hortus conclusus

I am in Kalamazoo Michigan this weekend for the 45th International Congress on Medieval Studies , so these will be regrettably short posts for the next few days as I do the professional thing—listening to papers on French epic poetry, medieval Scandinavian ballads, and Beowulf, among other things. The best thing about this conference has to be the dance; nowhere else in the world can you feast your eyes on hundreds of medievalists partying down on the dance floor with complete abandon. It’s amazing, and exhausting. Last night I went to a very civilized dinner for those of us who study medieval ballads, and it was a wonderful evening of genteel conversation. As I wander around the campus,  I enjoy wearing Andy Tauer’s beautiful creation, Le Maroc pour Elle . It has a dense, lovely, flowery, overblown, exotic incense smell. The jasmine and rose ride on top of the smoke and the patchouli dancing in supple waves of scent—almost as if you were in a quality incense store –I’m thinking...

I interrupt my rose drawing week broadcast to rhapsodize briefly about one of my new favorite violet scents. I love violet smells —love the way the violet fades in and out of focus as it wears on my skin—and happily sniff any and all violet fragrances, most of which smell old-fashioned in very comforting ways. When Abigail over at I Smell Therefore I am kindly sent me a sample of  Sonoma Scent Studio’s V oile de Violette , I characteristically sprayed it all over me as quickly as possible, losing not a moment of time. This is a different kind of violet, more modern than old-fashioned and I love it. It is juicy and full, where many violets are consumptive and bone dry, reminding me of little candied dried violets , not something which drinks in the sun and has liquid running through its veins. This fragrance captures a living violet, rounding out the ever-so-delicate scent with something cherry blossom-like and something that smells a bit jammy—not in a potted fruit sort of a...

  In The Arc Of Your Mallet Don't go anywhere without me. Let nothing happen in the sky apart from me, or on the ground, in this world or that world, without my being in its happening. Vision, see nothing I don't see. Language, say nothing. The way the night knows itself with the moon, be that with me. Be the rose nearest to the thorn that I am. I want to feel myself in you when you taste food, in the arc of your mallet when you work, when you visit friends, when you go up on the roof by yourself at night. There's nothing worse than to walk out along the street without you. I don't know where I'm going. You're the road, and the knower of roads, more than maps, more than love. Translation of Rumi by Coleman Barks I am obsessed with Persia, and have always been, but alas, political tensions ...

It’s funny, but after I posted my rose drawing and giveaway in honor of my 90th post, I noticed that a lot of the other fragrance blogs I follow were also posting articles about rose fragrances. Isn’t it funny how something is just in the air like that, and a bunch of people are thinking about something simultaneously? Because so many bloggers have been writing cool things about roses this week, I figured I would link you, dear readers, to their lovely posts. Because there is no such thing as too many roses, right? First, Donna at PST narrating the battle of two epic rose fragrances here.   Signature Scent musing about the ubiquity of roses via Stella McCartney’s Nude here . At WAFT, a review of Frederic Malle’s Lipstick rose here . the non-blonde about her preferment of Stella’s peony scent Stella in II to her first rosy creation here . The Scented Salamander’s exhaustive review of Bond no.9’s new rose here . Enjoy, and I’ll post a review of some fruity rose sm...

This week, I am focusing on rose-centered fragrances in an attempt to get you excited for my Rose decant giveaway. Roses and more is a surprising scent in many ways. The first is price—it appears to still be in production, yet it can be easily found on the interwebs for 3.99! Now, if you’re like me, you may sneer and sniff at anything with a price tag that low—it has to be crap, I hear you saying in my mind’s ear, dear reader. But sniff again—this time, sniff the fragrance—and I guarantee what you smell won’t say ‘thlree dollah…!’ This smells expensive, like good natural materials went into it--and decently priced synthetics. Second, yes, it’s a c-list celebrity scent, (I checked the official website and it didn’t even seem to have a full list of Presley’s fragrance line-she’s got at least five other perfumes besides Roses and More— clearly, boosting her brand’s returns is not the first thing on Presley’s mind in the morning) but one with a heart and a genuineness to it, and...

As those of you who have been keeping an eye on this blog over time may know, this is a relatively new blog. I have been obsessed with fragrance for many years now, and keeping notes for myself, but it has only been a few months since I began making my thoughts and feelings on the subject public in this forum. I thank you for staying with me as my husband and I tweaked the format of the blog pages, and tried to get all the feeds, searches, etc. running properly. I am still feeling my way around the blogosphere, learning what works and what doesn’t and trying to figure out exactly how to tailor my own blog.   There are a LOT of really great fragrance blogs out there, and I follow and admire the work of many writers who know way more about the fragrance industry and the art of perfumery that I do. I admire them and am not trying to complete with their expertise and knowledge. I simply add another voice to the chorus of fragrance enthusiasts, and offer a focus on integrating fra...

  Here’s to moms and motherhood!  I know I am grateful for my beautiful mother and grandmothers and for all the other mother figures in my life. My gorgeous mother and her equally lovely mother are pictured on the left. Here’s wishing everyone a day filled with joy and family and sunshine. IN honor of my mother, who likes dirt and growing things, I am wearing Jo Malone’s wild fig and cassis, which on my skin smells like peat, grass, and hay,  with a little fig and cream thrown in. It is like wearing a hug, which I need, since my mom lives on the other side of the country. It is a lovely green which manages to stay warm and enveloping while retaining its greenness throughout.  A truly eloquent composition.   Well, enough about me and my smells. Children, go call your mother and mothers, enjoy being called! Life is very short!

  Last night we had a 70th birthday party for my thesis advisor at our house and had a bunch of people—grad students and professors—over for a catered dinner from a local Thai place. Hoping to make the place smell good and look better, I gathered bunches of lilacs from the lilac bush outside our back door and placed them around the apartment. So far, so good. The problem was, one of my thesis advisors started having a MAJOR allergic reaction to something, and was clearly miserable. Of course, he stuck around e ven though he was sneezing continuously and dealing with a major runny nose and tearing eyes .  I felt terrible, as you can imagine, and eventually collected all my bouquets and put them outside. I joked that now I know his weakness, I am going to hide a huge bunch of lilacs in a corner for my doctoral defense; he will be too distracted by his allergies to give me too much trouble. He laughed, dryly. The problem with the smell of lilacs—both in perfumery and in bouque...

A lot of people take Chanel’s masterpiece (well, one of them) Cuir de Russie very seriously, rightly admiring its near-perfect combo of cigar, barnyard, and leather, overlaid with a sparkling aldehyde and floral mist. I love cuir de russie, but something about it also tickles my funnybone. I find it incredibly ‘historical’-feeling—which is a silly way of saying it fits—in my mind—into a very specific time and place. It really pushes my imagination towards the post-war years of the English aristocracy, and in particular, towards a certain type of girl, parodied hilariously by the ever pitch-perfect P.G. Wodehouse . This kind of girl—I am thinking of a character named Honoria Glossop in particular--possessed of a Teutonic hardiness, is never far from her horse or the golf and tennis courts, loves outdoor activities, is as strong as an ox, and always manages to get herself engaged to some insipid young upper-class gent. As Bertie, one of the insipid upper class gents lampooned in Wode...

I don’t know if you remember my post on trying to create an aftershave for my husband ? Well, it has macerated for long enough and I have bottled the resulting fragrance—a light vetiver splash,  along with a more spicy flower water intended for my mother and mother-in-law for Mothers Day. They are both good enough fragrances, but certainly not something I would review too kindly if they were made by a professional. Here’s the method I followed for the orange/spice fragrance, if you’re interested: one nutmeg, freshly ground, one teaspoon freshly ground cardamom one teaspoon freshly ground allspice a small amount of freshly ground clove one teaspoon ground ginger 5 tbs homemade vanilla extract 1 tablespoon freshly ground cinnamon 10 drops sandalwood oil 5 drops jasmine oil allow to macerate in small amount of alchohol for two weeks. add alcohol in which has been steeped grated pepper, nutmeg, and mandarin peel. Strain thoroughly. The result —a not un...

To me, there is nothing more comforting than spice; on my skin or inside of me, it makes no difference. I associate it with comfort, family, and delicious baked things. I am not a great baker, usually preferring to cook things rather than bake them, but my sister has inherited my mother’s knack for creating gorgeous grainy foodstuffs. I begged her to give me her recipe for the most incredible granola; she says she has basically been living off of it this entire semester.  She says  “I go to a grocery store where I can buy all of the ingredients in bulk--it's the cheapest way I think.” Here is her recipe for granola: “1 cup canola oil 1/2 cup water 3 T molasses  1 cup packed brown sugar 6 cups oats 2 cups finely shredded unsweetened coconut 1 cup sliced almonds 3/4 cup sesame seeds 3/4 cup walnuts 1 cup pumpkin seeds 3/4 cup peanuts 3/4 cup sunflower seeds 1 1/4 cup powdered milk 1 1/14 cup all-br...

I have been rereading the wonderful House of Mirth by Edith Wharton, and I am absolutely convinced that we are meant to read the lovely socialite protagonist as a study in the beauty and artifice of perfume.  Maybe I’m crazy…what else would you make of this: She paused before the mantelpiece, studying herself in the mirror while she adjusted her veil. The attitude revealed the long slope of her slender sides, which gave a kind of wild-wood grace to her outline – as though she were a captured dryad subdued to the conventions of the drawing-room; and Selden reflected that it was the same streak of sylvan freedom in her nature that lent such savour to her artificiality. (1.1.119) Isn’t that what perfume is, something elemental which is trapped in a slender bottle of great beauty which still intimates some wild, untamed beyond? It is a way to capture and restrain magic—like containing a sylvan creature like a dryad in an upper-class New York drawing room. Ok, if you still t...