4 stars: 439 posts

I keep misreading Bottega Veneta Eau Légère as Eau de Lingerie. Perhaps not such a strange mistake considering that it’s a silk slip of a perfume.  Sheer and delicate, it wears close to the skin, and just like a beautifully crafted lingerie, it makes me feel sexy and alluring. Designed as a variation (read, flanker) on the brand’s debut perfume, Bottega Veneta Eau de Parfum, Bottega Veneta Eau Légère has a similarly elegant character.

Elegance is something I fully expected from Bottega Veneta, but I didn’t anticipate anything interesting from its flankers. Brands rarely spend enough effort to develop original ideas, and since the rewards for flanker launches are small, perfumers often have few incentives to try very hard. Bottega Veneta Eau Légère is neither avant-garde nor trendsetting, but it’s made well enough that it stands on equal ground as the beautiful original. It only depends whether you prefer rich and glamorous or gauzy and sophisticated.

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An announcer on the Belgian weather channel–wearing sparkling eye makeup and a deep-cut sweater–says with a pout, “Le temps est exécrable” (The weather is awful). There are several ways to deal with Belgium’s dreary weather–to complain, to approach it with a sense of humor, or to ignore it. Belgians are good sports about it, and on any given day, as long as it’s not raining, the outdoor seating at cafes is full, regardless of the chill.

I don’t fancy eating dinner in 40F weather outdoors, but I have my own ways to add a splash of sunshine to a grey, overcast day. Over the years, I’ve cultivated a little winter perfume wardrobe to which I add a new favorite from time to time. Last year, Guerlain Lys Soleia from its Aqua Allegoria collection became my cold weather staple. As its name promises, it’s sunny and bubbly.

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Jaisalmer is part of a quintet of incense-based fragrances marketed as Comme des Garcons Series 3: Incense.  Each location-themed fragrance (Avignon, Jaisalmer, Kyoto, Ouarzazate, and Zagorsk) conjures incense as liturgical, historical, ritual or mystical.

In Jaisalmer, which is named for the driest desert city in India, it is the spice trade route upon which the fragrance is composed.  Jaisalmer ignites with cinnamon and then burns this sweet-hot spice slowly over gaiacwood and ebony. Much as the city of Jaisalmer is not on the usual tourist trail, so Jaisalmer the fragrance is the sleeper of the Series 3: Incense line.  It’s my favorite of the set and one that I reach for each fall when the weather turns cooler.

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If I feel particularly tired at the end of a day and I don’t have time for my usual de-stressing rituals–a bath, an hour with a cup of tea and a favorite book, I burn some incense. I store the joss sticks in a large box that after several years of being used as an incense receptacle smells of sandalwood, oud and spices. As I watch the slender sticks turn to pale grey ash and inhale the rich aroma, my worries seem less important.

When I want the incense to linger on my skin, I reach for my favorite incense fragrances–dry and woody Donna Karan Black Cashmere, bright and fresh Atelier Cologne Bois Blonds, or Comme des Garçons Kyoto. Kyoto, created by perfumer Bertrand Duchaufour, is a part of Series 3 Incense, which was launched in 2002.  Avignon took us to France, Ouarzazate to Morocco, Zagorsk to Russia,  Jailsamer to India, and finally, Kyoto to Japan.

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Among niche perfumers, Swiss creator Vero Kern stands out for her unique fingerprint that reminds me of classical Guerlain elegance. But there is more. Under that well-behaved, well-coiffed elegance you notice something smoldering and dark. At first, it may feel disconcerting–and for some, it remains so, making Rubj, Onda, and even the brighter and fresher Kiki love or hate perfumes. For me, it’s the former, because I enjoy exploring Vero Kern’s world through the prism of her perfumes.

The newest addition to the collection, Mito, follows her sisters in their steps, but the perfume feels different from the baroque, Guerlain-inspired themes. It’s a chypre so green, it sparkles. Is its effervescence an allusion to the glittering fountains in the garden of Italy’s Villa d’Este that inspired Swiss perfumer Vero Kern to create Mito?

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