Sniffapalooza Spring Fling 2024!

I hadn't been to an in-person Sniffapalooza event in years. I'd say at least ten, but probably more. Sniffa's regular Zoom events during the pandemic were a real life-saver though, giving me something to look forward to during the days when we weren't allowed to do much at all. Certainly not live perfume-sniffing. But live perfume sniffing is back, baby, and I'm here for it. Though I've done some solo sniffing the past couple of years, I thought it might be fun to do it in a group and with my BFF Andree, who had accompanied me on my earliest Sniffa excursions.

Back then, Sniffapalooza was a two day event. On Saturday we'd start at Bergdorf Goodman and work our way down 5th Avenue to Takashimaya, Henri Bendel, and Saks. Each of those stores was large enough to contain our crowd, making for a festive atmosphere. Sundays were spent at much smaller boutiques downtown--Le Labo, Lafco, Aedes de Venustas, Bond No. 9, Min New York--which meant we had to break up the party into more reasonably sized groups. Now, with the lack of uptown department stores, Sniffa is a downtown-only extravaganza. This year's agenda included visits to Le Labo, Malin & Goetz, Korres, Naxos Apothecary, Scent Bar, Mizensir, D.S. & Durga, Olfactory NYC, Trudon, and Harney & Sons. Most of these shops are the size of a luxurious broom closet. After stepping into the first shop, Malin & Goetz, and realizing there were already at least seventeen other people already crammed in there, I beat a hasty retreat as soon as I got my name tag and souvenir tote bag. Andree and I then scurried down the street to Scent Bar which had only two other customers. I figured most attendees would take the shops as they came upon them, but I thought it best if we skipped ahead to beat the crowds. 

the display at Korres

Korres sister company, Naxos Apothecary

We were able to visit each of the shops on the list at some point--excepting Olfactory NYC because I've had enough experience recently creating my own perfume. And since that neighborhood is chock full of other perfume boutiques, we added a couple more that were not part of the tour: Osswald and Diptyque. I had also wanted to check out Elorea, Fueguia 1833, Santa Maria Novella, and Byredo, but we ran out of time. Because in addition to sniffing, Sniffapalooza also involves eating. The customary lunch spot for some years has been La Mela, which has a private room large enough to accommodate 75 fragrance fans. Over nearly four hours, we enjoyed a five course family-style Italian meal that included salad, antipasti, pasta, a meat course, and dessert, while guest speakers told of indie and niche brands and plied us with samples. 

lunch at La Mela

Among the more intriguing scents introduced at the luncheon were those by Banomaria. The company's owner spent a lot of time explaining why she chose that name, but not nearly enough time giving us contact information. I hope to explore her scents more in an upcoming post, provided I can learn more about them. We also had a presentation by Maison Trudon, who was very generous with the samples and included a lovely scented wax cameo in addition to a few of their eaux de parfums. And visitors to their boutique were given a travel spray in a black velvet pouch (just under the DS & Durga box in the photo at the bottom of this post). I chose Bruma, a peppery green floral. Trudon is another line I will examine in depth at some point in the future.

Nils Beeman from Trudon

Unfortunately, when 75 enthusiastic people are enclosed in a small space, it can get quite loud, which makes it somewhat difficult to hear everything that is being said by presenters. Regardless, the lunch was quite good (the pasta was impressively al dente despite having been produced in large quantities and served on large platters) and the three-plus hours passed rather quickly.

So what did I buy? Just two fragrances: D.S. & Durga Steamed Rainbow and Naxos Apothecary Yria. I didn't have anything like either one in my collection. I was happy to be able to smell all of D.S & D's current scents in one place at one time. My past experiences with them led me to believe that all of their perfumes smelled literally of dirt (with other notes), but they actually have plenty of variety in their line. And Naxos fragrances were totally new to me and all quite lovely. 

The weekend's haul, including samples from side trips to Bergdorf's and Saks.

D. S. & Durga Steamed Rainbow

Blood Mandarin, Orange, Elemi, Grass, Almond Blossom, Cedar, Violet, Vetiver

This scent is bright sunshine and literal rainbows. Perfumer David Seth Moltz wanted to create a scent that smelled like an actual rainbow, so he used ingredients that matched the colors. red mandarin orange, yellow elemi resin, green cedar, blue almond flower, indigo grass, and violet vetiver vapors. Steamed Rainbow smells like a garden immediately after a thunderstorm, when the hot ground has been cooled by the sudden rain and is now steaming with humidity. There's definite citrus and grass and flowering trees anchored by a resiny and almost honeyed sweetness. I've read some reviews that say there's a mildew quality to this fragrance, and I can see where they're coming from. Steamed Rainbow doesn't actually smell like mildew, but rather gives that sensation of dampness, and the pitch of the notes--if I may use musical terms here--is of the same frequency as the pitch of the scent of some mildew. (The scent of a damp basement, for example, is quite different than the smell of a wet gym bag that has been left in the truck of the car for too many days.) I honestly don't have anything like Steamed Rainbow in my collection and hope to wear it a lot this summer.

Naxos Apothecary Yria

Bergamot, Pink Pepper, Cereal, Rose, Jasmine, Benzoin, Patchouli

With its sparkling pink pepper opening and unusual cereal note, Yria would not have been out of place in L'Artisan Parfumer's fragrance collection circa 2003. I have several bottles of their scents from that era, when they were probably my favorite fragrance house. Their scents were fun, for instance, evoking peppers--both green chiles and sneezy white pepper--or Turkish delight, or wheat. Yria's cereal note is like a bowl of shredded wheat steeped in milk. It's unusual and stands out amid the bright top notes, floral heart, and base of sweet woody benzoin and patch. It was love at first sniff when I lifted the Monclin-style glass vessel to my nose. The pink pepper--which has recently become a favorite note of mine--grabbed me and the cereal note said "buy me." So I did. Yria is the kind of scent that can be worn most of the year, but I think I'll get most use out of it in the spring and summer months.

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Posted by theminx on Minxstinks

Blind Buy: Zara Ebony Wood

created with Ideogram AI and Adobe Photoshop

Zara Ebony Wood

Ebony, Cloves, Pink Pepper 

Despite not having much luck with either Jo Malone or Zara fragrances, I blind bought Ebony Wood from the Zara website, along with a few other of their scents. What can I say? I am easily influenced by the opinions of others, and I had heard really good things about Malone's creations for Zara. The non-Jo Malone scents were given away immediately. Only Ebony Wood was worth putting in my collection.

I'm not sure why this scent is called "ebony wood," considering that ebony isn't particularly fragrant. It's very dense and heavy, with a fine grain, and is quite expensive. The name of this scent evokes something very smooth, rich, and dark, possibly leaning quite masculine. In actuality, Ebony Wood is none of the above.

The scent opens with a ton of pink peppercorn with an almost grapefruit-like brightness. Like a pink-tinted lightbulb suddenly illuminated in a pitch black room, Ebony Wood radiates light. Yet, at the same time, there is a bit of depth to it, as the woody notes and cloves are also immediately present. The wood is somewhat cedar-like, so not heavy, and the cloves in no way make this seem like a holiday potpourri. They're there, and then they're not. 

Hours into the drydown the pink pepper is still hanging around but it's lost most of the grapefruit brightness and has picked up a musky sweetness. The woody notes are still around too, but have faded considerably and are rather buried by the sweetness. Yet I can't say the scent is measurably different from when I applied it early this morning. In any case, I really enjoy it.

As a graphic designer, I hate that so many fragrance companies have resorted to boring white labels with tiny sans serif print. As a consumer, I appreciate the heft of the bottle and the magnetic cap, which makes Ebony Wood seem like a much more expensive fragrance than it is ($39/90 for 100ml).

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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.

A Fragrant Prescription from Suzy and Nicola

As a graphic designer, I'm not particularly afraid of being replaced by AI just yet.
I asked Adobe Firefly to create a forest made of vanilla beans. This was the result. 
I'm not sure what the ratty old twine is supposed to represent.
Also, one doesn't encounter many wooden table tops in the forest.

I found the most fabulous perfume-related podcast a few months ago: On the Scent. Hosts Nicola Bonn and Suzy Nightingale not only discuss perfume and perfumers, but they also offer "prescriptions" for listeners' fragrant questions. I've sampled several scents based on their recommendations; not all of them are for me. One in particular--which they talked up quite a bit--was so awful on my skin, I questioned if I received the correct sample from Luckyscent.* When I tried it on my hubby, however, he liked it. The scent is a bit expensive for me to invest in if I don't want to smell it, so I decided to write to Suzy and Nicola and ask for suggestions that might work better for both hubby and myself.

Hello, lovelies! I am totally enamored of your podcast, and your lovely voices, and your thoughts on fragrance. I have been an avid fan of scent for the last 25 years or so, and it's wonderful to have found a non-judgmental source to learn about new releases and others that I might have missed along the way. You accompany me on my daily walks through the neighborhood, and also make my work day so much more pleasant. 

I need a prescription for my husband, please. I put a dab of Matiere Premiere Vanilla Powder on my husband to see if it smelled vaguely similar on him to the way it smells on me. (While I have met him and agree that Aurelien Guichard is quite a tasty morsel, I am not a fan of this particular creation of his. On my skin, it's a very sharp vetiver-type green note, no coconut, no powder, no obvious vanilla; I am not a fan of stabby vetiver at all. I have to wonder if the sample I have is of a different scent completely.) Hubby sniffed his arm and immediately said, "ooh, I like that!" Hubby rarely loves something at first sniff. Unfortunately, while it's not quite as unpleasant on his skin as on mine, I cannot abide the way it smells. I am wondering if there is something else you can recommend that is a dry woody fragrance (which is the part he liked) perhaps with an amber or vanilla backdrop. He normally wears Obsession for Men (which is divine on him) and he has confiscated both of my bottles of Essential Parfums Orange X Santal and Bois Imperiale and wears them in the summer. He isn't a fan of overt pachouli, nor cedar (though I enjoy both), but he rather enjoys amber scents. What are your recommendations, O fragrant goddesses? Thank you so much!

Suzy recommended three scents: Tom Ford Tobacco Vanilla, Maya Njie Vanilj, and 1907 Perfumes Vanilla Dry. Immediately I ordered a Maya Nije discovery set, which includes Vanilj. I tried TF Tobacco Vanilla at Sephora. But the Vanilla Dry I skipped. Suzy admits that she hadn't smelled it, but as the notes include ylang-ylang, jasmine, monoi, and lily of the valley, I can't imagine it's not quite floral and girly. In any case, I couldn't find a place in the US where I could buy a reasonably priced sample.

Vanilj

Vanilla, Cardamom, Patchouli, Musk, Cedarwood, Amber

Vanilj is a big winner. It's both woodsy and fairly dry, but it's also infused with a warm and almost milky vanilla backed with musk and amber. Delicious, completely unisex, and definitely full-bottle worthy. 

Tom Ford Tobacco Vanille

Tobacco Leaf, Spicy Notes, Vanilla, Cacao, Tonka Bean, Tobacco Blossom, Dried Fruits, Woody Notes

Tobacco Vanille starts out a big slug of root beer, coming from what I assume are the "spicy notes." I had heard that the tobacco is reminiscent of cigars, but that's not the case for us. The tobacco is fairly sweet, more like a flavored pipe tobacco. The scent is overall quite cozy and warm, not at all dry, and something I'd wear in the chill of winter. While we both like this scent, it's prohibitively expensive, and we are not likely to invest unless I can find a real deal.

(I'd love a fragrance that smelled like the inside of a wooden cigar box, specifically the kind lined with a thin sheet of cedar. My Mom and I collected empty cigar boxes that we sometimes used in art projects, but mostly just opened and huffed the delicious lingering aroma.) 

I got my TF sample at Nordstrom after relating my Matiere Premiere story to the SA. Her suggestion was to try both versions of Tom Ford Grey Vetiver, the original EDP and the new Parfum. While Fragrantica lists far more notes for the EDP than the Parfum, I'm not sure they're different enough to pay the extra $40 - $60 bucks. Neither of us have issues with fragrance not lasting on our skin, so the extra concentration of perfume oils would be a waste. In any case, Tom Ford Grey Vetiver is a quite pleasant earthy aromatic scent with lots of grapefruit and woods, and the vetiver note is not in any way stabby. So score one for Suzi and one for the TF SA at Nordie's--we'll be purchasing both Vanilj and Grey Vetiver.

* I tried Vanilla Powder twice on a recent trip to NYC. Once at ScentBar, on paper, where it smelled significantly different from the sample I received from their parent company, LuckyScent. The second time was at Saks, where I tested the scent on my skin. There, it smelled rather unpleasant, like my LS sample. However, the long drydown was a lovely powdery vanilla. At this point, I can't say that I am 100% sure that I know what this scent smells like.

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Posted by theminx on Minxstinks

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.