There’s a shop in my town that sells perfume oils. The shop is styled to the minimalist, folksy, yet highly curated “Kinfolk” vibe that’s so popular now: raw wood furniture, bleached ceramic bowls, a 1960s credenza, a bearded salesperson sipping a latte from a mason jar and wearing a Ramones tee shirt he bought on eBay for $80.
Uh oh. I feel Grouchy Angela coming on.
“Are these all oils?” I asked when I visited the shop.
“Yeah,” the sales guy said, glancing at me and probably assuming I limited my perfume consumption to Jo Malone and that crazy bottle of Nicki Minaj I picked up after one too many mimosas out with the girls at brunch. (Anyone who knows me will snort at this.) “The oils stay closer to the skin and wear longer. We like them,” he said.
Sure, I thought. They’re also a lot less complex technically, and they smell like it. They’re thick but flat, silky but textureless. They don’t evolve. You can have them.
The reason I bring this up is because Aroma M made its name with perfume oils referencing Japanese culture. (The house’s founder, artist and certified aromatherapist Maria McElroy, lived seven years in Japan.) Aroma M Voluptuous Nostalgia, although not an oil, feels like an oil.
Voluptuous Nostalgia’s notes include muguet, gardenia, amber, tonka and violet. Aroma M’s description calls up mid-century Rome, with all its Roman Holiday glamour and charm. The fragrance starts with a sepia-toned citrus lead-in to a quiet, violet-heavy floral. The fragrance is mesmerizingly pleasant with its shady, faraway flowers — no strident gardenia or cavity-sweet amber here — and touch of crushed stems. It smells like it’s full of natural materials. It’s easy, seductive. And flat.
Voluptuous Nostalgia lacks texture. There’s no space in the fragrance to feel tingly or tannic or vaporous bits. Plus, there’s little evolution to interest me. The fragrance lacks that deliciously orchestrated transition through the rush of the initial spray to the heart’s woven pattern to the sympathetic foundation that an engaging perfume puts forth. As the fragrance fades, its floral layers fall away within a few hours, leaving a soft, barely woody dry amber that holds close to the skin for three or four hours longer.
In short, Voluptuous Nostalgia is viscous, smooth, lush, and highly telescoped. As an inexpensive roll-on, I’d love it, and I’d go wild for a Voluptuous Nostagia scented candle or soap. (Yes yes yes to the candle.) But at the perfume’s hefty price tag, I’ll find my retro floral goodness in Annick Goutal.
Do you think about texture in perfume? What do you think of perfume oils?
Aroma M Voluptuous Nostalgia is $225 for 50 ml of perfume wrapped in hand-dyed velvet. For buying information, see the listing for Aroma M under Perfume Houses.
Angela, that first paragraph! I was dying! I’m trying not to laugh really hard at work right now. That was so spot on! I’d love to hear more Grouchy Angela 🙂
Oh yeah, Grouchy Angela is a real treat! Not. But I’m glad it was good for a Monday laugh!
Cosigned, bring on Grouchy Angela 🙂
You’re hilarious! Grouchy Angela gets way too much airtime as it is. Don’t even think of making her a warm martini.
I think some of the most successful scented oils are not sold as perfume but rather as face oils, serums or massage oils – with Decleor (mandarin) and Clarins (santal) being near the top of my list. perfume oils tend to be ‘gluggy’ both texture and scent wise – fo rsom reason they remind me of really old sellotape (the kind that has been in the sun and becomes yellow and brittle…something that worked once, but is unattractive long term). But I love the idea of perfume oils – even though they always have that 1970-80s vibe. I think Lush vanillary is the closest thing I can get to that reminds me of an oil, without being an oil…and it makes a great room spray. A perfumer in Dunedin (NZ not Florida) makes oils “Goldminers Daughter” and they go turgid after a while.
That’s a great point about body oils, etc., as scented oils with function. I had the Aftelier Chocolate-Saffron body oil once and loved it. I definitely want to try the Clarins Santal oil, now that you’ve mentioned it.
Oh you both make such good points about perfume oils! I really had never given much thought to what the difference is, but you’re absolutely right Angela, particularly one of the two perfume oils I’ve got–the Costes body oil–really is a lot flatter, and takes the space out of the scent. (I mean, it still smells good, just not as technically impressive as the perfume, as you say Angela! Definitely collapses its layers to the point that some aspects of the perfume are undetectable in the oil.)
And on the other hand, the one oil that really works nicely for me is Kate Walsh’s Boyfriend, as a dry oil–and I think it’s relevant that this is 1, a body product, and 2, a winter scent for me, so it wearing pretty densely, like one thick layer of scent rather than a symphonic range, works fine. Harder for me to imagine wanting that quality in a warmer-weather scent…
I guess it all depends on what you’re expecting! I can see where an oil would be a nice warm layer in winter, definitely. And thanks for the tip on Boyfriend!
I meant turbid….
Even the Weleda oils are lovely
I rather liked turgid…
Seconding “turgid”!
Come to think of it, I have tried Weleda oils and liked them.
I like oils! 😛
It’s threefold, for me; I tend to like heavy perfumes as a rule, I can’t always pick out a ton of notes anyway, and if I like the way a fragrance smells, I feel somewhat cheated when it evolves into something else!
*Sheepishly hands over her perfumista card*
I think of texture in perfume to the extent that some notes feel “prickly” to me. Tuberose especially; it literally makes my throat feel scratchy. But woods can also be prickly to me, and good irises and suedes feel very, very smooth. Orange blossom and sambac jasmine can get rather brittle on me, though I think screechy might be a better way to put it!
And Grouchy Angela, not at all. Authentic Angela meets Hipster Douchebag more like!
Well said!
Don’t be ashamed of liking oils! I think it’s terrific, and you can keep your perfumista card for sure.
I like both alcohol- and oil-based perfumes. They both have pros and cons and it really depends upon the notes. Some notes definitely perform better in alcohol-based perfumes.
I like the fact that the oils stay closer to the skin and wear longer. My sinuses are easily irritated and the off-gassing from too many spritzes of an alcohol-based perfume can turn very unpleasant for me.
I take pleasure in linear and complex perfumes, so a lack of development is not a deal breaker for me. I would not change a thing about the heavenly Diptyque E.I. Mimosa (it does develop, but not much) except having it last longer. Any note that they would add to make it last longer would ruin the frag for me.
I haven’t tried the Diptyque Mimosa! How can that be? I need to get busy and sample it.
Yes, you do! I’ve been testing it and am rather obsessed with it. Needing to respray becomes almost a feature with that beautiful vintage bottle.
I’ll stop by Nordstrom tomorrow and see if they can scare me up a spritz!
Oh, and your first paragraph was hilarious! His comment about perfume oils might not have been hipster snobbery. He might have felt defensive, knowing that many perfumistas look down on perfume oils.
I think that’s a valid point, although most hipsters I know are so full of themselves that I don’t think they’d be able to gronk that anyone could possibly look down on them.
He was definitely a lot cooler than I am, that’s for sure. One quick look and he’d know I was trespassing on his tribe’s ground.
My impression was that he assumed I didn’t know anything about perfume, but I’ll take your kinder view!
Did you see that Ben Stiller Walter Mitty film …and all those bearded transition managers trying to figure out what ‘quintessence’ means while missing the poetry….well ‘cool’ comes from within (and it has a sense of humour)
I agree with you: cool does come from within. It doesn’t depend on external tribal rules that dictate the style of your beard, make of your whiskey, your Spotify station, whatever.
Yeah–some of the most extreme snobbery I’ve seen is from people who only know a smidge about perfume. A little knowledge, etc. “[X nice but lately diminished niche brand] is the best in the world, you know”; “[Y ingredient] is incredibly rare [so rare that the perfume in question certainly contains a synthetic dupe not the real thing]”; and so forth. Not to say connoisseurs can’t be snobs too but at least some of the time, more knowledge can lead people to be a little more circumspect about the complexity of these questions!
It’s not always easy to listen to your own reactions and respond from what’s inside instead of playing off expectations, ego, etc.–but it’s a worthy effort to try to approach something with an open mind. I try. I fail, too, but I try!
I like some oils. Monyette Paris and Aroma M Geisha Noir are two that I like much more than their alcohol based versions and Geisha Noir has been on my wishlist for years. The little roll on is under sixty bucks but still feels pricey and gets pushed aside for something else when it comes to purchases – I keep thinking I’ll pick it up as a winter treat some snowy day in February. I like layering some oils together, never really thought about them as flat but I guess that’s what makes them layer well, their development doesn’t get in the way.
$60 is practically free these days! I hope that snowy day comes soon for you.
I’m not a fan of oils usually although I do try them because you never know when you might stumble upon a good one. I tend to like more throw than oils give. If I like the scent and they are cheap enough I’ll buy an oil but most of the ones I have bought I’ve ended up mixing with another carrier oil and using them in my hair.
I’m glad to meet someone else who puts oil in her hair! Mine definitely benefits from a palm or two of jojoba oil from time to time.
My old hippie dad always used to take a finger or two of patchouli oil and rub it generously through his mass of curly hair. I know we get too much bad hippie patch in these parts, but a nice whiff now and again feels like home. 🙂
Patchouli beard oil is all the rage these days!
Santa Maria Novella makes a patchouli soap, which strikes me as a contradiction in terms, but I’m dying to try it. 🙂
I still need to pick up a bar of their melagrano soap.
Great review. Your description of the über cool sales guy cracked me up. It’s funny how people jump to conclusions. I totally agree with your take on perfume oil with the exception of Sballo by Bruno Acampora. It comes in EDP format but I actually prefer the oil. The EDP is unisex but the oil has just a tiny bit of sweetness the skews this scent much more feminine. If you haven’t tried it, it’s a rose, geranium chypre. The oakmoss smells authentic and sort of rough and natural. It may not be for everyone but I love it.
BTW, Sballo oil has great projection.
Good to know.
You make this sound fabulous! I must try it!
I have Acampora’s Jasmin T, an oil… It is a Mack truck of scent with a lot going on… but it is the only oil perfume I have ever met with that kind of horsepower!
I agree with Kanuka that the scented oils that I have really loved have been body or face oils for which I have low to no expectations for how long the scent will last. Yesterday I was at one of my favorite ‘kinfolk’ (man you nailed that one Angela!!) shops in Oakland, Atomic Garden (and “favorite” is a very loose term as the prices are so stratospheric that I go to admire but very rarely have ever ventured to purchase), and found a really lovely face oil. It was a small roll-on bottle, about 5-7 mls and had an amazing verbena vibe… for $59… I passed, despite the SA’s strong assurance that “it really works.”
Wow–that’s higher than the price per ml of a Guerlain extrait! Or a fancy age cream from a department store.
Yes, I totally agree that texture is very important. That’s one of the things that is missing to me in so many post-IFRA perfumes. Unless you like spiky woods – plenty of those around.
I can’t think of any oil perfumes that I love, but I haven’t tried very many. To me this is one of the drawbacks of CBIHP – they only come as oils or “water perfumes,” whatever that is.
If you get fed up with Grouchy Angela, just send her over to grouchy nozknoz’s house. I’m sure she’d feel right at home here. 😉
I love it when you can feel “space” in a perfume–you know, room to move around and smell the composition.
Maybe we should form our own grouchy club!
Yes, space is key. I always think of this review of BK Liaisons Dangereuses on Grain de Musc, in which Denyse discusses the perfume with Rebecca Veuillet-Gallot, who sounds like the best SA ever:
“Rebecca said she envisioned it as the most delicate of rose confitures, complete with the green sepals of the blossoms (the gritty green touch of cassis bud) and bubbles of air trapped inside – though Calice Becker works with rich materials, she does manage to inject a very contemporary ease, a breathing space between the notes.”
http://graindemusc.blogspot.com/2010/06/liaisons-dangereuses-and-wise-advice.html
The Grouchy Club tee shirts would say, “Get off my lawn and don’t touch my oak moss!” 😉
That’s hilarious! I definitely want one of those tee shirts!
Thanks for the quote from Denyse’s blog, too. It’s fitting.
An oil I’ve taken to using when I couldn’t decide which perfume-phobe safe perfume to use is Al-Rehab Choco Musk – so cheap yet so good! You can buy a box of six .2 oz roll-on for < $25 including shipping.
I also find Aftelier Cuir de Gardenia parfum to be quite oily so I use a little bit on hair!
I love the luxurious thought of dabbing Cuir de Gardenia in my hair!
And here I am, homing in on a completely different issue. Is there a perfume that — in your opinion, Angela, or that of any of the NST crew — embodies “mid-century Rome, with all its Roman Holiday glamour and charm” in its essence, rather than just in its advertising?
Now, that’s the question I should have asked. Hmm. Audrey Hepburn supposedly wore the old L’Interdit, so that’s one possibility, I suppose. I like the idea of violets, like Voluptuous Nostalgia has. Balenciaga Le Dix might fit (although it’s discontinued). Good question! I’ll have to think on this.
What a fun post!
I like to scent myself before going to bed, but sometimes I am not in the mood for wearing anything complex, multidimensional, evolving etc. when I sleep. And that’s when perfume oils come in handy.
I can completely imagine this. In fact, Voluptuous Nostalgia would be great before bed, come to think of it.
So DID you sniff any of the oils at your trendy neighborhood hotspot?
After all: “‘oils stay closer to the skin and wear longer. We like them,” he said.”
lol!
They had glass cones over them, and I sniffed inside a few of the cones, but ended up wandering to the jewelry display while my friend took more time with them. In other words, I wasn’t blown away.
oh well! Sounds sophisticated and primitive all at the same time, and with the worst qualities of both…
Referring to the ‘glass cones’ versus hippie style oils 🙂
“Sophisticated and primitive” is a great description. It was all so beautiful, but so predictable in its style. I bet lots of people are buying and loving the oils, so more power to them, but for the most part they’re not for me.
And one might have thought that was an acceptable stance to take 😉 Thanks for an intriguing review!
Thank you for the first bad review of my perfumes in 20 years! xoxo <3
I rarely pop on here to leave a message.. though I love following the reviews. I felt compelled to do so today after reading this particular review. I often praise oils- there is something so intimate in both the application, and the way they sit on the skin, and they harken back to the day of ritualistic scent, the history of which we so often forget in this modern world. My love for Voluptuous Nostalgia is in part, because Maria has been able to retain this olfactory intimacy in a true “‘parfum”. ( Disclaimer : I work with Maria in House of Cherry Bomb, and so am privy to formulas and creative practices. ) I am certainly not alone in this, as I have been helping her scramble to fill orders for this incredibly limited fragrance. I’ve found myself and others pretty damn spellbound by this scent, and for the opposite reasons of the review. It’s depth, for one. In the nature of parfum ( and Voluptuous Nostalgia’s very high natural oil content) the fragrance moves and shift on the skin until it’s dry down- one that holds a mysterious deepness over the florals. Yes, the amber resonates, but with a shimmering of other gorgeous notes. It’s very musical, really. I’m surprised at the word “flat”, as I find it quite the opposite. As a fellow perfumer, I was stunned by the textural aspect- there is a delicate glazing of notes, that simply must be worn and given time to bloom- plays between a certain opacity of amber and chypre, but a sheerness of florals like violet… and so many more. I think this is the finest fragrance she had created to date! 🙂
Well gosh. I am so glad many people love it, and I’m so sorry if it surprises you that at least one person did not.
😉