Scents Of Summer
May 30th, 2007
Chicago has had a few humid days this week, and I said to myself, “Summer is here!” I must say, living in the city, the only descriptive words I can find for the summer season are something along the lines of stifling dirty mess. However, as I look at this picture of the Latvian countryside (while experiencing the typical seasonal homesickness), I’m instantly filled with olfactory images of summers past. Below is the list of fragrances I find best representative of each olfactory image:
Fresh grass and hay: L’Eau de L’Artisan by L’Artisan Parfumeur, Vie de Chateau by Parfums de Nicolai, Hierbas de Ibiza, Sous Le Vent by Guerlain, Bel Respiro by Chanel, Aqua Allegoria Herba Fresca by Guerlain, Eau Sauvage by Dior.
Days at the beach: Monyette Paris, Ginger Ciao by Yosh, Azuree Soleil by Estee Lauder, Beach by Norma Kamali, Ananas Fizz by L’Artisan Parfumeur, Juste Un Reve by Parfums de Nicolai.
Inevitable humidity (in this case, the best scents for such days): Mure et Musc Extreme by L’Artisan Parfumeur, Divine Bergamot by The Different Company, Cologne Blanche by Dior, Nanadebary Green.
Sultry, balmy evenings: Jasmin Full by Montale, Climat by Lancome, Lipstick Rose by Frederic Malle, Songes by Annick Goutal, Nuits de Noho by Bond No 9, Rouge by Hermes, Nahema by Guerlain.
Summer desserts: Ciel, Mon Jardin! by Le Prince Jardinier, Eau de Reglisse by Caron, Vanilla by Jalaine, Philtre d’Amour by Guerlain.
What is summer to you and what fragrances best represent it?
Image source: balticholidays.com
Entry Filed under: Perfume Reviews
10 Comments Add your own
1. Solander | May 31st, 2007 at 1:59 am
What a great list! I’ll have to look up all the grass/hay scents…
I don’t know, but perhaps summer in Sweden is pretty close to summer in Latvia?
Summer for me is…
Swimming in lakes - that would be Sel de Vetiver
The smell of not real jasmine but a sort of less glamorous version that grows further north (I don’t know if I have ever smelled real jasmine, this is what I compare jasmine fragrances to). Don’t know which jasmine fragrance best represents this… Once I thought Beyond Paradise was perfect but now I find it too sharp and green.
Bright, cool summer nights - maybe Fine Leather? or Cuir Amethyste?
Summer rain - I don’t know a good scent for this. Certainly not Apres l’Ondee… I’m no good with cool/watery scents, or they’re no good to me.
Meadows and barns - Bandit
Picking berries and eating out in the garden - I’ll replace Ciel mon jardin! with the greener, crisper Rhubarb Sherbet.
Greenhouses - Memory of kindness (it’s too cold to grow tomatoes outside here. The best thing is almost smelling the tiny plants in the window inside before they’re even planted in the greenhouse…)
Ridiculously hot days when everybody else is on the lawn in a bikini and I’m sweating in my room with the huge window - Oriental Lumpur
2. dinazad | May 31st, 2007 at 2:01 am
Hi Ina!
Summer: heat so intense you can see the air dance - Messe de Minuit. And Gris Clair for searing hot stones in a cold river.
Fresh gras -: Cologne by Thierry Mugler, and Vent Vert, of course.
Hay - SMN Fieno! Bois Blond as well…
Garden, humid and fragrant after a summer rain, but already heating up again: Andy Tauer’s Reverie au Jardin
Sultry evenings: Le Maroc pour Elle, by our Andy
Balmy nights on the balcony: L’Air du Désert Marocain
Summer trip to a city, ruins, churches, good food and all: Laura Biagiotti’s Roma
Early summer mornings, when it’s still cool. Or dewy pitchers of cold drinks. Refreshing fruit: Miss Rocaille
Indeterminate summer feeling: Versace’s The Dreamer and Eau de Reglisse
Summer by the sea, eating ice cream under a pine tree, enveloped in a trace of sunblocker: Terracotta Voile d’Ete by Guerlain. I miss that!
3. atti impuri | May 31st, 2007 at 3:20 am
summer, heat and humidity are the best for most perfumes of mine!
Tubereuse Criminelle in the summer skips the harsh narcotic stage and gets right to a sexy passion fruit tuberose.
Fleurs d ‘Oranger is most beautiful in the summer, supersexy and no cumin or spicy harshness!
Rose Barbare, more complex in the winter but in the summer its longetivity on the skin is stunning!
YSL Paris …voluptous hot sillage for…streetwalking bad girls! lol
Feminite du Bois…class-act girls get guys hard!
4. Judith | May 31st, 2007 at 6:06 am
I love most of your list, as you know. Adding just a few others:
Hay, etc.: L’Artisan Fleur de Narcisse, PG Bois Blond
Beach: eau de merveilles (or parfum), ava luxe viva
humid scents: Miller et bertaux 3, TDC Sel de Vetiver
balmy evenings: CB Cradle of Light
adding (since I don’t do dessert:):
summer incense: Passage d’Enfer
a thing of beauty: L’A Fleur d’Oranger
and
my new DH: TF Moss Breches!
5. chayaruchama | May 31st, 2007 at 6:33 am
I LOVE the picks, here…
My brain is mush, yes, but not my nose.
So, without duplicating :
Dog Days [Woof !] -
Cypres Musc, Selection Verte, Eau de Campagne, Rose Ikebana, Vetiver Tonka, Poivre Samarcande,Baie de Genievre, Angeliques Sous la Pluie, Bois Du Portugal, Eau de Boldoot, Imperiale, Fleurs de Cedrat, Blenheim Bouquet, The Pour Un Ete, Rose Muskissme, Fraiche Passiflore, L’Eau de Gantier,MPG Exotisme de Fruits parfum,Eau D’Hadrien EDP, Petite Cherie, Eau de Ciel, Eau de Sud Un Air de Molinard….
Evenings : Jasmin de Nuit, La Haie Fleurie, Fairchild, Riverside, Pan, Cepes et Tuberose,Cognac,Daim Blond,Lonestar Memories, Habanita,Acqua di Cuba, Velvet Gardenia, 50/50 Moss Breches/ Amber Absolute, Sballo,Maharanhi,Vanille Tonka, Vanisia.
Many more, but I don’t want to hog space…
6. Elle | May 31st, 2007 at 8:30 am
Summer for me is all about luxuriating in the heat, going to the ocean, hiking, gardening and having late dinners outside in the evenings and, frankly, I wear the same scents I do all year around, just in even greater moderation than usual (never, ever, ever spritz anything). Love all the scents on your list and can’t believe I’ve practically forgotten Ciel, Mon Jardin. Must go find it.
7. Tommasina | May 31st, 2007 at 9:46 am
OK, Chaya, ya got me; please, what are these:
Eau de Boldoot
Cepes et Tubereuse (sounds faberoo!)
Sballo
?
8. chayaruchama | May 31st, 2007 at 12:31 pm
Tommasina, mi hermanita…
Boldoot is an old, Dutch EDC that really rocks. think 4711 +++
Cepes et Tubereuse, is an oeuvre by Mandy Aftel- it’s a wowzer of a magnificent scent, which I didn’t intend to love the way I do;
Sballo is an evil juice by Bruno Acampora…full of flowers and hay.
So lovely, it hurts.
9. Flora | June 1st, 2007 at 12:16 am
Everybody has such nice lists I won’t add much more - but Solander’s comment about swimming in lakes was interesting - it’s why I love SL Datura Noir, since it smells exactly like the lake I lived near as a child, and we would go there at night when it was sultry-hot and swim in the warm water. When I first smelled the fragrance I was bowled over by how it brought me back there.
Also Anais Anais, Jungle Gardenia and Patou Cocktail can swoop me back to long-ago summers just by evoking the smell of a hot day, a beach, a memory.
For modern day summers I like to wear SL Un Lys as well as the Datura Noir, Ines de la Fressange & Mariella Burani’s Amuleti. All stand up well to heat and humidity.
10. Ina | June 1st, 2007 at 10:08 pm
Amazings lists, y’all!
Thanks for sharing! I’m getting ideas…
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