When I think of orange, I usually think of desserts–a long curl of zest steeped in milk for rice pudding, a dash on top of bitter chocolate mousse or whipped into poundcake batter. By sweetening the orange, you highlight its floral, honeyed nuance, but what happens if you add a dash of salt instead? The effect is explosive. Salt volatilizes aromatic components, and the orange aroma becomes even more saturated. Moreover, its zesty flavor marries so well with savory notes that it’s fun to explore different combinations.

One of my favorite piquant combinations with orange is a Korean inspired dry rub for fish. Garlic, scallions, ginger, sesame and chili pepper are used with dazzling effect in Korean cooking, giving it a distinctive flavor–earthy and aromatic, nutty and spicy. I haven’t encountered orange in Korean dishes, but its sweet perfume is a harmonious touch. It brings out the citrusy nuances of ginger and softens the toasty richness of sesame. Because of their acidity, oranges are also excellent with fish, and voilà, here is my creation.

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What are your favorite spring scents? Though we may not yet be done with the snow, our cherry trees are in bloom, and I’m already thinking about spring perfumes. Spices, sandalwood, and amber are slowly giving way to everything crisp and gauzy–citrus, orange blossom, violets, and roses. I’m reaching for Christian Dior Eau Sauvage, Ann Gérard Perle de Mousse, Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche (it’s the last of my vintage stock, so I ration it carefully), and Chanel No 19 Poudré. L’Occitane Rose 4 Reines was a recent discovery–an inexpensive rose that smells plush and velvety. I will save Hermès 24 Faubourg for those days when I need a warm  cashmere wrap.

Speaking of perfume wardrobes, I promised to post a link to my article, The Fragrance Wardrobe, which appeared in the November issue of Red Magazine.  It was one of my favorite writing projects last year, and it is a pleasure to share it with you. I hope that you will enjoy it. Please click on the link below to read it, or you can now find it at my Publications page.

The Fragrance Wardrobe

Photography by Bois de Jasmin

Christian Dior has added a new fragrance to La Collection Privée. Gris Montaigne, developed by perfumer François Demachy, is a classical mossy chypre with notes of bergamot, jasmine sambac, Turkish rose, Indonesian patchouli, moss, and amber.

Gris Montaigne is currently available at Harrods in London, alongside the England inspired makeup collection:  Claridge’s 48 eye shadow palette and lip gloss, My Lady powder, Windsor nail polish. Gris Montaigne will launch at Dior boutiques worldwide later this spring. Via elle.fr and dior.com

I confess to a perfume quirk:  I love to coordinate fragrance and clothes. I’ve been doing it since I was thirteen, when such a task was made much simpler by the smaller number of perfumes in my wardrobe. By the time I was in high school, the coordination was fairly routine and easy to follow.  Brown clothing (specifically, Levis brown cords) never matched up with a light blue tunic or with any fragrance that I deemed blue.  Whether a fragrance was blue (or green or red or any color at all) depended on a variety of factors, like the color of the bottle, the color of the juice, or the “feel.”

“Feel” was and still is impossible for me to describe, but many perfumistas will know exactly what I mean.  Sometimes determining the color might be simple:  Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche was blue because of the bottle and the sky-high aldehydes, the fizzy, champagne-like notes that smell effervescent and blue to me.  Revlon Charlie was yellow because the juice is gold and fizzy (I daringly wore it with a yellow ribbed sweater and orange jeans.) Houbigant Chantilly was light brown and I wore it with beige and never with teal.

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Jean-Louis Scherrer is one of the hidden classical gems. In the US, you might have to search for it at the discount shops, but the Europeans can easily find it at most perfumeries where it sits someplace between Ralph Lauren and Stella McCartney on the alphabetically organized  shelves. The tall oblong bottle filled with pale green liquid is not flashy, and the first whiff of the perfume doesn’t reveal anything extraordinary–leafy and peppery, with an unmistakable  wet earth note that you find in many classical green perfumes. It takes a few moments for Scherrer to weave its spell.

Classical is the best way to describe Jean-Louis Scherrer, because it’s a perfumed time capsule. Taking a deep breath of this green, earthy perfume is like stepping back three or even four decades. They don’t make them like this anymore. Scherrer was launched in 1979 by a French couturier who dressed women like Françoise Sagan, Jackie Kennedy, and Claudia Cardinale. Shortly thereafter, he added Scherrer 2 and Nuits Indiennes (now discontinued) to the collection.

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