Tag: Spice
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Eau Lente by Diptyque (1986)
Photo by Diptyque. Eau Lente by Diptyque has what I’m confident in calling the Diptyque smell – in the way a Diptyque aroma like this smells secondary, as if it comes at you from a distance. Carried along by a gentle scented cloud, as if it always almost eludes you,…
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Discovering India: Vaara by Penhaligon’s
There is the dual mind present on this blog: Olfactics and Liam. Olfactics is quite decidedly an armchair rationalist, formulating and challenging epistemic attitudes towards fragrance-cum-aesthetics. Olfactics is excruciatingly severe and takes the deeply hard stance towards all things fragrance. My two Gabrielle posts saw Olfactics front and centre, and…
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A Treatise on (Soft) Orientals: Chinoiserie – From Opium to Coco
A blog reader put me to task for not connecting Yves Saint Laurent’s Opium and the idea of spice in my most recent treatise on spices. How could I be so foolish? Until recently, Soft(er) Orientals have always seemed like a half-baked idea to me. Yet an inclination for extremity and…
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Meaning in Fragrance: Maduro by Fort & Manlé
There are considerable, crucial moments in perfume writing and consideration that it begins to change and shape the way you think about scent. A shift towards the most critical is what has shaped my writing on the blog, and in order to achieve that a breadth of perspective is demanded.…
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Au Coeur du Désert by Tauer Perfumes
Flankers can be constructed in a number of different ways. The general principle (in my view) is as follows: take what made the original popular, reduce it to its fundamental accord(s), add something new and enhancing. Hermès, for instance, spells it out clearly: Bel Ami became Bel Ami Vetiver, Amazone became…
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Cultural Juxtaposition: Bois de Violette by Serge Lutens
The result of clashing temperaments, Bois de Violette combines a melancholic Victorian floral with a phlegmatic oriental stewed wood and fruit accord. The high-waisted attitude of the melancholic Victorian floral focuses here on a single floral note of violet, with its ability to capture a mood of elegance and prim…
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Déclaration by Cartier
As a self-confessed Jean-Claude Ellena tragic, it is interesting to smell what is considered some of his earlier works, especially observing his transparent style as it grows and develops with confidence – becoming more and more obviously transparent in nature. It becomes apparent that there is a lot of self-referencing to be found: noticing…
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A Comparison – Habit Rouge by Guerlain: Eau de Toilette, Eau de Parfum, Parfum, and Dress Code
I wrote about Habit Rouge EdT two years ago in the position of beginner, a keen fragrance blogger and budding Guerlainophile. I was, to say the least, unfamiliar with the classics, and my perfume vocabulary wasn’t as versed. I knew of Apres L’Ondee, but the Parfum variant remained a myth.…
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Ambre Sultan by Serge Lutens
Amber as a perfume category is difficult to distinguish. Amber is one of those illusionary accords that expresses itself well in isolation. Take an amber with its spicy, herbal, sweet oscillations, bitter crunchiness and malted smoothness and you have a complexity done simply. An amber perfume is a perfume with a…
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Guest Post: Portia Turbo on Tauer Perfumes
A special surprise for readers: A guest post from the ever-so-venerable Portia. Please welcome Portia of APJ to the Olfactics blog …We’re close. Hey there Olfactics crew, Liam and I have done a blog swap today so you can check him out over on Australian Perfume Junkies. Why? Well there is some…
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