Scents & Sounds, part 4
the final winter update!
It’s been a busy week! Between Daylight Savings, buying a new car, and just general Life things, I haven’t had much time to put together a post this past week, but I’ve made some time to put together one last wintery-ish Scents & Sounds post before spring begins next week here in the U.S.
Coming up: I have some fun fragrance related posts planned in the future, from doing a little tour of my current spring selections, to posts specifically recapping individual houses’ lines/discovery sets…but that’s as much detail as I want to get into about that for now.
Without further ado, here’s the three fragrance picks for this edition.
BDK Parfums - Gris Charnel (2019)
This award-winning fan-favorite has been a bit of a social media darling over the past few years, and for good reason. It is a wonderful blend of cardamom tea, soft woods, and a gentle powdery feel from a light dose of iris. I don’t wear this one a lot, (I purchased my bottle about three years ago now and still have about 50% left), but it’s a favorite of mine on a cool rainy (or snowy) stay-at-home-and-curl-up-with-a-book day. It’s cozy and comforting without being heavy.
The beautiful II: Cavatina from Poulenc’s Cello Sonata FP143 pairs well with this one for me. The sparkling piano accompaniment opens the movement, almost setting an icy mood. As the intensity builds, there’s almost a sense of longing conveyed. Imagine looking out of a window at the snow and ice covered pond nearby, watching two young lovers skate on by, muffled laughs heard through the frosty glass. A warm tea in hand. A thick sweater. Lovely.
This rendition is performed by Pierre Fournier, the cellist who premiered this piece with Poulenc and to whom it is dedicated.
Amouage - Jubilation XXV (2007)
Jubilation was one of my first introductions to niche perfumery, well over a decade ago. Since first falling in love with it, I’ve owned a few bottles — I believe I am on my third now. While I don’t wear it nearly as often as I used to, it is the epitome of a special occasion fragrance. For lack of a better word, it is incredibly opulent: a masterful blend of fruit, woods, florals, incense, and spices from the legendary nose Bertrand Duchaufour.
Bertrand has created hundreds of fragrances over the years, including other favorites of mine, such as Avignon and Kyoto from CdG, Timbuktu from L’artisan, Corpus Equus from Naomi Goodsir, and Enchanted Forest from The Vagabond Prince. He also launched his own house - L’Entropiste - just this year.
Interestingly enough, while Amouage is decidedly Arabic perfumery, (it was founded by the sultan of Oman in 1983), this scent, to me, conjures a scene of Flamenco performances in a small, old, venue in Seville. There are people drinking freshly made sangria, bursting with fruits. Incense burns offstage, leaving a light grey cloud of burnt resins hanging in the air. The heat, sweat, and dancing warms up the centuries-old wood flooring. As the dancer moves and flings the fabric of her dress, you catch a whiff of a light floral perfume — rose, orchid, immortelle. The mood is lively and celebratory: a special occasion but not a formal one; jubilation.
Zoologist - Rabbit (2024)
To herald in the start of spring, I recently picked up a bottle of this ‘green’ gourmand for my collection. While it can be a bit intense, it’s pretty masterful with storytelling. Many like to reduce this to just a ‘carrot cake’ fragrance, but it is so much more. While yes, a very real carrot cake is in the picture, notes of hay, fresh apples, clover, and jasmine bring a fresh and bright aspect to the scent.
To me, I imagine an early spring picnic outdoors, flowers beginning to bloom. A light breeze blows through the trees and the sounds of the rustling leaves and laughing children playing in the distance serve as a sonic backdrop. You’ve just finished up your sandwiches and now snack on fresh fruits and carrot cake, the sun warming up the cream cheese icing and spices, making it quite fragrant in the breeze…
The song that immediately comes to mind with this scene is “not a lot, just forever” from Adrianne Lenker. For some reason, I can almost hear birds and a stream in the background.
I rest till I’m calm and my breathing has settled. I lift myself out and sit by the edge of the pool with a towel around my shoulders. And I wonder what the sound of a heart breaking might be. And I think it might be quiet, unperceptively so, and not dramatic at all. Like the sound of an exhausted swallow falling gently to earth.
-from ‘Tin Man’ by Sarah Winman