Last Friday I wrote about 5 pretty floral fragrances for spring. But spring, of course, isn't just about pretty flowers. Today, five somewhat quirkier / more offbeat takes on the season.1 Many of these suggestions came from reader comments, but do add any more that you can think of!
CB I Hate Perfume M#2 Black March: A fantastic fragrance that I've already included in 100 Fragrances Every Perfumista Should Try. The notes — rain drops, leaf buds, wet twigs, tree sap, bark, mossy earth and the faintest hint of spring — pretty much cover all the bases for early spring, and as such, expect a faint edge of melancholy along with all the rebirth and renewal.
Guerlain Après L’Ondée: Beautiful enough that it could have been included in the pretty spring florals, but wistful enough to fit better here. Après L’Ondée isn't really quirky, but it's not your standard sort of pretty, either (and like Black March, it's also in 100 Fragrances Every Perfumista Should Try). If it's too old-fashioned, try Frédéric Malle L'Eau d'Hiver instead.
The Different Company De Bachmakov: When I reviewed De Bachmakov, I noted that it was "supposed to evoke the winds of Asia and the sun hitting the forests of Siberia and buds pushing through the snow in the spring." That's just what it does, and those cold winds blowing over the last drifts of snow make this scent perfect for the sort of spring we're having this year, when the buds begin to bloom but the weather just refuses to warm up. De Bachmakov was done by perfumer Céline Ellena, and is easily my favorite of the 25 fragrances The Different Company has released so far.
Annick Goutal Folavril: Yes, it's discontinued, but it's still relatively easy to find, and it would seem a shame not to include it when we're posting this list right on April 1st. Jammy fruits and flowers transformed into something more playful than you'd expect by a bright fizzy opening and a bitter dose of greenery (tomato leaf). If you want something more straightforwardly pretty, Petite Cherie (or the likewise-discontinued Eau de Camille) might be perfect.
LesNez The Unicorn Spell: Violets, greenery and dirt under the last freak snowfall of the year, in a brilliant composition from perfumer Isabelle Doyen. If you want a more basic (but still lovely) violet, try her La Violette for Annick Goutal.
1. And I apologize for using Eliot's famous line from The Wasteland; none of these perfumes are about anything like despair and the line is overworked enough as it is. But I could not resist.
Note: top image is umbrellas [cropped] by rené something something at flickr; some rights reserved.
Interesting choices, unfortunately I am only familiar with Après L’Ondée, which I enjoy very much and agree is pretty but unusual. I have also been wearing a lot of TF Violet Blond. To me VB is quirky due to the spicy cumin and almost sharp green violet leaf mixed in with the pretty violet. Perfect for the bright but cool spring weather we are having here in VA.
I meant “pretty violet flower”.
They did a nice job on that one, I agree!
TF Violet Blonde has been my spring transition fragrance this year with its soft and flowery greenery. Normally I seldom wear a fragrance two days in a row, but March has for some reason been an exception.
Yes to Black March as well as her sisters Wild Hunt and Under the Arbor, both of which I find a little easier to wear. I know Under the Arbor can turn some people off with the grapey opening but to me it’s the perfect representation of the gorgeous Mountain Laurels that are often the first sign of spring in Texas.
Raising my hand — Under the Arbor did not work for me! Interesting fragrance, though, and I see what he was doing there
Still haven’t tried de Bachmakov or Folavril, but the other three are good picks for “quirky spring.” Apres l’Ondee is watercolors and Debussy, and I really like The Unicorn Spell for “quirky” – I dig that raw-green-bean thing with the silvery-green violet. Haven’t actually bought any (probably won’t) but it’s fun. And Black March is a force of nature… everybody should smell it at least once.
Hard to tell if LesNez is defunct or just resting, but hope they’ll release more fragrances.
I am often wrong but for some reason I think you would like Bachmakov.
suspect de Bachmakov wouldn’t work for either of us, Mals, due to the dreaded fig note mentioned on Fragrantica.
I’d really like to try a lot of the others, mentioned, though.
Fig leaf? gah. Fig fruit doesn’t bother me. Shrug.
you’re in luck then–looks like fig fruit. Personally can handle neither leaf nor fruit.
Was going to add that it is not like there is a single molecule that is “fig leaf” and another that is “fig fruit” — there are molecules that are frequently used to build fig accords, but you never know what they’ve used and I personally do not see a consistent difference between what gets listed as leaf and fruit. That is, sometimes fig smells fruitier, but not always when it is listed that way in the notes
I love this list and it’s a painful reminder that I really, really need to get my hands on some Black March. I haven’t tried The Unicorn Spell either, it sounds great.
Talking about moody and wistful: maybe SL De Profundis? And I must mention Iris Silver Mist again, it’s the perfect fragrance for a cruel April.
If it helps, in my review of Unicorn I say it’s “Annick Goutal La Violette through a faint haze of Serge Lutens Iris Silver Mist” — but maybe that is not enough ISM
Iris Silver Mist and De Profundis are my two favourite SL perfumes! So unusual and so beautiful – a breath of fresh air in the vapid but over sweet world of perfumery today.
It’s National Poetry Month in the US, so I’m really glad you used Eliot’s line.
The Waste Land is such a wonderful reminder that unfulfilled hope is part of the human condition, so I shouldn’t feel bad about fragrances that I think I’ll love but don’t even like (insert sad trombone sound here).
In winter I read W. H. Auden’s Christmas Oratorio and get a similar feeling.
I am glad you approve but I still feel sheepish — it is most often used, as it is here, in an entirely inappropriate context. Trying to think of what the first stanza (much less the rest of it) would really smell like, set in perfume notes, and pretty sure it would not be a smell any of us would want to wear.
Yah, it might be a scrubber. It would have to be something bitter and cold and barely green.
Decaying oakmoss wedged underground after branch has fallen? Violet leaves crushed in a stagnant puddle of rainwater?
Maybe Mr. Brosius would know. It would be wonderful to have a Cruel April scent to follow Black March.
It would have to be pretty miserable.
Wait, I don’t think it’s such inappropriate! I think Apres L’Ondee is a very “mixing memory and desire” scent! But I would add After My Own Heart and En Passant, because I’m totally with Eliot that lilacs particularly have that heartbreaking, sometimes-it’s-easier-to-wear-nothing-than-confront-their-beauty effect.
Mmmmm, lilacs.
You’re absolutely right about them.
Hmmm. Still think that is a “gentle” reading of The Waste Land, & suspect Eliot would be turning over in his grave to know the words were now a title of a perfume listicle! But thank you for the support
Oh, I won’t make any claims on The Waste Land overall, just the first portion of that first stanza always struck me as something akin to dreading the first robin/being pierced by the daffodil’s fashion so foreign to my own. I.e. the pain occasioned not by death and decay but in fact by beauty. But definitely pain! So, not gentle per se. (Even if there were true though, I concede that the three fragrances I mention are about as gentle as they come!)
In any case, I’m no help for the listicle. Sorry T.S.!
Wonderful tips for me to look for! I have smelled and love the three violet-tinged fragrances mentioned: Aprés L’Ondeé, L’Eau d’Hiver and The
Unicorn Spell (which, thankely, doesn’t smell as impossibly pretty as it’s name.)
Must find Black March. It sounds wonderful. Thank you!
The cheap version, as has already been pointed out elsewhere, would be to layer Demeter Dirt with Demeter Thunderstorm, but Black March is a million times better.
They all sound adorable – I only know the Guerlain and TDC’s De Bachmakov, which takes my breath away for loveliness and is just as you describe, Robin
It’s really the only thing Celine Ellena has made that moved me…and the only TDC I’d consider paying full price for.
But you said you needed Bois d’Iris, when you reviewed it!
That is quite so! And at one time I bought half a bottle of Divine Bergamote.
I still like Bois d’Iris, but boy, it has an awful lot of competition for decent iris since 2004. And it now costs $165 for 50 ml. I will have to think about exactly where I’d rate it now, but pretty sure it would not make my top 5 iris, and it might or might not make my top 10.
To my mind, TDC was an interesting niche house when they started, but they have not kept up in general with the “interesting niche house” competition, and Jean-Claude Ellena has done more interesting work at Hermes (most of it, for less $ per ml than TDC charges) since he left. Looking at TDC now in 2015, no, wouldn’t pay that much for Bois d’Iris and would not pay for Divine Bergamote either.
Gah, I do go on, sorry!
Oh, please don’t apologise! And I agree with you – all my favourites from them are among the older releases and a lot has happened since then. Still, I enjoy my Sel de Vetiver, Bergamote and Tokyo Bloom a lot and the first I’ll keep buying even if they increase the price, again. I really hope the new violet one will be good, although it’s certainly not cheap.
Folavril…one of my all time fave Spring florals..my bottle is almost empty, so I need to find one soon
Petite Cherie is also a darling one..but I prefer the edp version 
Do find it sooner rather than later…right now it does not look like the prices have gone up, but they will. On the other hand, don’t know its shelf life.
Thank you for the heads up..I will for sure stock up soon
To me, the early AG feminines broke down into two groups: first, the warm, sensuous ones like Heure Exquise and Passion; second, the ligher, fresher, “garden” inspired fragrances like Folavril, Eau de Camille and Eau de Charlotte. I loved those in the first category without reservation. Those in the second category intrigued me greatly at first sniff, but the interesting accords were too fleeting.
I’ve recently been wearing AG’s quirkiest feminine, Mon Parfum Cheri par Camille, which strikes me as a Goth version of Iris Gris – that silk velvet iris-peach accord with an inky edge of patchouli. Early spring is the perfect time for it.
Hermes Hiris and SL Iris Silver Mist are also great at this time of year.
We’re opposites of course — I loved the lighter garden ones. Still, I don’t know why I did not love Mon Parfum, but everyone else did and I should try it again.
I’ll have to add these to my must try list. De Bachmakov I bought unsniffed after reading a review here and I have never regretted it! It’s one of my favourites and a great go to in any season!
Oh, that was brave, so glad it worked out!
When I smelled through the entire TDC range at Barneys Men’s fragrance department, the one I would have considered buying was De Bachmakov; however, if I recall, it was more expensive than the other bottles that my wallet became sluggish wondering why it was so. Anyway, it continues to stay as a FIGment of my I-own-this-perfume imagination
Wait — do I misunderstand, or do you mean you actually convince yourself you already own it? Because that would be perfect!
I have a decant, and I will have to make do. It is likewise $165 for 50 ml, and not likely I’m even going to spend that much on anything again.
I have convinced myself I already own it – I just don’t wear it. The 90 mL bottle of De Bachmakov is $235 vs $125 for most of the other ones. Are the ingredients that much more expensive? My nose probably smelled the difference but my brain kept thinking why is it almost double in price and the SA was not able to explain why.
LOL, that’s the converse (I think) buying something and then not wearing it because you realize you don’t like it as much as you thought, which is so much more common and painful. Well done, hajusuuri!
Your strategy is a thing of beauty — I applaud you. And am already working on stealing your idea.
I am with you on Eau de Camille! And I’d like to add Osmanthus from the Different Company… it’s easily my favorite of all of their releases!
I did not love Osmanthus, but should smell it again, it’s been years. You would think I would love it — an osmanthus from Jean-Claude Ellena, right?
I have BIG LOVE for Black March, and I have very little chance of purchasing it. I find it beautiful and fascinating and cannot imagine wearing it. I would want a sniff for fun and contemplation now and again, but that seems like not the best use of perfume dollars!
I have a decant, and that’s probably all I’ll ever have either.
Must get some Black March. Like MR above, I would probably not wear it as often as I just inhaled and contemplated it…. He does sell small bottles, though, doesn’t he?
Robin, I had to laugh at your Eliot apology because it reminds me of my favorite English professor in college. He forbade any of us aspiring writers to entitle our to-be-famous novels using quotes from Yeats or Eliot.
But you know, he never applied that to perfume shops. In my fantasies of owning one, I think “Memory and Desire” might be a good one.
Good name! I’d go to your shop, Ann! I was thinking “must get all of these!” The only one I have is Apres l’Onde, and they all sound interesting.
Or “The Hyacinth Girl”? “A Handful of Dust” having already been used, LOL…
Seriously, I think he was right. Yeats is probably much less “overworked” in the US but still.
Shantih, shantih, shantih
Ha…since that is what they say at the end of some of my yoga classes, took me a minute to remember it’s also in the poem!
I wrote a poem once, which opened as follows:
most of all in april
death wants to live
(het liefst woont de dood in april)
actually a variation of Eliot, but at the time I wasn’t aware of it…
He beat you to it