I don’t drink much (anymore) and maybe (or maybe not?) that’s why I’m such a sucker for booze notes in perfume. Stuff like this…
She commissioned a twelfth-generation master distiller, also located in Napa, to produce an exquisite batch of French oak essence for the perfume. One of the defining alchemical accomplishments of the composition, the oak essence was triple distilled in old European copper stills from a wine called ‘Esprit de cognac’ which is aged in French oak barrels.1
…gets my attention, and add in rose, white sage, black currant, wild honey and lavender (ok, in all truth I can often do without lavender) and you’ve got something I’d like to try. The ‘she’ in the quote above is Alexandra Balahoutis, of indie botanical line Strange Invisible Perfumes, and the perfume is Essence of IX, a limited edition project in collaboration with California winery Colgin Cellars.
Essence of IX opens quite boozy (really, maybe it’s just the alcohol) and herbal, and it’s slightly medicinal to boot…