Since the time of the ancient Greeks, people have wanted to smell like the ocean. Archaeologists have found archaic perfume vessels from around 550 B.C. that are shaped like the mythological sirens of the sea, the idea being that fragrance could be so alluring it might cause a shipwreck.
— The New York Times looks at aquatics; read more at 5 Ways to Smell Like the Beach. Hat tip to Holly!
It would appear that Hermès is doing a flanker to 2004’s Eau des Merveilles every so often, but waiting at least two years, sometimes more, between iterations. In addition to the original, we’ve now got Elixir des Merveilles (candied orange peel + vanilla biscuit) from 2006, Eau Claire des Merveilles (citrus soda + cosmetic powder) from 2010, and L’Ambre des Merveilles (amber + more amber) from 2012. Eau des Merveilles Bleue is the latest, and the first from house perfumer Christine Nagel. I was only middling excited about it, because it’s blue. I like the color, but in fragrance, blue implies a particular smell-meaning, and in this case the description followed the color-coding: “the magic of the ocean and the colour of the sky”, plus “washed in sea spray” and “the taste of water on pebbles”. That sounds suspiciously like many other blue fresh, sporty, aquatic / ozonic fragrances, which are not generally my cup of tea.
And so it turns out…
There’s nothing like smelling pungent, spicy, late-winter flowers in a cool and damp atmosphere. Right now, the inside of my poorly insulated house (here’s to fresh air, wool sweaters and good health!) smells of the sweet box blossoms growing outside, and my front porch has a fragrance powerhouse in bloom — Edgeworthia. Plum blossoms are starting to open along the lake road I take into work each day…talk about flower-power, visual and scent-ual. Though it’s officially still winter, I’m smelling “green” all around me.
My first experience with the BeauFort London Come Hell or High Water collection was not a success, but by chance, Fathom V (another member of the Come Hell or High Water quintet) found me, and I’m glad it did — it’s a perfect cologne for the chilled, wet and perfumed springs we enjoy in Seattle…
Last week I reviewed Room 1015’s Power Ballad, a fragrance inspired by memories of teenage love and rock clubs in the 1990s. I didn’t think it succeeded as an evocation of that decade, and many of you agreed with me. Ironically, although you (we) might have been listening to grunge or wearing Doc Martens and oversized flannel shirts in those days, there’s a good chance you were wearing a clean- and fresh-smelling fragrance. It might have been a body spray picked up at Bath & Body Works, or it might have been a splurge from a department store. (I personally went through several bottles of Kenzo Parfum d’Été.) It might have been Issey Miyake L’Eau d’Issey.
In 1992, Issey Miyake was already known for his sculptural-minimal designs, which reinterpreted traditional Japanese techniques of fabric-wrapping and origami in state-of-the-art synthetics and other unexpected materials…
I’ve been trying another new niche perfume line this week — Gabriella Chieffo, a collection that comes to us from Lecce, Italy (way down in the “heel” of the “boot”). Chieffo herself is “a mother and environmental engineer” who “makes her debut as a fragrance designer with the intent to recapture the colors and materials of her beloved land.” She also appears to be interested in weaving tales of feminine emotional experience into the fragrances. So far, I’ve tried two of them: Acquasala and Camaheu…