Labdanum

Mood Scent 4 Well Named Perfumes

It’s is time for our monthly Mood Scent 4 post! Where Portia (on A Bottled Rose), Samantha  (I Scent You A Day), Megan (Megan In Sainte Maxime) and I write about a different subject relating to perfume. This time we concentrate on well named fragrances. Those perfume names which lead us to the “right”direction in the store or online and give us a well informed idea of what to expect from a scent.

Perfumes referring to notes in fragrances like rose, tuberose, lily of the valley/muguet, neroli or vetiver can give us a pretty good idea of what to expect although this not certainty either. As some fragrances can be called one thing like orange blossom but unexpectedly smell different, for example Serge Lutens Fleurs D’Oranger smells highly of tuberose. I chose my favourite 5 well named fragrances starting with DS & Durga Portable Fireside.

DS & Durga Portable Fireplace 

Fragrance Duo David Seth Moltz and Kavi Hakuja create original fragrances with matching creative names for their New York based brand DS & Durga. Scented candle Portable Fireplace is one of my favourites from this brand. It smells like a complete fireplace in a candle for those who don’t have the luxury of one at home. I don’t have one living in the city of Amsterdam and love to burn this candle during winter. 

April Aromatics Rose L’Orange, Vanilicious  and Ray Of Light

Another brand with well named perfumes is Berlin based April Aromatics. As you might know, I am a big fan of Tanja Bochnig’s all natural fragrances (and so is my fellow Mood Scent 4 pal Megan from Megan in Sainte Maxime) as I have reviewed several fragrances before. The perfume names are not funny or teasing as DS & Durga but some are very well chosen.

Rose L’Orange smells like a big apricot coloured rose dripping of sweet candied orange syrup and a pinch of vanilla powder. Vanilicious smells like sticking your nose in a delicious shiny long vanilla pod, full of smoky, leathery bits leaving your skin as if it was dusted with light vanilla powder. Uplifting Ray of Light adds a sparkle to your grey rainy day with its vibrant sweet yellow lemon, crisp green lime and bitter bright green leaves from the lemon tree.

Hermes Un Jardin En Mediterranee

Hermes Un Jardin En Mediterranee was the first garden fragrance created by perfumer Jean Claude Ellena for Hermes to be launched in 2003. It captures different plants and trees from a Mediterranean garden, a fig tree with its large fragrant leaves, filled with ready to eat but not overly ripe fig fruits, cypress trees, lemon trees and a touch of spearmint.

Un Jardin En Mediterranee smells like a light aquatic sea breeze on a warm summer day, refreshing and light. It’s like a water coloured painting of an unripe green fig fruit with carefully chosen transparent blue colours. Very refreshing on a warm summer day. Jean Claude Ellena left out all the milk like and coconut parts of the fig fruit in this fragrance which make this scent different from other fig fragrances. I am not an avid fig perfumes lover but I like the freshness and water like quality of this scent.

When visiting the botanical garden in Malaga years ago, in Southern Spain along the Mediterranean sea, it struck me how well fitting this name was as all notes could be found in this garden, white oleander flowers, orange blossom, figs and cypress. The photograph with the small travel spray was made in this garden.

These are the 5 well named fragrances I picked.  Have a look on Samantha’s blog I Scent You A Day Megan’s blog  Megan in St. Maxime  and Portia on A Bottled Rose! I love to read their picks and see what they chose. Sometimes we choose the same fragrances which is great as we don’t know the scents we will pick.

 

BOIS 1920 La Vaniglia Rapturous Labdanum, Le Voluttuose part 2

Julio Romero

La Vaniglia is part of the Le Voluttuose (the Voluptuous) series from the Italian perfume brand BOIS 1920. The Voluptuous line consists of three scents: Notturno Fiorentino (reviewed before), Rosa di Filare and La Vaniglia. The line is dedicated to the mysterious and enigmatic world of women.

Unlike what its name might suggest La Vaniglia is all about Labdanum (Cistus Labdaniferus). Cistus Labdaniferus is obtained from the Cistus plant around The Mediterranean. It comes in absolute and oil. Cistus essential oil is obtained from the twigs and leaves of C. Labdaniferus. The Labdanum absolute comes from extraction from the resin.

I am quite in rapture about La Vaniglia. After applying the perfume it changes from liquid warm butter and some rum to dusty labdanum. In the beginning a pinch of spicy pepper can be scented, after which a mentholic mint becomes more prominent. Traces of labdanum are already present with some added dryness from vanilla. The vanilla is not prominent more a slightly bitter addition to the labdanum. There is an air of dryness and powderiness through the whole wear of La Vaniglia. The powderiness reminds me of the dustiness of small woolen carpets on tables in Catholic Churches.

My favorite part of La Vaniglia is the dry down, the dry and powdery labdanum mixed with some bitter vanilla which lasts for hours.

According to Susanne Fischer-Rizzi in her book Complete Aromatherapy Handbook Labdanum (Cistus Labdaniferus in latin) works erotisizing on a mental psychic level. I can imagine it does. It is a fragrance very suited to get into a sensual mood. La Vaniglia is a scent about seduction which can work at quite a deep level while wearing it.

Amazingly La Vaniglia has gotten little attention. It deserves much better !

Which fragrance brings you in a sensual mood ? What is your favorite seductive fragrance ?

Fragrance family: soft oriental

Official notes:

Top: Mandarin, Bergamot, Mint, Pepper

Head: Incense, Patchouli, Woods, Ginger

Base: Vanilla

Sillage: stays very close to the skin

Longevity: quite good, 6-8 hours

Origin of sample set: I bought a Le Voluttuose sample set online and now own a very pink bottle

Sources: Jennifer Peace Rhind, Listening to scent

Susanne Fischer-Rizzi Complete Aromatherapy Handbook

Side note about Labdanum and Cistus, Kafkaesque interestingly mentions  in her latest perfume blog both Cistus Absolute and Labdanum Absolute. She says “many people and sites call Cistus “Labdanum” but AbdesSalaam finds a difference in aroma. Arctander has pages on the two, noting very technical differences in the type of plant species, geographic location, olfactory forms, and types of extraction.”

Painting made by Spanish and Andalucian painter Julio Romero de Torres, La Chiquita Piconera/The coal little girl, 1930