Longtime readers here at Now Smell This will be familiar with the idea of the purgatory basket. It doesn't have to be a basket, strictly speaking: it could also be a bowl or box or drawer, any container that holds an assortment of samples we try, think about, and decide to reassess later. The delay might just be a matter of mood or season or, in my case, a busy calendar that distracts me from my usual sampling efforts.

I recently revisited four releases from 2021 (and one older fragrance) and realized that they all had some kind of "green" theme in common — gardens, vines, mosses. In addition to my usual rotation of L'Ombre dans l'eau and tart rhubarb-y scents, I might be branching out (hah) a bit this summer.

To start: I recently read Muriel Barbery's A Single Rose, and its descriptions of Kyoto's Zen gardens sent me hunting for the vial of Le Jardin Retrouvé Mousse Arashiyama (image below) that I'd stashed away for later reappraisal. Mousse Arashiyama's composition of bergamot, incense, lentiscus, fig, oakmoss, cedar and vetiver, along with an aquatic accord, was developed by perfumer Maxence Moutte to evoke the famous bamboo grove and Zen gardens of Arashiyama in Kyoto. This is a shady green perfume that works well as an olfactory postcard. I've never been to Kyoto, but I'd like to imagine that some of its legendary gardens smell like this: mossy and leafy, accented with something peppery and refreshed with running water and a fresh breeze. Available as 15 (€41) and 50 (€98) ml Eau de Parfum at the Le Jardin Retrouvé website.   

Maya Njie's Voyeur Verde (not shown) is also refreshing, in a pleasingly atypical way. It was inspired by the lush foliage and cypress forests of Pedramala, Spain, with notes of bergamot, mandarin, cypress, rosewood, fennel, iris, ylang ylang, patchouli, leather, cedar and frankincense, and it starts off with an aromatic effect and some boozy fennel, like a sip of Pernod liqueur. The fennel stays and Voyeur remains "verde" while turning more woody (some really nice smooth cedar!), so you get both the sun and the shadow of a high-summer afternoon walk here. Voyeur Verde also pairs beautifully with other Maya Njie perfumes, adding woody depth to Les Fleurs and a vegetal layer to Nordic Cedar. Available as 50 ml Eau de Parfum ($145) at MUSE Experiences.  

Alexx and Anton, a Berlin-based creative direction team, recently entered the fragrant fray with a duo of scents, Coquet and Vaudou (not shown). Both were developed by perfumer Will Inrig. I've been coming back to Coquet, a composition on the themes of "conquest and conceit...vanity and vengeance" with notes of black pepper, clove, ylang ylang, rose, carnation, lilac, peony, oakmoss, cashmeran, opoponax and vetiver. Coquet is an iconoclastic and cerebral fragrance, one that requires some thought, hence its time in my "purgatory" box. It's peppery and herbal, dry and somewhat raspy, suggesting galbanum and vetiver but in a way that's industrial rather than natural. The particularly sharp green aspect that I keep noticing may be (according to the perfumer) Corps Racine, a synthesized material that evokes the smell of plant roots. Coquet is unsettling — it's intended to be — and very long-lasting. Available as a luxury presentation (€295) of 30 ml Extrait de Parfum with handcrafted ceramic bottle at Coquet Vaudou. An "Experiment" set of two samples (Coquet and Vaudou) is also available (€25).  

For something more classical and familiar, Dusita Cavatina (image just below), created by Dusita founder Pissara Umavijani, is described as "a fragrant hymn to human compassion conducted with the spirit of  'joie de vivre.'" (And couldn't we all use more of that right now?) It's a green floral, a tribute to lily of the valley with additional notes of bergamot, litsea cubeba, petitgrain, tea rose, tuberose, jasmine, ylang-ylang, ambrette, Siamese wood and vanilla. Cavatina's name is a reference to a type of operatic aria, and this fragrance does feel melodious and cultivated, "singing" on the skin with its initial lemon-y brightness and its heart of slightly bitter, nose-tickling muguet and other, more subtle white florals. A worthy addition to any list of must-try muguet perfumes. Available as 50 ml Eau de Parfum ($180) at Luckyscent and Indigo Perfumery. 

Kiki Smith Plant Sex (image just below) is not new, but somehow I never tried it when it launched in 2010 — or until this year. Now that I've finally encountered it and purchased a bottle, I've been wearing it frequently. Plant Sex was created for the artist Kiki Smith (a favorite of mine) by perfumer Christophe Laudamiel and features notes of boxwood (by Smith's request), blue chamomile, black currant, fig, musk and patchouli. The result is hard to pin down: it's eccentric and earthy, a bit indolic (is there some jasmine in there?), yet easy to love. It's like a childhood memory of crawling under some shrubbery on a humid summer day and ending up with a glorious mess of leaves in your hair, damp soil on your knees and berry stains on your face and arms. Available as 50 ml Eau de Parfum ($145) at The Zoo NYC.

How about you? Do you have any scent-plans for the summer?

Note: top image is Bosque de bambú de Arashiyama [cropped] by Daniel Borrego Gallardo at flickr; some rights reserved.

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