'Summer perfumes'

Everything is relative. Don't you hate that? Everything has been relative for so many decades that we can't remember when we last have had some ultimate truths. Still, I can't stop having doubts about everything. So goes with perfumes, too.
I used to love the list of Top x frangrances of seasons. I would check, compare, try. Today it bothers me. Essentially, there is no difference between the offer of these lists of respected bloggers and the offers that you get in any chain perfumery shops or beauty magasines. Since when you have summer perfumes, winter perfumes? It was recently made up by marketing machinery which had this brilliant idea that people might buy more if it is a seasonable stuff. So we have now even 'summer', 'sun',' light' perfumes. You add a bit of citrus or bergamot or verbena or thinker the formula and have a summer fragrances and they will line up to buy it.
Of course, we have the intelligent bloggers who really love perfumes and they know about perfumes and they come up now with 'strange' things for summer, as to make up for mainstream and obvious (by obvious for summer I mean Eau d'Hardrien or Eau Parfumee au the Vert or eaux de colognes).
Last year, the first stop at a gas station once we entered France was on  a really hot day and, while waiting to pay at the counter desk, the old lady in front of me smelled strong of Mitsouko. Oh, that was heaven. I told myself 'that's France!'. It was also In FRance that I sniffed some heavy oriental Serge Lutens in a port city, on a street where otherwise was smelling strong of cooked sea food. Heaven! My stepmother wears always Opium or Magie Noir and she smells wonderful (I always loved the way the perfumes smell on her) Hmmm, are these summer fragrances or not? I don't know and the lady at the gas station apaparently didn't read any Top 10 summer franges list and she couldn't care less. Oh, yes, I'm being moody today and I'm sure all of all these bloggers (because I trust them , they are smart and they know about it) will agree that in fact you can wear whatever you like in any weather and you can reach for same fragrance in any season.
So, why then these lists? May be, as the intelligent marketing people who invented the summer perfumes made the job, the bloggers know that there is a fact that will be hundreds thousands of people google-ing 'summer fragrances' before they start purchasing. This is how they will get on these blogs. Though I doubt that many will imediatelly buy Manoualia or Attar or wear Muscs Koublai Khan. They might though the new Womanity of Mugler.
I am a summer person. I could leave at over 40 C degrees forever and all I require is a bit of shadow. Winter is a period when all I want is that time passes as fast as possible. From what I understand we are fortunate to live in a quite warm period of the earth and a suprisingly long one. Normally it is much colder if not ice age around here. So that's a time for me to live and I take advantage and most of all I enjoy everything at maximum during the summer. And all perfumes smell much better in the summer. All.
One day, based on these lists, I realized that I could live all my life only with the four Jacques Guerlain, Shalimar for winter, Apres L'Ondee for spring, L'Heure Bleue for summer and Mitsouko for fall. But in fact I use them almost all the time, I will spray at lest 2 of them on me (if I wear Shalimar overall, I will have Apres L'Ondee on my wrists etc). What is left from the seasonal preferences then? Not saying: what do we mean by summer? Is it a matter of how hot it is? Only in the small Europe, we have such differences in summer from a place to other. Also I've had some summers when I've hardly noticed the real season. I worked all day long and in the office the temperature is the same all year long.
So, please, define 'summer'.

What other lists we could have: Top 5 fragrances for a cabrio sport; Top 15 fragrances for wearing while participating in Big Brother or other real TV shows; Top 10 fragrances for wearing in Africa, Asia, South America and other exotic places; oposite, what would you wear in frozen north (what Sarah Palin actually wears when in Alaska?). What is nicely avoided is the Top of fragrances to wear at office (that I would love - Muscs Koublai Khan or Fracas?).

Yes, I'm being moody and nasty today. Of course, the title of my post is 'Summer Perfumes' since I hope also to get some readers or my blog. And I'm also going to make some friends.

Parfums DelRae

I have no idea what the work of a perfumer means. From the blog of self-taught perfumer Andy Tauer or from the blog of the perfume historian and perfumer Octavian Coifan at 1000fragrances I could have a glimpse in the life and work of a perfumer. And I try hard to imagine what it really means, how are the work days of these people. I can see the image of my beloved Jacques Guerlain at a desk with a folder in front of him and some bottles around, or Andre Fraysse looking like a pharmacist. And again the one of Jacques Guerlain at his desk and what looks like a huge room full of bottles. Oh, that would be my dream, to be in that room, around him, it's heaven.

Anyway, going back to the labour of a perfume and the work of perfumers. I just suppose it is hard work, takes a lot of reasearch in the infinite world of scents and their combinations, it takes a lot of trying which means delicate work with quantities and concentrations of different oils. It must be ups and downs and happiness and frustrations. A lot of dreaming and rational decisions, too. And, of course, I think it's creation, pure art work. But that's futile to say.
So you have this huge labourious work for a perfume. I just read that Michel Roudnitska worked 2 years and 300 trials for his Bois de Paradis. Which I just have on my right wrist. That's a long time, thousands of perfumes came on the market between the moment he started and the moment he finished. He produced in average a trial every 2 days and half. That is enormous. And still, I stay here, with my sample of Bois de Paradies and I shall give my opinion on his creation though I have no idea what he wanted and how much he put there. Must be awful for the perfumers, all these bloggers who give for free their opinion, no education or whatsoever in the field. In the end, the best way to aproach it, it would be to say if I like it or not. Luca Turin just admits that he  is totally subjetive. It's all about being subjective and no smart ass, because I'm not. Ok, it is just my way to apologize for whatever I'm going to say stupid here (hey, I just read that Marques was warning the cristics of his books that by interpeting them 'they take on the responsibility of decoding the book and risk making terrible fools of themselves'. That's the risk of any critic, isn't it?).

So this week was my DelRae week. Some might have DelRae month, DelRae year or DelRae decades. That's to say that DelRae is good stuff. It would be to easy to say that there is a general reflex in giving unconditional respect to the son of the great Roudnitska. And even if it so, still we love perfumes so we talk about them, taken all the relativity given by our noses and set of mind. So I can't say I can forget Michel Roudnitska, the creator of DelRae perfumes, is the son of the creator of legendary Diorissimo and Femme, plus other Dior.... s. I can't. My only cheap excuse is that Diorissimo or Femme don't love me. I love them but they don't love me back. So I was curious to see if his son creation might suit me better.

Visiting DelRae perfums reminded me of impression of Ian McEwan books. I started with Atonement, soon after it's release (time before it became a bestseller due to Oscar fame of the film). It was a pleasure to read the way Ian McEwan writes, I did it thoroughly, word by word, which is rare for me. On the other hand, R was totaly anoyed with reading it. The long descriptions, of gardens, of moods, of days, of everything made him nervous despite the brilliance of plot. I couldn't agree less but I did undertood what he meant. Some people can't take the prose in this way. It's the same with Michel Roudnitska perfumes. They are prose, long detailed description. See Amoureuse, it's breathtaking, I saw so many Ah and Oh in reviews, people who found their big love. Yes, it is a gorgeous perfume. In the descriptive way. It's a compostion which looks like a composition, you get all the facets and nuances lenghty described. Feminine and sexy and luxurious and it will tell you everything. What I don't undersatand: it tells me roses, too, but I don't see them mentioned. My nose...
Debut is for me the best, I think I already wrote about it. That could be a classic one day and for the right woman, could be an excellent signature scent. And I see the story, it tells me cold light, the sofisticated and daring woman with the white shirt, an elegant office room with a lot of light over restrained fancy design furniture. Bit of a dream, bit of a cold mind.
Emotionelle is hard to take for me, I couldn't wear it dead but I see could be the piece of cake for some. It's a freezing perfume.
And Bois de Paradis. That's for me the most commercial of the line. At the begining it's a story for girls and modern women, who want to move out from mainstream. But the juicy opening is misleading, because later it's not sweety fruity floral anymore. It becomes a real perfume, another lenghty story of Michel Roudnitska. I'm not being ironical when I suggest that may be should have a more appealing name for the ones who finally want a quality perfume.

So what about the prose of DelRae? Just that, though I put them in a pack, each of them is a perfume in itself which should be really discovered with a lot of patience. They are very different, though the style is similar. They have an author with passion for beautiful descriptions.

Tango and wine

The quality is not great but it's worth watching it. Truly beauty.

New Tuberoses: Nuit de Tubereuse, L'Artisan Parfumeur and Vamp a NY, Honore de Pres

A day after Surgery

Yesterday I had the first surgery in my life and it supposed general narcosis. Not a complicated one but I was a bit afraid. Plus I find anything going bad with my health quite disgusting, I don't like myself in this situations. Anyway, I tried not think too much of it but instead I had intersting dilemas as: what do you wear when you go for a surgery? I bet there is code of good ladies about it. But that I decided easy, it will be something very very casual, close to looking like nothing. Ok, what about make up? I usualy wear little make up but a bit of lipstick and mascara is part of showing myself in social ocassions. Being a surgery in the area of my head (no, not a plastic surgery!) I thought would be not ok that Frau Professor watches blue eyelashes and red lips on a corpse under narcosis. I know, it was all ridiculous thoughts but I couldn't stop it. Then I decided that there is something that, even when I look like a phantom, I can't without. A perfume. I can't without a perfume. It was my absolute love, L'Heure Bleue. I went into deep sleep and woke up with it. I put enough to be sure it gets through everything and everybody will feel my L'Heure Bleue. For this, at least, it was a good day.

Now, a day after surgery, still dizzy after narcosis, I received new samples. I should have waited but I couldn't. So I have Nuit de Tubereuse of L'Artisan Parfumeur on my left hand and Vamp a NY of Honore de Pres on the other hand. I tried them first on paper and I had soapy on Nuit de Tubereuse and sweet on Vamp a NY. But I'm not good at trying perfumes other then my skin.
I love tuberoses and I can hardly wear them (I hate that, I would so much love to talk in other terms then what I can wear and what I can't, but I can see all around that's the same for everybody). Anyway, for me tuberoses yell. They yell so bad I can't forget about them when wearing them. Still, I am adicted to smelling them and I was waiting for so long for these new ones.
Now, on the skin it was another story. It's too soon to say something rational here. But:

Nuit de Tubereuse: the air around and whenever I move my hand, stays soapy. Reminds me somehow of My Sin. It is a perfume of grand dame, a real perfume, there is also a full perfume, with many facets behind the tubereuse. Nothing commercial in it, I can see it worn by a rich woman on a cocktail on a summer night. The base is a bit woody and close to masculine but not less lady like. Since I heard about this perfume I thought that might be my tuberose perfume. And, yes, I could wear it much better than Fracas or Beyond Love. I certainly could. (and imagine myslef the rich lady, too)

Vamp a NY: that was strange. May be I don't know too much about perfumes. It was something powdery and dry, beyond the obvious sweet and gourmandy notes, it was that something which reminded me of Dzing!. It just came like that to my nose. So I went very very fast to http://www.nowsmellthis.com/ to check if Olivia Giacobetti is also the perfumer of Dzing, as I realized it might be. And she is indeed! I can't tell you how full of myslef I am.

Vamp a NY is that rooty thing that everybody talks about. It's a tuberose from down down and it comes from hot islands. It's a happy perfume, the room where I left the paper was full of sunny exotic fruits and blossoms. It also has something heavy in it when you smell it on the skin.

Today I love both of them. Great works. Graindemusc asked recently something about launch fatigue. Oh, in general, yes, I could pass so many of new launches. But there are these days when you meet new beautiful ones and it pays for all of them. Two tuberoses and so different and so good.

Perfume hunting – north Italy

It is so that once you get into perfumes every trip becomes a perfume hell and haven. I would get in a new town and start hunting for perfume stores, with my family following me confused because at this point I wouldn't care for anything else, architecture, atmosphere, nothing. I need to check all possible perfume stores. When I find one I know at a glance if I want to check it or not, mainstream or I go on with my hunting.
What I have learnt over last 2 years is that you have to give any perfume shop a chance. You don't know what you can find, thrown in a corner.

Take this one in Riva de Garda, Italy. Looked pretty mainstream from outside. I went in and first of all I see Cabaret of Parfume Gres (which I didn't have the chance to try yet). Looking better, they have Black Cashmere of DK (which is almost impossible to find in Germany), there is Theorema Fendi and there is Calandre Paco Rabanne. The shop had also leather goods in a next room and I just gave it a short look and there, in the corner, there is the heaven. I started shaking, I could see Lanvin, My Sin from far away. Old packs of My Sin nobody wants and for almost nothing. And there is also Asja Fendi, Eau de Cologne and Bel Ami Hermes, Ma Liberte Patou, some Gres parfums from eighties, Parfum Sacre Caron. All old packs. Do you know how that feels like? I go to Schnitzler in Düsseldorf or Galerie Laffayette in Berlin and I know what I can expect. I check the websites in advance and I'm looking forward to certain perfumes, what I want to check. But to find such a goldmine without any warning, huh, that's overwhelming.
That was my beloved perfume shop for a week, the ladies in there where really nice, let me try whatever I wanted as many times a day I needed it.

And I talk about the nice ladies because around Garda Lake the ladies in shops are not always nice. In Riva, too, small shop, I see Serge Lutens in the window so that's a sign it might be something more in there. Sonja Rickiel and then I can see old bottles of Diorissimo and some Patou's. And other, I can't remember. Because the lady would stay in front of them and not even move while I try to have a closer look. She was waiting for me to live. The shop was empty and didn't look like big business anyway.

Or Verona, there is this wonderful shop: Amouage, Lostmarch', Montale, Clive Christian, Killian, Penhaligon's and Floris, most of L'Artisan etc. Wonderful! Three tourists were trying different perfumes, the ladies in the shop being very helpful. As soon as they left the ladies in the shop rolled their eyes and made remarks. And that in front of me, a customer! It was the same with me, they were nice and got me whatever I wanted. Which was overall Geste of Humiecki&Graff (I live in Germany and here is almost no chance to see Humiecki&Graff, you have to go to Italy for it!). I don't even care what they did after I left. I was happy with Geste on my wrist (not great sillage, though).

It was on my last day of holidays that I checked in Riva some other shops, looking randomly at some clothes. And, wow, in the back of small boutiques, I found Ineke and Crishian Clive in one and Lorenzo Villoressi in another. Just little miracles.
Which made my trip to Italy. Plus the best olive oil money can buy. And three pairs of italian shoes.

Beauty

Enjoy!

Histoires de Parfums

What it struck me first at Histoires de Parfums was how effortlessly modern they are. No, I don't want to make a cheap pun here. Now it doesn't matter the name of the company. I just found myself thinking, yes, this is how all these modern mainstream perfumes thrown on the market everyday should smell. These are modern perfumes. And I say that, my most beloved perfumes are between 85 and over 100 years old. But if it was to be new, modern, that would be.

First of all, they smell like perfume. You put them on, any of them (didn't try though the last ones, Moulin Rouge and Tubereuses) and you smell of good perfume. You don't go for experiments, innovation. You don't go for classic either. It's nothing too less or too much. You smell like a lady with a good perfume on.
Secondly, they don't smell artificial. I understand that most of perfumes use synthetic ingredients. I also understand that there are huge differences between the quality of these synthetic ingredients, as goes for natural ones, too. While in most of the new perfumes I can detect immediately the artificial, the plastic notes, or be bothered by bad quality of naturals (like jasmine sometimes) Histoires de Parfums avoids that in all their perfumes. Either I found them be my taste or not, it was not one of them to feel like washing it up because I can't stand it.

And most important, Histoires de Parfums smell like modern which can become classic. They don't smell like big innovation, it's rather that they take what is new and make it real perfume, more complex, wearable, easy, elegant, warm on skin. And they don't yell. For me this is what Jacques Guerlain would have liked today. For tomorrow, too.

And now coming to the outer appearance, all the image concept is great. I like the name and I like the packaging. I would love to have a boutique and sell these sophisticated bottles. I prefer them around ten thousand more then By Kilian, for example, which I wouldn't dare to offer as a gift to anyone.

PS I try Histores de Parfums now and then. Today, still being in my spring hunting for a proper perfume, I tried Collete, 1873. I was hooked by the smell on the skin, on the paper keeps the grapefruit for too long and dominant. And few minutes ago I went to Luca Turin and Tania Sanchez' 'Guide' and what I read: '1873 runs a close second' after 'Aqua Allegoria Pamplelune which is the most successful fragrance ever built around (…) grapefruit peel'. AND!!! `the basic structure is a beautiful orange-blossom oriental that shares something with L'Heure Bleue'. I knew it! My beloved L'Heure Bleue.