jasmine

Olfactory symbolism

Posted on by elemonated

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/15638746/ns/business-us_business/t/perfumes-tied-film-do-not-all-smell-well/#.VKd0rCvF8WI

I just realized Thierry Mugler offered a coffret of 15 scents to go along with certain parts of Perfume: The Story of a Murderer in a promotion for the film (which I have yet to watch, forgive me, I’ll get to it.) I can’t. I’m a little ready to cry. Not that I would have had the money or interest back when the movie came out, since I wouldn’t have started high school yet, but the knowledge it existed and I missed it feels like a grand joke. And no one’s selling the full thing anywhere, which is to be expected.

Oddly enough, this discovery is what drove me to actually filling out applications today. I was so distraught that I was not rich or powerful enough to have this, I was determined to try and start being goddamn rich and powerful.

My priorities, ah.

I’ve always been struck by the “soft talking, big stick carrying” lilt of effective, ruthless power though, and generally wealth and power are conveyed through resins like amber or labdanum, but that signals brute force to me, not the more interesting duplicitous nature of a politician. Something that appeals to the majority, with something kind of off about it

In fact, I only discovered the coffret after searching for a realistic bloody floral (I’m not British. I mean copper, magnesium, skin, salt: blood) after a description of President Snow in The Hunger Games intrigued me. His signature was blood and roses, which would be intriguing enough, but not only can I not find an approximate for blood and roses with notes and reviews that reflect what I’m looking for, I would actually like to find a white floral mixed with blood. I’m on that jasmine kick, remember? It’s a scent reference, so I’m into it on principle. It would have been bomb to see Jennifer Lawrence at least wrinkle her nose in the new movie during those scenes, but I guess I can’t expect that much from snack food YA.

I’ll just content myself with another movie quote of her’s, probably one of my favorites from a new movie:

“There’s this top coat that you can only get from Switzerland and I love the smell of it. I’m running out of it and I don’t know what to do. The top coat, it’s like perfumey, but there’s also something rotten. I know it’s crazy but I can’t get enough of it. Historically, the best perfumes in the world they’re all laced with something nasty. It’s true! Irving loves it. He can’t get enough of it. Sweet and sour, rotten and delicious. Flowers, but with garbage.”
– Rosalyn, American Hustle

(By the way, if you haven’t seen American Hustle, I highly recommend it. It makes New Jersey relevant. Kind of.)

By Kilian: Imperial Tea and Love and Tears Review!

Posted on by elemonated

By Kilian won the Indie Fragrance Foundation Award for Amber Oud and Playing with the Devil, so perhaps I should have started with those two, but I’m on a jasmine kick at current, so this will just have to do until I go back.

Imperial Tea

Wet: magnolia, jasmine, green tea, water
Dry: jasmine, magnolia, violet, musk 

This one confused me when I sat down to review it. In the air, it turns into something closer to what jasmine green tea smells like. And I’ve sprayed it on other people and each time, I more or less received a black tea in a jasmine garden. Light, fragrant, tannic but not aquatic, and the jasmine took its place where it realistically would in a black tea: as a strong background character. Now it’s a green tea with jasmine and magnolia dropped in it, maybe a tablespoon of cream near a pond. I don’t take cream with my tea, so that takes the dry down away from the water and into the sun for me. It’s a great, uplifting scent, and not too sweet. I find it really comforting. This is perhaps for the librarian who doesn’t take sugar in his tea.

Love and Tears, Surrender

Wet: white floral, indolic jasmine, dandelions
Dry: jasmine milk tea, ylang-ylang, cedar, mulch

Mm, so I just read about the galbanum and petitgrain in this, and I’m almost positive they’re what leads to that realistic, piss-like under-bite to this. Does cedar, styrax and oakmoss together smell like mulch? Because the flowers I’m wearing are definitely still alive and feeding on something.

I feel like my head’s stuck in the roots of a jasmine bush in Asia because of the grassy and indolic facets of the jasmine, but it also reminds me of jasmine boba milk tea and I’m sure that’s due to the creamy ylang-ylang and soft lavender among other things.  It makes my nose feel funny. Now I’m light-headed, but it’s all good. I like it. Like really enjoy it. I sprayed this one a few times before as well, and this one was the one that earned me compliments like “That smells really good, is that you?” and “I need to give whatever that is as a present to someone.” It’s rather sensual and sweet, but still light enough not to trigger headaches. This is the type of scent you want to be rubbing into someone else’s sheets.

Jo Malone Rain Series – White Jasmine and Mint

Posted on by elemonated

Gather quickly
Out of darkness
All the songs you know
And throw them at the sun
Before they melt
Like snow

– Bouquet, Langston Hughes

Jo Malone Rain Series
White Jasmine and Mint

Wet: strong jasmine, citrus (like a lime juice and vodka), freshly chopped peppercorns, mint
Dry: jasmine, cream, nutmeg, back hint of mint

While I expected this to be floral-heavy, it’s actually surprisingly spicy, and reminds me of a mojito, or a vodka and lime juice a fraternity brother once made for me while we were all…relaxing. The jasmine stays strong throughout, but it’s warmed by spicy notes and unexpected creaminess, and then cooled off just slightly by the mint at the end which strokes the back of the throat. My boyfriend hates mint, but enjoyed this mix, and I have to agree.  I’ve always loved a nice jasmine, and White Jasmine and Mint doesn’t disappoint.

This is a really interesting scent, fitting for both summer and winter days, and perhaps a little mismatch for the autumn. I can equally see someone wearing this while snow drifts overhead, or on a beach lightening the scents of the sea. I can’t wait for winter to start.