Must be the Season of the Witch

Favorites for Fall 2009

When I look out my window,
many sights to see.
And when I look in my window,
so many different people to be
that it's strange, so strange....
- "Season of the Witch," Donovan

Readjusting to living in Portland means walking into a Fall season in full swing. This is akin to walking face first into a door, weather-wise, and it has taken me a week or so to adjust. In addition, I'm just barely overcoming a moderate chest infection, which made the old sniffer go a little haywire.


If you've seen even the posters or ads for the Twilight movie, then you know that the film is shot with a kind of bluish filter that makes everything look tinted in the light. In the book, the effect is described by the narrator as "alien." But when you live here, the grey light makes the lovely fall colors higher contrast, making the whole world seem more richly colored. I've done fall in New England, and it's beautiful in its own right, but nothing touches the singular beauty of the PNW in fall. Except maybe the PNW in Spring.

But I digress...

When I think about Fall in Portland, I tend toward scents that fall into a handful of categories. Big white flowers just don't cut it in the white and wild green and grey. Gourmands, on the other hand, reflect the cozy feelings I ascribe to fall in Oregon. Yes, it's windy and wet and wild in that way that Nature is, but that also invokes smells of wet cashmere and wood burning stoves and savory stews and homemade pies with handmade crusts. So for me, foodie scents are very in for fall, as well as the smell of burning leaves and wood, incenses, and the smells of warm beverages, like coffee and tea and cider and liquor.

When it comes to nature in Oregon, CB I Hate Perfume Wild Hunt is just so very fall to me. It's wet dirt and sweet decay, exactly what I think of when I think fall. I actually found myself walking to lunch the other day and thought I'd smelled Wild Hunt, but it was just a momentary wafting up of the grounds as I passed. It's perfect for Oregon in Fall.

To that end, let me give you my favorites for fall of 2009. When it comes to coffee, Bond No. 9 New Haarlem cannot be beat. As vaillas go, Guerlain Spiritueuse Double Vanille is a great foodie vanilla and Il Profumo Vanille Bourbon strikes a lovely balance between foodie and boozy.

In terms of tea scents, for fall I like CB I Hate Perfume Lavender Tea, which is a lovely feminine scent that also feels warm and cozy. The other tea scent I like for Fall (though I think it also works for Spring) is L'Artisan Tea for Two.

My fall spicy, incense-y choices are Costume National 21, Tauer Perfumes L'Air du desert marocain, and my perennial favorite, L'Artisan Dzing! These are great, strong scents that can overcome the wet world outside that clings to you along with all those other world smells. When you peel off all the cold weather layers, these are scents that will still be there, hanging around you in a sophisticated and lovely way.

Lastly, I think it's always nice to have a rose for every season, and the dirty skanky patchouli bits in Juliette Has a Gun Lady Vengeance are spot on for fall. I also think Agent Provocateur EDP would also work, but I personally prefer Lady Vengeance, so that's my choice.

I hope you are all having a lovely fall. I know I am. As much as I wish I were employed, I am so, so happy to be home. It took me thirty-one years, but I finally have a home. I hope you all feel as lucky as I do.

And with that, have a Happy Halloween.

More top 10 lists for Fall 2009 from Grain de Musc, Erin at Now Smell This!, Bois de Jasmin, Perfume-Smellin' Things, and the whole Perfume Posse gang.

Images courtesy of Twilight and the Seattle Examiner.