Fragrant Pleasures: 224 posts

The more that women’s fragrances begin to smell alike in one pink synthetic blur, the more I find myself considering the men’s fragrance section.  The overly sharp woody or harsh herbal notes that traditionally signify a “male” scent aren’t my cup of tea, but there are plenty of men’s fragrances that make for an interesting and distinctive feminine perfume.

A combination of desperation and curiosity led me to the men’s counter at Nordstrom, where I was promptly shied away from Kiehl’s Musk by a female salesclerk.  “That’s for men,” she said, about the slightly animalic musk scent that has been called a mall cognate to Serge Lutens’s hot and sweaty Muscs Koublaï Khan.  So what if someone raises an eyebrow about a cross-gender spray-and-play?  The men’s section contains novelty and surprise, two qualities that have been lacking in recent women’s issues.  There are gems at the men’s counter that are sure to intrigue if not outright delight.  Here are some that I wear myself and buy for men, straight from the mall:

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Do you remember what fragrances you wore at different stages in your life? Recently, as I was reading Love, Loss, and What I Wore, in which Ilene Beckerman reflects on her life through clothes, I was inspired to do the same with perfume. Here’s my timeline of big moments and often big perfumes, starting back when I was 11 years old and sitting on a wooden porch swing at a house whose great green lawn swooped downhill past stands of lilac to the Narragansett Bay.

THE FIRST KISS: I’ve just finished sixth grade and have gone to a classmate’s end-of-school party.  I’m soon joined on the swing by a boy a year older than I am. I have a terrible crush on this boy.  Suddenly, the boy leans over and kisses me—my first!—and then urges me to come into the house to dance with him.  He rushes off into the house and I stay on the swing mortified, not by the kiss, but by dancing, which I consider to be geeky and uncool.  In a while, though, I wander into the house.  The boy is dancing with Linda Rose and never looks my way again.  I call my mother to come pick me up and once at home I put on her eyebrow pencil and Max Factor Hypnotique and I playact  that I am having cocktails in Paris.  Alone.

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This week is devoted to our “Recommend Me a Perfume” (with a contest this time).  We will be back with our regular posts on Monday, May 13th. My internet access is intermittent at best this week, but I will join in to give my suggestions when I can.

How does it work:

1. Please post your requests or questions as comments here. You can also use this space to ask any fragrance related questions. To receive recommendations that are better tailored to your tastes, you can include details on what you like and don’t like, your signature perfumes, and your budget.

2. Then please check the thread to see if there are other requests you can answer. Your responses are really valuable for navigating the big and sometimes confusing world of perfume, so let’s help each other!

Contest: Those who respond to the recommendations will be entered into a contest for 3 samples of their choice (via Luckyscent). I will randomly select two winners.

To make this thread easier to read, when you reply to someone, please click on the blue “reply” link under their comment.

Photography by Bois de Jasmin, lily of the valley

May’s issue of Marie Claire includes my article about fragrances that satisfy our wanderlust. It’s called Scents of Place (p.79).  I also meant it as an introduction to niche, or however you want to call the artisanal, indie, etc. perfumery that aims to offer something different from the department store perfume counter. Not all niche brands guarantee an interesting experience, but the ones that do are worth exploring. I loved writing about this topic and highlighting my personal favorites in the article.

“Serge Lutens’s perfume Arabie conjures the heady exuberance of a Moroccan souk with cardamom, tobacco, and honeyed dates; Neela Vermeire’s Mohur takes you to India with its lush sweetness of roses and milky sandalwood; and Amoureuse, a perfume created by California-based Parfums DelRae, evokes San Francisco’s jasmine festooned streets. If those names don’t sound familiar, it’s because these fragrances don’t appear in television commercials or on the scent strips in magazines…”

May’s Marie Claire is a global beauty issue, and it has many interesting articles on makeup, health and fashion. Scarlett Johansson is the sultry cover girl. There are articles on beauty trends in Hong Kong, reports from Berlin Fashion Week and more. I especially loved the spread featuring the gorgeous Chinese model Ping Hue wearing summer colors. The magazine is now available at newsstands. I will post the link to my article once it becomes available.

Do you satisfy your wanderlust with perfume? Are there fragrances that conjure up specific places for you?

Who says that tulips have no scent? After spending several hours sticking my nose inside more than three dozen varieties, I discovered that not only are tulips perfumed, their fragrances vary dramatically. Some smell of potato peels and pear brandy, others of cloves soaked in honey and crushed green buds. Lemon, moss, wet earth, rose, carrots, and apricots are some other scents I wrote down in my notebook. A dusky purple hybrid called Cuban Night reminded me of waxed wooden floors. Some varieties may smell lighter than others, but all of them have a distinctive perfume.

Every spring the flower fields in the Netherlands burst into bloom, transforming the surrounding countryside into a surreal painting of vivid red, yellow, and blue.  At the height of tulip mania in the 17th century, a single bulb could cost as much as a house, but even after the economic bubble burst, the flower remained a distinctive national symbol. Today, the flowering fields draw lots of visitors, and one of the most popular destinations is the Keukenhof, considered to be the world’s largest flower garden.

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