Few notes in fragrance are as polarizing as cumin. Some people associate cumin with sweat or food, and even the tiniest hint of it will cause them to double-bag a perfume sample and take it to the garbage can in the backyard. Other people, including me, like the carnal edge cumin adds to a fragrance.
For people who want to experiment with cumin-laced fragrances, I've put together this cheat sheet of a few perfumes and their ratings on the cumin-o-meter. I hope you'll chime in with your favorite fragrances, too.
Cumin-o-meter rating 1: Serge Lutens Chêne. Have you ever leaned your head toward a four-log fire in a fireplace that draws well and breathed deeply? Riding the heat is a touch of cumin. Chêne mimics the smell of an oak fire, but without the smoke. The pinch of cumin is there even if many people don't even smell it.
Cumin-o-meter rating 3: Vero Profumo Rubj Eau de Parfum. Rubj Eau de Parfum — not the Parfum so much — dirties its radiant orange blossom with a hint of cumin. The result is a gorgeously delicate fragrance with a raunchy kick, like a cherub telling dirty jokes.
Cumin-o-meter rating 4: Penhaligon's Amaranthine. Amaranthine is ravishingly pretty in the sense that smelling it leads to thinking some kind of ravishing is going on among its fruit trees, tropical flowers, and milk baths. Unlike many cumin-inflected fragrances, Amaranthine's dirtiness fades out after a number of hours leaving the scent of sweet, woody, cream on the skin.
Cumin-o-meter rating 5: Amouage Jubilation 25. This stuff should come with a warning label: For "special" company only. People may disagree, but to me Jubilation 25's collision of cumin with hothouse flowers and lemony-wood creates a fragrance that is as close to sex in a bottle as you can get, especially if the fooling around involves Taittinger and a Bentley.
Cumin-o-meter rating 7: Rochas Femme. Take Jubilation 25, cheapen it a tad, crush in some peaches and a little more cumin, and you have Femme. Jubilation 25's maid is wearing Femme on her nights off and gets luckier in a week than her mistress does all month.
Cumin-o-meter rating 10: Alexander McQueen Kingdom. Call out the sirens! Kingdom is cumin ahoy. If you are put off by cumin, don't even let a vial of this sweet, rosy, spicy goodness in your house. It's too cuminy for me to wear, but I like having a little around to smell from time to time.
Which fragrances with cumin have I forgotten? Where would they rate on the cumin-o-meter?
Note: image is Regular Cumin [cropped] by FotoosVanRobin at flickr; some rights reserved.
Eau d’Hermes by Edmond Roudnitska is my personal favourite perfume with cumin. It’s very evident but is just the right amount and is ever so lovely with all the jasmine and citrus!
I love Eau d’Hermes, too, and wear it pretty often. I know it’s got a fair dose of cumin because that’s what I read everywhere, but I hardly smell any. Thinking about it, I hardly ever detect cumin in scents. Is it possible to be anosmic to cumin in fragrances while being able to smell the actual spice, I wonder?
Good question. Do you smell cumin in food? To me, the cumin in Eau d’Hermes is right out there, not hiding.
I smell and taste cumin the spice quite clearly, but often the way it translates in perfumery to me, it does NOT smell quite like the spice at all. It does in Arabie, but in something like L’Artisan Al-Oudh, I get a strong sweaty smell, but not cumin the spice.
Now you have me thinking I need to compare some cumin with a sweaty armpit. I think the house across the street is getting some plumbing work done. Maybe I should wait a few hours and bring over a few grains of cumin?
Al-Oudh! Definitely cumin or cumin-like action there.
Ha! I love your spirit of scientific inquiry.
Writing for NST is not for the faint of heart.
That’s an interesting distinction. I find the “cumin-sweat” note in Al-Oudh to be a bit unpleasant. But I love the cumin note in Jub 25. And what other people describe as cumin in Amaranthine, I don’t experience as cumin or sweat. Just a decaying, but sexy floral note that also brings to mind a touch of body odor. Not unpleasant.
How cumin (or whatever it is that mimics cumin) works in fragrances seems to depend so much on the notes surrounding it. I think the lemony floral gorgeousness of Jub 25 balances the cumin well.
Yes! Eau d’Hermes is a perfect example of cumin in perfume. Maybe a rating of 4? I’m glad you reminded me of it–I’m getting out my decant right now.
Not too familiar with cumin fragrances, but I don’t mind their addition to a perfume as long as it’s done right. I find when I walk by Indian restaurants the smell very comforting.
For me it really is all about the balance. I love cumin in food, too!
Dolly, I don’t have much experience with it either – the only fragrance I own with cumin is Femme. To me it smells womanly, sensual yet vulnerable, but I only wear it when I don’t expect to be going ANYWHERE.
My mother picked up the bottle this summer while looking through my collection, sniffed, raised an eyebrow at me and snickered “and just where do you spray this one?”
Nuff said.
That’s so funny! Your mom has a good sense of humor.
Le Labo’s Rose 31! I love it, but get hate reactions from my supervisor, who has something against cumin, she doesn’t react that way to other scents I wear, fortunately (e.g. even Montale’s Black Oud and similars)
Some people really object to cumin, unfortunately. I’m glad you reminded me of Le Labo Rose, though! I find its cumin relatively subtle. Maybe a 3? Or even a 2?
Wow a 3. For me, I would give Rose 31 at least a 7.
It is so fasinating how skin chemistry or maybe cumin scentivity really changes from person to person.
Maybe I need to douse myself in it and see if I change my mind!
Hi Angela. You definitely forgot Serge Noire! I’ve grown to love it, but it’s a weird, weirdly disturbing scent with a serious OD of cumin in there.
Also, are you referring more to new Femme rather than vintage? I’ll admit, I handle cumin well, but my vintage EdC idsn’t really a cumin-fest to my nose. I love it, and the similarity to Jub 25 is amazing.
I’ll admit, I was surprised when I sent a sample of my beloved Chêne to a swapper and she said it was all cumin-curry to her. I don’t detect a trace of it. That reminds me though, one must add at least two more Serges: Arabie & El Attarine. I love both.
Oh yes, Serge Noire! Definitely some cumin in there. As for Femme, I’m thinking of the new Femme, which to me packs a wallop of cumin, although in a good way, of course. I’m surprised your friend found so much cumin in Chene. She must have a really cumin-sensitive nose. To me it’s pretty subtle.
Cumin in my beloved Arabie, no kidding? OK, now it’s official: I’m anosmic to cumin.
It’s there! I wonder if other people can smell it on your skin? Maybe your skin just eats away the cumin somehow so no one–you included–can smell it.
Cumin in Arabie?? **gasp** I don’t smell it….but you know I’m heading straight for the cabinet for sniffing. hmmm…don’t really get it in Amaranthighs either.
In some fragrances my nose interprets cumin as sweaty BO, in others it seems more like what’s in the spice cabinet ; more of a pungent foody type smell (like in Jub25).
I only get the faintest whiff of cumin in Amaranthighs, that only lasts for a few minutes. There is such a rush of sensual aromas in Amaranthine at the opening, that the cumin is just part of the whole before it begins to melt into that super yummy milk pudding territory.
It sounds like you get lots of delicious cream from it–nice!
It is nice to see someone else deriving as much pleasure from Amaranthine as I do. I find it delicious.
It is a good one–I treasure my bottle.
Maybe the cumin in Arabie is so beautifully blended it doesn’t stick out for you! Arabie has so much going on that I can see where a person would miss one spice over another.
If I remember correctly, Lutens’ El Attarine had a good dose of cumin. I don’t get it in Arabie, though. And, I didn’t get Angela’s impression of Jubiliation 25 at all! To me it was a beatiful chypre for a lady – Deneuve or Grace Kelly or something. Must try again.
My wearing of Jub 25 goes more smoldering than Grace Kelly, but it could be that our mileage varies.
Angela,
Have you used this concept often? The meter thingy? I think this is a fantastic way to explore a note – and really helpful for people like myself (identification challenged!). I almost want to get samples of these scents to test it out, except for the fact the I know cumin and it doesn’t work for me in scents at all. I get sweat, curry and tagines. Two of which are amazing foods (no, not the sweat), and the third, competely off putting. Which reminds me, does Annick’s Au Sud have cumin in it?
I’m not sure we’ve use the “meter” concept before, but I’m glad you like it, as unscientific as it is. Cumin in fragrance definitely isn’t for everyone, but give Chene a try anyway if you get the chance. You never know….
I love the meter idea, and I hope it makes a return here on other notes.
People seem to like it. I’ll run it by Robin and see what she thinks. Maybe it has a future life.
I will give La Chene a try. I think I may give the others a try at sample level just for the “note” learning experience as it relates to scent. I still need to build my assocuiations, pleasant or not so much. Just because I sniff, doesn’t mean I have to wear for hours.
I meant ” associations, both pleasant and “not so much”. Typos galore!
That’s how I feel, too. I have samples of some fragrances I can’t imagine wearing, but I do like to have them to smell for reference at least.
I don’t think AG Eau du Sud has cumin but I think you may be smelling the grapefruit. A lot of people get sweat (or even more objectionable notes) from grapefruit – Robin mentioned it in her review here that it was as bit sweaty.
Grapefruit can give off that dreaded cat pee smell, too.
At times I’ve interpreted grapefruit in perfume as lemon plus cumin.
I can see that.
Love the cuminometer idea, and the comparison between Femme and Jube is priceless!
My own personal cumin heaven (yes, I love cumin in perfume) is Déclaration.
Oh and I’m seconding Joe’s choice of Arabie & El Attarine.
You’re right–I’m glad he brought those up. Arabie is a regular spice fest, especially.
It has been way too long since I’ve smelled Declaration! I must remedy that.
Oooh, decided out of the blue to wear Declaration today. I’ve had it on the shelf for too long, ever since the boyfriend said I smelled like a sweaty cantuloupe. I shouldn’t have listened!
Sweaty cantaloupe! That sounds really good, to tell the truth.
Sweaty canteloupe! That is hilarious. Not necessarily a bad thing, I think skanky perfumes have made me appreciate body odours of various kinds more. Got a sample of Jubilation 25 the other day, better wait for a day off to wear that one I think.
Also, I love the ‘meter’ system! Makes it much easier to decide where to start, depending on previous exposure to said note.
I’m glad you like the system, although I have to warn that it’s really subjective!
That might be prudent, just in case….
Declaration – good take on cumin!
Déclaration is the only scent (so far) I have turned down because the cumin didn’t sit well on my skin. Kingdom is a happy spicey hotch-potch on me and I love SL Santal Blanc with it’s Indian spice accord opening.
I remember the first time I tried Santal Blanc–what a surprise!
I actually like cumin in my perfumes. The first one I bought and still love is Frapin’s Caravelle Epicee which would rate quite high, I’d say 5 or even 7.
And I think something’s wrong with Kingdom on me, I didn’t detect any cumin, it was just strange.
Also, another cumin-y fragrance, 1876 by Histoires de Parfum, which probably rates a 3?
I wonder if your sample of Kingdom is a little off? I’ve got to get out my Caravelle Epicee sample and see if I have that Histoires de Parfum sample (I don’t think I do). Thanks for adding this fragrances to the cumin list!
A wonderful article, Angela! I do agree with your rating of Kingdom as “10” on the cuminometer. Thinking about it gives me the shivers, and I use a lot of cumin in my cooking!
If there were a periodic table of the elements for perfume, Kingdom would hold its own special place, that’s for sure.
I also find a lot of cumin—in a good way, mostly—in Amouage Epic Woman and in Le Labo’s Rose 31. It’s interesting that they’ve also put this scent (Rose 31) in a laundry soap—I wonder how that reads on clean sheets or clothes?
That’s so funny about the Le Labo Rose on sheets and towels! I hadn’t even thought of that. I wonder if they engineered it out–or down–in the laundry soap?
Janice – I was going to comment below that Rose 31 is one of the only cumin fragrances that I actually really like and enjoy wearing. It has more of a fresh aroma (like in freshly cooked food), and it just pairs so wonderfully with that rich rose they use. My husband really likes this one too. Good one!
Cumin seems to do well paired with fresh flowers, it seems.
I detect a huge dose of cumin in Angel, but it’s never listed in the notes. I find cumin in perfume revolting, but I love it in food.
Oh, that’s interesting. Angel is such a nose-full of strong, conflicting components that I don’t even think I tried to suss out cumin. I will now, though.
I know what you’re talking about — I first noticed a cumin-like note in Angel La Rose. I’m not sure if it’s deliberate or an aspect of the patchouli.
I usually like cumin. I love Idole de Lubin but I think it’s the cumin in it that makes it seem to be a love/hate fragrance for people.
To me, the cumin is relatively subtle in Idole de Lubin, too. It feels more about rum and wood. I think people are really sensitive to cumin.
i tested now my Jubie and the cumin in the kitchen. my o-meter is not working very well. Jubie was a 1/10, real cumin was a 7/10….
Shouldn’t real cumin be a 10/10?
exactly. that’s why I think there’s something wrong with my nose cumin-wise. or i did not do serious cooking lately…
If it weren’t 5 in the morning (been up for an hour with a bad cough), I’d get up from my chair to test real cumin and Jubilation 25. But I’m too tired…
Forget about cumin! Go back to bed! I hope you’re feeling better soon.
Noses and skin are so tricky. I admit my cumin-o-meter is strictly subject. Maybe yours should be a 1 to 7 scale!
I mean “subjective” of course.
PdN Vetyver has a curry-like note that I experience as cumin-I don’t know if that’s a note that is native to the vetiver or not.
I haven’t tried the PdN Vetyver. Now I want to, though!
It does have a cumin note. It’s a very unique treatment of vetiver, one that I like very much.
I’ll definitely try it, then.
Dipyque’s L’Autre had cumin, I believe. Unfortunately for me it was way too much Indian curry restaurant, but my DH liked it.
Does he wear it, then? Hopefully you like it on him, at least.
Yes, this is the one that came to mind when I read the thread title. It smells to me, not like something from India but rather: INDIA! Itself. In a bottle.
Of course, the only place you can get a bottle now is a Diptyque boutique.
I think I have a sample around somewhere. I’ll go find it….
My thoughts exactly, and L’Autre calls for the Cumin-o-Meter to go up to 11!
I think it’s fine for the cumin-o-meter to bust over 10 for the right fragrance! It sounds like L’Autre is it.
Ah, cumin. The great divider. I do love the warm, sensual edge a dose of cumin can lend a fragrance, and it shows up in a surprising number of classics once you start looking for it.
Femme…ehh. I want to love it, I get a kick out of smelling it, but it borders on unwearable for me. There’s cumin, and then there’s CUMIN. Femme’s cumin is rendered in neon. It does smell rather drier, more elegant, and less sweaty/musty in winter as opposed to summer. (Yes, I’ve made the mistake of wearing Femme in warm weather. Once.) I may give it another go once it cools down over here.
Femme is on the dividing line for me, too. As much as I love it, I save it for dead cold and the right frame of mind. Still, I wouldn’t be without a bottle.
Are we talking about Femme EdT or EdP? I have the EdT and get only the faintest cumin note that is very fleeting. Being a “maximalist” I have taken cumin powder and oil and let sit to dab on top to take it up a notch, I like it but it doesn’t last. I wonder why no one visits any more . . . . .
I have the EdP and am not sure I’ve smelled the EdT. In fact, I didn’t know there was an EdT in the new Femme. But to ratchet it up with kitchen cumin is very brave! Maximalist indeed!
Angela, sorry to be adding this so late, but if possible, can you tell me where to find Femme in EdP. Searched feverishly on the web and all the North American sites seem only to have the EdT. Love Femme but wish it had a bit higher intensity and lasting power, therefore the search for EdP. Huge plug for Jubilation, sweet but not cloying, intense but not annoying, my next Amouage aquisition, as soon as I refinance the house. . . . .!!!
It looks like I misled you! I just went to examine my bottle of Femme (I had to use a magnifying glass, even, since the bottom label had been stamped over with a serial number) and it looks like it’s also the EdT version. I’m sorry! It’s so rich I thought for sure it was the EdP.
I saw George Clinton (Funkadelic, Parliament) at the airport once and walked past him. He smelled like cumin, straight up, and it was lovely. I was skeered to talk to him but have always wondered if it was a fragrance or hair product or he just ate a lot of it. He probably wondered why I was wandering near him so often!
I will have to put on some Kingdom later (going to Sephora now so need to be scent-free) to see if I get the cumin hit. I must not mind it, because the things on your cumin-o-meter list that I have smelled, I have liked, own, or plan to own. Plus I like and/or own some of the other suggestions!
I wonder what other controversial notes we could meter-ize? Civet? Lavender? Hmmm….
incense for sure : )
George Clinton! I went to a Funkadelic concert once and lasted about 4 hours before I had to quit. George kept on going. Do you think it was good, clean BO on him?
I was thinking that might have been what it was, too. That reminds me of when I was a teenager and my friend I met some rock star. (Must have made quite an impression if I can’t remember who it was.) After hugging him our coats both smelled like him for weeks. We refused to wash them, and I remember my friend Kim shrieking at us: “It’s BO! You guys are intentionally saving someone’s BO? Wash it! That’s disgusting!” But we loved him, and we thought he smelled wonderful. Serious, though– no idea who it was.
I’m going to pretend it was Leif Erickson. Ha ha ha. Seriously, though, I saw him once at La Luna, and this was in the late 1990s.
It may very well have been the same place, although it would have still been Pine Street Theater at the time.
I want to say it was Satyricon, and it was someone from Pearl Jam, but I could be wrong.
I don’t get BO from cumin, just cumin. It smelled like the true spice.
See, now I really think I need to compare cumin with straight BO.
Oh please could someone do civet?! That would be fabulous.
Whew! That would be a good one.
I second the civet request!
I love George Clinton! My little girl loves funk music – it’s funny to watch her try and dance to it. I can totally see him smelling like cumin – I imagine him rubbing it into his crazy hair.
I bet she loves reggae, too! Kids seem to go nuts over it.
Just spritzed a bit of my Kingdom – I can see now that I just really like cumin in perfume! It is sexy, but I don’t get sweat or ass or panties or anything. Maybe this makes up for whatever it is in Jicky and Feminite du Bois that becomes swamp water.
It is nice to know we have macho noses in one area when another one just plain doesn’t work! Feminite des Bois does seem to have some cumin going on, though. But I know exactly what you mean about Jicky.
Unfortunately, where cumin is concerned I feel myself to be the double bagging type of person. Jubilation 25 is a glorious chypre on me once the cumin fades, but that takes two hours or so. Cumin is a very nauseating BO related scent to me — I’ll blame too many people using the spice in cooking & then crowding onto busy DC Metros. I also have very, very sensitive smell which is both a blessing and a curse.
I may give Jubilation 25 another go when the time is right and depending on how it works or rather doesn’t work, I’ll likely be offering up my sample to a good cumin-friendly home.
I can understand your feeling about Jub 25. I love it, but it packs a punch. I hope your sample finds a good home.
I can’t usually handle much cumin in my fragrances, but I love it in Dinner by Bobo. That one has to be fairly high on the cumin-o-meter, right?
It has been a while since I’ve heard Dinner by Bobo! I’ve always heard rumors of its cumin, but I’ve never smelled it. They say it has a lot of it, though.
I definitely smell cumin in TDC Rose Poivree, although I don’t believe it is listed in its notes.
I believe Parfum d’Empire’s Aziyade is cumin-heavy, as in an easy 8, as far as I’m concerned…I can’t do too much cumin. Jubilation 25 is my limit, although I do love that one.
What about l’Air du Desert??
Oh yes, Rose Poivree seems to have cumin and civet, for a double dose of skank. People have told me older Rose Poivree is more cuminy than later bottles, but I haven’t tested it myself.
I think of L’air as being really ambery, but I’ll smell for cumin next time, and I don’t think I’ve smelled Aziyade yet. On the list it goes!
TDC Rose Poivree must have cumin and long lasting cumin at that. I sampled it once and I swear it lingered for days. I really don’t think I can do much cumin. I would like to try Chene, though.
Your skin must be good at getting perfume to last! I think the only TDC that lasts much on me is Jasmin de Nuit. Fortunately, I like that one a lot.
lts: I don’t think I’ve tried Aziyade yet either, but another Parfums d’Empire that has a hint of cumin — at least to my nose; it’s not listed in the notes — is Fougere Bengale.
Aziyade is a 20 on the cumin meter-holy moly! It has the largest blast of cumin I’ve ever smelled in a fragrance!
I remember immortelle in that one, which leads me to wonder about the difference in how immortelle and curry smell.
I mean cumin. Yikes.
Too much perfume writing!
I was going to post that Aziyade has about a bucketload of cumin. I don’t get any from the Tauer though…hmmmm?
I’m not sure I get much from it, either, so you’re not alone.
How about L’Artisan’s Timbuktu? I looove that one and can totally smell the cumin on the drydown.
That’s a good one! My arm will be covered in samples today. All cumin-related, too!
I get a very strong cumin/BO note in Timbuktu, and I think Daisy does, too, if memory serves. But this is one of those anosmia/hyperosmia things. LT praises Timbuktu for “bracing, euphoric freshess,” and Joe and Haunani also report that. I catch a whiff of a lovely forest freshness sometimes, but to me the cumin/BO note predominates to the extent that I’m shy to wear it in public.
I wonder what that note is – could it be the smoky note of cypriol that LT raves about? It shows up in a lot of Duchaufour scents to varying degrees. Whatever it is, it is clear to me that it smells completely different to different people.
I know Perfume:The Guide doesn’t note the cumin I smell in a few different scents, for instance, Jub 25. I was never sure if the authors just didn’t smell it, or if it just didn’t matter, or if they had somehow transcended marking cumin as a “notable” aspect of a scent.
Cumin in *Timbuktu*??? Not to me. I’m going to wear it tomorrow and see if I can find it!
Nozknoz- I get a magnificent warm shimmering green – almost pure vetiver – and just whiffs of incense from Timbuktu. It is one of my favorite L’AP fragrances and I love wearing it in winter when I need a good dose of sunshine.
I know that green fresh scent is there, but for me it’s almost like TS said when she commented on another LT review and said something like, “I can’t see any of that because of the 8-story woody amber in the way – not fair!” I’m just hyperosmic to something in Timbuktu. I still like it, though.
I usually love cumin for its spice and hint of sweaty skank. I love and own Femme and Kingdom, and they’re both quite wearable on me.
Heeley Cedre Blanc, however, was unbearable on me. Definitely the unwashed subway rider smell. So I’d give that one the 10.
Or maybe an 11, a la Spinal Tap.
Love Spinal Tap. I could watch it once a month for a year and still laugh hysterically.
Ha! Now I really have to try Cedre Blanc, just for the novelty!
Was going to add that one – I love it, was just talking about it in my post last week. I guess I’m the unwashed subway rider next to you.
I bet it smells good on you, though.
I haven’t tried Heeley Cedre Blanc. Now I’m kind of afraid to!
I am extremely cumin tolerant and my skin just sort of softens it. My favorite Amouage is J25 and I don’t get any troublesome effects from it at all.
I was wearing MFK Absolue Pour le Soir the other day which knocks some people over, but it was wonderful on me. Have you tried it? I was wondering how you would rate it on the cumin meter.
I haven’t tried it, but I’m desperate to. I’m going to make sure I don’t have a sample of it yet….
Rustic: I haven’t tried the Absolue, but the original Cologne pl Soir had a very sour/urinous smell to me. Just awful.
Oh, maybe that was the dog pee one – I am afraid to try those again because I don’t know which one I tried that day.
I love that we can describe something as “the dog pee one” without a trace of irony.
I love cumin in perfume! To me, it adds a human-ish element that blends beautifully with my skin (I don’t think I smell like a sweaty/skanky guy, either). Buuutt, I think my ethnic background may pre-dispose my skin chemistry to work with it
You’re lucky to smell good in cumin! I like it, too. I think my next FB purchase will be the Rubj EdP.
Angela – I love cumin in large doses in food. I keep one of those jumbo restaurant size cumin containers in my spice cabinet for when I am making rubs, sauces and soups. The more cumin (and cilantro) the better! But for some reason it doesn’t work on my skin or for my nose most of the time. I did mention above that I love the Le Labo Rose 31, which is my fav fragrance with cumin. At first I was afraid to try it, but once I did – yum! It makes me want to eat my skin, lol. Rose 31 smells to me like I am wearing a wonderful rich rose fragrance, and across the room, someone’s just started cooking some really excellent Mexican food. It just works – a lot of balance between the strong cumin and the rich rose . The others – esp. the Jubilations and Femme – not so much. Maybe it’s b/c I have incense issues, etc, that those fragrances seem wildly unbalanced to me – like I am avoiding them as soon as I put them on. Femme esp. gets a little too much “panty” for me.
Your description of Rose 31 makes it sound delicious!
One of my favorite cumin recipes is from the Casa Moro cookbook (food mostly from Moorish Spain, Morocco, and Turkey) and is prawns with wheatberries, yogurt, cumin, garlic, and cilantro. Fabulous and smells like heaven.
Now that does sound good! Mmm…. now my regular dinner seems so pale.
It’s really easy. Just marinate the shelled prawns in the yogurt, cumin, garlic, and cilantro while you cook the wheatberries (which takes half an hour or so.) Drain the wheatberries and squeeze in a little lemon, then add the shrimp and yogurt marinade to the wheatberries and heat slowly until the shrimp is cooked.
Unfortunately for me, if a fragrance has cumin in it, it overpowers everything else. I’ve said this before in other cumin-related posts, but I don’t necessarily hate cumin, it ruins the other notes in whatever fragrance it’s in.
Fragrances I’ve tried that “read” cumin to my nose:
– Comme des Garcons 2
– Timbuktu
– Nicolai’s Maharanih
– Amaranthine
– SL Rousse
– SL Fleurs d’Oranger
Amaranthine has grown on me a bit, despite the cumin! In fact, I don’t own any cumin fragrances. If I had to choose one to wear, it might be Amaranthine.
Agree on Fleurs D’Oranger–it was interesting to me that Vero chose to amp up the cumin in her Orange Blossom scent as well. Since orange blossoms do have a dose of natural indoles on the tree, it makes sense. In the SL, it transforms the scent from a straightforward floral to something ummmmm, sexy (on the right day) and totally unbearable on the wrong one. I had enough good days that I bought a bottle, which I cherish, but approach with caution!
I had some troubles when I sampled the SL Fleurs d’Orange too – it smelled like someone dumped some frozen concentrated orange juice in the spice cabinet and left it there for a few weeks. Not a good combo.
Oh, not so good.
The Rubj EdP is glorious, and I see a bottle in my future–although it will have to wait until early next year when my finances are ready for it. But now I’m thinking I need to try Fleur d’Oranger again, too!
u do angela..but note, there r good days and horrible days..and it can be extreme differences!!
I’ll remember that and give it a few tries.
K, I completely forgot about the cumin in Fleur d’Oranger, but it is a definite feature. I’d put it at a 3 on the cumin-o-meter. It sounds like you’re good at finding and avoiding cumin!
Great topic! I like the “-omometer” concept. Very useful in discussing fragrances.
Count me among the cumin fans. I like it as an ingredient in spicy-woody fragrances, and I enjoy the interplay of it with florals, as in Rose 31 and Amaranthine (love both of ’em!). Femme appealed to me the one time I tried it; haven’t tested Jubilation 25. I never have “gotten” the sweaty armpit connection, though there is something sexy about its smell. Hmmm…
I have another fragrance to add to the list! The controversial Frederic Malle Une Fleur de Cassie is pretty cumin-y. Perhaps a 6-8 on the scale? It’s an intoxicating and special fragrance, IMO.
I never thought about cumin in that one! I guess I was always shocked and allured by its almost bad-breath odor.
It IS both shocking and alluring. Tried it recently for the first time.
I’m going to have to get brave someday and really douse myself in it and see how I feel about it then.
I have trouble with most perfumes that include noticeable cumin, except for this one : Gucci Eau de Parfum I (the one from 2002). It is fabulously done and even though I can smell the cumin, it is beautifully blended and it doesn’t bother me.
I’d put that one at a 2 on the meter, maybe. I used to have a bottle of it, and I agree–it’s almost drinkable. Very pretty.
I am glad someone mentioned this intriguing scent. I wear Gucci 2002 only at home due to worry over that suggestive cumin note. To me it is a blatant 10 on the meter but I have nothing to compare it to, since I do not know the other scents referred to here (yet).
I wonder, though, if you wore it confidently if no one would really notice the “dirty body” smell, but would simply detect something really sexy.
What about Private Collection from Estee Lauder – quite a lot of cummin I think.
I never noticed it! I must go back and try the sample again–thanks for the hint.
Since cumin is not commonly used in Western European cuisine, I have always wondered how people who never eat anything but that kind of food knew what cumin smelled like. Surely not everyone is fond of exotic dishes.
I was exposed to cumin from day one: I remember a certain kind of brown bread liberally sprinkled with cumin seeds that my mother used to buy from a Jewish grocer once a week as a treat (it was rather expensive). I love that spice – in food and in perfume. Like in the case of Rustic Dove and dee, fragrances containing it meld with my skin and just produce a warm aura.
I have never understood the quasi-hysterical reaction cumin provokes in certain people.
In the U.S., probably most people are used to cumin in chili. But that’s the only thing I can think of–outside of those powdered taco mixes, maybe–where the average person on the street would taste it.
The bread with cumin sounds very good to me!
Exactly! It’s not part of the traditional Western cuisine. At least in the UK, I’m pretty sure the majority of people (unless they have an ethnic background) wouldn’t recognize cumin if it slapped them in the face.
That bread was indeed wonderful: I loved it more than any cake.
That bread sounds so delicious – wish I could get my hands on some! I cook with cumin a lot – I keep both whole seed and ground in the spice cabinet. I may have to break out the bread machine and improvise a cumin bread recipe!
Let us know how it turns out!
Cumin is used in a certain cheese in Holland. Cumincheese or Komijnenkaas ( in Dutch). I love it, the cheese I mean. I don’t get the sweaty connotation at all. If a perfume smells of cumin it simply reminds me of a type of cheese that I like. The fragrances I instantly thought of were: ( in no particular order), Déclaration-Cartier, Diorella extrait ( vintage) and Vétyver- Parfums de Nicolaï.
Now there’s another idea for a post: perfumes that smell like cheese!
Especially perfumes that smell like Münster cheese! Or Roquefort.
Whew! Those would be quite the fragrances.
I love cumin. I’ll look for excuses to use it in anything I cook. I even use it in Italian food, which my Italian friends tell me is just plain wrong. But cumin as a fragrance on me… it’s just plain wrong. I’ll be blunt, people: It smells like ass. And I’m not talking about donkeys. (I’d prefer to smell like a donkey.) Armpit would be a step up. I can tolerate smelling like some pretty strange things (donkeys, for example), but smelling like a butt just does not appeal to me. Don’t get me wrong, though: I like cumin on other people. It just doesn’t work on me. I guess I’m the only lucky one who gets to smell like someone’s sweaty gym shorts.
Ha!
…Kitty….you’re killing me……LOL ….
Miss Kitty, I’m the stinky butt over here.
You are not!
Kitty, you are too much! In my mind I used the phrase: skunk panties. When I feel brave enough to ask my tolerant hubby about cumin frags he just laughs at me. I’ll say: it’s supposed to smell funky sexy. And then he just shakes his head. No, it just smells like cumin.
Do other people think it smells like that on you, too–or is it just you? I guess it doesn’t really matter, though! Either way cumin is not for you.
I’m not sure anyone would have the nerve to tell me that I smelled like a stinky behind. I almost want to take that on as my mission: start wearing cumin scents and ask everyone I meet what it is they think I smell like. I’ve never had the nerve to wear any our of the house, though. I guess I can do vintage Femme, my one exception to the rule.
To me, vintage Femme is skanky but not cuminy. Maybe you could start easy, like with Fleur d’Oranger, and see what happens.
To this day Ms. K, I remember your quote: “Cumin is a jerk” – classic.
I was wondering if anyone was going to bring that up.
Hi Angela, I always dig your reviews<3
ha!
I'm still learning to appreciate cumin in perfume but I do adore Feminite du Bois by Shiseido. I spray it all over my blankets and just bask in it's warmth at bedtime.
If I spray myself I start wanting to be a bit naughty!
I love when perfume does that.
Can't wait to try Jub 25!!
Do you want some of the XXV? I have a few mls of that …… I can throw it in the swap.
Funny, I just put on a big spritz of the cedar-stewed fruit-cumin deliciousness that is Feminite des Bois! Please let me know what you think of Jub 25 when you try it.
Angela or Robin – please delete the above comment – I got the wrong person… Thanks so much!
I’ll see if I can find it and forward it to Robin.
I too love the “-omometer” concept. Very useful! I am still struggling to identify lots of individual notes (newbie that I am) but the Le Labo Rose just screams cumin at me in a slightly crazed, unwashed seller -of -roses -wrapped -in -plastic way. And,oh, how it lasted…even through a shower. Urgh. I love cumin in food but now a bit leery of cumin frags after that one…
This post should give you lots of ideas of perfume to be wary of!
Cumin! Always loved it in my spanish rice- and LOVE it in my perfume
But I didn’t as a newb ‘mista…initially I found it it a bit rude but it quickly slithered into my heart and onto my body! I have never noticed it in Chene- I will have to see if I can pick it out. Femmmmmmme. yum. And J25. How about Diolrella? I think it is an 11 on the ‘ometer.
Now I need to get my bottle of Diorella and see what I smell!
Cumin–I like it when it’s traveling incognito in a perfume, but when it’s waving a flag over its head and shouting, I find I have an urgent appointment somewhere else.
I don’t think it smells like BO, though–here is my BO story:
I was in a junk store in Maryland years ago. The man who was running it was fragrant. Beyond fragrant. I suppose some people would say he hadn’t bathed in weeks.
I stayed there for half an hour longer than I needed to because he smelled so wonderfully spicy and alluring. If I could have bottled that, I think people would have paid Amouage attar prices.
I think you brought up a good point: there’s different types of BO. There’s spicy sweaty, and then there’s sour sweaty. The latter is usually the intolerable one.
You have a really good point. I’m not sure I’m willing to do much research there, though.
Snicker.
I think I stayed in love with a guy once for an extra couple of years because he smelled so good in a fresh sweat.
Angela, I’m glad I’m not the only one!
It’s not just anywhere we can admit these things.
A late comment, probably lost to obscurity, but I have a coworker with the strangest BO. If he gets too close, it’s almost intolerably sour and rank. But at a certain distance, it smells almost floral, almost dead-on for MKK. I prefer the SL to the natural but sometimes I look around for the amazing smell. Then he steps too close and I’m gasping for air.
Strange. Definitely strange.
I guess you know just how far away to stand from him!
To me SL MKK smells like clean musks plus a big cumin note, and in this context the cumin smells just like sweat. Like, my boyfriend’s shirt at the end of the day smells like he was wearing MKK. I find it funny and oddly kind of pleasant but it seems weird to pay for what I can smell on my boyfriend’s dirty laundry any time.
Now, can you get that smell to transfer to your body?
I think it prefer it left in the armpit.
Understood!
So timely, cumin has become one of my favorite notes in a perfume. I think I’ve talked about this perfume before, but F. Kurkdjian’s Absolue Pour Le Soir is cuminy as all get out, and so is L’Air du Desert Marocain, I believe. At least they have that similarity to them, to my nose. LOVE IT!
I still need to try the Absolue pour le soir! Sounds irresistible.
Let me just say, I would bath in it. And claim the entire city. ;D
But really, this is next on my to-buy list. I sprayed a card today, left it in my car. The smell was fantastic.
Agree about the cumin in Absolue pour le soir – Ines of All I Am – A Redhead and I were discussing its presence there and in Nuit de Tubereuse the other day. Cumin to me adds an indefinable “oddness” to a perfume – might be bad, might be good. More bad than good tbh. Would have to retry before pronouncing where these two scents rate on your -ometer!
You both have convinced me I need to try this one.
Whoa! I just pulled out my sample of Absolue — it’s a scrubber on me! way too much cumin. Now I know my limit.
It’s always good to have those benchmark fragrances!
How about The Tom Ford Era Gucci Eau De Parfum….??? THAT has a very SEXUAL, SENSUAL Pronounced Cumin Note in it that i always found Intoxicatingly Attractive! I Love cooking with cumin as well (one of my FAVE Spices) it lends a Lustiness and Earthiness, Kinda Almost like really good Patchouli does to fragrances and food! I remember Alexander McQueen’s Eponymous Fragrance came out around the same time as Gucci Eau De Parfum and both were VERY Redolent of Cumin… McQueen’s more in a Carnal way, Gucci’s more in a Lusty way! So i would say Gucci Ranks about a 6 on the Cumin-O-Meter!
Sorry i meant Kingdom, not McQueen;s EPONYMOUS Fragrance! McQueen never made a Fragrance Named after himself! LOL! D’OH!
I wonder if the house will someday make a fragrance called McQueen? If they do, I hope it truly is worthy of him.
We’ve had a few people mention that Gucci, and I agree wholeheartedly! It’s a good one.
I haven’t met a cumin-laced perfume I haven’t liked but I don’t think I’ve reached the upper reaches of your cumin scale. I think I need to smell Kingdom. And Femme. What a trial. ;D
Keeping pushing the cumin-o-meter and see what happens!
Not a perfume (I wish it were, actually) but I think Diptyque’s Thé candle needs to go on the list. “The” if the accent code doesn’t it work.
I seem to like scents that have cumin in them without being particularly sensitive to it. Just put on CdG2 and I can’t pick it up at all. Thinking about it, I’ve never picked out a cumin note on my own, so now I’m curious to sample the higher reaches of the cumin-o-meter to see what my nose knows.
ps. La Luna in the 1990s? Those were the days…
You must be a Portlander to know the old La Luna! The stories….
I haven’t tried that Diptyque candle. I’ll be on the lookout for it.
my 3 cumin ones are jubilation 25, theo fenell scent and fleurs d’orange…mostly the cumin blends seamlessless….but occasionally is is so awful, I need to scrub…in cooking I love cumin and one of my fav soups are orange lentils with pommi tomatoe, lemon, cumin…yum!!!
That soup sounds really good!
Count me in as a cumin lover. Femme is a favorite, and I’ll wear it anytime, anywhere. I’ve never smelled the original, and was surprised to learn that the new one is the version fortified with cumin. At least one fragrance didn’t go all thin and wimpy on reformulation! I think the sweet peach and the smoky spice balance each other well. However, Tauer’s L’Air du Desert Marocain is too foody and un-perfume-like for me – I’ve described it as a “fire in the spice rack of a Middle Eastern restaurant”. I’d rank that one as #10 on the cumin-o-meter.
People keep noting the cumin in L’air, but I can’t remember it. I’m going to have to find my sample and try it again!
Hmmm….I would not have described myself as a cumin-o-phile, but yet I do love me some Femme and the Amaranthing, so I may need to revise that statement. Now cumin in food, I DO know I like. Yum.
It sounds like it’s nice on your skin, too!
People from northern and eastern Europe tend to confond cumin with caraway, as austenfan did when she said in Holland they have cumin cheese. In fact it is caraway cheese.
A big big cumin fragrance is Serge Lutens Santal blanc, how could you forget it? For me is rather “crystaline cumin” than “white sandalwood”.
No I am not confusing them. Caraway is put in certain beef stews like Goulash. Cumin is put in Cheese. Both in Holland and in Flanders.
You are making me very hungry….
Someone else here mentioned Santal Blanc, too. Serge sure loves his cumin!
I tried it yesterday! (Jub.25) I loved it!
Your right, Femme is her cheaper sister. I don’t know but I only adore the vtg. Femme, which isn’t cumin at all, just glorious barnyard on me.
Still need to try Jub. next to Diorama, I’ll let you know when I do.
Isn’t Jub 25 magnificent? I love it. I was super lucky to buy a 1-oz travel bottle during the five-minute window (it seems like it was that short!) they were available.
Hi Angela-I’m way late to the party but could not resist commenting on cumin!
I love it in Le Labo’s Rose 31, it lends a beautiful dusty dry note that I love. It wears like a 3/4 on the cumin scale on my skin.
In SL’s MKK-it’s bumpy at first but like a pair of nice biker boots, once they’re broken in, it all smooths out in the end-I’d give it a 6.
When I wear SL’s Fleur de Orange, it’s easily a 9 on the cumin scale, and on me, it wears more “truckstop in Georgia on a hot August day” it does NOT like my skin chemistry. Approx three hours in it starts behaving, but it’s a wait…..
I wore Fleur d’Oranger last night to give it another try, and it felt cold next to Rubj EdP, and less like a body than like a cuminy air freshener on my skin.
Have fun at the party!
Wait a minute–I’m slow tonight, I guess! I thought you meant another party, somewhere with dancing and cocktails, not here….
Given the Giants just won Game 2 of the World Series-I’d say there’s a party to be found.
But for now, I’ll settle for garlic fries and a red tail ale in celebration of today’s win.
Love the comment about Amouage! As I am on the fourth place with Amaranthine, I would like to test the next one, but I do not “smell” or rather look as stuff I cannot afford.
But Kingdom might be somtehing I could get a tester. Alexander BANGs out, well well…
Femme can be quite affordable, too. Kingdom has lots and lots of cumin!