SOTD: Le Labo Patchouli 24

Himself hates patchouli. Yes, he disapproves of perfume, but he hates patchouli. And notes that you hate are always easier to detect than notes that you love. So while everyone else smells birch tar in Patchouli 24, and I smell tea leaves, Himself smells patchouli.

I like patchouli, but not enough to regularly make Himself flee. So I won't be buying a bottle of this one. Or of Parfumerie Generale Intrigant Patchouli. Or Bond No. 9 New Haarlem. Or Comme des Garcons Luxe Patchouli. Note hatred is good for the perfume budget.

Of course, that leaves more room for, say, gardenia...

Review Roundup: Is here.

Image: By Mathias Degan. Wikimedia Commons.

SOTD: Bvlgari Black

I'm a perfume snob. A terrible, terrible perfume snob.

I avidly research and sample niche scents, like L'Artisan Parfumeur and Serge Lutens and Parfumerie Generale and a zillion others. And classic scents, like the older Chanels and Guerlains. I enjoy the inexpensive unknowns, like the perfume oils at the health food store, and the little-known cheap thrills, like deeply discounted Balmain fragrances or the Pacifica solids.

But the moderately expensive well-known department store fragrances, like Angel or Acqua di Gio or Nina Ricci or Bvlgari Black? Meh.

Why meh, when many of those fragrances are really good, created by the same perfumers that create the niche fragrances? Well, those fragrances go along with having some idea of what to do with makeup. And knowing what hair is in style this decade. And being able to wear clothes that stay where you put them and don't attract droplets of hot chocolate. I don't have those skills. I could probably work at those skills, but, well, there are a lot of Guerlains left to sniff, and I haven't re-watched all the episodes of Firefly this month, and, well, you see?

So all those perfectly nice department store fragrances seem like an inappropriate accessory for me, like wearing a cocktail hat with flowered overalls. They're from a world that I admire but don't inhabit.

I prefer geek perfumery. I like things best when I'm the one with the extra knowledge.

All of this leads up to the fact that today I'm wearing a department store fragrance, Bvlgari Black. Created by Annick Menardo, Bvlgari Black is a pretty unconventional department store fragrance, which may explain its presence in my world. If a niche perfumer had come out with it, I don't think that they'd be mocked for caving to conventional tastes.

My usual description of Bvlgari Black is "vanilla and rubber". Followed by an assurance that it's a really nice vanilla and rubber. There are other things in it - the notes list claims tea, bergamot, jasmine, cedar, sandalwood, leather, amber, musk, and vanilla. For the first few minutes, I can smell some of this - the woods and the leather combine to form something spicy, and there's a higher-pitched note that's probably the jasmine, and the tea is draping it with pleasant smoky-bitterness.

But within minutes, it's vanilla and rubber. As if someone soaked a clean tire in vanilla extract. And you'd never know it until you smelled it, but that smells really good. It starts out heavy on the rubber and light on the vanilla, and ends up with more vanilla. I like it. I don't have a full bottle yet, but one of these days when I see it discounted to the cheap thrill level, I probably will.

Review Roundup: Now Smell This and Bois de Jasmin and Aromascope and I Smell Therefore I Am and PereDePierre and All I Am - A Redhead and Nathan Branch and MakeupAlley and a Katie Puckrick video and MaisquePerfume and Muse In Wooden Shoes and Scent Of The Day and Scentsate.

Edited to add to the Review Roundup.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

SOTD: Le Labo Patchouli 24

While I love "tea" fragrances, they never actually smell like tea to me. They smell like the idea of tea, of something refreshing and liquid and slightly bitter, but they don't actually smell like tea. I never get the feeling that leaves were involved.

Patchouli 24 makes me feel like leaves were involved. It smells like tea - to me. I get a vision of an old-fashioned square metal tea tin. I'm just opening it and getting a faceful of dusty, smoky, tea-soaked air that's been caught in there for months.

Oddly, the consensus of reviews seem to be, no, that's not leaves, that's not even patchouli, that's birch tar.  Hmph. To me, it's tea.

Which separates this fragrance, for me, from the whole patchouli vibe. This isn't what a sixties flower child smells like, it's something that would be in Miss Marple's pantry. It's crumpets, not flowers. Linen napkins, not protest signs. Tea chests in ships' holds, not backpacks at Grateful Dead concerts. If I want the other vibe, I'm going to have to find a different patchouli.

I might do that sometime, but meanwhile I'm very happy with my quiet, smoky, just barely exotic "tea" fragrance.

Review Roundup: PereDePierre and Perfume-Smellin' Things and Now Smell This and I Smell Therefore I Am and Grain de Musc and Eiderdown Press and Confessions Of A Perfume Nerd and Nathan Branch and Perfume Patter and Basenotes and MakeupAlley and Perfume-Smellin' Things again and Fragrantica and Perfume Shrine (very brief mention) and Notes from Josephine.

Edited to add to the Review Roundup.

Photo: Laurel F., Wikimedia Commons. Click for details.