Back again! Perfumes for Autumn ...

I decided to take a break from blogging about perfume recently. Partly because perfume collecting/sniffing can be an expensive hobby, but also recently the priority was setting up my new house and focusing on painting so it's been a really busy time (if you'd like to check out my art blog here's a link -  Rose Strang Artworks).

I've only researched a few recently, including Ideo Parfumeur's Last Canto...

It's appealing in many ways - as the title suggests, it's a flirty dance with a slight difference -  ultra femme in a coquettish slightly pink way, with touches of warm spice and animalic cumin.

If you're sensitive to cumin you'll get the sweaty tones, but it does stay pretty - warm with cinnamon, powdery with iris, mostly just the right touch of sweet, and a bit tasty with milky gourmand almond and fluffy heliotrope. I like that it touches on the contemporary mood of slightly retro powdery scents, while not being too predictable - a fairly imaginative perfume that stays pretty while being different and subtly sensual.

Having said that, there are some perfumes you know you can always wear, they just feel comfortable and right for any occasion, Last Canto wouldn't be one of those perfumes for me because although I find it pretty, it lacks the elegance and easy-to-wear feel of my favourites - it's slightly sweet and a touch sweaty - on some days I'd find it a bit sickly I think.

Today I'm testing out perfumes to wear for autumn - I had most of my perfumes in storage over summer months while I was traveling and I was surprised by the fact I missed my perfume collection since I thought I'd grown less fascinated by perfumery in general (fellow perfume aficionados will understand!) Turns out I just needed a break from it.

I've honed the collection down over the years quite a bit, so most of it consists of perfumes I'll definitely wear at some point. Over summer I survived on Prada's Infusion d'Iris and Cartier's Baiser Vole (I say this tongue-in-cheek, I do have some sort of perspective on life I hope!) but I did get a bit bored between those two perfumes, perfect as they are for any occasion in summer.

I found myself missing Ponte Vecchio for Women by Nobile (reviewed in my previous post - Here). I associate it with summer, but I think I'll have a few more wears of this into mid September, since it has a woody warmth deep down, also the dominant note of iris suits most seasons for me, except coldest winter. It does have a fairly bright white floral aspect though, and for me those develop best in warm weather when the soapier aspects soften, or blossom on warm skin, or the soapiness is refreshing on hot days.

I'm looking forward to wearing Rahele by Neela Vermeire this Autumn (also reviewed in my previous post Here) though I won't be buying a full bottle as I'd rarely wear it and it is pricy, like most perfumes made by independent niche houses. It's perfectly suited to early Autumn I think - with soft, spicy leathery notes against the powdery apricot fuzz of osmanthus.

I bought my decant of Rahele from the excellent online sample site 'First in Fragrance' which is based in Germany - link here - https://www.ausliebezumduft.de/

I'll be testing a few samples each month or so, so look forward to resuming posts here on a monthly basis at least.

I'll leave you with a photo from my recent trip to the beautiful area of Ardnamurchan on the west coast of Scotland, just imagine the lovely scent of wood and salty sea I experienced in this as yet unspoiled wilderness - breathe it in, aaaah!...

Rahele

'Red Boats, White Sun'. Rose Strang 2012

Rahele, launched in 2016 by Neela Vermeire, was inspired by the famous 17th century French travel writers Tavernier, Bernier and Thévenot and the idea of an 'east meets west' Europe/Orient perfume aesthetic.

I immediately think of colonialism and E.M. Forster novels with such concepts! But in this case it's from an Indian perspective, since Neela Vermeire is herself Indian. 

Vermeire created Rahele in collaboraiton with the rockstar 'nose' of perfumery, Bertrand Duchaufour, but I can sense her influence strongly here since Duchaufour perfumes are usually very characterful, with notes that recognisably stand out, whereas Rahele is more reserved and speaks of grace and balance.

If you want to unpick it, I suppose the 17th cent. 'west' aspect is here in the form of oakmoss (always present in chypre perfumes and very much a French influence), violet and violet leaf (characteristically temperate zone, slightly aquatic, green and 'cool' in tone) and iris; powdery, refined and mysterious, and again absolutely characteristic of classic European perfumes. 

Think Chanel classics such as No 19, 28 La Pausa, Cuir de Russie - all of which feature prominent iris, though going back much farther, iris featured prominently in ancient Greek and Roman perfumery.

We're well accustomed nowadays to the combination of Oriental and European perfume notes,

though these perfumes tend to open with the lighter citrics and florals, drying down to an ambery vanilla base. Rahele offers somthing different; a smooth blended quality throughout from start to finish in perfect balance.

The key to this might be in the way green notes of violet and violet leaf harmonise with the green intensity of cardamom. The powderiness of iris with the suede-like texture of osmanthus (a classically Japanese flower) in addition to woody, powdery sandalwood. Add the scent of mandarin, to blend with the apricot fruitiness of osmanthus and the whole blends together in a beautiful and quite unique way.

Osmanthus seems central to this composition, the scent of the flower is a perfume in itself really, it's smooth, golden, savoury/sweet - almost like apricot tea if you can imagine such a thing, but it's mostly the sense of texture that makes it such a lovely addition to perfume; it's very soft-edged (though not delicate) and it's often described as having a suede or leather-like scent.

Though this perfume is quite unique, it does in fact remind me of the dry down of Coco Chanel (though not the modern-day version which has hardly anything in common with the original 80s perfume).Those of you who were teenage or older in the 80s will remember those two pillars of 80s perfumery: Opium by Yves Saint Laurent and Coco by Chanel. I always prefered the latter, because although it shared all the spicy ambery impact of Opium, it was considerably softened by rose and, similarly to Rahele, featured a generous helping of osmanthus. I have very fond memories of wearing Coco, especially in my late teens when I lived in Greece with my boyfriend at the time, who was re-building an ancient village in the hills of Paros over-looking the vivid blue Aegean. 

'Blue Bay', Rose Strang 2012

We lived on the building site in a long brick building with rough cement floor and a huge hammock bed, but in the midst of this (cough) charming rural scene, I kept my make-up and bottle of Coco Chanel in a little wall-niche on a slab of polished Paros marble! Maybe its powerful aroma helped keep the moths and lizards at bay! Anyway, by the time I returned to Scotland in the late 80s, this Baroque and dark style of perfume was making way for the minimalist chic of CK One and Issey Miyake's L'eau d'Issey. (I never did love those aquatic-style perfumes!).

Into dry down Rahele is softer, definitely more powdery than Coco, but that suits me fine since Coco in eau de parfum, as it was, would blow your socks off in comparison to the lighter styles of perfume worn today! Rahele is also slightly sweeter, and if I could change anything about this perfume it would be that ubiquitous vanilla dry-down, thankfully though, the osmanthus is still very present, ading its soft suede texture and warmth.

I haven't yet mentioned that Rahele is diferent in style from Vermeire's earlier launches, of which I've tried just one - Trayee. But her debut perfumes were absolutely India-oriented, in fact Trayee reminded me of kulfi ice-cream (she really does do wonderful things with cardamom!) though against a backdrop of beautiful sandalwood and incense.

Rahele appeals to me far more than Trayee ultimately though, probably as I've never really been drawn to gourmand style perfumes, however authentic and classy.

As summer mellows towards Autumn, I really can't think of a lovelier perfume than Rahele right now, with its golden apricoty osmanthus, dusted with soft green powder and spice.

(If you like the paintings and photographs in this post, you can view more at my artist's website at   https://rosestrangartworks.wordpress.com/gallery/ )

Autumn pond reflections, Rose Strang 2011