Well, dear reader, it's quite warm up here in Puddletown, which means I can once again break out some of my warmer weather scents and make some recommendations to those of you who live in other places. And apparently, by other places, I mean the places that are so hot the ground is buckling and cities are entirely encircled in flame. Some people would call what I've just described as an actual living hell; others just call it summer in Southern California.
Me? I'm psyched because I am off to Tennessee to visit my very own the Kate this week for the Fourth! I have wanted to see Nashville and Memphis for basically my entire life, so I really excited. And since I am headed into the warm weather and packing for my trip, I've had some time to contemplate my
2013 Top Eleven Summer Scents list.
1.
DSH Perfumes Lush Honey. This perfume is sadly discontinued. I bought two ten ml rollers when it was on its way out and I am so glad I did! Sticky sweet and warm, it is a delightful, rich experience. You wouldn't think something so full-bodied would work in warm weather, but that's when I think I like it best. It's very sweet, almost achingly so, but somehow that works when things get warm and sweaty. If Dawn ever brings this back, don't think, buy some.
2.
Providence Perfume Co. Jessamine. Now here's a lovely and light floral for warm weather! Jasmine is not only pretty but seasonally appropriate, as it tends to bloom throughout spring and summer in most regions. After enjoying this delightfully dry floral of late, I'm thinking about potting some real jasmine of my own for the deck. I've been trying my hand at flower planting and herb gardening this season, and so far, so good. I'm crossing my fingers that my plants will hang in there as it warms up, but so far, I haven't killed anything this year. If you knew me well, you'd realize this is a huge accomplishment.
3.
Robert Piguet Bandit. I owe Bandit a real review, so allow let me include this bit of history here:
The first chypre fragrance for women to incorporate smoky and leathery tones, Bandit, ambiguous and slightly androgynous, is beloved by women of mischief and daring, exotic and sultry. It is the fragrance of provocateurs. Piguet worked with perfumer Germaine Cellier to launch the Bandit spirit and scent of the couture runway in 1944 with models sporting villain masks, brandishing toy revolvers and knives. He sought to evoke the aura of the “bad boy,” the outlaw.
This scent is certainly an outlaw, and as I am going to Nashville and listening to more than my fair share of outlaw country in preparation, this is a timely, complex, challenge. It practically defies description by modern perfume terms. On me, it runs into a lovely, mossy, green mixed with fresh leather, oil, and a bit of rubber. I don't get a lot of animalic notes, but that doesn't lessen its delightful strangeness. It is a wonderful experience, one made more exquisite by summer's warmth. I'm excited to try it under the slightly muggier climes of Tennessee to see how it changes.
4.
Annick Goutal Songes. Thus summer and every summer since I first fell in love with it, Songes has been at the top of the summer list for me. It is one of my most favorite beach-y scents. Sun, sweat, frangipani, vanilla and jasmine all come together in a tropical concoction I can't every get enough of. It always reminds me of home, and the beaches of the Gulf, with their warm weather and heavy floral and fetid fragrance, are one of the things I miss most.
5.
Demeter Fragrance Library Salt Air. The most realistic salt air scent I've ever found. No flowers. No trees. No seafood cooking smells or warm pressed flesh, just the air, the magical glorious air, that no matter how civilized and removed we become, says to something deep inside the body, "Welcome home."
6.
Jo Malone Wild Bluebell. I really love Wild Bluebell, despite it being a rather accessible polite scent from the staid Jo Malone. I looked back at my original review, and I will reiterate what I said then: the word whimsical is a good word -- strong, flirty, floral. Sweet in the floral way, if you want to smell like a pretty flower that could withstand a little hothouse attention, this would be good.
7.
Red Flower Organics Guaiac. Rediscovered hiding in the back of my perfume cabinet, this lightweight, straightforward mix of roses and oranges is a warm and realistic interpretation with a strong base that reminds me of the smell of cotton dried on a line. An underrated scent available at a reasonable price, I think it is a great summer scent.
8.
smell bent She Wolf. My very own the Kate bought me a smell bent sampler set that I tried and enjoyed, and then failed to review due to distraction and business. More to come from smell bent, but I wanted to comment on She Wolf right here and now. She Wolf is a standout in the Northwest sampler set. It is a strange cross between cotton candy, peaty greenery, and hot dirt, like something straight out of a roll in the hay at a carnival. Sound gross to many of you, I'm sure, but in hot weather it reminds me a bit of dating an FFA boy during summer rodeo season. I give it two sexy thumbs up.
9.
Hermes Un Jardin Sur Le Nil. Have you ever wished someone would make a straight citrus without all that floral and foodie mess getting in the way? One that didn't smell like cleaner, but smelled like real fruit? Supposedly inspired by hanging, unripened mangos, I get a lot of lemons, limes mixed in, along with a heady does of vetiver during the opening. As it settles on me, it remains light and airy. I don't know that I get a sense of being on the Nile, per se, but I do get a refreshing scent that comes alive and buoys one up even on the hottest of days. For my money, you can't go wrong with a scent like that come summer time.
10.
Olympic Orchids Carolina. Hot, medicinal, comforting, and sweetly biting in the way that good bread made from really ripe bananas tastes right out of the oven, Carolina is a scent that I always turn to in warmer weather. It's deeply comforting, but all that tobacco spice and butter-melty pastry makes me think of heat and hearth and home. To me, that's the long hot days of summer.
11.
slumberhouse Mur. Dry hay and clean beeswax with hints of leather, nothing says playing outside in the southern summer time like Mur. Easily worn by a man or a woman, slumber house seems to excel both at the unconventional and at the un-gendered. Mur, like so many slumberous scents, is complex and hard to categorize, but I love this one for summer time. It wear lightly on the skin, which can be a blessing when the hot air is bearing down.
There you have it! Eleven scents for summer. I'll be traveling a bit over the next few weeks, but I'm hoping to bring you some travel love along the way, dear readers, as well as some long awaited giveaways and travel trinkets when I return. And until then, if you've got travel recommendations, perfumey or otherwise, please give them over in the comments section.
For reasons I cannot explain
there's some part of me wants to see
Graceland.
And I may be advised to defend
every love, every ending
or maybe there's no obligations now.
Maybe I've a reason to believe
we all will be received
in Graceland...
"Graceland," Paul Simon
