Happy New Year! I hope that your year has started off well, and to make it even more so, today we have an amazing giveaway courtesy to Fabienne. The first wonderful part about it is that Fabienne is giving away a bottle of Chanel Gardénia EDP (200ml, 80% full, no box) and Tom Ford Velvet Gardenia EDP (50ml, sprayed a few times only, no box). As you might know, Velvet Gardenia is no longer possible to find, so this is a particularly precious find. As Fabienne says, “these perfumes were gifts. I wore them and tried to like them, but gardenia is not my style. I don’t want to sell them. I want to give them to someone who will enjoy them. I don’t comment often, but I read every post here and I want to give back to Victoria and this nice community.”

The second great part about this giveaway is that although Fabienne is based in the US, she is willing to ship to the US and EU (she can’t ship outside these two zones due to the expense of shipping.) The EU-based winner must accept to wait till late January to receive their prize when Fabienne goes to Europe to visit her family.

Disclaimer: Bois de Jasmin is not responsible for leaks or damage during transit or for lost packages.

Please answer all of the questions below to be entered into the draw. I will create two groups and randomly draw one winner from each.

1. What perfume captures your idea of glamour? What perfume would you like to receive, if you win this giveaway?
2. Are you based in the EU or the US? (No need to specify the country, just the general geographic location to help me organize the draw.)
3. May I contact you via email to notify you of your win and share your email with Fabienne?

The contest is now closed. The winners are Sara A and Marion. Congratulations! I will be in touch with you via email shortly.

I would like to thank our entire Bois de Jasmin community for your generosity and kindness, whether it means giveaways like this, advice or comments.

If I were to select one scent to represent this year for me, it would be iris. Its dove-grey leitmotif ran through 2021 for me, whether it was the majestic Serge Lutens’s Iris Silver Mist or the baroque iris twist in Guerlain’s L’Heure Bleue. I smelled new perfumes for work, but I kept returning to favorites and classics. I would spend days wearing the same fragrance like La Myrrhe or Mitsouko, studying their nuances and the play of notes, the way a jeweler might appraise a precious stone. This made me understand perfumery, classical and modern, so much better than sampling one new thing after another. And it reminded me how important it is to slow down. It’s no wonder that in many languages, from French to Japanese, one “feels” or “hears” fragrances, as well as smells them.

For this reason, I don’t have a list of Best of 2021. Another reason is that 2021 brought too much loss to unravel it month by month and look back. I don’t regret that it is over.

Of course, there have been some wonderful discoveries and encounters. As I mentioned before, meeting many of you face to face has been a delight–and a highlight of the year for me. I knew that I enjoyed teaching, but stepping back into the classroom, even the virtual one, was such an inspiring and exciting experience. “When you share what you know, you receive back tenfold,” my grandmother used to say, and she was one of several teachers in our family. I can’t agree more with this.

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Nothing about my masala dabba, an Indian-style spice box, looks exotic. It’s a round tin, with a double lid and several compartments, that after being moved across continents has enough dents and scratches to form a geography of its own. But it’s what’s inside that counts, and the moment the slightly battered lid is pushed ajar it becomes obvious why the roots of the words “spice” and “special” are intertwined–the perfume of coriander, nutmeg, cardamom, fennel and pepper that rushes forth is so rich and heady that it alone is enough to dispel gloom on a cold winter day.

Among the aromatics inside my spice box, cardamom has a place of honor. It’s a curious spice, because unlike darker, heavier favorites like black pepper, cumin or allspice, cardamom combines the freshness of lemon peel with a peppery and metallic bite. I often crush a few green pods to flavor a cup of coffee, a batch of gingerbread or a Persian style lamb stew. Another way I enjoy cardamom is via Jo Malone Mimosa & Cardamom, a fragrance blending soft mimosa with the citrusy spice.

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I like when I wake up in the morning expecting another grey winter day and find everything touched with ice. Belgian skies are grey, fog has a grey tint, but seen through the arabesques of ice on the window, the world looks enchanted–and the grey becomes pearly. I selected Chamade today, one of my favorites from Guerlain. I’ve been revisiting Guerlain classics lately, and Chamade, along with Mitsouko, have kept me company. Chamade is a green floral, with notes of hyacinth, blackcurrant, and galbanum offset by amber and woods. Impeccably crafted, it develops in waves as it were. First, there is a wave of lemon yellow, then green, then pale purple. But Chamade’s radiance persists throughout. It lingers so well that I’m sure that when I wake up on the Christmas morning, its soft glow will remain on my scarf.

What about you? What are you wearing today?

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.

I wish all of you Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Thank you for your reading, visiting, and for joining my classes. It’s been such a pleasure meeting many of you face to face.

Photography by Bois de Jasmin

Imagine that snow is falling outside your window. Everything is white and opalescent and soft shadows fill your room. It’s a moment of winter stillness at its most exquisite. But perhaps it’s just another rainy day outside your window. Or if you are in the Southern hemisphere, a lush summer day. Or perhaps you don’t particularly like snow and have no desire to conjure up snowflakes and ice. This doesn’t prevent us from dreaming of fragrances that capture the idea of warmth and softness and that suit any season.

Such was the idea behind my list of these five perfumes. I wanted to select fragrances that comforted me and yet felt elegant, warm and yet luminous. Heavy ambers, furs, and too much leather wouldn’t do for that impression.

Serge Lutens El Attarine

Spices, musk, and soft rose petals. El Attarine is the lightest of all Serge Lutens’s ambers, so while it envelops you, it remains soft and gentle. Think of delicate cashmere rather than heavy brocade.

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