Odin New York No 1 Nomad

Do you ever have one of those days where you end up wearing a perfume with no expectations and end up loving it, just because it smells good with no pretense? Well Odin New York No 1 Nomad did precisely that today.

Nomad is in many ways a fairly straightforward woods-and-musk perfume with a hint of spice. It just smells good and you don't have to think about it or analyse it. Granted, it isn't going to win any awards for genius originality and some people might say that at niche prices it ought to. I don't care though - it is good enough for me.

I've read some reviews saying that this is a very mainstream smelling fragrance, similar to Dolce and Gabbana The One. I can't say I get that association very much, and to me, the ingredients smell of very good quality.

Serge Lutens Santal Majuscule and friends

So I tried Santal Majuscule for the first time today. What can I say? A very nice sandalwood perfume. A very good one actually. One I like. 

And yet. And yet. I'm asking myself, what does it bring to the Serge Lutens line that hasn't already been covered by Santal de Mysore, Santal Blanc and the more recent Jeux de Peau? My personal opinion is that Santal Majuscule and Santal de Mysore have the most in common, particularly in the dry down. Having just said that, Jeux de Peau, once you get past the bread, yeast and pastry opening, is very similar too. And that is where my problem lies with Santal Majuscule - as lovely as it is, it seems to me to be just a variation of a theme. 

I'm sure there will be some of you reading this, thinking I am just nitpicking, and being a pain in the arse, which I probably am. I'd buy a bottle of Santal Majuscule, no question about it. But present me with all four Lutens sandalwood perfumes and how does one choose? For my money, I'd still go with Santal de Mysore. 

Olympic Orchids

A few weeks ago my kind and generous friend Cym sent me a good number of samples, including a few from Olympic Orchids, a small indie (or artisanal) perfumery based in the Pacific Northwest. Many of their perfumes are inspired by different species of orchids, but there is also another line, Scents of Place, inspired by places the creator, Ellen Covey, has visited on her travels. It is from this second line that I have sampled.

I'm not going to go into any great detail here, but briefly, these are my initial impressions:

Arizona

Arizona was the one I thought I would like most from the notes and from various reviews, yet strangely enough, it failed to move me much. It isn't poor by any means but I didn't really 'get' it. Perhaps subsequent wearings will change this. The notes include ponderosa pine, juniper, sagebrush and chaparral, with a touch of desert wildflowers. In all honesty, Arizona felt a bit flat to me, without much expected zip from the pine and juniper. I have read one review describing Arizona blushingly as the scent of sex. Well, its not the sex I know!

Gujarat

The website does not list notes but describes this perfume as a 'full scale Bollywood extravaganza'. Gujarat is definitely an extremely spicy perfume and strong too. On the day I wore it, I had the beginnings of a headache and this did me no favours. However, I have to say that Gujarat was the most unique and interesting of the ones I tried. Gujarat opens with a smell that for the first hour reminds me exactly of the smell (and I mean exactly) of making marmalade, using Seville Oranges. It has a zesty, resinous orange smell, but not the freshly peeled sort. If you have cooked Seville Oranges before you may know what I am trying to say. As Gujarat develops, the spices seep through, along with a prominent rose note. At this point, Gujarat seems to me to be more Middle-Eastern inspired and perhaps it is just my nose fooling me, but it smells like a rose-oud combo for a while.

Kingston Ferry

Kingston Ferry is described as a woody, green, subtle oceanic fragrance, but this is no nineties-inspired marine perfume. It has a lot of floral notes listed, but it never strikes me as very floral on skin. It is difficult to describe Kingston Ferry really, but it does smell woody, watery and even slightly salty, so kudos to Olympic Orchids for managing to recreate a sense of place so well.

Olympic Rainforest

This was possibly my second favourite of the ones I tried. It is green and woody, aromatic and in many ways a fairly quiet perfume. I can't say for sure whether it does smell like the Olympic Rainforest, not having been anywhere near it myself, but it does smell outdoorsy, in a fresh and good sort of way.

Salamanca

Salamanca is a university town in the hot south of Spain and the perfume is meant to evoke the dry, hot and dusty atmosphere of midsummer. It includes notes of mitti ( an attar distilling the scent of clay), vetiver, immortelle, hay, labdanum and helichrysum oil. To me, Salamanca is all about vetiver and immortelle and reminds me of Nasomatto's Black Afgano, where the vetiver smells intensely green, weedy and frankly, quite a lot like hash. I like Salamanca though. It is a clever fragrance that again, does seem to capture the sense of place well. I haven't been to southern Spain, but I have been to, and lived in, hot and dusty places and I can identify with that.

All in all, I really liked my first encounter with Olympic Orchids and can definitely recommend sampling this interesting house.

How to fix a bust spray nozzle

Some of you may recall that I reported a few months ago (it could be even further back than that) that my Diptyque Tam Dao spray nozzle had broken or jammed. I had tried various methods of fixing it following suggestions, to no avail. I had almost given up and was on the verge of breaking the bottle and decanting the perfume. However, this morning I was at John Lewis, a well known British department store, and for some reason when at the Diptyque counter, asked the person how I could fix the nozzle. 

To cut a short story even shorter, I followed his simple and brief advice and knock me down with a feather, it worked a treat! The advice - take off the sprayer and stick a pin into the hole. Apparently the blockage is often caused by air pressure that has built up in the spray line in the bottle and a pin removes this.

I feel really good in saying this - my bottle of Tam Dao is now back to its very best!

Tom Ford Neroli Portofino

Believe it or not, but the past two or three days have been rather hot here in the UK. Or more precisely, south east England - the poor north has had drizzle and 14 celsius. 

Yesterday felt perfect for spritzing on something uplifting and refreshing. Tom Ford's Neroli Portofino fit the bill perfectly. Yet I must say, £135 for 50ml of eau de parfum is steep indeed, particularly for a citrusy eau de cologne style perfume. Some say you get what you pay for, but I have smelled a lot of citrus/cologne/orange blossom perfumes and there are plenty of excellent ones for well under £135!

That said, Neroli Portofino does smell very decent.

Holidays!!

I am now on holiday for two weeks. Not particularly notable, I'm sure, but I am looking forward to a break with my family. We aren't going anywhere, mind you, but we do plan to get out in Kent and Sussex (do day trips count as going somewhere?) and certainly a trip or two up to London. As you know, no trip to London is complete for me without a visit to some perfume emporiums, so I m sure I will pay a visit to some!

I may or may not post in this period; I'll see how it goes.

In the meantime, have a good weekend wherever you are!

Serge Lutens Cedre

It was my birthday on Friday and my wife gave me a bottle of Serge Lutens Cedre, which was very nice of her indeed!

I've tried Cedre a few times before, but hadn't for a couple of years, so I wore it yesterday with a fairly neutral outlook. Prior to wearing it, I had a quick browse around of the reviews, just to get a rough idea of people's views. Most opinions went like this: "Cedar, where's the cedar? This should be called tuberose, tuberose, tuberose." Or something along those lines.

So imagine my surprise when for me Cedre was all: "Cedar, cedar, cedar, with a hint of tuberose." Perhaps my nose is inferior to others, I don't really know, but the initial opening has a similar mentholated first act like Tubereuse Criminelle, but a lot more toned down. Within minutes the Lutens cedar woody accord seeps though, not miles removed from a lot of his Bois series and then for me it is cedar for the rest of the day, and a very nice one at that, slightly sweetened with some amber and perhaps rounded off with a hint of musk. I don't get a lot of musk in Cedre.

I think I am going to enjoy my bottle a lot. I suspect it will perform better in cooler weather though - Cedre has a slightly cozy aspect to it.