Kaffeeklatsch

created with Ideogram AI and lots of Adobe Photoshop

I have always loved the smell of coffee. When I was a kid, my Dad and I would go to a place called The Bun Penny, which was located at the Mall in Columbia in Columbia, MD. A large portion of the floor was covered in giant sacks full of aromatic coffee beans, and I delighted in sniffing each variety. I can still conjure up the smell of The Bun Penny in my mind's nose, but it isn't solely scented with coffee. There's also the scent of raw almonds, though I can't remember if they sold those or not. It is a precious scent memory I am always trying to recreate through perfume, but haven't yet reached that particular scented nirvana.

There aren't all that many coffee fragrances on the market, actually. Sure, there are perfumes that contain a coffee note, but not that many that star my favorite caffeinated beverage. And some that do, like Montale's Intense Cafe and Ristretto Intense Cafe, pair it with rose. Those, to my nose, are rose fragrances that happens to have some coffee in them. When I see a coffee fragrance, I give it a try, but few have actually come home with me. My absolute favorite is the sadly discontinued Comme des Garcons Sweet Wood Coffee, from their Sweet line of fragrances. They brought back Sticky Cake, so I'm hoping that Wood Coffee will reemerge from the archives someday. I have a small bottle that I treasure, and I use it sparingly. It makes me feel so cozy and delicious. 

Apparently coffee is a trending note these days, so we'll be seeing more of it, and that's fine with me.

Comme des Garcons Sweet Wood Coffee

Licorice, Cardamom, Ginger, Coffee, Almond, Woodsy Notes, Indian Patchouli, Vanilla

This is one of my all-time favorite fragrances. It's coffee, but not, with none of the dark bitterness of actual coffee. It's gourmand-ish, but not too sweet; spicy, but without recognizable spices; and woody, without splinters. Sweet Wood Coffee is so well-blended that I find it hard to pick out individual notes. It just envelops me into the most gorgeous cloud of edible scent. Stunning, and I was crushed that it was discontinued before I was able to snag a back-up bottle or three. I have half a bottle and use it sparingly.

Al Rehab French Coffee

Coffee, Caramel, Vanilla, Milk, Sugar, Cacao, Cinnamon

This is liquid tiramisu in a bottle. The coffee note is quite strong and black at first, but soon fades into an amalgam of sweet and creamy notes reminiscent of the delicious Italian dessert. Nice, but rather one-dimensional. I wish it had some patchouli or woods in the drydown to ground it a bit. 

Bonus Trivia: Retired Baltimore bakery owner Carminantonio Iannaccone claims to have invented tiramisu while he was still living in Treviso, Italy. I've tried his version--it's very good. Impossible to say if it was the original.

Bohoboco Coffee White Flowers
Cinnamon, Cloves, Chocolate, Coffee, Cocoa, Jasmine, Golden Rum, Vanilla, Leather

This starts out like the most delicious caramel latte, and honestly, I would be happy if the notes ended at cocoa and I smelled like this all day. But I am not unhappy that the scent gradually changes to a sexy honeyed white floral. It's an amazing transformation, so totally unexpected, but completely delicious. A great scent for the transition from Winter to Spring, but I find it a bit too sweet for Summer wearing. 

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Posted by theminx on Minxstinks

A Favorite: Must de Cartier

created with Ideogram AI and Adobe Photoshop

Cartier Must de Cartier

Galbanum, Brazilian Rosewood, Aldehydes, Bergamot, Lemon, Green Mandarin, Peach, Pineapple, Leather, Carnation, Vetiver, Orris Root, Musk, Ylang-Ylang, Yellow Narcissus, Neroli, Rose, Jasmine, Orchid, Amber, Vanilla, Sandalwood, Tonka Bean, Civet, Vetiver

Must, released in 1981, was Cartier's first fragrance. Scents from that decade tend to be stereotyped as brash, suitable as a finishing touch for women who favor big shoulder pads, big earrings, even bigger hair, and lots of blusher. That may have been true of Giorgio and Poison. Must, however, seems much more from the era of classical fragrance that preceded it, containing a complex cocktail of numerous notes that are so well-blended that few stand out, apart from the unusual combination of top notes. 

I'm pretty sure I first encountered Must in the early 90s, which would have been after it was reformulated. I received my bottle as a gift in the early 2000s, and its scent seems to have always been this way to me. In those days--before I understood fragrance notes and the way they were supposed to smell--rather than perceiving greenness in Must's galbanum top note, I felt it smelled...brown. The peculiar combination of earthy galbanum with some citrus and fizzy aldehydes, backed up with pineapple and lots of flowers somehow evoked chocolate. It's like a whiff of an open can of cocoa powder, a bit bitter and somewhat dusty, but recognizably chocolate. Though I now know that galbanum is considered a green note, Must is still far more brown in character, especially as the tapestry of floral notes is rather dusty and mingled with hints of leather, powder, and civet in the base.

I have read comparisons to other scents of the time, particularly Calvin Klein's Obsession. While they share similar bones (citrus, sandalwood, musky drydown), they are entirely different fragrances. I wore Obsession in the 80s, in college, and it seems far more fun and youthful with its vanilla and spice overtones, while Must is far more grown-up. Though this is said from a distance; I haven't owned both fragrances at the same time. (That's about to change--thanks, Fragrancenet!) In any case, Must de Cartier is a beautiful classic fragrance that deserves to be discovered and worn today and beyond.

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Posted by theminx on Minxstinks
Note: this post is my opinion. I am not affiliated with the companies mentioned in this post or any other companies.

Blind Buy: SJP Covet

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Covet

Sicilian Lemon, Lavender, Dark Chocolate, Pelargonium Leaf, Lily-of-the-Valley, Honeysuckle, Magnolia, Musk, Cashmere Wood, Teak Wood, Vetiver, Amber

I have heard the word "weird" used to describe Covet on several occasions. My opinion is that after it dries down, the scent is as innocent and gentle as Johnson's Baby Lotion. However, it doesn't start out that way. The opening has lemon and floral notes, and something green that I'm thinking is the pelargonium (geranium). I don't feel it actually smells like geranium, which--unless it's a scented geranium--smells like metallic green soil. My grandmother had a variety that had thick twisty stems that almost resembled palm tree trunks, large leaves, and tiny pink flowers. It reeked. That smell has always been what comes to mind when I see a geranium note listed in a fragrance. Thank heavens that's not what it actually smells like. 

There's also something minty there too, and yeah, ok, that's a little odd next to the lily-of-the-valley and honeysuckle and lavender. It evokes the scent of the well-used purse of a mature woman, all Wrigley's wrappers and spilled powder. My mom's purse. But that sensation is fairly fleeting. The musk and amber come in to cozy things up a bit, and that's when it becomes baby lotion. Not a complaint--Covet smells really good on me. I wish I got more of the wood and vetiver, but I'm not crying about it. 

Now, just because Covet was a successful blind buy for me, doesn't mean it will be for you. Fragrancenet currently has it for $35, so it won't break the bank if you do give it a shot.

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Posted by theminx on Minxstinks Note: this post is my opinion. I am not affiliated with the companies mentioned in this post or any other companies.

Adventures in Layering: Chocolate and Patchouli

for whatever reason, my bottle of Bisquit says "biscuit." Also, the bottle design is quite
different from any other Arte Profumi bottle. I don't know if it's an old design or a new one,
but I can only find one image online that shows a similar bottle for this fragrance. 

Though it's definitely Spring, we're still getting the occasional chilly day. For my early morning walk earlier this week it was a balmy 41F. To be very honest, I don't mind chilly mornings at all--in fact, I prefer them. And because it was going to be cool-ish all day, I wanted to wear a fragrance that was on the cozy side. But I also wanted to wear something with a good bit of patchouli in it. So I layered two of my favorites: Arte Profumi Bisquit, which smells like hot fudge, and Obvious Un Patchouli, a warm balsamic patch that is neither hippie-like nor green. They meshed beautifully, as if they were one gorgeous scent with a rich chocolate-y patchouli vibe. I kept sniffing myself all day and was happy to find it still lingering on my jacket a few days later.

Arte Profumi Bisquit

Chocolate, Cacao, Vanilla, Coffee, Bitter Orange

I've tried lots of chocolate perfumes and few have caught my fancy; so many smell like a sad plastic simulacrum of the real thing. I tried Montale Chocolate Greedy, and while that is a somewhat realistic chocolate scent, I find the drydown to be nauseating and bread-like. (Considering bread is one of my favorite foods, I'm not sure why.) Though the notes are similar to those of the Montale scent, Bisquit is much better to my nose. It smells like an Oreo that has had most of the cream scraped away, opening with a dry cocoa with a hint of bitterness and smoke in the background. It then becomes sweeter, almost like milk chocolate, but not quite lactonic. I don't smell the orange, but there's an earthiness that might be patchouli. It's quite delicious and the best chocolate scent I've found so far.

Obvious Un Patchouli

Tonka Bean, Indonesian Patchouli Leaf, Australian Sandalwood, Virginia Cedar, Cade oil, Tolu Balsam

This is a lovely middle-of-the-road patchouli fragrance. To my mind, there are multiple kinds of patch scents. Some are the earthy, "dirty hippy," sort of scent that is reviled by my husband for the bad memories they stir up of times spent with a group of people who seemed to think patchouli and pot were good substitutes for a nice shower. Others are squeaky clean and soapy, more green than earthy, like the patch notes in Gris Dior and Britney Spears Believe. The patchouli in Obvious Un Patchouli is somewhere in the middle, green but not soapy, earthy but not dirty, and surrounded by woody and resinous notes. The tonka adds a bit of sweetness and the cade a little smoke and it all adds up to create a patchouli that might be the best version of itself. 

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Posted by theminx on Minxstinks Note: this post is my opinion. I am not affiliated with the companies mentioned in this post or any other companies.