In Your Opinion: 314 posts

Patricia draws a portrait of her favorite season with her beloved scents.

Autumn is the gift we New Englanders receive in exchange for putting up with a sometimes severe, but always long, winter. Although I am rapidly reaching the age when “snowbirds” fly south to Florida for the winter, that prospect holds no appeal for me. I appreciate all four seasons, with autumn, the bittersweet reminder of approaching winter and our own mortality, remaining my favorite.

Pulling out the spicy orientals, the deep rich roses, the smoky incenses, and the warm ambers from my perfume cabinet in September is an annual ritual for me. They are old friends, hidden in protective darkness since April, and it is good to see them again. Into the cabinet go the sparkling citruses, light florals, and tropical concoctions that I have enjoyed all summer.

Still, never one to plunge into bracingly cold water, I ease myself into the fall perfumes, toe by careful toe. September, technically still summer for most of the month, can be quite warm and humid and not conducive to heavy perfume, so I wear what I refer to as my transitional trio.

Continue reading →

Bois de Jasmin will return on Tuesday, August 27th, and today we have our “Recommend Me a Perfume” thread. Things are very quiet around Brussels, with most stores still closed for August vacation, and I’m likewise taking things slowly. The end of the summer always makes me feel melancholy, even though I won’t miss the way our apartment turned into an oven on any day warmer than 80F. Lately I’ve been alternating citrusy Thirdman Eau Nomade with warm Bulgari Omnia, both of which are terrific mood lifters.

My internet connection is intermittent this weekend, but I will join you in whenever 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. And please let us know how your search goes and what you end up discovering.

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!

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, catching the last rays of sun

What are your Black Swan and White Swan scents? If you’re craving a bewitching perfume, what do you choose?

When I first tried Repetto perfume, this sparkling gourmand floral made me think of the Sugar Plum Fairy, all sweetness and joy. I wished for more drama and magic, something more suitable for the Black Swan enchantress Odile.

Some choices were obvious when I glanced at my perfume shelf. Annick Goutal Néroli is my White Swan perfume, a delicate, pretty orange blossom that wears like a sheer veil. But if I’m in a Black Swan mood, then I reach for Vero Profumo Rubj. It’s one of the sultriest, darkest florals in my collection, and it is as provocative as it is alluring.

The same duality can be found in my favorite roses: Parfums de Rosine Un Zest de Rose is a smiling, ethereal blossom, but if I want something more dramatic, then Serge Lutens La Fille de Berlin would be my potion of choice. Another Black Swan rose I love is Etat Libre d’Orange Rossy de Palma, a hailstorm of earthy, spicy petals.

Etat Libre d’Orange Rien, Clinique Aromatics Elixir, and Yves Saint Laurent Nu are my other Black Swan perfumes, mostly because they are intriguing and unpredictable. Just like Odile.

Image: a still from the film, Black Swan, starring Natalie Portman

Today Patricia, our new contributing writer, talks about the dilemma of picking a perfume for vacation and why she decided to make her latest vacation a rose scented one. Patricia graduated from her mother’s perfume table to her very own bottle of Miss Dior as a young teen. This discovery started a lifelong love of perfume in general and green mossy fragrances in particular. After 30-plus years in the publishing industry, she works as an office manager in Boston, Massachusetts. Besides perfume, she loves long novels and spending time with her horse. Please give her a warm welcome!  

In Massachusetts we have a saying, “If you don’t like the weather, just wait a minute,” so I wasn’t unduly concerned when the first few days of our summer vacation were cloudy and rainy. Still, the beachy fragrances such as Estée Lauder’s Bronze Goddess and Bobbi Brown’s Beach that I’d packed in my suitcase seemed to mock me, and even my favorite summer citruses didn’t satisfy me.

Fortunately my packing style has always been of the “everything but the kitchen sink” variety, so I had brought plenty of sample vials and small decants, including many roses, many of which I had not yet tried. But it turned out that variety was not what I wanted. What I craved were roses, and lots of them. Even after the sun came out on the third day, the roses and I were on a roll.  Rose perfumes turned out to be unexpectedly versatile: the heavier, darker blends suited the foggy and rainy days, while the crisp, bright ones were perfect companions for sunny beach outings. Here are six that I enjoyed on my vacation.

Continue reading →

Today we have our “Recommend Me a Perfume” post.  I would also love to hear from those who participated in previous rounds of recommendations to know what you’ve discovered and what you’ve enjoyed sampling from suggestions you’ve received.

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!

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, sun-warmed hay