Denise’s 2008 Holiday Wish List

Happy Holidays, everyone!   This time of year is so busy for all of us.  Full of shopping, wrapping, cooking, parties and celebrations of all kinds.  The month of December is always a blur to me – a happy, albeit stressful one.  Before the madness begins, I thought that I’d take a few minutes to tell you about my fun new “obsession” and the products that would make up my ultimate, money-is-no-object 2008 wish list.   

This year, I’ve been happily immersed in the mystical world of niche fragrances.  I am loathe to even call these scents “perfumes” because most of them are simply a completely different product than the perfumes that many of us have grown up with.  The best way that I can think of to explain it is that artisan perfumes don’t smell like “perfumes” – they smell like “good scents”.  I know that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, but once you’ve smelled them next to a traditional department store perfume, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about.  Artisan perfumes do not have any of the alcohol-like, nose-crinkling tang that even the most well-known and expensive mainstream perfumes have at first.  These fragrances are created by artisans all over the world, using high quality ingredients, and are designed to trigger a sensory memory in each of us.  Some are based on the most ordinary and precious of experiences, such as Snow and Burning Leaves (both done by I Hate Perfume), and some are a complex blend of both familiar and unfamiliar notes. 

One thing that most niche perfumes have in common is that they are pretty much out of my price range.  Usually priced at $200 and up per bottle, it is difficult for me to commit to a whole bottle of any of these scents – especially since I love so many of them.  And that, my friends, is the beauty of perfume samples.  Many niche and artisan perfumes can be part of your repertoire for a mere $3 – $8 for a 5mL sample, thanks to websites like Lucky Scent and The Perfumed Court.  The easiest way to start exploring is to think of some fragrance “notes” that make you happy.  For me, those are the warm, cozy vanillas, incense, and amber notes.  On the websites, perfumes are generally sorted by families of basenotes, which enables you to pull up a whole variety of amber scents, for example, read the descriptions of each one, and select which samples you would like to try.  

One of the most fun and interesting aspects of artisan perfumes is how they will smell differently on me at different times of the year, and even different times of the day.  The essences are subtly but undeniably different when the perfume is first applied, then after a couple of hours different notes will emerge, and by the end of the day it might have become something entirely new.  I’ve always thought that a beautiful scent, if created and worn right, is one of the most important aspects of a person’s (man or woman, really) beauty regimen.  A good, quality, scent will not make you smell “perfumey” but will instead give you that indescribable quality that is all your own.  Your personal scent  signature, if you will.  

But look at me . . . all of this rambling, and I still haven’t gotten to my wish list.  Bottom line is this – your wish list probably won’t be the same as mine.  The art of scent is wonderfully subjective.  But I highly recommend that you explore the world of artisan perfumes and develop your very own perfume hall of fame.   Here are a few award winners in my world.  Santa, are you still with me?   Read on . . . 

Tabac Blond by Caron   

I actually haven’t tried this scent yet, but from everything I’ve read, it’s one that I will fall in love with. I can’t wait to receive my sample in the mail.  And with this scent, samples will have to do – I’ve seen prices ranging up to $1000 for a 6.7 Eau de Toilette.   Tabac Blond was created in 1919 by the still-to-this-day independent Caron Parfumerie in Paris.  The opening notes are of supple leather softened by a hint of carnations and possibly a mellow rose, then brightened by notes of iris and ylang ylang, all set in a base of cedar, patchouli, vanilla, amber, and musk.  From what I’ve read, the dry down is frequently primarily a spicy vanilla scent.  Carons describes the personality of this scent as “the troubling sensuality of a woman in a dinner jacket.”  Tabac Blond was created in a time when women were first beginning to assert their independence and squash the boundaries between the smoking room and the boudoir.  It is touted as a fragrance created to mark the dawn of female liberation, and certainly has the nearly 100 years of cult following to prove it. 

Nag Champa Indien by Memoire Liquide

I’ve always loved the calming smell of nag champa incense burning in a yoga studio or a spa, but I hadn’t thought of the incense note as actually wearable until I tried this perfume by Memoire Liquide.  It starts out with an almost chocolatey note, along with woods and amber.  The nag champa scent is very distinct, but not overpowering at all.  After a few hours, a light vanilla blends with the amber and incense.  When I wear Nag Champa Indien, the scent lasts for a good 10 hours or so, and melds wonderfully into my skin.  This is one sample that I will order again and again.  The price tag on this scent isn’t as out of my range as many other artisan perfumes might be.  However, purchasing a bottle would also incur travel costs, since Memoire Liquide scents are only sold at Studio Fred Segal in Santa Monica and Henry Bendel in New York City.  Can you say road trip, anyone?  

Memoire Liquide is a relatively new line of bespoke perfumes that can be blended by note to create a unique scent for each one of us.  The Memoire Liquide blending bar at both of their locations is reminiscent of an old fashioned apothecary.  Customers are encouraged to sample and smell a wide variety of over 150 fragrance offerings, and then, with the assistance of an expert perfumer, their very own scent blend will be concocted!  From what I’ve read, for a set of three 7.5 mL pure perfumes, the cost is around $75. 

Douce Amere by Serge Lutens

My wish list would not be complete without at least one fragrance by French scent master Serge Lutens.  Douce Amere is one of the first artisan perfumes that I tried, one that started me down the road into this wonderfully-scented world, and I never looked back. It was Douce Amere that first illustrated to me how a scent can be beautiful, and not perfume-like at the same time.  Douce Amere means “bittersweet” in French.  It is described as a “fresh Oriental” scent, which I feel is pretty accurate.  It starts out with the slightly tangy aura of artemisia absinthium, which is the bitter herb commonly known as wormwood, and famous as the source of the liquor absinthe.  I also detect a touch of cinnamon-sprinkled lemon at the beginning, which calms down to almost a semi-sweet, mildly spicy gourmand scent.  I read this description of Douce Amere somewhere, and it totally rings true to me: Oriental exoticism mixed with dessert-loving hedonism.  As a side note, reading the descriptions of some of these artisan perfumes is almost as fun as sniffing them.  There are so many eloquent, beautiful narratives out there, which really only scratch the surface of the individual experience of wearing these scents.  

Serge Lutens has an entire line of amazingly-crafted perfumes.  Some of them are non-export, meaning that we cannot buy them here in the United States. Fortunately, Douce Amere is part of the export line, so it is available for about $200 a bottle at Barneys, Bergdorf Goodman, and selected Neiman Marcus stores around the country. 

There is so much to this world of niche perfumes that I could go on and on.  But in order to really “get” what all my rambling is about, you have got to try them for yourself.  I promise you, you’ll be walking around all day with your wrist to your nose, breathing in the ever-changing complex aromas.  I still catch myself doing it . . . sometimes with a different scent on either arm. 

Enjoy the fragrance journey.  I hope you derive as much joy from it as I have.  And I wish all of you the very happiest of holiday seasons. 

Love, peace, and good health to us all!