Tuberose
Mood Scent 4 : Inner Teen Perfumes
I
ts Mood Scent 4 time again! Sam (I Scent You a Day), Megan (Megan in St. Maxime), Portia (Australian Perfume Junkies) and I write about a different theme every month. This time we have chosen to post about Inner Teen Perfumes. Which perfumes make us feel like young teenagers again? Fragrances we used when we were teenagers ourselves or perfumes which make us feel like we are in our teens again?
When I was a teenager in the eighties I wore perfumes like Diorella, Lancome Climat and Estée Lauder White Linen. Diorella is the fragrance I associate most with being a teenager. I bought a “vintage” bottle of Climat a year ago but it does not remind me of the scent I used to wear at all. White Linen or Climat are not exactly fragrances I would suggest for teenagers nowadays but we had a lot less to choose from in those days as some of you well know!
Diorella!
I wore Diorella with much joy when I graduated high school in 1985. The year of films like St Elmo’s Fire, Back to the Future and Jagged Edge. Diorella extrait was a very generous gift from my aunt and it still makes me feel like a teenager even though it has been drastically changed removing its dominant fruity melon accord in more recent releases.
Diorella is an uplifting fragrance with Sicilian lemon, bright light clean jasmine over a vetiver and patchouly base. Natural jasmine flowers can smell of rotting and decay in the evening in the Mediterranean but the focus here is on it’s clean scent during the day. Perfumer Edmond Routniska interestingly added an almost rotting contrasting cantaloupe melon accord. Diorella was released in 1972. Edmond Routniska also created Frederic Malle Le Parfum de Therese in the early fifties (for his wife) Le Parfum de Therese was released to the public in 2000 and some bloggers say it is rather similar to Diorella. Honestly I find it rather different but who knows how it smelled when it was first released in 1972? I would love to know Diorella how it was originally intended.
Notes: lemon, peach, basil, bergamot, melon, green notes, honeysuckle, jasmine, violet, rose, carnation, cyclamen. Oak moss, vanilla, clove, sandalwood, vetiver, musk, patchouly.
Moschino Cheap and Chic I Love Love
Pure careless joy in a playful coloured bottle. This fragrance uplifts me everytime I wear it and the blue and red bottle with a toylike spray brings a smile to my face every time I use it. Starting with a bright citrus accord, full of juicy pomelo and sweet candy like lemon, it changes into a warm woody base. Although pomelo or grapefruit is very dominant, it never gets sour and is extremely uplifting. It does disappear rather quickly on the skin though. I love love was released in 2005 and created by perfumer Olivier Cresp, it is said to be rather similar to Dolce Gabbana Light Blue (which he created too) but with a brighter citrus top and as a bonus it is much cheaper too. They do share the same DNA but I love love is much more prominent on my skin especially its bright pomelo opening.
Notes: grapefruit, red currant, lemon, tea rose, cinnamon, musk, cedar wood
Parfums MDCI Péché Cardinal
Parfums MDCI (MDCI) Peche Cardinal is a young, joyful and pretty fruity floral fragrance. Wearing Péché Cardinal makes me feel innocent and playful. It was released in 2008, meaning Cardinal Sin in French and created by perfumer Amandine Clerc-Marie.
Peche Cardinal was the first perfume with a dominant tuberose note I enjoyed wearing. The tuberose is fresh green and innocent before showing us her more lush or even carnal side. Péché Cardinal can be slightly caleidoscopic as she changes from sweet peach liquor to creamy tuberose and a lighter coconut. It makes you feel like a young teenage girl feeling very pretty in pink (I am referring here to the 1986 film Pretty in Pink with Molly Ringwald and Andrew McCartney, a film I enjoyed watching in the eighties).
Notes: Davana, peach, coconut, blackcurrant, tuberose, prune, lily, cedar, sandalwood, musc.
These were my three choices! Have a look on the Sam’s blog I Scent You A Day, Megan’s Megan in St. Maxime and Portia’s Australian Perfume Junkies to read their picks for inner teen perfumes! I am very curious, aren’t you?
What are your favorite inner teen fragrances? Did you wear them when you were a teenager? Which fragrances make you feel like a teenager again?
Disclosure; photographs of bottles were made by me.
MoodScent4 Project: Playing The Diva Perfumes
It’s with great pleasure I am writing a new episode together with fellow bloggers Sam from I Scent You A Day, Megan from Megan in St. Maxime and Portia from Australian Perfume Junkies.
Together we choose a different subject every couple of months and link fragrance to mood or occasion. This time we have chosen to write about “playing the diva perfumes”. Due to moving houses I haven’t written in a long time on my website. I am very glad to do so for this special festive event. My perfume collection is not completely unpacked so I was slightly limited in my choices and reviews. But let’s continue and play!
Madonna Truth or Dare Perfume Ad
Each of us might have a different image of a diva, To me a diva is a larger than (daily) life grand lady, preferably dressed in a long red velvet dress with feathers, wearing a faux fur coat, demanding and getting a lot of attention.
Vivien Leigh as Scarlet O’Hara in Gone with the Wind
If I were to play a diva with perfume this would be with a lush white floral fragrance from night blooming flowers like gardenia or tuberose. The perfume would have strong sillage* and leave a beautiful scented trail when walking down the crimson velvet stairs in the theatre or opera house.
Isabey Paris Gardenia
Isabey Paris Gardenia Eau de Parfum comes to mind. Isabey Gardénia was created in 1924 and won the gold medal at the prestigious International Exhibition of Decorative Arts in Paris in 1925. As its face it had operetta singer Yvonne Printemps. Isabey Gardenia is a lush bouquet of white creamy flowers of tuberose and exotic ylang-ylang oozing vintage luxury from a bygone era. It leaves a harmonious veil of sandalwood, soft iris and musk which lingers for hours on the skin. A luxurious, mature and well balanced fragrance which makes you feel glamorous and like a diva from the roaring Twenties.
Its notes (according to the LuckyScent website) are Tangerine Peel, Ylang-Ylang, Orange Blossom, Gardenia, Bulgarian Rose, Jasmine, Iris, Ambergris, Musk, Sandalwood.
Yvonne Printemps
Robert Piquet Fracas and Madonna Truth or Dare
Other fragrances to play a diva would be tuberose classic Robert Piquet Fracas, created in 1948 by Germaine Cellier and said to be worn by Madonna. Fracas is still packed in a box somewhere so I can’t go into much more detail unfortunately. Madonna launched her own Fracas inspired fragrance Truth or Dare in 2012. Truth or Dare was discontinued but the shower gel and body lotion are still available online for very reasonable prices. You can have a lavish affordable bath in true diva style and still be able to pay your mortgage or rent.
Concluding: My personal picks to play the diva were creamy tuberose centered fragrances like Isabey Paris Gardenia, Robert Piquet Fracas and Madonna Truth or Dare bath products.
Have a look on the blog of Sam from I Scent You A Day, Megan from Megan in St. Maxime and Portia from Australian Perfume Junkies to read their choices. I am very curious how they play the diva, aren’t you?
How would you play the diva? Which fragrances would you choose?
*Sillage: meaning the scented trail left by the wearer of a fragrance
You can read my full review of Truth or Dare here.
Special thanks Vicky, from The Perfume Lounge, Amsterdam
Disclosure: all fragrances mentioned in this article were bought by me