SOTD Parfumerie Generale Un Crime Exotique

Pfeffernusse.

Mmmmm.

But, wow, that clown is scarey.

Image: By Chordboard. Wikimedia Commons.

SOTDays: Perfume logging catch-up

I skipped perfume logging days! Noooo!

So, Friday I was unscented, on the same principle as Scentless Saturday--I spent the day with Himself, and Himself likes a lack of perfume on occasion.

Saturday I wore Un Crime Exotique, because it's a fine holiday perfume that I haven't worn enough. But it wasn't quite right for my end-of-vacation lamenting mood; too happy and sweet.

Sunday, we threw one final holiday party, the second annual Eating Junk And Watching Rubbish event, so of course I wore Sushi Imperiale.

Today, so far, I've worn nothing; I'm still in holiday jet lag, so to speak. I really should go correct that. The perfume, that is, not the jet lag.

Image: Wikimedia Commons.

SOTD: Parfumerie Generale Un Crime Exotique

Ahhhh.

Have you ever had pfeffernusse? They're little domed dense spice cookies, sometimes dusted with powdered sugar, sometimes coated with a slightly crunchy white glaze. I've always loved them at Christmas, usually with lots and lots of milk.

I normally don't like spice-heavy fragrances, but Parfumerie Generale's Un Crime Exotique smells exactly like pfeffernusse. It's such a precise rendition that I have to struggle to tease out the notes--at first, it's just the cookie. As I keep sniffing, I get the gingerbread, and the anise, and a trace of cinnamon, and... well, no, that's really all I can get out. LuckyScent tells me that it also has Chinese osmanthus and tea and mate and vanilla and sandalwood. But if I stop analyzing, it just becomes pfeffernusse, and to me, that's the whole point.

Pfeffernusse is a Christmas cookie, making this a Christmas scent. I fell in love with it last December, but I restrained myself from buying a bottle, or even resniffing my sample. Who needs a fragrance that's only wearable for a month? But the world is full of discontinuations and reformulations, and I don't want to discover, too late, that this one is gone. So it's now basking on the new perfume shelf.

Review Roundup: Is here.

Image: By Dan Phiffer. Wikimedia Commons.

SOTD: Parfumerie Generale Un Crime Exotique (Pfeffernusse perfume!)

Yum.

I tried this before, and was unimpressed.

But I just saw a post about Theorema on I Smell Therefore I Am, pointing out an olfactory relationship between Un Crime Exotique and Theorema. And I've always seen a relationship between Sushi Imperiale (which I've always adored), Theorema (which I now adore) and Un Crime Exotique (which was a "meh" for me.) So I figured it was time to try Un Crime Exotique again to see if I love it now.

Oh, yes. Oh, my. How could I have sniffed this before and not fallen in love?

Most people say that this perfume smells of gingerbread; I say that it's a precise rendition of pfeffernusse. Those spicy little holiday cookies, with the powdered sugar or, sometimes, sugar glaze? They're almost a perfume in a cookie. More anise than gingerbread, more cinnamon, altogether just a little darker. Here's that same scent in a bottle. As I wear it, I feel as if powdered sugar should be gently raining on me.

Review Roundup: For The Love Of Perfume and Now Smell This and Sweet Diva and The Scented Salamander and PerfumeQueen and Nathan Branch and SmellyBlog and MakeupAlley and Basenotes.

Edited to expand the Review Roundup.

Photo of star anise: Arria Belli. Wikimedia Commons.