Victoria: 2669 posts

December 6th is celebrated as Saint Nicholas or Sinterklaas Day in Belgium and the Netherlands, and this holiday kicks off the winter festivities. In the olden days, children used to receive gifts on this day, rather than Christmas Eve, and according to legend, if children had been naughty, one of the Sinterklaas’s helpers would stuff them in a sack and take them to Spain. Apparently, Sinterklaas spends most of his time in Spain, with only a brief visit to the northern lands. As I  look at the grey skies outside, the idea of a Spanish sojourn doesn’t sound all that bad. On the other hand, the glittering decorations in the streets of Brussels are so beautiful that I’m willing to put up with some rain and snow.

In the spirit of the holidays, I will play Santa Claus today and bring you some gift ideas.  (I’m sorry to say that even if you have been very naughty this year, I can’t whisk you away to Spain.) I already shared with you the perfume sets that caught my eye. Today, inspired by the impressive array of holiday gifts at the stores in Brussels, I want to talk about  other treats that feel special and luxurious, either because of their scents or colors.  I’ve enjoyed using these products myself, so I recommend them without reservation.

Belgian Eggwhite Soap

Belgian Eggwhite Soap is produced with pure eggwhite, chamomile, and lecithin. While it’s intended for use on your face, I prefer to use it on my body, since it leaves my skin silky and moisturized. Eggwhite soap has a delicate chamomile scent, and it lathers into a whipped cream like softness. 6 x 53 g soaps ($19), a single 53 g soap ($5). Available at Beautyhabit. Continue reading →

It might seem strange to wear a gauzy floral perfume during the first weeks of winter, when warm, rich scents might seem more appropriate. But Jour d’Hermès has so much radiance that it lights up the darkest of days, and this trait, along with a coquettish playfulness, is what caught my attention. It’s the latest addition to the Hermès fragrance collection, and like many recent launches, it was created by perfumer Jean-Claude Ellena.

Jour d’Hermès has the weightless presence, brightness and luminosity of Ellena’s other fragrances. It’s a delicate vignette of floral notes that unravels into the drydown of musk. The description may not seem exciting, and it’s true that Jour d’Hermès doesn’t have the opulence or drama that you might find in say, a Serge Lutens composition. But despite its understated presence, it has so many facets that it’s exciting to wear. It’s also an uplifting and happy perfume, as if Ellena infused the liquid with some of the Mediterranean sunshine.

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I have a new article in The Financial Times “How to Spend It” Magazine. In A Heady and Refined Scent for Winter, I talk about some of my favorite gardenia scents. The opulent and complex scent of gardenias has been on my mind a lot lately.  If I had more space, I would have included Estée Lauder Private Collection Tuberose Gardenia, By Kilian Water Calligraphy, Parfums de Nicolai Juste Un Rêve (a gardenia kissed tropical bouquet), and of course, Tom Ford Velvet Gardenia (alas, discontinued).

Gardenia is a flower with diverse connotations, from sultry to innocent. The jazz singer Billie Holiday famously tucked a white gardenia in her hair; 19th Shanghai courtesans used its seeds to colour their undergarments a vibrant yellow; and in the Victorian language of flowers, gardenia symbolised purity and refinement. Its scent is heady and lush, marrying the seductive warmth of jasmine with the sweetness of peach and coconut. A single blossom is enough to perfume a room for hours with a fragrance that reminds me of a summer evening. But with winter approaching, it will be months before I can find fresh gardenias, and instead  I look for them in a perfume bottle. To read the rest, click here.

Do you have favorite gardenia fragrances?

Our bi-weekly “Recommend Me a Perfume” returns today.  You can also use this space to ask any fragrance related questions.

Please post your requests or questions as comments here. 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. Then please check the thread to see if there are other requests you can answer.

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

P.S. If you’ve posted towards the bottom of the previous thread and didn’t get enough comments, please feel free to repost your questions. Once the thread goes off the main page, it can become slightly less active, but I still check all threads for your questions and requests.

Photography by Bois de Jasmin

One evening as I was preparing my cologne bath after a long day I accidentally poured a decant of The Different Company Sel de Vétiver instead of 4711 into the water. The explosion of scent–green woods, licorice and grapefruit–was so exhilarating and relaxing that I immediately felt refreshed. Since then, vetiver scented baths have become my favorite way to wind down.

Vetiver is a tropical grass that has intensely aromatic roots. In India, where vetiver roots are woven into screens, it is known as “oil of tranquillity” for its relaxing, calming properties. A bath is one of the best anti-stress rituals, but when it’s accompanied by a  scent, the effect is even stronger. Using Sel de Vétiver for a bath is not cost efficient, so I’ve experimented with vetiver essential oil and discovered that it produces a much more potent result. Vetiver has such incredible complexity that it can be diluted in an unscented carrier oil or alcohol and used as perfume. It’s the smell of a late fall garden and a winter beach rolled into one–driftwood, crushed hazelnut shells and damp leaves.

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