A Little Bit of Perfume in Your Poetry?

Once, a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, I took my biology degree and went and managed a perfume shop for rare and expensive perfumes in Cincinnati. It has since been shuttered, but it carried some wonderful lines that were otherwise unavailable to most people in Ohio: Caron, Hermes, Cartier, Parfums Grey. I particularly loved the carved flacons of Panthere, with little panthers and jeweled eyes, and the gorgeous “Blond Tabac” available for $150 in a carved glass flacon. I loved being around perfumes, until my asthma drove me into the more prosaic, and admittedly, more lucrative field of technical writing, in which I worked more or less happily for some years.
This preface is just to tell you why I’m writing about perfumes in the middle of a poet’s blog. I’ve long been attracted to difficult and hard-to-find fragrances since my days as a perfume salesgirl, and I have a pretty good nose (I’m also a supertaster, when I don’t have a cold, anyway!) I couldn’t afford the best perfumes when I worked at the perfume store, but I loved the samples and I still do! Buying good perfumes on a poet’s salary can be tough, so I do a lot of research before I invest in a new bottle (or ask someone else to invest for me.)
So, lately, there have been some fairly interesting new fragrances coming out, and since it’s near Valentine’s Day, that time-honored season of buying perfume for loved ones, and I’d acquired some new samples, I thought I’d give some short reviews. Another piece of preface: I tend to like complicated orientals (Coco by Chanel, the aforementioned Panthere by Cartier) but hate any notes of green or patchouli. I also, on the other hand, like extremely fresh citrus fragrances (Strawberry Flowers by Fresh, available a couple of years ago, was a fantastic, sophisticated version of a fruity floral, and Orange Verte by Hermes is another loved fragrance. Comptoir Sud Pacifique made a strange but wonderful line including a fresh grapefruit called Pamplemousse, some wonderful tropical-candy fragrances, not too sweet, like Coeur de Vahine.
But lately I’ve been craving something like Caron’s Blond Tabac, but a bit more playful, so I was looking forward to trying Tom Ford’s new Vanille Tabac.
—Tom Ford’s Vanilla Tobacco – I was finally able to find this fragrance at Nordstrom’s, and the top notes were delicious – a really true, dark vanilla and a nice non-smoky tobacco flower fragrance. But. But….two hours later, my wrist – despite three washes – smelt strongly of damp burning cedar and not in a good way. Dry down = terrible, although the perfume person claimed a “vertical drydown” – which by the way, is nearly impossible to achieve, so don’t believe it if anyone says their perfume has it. I will say, though that Tom Ford’s “Cafe Rose” – and I don’t usually like rose fragrances – was a nice true rose combined with a happy coffee-vanilla-and-white-flower fragrance, so if you’re looking to try one of his new ones, that’s what I’d recommend. Very romantic!
Atelier Cologne is a new line with extremely high levels of essential oils (so don’t expect a true “cologne” experience – it’s closer to an “eau de parfum” in most American perfume lines. Very hard to find here in Seattle since Neiman’s stopped carrying it, I had to order samples from the main store many states away, unfortunately. But, I didn’t want my experience wasted, so here you go!
—Orange Sanguine. I’d already fallen in love with this when it came out last year and Glenn brought home a  bottle for me, it does smell like just-cut oranges, coffee, and amber. Really long-lasting for a citrus fragrance, too.The company says it’s got a tonka bean bottle note, which I hate in Guerlain perfumes, but it doesn’t bother me and is not noticeably powdery.
The new fragrances:
—Rose Anonyme – Again, I admit to not being a true lover of rose, this one was very strong but surprisingly true and long-lasting. Base notes of Oud, incense and (that despised) patchouli but a very pleasant herbal middle note of ginger that I really liked. Good – but not for me.
—Oolong Infini.- I was expecting to like this one, because I love Barney’s Route du The and other tea-based perfumes, and I LOVED it. (The postcard alone – pictured here – would tempt any writer.) Along with the tea top note, leather, my beloved tobacco flower, jasmine – and a slightly more floral drydown than you might expect from that list. Clean, fresh, and truly unisex – it smelled as good on my husband as it did on me.
—Vanille Insensee – I don’t usually like sweet-artificial vanilla perfumes, available by the dozen everywhere these days, but this was very subtle and clean, almost herbal. That’s probably because of the oak, moss, cedar and coriander notes – notes as I said I don’t typically like – but the fresh lime and jasmine notes kind of clean up the dampness of those notes, I think. Anyway, great for people who like vanilla but not most typical vanilla perfumes.
—Grand Neroli – Clean and WAY more masculine than I was expecting for a “Grand Neroli” – orange flower is usually read as a feminine fragrance, but this is beefed up with some herbals, it almost reads like “4711” – a French cologne for men I really like. Don’t buy this expecting something sweet and girlish – it’s fresh, clean, bracing, and a teensy bit green.
Happy perfume shopping!