In Your Opinion: 314 posts

Happy Lunar New Year! We celebrated it with our friends, making dumplings and eating hot pot. At the end of the dinner, my friend served jasmine tea with fennel tea and cocoa nibs. The flavor was surprising–pleasantly bitter and warm, with a lingering spicy sweetness. The floral note of jasmine retained its dominance, amplifying the rose-like accents of chocolate. It was a lovely discovery to start off the new year on a good note.

Scent Diary is a place to write your observations about the scents around you. Whether you write down 1 recollection or 10 matters less than simply reminding yourself to smell. You can add as many comments as you wish. You can comment today or over the course of the week; this thread will always be open. Of course, do share what perfume you’re wearing or what particularly good scented products you’ve discovered.

While looking through my articles, I found this article that I wrote a few years ago but that still remains popular and often-read: A to Z Tips for Enjoyable, Affordable and Rewarding Perfume Hobby. If you have any tips to add, I’d love to hear them.

Photography by Bois de Jasmin

I keep a tin of dried roses on my desk. I gathered them four years ago at my grandmother’s garden in Ukraine. My grandmother was sitting on the bench under the lilacs, watching me. The sun was making the rose smell even more intensely sweet. So much was lost during these intervening years, but the dried rose petals in my tin still retain their honeyed perfume. I close my eyes, take a deep inhale and feel myself bathed in the warm sunshine of a distant Ukrainian summer.

What scents evoke pleasant memories for you?

Scent Diary is a place to write your observations about the scents around you. Whether you write down 1 recollection or 10 matters less than simply reminding yourself to smell. You can add as many comments as you wish. You can comment today or over the course of the week; this thread will always be open. Of course, do share what perfume you’re wearing or what particularly good scented products you’ve discovered.

While looking through my articles, I found this article that I wrote a few years ago but that still remains popular and often-read: A to Z Tips for Enjoyable, Affordable and Rewarding Perfume Hobby. If you have any tips to add, I’d love to hear them.

Photography by Bois de Jasmin

Happy New Year! I wish everyone a wonderful and healthy 2023, and above all, I wish for peace this year. My fervent dream is to return to Ukraine.

Our “Recommend Me a Perfume” thread is open this week. You can use this space to find perfume recommendations, to share your discoveries and favorite scents, and to ask any questions about scents, aromas and flavors. Or you can just tell us what perfume you are wearing!

In other news, Bois de Jasmin has a Facebook page: Bois de Jasmin. You can also follow me on Twitter and Instagram.

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 what you end up sampling. 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

I’m glad 2022 is drawing to a close. The war in Ukraine, the revolution in Iran, the floods in Pakistan, not to mention conflicts in Ethiopia, Yemen, the Sahel, Nigeria, Afghanistan, Sudan, Haiti, Colombia, and Myanmar, made this year devastating for many people around the world. For me personally it has been a difficult year with moments when it seemed that I wouldn’t be able to pull through. But it’s now December, and I’m here writing and feeling thankful for the blessings I can count.  My family and friends in Ukraine are safe. My Iranian friends and colleagues are likewise doing well, considering the circumstances. As my book, The Rooster House, was published in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Spain, I had a chance to travel around Europe, speak about Ukraine and its culture and get involved with causes to support my country during this difficult time. I was also happy to meet several Bois de Jasmin readers during these travels and discover more about the people who visit this page. Thank you for your support and encouragement. It made all the difference this year.

When it comes to summing up this year in terms of scents, at first I had a difficult time. I haven’t had a chance to try as many fragrances as I normally do. While the few that I tried were memorable, I wondered if I missed something interesting. Then a perfume-loving friend came to visit and brought me a large selection of new launch samples. It was fun to immerse myself into scents and escape into the world of incense and violets. This exercise reminded me of my great-grandmother Asya’s love of scents and her belief in the necessity to recharge, no matter how frivolous it might seem at the time.

What impressed me about my scent journey through 2022 was the diversity of the offerings. Some fragrances clearly stayed within the usual tropes–ambers and incense for niche and fruity-florals for prestige, but there were also many unusual compositions across all styles. I’ve highlighted such fragrances in my list below and added those that I instantly gravitated to. My best of the year lists are always highly personal and 2022 is no exception.

Continue reading →

Happy Thanksgiving weekend to my American readers! Our “Recommend Me a Perfume” thread is open this week. You can use this space to find perfume recommendations, to share your discoveries and favorite scents, and to ask any questions about scents, aromas and flavors. Or you can just tell us what perfume you are wearing!

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 what you end up sampling. 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