Scented Snippets: End of Year Delights/Peace Love and Perfume Project

by: Ida Meister

There exist SO many perfume boards these days: forums, blogs, you name it—when once there were but a few. Each seeks to distinguish itself from the others.

Goodsmella Carlos J. Powell began his own forum in August, three years ago. He challenged a number of independent perfumers to create fragrances based on those three tenets: Peace, Love, and Perfume.

Here is the perfumers' brief:

Peace – a meditative incense fragrance
Love – a sexy animalic fragrance
Perfume – a traditional cologne with a twist.
 

The responses are still coming in; last week I received samples from Christi Meshell of House of Matriarch.

So, who has participated thus far?

In no specific order, we've accumulated the following:

Opus Oils Chocolate Love CoffretOlympic Orchids Peace Love PerfumeHouse of Cherry Bomb Pink HazeEn Voyage Perfumes New York ManHouse of Matriarch High Perfumery Disco Style [3 tracks]DSH Perfumes Peace Love Perfume

Each perfumer possesses his/her own vision, that's what makes such projects a real treat.

OPUS OILS CHOCOLATE LOVE COFFRET

Kedra Hart, the nose behind Opus Oils, is always Up to No Good. I enjoy all the collaborative works that I've sniffed over the years, from toothsome gourmands to very dirty perfumes. Kedra has a delightful sense of whimsy and play, and she seems to be inspired by everything and anything. The Chocolate Love Coffret is actually a quartet of luscious gourmands.

Raspberry Rose Rapture:
This might be my favorite, considering how much I adore roses, raspberries and chocolate. I sense no faltering or false advertising here; the substances ring true and delicious, not cloyingly sweet.

“A Mouth-Watering Blend of Marc de Champagne, Juicy Red Raspberries, Heavenly Rose Absolutes (Moroccan & Bulgarian) & Decadent Chocolate”—Etsy website

Violet Lilac Dream:
Oh, wait. Maybe THIS is my favorite! It's darker and wilder, with the floral petticoat underlying a very dark chocolate... mmmmmm.

“Sweet Lilac & Candied Violets Are Caressed By Creamy Chocolate With A Ginger Sugar Twist”

Dark Chocolate Royale:
This has a very singed-woodsmoke tenor to it, as if there might be Ambroxan and/or a gaiacwood component. It is truly dark and mysterious; loud as it may initially seem, the drydown is worth waiting for ...

“A Swoon-worthy, Addictively Sexy, Rich Dark Chocolate Liquor Nestled On Top Of Deep Amber & Dark Woods & Hints Of Otherworldly Ambergris”

White Chocolate Delight:
I'll admit that I am generally not a white chocolate fan [OK, perhaps the exception might be Guerlain's now-discontinued Iris Ganache], but this little number is creamy and juicy, a real sassy elixir. It feels the sweetest of the lot, so I might choose to be judicious in application! It's really, really good. Darn that Kedra. My B can't resist this.

“Creamy, & Delightfully Delicious, With a Soft Musky Vanilla Dry Down That Is Positively Voluptuous”

Consider yourselves duly warned. ;-)

OLYMPIC ORCHIDS PEACE LOVE PERFUME

Dr. Ellen Covey, the perfumer, wanted a '70s vibe, a flower-child feel with perfumes that could be worn separately or in combination. Here's how she describes them:

Peace:
Peace is the “serious oldest child, with emphasis on incense, vetiver, benzoin, patchouli and other calming notes.” This is a lovely, sinuous wisp of earthy/ otherworldly materials, perfect for meditation.

Notes: frankincense, cedar, New Caledonian sandalwood, vetiver, double-distilled patchouli, benzoin, vanilla, tarragon, Oregon lavender.

Love:
“Love is the middle flower child, earthy and colorful, the heart of the perfume.”

I am just in love with this fragrance; blue lotus and tarragon render it irresistible to me.

Notes: blue lotus, sandalwood, frankincense, benzoin, warm humid air, vanilla, musks, tarragon.

Perfume:
Carlos suggested a cologne-like scent, and so “Perfume is the flighty and free-spirited youngest child, representing the light, airy and dry top notes.”

This is truly a breezy, delightful, somewhat ozonic fragrance, with a light hand and a lilt.

Notes: cedar, benzoin, vetiver, frankincense, pine wood fraction, myrtle, airy notes, Oregon lavender, pink grapefruit.

HOUSE OF CHERRY BOMB: PINK HAZE

“PINK HAZE is the scent of tree lined Brooklyn streets, of stone buildings, both old and new, and of the hot metal of subway cars. It is the heady yet ephemeral scent of gardens blooming with lily of the valley, gardenia, lilac and honeysuckle on early summer nights. It is beauty of light haze tinting the sky pink, and the energy of throngs of people. It captures the old elegance of the city while regaling the modernity and change of our neighborhoods. It is the scent of our Brooklyn- artistic, musical, inspiring, beautiful….equal parts classic and new, as is this city we live in. Created for the PLP Project.”—House of Cherry Bomb Etsy site

Maria McElroy and  Alexis Karl do what they love, and love what they do. Together, and separately, they have created their own Atelier fragrances. [For those who might not know: a cherry bomb is a small round hand-held explosive firework that many children used to light on the Fourth of July here in the U.S. They can be dangerous, but weren't illegal when I was a kid.  ;-) ] Pink Haze is an ebulliently floral scent with a certain metallic brilliance to it. It smells faintly of wet sidewalks and the summer sun on a heated car grill: cheerily optimistic and somewhat hip. There's nothing stuffy or stodgy here, and it is as fun as its name. Notes: lilac, lily-of-the-valley, gardenia, metallic notes, cedar, honeysuckle and beeswax.

EN VOYAGE NEW YORK MAN

Shelley Waddington wished to honor and acknowledge Carlos and the fragrance community, capture the flavor of New York and its sophistication. She succeeded wildly, I might add.

New York Man is rich, worldly, and impossibly elegant. It wafts a self-possession and warmth as well. If you can imagine an old-school club atmosphere sans snobbery [does such a thing even exist?], this perfume would be a fine fit. I can't imagine that men will be allowed to keep this to themselves, frankly. It's just too good.

“New York Man was composed for The Peace, Love & Perfume Project. In the spirit of a celebration amongst friends, perfumers were invited to commemorate the Third Anniversary of Peace, Love & Perfume Facebook Group by creating a fragrance or fragrances according to the following creative brief:

Peace - an incense meditative perfume
Love - an animalic sexy perfume
Perfume - a classic cologne with a twist
Family: Animalic Woody/Aromatic

We’ve intertwined meditative wafts of incense with rich musks and ambers, and added in some City Lifestyle notes to represent that special New York Man who is everything a man should be; peaceful yet sexy and strong, ready for action, and secure enough to share his softer, sweeter side.

Peace Notes: Incense, Myrrh, Sandalwood, Smoke, Patchouli, Cannabis Flower, Natural Oudh, Resins
Love Notes: Sexy Animal Notes of Musk, Ambergris, Castoreum
Perfume/Cologne Notes: Citrus Notes, Fir and Cedar, Herbal Notes, Jasmine
Bonus Notes of Scotch and Cigars”—Shelley Waddington
 

HOUSE OF MATRIARCH HIGH PERFUMERY DISCO STYLE

Christi Meshell is a Wild Woman, and I love how her mind works.

This time, her inspiration is musical, and she's laid down scents as tracks.

Track 1 OH, MY STARS!:
[Heaven forfend that any notes might be thrown my way ;-) ]

I'm smelling heavy-duty florals, ? fruit and aldehydes. There's a real metallic edge to this over-the-top Studio 54 fragrance. It's a wild ride.

“Disco in liquid form. Seductive, spicy and unapologetically vintage. Fizzy. Inspired by the Stars On 45 Beatles Medley.”—Christi Meshell

Track 2 DAFT LOVE:
Remember Kreteks, those Indonesian clove-redolent cigarettes, before they were outlawed in the U.S? [Now there are only cigars. Boo hoo!] No self-respecting pseudo-intellectual would have been caught dead without them. ;-)

[Just to keep myself honest: the last time I purchased these, it had been many years since and they were just about to stop selling them. Serena Ava Franco and I sat on the damp grass in Harvard Yard and chain-smoked them.  ;-)  And when our youngest son Jacob turned 18, our eldest came home horrified—at the sight of J and I smoking Kreteks, drinking absinthe and espresso with his birthday cake. No One smokes inside our flat!]

Spicy, spicy-hot clove dallies with unknown floral [?white] and some mighty animalics, including the requisite musk. The drydown is tender, quirky, and just a tad perverse, for good measure.

I love my crazy Christi.

“The nostalgia of clove cigarettes betwixt freshly powdered silk sheets. Dreamy. Inspired by Daft Punk's 'Digital Love.'”

Track 3 BEHIND THE CURTAIN:
Woof.

Smoky, tight-rope walking malevolent/cheerful, ebullient florals breathing fire and gaiac. I couldn't think of a better name for this.

But I suspect that the group Cream would!

“A strange inky brew: purely magical. For blending purposes, your X factor. Inspired by Lopazz's 'Perfume Laboratory.'”

DSH PERFUMES PEACE LOVE PERFUME

By now, Dawn Spencer Hurwitz's name should be a household name—but it probably isn't. That's unfortunate, because she is such a master of the art.

Here's what she created for the PLP Project:

DSH Peace:
Bridging East and West, Dawn sought to incorporate the meaning of incense via Japanese, Arabic, and monastic/Western perspectives.

What a complex, deeply contemplative and soothing composition this is.

Not a scent for the vapid: the dreamer, the idealist, the philosopher among you / within you will appreciate the woody-resinous depth and solitude of Peace.

Notes:Bakul attar,Choya Ral, Laotian oud, frankincense, myrrh, rose de Mai, orris, champaca leaf.

DSH Love:
For Love, Dawn ventured into the era of early to mid-20th C., known for its animalic perfumes. This is a growlingly filthy fragrance, decadent, rich, and memorable. I cannot imagine any shrinking violets wearing it, but I would, in a heartbeat. Despite its lack of costus, it reminds me of  vintage Nina Ricci Fille d'Eve —one of the few fragrances she created which was truly carnal [as opposed to her other beautiful yet very ladylike perfumes].

Notes: musk, civet, ambergris, castoreum, ambrette CO2, labdanum, hyraceum, indolic juhi jasmine, orange flower absolute, gardenia, white pepper and aldehydes.

DSH Perfume:
Dawn exhibits her joyful sense of play with us: a truly tonic, fruity herbal freshness which is delightful. So many elements engaged—crisply bitter notes, citric tang, floral generosity, verdant touches.

While colognelike in character, it possesses the lasting power of an eau de parfum.

Notes: grapefruit, rhubarb, cognac, tropical fruit accord, basil, pittosporum, jasmine, ambrette, gaiacwood, vetiver.

I'm enjoying participating in projects of this nature again.

[A few years ago I felt overwhelmed, there were so many and I wanted to join them all—except that no one can, unless they have no day job, and no life to speak of! So it goes ...]

I wish you only the best, dear Carlos [I like to call him Lil' Papi—a reference to the Boston Red Sox's famous and adored  David Ortiz, known to all as Big Papi !] <3

I hope there's more to share.

On va voir. ;-)

Images: Opus Oils, Olympic Orchids Artisan Perfumes, Jodi Battershell, House of Cherry Bomb, En Voyage Perfumes, House of Matriarch, DSH Perfumes