Opulent: 185 posts

I wrote Winter Perfumes with the Magic of The Nutcracker for the FT magazine last year, but recently, I was musing on one of my favorite aspects of perfume–a fantasy aid. An instant fantasy aid, I should add, because it takes only a spritz to create your own reverie. This is the topic of my article.

As a former ballet dancer, I can’t think of winter without associating it with the magic of Hoffmann’s tale and Tchaikovsky’s music. For me, the season has a strong whiff of rosin on ballet slippers, but it is a time of fairy kingdoms, groves made of candied fruit and coffee-scented dancers. My pointe shoes are rarely in service these days, but my Nutcracker fantasies find their expression in perfume. Please read the rest by clicking here.

If you wish to play dress up with perfume, what fragrance do you chose?  

Photo via FT

Get ready to become intoxicated by Elisa’s heady selection of winter fragrances.

As I write this, it’s 65 degrees – hardly fire-building and hot-toddy weather. But Denver is erratic in spring, and it could easily snow this week. Regardless, winter is the perfect time for perfumes that feel like an après ski fantasy: cozy, firelit, complete with nightcaps. Here are some of my boozy favorites.

Mezcal

MiN New York Barrel – Described by MiN as a “complex cocktail of spirits” including tannins, absinthe, and rum, this wonderful scent has a smoky sweetness that reminds me more of a cross between bourbon and mezcal, laced with intense spices that conjure up whiffs of Chinese mustard and gunpowder.

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Gourmand is a fragrance family I love for its instant mood booster potential. At the same, many contemporary high-calorie blends can test the limits of one’s tolerance for sweetness, and if you’re looking for a luscious, but not cloying, treat, the options can seem limited. One of the good lines to explore for abstract gourmands is Parfums de Nicolaï. Its founder, Patricia Nicolaï, is an heir to Guerlain’s tradition (a house famous for its trademark accord of vanilla, tonka bean and other delicious notes), both as a granddaughter of Pierre Guerlain, Jacques Guerlain‘s brother, and an innovative perfumer in her own right.

Kiss Me Tender, her take on the candy-smelling plant, heliotrope, could have been inspired by Guerlain’s Héliotrope Blanc (1870). It’s a dessert of vanilla and almonds, but the pastry illusion is kept in check by the realistic jasmine, orange blossom and ylang-ylang.

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What happens if you take iris, a note from the cool spectrum of a perfumer’s palette, and make it dark, smoky and sweet? The result is a new take on the oriental fragrance family, with lots of surprises. This is exactly what Thierry Mugler’s Oriental Express accomplishes.  A part of Thierry Mugler’s Les Exceptions collection, which also includes Chyprissime, Supra Floral, Fougère Furieuse, and Over The Musk, Oriental Express is a twist on the traditional theme. The idea behind the collection is to offer modern, novel interpretations of classical fragrance families.

Easier said than done, especially in the case of the so-called oriental family. Loaded with balsams, sandalwood, vanilla, and incense, the oriental compositions have a very strong character, and to offer something new and different, yet still classical, requires unconventional choices. To solve this dilemma, perfumers Jean-Christophe Hérault and Olivier Polge took the direction of Shalimar.

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Does luxury need to come with a big price tag? If you take a stroll around any department store, you might come away with that conclusion. But if your shopping strategy is more of the Poirot sleuthing variety, then you can turn up some affordable gems. My local India shop doesn’t fall under any definition of upscale. It’s a tiny, overcrowded space that smells pungently of cumin, wilting coriander greens and fried snacks. But it is here that I discovered my favorite soap of all, Mysore Sandal Soap. And it cost me 1.95 euros.

Mysore Sandal soap is produced by Karnataka Soaps and Detergents Limited, a company owned by the Government of Karnataka, a southern Indian state famous for its sandalwood. Mysore sandalwood groves were plentiful at the turn of the century, but while Europe was engulfed in the First World War, the precious wood couldn’t be exported. In 1916, the Maharaja of Mysore established a company to use up the excess sandalwood, and Mysore Sandal soap still remains the company’s trademark. It bears a proprietary Geographical Indication seal and contains natural sandalwood oil.

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