First thoughts on Fitzrovia by Penhaligon's

Last week I received an unusual but delightful invitation to attend an evening with Penhaligon's at Callooh Calley in Shoreditch (which if you haven't been is a cocktail and Alice in Wonderland lovers destination bar).

With my special key (which was the unusual part) I was able to walk through the wardrobe and into the Penhaligon's room where we were treated to drinks inspired by their fragrances; I think the hit of the evening was the Blenheim Bouquet but they were all very worth trying!



We were able to try three upcoming Penhaligon's scents; two further additions to their Anthology collection- which is made up of scents from their archives re-imagined or refreshed for modern noses- of which more news soon.

Of course all new perfumes are exciting to me but I had been waiting to try Penhaligon's major new scent for the year since I first heard that it was to be inspired by gin and so I wanted to write some first thoughts about it now.

Firstly because I love gin (although I do not love tonic at all) and think juniper is a wonderful and very British ingredient. Secondly I'm obviously very interested in the relationship between food and scent and a new gourmand that doesn't begin with sugar or chocolate is only a good thing in my eyes.

On first sniff I can report Fitzrovia is indeed gourmand and there isn't just juniper but pepper, black cherry and brown sugar in the notes. The scent will be unisex which is obviously very trendy at the moment but in this case I think is correct. I will write far more about the fragrance when it is available(in the Summer) but until then I think I will be getting more interested in smelling different varieties of gin to keep me occupied.

Interview: Odette Toilette from Scratch+Sniff events

Scratch+Sniff events are "Purveyors of Olfactory Adventures". Odette Toilette (Lizzie Ostrom) is their founder and arranges their meetings once a month at The Book Club in London's Shoreditch. The events are designed as a place to celebrate our sense of smell and explore scent, whether you are a novice or an aficionado.

I've loved the evenings I've attended so far and asked Odette to answer some questions about Scratch+Sniff and her love of scent more widely:

1) Have you always been a scent lover?

Yes since a very young age. The Avon lady coming by was a highlight of the week for my sister and I when we were about 7! I remember being obsessed with those fairy fragrances which probably smelled of very fake peach, but which to me were the height of exoticism. My mother used to say: "I can go without new clothes, as long as I have perfume and lipstick, that's all that matters."

It kind of grew from there, but I'd say the interest really started growing about 7 or 8 years ago, and a huge part of that I think is the internet - discovering a whole world of cultured and fascinating fragrance discussion. I remember the day I found makeupalley and spending far too long in general reading perfume reviews.


2) What gave you the idea for the Scratch and Sniff events?


Well, professionally my background is in events and communications, and I started Scratch+Sniff because the gatherings I wanted to go to didn't exist. I had seen from the sidelines all the great perfume safaris and tours being organised though boards and online communities, but was (stupidly) too intimidated to join in. In a separate incident, I discovered that a friend who I'd known for years was also obsessed with perfume, yet we'd never talked about it. I find with friends, we'd all say 'oh you smell nice', but never going further in the conversation.

And I would definitely call myself adventurous in the kinds of cultural pursuits I attend - I love experimentalists in the UK like Bompas and Parr, Coney, Shunt or The Last Tuesday Society, who push what an event can be, or the subjects it might explore, so really it all came together in a serendipitous moment. An opportunity was presented to trial a quirky evening shindig, I jumped at it, and the rest came from there.


3) I like the fact that Scratch+Sniff is a mixture of different medias, some speaking by experts and audience participation; was it hard to devise the events?

No I wouldn't say it's hard and I think that's because I play to my strengths. I'm not a perfumer (nor do I think I'd be a very good one, though if anyone would like to fund a course I would be happy to oblige), but what I do know how to do is engage people imaginatively, and I love an unusual format. Scratch+Sniff to me is a bit like a sandpit - so far people have come along for the ride, which is what makes this so rewarding.

4) I think the internet has really opened up people's eyes to scent. Events like yours, the publications of more scent based books and the increasing interest in individual perfumers have all been effects of the internet I've found. Do you find the people who attend the events are not necessarily hardcore scentaholics?


Completely. Though I'm delighted when perfume addicts come to the events (and I love meeting bloggers in person), what really excites me is that Scratch+Sniff attracts those new to this whole world. They read about the event as an alternative night out, think it sounds intriguing and don't really know what to expect! That they leave with their eyes opened to olfaction is the best thing ever. I really do think perfume is entering a very exciting time, and the old ways of doing things are going to get rather left behind.


4) You have looked at scent and the movies, scent and travel and men's scent to name a few so far. What upcoming themes have you got planned for Scratch+Sniff?


Oh there are loads, I've probably got 3 years worth of events up my sleeves. We've got scent and music coming up which will be fun, and in general there's lots of potential in events that explore crossover with other art forms. Visual arts is one I'd like to do, ideally in collaboration with a gallery. Often an event run on a more general theme, like A Scented Journey Around the World, brings up a plethora of new ideas where we can drill down a bit more into a topic. So I'm currently looking at a Moroccan Special. Grant Osborne at Basenotes has also suggested a Scents of Childhood event as a riff on the teen night we're running, which I'm very keen to do. So many ideas, so little time etc etc.


5) Do you have a favourite perfume?

Errr do I have to pick one? Currently the scent I'm wearing nearly every day is Frederic Malle's Une Rose, after years of being blasee about florals, on which note I'm also loving Carnal Flower. For sentimental reasons I'm going to go with Premier Figuer from L'Artisan, because I have very strong memories of turning up at their shop in Chelsea at a ridiculously young age, and having a cheeky spray. When I finally got a bottle I was ecstatic, only to find the coconutty edge gnawing away at my love of it one week later. Oh well. And I shall always love the old Diors especially Diorella - a favourite of my mum too!

6) And (or if the above is too hard... which it certainly is for me) is there a scent you wish more people were aware of- and why?

I'm a big fan of Tauer perfumes in general, and the way he shares his whole creative process. His perfumes really tell an imaginative story and they always challenge. I think that's important - there should always be something not quite right in a scent, in the best possible way, otherwise it gets BORING.

7) Is there a historical figure in perfume who you would like to have met- or had a sniffing session with and why?

Oh yes - to continue my Dioraptures (can that be their new perfume??!), Edmond Roudnitska. I would have loved to sit with him quietly while he took in the scent of Lily of the Valley. I'd have also liked to have a cup of tea with Marie Thérèse de Laire who quite possibly concocted Caron's famously outrageous house base, Mousse de Saxe. Though I know very little about her, I've the feeling she'd be a laugh. And finally and perhaps most of all, a fictional character - Sugar from Michel Faber's novel The Crimson Petal and the White, whose marketing savvy turned around the fortunes of her lover's perfume empire, Rackham's.


You can find out everything you need to know about Scratch+Sniff here, including information on upcoming events and booking tickets. You can follow the lovely Odette on twitter and read the Scratch+Sniff blog here. If you can't make the events you can follow basenotes who live blog/ tweet them.

Further reading:

The BBC have made an adaptation of the Crimson Petal and the White; I confess I have recorded the first episode but not watched any as yet so I cannot recommend it or not- but it's definitely worth trying.

The Wellcome Collection are currently showing an exhibition about Dirt which should appeal to anyone who interested in smells- the good and the bad.

Eating Perfume: Penhaligon's chocolates

Flower food and scented recipes get my pulse racing in exactly the same way as a new fragrance. I've written about eating perfume before in the context of the ingredient ambergris but Penhaligon's in Edinburgh and their neighbour The Chocolate Tree have gone one better and collaborated on chocolates inspired by Penhaligon's perfumes.

The fragrances they produced chocolates for are: Malabah, Cornubia, Endymion, Orange Blossom, Amaranthine and Gardenia; a mixture of classic and newer formulations.

I was excited and fascinated by this process- and the chocolates themselves sounded delectable. Alex Musgrave, the delightful manager at the Edinburgh branch of the perfumers, agreed to answer some of my questions about how this chocolate collection.

1 How did the idea for a collaboration between Penhaligon's and The Chocolate Tree come about?

The collaboration was almost accidental. With a touch of fate! I have wanted to create scented chocolates for almost as long as I have worked for Penhaligon’s which is six years now. It’s a tricky thing to do. The artisan chocolate market is awash with a huge array of convoluted flavours, some successful some not. I had criteria. I wanted something local and therefore exclusive to my boutique, flavours reflective of our fragrances, not slavish imitations and delicacy and originality. I wanted them to surprise my clients. We succeeded on all these points.

One of the Chocolate Tree team, Josie, their talented baker, came in looking for fragrance. We got talking about flavours, scents and mutual ideas. Then Ali (Alistair Gower), the owner of the Chocolate Tree got in touch and we sat down to talk chocolate and perfume. He was new to fragrance and truth be told I am not a massive chocolate eater and knew very little about the way artisan quality chocolate is made. We looked very carefully at the fragrances with the ingredients we thought might produce the most unique finished product. I wanted a range of tastes, finishes, textures and sensations. I really wanted each chocolate to be savoured on the palate in the way a scent opens and blooms on the skin. Big ask, but you know what….we got very close. Especially with some of them. We did a couple of trials and changed the ganaches, tweaked ingredients, changed the colour of chocolate shell here and there and then kept tasting until we were happy. The final six chocolates were just beautiful and worked better than I could have hoped for.

2) I am a great lover of rose and violet creams- which are obviously made with perfume type flavours- I know they are quite love or hate- what was the reaction of customers to the perfumed chocolates? Was there a particularly successful chocolate?

We knew the reaction from clients would be really interesting. Everyone (the team included) had quite pre-conceived ideas about scent-inspired chocolates. So it seemed did many of our customers. I trained all our staff in the collaboration process and the inspiration and the ingredients. I had involved them in all stages of the process too, asking for feedback from them about the different drafts of the each chocolate. So when we started to sell them and talk about them we were more than we prepared. We all loved different chocolates too and were passionate about the project. We launched them at a special evening for local businesswomen, talking about the collaboration and letting the ladies sample them for the first time. It was interesting to watch reactions as I talked. Some were intrigued some not, some not really liking the idea at all, imaging a straight perfume/chocolate mix. After tasting however was a different matter. Hugely positive, everyone surprised and really intrigued by the witty interpretation of the fragrances, the scented echo if you like. We sampled them in store as we sold too and this really worked, talking each client through the project and letting them sample the same scent too. The feedback was so positive, with repeat sales for the chocolates and so much encouragement from our clientele.



3) I think using floral ingredients in food is becoming more fashionable- and gourmand fragrances continue to be very fashionable- did anyone find that they liked the chocolate of a scent they didn't like on their skin?

This is an interesting question. The Amaranthine chocolate was in many ways the most challenging to create and the fragrance for me that I wanted to be absolutely perfect. The fragrance was launched in November 2009 and exploded across the artisan scent world with its divisive and compulsive blend of tropical banana leaf, spiced oils, high levels of ylang oil and a deeply weird hot milk note in the base of the scent that made it so moreish and sensual. It is perhaps one of the most unusual and shocking scents that Penhaligon’s has launched and was created by master perfumer Bertrand Duchaufour. I wanted the oddness of this scent to come across. The contrast of comfort and carnality, the creaminess and unsettling power of ylang, a renowned aphrodisiac oil. This fragrance divided our clients. Some loved, some hated. The chocolate however worked like a dream, (we used tiny touches of ylang ylang essential oil) seducing all who tried it and for me is the stand out chocolate in the collection. On a personal level, one of the chocolates is based on Malabah, a ginger and rose based oriental we have in our collection. The scent itself is witty, juicy and stylish but smells sharp and bitter on my skin, much as I want to wear it. The chocolate however is smooth and beautifully made, with delicate notes of green coriander running through it and the earl grey tea note which in the scent is fresh, is smoky and warm in the chocolate. Wonderful.

4) I am especially intrigued as to how the non floral ingredient like sandalwood tasted- could you tell us a little bit about that?

The sandalwood note (and the use of myrrh and the Endymion chocolate) works very well with chocolate. They are both warm, woody, earthy notes. This plays well with the bitterness of dark chocolate in particular. Ali the chocolatier and his team use these notes with great finesse, the aromatic creaminess of wood oils breathes into the chocolate and seems to give it an extra dimension without ever overpowering it. Like base notes in fragrance, I noticed as the chocolate finished on the palate, these wonder bitter woody notes resonated last of all, smoothing and rounding the experience off.

5) Might the collaboration be repeated in the future?

I have future projects in the back of my mind already. The valentine’s project is already up and running in Edinburgh and selected London stores. I would like to look at working on chocolates for the new Anthology fragrances launching in late spring. One of them is a sparkling fruity gourmand begging to be made in a chocolate. We are looking at making Blenheim Bouquet, out bestselling citrus into a mini bar for father’s day, I love the idea of playing with black pepper, lemon, pine and bergamot. Maybe a small box of limited edition Orange Blossom chocolates for mother’s day. So there are ideas galore. I want Ali to be considered like a perfumer in some respects, someone who I consult with a brief, who creates something special to sit alongside our beautiful fragrances. We both like a challenge and the process so far has been fun and surprising for both of us.



Thank- you very much to Alex and everyone at Penhaligon's. There is lots more information about the upcoming Valentines chocolates on the Penhaligon's facebook page and you can follow the fragrance house on twitter- they have lots of competitions and interesting events throughout the year.

Strange Invisible perfume

One my major perfume discoveries last year was Strange Invisible Perfumes, a range of completely natural (and importantly) certified organic perfumes made in America. You can read more about Strange Invisible Perfumes and their ingredients here.

My new found love for the line is in fact purely driven by the scents I have found which are interesting, daring and inventive; that they are natural is, to me, a bonus. However if for you this is an important factor (and I can increasingly see that it would and perhaps should be as much for fragrance as it is for skincare) then these are the best perfumes I have found that do not contain any chemicals.

I have tried the following perfumes from this line but there are more and I would love to hear about the ones I haven't tried yet if anyone has.

Musc Botanique: A perfume that smells of musk without containing any. Musk although an extremely popular smell is of course derived from animals and as such some people disagree with its use in perfumery. Strange Invisible perfumes have crafted this scent entirely from botanical ingredients and I must say it is really quite successful at mimicking the more ish, nuzzling quality of musks. It also has a very pleasing salt quality. This is a very successful unisex scent that I would recommend to anyone who wants to wear a non floral, musk type scent but who prefers to only wear perfumes that contain natural ingredients.

Fire and Cream: This perfume has a delicious bright orange, marmalade colour in the bottle. On the skin this is also an orange scent- with top notes of the fruit itself and orange blossom and beautiful basenotes of a particularly rich grassy vetiver as well as sandalwood and patchouli. For anyone who loves orange and or vetiver and anyone who likes to be a little bit different.

L'Invisible: The signature scent of the line and the perfume they describe as the 'little black dress' of the collection. With beautiful and overtly sexual notes of amber, moss and ylang ylang they are quite right- this would be the ideal natural perfume for a date night. It has quite a pronounced lemon citrus top note which rescues it from being too heady and old fashioned.

Prima Ballerina: This is absolute lovely but as I have already reviewed it I will say no more than this is my personal favourite and direct you to my former review here.

Aquarian Roses: Is obviously an aqua rose scent- now with my love of all things rose and particularly salt notes I always expect to love aquarian roses (Rosine and Lostmarc'h have their own versions as well). Honestly I have never found they live up to my expectations but this one is the best I've found. The rose oil is clearly of a very high quality and the perfume smells exactly like a rose garden when it's raining; perhaps because this is where natural perfumery works best, it can really mimic smells you would find in life and would never expect to find in a bottle, but you can.

Fair Verona: A very beautiful name for a perfume, I wondered if it would be rather hard to live up to- but this scent does fair Verona and Juliet great service. As with all the other scents in this line the quality of the raw ingredients in Fair Verona shine through. This is especially true of the jasmine, which is listed on their website as being a combination of oils from that flower.

In many ways a classic scent Fair Verona could, in other hands, have been over- poweringly feminine but here the jasmine retains a freshness which prevents this. That lightness may come from the pink grapefruit note, which also suggests youth and vibrancy. The scent is not without complexity though and sandalwood stops it from being too carefree. A scent for women of all ages who want to smell like ladies but not girls.

Peloponnesian: The only specifically male fragrance I have tried from this line (although I think several of the scents that are not listed as unisex could easily be for an open minded man). Peloponnesian is quite simply everything you want from a man's scent (well that I want, as a woman). It is a very well balanced blend of the classic citruses that do tend to dominate men's cologne type smells together with some of the more unusual ingredients that do seem to be characteristic of this companies way of working. Those rarer ingredients include mountain sage honey and the botanical musk which I discussed above as a major ingredient in L'Invisble- which again here adds a salty aspect which works incredibly well for me. It would be very hard for a man not to be well dressed in fragrance terms in Peloponnesian.

Photos taken in Content/ Wellbeing who offer the range of Strange Invisible (and other natural perfumes and beauty products) in their lovely London shop and online.

I was given samples of all the scents reviewed here which in no way influenced my opinion of the products.

Prima Ballerina

Ballerinas are the essence of refined femininity- combining elegance, grace and perhaps most importantly strength. The adage is to never judge a person until you have walked in their shoes- well to dance in a ballerinas shoes is to understand them- they might look fragile but being en pointe is as strange and painful as you imagine- to be a ballerina is to be utterly in control of your body and your mind.



Strange Invisible perfumes have chosen the rose as the centre piece for their Prima Ballerina scent- and the rose is everything a ballerina is, in flower form. Although if we're honest the rose is even more full of life than a ballerina, a rose in real life would probably have cream on top of it's cake, stay out a little bit too late and maybe wear it's hair a little bit too long- but always with grace- and I don't think a well behaved dancer would do any of those things.

Prima Ballerina is a blend of Rose, sage, lime & botanical musk according to Strange Invisible Perfumes website. While I do see that complexity to me this scent is rose- in fact buckets of roses, overflowing pink varieties from across the world. In smell and character Prima Ballerina is not unlike the much revered Moroccan rose bath oil from Ren.



Strange Invisible Perfumes are certified organic, and one hundred per cent natural perfumes. The world of natural beauty and perfumery is something of a mystery even for many product and scent enthusiasts- and what may be marketed as pure or from nature in press releases may in fact include synthetics, chemicals and animal products. My interest in finding genuinely good but organic scents led me to this company but I can honestly say this scent is as good if not better than any perfumes you can buy with chemicals in them- in fact the lushness of the rose smell is I'm sure due to there being a great deal more natural ingredient contained in the perfume. I would certainly buy this scent for the smell alone rather than for environmental reasons- although that this scent is ethically sound is clearly a fantastic bonus.

The first picture above is from The English National Ballet's Romeo and Juliet, choreographed by Rudolf Nureyev, which will be performed in London in January.

The second picture above is for the forthcoming Darren Aronovsky film Black Swan, which I cannot wait to see. The poster is from The London Ballet, a lovely site for anyone interested in this most refined form of dance.

The picture of Prima Ballerina and other Strange Invisible perfumes was taken at Content/ Wellbeing which I recently posted about.

If you like ballet and would enjoy seeing male and female dancers in repose then there is one more day to visit Mary McCartney's exhibition at The Michael Hoppen Gallery or you can see a selection of her pictures behind the scenes at the Royal Ballet (called 'Off Pointe') in her book From Where I Stand.

Lipstick rose- the cocktail

So far my meet ups with the lovely Metropolitan Mum have been very glamorous and FUN!

Firstly we went for the fashionistas and foodies favourite afternoon tea Pret a Portea at the Berkeley Hotel- you can read all about what we got up to on Metropolitan Mum's blog here.

Then last week we decided to head out after dark for some sophisticated cocktailing at the very hip, very award winning, 69 Colebrooke Row in Angel.

They take their drinks seriously at Colebrooke Row, employing a similarly scientific and fastidious but fun approach to Heston Blumenthal's with food. The menu is just right- there is a good amount of choice without it becoming overwhelming or in anyway cocktails by numbers. The full menu is here- and if you ask nicely they will make you the occasional off the list treat.

I don't think you will be surprised to know that I ordered the Lipstick Rose cocktail as soon as I arrived (I had pre perused the menu that afternoon when I was particularly needing cocktail hour to come quickly). A lipstick rose is apparently made of Raspberry & Violet Syrup with Rose Vodka topped with Champagne. You will notice there is lipstick on my glass in this picture- that isn't mine, it is edible lipstick that comes on the glass, nice touch isn't it?

The Lipstick Rose is very nice- I am a serious lover of cocktails but champagne ones do need to be good because messing around with the sacred nectar that is bubbly can be a travesty. This one isn't- it is a thoroughly lovely tipple for girls. It is also unnervingly like the perfume it shares a name with- Lipstick Rose from Frederic Malle. Obviously drinking perfume would actually be disgusting because it's mostly neat alcohol but you know what I mean.



I liked to see this trend though- and I wonder if we might see more cocktails like perfumes? You could make a grand, super deluxe Bellini inspired by the complexity of the peach in Mitsouko, with some brandy and perhaps some vanilla vodka. Some people might feel it is sacrilege to use perfume to inspire cocktails but I think they go together rather well- and the skills of a master taster and a master perfumer are really not unrelated.

Bathing in the new

I've moved house again recently. Sometimes I feel like the littlest hobo- and that until tomorrow I'll just keep moving on.

I enjoy new neighbourhoods so much though; finding the idiosyncrasies of a new place and finding the local beat, learning to step with it properly. In a new area a trip to the shop for milk becomes a little adventure. Roman Road market was as exciting to me on Saturday as a souk in Morocco, watching the traders, the customers, finding muffin trays in the least likely shop, realising toffee apple cider existed- all of this being within 200 yards of my new home- how nice! I have become like a much nicer vampire, sucking up novelty to feed my curiosity. There is something to not being a tourist in a place but not quite being local yet- I find that limbo time thrilling. I haven't found out where the recycling goes yet though; this seems to be a total mystery.

Moving itself is quite another matter. I lived in the same place all my life until I was eighteen and went to University. My University halls were Brideshead shabby chic- utterly lovely and quite grand but extremely frayed around the edges. The setting meant out of term that the conference roadshow came to town and we had to move in and out of our rooms every three months- and so an intense dislike of moving, or more accurately moving day, was born.

I don't like materialism but at the end of the day when you acquire books, music and films and even clothes they are precious to you in as much as they are the ones you chose over other options. I fret that books especially will be ruffled and scarred by being packed up and into little cases or boxes and try to be as careful with them as I can without becoming completely absurd about it. There is also the problem of things, especially clothes, seeming to expand as soon as you need to contain them and always having one box too many for the car. The moments between homes are strange too- when you have left one place but are not quite at the other- for a moment you are homeless and only then can you realise just how terribly lost those without their only little corner of the world might feel.

I had been living, excitingly but unusually, in central London for several months. I loved everything about it- I wasn't sure if I would. I have always and continue to love the city most of all early in the morning when it hasn't woken yet. On Sunday mornings especially when the heart of London wasn't booming and a strange quiet used to fall I would sometimes wake- I'd open the big sash window and just gaze out and listen for the quiet- then I'd go back to my slumber and that sleep would be intensely peaceful.

So I will always have very happy memories of those months in London proper- the only thing I missed when I lived there was not having a bath in my flat. I really didn't realise quite how much I love the bath. It is just such a simple pleasure and so relaxing. People write endlessly about baths, liking them or not, busy people like to say they don't have time for baths and others will tell you all about their bath routine.

No one ever really talks about how wonderful it is to be able to just lie in hot water for a little time, breath in the steam and just be. I always love the bath scenes in period dramas for this reason- in old films or books from another time the bath is a luxury for most and treated with respect.

My new home has a very nice bath in it. On the dreaded moving day after lifting many many boxes in and out of buildings quite literally the first thing I did after throwing everything at my new room was to have a bath.




Now that I am settled in I have taken the time to enjoy some beautiful rose bath truffles I was given by Simply Roses.



It is quite clear that I love roses but really the scent of these truffles was sublime as it wafted around my flat. Lavender is always thought of as the archetypal relaxing scent but rose oil is extremely nurturing and re balancing and in many ways is as good for stress as its lilac cousin, especially for women.I loved watching the petals unfold and dash around as the water ran so I took some photos to share with you below.








The rose truffles, which do look and smell good enough to eat but should probably be kept just for the bath are available online here.

Scents of the Mediterranean the world over

Scents of the Mediterranean is a collaboration between perfume blogs from around the world, which was kindly organised by Ines from All I am- A Redhead and Helg from Perfume Shrine. I would like to thank them both for inviting me to participate and for all their work. I really enjoy coming together with other bloggers and think it's very much in the spirit of the community to work together. I'm really looking forward to every one's thoughts on their favourite smells from the Mediterranean, mine are below but do let me know yours as well.

Diptyque Philosykos: Philosykos is figs, it's like a symphony on them- not just the skin and the flesh but the branches and leaves of the fig trees and the the hot, beating sun I imagine shining, burning down on them day after day. It has become quite simply one of my favourite fragrances. I continuously receive compliments and even nuzzles from people when I wear it (which isn't why I like it but it helps!). I find it quite a cerebral scent too, I think well with it on. It's not terribly masculine or feminine but it's sensual, like figs themselves.

By Redo Palermo: This is the newest By Redo and I have been wanting to write about it so this is a great opportunity. Palermo is, of course, the capital of Sicily- for me one of the most intriguing corners of the Mediterranean. While I am lucky enough to have travelled to many parts of Italy I haven't made it to Sicily yet and I do long to go- to see the architecture, the history that makes most British buildings seem new (which is hard) to eat the food and feel the hot stone under my feet. So of course Palermo seems exotic, enticing and a little bit mysterious to me before I have even smelled it. It is actually a citrus and herbaceous scent, to some degree fresh but not in the way of many lemon based scents. This is a sophisticated smell, in the same family as Eau Savage and Miss Dior, a light chypre dressed in the ironed white shirt of a citrus eau de toilette.

Carthusia Mediterraneo: this is southern Italy to me- walking in the lemon groves and drinking the freshest lemonade I ever tasted in Sorrento after swimming in the pool. I don't particularly like lemon scents as I am always saying but this is the exception, this is lemon sorbet and all the joy of Italy bottled up for me to bring home. Whenever I want to go back, whenever London is too grey or cold or maybe sad, one spritz of this and I am the land that makes my heart happy.

Olive oil. I thought for quite a long time about including something as simple as olive oil but it truly is the taste of the Mediterranean for me and actually it's scent is not only very transporting but it's very unlike any other smell. To me olive oil means health, a different kind of health to our Celtic and Anglo- Saxon robustness. Olive oil is men in their eighties dancing or stealing a kiss from a beautiful lady, it's Sophia Loren still looking beautiful and it's food that tastes amazing and you know is doing you good. So all my ideas about olive oil might be cliches but they work for me.

Korres Yoghurt after sun lotion. This one is quite specific I know but it's what I thought of! It is by Korres who are obviously Greek and it smells exactly like the those bowls of fresh Greek yoghurt that are quite tart you have for breakfast on holiday (I've never been to Greece sadly but I've had those bowls of yoghurt everywhere else and this product mimics the scent perfectly).

The other blogs participating in this project are as follows:

Bonkers about Perfume

I smell therefore I am

Notes from the Ledge

Olfactarama

Suzanne's Perfume Journal

The Non- Blonde

Waft

Smelly Blog

Scent Hive

Katie Puckrick Smells

Sonomascent

Roxana Illuminated Perfume

Perfume Shrine

All I am- A Redhead

Delicates

There are lots of thing I am not fussy about. I am not a wheat free, dairy free, ear plug wearing, own pillow taking to hotels, I won't die if the milk is semi- skimmed or we don't walk the absolutely quickest route to somewhere.

I do fuss about laundry though. I follow the instructions exactly and have probably spent far more money on dry cleaning and time on hand washing than is strictly necessary.

I find hand washing quite therapeutic though. There's something about squeezing every last bit of water out of a garment that is satisfying.

I have recently upgraded my hand wash to Stella laundry delicate from Tocca. Tocca make beautiful fragrances and have somehow managed to transfer the scents perfectly to their laundry range which I can't imagine was easy for the perfumer in question.

Stella is a blood orange scent which is rare in itself; the candle is something of a cult product and I remember there being a great deal of excitement when the perfume of this, and the other popular candles fragrances, came out.

For me though it's being able to have my delicates smell of blood oranges, one of the best gifts in natures basket, that really makes my day. In the morning it gives my day a small lift being able to smell my landry as I put my clothes on.

Now when are Guerlain going to start making washing powder?

Scents that sing Spring!

So here we are- spring is springing and some of the community of perfume bloggers have joined together to write about their favourite scents for this time of year.

Of course I love all the seasons, I love the changes and think we are so lucky to have four quite distinct seasons in the UK most years. I think spring is an especially good time for perfume; you can wear virtually anything, heavier scents can still work as it's not so hot that they become oppressive but you can also start to wear lighter, perhaps more joyful smells.

The scents I am looking to this spring are:

By Redo La Tulipe: a new scent this is green and clean which is perhaps unusual but on this only the second day of trying it delightful. It does smell quite like Tulips, or perhaps the smell in the air when you have just bought some tulips and are walking home with them. It is also has a pronounced and delicious rhubarb top note- one of my very favourite smells in perfume which is very underused- it works very well here.

Guerlain Apres L'Ondee (somehow it gets on to every list I write!): because it's beautiful of course- and because of the suggestion of warmth in it- the sunshine after the rain, the smile after the tears that all of it's lovers appreciate is perfect for spring, which is the most optimistic of the seasons.

Balmain Vent Vert: The greenest of all the green scents. I have never smelled a vintage formulation though I would dearly love to. I can only imagine how very verdant it must have been because even the reformulation is still stunning to me- I know not everyone agrees on this. I think it grows on skin, it always gets extremely positive comments when I wear it but it's definitely one that needs to be let out of the bottle and on to skin to show itself.


Penhaligon's Bluebell: Walking through the bluebell woods in the spring; is there anything more spring like and is there anything more beautiful? this smells exactly of those woods; lots of detractors don't see this but I would suggest they might never have been lucky enough to go to a bluebell wood- it doesn't smell very floral there, it smells of damp ancient soil and the bark of the trees that have been growing their for several hundred years, of the cold of winter subsiding in the earth and of the sun breaking in through the canopy and at the sides.

L'Artisan La Chasse Aux Pappillions: chasing the butterflies, creamy, delicious and gloriously floral- this is lovely worn sparingly in high summer too but I like to wear it in the spring, as I start to wear sandals and dresses and I can be more easily feminine out of the jeans and layers of winter.

Chanel number 19: A cousin of Vent Vert, perhaps a more refined one. Chanel 19 is perfect at any time of year, supremely elegant and ladylike without ever being boring or unimaginative, like Coco it's not terrible publicised by Chanel because it doesn't need to be. Still I think again this comes into it's own in the spring when the evenings are still chilly.

Creed Spring Flower: it's in the name isn't it- though this is very melon heavy and melons aren't spring like. Still this is light and carefree but a bit too much in the height of summer; perfect for now when you want to be a bit pink and feminine.

Please do take a look at the other blogs taking part (they are all listed below)- and do let me know what perfumes or smells make you think of spring.

Katie Puckrik Smells
Perfume Shrine
The Non Blonde
I Smell Therefore I Am
Notes from the Ledge
Scent Hive
Savvy Thinker
Roxana's Illuminated Journal
Perfume in Progress
All I Am A Redhead
Ambre Gris
Olfactarama


Special thanks to Ayala from Smelly Blog for arranging the event, Katie Puckrik for the idea and Helg for our header- the fraulein in full song like the scents we are talking about!