Today's poll was suggested by reader KateReed, who was thinking about "perfumes inspired by the crueler side of nature", like L'Artisan Voleur de Roses (marketed as “a rose garden shattered by a thunderstorm”) or Lush Hellstone ("The scent of newly turned earth and roots ripped from deep burial into fiery air...images of lightning, thunder and ravaged, smoking landscapes").
Can you think of more fragrances that fit the bill? Or make up your own.
Alternatively, think of the fragrance that illustrates the natural world at its kindest.
Note: top image is storm by cortto at flickr; some rights reserved.
Hello, everyone. Can’t think of the cruel side of nature right now as the sun is shining, the blossoms blooming and the birds singing. So the perfume that springs to my nose right now is the sadly departed L’Artisan Parfumeur’s La Haie Fleurie as it smells exactly like the garden when the jasmine and honeysuckle are out. In fact I don’t think I have come across anything else that seems so true to nature – kind, gentle nature at her best.
That is the prettiest jasmine I’ve smelled and I am hoarding my little decant! Wish I had a big bottle. You’re so right about it being true to nature.
Wow! Look at that beautiful picture at the top of the post! I’d take it as a painting to put on my wall. . .
Me too! It’s probably too pretty for the poll subject. But hey, it is a storm.
Think this scent was inspired by the Daniele Luppi/Jack White song, but its name suits the theme: SIP’s Rose With the Broken Neck.
Good one. I like the scent, too.
Good afternoon everyone!
This Thursday I have written my last exam in this university year. The results will be announced on Tuesday but I have a good feeling about it. I really can’t believe another school year at university is over and that I have only one more year before graduation.
My summer begins now – I’m looking forward to a family holidays and an internship which I will hopefully get.
I can’t come up with an existing perfume inspired by a crueler side of nature but how about this – Mermaid Tears, inspired by a storm at the ocean. The strong wind, huge waves and a boat that moves as Neptune commands.
Today I smell of Eau d’Italie Jardin du Poete. Who would’ve thought I would like the perfume with basil!
Basil for Lucas??? Oh my. Perhaps we’ll hear that you like cumin next
Congratulations on finishing the school year and yay for the last exam. I hope you hear positive news on the internship soon!
I’m surprised myself! I guess it’s just the accident, or an exception of the rule. I’m so mesmerized by Eau d’Italie Acqua Decima that maybe it influences my nose while I smell this other scent from this brand. This sample was inluded in the package with Acqua Decima.
No way I will like cumin, this is not gonna happen! I will earlier like patchouli than cumin!
Thanks for the congrats and for crossing your fingers for me.
Tom Ford Velvet Gardenia- beautiful flowers will eventually die and rot as will all creatures on this earth. An overripe gardenia with a strong presence of decay at it’s core.
Ooh, nice one.
This is a very timely poll…it rained BUCKETS yesterday in the Northeast. I had never seen the outside of Macy’s Herald Square so empty — everyone was either inside or huddled underneath the awnings. I had a train to catch and braved the elements and despite a humongo umbrella, I was soaking wet by the time I reached Penn Station (but of course, so was just about everyone else).
While a garden is a man-made oasis, it’s close enough to the natural world for this poll. The one perfume that came to mind immediately was Hermes Un Jardin Sur le Toit, inspired by the rooftop garden at 24 rue Faubourg Saint-Honoré in Paris.
SOTD = Mona di Orio Vanille from the Les Nombres d’Or collection – boozy vanilla at its best!
Sorry for the bad weather my dear. We’ve been experiencing it a lot lately and now our neighbours, Czech is having floods. I hope this won’t happen to people in Poland.
I like your idea of Un Jardin sur le Toit, even though I dislike the perfume.
Yep, here too….tired of bad weather.
Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab perfume oils has a poisonous plant inspired line called Rappaccini’s Garden-
BANEBERRY-A poisonous fruit-bearing member of the buttercup family. The scent, like the plant, is dark green, herbal, and plump with bulging black fruit.
BELLADONNA- The devil’s herb, which he cultivates with skill and pleasure. According to lore, the spirit of this plant may take the form of a breathtaking, achingly beautiful woman, deadly to behold. This scent is a tribute to such a dark and magnificent plant: a rich green and floral blend, earthy and haunting.
BOHUN UPAS- The Tree of Poisons. Every aspect of this tree is toxic, from the narcotic, lethal fumes that it emits, to its oozing, poisonous sap. A deceptively tranquil scent: heady fruits, dry bark, and deep green leaves, enveloped by a dark and sinister murk.
DEATH CAP- A lethal poison bundled up in a dainty, innocent little package that was oft times found in ancient witches’ flying ointments and astral projection balms. A warm, soft, ruddy scent, earthy and mild
DESTROYING ANGEL-One of the deadliest mushrooms to ever pop through Gaia’s soil. Papery white notes evoke the grace of this fungi, grounded by thin, crisp soil.
HEMLOCK- This infamous herb has a long, complex history: it has been used in spells of death and destruction, was a principal component in traditional witches’ flying ointments, and was the poison used to put the philosopher Socrates to death. We have created a dark, profound herbal blend to personify and honor this wicked little plant.
STRANGLER FIG-A glorious parasite! Once the seeds of the Strangler Fig find root in the bark of a tree, snakelike roots erupt and reach graspingly at the sky. The Strangler Fig then sprouts numerous epiphytic vines that strangles and surrounds its unwilling host, and finally snuffs the life from it. Rooty, woody, with deep green tones.
I think I might have to check out some of these.
More BPALs- these speak of death and the grave
DEEP IN EARTH-Rose geranium, Spanish moss, Irish yew, and graveyard dirt.
EPITAPH- Roses and funeral lilies perceived, faintly, through an indistinct, ghostly mist.
Jazz Funeral-Bittersweet bay rum, bourbon, and a host of funeral flowers with a touch of graveyard dirt, magnolia and Spanish Moss
.ZOMBI- Dried roses, rose leaf, Spanish moss, oakmoss and deep brown earth.
Jazz Funeral sounds intriguing
That one caught my eye too. And the Deep in Earth.
Une Rose par Frederic Malle. A dark rose pulled up with roots and clumps of earth still attached at the base.
One of my favorites.
Me too ! Me too ! I adore it.
Good morning everyone! The first thing I thought of was Demeter’s Thunderstorm, with that sharp ozonic note. But also, what about Onda? It has a vegetal note that’s both dark and dangerous. And there’s Messe de Minuit, with its scent of the crypt, but perhaps that’s reading ‘nature’ too broadly? Rossy de Palma is supposed to have the smell of blood on a thorn, but I don’t really get that. Maybe that’s supposed to be the mildly metallic note I find in it?
Onda is definitely a bit scary!
Along a similar line to Demeter Thunderstorm, there’s also Lush/Gorilla Perfumes great The Smell of Weather Turning. I don’t know if the Weather is about to turn violent, but it certainly smells like it.
I think JAR Ferme Tes Yeux would qualify. It definitely calls to mind death and decay. SL De Profundis was inspired by funerals.
I do get the blood note in Rossy de Palma sometimes, at the beginning, but it varies. Sometimes it’s just a slight metallic tinge, but other times it’s full on blood for a minute or so.
Definitely JAR!
Hi everybody!
The only thing I can think of is Le Labo Oud 27 which to my nose smells like a dead mouse.
Speaking of the crueler side of nature. I get to go and see the MilL and some of the other in-laws in a little while. My patience is nonexistent today so it should be a fun visit.
Sorry to laugh at your pain, Poodle, but your comment about the in-laws is too funny! Hope you can keep your sense of humor and your temper this afternoon…
Gotta have a sense of humor. I also find going into these things expecting the worst is good. That way, when the worst doesn’t happen it’s always a pleasant surprise.
Hi! Hmm, the only thing I can think of is Donna Karan Women, in the tall skinny frosted bottle. If I recall correctly, it’s supposed to evoke hot city pavement after a rain shower- I guess it could be a thunderstorm. It has tomato, jonquil & mineral notes, unique and refreshing in summer but I really neglect it, don’t know why.
Wearing Neela Vermiere Trayee and enjoying an exquisite, perfect spring day.
Jealous of your perfect spring day! And of course you smell great.
Not on topic as usual but I broke the bank for Amouage’s Opus IV. I heard from a fellow owner it smells like L’Artisans Al Oudh but with LABDANUM. My favorite single note. Yes I love Le Labo’s 18. I can’t wait for it to come. I still want Dia, Memoir, and Veros ONDA and Mitto. That will come later. The yellow diamond I purchased from a BFF turned out not to be a fancy diamond it was a poorly colored regular “POS,” of a diamond. I have sent that back and an oval 1 ct in a double halo mounting is being sized right now with those funds. Amouage and diamonds in one week what’s better than that? Not gloating just wanted to share.
Diamonds and perfume. That’s a really good week.
Turning to the natural world at its kindest, I am enjoying my sample of After My Own Heart (from the really nice Ineke sample pack that is out there). I see lilacs blooming everywhere outside now, and I am just about ready to get the full bottle, so I can smell lilacs indoors, too.
So tender. Great pick.
Love reading everybody’s suggestions. My pick for the kinder side of the natural world would have to be SSS Jour Ensoleille — the name says it all, and it’s a perfect fit for the fragrance.
Coincidentally, I was just revisiting my love-hate relationship with Le Labo Patchouli 24, and thinking today it smelled a bit like some kind of dried out animalout in the hot Texas sun. I just now looked up some reviews on Basenotes and found this one which I am quoting because it’s very colorful and funny (credit goes on there to “Surge”):
First; the opening…like most Le Labo frag’s I’ve tried, it’s extremely strong; I would def. call it pungent. Knocks you out and not in a good way. TBH it smells like a bon fire with bags of dog feces in the middle of the flames, burning one by one and eminating stinkyness along with the backdrop from the burning wood. Also it smells like someone is BBQ’in a dead horse carcass marinaded with some kind of sweet and sour sauce in the middle of the fire as well.
Oh, no, Calpso – sweet and sour sauce will ruin a dead horse dog doo BBQ every time!
Hmm, the cruller part of nature? When nature is sweet, crunchy, and slightly glazed–like with freezing fog?
Hah – the REALLY cruel part of nature is how those crullers go straight to the hips!
LOL! I’ll take one of those too.
Hi all! I feel kind of bad, coming in so late, but my sister’s newly ex-husband finally brought she and her kids’ furniture down from Michigan, or maybe it was Ohio? Wherever it was they lived last. So I’ve been moving furniture, cooking, and then trying to soak the aches out. *wince* And then when that didn’t work, downing a couple of Goody’s Powders for the leftover achy. Will probably top the evening off with some scotch and adult swim’s anime block.
Right now I smell er…interesting. I bubbled my bath with Pacifica’s French Lilac, not thinking to check to make sure I had enough of the body butter for after. I didn’t so I finished up with the Pacifica Persian Rose and er…well. They don’t quite agree with each other. It’s not terrible, just a bit…cacaphonus? It’ll fade soon, I guess, it’s just body butter, after all.
Anyhow, when I think of the creulty of the natural world, almost always the first thing to come to mind is the harsh and sappy, sticky-sour greenness of crushed leaves and stems. I’ve never been able to find the smell exactly, but I can get close by mixing one of the Smell Bent Frankensmellies (the number escapes me, at the moment,) with the CDG Calamus, I think it is. I only have a bit, decanted into one of those little Sephora atomisers, so I’m not certain at all. I wish I could find that smell in a single frag, one I didn’t have to layer.
“the harsh and sappy, sticky-sour greenness of crushed leaves and stems”
I immediately thought of Arden’s Sunflowers. Apologies to its fans, but I loathe that scent. Miss Kitty (used to be a regular here) and I named that note, the Dreaded Sunflower Note, DSN for short. It crops up from time to time in other scents, but I’ve never smelled it so nose singeing as in Sunflowers.
AG Un Matin d’Orage (wet)
DSH Dirty Rose (crushed and earthy)
SL Serge Noir (shock frozen and scratchy) and De Profundis
Frapin Terre de Sarment (mineralic)
TDC De Bachmakov (icy)
Several from Das Parfum Le Coffret by Mugler (Eremite, Humanity)
Neil Morris Storm (wet flowers again), Cathedral (very cold incense)
Demeter (Thunderstorm, Burning Leaves etc)
CdG – all those that smell like burning spacecraft
And who did that diabolic series? I saw them at Suendhaft in Munich , b/w packaging, numbered. Some had a metallic, some a bloody streak. Positively extreme.
Great list! Matin d’Orage also has that lightening note, which is a bit cruel.
Nice!
I’m not sure if it’s cruel – what with the circle of life and all – but this theme made me immediately think of one of my favorite perfumes, Manoumalia with its scent of rot and decay (along with some lovely white flowers!).
I thought of it, too. Not exactly cruel, but so beautiful and lush with that undertone that says everything that blooms will also die.
Exactly. Like a still life: all that bounty of the earth that will go the way of all things.
I’ve been a bit…apprehensive about trying that one, but I’d like to find a nice tropical scent, so I may have to give it a try.
Etat Libre d’Orange’s Rossy de Palma is a cruel, injurious rose.
Caron’s Yatagan has that beautiful eucalyptus opening reminding us that unless you’re a koala bear or arthropod, you’ll likely starve to death in a eucalyptus forest. Nature does not owe you a meal.
And Demeter’s Dirt reminds us that we are sustained by photosynthetic plants, sessile beings rooted in the soil to which we’ll one day return and not be missed after a few years.
Even Terre d’Hermes, as seamlessly, thoroughly beautiful as it is, has a cold mineral aspect that puts me in mind of Stone Mountain, Georgia, a landscape feature that has seen millions of individual humans come and go, and a couple of civilizations rise and decline. I’m less inclined to anthropomorphize nature than most people I know; it is not cruel perhaps, but rather, simply indifferent.
J, wonderful selections and descriptions!
I can’t think of any “cruel side of nature” scents (that would be tornados around here and I’m in a fraidy hole, not out sniffing the air), but on the kind side – SSS Forest Walk. It’s got the damp, earthy path, evergreens, and just a touch of small flowers blooming along the way.
Out here on the left coast, we have earthquakes, and that’s more a motion than a scent. Although I close my eyes and remember some smells from the 1989 Loma Prieta, and think of a dusty concrete, mortar, and clay brick odor from where our front garden brick wall cracked and broke. Lots of other earthy odors, too, seemed to have been raised when the ground kind of ‘rippled’ with six or eight inch high waves ….
Hi! How about Lush’s Breath of God – a reminder (sort of) that he who blows life into things can also determine their last breath. The smokey note in there may also contribute to this somewhat funereal thought. Interesting: I find the scent first unusual (in a good way), and then after a while a bit depressing.
On a more cheery note – tested Ormonde Jayne’s Champaca today: such a lovely reminder of nature’s blessings in the form of blooms.
I love the descriptions of the darker ones, but probably wouldn’t like them on my skin. My favorite summery one is Rosine’s Rose d’Ete that smells like yellow roses blooming on an orchard fence near a meadow of wild flowers. So happy without be coy or cloying.
De Profundis, one of those really expensive “bell jar” perfumes smells beautiful, but it evokes death and grieving.
As far as I am concerned, any tobacco note relates to “cruel nature” as well. Its hard to imagine anything crueler than a slow acting poison.
On the other hand orange peel is also toxic. Well may be not so much too us, but it is to those tiny insects which want to burrow their way inside the orange and take the juice and sugar away from the tree’s seeds inside the fruit. So maybe a lot of citrus scents should be deemed part of “cruel” nature as well.
Wow. This was a really tough challenge. There were several perfumes mentioned that are now on my “to smell” list. So my only addition to the list is L’Eau du Navigateur–which sometimes smells cozy and comforting, but other times is way too close to the smell of my kitchen after serving brunch to a large crowd. Everyone has left and I am facing a dozen-plus used coffee mugs and juice glasses, bunched up dirty napkins everywhere, and a mountain of soiled breakfast dishes covered in sticky eggs and jam. Or is it L’Eau du Navigateur?
I thought of another one–Datura Noir, maybe also Datura Blanche (Keiko Mecheri)–since the datura flower is hallucinogenic and can be very toxic. I happen to love both of these but I believe they’re “killers” fir many people. My personal floral bête noire would be Stargazer (Yosh). Like most lilies, stargazers are lethal to cats. This might be partly why I don’t like them but it’s an even stronger sort of gag response. To me they’re just absolutely nauseating.
Late to the party…
JAR Bolt of Lightening… a scent evocative of a field of wild flowers after the rain – a Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Alot of folks are listing thunderstorm perfumes, so I thought I would ad this not exactly related note.
My home town library is heavily into the culture and public policy lecture business. The other night they featured a Canadian who loves to play all Beethoven sonatas in a single day. (He claims that this stems from an “epiphany” from playing sonata records on his Mickey Mouse record player when he was four. I doubt I could have pronounced “sonata” at age 4). Anyway, according to this guy, he feels that the “Moonlight Sonata” was named as an advertizing come on by Ludwig’s music publisher and was not Bethoven’s name for the piece. According to this musician, he thinks the piece is actually about a thunderstorm, based on paintings similar to the one Robin used.
I am seriously thinking of attending at least part of this guy’s upcomming sonata marathon