Pucker Up

The weather this time of year, with the last vestiges of hot sunny days bearing a cool crispness around the edges always makes me crave tart fruity fragrances. I’ve been wearing one little trollop called Aqua Allegoria Grosselina off and on all summer but now is the time when I pull out my tartest berry scents and wear them exclusively for a week or two.

Here are some of my favorites:

Yvresse
I think everyone knows the story of Yvresse and its original name being Champagne. The French champagne industry brought a lawsuit against usage of the name “Champagne” and hence YSL re-named the fragrance Yvresse. Either way, the fragrance is drop dead gorgeous. Yvresse was originally aptly named because it is like champagne with its effervescent, fruity, crisp and tart quality. Yvresse is the ultimate in tart little numbers, she is the king and queen of tartness but she is ultimately easily worn and elegant. Every single time I wear Yvresse I stop at some point during the day and think "I should wear this more often..."

Annick Goutal Quel Amour!
Quel Amour is a tart berried scent draped over creamy powdery musks and springtime roses and peonies. Quel Amour often strikes me as a lovely wedding scent. It is so darn Pretty with a capital P.

Annick Goutal Eau de Charlotte is another fruity floral with emphasis on berries but this one settles down and doesn’t remain tart on me. It’s still beautiful but not quite the ultimate in puckeryness like it's sister Quel Amour!

Byredo Pulp
Pulp is an absurdly tart mélange of fruits, but I love it. Along with citrus and orange blossom type scents Pulp’s sort of exuberant fruitiness always feels uplifting.

Jo Malone Wild Fig & Cassis
This is the tartest fig on the market. Other figs can be salty or sweet but Jo Malone’s Fig is puckery and tart due to the cassis note. It’s a nice fig scent. I like the juxtaposition of sweet fig and tart cassis.

Teo Cabanel Julia
Oh, Teo Cabanel, everything you do is simply perfect...Julia, is a fruity floral done right, similar to Annick Goutal in style. Julia is not an insipid fruity floral by any stretch mostly because she maintains a green (rhubard) tart fruity texture (blackcurrant). Notes are list as: mandarin, rhubarb, blackcurrant, jasmine, hyacinth and violet, sandalwood, incense, citrus and musk. I'm wearing Julia today and am feeling a tad special because not too many know of this beautiful fragrance.

Guerlain Aqua Allegoria Grosselina
Grosselina is a scent I’ve been wearing a lot this summer. I love the main event which is red currants. The fragrance dries down much less puckery than at the start but the whole affair is certainly an ode to tart red currants.

I figure I’ll stop here. Do you like tart, berried fragrances? Which are your favorites?

We Love Fruity Florals

I especially enjoy Angela’s reviews over at Now Smell This. Recently she wrote a piece on Keiko Mecheri Passiflora, which spawned many comments on how fruity florals can be wonderful and how we shouldn’t unilaterally pan this category due to it’s (clears throat) sheer abundance. There are, indeed, many wonderful fruity florals and I’ve been thinking about this over the past month every time someone writes a disparaging comment about fruity florals on the various blogs and fora.

I realize fruity floral scents tend to multiply in spades, but even so, there are so many great one's.

Here are some of my favorites:

Badgley Mischka ~ BIG, gorgeous fruity extravaganza. Still a very real and serious perfume.

Frederic Malle Le Parfum de Therese ~ effervescent basil, lemon, melon and peach on a bed of oakmoss. Gorgeous.

Teo Cabanel Julia ~ Tart fruity floral. Alahine (ambery oriental) and Oha (dark rose) are the two most discussed from Teo Cabanel but Julia is lovely for the summertime. Julia has a nice blackcurrant & rhubarb scent that I love.

Yves Saint Laurent Yvresse ~ Fruit champagne (Yvresse was originally named Champagne).

Parfums de Nicolaï Balkis ~ Tart roses, blackberries and cream.

Ava Luxe Johri ~ Johri is really interesting and nice. It’s mostly green and hesperedic; with figs and creamy coconut milk. Johri strikes me as joyous and great for the summer.

Jean Patou Colony ~ Green, leathery, animalic pineapple – what’s not to love?

Histoires de Parfum 1804 ~ technically 1804 is a floral oriental but there are strong fruity notes. Because pineapple is such a rare note in perfumery I tend to think of this as an homage to JP’s Colony. 1804 is a gorgeous scent with notes of pineapple, peach, gardenia, jasmine and cloves; on a bed of sandalwood, musk, vanilla and pathouli.

Annick Goutal Eau de Charlotte ~ Starts off like sticky fruit syrup but dries down to a lovely, cozy scent with blackcurrant, mimosa, chocolate and vanilla.

Keiko Mecheri Ume ~ Not sure if this counts as a fruity floral because it’s actually a woody plum. Ume is a dry fragrance, focused on Japanese plum, with a base of woods.

Keiko Mecheri Peau de Peche ~ with notes of white peach, orris, sandalwood and amber, Peau de Peche is a beautiful velvety fragrance meant to mimic the scent of peach skin. Peau de Peche is dry and woody, not fruity and juicy, and not especially sweet. This one is great.


What are your favorite fruity florals?