Refreshing: 98 posts

In my bid to fantasize that I’m living in a hot tropical climate, I’ve been starting my day by wearing citrus colognes. When I splash on something redolent of juicy oranges, lemon blossoms or bitter grapefruit, for a moment I forget the overcast skies and the nagging rain. As I sniff my bergamot scented wrists, I might as well be at the seashore, walking on warm sand, kicking up opalescent seashells with my toe.  Better still for my daydreaming if the citrus is wrapped around dark woods, smoky vanilla or luscious amber. Then, it feels particularly sultry and exciting! When I heard about Christian Dior Escale à Parati, which promised to take me to a town on the Costa Verde of Brazil and comfort me with tonka bean dusted oranges, I didn’t hesitate to order a sample.

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by Suzanna

Some of the most intriguing fragrances are meant to evoke environment and emotion, time and place. This is why the newest L’Artisan Parfumeur fragrance, Séville à l’aube, caught my attention. Perfumer Bertrand Duchaufour created Séville à l’aube as a celebration of journalist and perfume blogger Denyse Beaulieu’s remembrance of romance and seduction past. The idea stemmed from a story Beaulieu told the perfumer about an erotic event that transpired during a long-ago Holy Week (this turns up in the scent as an abstraction) and about the smells and associations of that time and place (more literal). Beaulieu describes her experience in the creation of this fragrance in her book The Perfume Lover. Duchaufour documents Beaulieu’s story as an “orange blossom Oriental” in which the sweet and honeyed white flower appears meaty and succulent and the dry resins of the base curl upwards in the manner of incense.

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Those of you who enjoy eaux de cologne know how refreshing and uplifting these citrus accented fragrances can be. The effervescence of bergamot peel and orange blossom gives a jolt that I find comparable to a cup of coffee. Even if the buzz wears off quickly—citrus perfumes are quite volatile—the initial effect is rejuvenating. But what took me longer to understand–and what I discovered via the iris inflected Thirdman Eau Moderne—is how elegant and versatile citrus colognes can be.

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When Serge Lutens presented L’Eau, I found it baffling—it smelled of laundry musks and a whisper of florals, but eventually I took it in stride. When the master has been busy weaving opulent tapestries for the past twenty years, it is only fair that he pursues some other olfactory avenues to remain inspired. When L’Eau Froide crossed my path, I no longer felt any strong emotion about Lutens’ new direction. After all, the man has given us glorious Jeux de Peau and De Profundis! As it turns out, L’Eau Froide is wonderful—a crisp, sparkling cologne of incense and citrus.

The first impression is a chill of ginger and lemon. Ginger sometimes smells like the most citrusy of all citrus fruits, and this is exactly how it features in L’Eau Froide. Its effervescence lends itself perfectly to the cool demeanor of a perfume that means Cold Water in French. After a few more minutes, the bergamot, lemon and pepper begin to sing a cappella.

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What is your most refreshing perfume? What fragrance makes you feel cool and uplifted?

As this summer has been alternating between rainy and infernally hot, I nevertheless have been relying more on my effervescent and refreshing fragrances. They brightened up the dull, grey days and made the hot and humid ones feel much more bearable.  So, here they are, my most refreshing perfumes, the ones that evoke a delicious sensation of ice cubes melting on skin: Prada Infusion de Vétiver, Hermès Eau de Gentiane Blanche, and Frédéric MalleAngéliques Sous la Pluie.

Photo: Frozen Strawberry by Carl Smith via flickr, some rights reserved.