Grounding

Mood Scent 4 Wellbeing Wonder Perfumes

It’s Mood Scent 4 time again where we, 4 bloggers around the globe, show our thoughts on the same subject every month.  Sam (I Scent You A Day) from Wales, Megan in Southern France (Megan in St Maxime) Portia in Australia (guest blogging on A Bottled Rose) and I (from The Netherlands) chose to write about Wellbeing Wonders today, given what is happening in the world due to the Virus. We could all use some well-being wonders at the moment. 

It may sound frivolous right now to write about fragrances and beauty. But I have found perfume and beautiful things like flowers to be very uplifting, calming and comforting these past couple of weeks.  Nature is showing us its own natural pace with spring blossoming flowers like vibrant magnolia and joyous yellow daffodils.

In The Netherlands we are in semi lock down as we are still allowed to go out for a walk to get some fresh air opposed to other countries where people are not allowed to walk outside except for shopping. What is uniting us on this planet at the moment, is that we are going through the same things in our own way as we are all effected by the virus. Quite an exceptional experience.

Back to perfumes, I picked 4 perfumes as Wellbeing Wonders, 3 of them are reasonably priced, in case you would like to buy them online. The first is April Aromatics Precious Woods, not a cheap fragrance but well worth its price, this is why.

April Aromatics Precious Woods Eau de Parfum -Calming and Grounding-

Precious Woods invites us to take a slow calming walk in a green moist forest. German perfumer Tanja Bochnig was inspired to make this fragrance when she scented an Indian forest after the rain. Wearing it makes me feel like having both feet firmly on the ground. It has a very calming effect. This is not surprising as one of the main notes of Precious Woods is sandalwood. Sandalwood has been used by all Indian spiritual traditions (Brahmin, Buddhist and Hindu) to induce a calm state of mind and for meditation.

Precious Woods features natural notes of sandalwood, cedarwood, cistus, vetiver bourbon, patchouli, Buddha wood and white Sage. It is infused with small herkimer precious stones


Paul Smith Rose Eau de Parfum – Uplifting –

Elegant and effortless chic is a word which comes to mind when smelling Paul Smith Rose. It smells better than a bouquet of large stemmed pink roses from an exclusive flower-shop in one of the most expensive areas in the city. Paul Smith Rose is very uplifting and places you in a pink bubble for a moment. It is available online for a fairly reasonable price and was created by perfumer Antoine Maisondieu.

Paul Smith Rose features notes of green tea, violet heart rose, violet, magnolia, cedarwood. 

Guerlain Mitsouko Eau de Toilette – Comforting –

Many have written about Mitsouko which I will not repeat other than that it is a classic comforting masterpiece. Mitsouko was created more than 100 years ago in 1919 by perfumer Jacques Guerlain. The Eau de Toilette refills sprays (93ml) are still available online for 30 euro (not on this photograph) which is cheaper than a regular roomspray. This Eau de Toilette might not be as rich as the pure perfume but it works wonders when you spray it on your cushion or sheets before going to bed. It certainly is a wellbeing wonder for me.

Mitsouko features notes of bergamot, jasmine, peach, rose, oakmoss, pepper, cinnamon, vetiver.

Caron Pour Un Homme Eau de Toilette- Calming and Relaxing-

Pour Un Homme is a calming lavender perfume with a warm amber and comforting vanilla base. These notes have a very calming and relaxing effect. The fragrance is available online for a fairly reasonable price. I just found a 125 ml bottle with shower gel for 30 euro online as a giftset. Highly recommended for relaxation and calming the mind. Although Pour Un Homme is called For A Man in French, it is not for gentlemen only…

Pour Un Homme features notes of lavender, vanilla, musk and amber.

These are my 4 Wellbeing Wonder Picks. Have a look on Sam’s blog I Scent You A Day, Megan’s  Megan in St. Maxime  and Portia on A Bottled Rose to read their choices and read how they are doing  I am very curious, aren’t you?

I hope you and your loved ones are able to stay calm, centered and positive during the upcoming period. Stay well!

Do you use perfume as wellbeing wonder now? Which one do you use?

Disclosure: all photographs were made by Esperessence. The perfumes mentioned in this article were bought by Esperessence as well.

Sammarco Bond-T Perfume Review

Sammarco Bond-T Perfume Review

Bond-T was inspired by a visit to a chocolate factory in Pisa of Dutch born chocolate master Paul de Bondt which explains the puzzling name of the perfume. Smelling this perfume with the dry dusty dark chocolate, sweet patchouli and subtle animalic notes makes me curious of this chocolate factory and its special chocolates.

Bond-T is very well balanced as it is never too candy sweet and the dirty animalic notes  combined with the chocolate make it interesting and distinctive. It does not smell like you just applied an expensive bonbon on your arm although it is clearly a chocolate centred fragrance.

Bond-T was launched by Italian perfumer Giovanni Sammarco in 2013 and is only sold as an extrait de parfum (pure perfume) It is a very suited fragrance for the cold weather (including snow!) we are having in Amsterdam at the moment.

Bond-T is a rather soothing fragrance which makes you take a step back and stand with both feet on the ground probably due to the grounding patchouli.

I wouldn’t mind a full bottle of this elegant perfume as I really enjoy wearing Bond-T from time to time.

Notes: Cacao, Patchouli, Vanilla, Osmanthus and Tobacco (as of official site)  Indie Scents mentions Castoreum as well as a note.

Do you like chocolate centered perfumes? If so, do you have a favorite one?

Win a sample! Leave a comment and win a sample of 0,5 ml Bond-T extrait. The draw ends at 12.00 am Pisa, Italy time Monday January 28, Worldwide shipping. Rubio will pick a winner. If you leave a comment on Instagram or the Facebook page too you will be entered twice. – The draw is closed-

Disclosure: Photographs were made by Esperessence

 

April Aromatics Precious Woods Eau de Parfum Review

A walk in the forestPrecious Woods invites us to take a walk in a forest. German perfumer Tanja Bochnig was inspired to make this fragrance when she scented an Indian forest after the rain. I believe she succeeded very well in passing us the scent, image and experience of an actual walk in a wood. It is a scent I tend to use when I would like to wander in a forest but I am not able to, especially during a cold winter. Which is interesting as I have never been to an Indian wood but still get the impression my need of a walk is fulfilled by using this fragrance.

According to the official April Aromatics website Precious Woods is made of 100 percent natural extracts. I have used natural perfumes before which either did not last at all or gave the simplistic impression of just putting two or three essential oils together on a kitchen table. Fortunately I have no longevity problems with Precious Woods nor do I get the impression everyone could have made this fragrance.

What does it do ?

Wearing it makes me feel very down to earth and grounded. I find it a very appropriate fragrance to calm me as well. Looking at the ingredients this is not surprising as one of the main ingredients is sandalwood. Sandalwood fragrance has been used by all Indian spiritual traditions (Brahmin, Buddhist and Hindu) to induce a calm state of mind.

Precious Woods edp is worth a try if you like woody fragrances, are looking for a calming fragrance or more natural fragrances.

Do you use a fragrance to calm you ? Does it work ?

Ingredients according to the April Aromatics website: 100% natural extracts of Sandelwood/India, Sandelwood/Neukaledonia, CederwoodVirginia/USA, Cederwood/Himalaya, Cistus Vetiver Bourbon, Patchouli/Indonesia, Buddha Wood, white Sage, organic alcohol.

Fragrance family: Woody/ Classical Woody (via Fragantica)

Origin of bottle: my own

Photography by L’Esperessence