Dear reader:
I have been living in a terrible desert of words. I want to write to you. I want to tell you stories. Places I've been, things I've done, people I miss and people I am only just beginning to know. More stories and adventures, those of this world and those of the worlds in my head. All those voices clamoring...
But something has happened lately. I put pen to paper, I put fingers to keyboard, and then nothing. Nothing comes. I can't write. I can barely talk. I feel suddenly, strangely lost. I can't find anything to say to you, to say about the lovely perfume I'm smelling, to round out the worlds that live in my head.
I don't know why, dear reader. I don't know what illness has afflicted me and stolen all my words. But I am going to try, nonetheless. Forgive me if these meager ramblings seem weak or ill at ease on this page, in your screen, from my mouth. Right now, they are the best I can do.
Inspired by a summer garden. Verdant leafy greens, a tangle of tomato vine. Hints of muguet mingle with mimosa, jasmine and cooling violet leaf.The orange is bitter, like the oil from the skin of a not quite ripe orange, and it is blended beautifully with vetiver and violet leaf. Quickly – within minutes – it becomes dry, all sunflower seed taste and the least sweet neroli scent you can imagine. This is a lovely opening. It is light, it is complex, and it smells like you'd want to have a summer romance remember it by this smell somewhere ages and ages hence.
Top Notes: sunflower, green bitter orange
Heart Notes: mimosa, muguet leaf accord, neroli, jasmine sambac
Base Notes: vetiver, fir, violet leaf
The middle is far more floral than the opening, on me skewing toward a delicate jasmine with hints of violet leaf and muguet leaf. A bad jasmine can sometimes skew toward grape kool-aid or grape bubblegum; Branch & Vine avoids this by having hints of greenery and an almost lemony citrus, making it a truly lovely summer floral. I really liked it. I wore it in high summer heat and felt like it was gentle on the skin but still lightly assertive in a way that only a floral can be, and that the heat brought the sillage a little higher.
This scent is billed as a unisex scent and I believe it would be lovely on a woman, and possibly even more lovely and interesting on a man. Perhaps I will cajole my mister into trying a little, just to see.
A sample sprayer is $6.00 direct from the perfumer. A full ounce is $80.00. Given the lovely experience that is Branch & Vine, I think that's a reasonable price.
Providence Perfume Co. + Jonathan Joseph Peters Mousseline Pêche
Mousseline Pêche is an entirely different experience. Providence Perfume Co. describes it as follows:A new limited edition eau de toilette born of the collaboration between fashion designer Jonathan Joseph Peters, of Project Runway and our Providence Perfume Co. perfumer Charna Ethier. A fragrance inspired by the softest, sheerest peach mousseline de soie, the fabric of choice for the designer's summer resort collection.Wow. Peach and pink grapefruit mingle with rosewood and a strong tonka base note to create a sweet explosion of delicious, feminine fruits mixed with a clean oil basenote that reminds of me baby oil on warm skin in the opening. About twenty minutes in it I get am almost cinnamon note that sugars up the fruit a bit, but not overwhelmingly so. It almost reminds of Chanel No. 5 EdT, but only in the most distant cousin sense.
The sweet smell of peach skin warming in the sun,
A feather light frock of the palest silk mousseline,
Bronzed skin kissed with lush ylang ylang, rose and tonka.
Top Notes: yuzu, pink grapefruit, rosewood
Middle Notes: peach accord, ylang ylang, rose otto
Base Notes: tonka, vetiver, spun sugar (natural maltol)
I've worn Mousseline Pêche on both hot days and cool rainy days and find it pleasing for almost any weather. I get low to medium sillage off my spray sample, even when applied generously. My only complaint is that the longevity is on the short side for me, pettering out at around the four hour mark.
A good peach can be so hard to do; they often come off reek of chemicals like a cleaner or plastic-y like a scented doll. Mousseline Pêche is exactly what a sexy sparkling summer peach should be. It should make you want to bite into flesh until the juices run from your lips. If that sounds as good to you as it does to me, then give this one a try.
A sample sprayer of Mousseline Pêche is $7.00 direct from the perfumer. A 15ml sprayer is $50.00.
There you have it reader. I'm alive, if somewhat buried under. Hang in there with me. I promise, I miss you even more than you can possibly be missing me.
"My derring-do allows me to dance the rigadoon
Around you
But by the time I'm close to you, I lose
My desideratum and now you, so
Now you have it, so tell me baby, what's the word?
Am I your gal, or should I get out of town?
I just need to be reassured
Do you just deal it out,
or can you deal with
What I lay down?
Please forgive me, for my distance
The pain is evident in my existence
Please forgive me for my distance
The shame is manifest in my resistance
To your love, to your love, to your love
~ "To Your Love," Fiona Apple
Samples provided by perfumer.
Photo of Branch & Vine bottle taken from Providence Perfume Co. All rights reserved.
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