path to a grey silvery shark. While Dawn is referencing the animal with her new perfume, she was also influenced by sharkskin suits which were embraced by the Ratpack in the 60s  and have enjoyed a recent renaissance in style. The slim, sleek-fitting suit, perfectly illustrated in the recent television series Mad Men, have a shiny sheen to the fabric which is supposed to channel visions of a shark skin.

www.AustralianGeographic.com

When making Sharkskin, Dawn was channeling the cool sheen of the fabric used to make sharkskin suits, the silvery sleek skin of the shark, as well as the feel of cool water against the shark's skin. It is meant to feel cool and sleek on the skin, and as refreshing as a dive into cool ocean water. 

When I tested Sharkskin I found that Dawn has come up with a cooling, refreshing antidote for the steamy heat of summer. She calls it a "retro-modern fougere" in the tradition of a cologne. A fougere historically is composed of three main notes: a sweet floral, often lavender; an oak moss woody scent, and coumarin with its hay-like smell. The opening is a mixture of fresh citrus and floral, and the use of mock orange fulfills both these categories. It has the sparkle of Tahitian Lime, backed by other citrus notes such as lemon, bergamot, neroli and petitgrain. The lime opening is distinct but then I smell a slight touch of the soapy freshness that neroli and petitgrain can give. Quickly notes of mock orange sweeten the citrus. If you've ever smelled a mock orange, like orange tree blossoms it has a scent of sweet floral freshness and innocence. I have found that on my international flights they often put colognes containing orange blossom in the bathrooms for a fresh pick-me-up when the last shower is a distant memory. This aspect of the perfume represents the coolness of the sharkskin, be it a fabric suit or the leathery skin of the predatory fish. 

Eventually fern-like notes present, lending a sophistication and suaveness to Sharkskin. Dawn uses the traditional fougere ingredient of oakmoss to facilitate this transition, but there is also ambergris, Australian sandalwood, civet, and musk. There is the feeling of freshly ironed clothes and I find the mock orange provides the freshness but these fern notes give the impression of hot iron touching fabric, making it crease less and smooth. At this point a slight lavender note becomes apparent in the cologne. The coumarin can provide many nuances to the scent besides the new mown hay note with which it is most identified. Coumurin can give herbaceous aspects to a scent and sometimes has an undertone of powder and vanilla. Although I would never call Sharkskin a powdery scent, it does provide that cooling freshness that a dusting of talc can provide to sweaty skin. 

www.DSHPerfumes.com

DSH Perfumes Sharkskin is a fragrant armour against the humid, sweaty assault of summer temperatures. Whether you picture it as an uber trendy fitted suit or the metallic shimmer of sharkskin, the cologne keeps you feeling crisp and clean. It is very unisex and easy to wear. For comparison purposes only, in spirit this reminds me of Penhaligon's Savoy Steam or Balenciaga L'Essence, both of which I have reviewed here. The notes are different but they contain a similar clean, cooling, fresh pressed aura.

DSH Perfumes Heirloom Collection is a new invention this year to give a venue for the many creative ideas percolating in Dawn's mind. The designs will be sold for two months, then once it is gone, it's gone, with one exception. If you have bought one of the heirloom bottles you always have the opportunity to order more from Dawn, as long as she can source the ingredients. You can also subscribe to the heirloom subscription service if you don't want to miss out on any of the introductions. 

Drinking Fig Gin and Smelling of Fig Perfume

Figs were revered by the ancient Greeks as a staple of life and this year on the annual sojourn to my husband's home in Adelaide I discovered a drink that would have truly been considered a nectar of the gods by those ancient Greeks. Pot & Stills Fig Gin is produced in the Adelaide Hills by a fig grower who was wondering what to do with all their excess figs a few years ago and with the help of a local distiller began turning them into gin. My introduction to the brand came at Cellar Door Fest, a monumental extravaganza for local small wineries who want to make consumers aware of their products. Amidst all the gorgeous wine displays I came across a sight similar to the one below.

The beautiful display of figs and the attractive gin bottles got our attention and after sipping it we left with a bottle of the stuff. I'm not always a gin lover but this drink is fantastic mixed with tonic and excellent just to sip straight with ice and a lime, but don't try bothering to find it unless you're in Australia. Production isn't that large and it has become so popular you have to practically be there when it's being unloaded from the truck to put on the store shelves.

All of this interest in figs got me to thinking about figs in perfumery, for as those of you that love perfumes know, it is always about the scent! Fig is one of the favorite notes I love to wear in summer. It is totally unisex. Almost any fig perfume I can name suits men and women equally well. It is refreshing on its on, but depending what notes the perfumer chooses to surround the fig it can be green, beachy, or jammy, and in my opinion they all have their own appeal. The recent history of fig perfume all started with one woman, though, Olivia Giacobetti who created Premier Figuier for the at-the-time newish brand L'Artisan Parfumeur in 1994. Premier Figuier is said to be the first fig perfume. Two years later Giacobetti would make a fig scent for Diptyque called Philosykos. I own both and only when testing side by side for this post realized that having both is probably redundant.

Perfumer Olivia Giacobetti.

L'Artisan Primier Figuer EDT is like a love letter to figs. Green and succulent, fresh and realistic as if one's hands are covered in figgy pulp. I can smell the purple bruise-colored skin of the fig, the green leaves of the tree, and the way the delicate branch holding the weight of the fig gives a "snap" and you get a hint of the goodness inside the fruit, escaping through the tiny hole left by breaking the connection to Mother Tree. Let me add here that I tried Premier Figuier Extreme and did not get this opening. I didn't find it very interesting so the review is only for the original version. A light milky scent tinged only slightly by coconut creeps in and everything in the scent comes down a notch, not an uncommon occurrence with L'Artisan scents, which are not known for their longevity. Long before its base note of sandalwood appears the scent is just a slight imprint on my skin. I guess this is why the Extreme version was made, but it does not feel like the same scent on my skin. I give this one a 10/10 for the realistic and natural scent but a 3/10 for longevity. But by perfume standards today it's not too expensive so my solution is to carry a decant with me and periodically respray throughout the day, giving myself a small thrill of pleasure each time that I do. I will add that like several of the L'Artisan fragrances, I think it is long gone and then it pops up again, out of the blue.

When I spray Diptyque Philosykos on its own I really enjoy the opening and it feels like fresh fig, but when I do the side-by-side comparison to the L'Artisan it pales for me. It's opening is at first green, but it made me think swampy green. The fig comes in next and it is pulpy and more green than sweet. The milky essence becomes very noticeable. As the scent develops I sense a wetness as if the rain is sitting on the broad fig leaves in droplets and also that smell of wet earth. The scent becomes slightly fruitier and the coconut is there, although not super strong. This one outlasts the L'Artisan EDT on my skin and it becomes a clean yet sensual skin scent eventually. Yet if I had to pick a favorite it is the L'Artisan. The first try was the charm, Olivia.

When I reviewed the Imaginary Authors scents back in 2016, Yesterday's Haze was one of my favorites and you can read the review here. In my original review I wrote about the warmth of the tonka and the delicious figgy vanilla cream. This time, though, I smell just a hint of smoke and woods, like a campfire smoldering near a fig orchard. The smoke smells very organic and it mingles with the slight sweetness of the fig. The Imaginary Authors website lists playful notes of walnut bitters and orchard dust, so perhaps it is the "hazy" notes which create this sense of smoke or dust for me. The greenness of the fig--the twigs, leaves and branches-- are emphasized over the sweetness of the fig in this scent. I am finding this less gourmand than I did three years ago. Can aging skin account for these changes? In any case, I liked it in 2016 and I like it in 2019.

Lothair by Penhaligon's London is a part of the Trade Routes perfume series and is meant to "evoke the tea clipper ships that navigated the globe to bring exotic treasures to Britain's shores." Opening notes are cardamom, grapefruit, juniper, and fig leaf, with heart notes of fig milk, lavender, magnolia, and black tea. Notes of wood, vanilla, and musk round out the base so it is obviously not a fig dominant scent, however the fig note is significant enough to include Lothair in this review. Lothair's opening is dry and spicy and one can picture sailors hauling big wooden trunks on board, fragrant with the scent of cardamom and other spices. Their is the salty tang of sea air and I can almost hear the waves beating against the boat's wooden hull. A whiff of black tea leaves comes from the bulging burlap bags. The fig leaf and fig milk add a slightly gourmand touch to the scent. English tea with cream anyone? This scent has a story to tell and it takes it's time unfolding. Towards the end of the scent life I get a mixture of spice and nuts that is addictive to me, almost like a warm grain cereal seasoned with spice and warm milk and sugar. This scent has a masculine vibe but I love to wear it for it's yum factor. Bertrand Duchaufour is the perfumer.

Detail of lotus painting from Jaipur City Palace, India.

Duchaufour is also responsible for the next perfume I want to discuss, Neela Vermeire Ashoka. The journey of Ashoka is meant to reflect the evolution of the Indian emperor from a ruthless conqueror to a benevolent ruler after his conversion to the Buddha's peaceful teachings. The scent starts with a fierce opening and softens into a floral heart. My own reflections when I spray this scent are Holy Fig! It's that beautiful to me and it is interesting that my mind went there, as Ashoka was a man transformed by his religion.

First are watery notes of lotus, hyacinth and fig leaf which make me think of the lotus dappled water surrounding the floating palace in Udaipur (or they were thirty years ago when I was there on my one year wedding anniversary). There is a thread of scent in this opening that takes me immediately back to the scents of India, garnered from the four years I lived there. I can't describe it to you but my brain recognizes the smell immediately and all I can say is that Duchaufour did his homework. Then creamy sandalwood mixes with milky fig for a swoony comforting and slightly sweet gourmand. In addition to the sandalwood there is a slender trail of incense rising. This is not strong; picture walking past a single burning incense stick with a faint but lingering smell. My perception of this note could be coming from any of these notes: fir balsam, myrrh, ambre gris, birch, Haitian vetiver, or styrax. Ashoka is absolutely gorgeous for the first hour but unfortunately after that the scent weakens considerably on my skin. If I could maintain that beautiful creamy opening of the fig mixed with the sandalwood/temple vibe I would be bathing in this stuff.

L'Artisan Caligna  was made to represent the clary sage fields surrounding Grasse and is an aromatic perfume. In the L'Artisan copy they speak of a jasmine marmalade note which had me super excited when I read it, but which I unfortunately never experience. The scent opens with a note of young fresh green fig. I smell the branches and leaves of the fig tree and the scent that pops into the air in that moment a fruit is plucked from the branches. This is a little more herbal than some of the fig scents I tried. It is innocent and light, and in my case, too light. It just doesn't have the appeal for me of it's sister scent, Premier Figuier, but if you aren't sure about wearing the fig note in perfume this could be a good introduction to the category.

The view from Villa Kerylos, Beaulieu-sur-Mer, France, Cote-de-Azur.

Jardins de Kerylos by Parfumerie Generale references a villa built in the Greek style that sits on the tip of the Beaulieu-sur-Mer peninsula, surely some of the most hallowed real estate in the world. Pierre Guillaume of Perfumerie Generale is French, and although I see fig in perfume as a more earthy and rustic note, this perfume has just a touch of that French fairy dust that makes you think "perfume" and not "fig jam".  The perfume opens brightly, a shaft of sunlight through the dense leaves of the fig tree.The fig note is a bit more muddled but does provide the customary earthiness and fresh fruit gourmand goodness. If you want your fig perfume to be a touch more sophisticated, Jardins de Kerylos could be one to try. A note of sycamore helps keep it dry and woody, and the perfume accentuates the green and woody aspects of fig. Guillaume describes this as luminous and it is so. Fig can be an earthy note but in this perfume it floats. Also to note, I can smell an impression of water, perhaps from this view of the villa.

Heeley Figuier opens with green fig and a touch of coconut. There is a touch of that aquatic note that makes some people smell pickle juice, but I only get the occasional whiff of that and it's not off-putting. The big opening fades quickly on my skin and then the aquatic/pickle smell is more noticeable. If you are sensitive to that note you may not appreciate this perfume. I think it might be discontinued as I am not finding a readily available link to buy.

www.BegonaMorton.com

Au Pays de la Fleur d'Oranger Figue Fruitee is the first scent that I've tried from the Au Pays line (I refuse to type the long name again) that I didn't fall for. It's not that I dislike it but it leaves me underwhelmed. Everything is very muted. The fig isn't really green and is not that fruity. It is a well mannered scent but rather forgettable. I would describe it as fig perfume at 50%. A leather note makes it dry as old boots.

Lubin Figaro is inspired by the Figaro trilogy of comedy plays written by Beaumarchais in 1778 (not a particularly funny time in France, the French Revolution would follow the next year). Figaro's opening is slightly alcoholic to me, but then a note of vetiver enters, grassy, dry and hay-like. This is a masculine scent and although there is a note of fig hiding amongst the vetiver, it certainly isn't prominent. This scent smells like a ride in a horse-drawn cart down a rustic country lane one hundred years ago, the fields lined with hay and in the distance there is a small fig orchard. This scent is dry and dusty.

DSH Perfumes Figue Interdite is a part of the Les Fruits Defendus, vol. 1 line that Dawn Spencer Hurwitz introduced last summer as light weight colognes for hot summer weather. This perfume is 100%  botanical and you can sense this when you smell, or maybe it's what you don't smell...any trace of chemical or synthetic scent. The scent is fresh and pure and totally natural. It is somewhat green, somewhat juicy, but not overloaded with either, just as you would find a fig tree in nature. At the beginning I smell flashes of an herbal, tobacco-like scent. It's very faint and maybe it is the ambrette seed or the vetiver that I am smelling. Although on the surface it would seem to be a simple perfume, like most of Dawn's creations it has a host of ingredients: balsam fir, costus, orris concrete, Mysore sandalwood, Texas cedarwood, jasmine, linden blossom, mimosa....the list goes on and on but you get the idea. Somehow she magically puts these diverse ingredients together and comes up with...fig, and a beautiful fig it is. Like most botanicals on  my skin, longevity is not astounding but that's the trade off. It is a watercolor wash of fresh fig with a beautiful woody skin scent dry down. Love!

www.ful-filled.com

Profumum Roma Ichnusa is green, green, green and in my world, this is a good thing. It's subtle, not a big sillage blaster. It is the green of the fig leaf, the actual fruit of the fig is downplayed here, and the green is like forging through a dense tropical jungle of green leaves. There is a touch of fragrant earth and the fresh aspect of the fig plant. Looking at the listed notes: myrtle, grass, hay, fig leak and fig tree wood, it is no surprise that the perfume feels green. I read that it is a salute to the coastline of Sardinia.

Carthusia Io has been around since 2000 and the perfumer is Laura Bosetti Tonatto. It starts off with a slightly bitter herbal note, not an unpleasant bitter smell but it is bone dry. Beneath this there is a note that reminds me of ocean water with only the slightest tang of salty air. Eucalyptus and mint in the top notes are refreshing and cooling. Anise adds a touch of spice, balanced by calm notes of tea and mint. This feels fresh and bracing, and like one of those scents that would cool you off on a hot day. The fig is dry and green. Very likable.

Don't let me forget Hermes Un Jardin en Mediterranee. This iconic scent by Jean Claude Ellena seems like it's been around forever (it was 2003) but because you see it everywhere I think it can be underrated. This is my favorite of all the Jardin series by Hermes. Jean Claude Ellena said about it, "An expression in perfume of a Mediterranean memory, a mosaic of olfactory, visual, and tactile sensations." From its watercolor wash of citrus note openings to the wood notes of cypress and cedar, it is the fig leaf that has the most distinctive presence. The notes sound simple but this is Jean Claude Ellena we're talking about, one of The Masters, and it is perfection. For some reason I had never taken this on beach vacations but this year I took it to Australia and wore it for my walks along the beach. Mama, Mia! I smell the salt of the water as if the crystals are drying on my skin and in my hair! I only get that salty aspect with the addition of some good old ocean breeze.

Now for something a little more gourmand, Les Senteurs Gourmandes Figue Sauvage  by Laurence Dumont, France. This is a flowery fruity fig with gourmand aspects. If you like fruity florals this is safe territory and you will recognize the dark sweet fruits mixed with ylang ylang and other floral notes as similar to that deep sweet richness found in other perfumes of this type.

Two fresh and light fig scents that I've written about before are Roger & Gallet Fleur De Figuier and Feuille De Figuier. I bought these when I was in France last year and they are pretty inexpensive but refreshing and lovely scents that I've enjoyed wearing. Fleur De Figuier is slightly sweet and Feuille De Figuier is the more green fig leaf. Both are fun, "don't think about it, just spray", type scents. You can read a detailed review here.

Here's one you can treasure hunt for, Miller Harris Figue Amere. It is discontinued but it used to be readily available at places like Fragrancenet.com. I see that is it not, now, but it is still on Amazon. This is a different fig scent; for one thing there appears to be no fig in the ingredients. It manages to juggle fresh and realistic nature smells but at the same time have an Oriental perfume formality. Notes include angelica, balsam fir, violet leaf, narcissus, rose, amber; no mention of even a fig leaf, though. It is like a Picasso, the painting is a woman who doesn't look quite like the woman but you get the idea. Same here. It is not exactly fig but it captures the green bitterness of the leaves and twigs and there is a fruity sweetness underneath it all that resembles fig. More than the other scents I've listed here, this is a fig in high heels and a black dress, or for a man, in a tux and tie. This is one of the few scents in my life that I finished the whole bottle. Why I didn't buy another when it was so available....well, we all have those stories.

https://frogmom.com/a-green-fig-preserve-recipe/

Let's look at some really green figs by Rouge Bunny Rouge. They do a couple of interesting scents using fig leaf. Let's first look at Lilt, an unusual scent of green fig leaves mixed with peach. Violet, which to me feels more like violet leaf, softens and sweetens. Later in the scent vetiver and musk make it slightly smokey and moodier. The scent is meant to represent sunlight and shade in a garden which has been pelted with rain. There is a light transparency at the beginning of the fragrance which later morphs into a darker calm. It feels like peach fuzz amidst a green tangle of foliage.

Incantation also uses fig leaf but its opening notes give a totally different experience. Rather than soft sweetness, it is very green and fresh. In fact it is so green that the random thought popped into my head that this is the perfect scent to wear on St. Patrick's Day! It achieves this with top notes of citrus accord, blackcurrant, fig leaf, and green tea. The blackcurrant is pretty tame here, more green than juicy berry. A hint of the spice notes of cardamom and coriander pop in an rose and orange blossom add a tiny bit of floral softness. I still smell the green aspects more than anything. Base notes of vetiver, cedarwood, beeswax, and musk round out the scent. Of the two scents I prefer the green vibrancy and fun of Incantation over Lilt, which starts out great on my skin but ends up a bit muddled and indistinct. Incantation feels darker and a little more mysterious.

 Giovanni Stanchi 1645

You may wonder if any of the perfumes I tried actually reminded me of my beloved Fig Gin? The closest would be Byredo Pulp. On the Byredo website it is described as "a shapeless mass of ripe fruits; unruly and sweet juices that channel flavor bombing". Yep, it's all that. Pulp opens with a stringent note that I took for grapefruit but must be the bergamot. I don't think the opening of a perfume has ever given me such surprise since I smelled Bat by Zoologist Perfumes. Pulp is such a great name because it does smell like the fleshy part of the fruit has been ripped from the rind, maybe a couple of days ago and is in that stage between succulent juiciness and rot. Akin to how jasmine can dance a fine line of being breathtakingly delicate or a fecal shock, this fruit teeters on the edge of succulence and malodorous mess. But it constantly makes me bring my wrist to my nose for another sniff, just like when I'm wearing Bat. Although the fruit here comes across to me as more plum than fig, fig is one of the elements in the melange we have here.

Find recipe at www.The-broken-bread.com

How could I finish a post on fig scents without mentioning Mugler Womanity? I wrote a whole post about it here in great and glorious detail. When I mentioned that the crunchy density of the fig in Womanity reminded me of the figgy pudding we used to eat in Scotland, some readers commented that they wear Womanity in summer as a beach scent for the caviar salty aspect of the scent. I can see that, and now it has become a year round scent for me. It's a mind bender; some love it, others hate it, but it definitely goes where no fig perfume has gone before.

What are your favorite fig perfumes. Have I missed them here? If so, please let me know.

Top photo from www.deviantart.com. All samples my own.

Byredo Sundazed

Perfume brands seem to all be releasing their version of a beach-style perfume in anticipation of Summer 2019, and Byredo  continues this trend with the release of Sundazed.

Let me start with a positive: I love the name. You know that feeling you get if you are a sun worshipper (slathered in SPF 50 of course)? Your skin is warmed by the sun, you can hear the sound of the ocean, and you drift into a sleepy haze of well being. Sundazed is the perfect name for this state, in fact, you'll find the term in the Urban Dictionary. They define Sundaze as:

A state of mind or place often associated with Sundays that promotes well being and relaxation. Combine the positive energy and warmth of water and sunshine and you'll be in a "Sundazed" state of mind.

So, excellent name. Now for what is going to be my shortest review to date. Opening notes are supposed to be lemon and mandarin. I have both of these trees in my Australian back yard and I'm here to tell you that, no, that is not what I smell. I smell neroli, or should I say, NEROLI. Now I happen to like neroli, unlike many who say it gives them a soapy vibe, so that is not the problem. The problem is that there are so many other neroli/orange blossom perfumes available at a much more reasonable cost. The first thing that flashed in my head when I smelled it was Elie Saab, although ultimately I much prefer it to the Sundazed. The opening moments are the prettiest and if this neroli-orange-juice accord could continue I might be hooked. But all to soon the realism of the neroli becomes more muted and musky. The only other note I get during the three or four hours I can smell the perfume is the cotton candy accord. This does nothing to change my initial impression of Sundazed or endear it to me. It's not a bad perfume, but chances are you have something similar in your collection already and it probably didn't cost you Byredo prices. But this is just my impression. Perhaps your skin will give you a better return for the money.

Byredo Sundazed sample purchased by me from Luckyscent.

Vanilla Vibes by Juliette Has A Gun

Are you a fan of the deconstructed food styling boards over on Pinterest? That is what the image above reminds me of, and I find them helpful for giving a quick and clear interpretation of ingredients, in this case of a perfume. Juliette Has A Gun has introduced a new perfume for the summer of 2019, Vanilla Vibes. The best news for me is that the vanilla is subtle and actually very wearable for warm weather. I am not the biggest fan of foody vanilla scents in perfume and the only time I can bear them is in cold weather when the richest element of the vanilla scent are somewhat subdued by the frigidity outside. Romano Ricci who founded the perfume brand maybe says it best:

I have been wanting to work with vanilla for some time.But not being a fan of sweet notes, I needed to find a twist. I chose sea salt. This transports the vanilla into a mineral dimension. Far from being overwhelming, the vanilla becomes suddenly more atmospheric, more elegant.

Ricci definitely achieved his brief. Vanilla Vibes is pretty much what you see pictured above; vanilla, orchid and sea salt in a bed of white sand. I don't love the very fist moment when I spray. I get a whiff of alcohol until it either evaporates or is absorbed into the skin. This happens quickly and once the perfume has a chance to warm on the skin the top note of fleur de sel becomes apparent. This gives that sense of sun-warmed skin, drip-drying after a dip in the ocean. Since there is no coconut you don't get the Coppertone suntan vibe, it is more skin/saltwater/sun. Heart notes of vanilla and orchid give the scent a slightly sensuous, but innocent, feel. These two notes were combined very effectively in Van Cleef & Arpels Collection Extraordinaire Orchidee Vanille and that same subtle beauty is present in Vanilla Vibes, but the addition of sea salt tempers any tendency towards sweetness. Base notes of benzoin, brown musk, sandalwood, and tonka bean are all used with a light stroke of the brush, whispering rather than boldly announcing their arrival. These notes all merge to further enhance the skin scent and it evolves into a golden amber glow, a scent that remains for several hours.

Photo from A Nice Little Tumblr

The bottle is getting a lot of love on the fragrance forums and fragrance Facebook sites. It gives the appearance of sand, fading to sea, fading to sky and really pictorially represents what's in the bottle. I enjoy this scent as it is light and very easy to wear, the vanilla is very muted on my skin, and it really does represent what my skin naturally smells like after a day at the beach. It reminds me somewhat of Estee Lauder Bronze Goddess without the coconut, Jennifer Aniston without the jasmine, or Jo Malone Wood Sage and Sea Salt without the sage. There is nothing profoundly new here. You may already have something similar in your collection. But it is well done and immanently likeable. I can see it being a staple for someone who lives by the sea or wishes they did.

Burning Man, which takes place every year in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada, was Ricci's inspiration for the scent. The scent is very unisex and if you are a fan of sun/skin scents I would consider this a pretty safe blind buy.

Here is a behind the scene look at the video promo shot for Vanilla Vibes introduction on May 1.



Photos are from the Juliette Has A Gun website. I bought my own sample at Luckyscent.