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.
You're so smart to by a FB of this perfume, even if it is only for Christmas. But I'm most interested in Pfeffernusse - a lot of them with milk, as you suggest! Yum!
ReplyDeleteShould make some Pfeffernusse.
ReplyDeleteJust tried a sample of this the other day, and my immediate thought was "Uh-oh, Play-doh!" I was kinda bummed.
For edible wonder smell-alike, I shall go with Mauboussin (good un-rummied dark fruitcake with dried fruits instead of candied ones, iced with cream cheese frosting).
Mmm sounds wonderful. I keep hoping my local perfume boutique will start to carry PG. There are so many of them that I like and so many more to try.
ReplyDeleteYo, Josephine! Yes, pfeffernusse... I must go shopping and find some. soon. Like tomorrow. Yeah, tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteHey, Mals! You can make Pfeffernusse? Somehow I imagined them as some sort of magical elf product, something that must be bought. :) I should look for a recipe.
ReplyDeleteYou mentioned Mauboussin last year! And I was absolutely positively going to get a sample, and I didn't. I need to get one.
Howdy, kj! Yes, what is it with the incredibly limited availability of PG? Are they horribly exclusive, or are all of the stores afraid of them?
ReplyDelete