My partner-in-crime, Brian, who co-writes
I Smell Therefore I Am with me, is the best because he puts up with my incessant emails about perfume.
I’ve noticed, from reading the email threads back and forth between the two of us that my taste in perfume has begun to change.
I wonder if this happens to other perfume-addicts?
Eight years ago I would never have longed to wear Tabac Blond, Bandit, Frederic Malle Musc Ravageur or Serge Lutens Iris Silver Mist.
Heck, even three years ago I probably would have considered Caron’s Narcisse Noir slightly unusual, whereas I now think of it as a pretty little number.
I emailed Brian recently to tell him that lately all I want are deep, dark, earthy perfumes with loads of vetiver, balsam, sandalwood, tobacco, leather, ambergris and patchouli.
Underworld by Soivohle’ is a current holy grail.
The Different Company’s Sel de Vetiver has been making me swoon all summer long.
Hermes’ Eau des Merveilles, has been a favorite for a few years now and I love the ambergris note.
Avignon,
Kyoto and actually all five from the Comme des Garcons incense series are the sort of scents I crave now.
Perhaps this is a normal reaction from becoming bored with all my citrusy, clean, light florals for the summer.
Or maybe it’s a contrariness I've developed because perfume offerings have been dominated by fruity-floral-cocktails for so long.
Oh, and how could I forget Mousse de Chine by Ava Luxe (previously known as Moss) and Madame X.
It surprises
me that I love Montale’s Black Aoud, but I do, and lately all I want to smell is the earthy stuff.
My partner-in-crime, Brian, who co-writes I Smell Therefore I Am with me, is the best because he puts up with my incessant emails about perfume. I’ve noticed, from reading the email threads back and forth between the two of us that my taste in perfume has begun to change. I wonder if this happens to other perfume-addicts? Eight years ago I would never have longed to wear Tabac Blond, Bandit, Frederic Malle Musc Ravageur or Serge Lutens Iris Silver Mist. Heck, even three years ago I probably would have considered Caron’s Narcisse Noir slightly unusual, whereas I now think of it as a pretty little number. I emailed Brian recently to tell him that lately all I want are deep, dark, earthy perfumes with loads of vetiver, balsam, sandalwood, tobacco, leather, ambergris and patchouli. Underworld by Soivohle’ is a current holy grail. The Different Company’s Sel de Vetiver has been making me swoon all summer long. Hermes’ Eau des Merveilles, has been a favorite for a few years now and I love the ambergris note.
I think it's a very common development for a perfume nerd. :) When my perfume blog was quite recent I listed the stages I'd been through during my quite brief period as a perfumista (just a few months from zero interest in fragrance and a perfume collection consisting of a couple of mass market scents to a full-blown sample collector)
ReplyDeleteThe first stage was when I was attracted to BPAL and was looking for unusual, lifelike scents that didn't smell like "perfume". Unfortunately, I was disappointed, as very few of the BPALs worked for me and almost none of them actually smelled like whatever they were supposed to. I learned that a lot of florals and green and aquatic scents didn't work for me and that earth was one of the few notes that actually smelled like the real thing.
The second stage, still with BPAL and similar perfume oil etailers, was the hunt for lifelike gourmands. Since most "cool" scents don't work for me, warm cosy gourmands was a better idea. I learned that I find most fruit notes too sweet and synthetic, but still shied away from any bitter, sharp or resinous scents.
In the third stage, I moved towards gourmandy orientals with more "abstract" ingredients like musk and amber and select florals like neroli, but still found stuff like incense, patchouli and vetiver too bitter.
The fourth stage, in which I was when I wrote the post in question a year and a half ago, and in which I sort of still remain, was what I called the "brutal period". I'm looking for heavier kicks: masculine scents, skanky musks, leather, vetiver, incense, booze, patchouli... Doesn't this sound quite a lot like what you describe in your post?
The fifth period, which I anticipated in my post, was the "femme fatale period", in which I expected to learn to appreciate more vintage classics, big florals like rose, jasmine and narcissus and animalic notes like civet and ambergris. I'm sort of there. All of the scents I mentioned that I wanted to try - Mitsouko, Angelique Encens, Cuir de Russie, Vol de Nuit, En Avion, Tabac Blond, Bal a Versailles - I now own and appreciate (in sample form). I can now do chypres, which I don't think I anticipated when I wrote my post - back then I dismissed them as "sour, sharp, musty old lady perfumes". I've changed my mind about Bandit from loathing to love. I'm learning to appreciate at least some rose, jasmine and tuberose soliflores...
I think this acceptance of florals has been the greatest challenge for me. I associate them with everything that's "perfumey" in a negative way and I also don't feel very comfortable smelling like a flower as it's somehow "unnatural" (more unnatural than warm, musky, animalic and skinlike smells) Frederic Malle has done wonders for my appreciation of florals, as his florals (Carnal Flower, Lys Mediterranee, En Passant) are somehow more wearable than most others, warmer and creamier and more easily blending with my skin chemistry instead of being cool and aloof and wearing you.
Wow this is a long comment but take it as a compliment to your interesting post!
Solander,
ReplyDeleteWhat a blast reading your comment. You're definitely as deep into perfume as I am (you poor thing! ;-)
I love this article written by Angela at NST (I'll put the link at the bottom) it describes the various stages of 'perfumista-hood.'
I think my last perfume frontier will be aldehydes...I still can't appreciate anything with obvious aldehydes but most of the classics are soaked in them. Lately I've been thinking about perfumes separated into two camps: abstract and realistic. In my early days of perfume-geekery, I preferred realistic fragrances, those that smelled like something specific (rose, sandalwood, neroli) but the next step for me was to appreciate and like abstract perfumes (most Chanel, Tabac Blond, etc.) I love your terminology - the brutal period! I'm definitely in a brutal period right now...
Here's the link to Angela's article:
http://nowsmellthis.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2007/10/19/3301227.html
Ah yes, aldehydes, I definitely don't anticipate getting over my aversion to aldehydes any time soon...
ReplyDeleteI've read and appreciated Angela's article. :)
I still have that fascination for realistic scents, and I tend to be disappointed when absolutes of for example a flower smell nothing like the living flower. I'm always looking for realistic green scents that smell like forests and leaves and moss, ever since the beginning of my perfume addiction, but without much luck...