polls: 59 posts

I love making lists, from compilations of things to do to shopping notes. In this spirit, a few questions about your wish lists. Feel free to answer one or all of them.

1. What is on your fragrance wish list?
2. What is your favorite dessert?
3. Do you have any goals/wishes for this summer, things that you definitely want to accomplish?

Mine are:

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What fragrances do you remember your mother wearing? What are her current favorites?

For many of us, our love for perfume has started out at our mother’s vanity table. A beautiful crystal glass bottle for which she would reach before going out into the world still out of bounds to us seemed irresistible. Applying the perfume, she would suddenly attain a new glamorous air. Sometimes I would ask my mom to scent me as well. I still remember the cold touch of a ground glass stopper on my wrist, the chill of alcohol and then the veil of fragrance that would stay even after my mom would be gone. Those fragrant drops from my mother’s perfume bottles always seemed like some magical potions, guiding me as through my childhood and helping form my own ideas of what it beauty and femininity mean.

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For me, May 1st, May Day holiday in Ukraine and other European countries, is always associated with lily of the valley. Its scent is notoriously difficult to capture, and in fragrance, all lily of the valley accords are recreated through the combination of natural and man made materials. From Christian Dior Diorissimo, the gold standard against which all lily of the valley fragrances are judged, to Hermès Eau des Merveilles, this floral note can be found in a variety of compositions.

Today I am wearing the incomparable Parfums de Nicolaï Odalisque, which I will review tomorrow. Meanwhile, please see my article Spring Flower Bouquet ~ Lily of the Valley on lily of the valley and some of the best fragrances on this theme.

Image credit: lily of the valley bouquet via Red Loft Studios.

Our topic today is quite wide: feel free to talk about anything perfume or food related. What are your most anticipated seasonal foods? What fragrances bring you out of the slumber of winter? If you are celebrating Easter this weekend, what is on your menu?

As I type, I am trying not to get the almond and lemon scented batter of my Easter cakes all over the keyboard. I think that it shall be my perfume this weekend, though I already anticipate changing into Guerlain Chamade parfum later tonight.

I love spring for the scents that it brings–fresh grass, cherry and apple blossoms, magnolia, maple flowers (they smell sweet and sour, with a hint of melon) and earth after the rain. I cannot wait for the first asparagus, green peas, strawberries and ramps. I look forward to baking my grandmother’s rhubarb pastries and making my springtime lemon scented risotto with asparagus.

Image: antique Russian Easter postcard.

Since I posted lists of the top 20 fragrances preferred by US and French women (men’s lists will be coming soon as well) I decided to compile a list of Bois de Jasmin reader favorites. You might recall a post I ran a few weeks ago in which I asked readers for their top five favorite fragrances. While blog readers are not at all representative of the general perfume-wearing population, I thought it would be interesting to see what perfumistas prefer. Moreover, many answers were unusual, with selections that inspired me to explore new lines and new fragrances.

So if you have not had a chance to share your top 5 favorites with me either here or on Facebook, please do. I will include your answers when compiling the Bois de Jasmin list of reader favorites.

Image: Chanel Cuir de Russie, one of my top 5 favorites.