hortus conclusus

I just received a pack of the Scented Djinn’s line of perfumes, and I am very impressed with Sahar— This is seriously quality juice! Something about it reminds me of Thai food-in the best way possible—that sour lime and woody/sour/aromatic lemongrass-ginger combo is true to life here. So, as an adventure in sinaesthesia suggestion, I’d say give this a go the next time you go out for Thai food! I bet that would be awesome…. Sahar boasts a citrus/lemon/bergamot sharpness on top of a round, full floral/green accord that is truly luminous. On me, the white flowers come out, and create that Fraca s-like yeasty butteriness that I love oh so much—but unlike Fracas , which is full-bore floral, this is green and fresh! Sweet, tart, woody, lovely, yes…. I do not think of the Sahara Desert when I smell this—rather, as I said, of Thai food and fresh, sour, green things. It is not a dry fragrance, as its name might lead one to believe, but rather, a moist and lush affair. In the drydown—som...

This week I spent five days in the city, and have been away from the blogosphere, but now I’m back to share all my news! The question is, what is the most exciting thing that happened to me fragrancewise? With my busy fragrance schedule (see my Birthday Pilgrimage) it’s hard to say, and I will surely be mulling over all my experiences online over the course of this week, but I think I must first come out with the most exciting news of all: I fell in love. And bought the bottle (thank God Bergdorf-Goodman was having a $25 off sale)  The lucky fragrance? Robert Piguet’s Fracas. I had never really understood what all the fuss over tuberose was about until I wore this. Yes, I’ve sniffed it before, and other insanely bold tuberoses like Tuberose Criminelle and Carnal Flower, but wearing 4 spritzes (overkill, I know!) of Fracas around Greenwich Village on this past Thursday night made me understand. On me, Fracas smells like tuberose, yeast, and butter—and warm, unwashed sheets. A...

This is an insane opening--the aldehydes hit you like a ton of bricks; this strikes me as a joke in a way, since it seems so out of character with the drydown, which is smooth, smooth, and ever so delicate. This is not the kind of fragrance I personally prefer to wear, but I can certainly appreciate the artistry of what is clearly a perfection within the genre of complex white floral/powder/aldehydes. I sense a cinnamon/jasmine/amber-vanilla accord at the heart of Baghari, and I think it must be the cinnamon that keeps this interesting, adding complexity to what could have been a rather banal (dare I say that?) aldehydic amber.