Smells Like Christmas, Part One

image created by Ideogram AI with help from Photoshop. I don't get why AI has no problem with making velvet drapes with fussy doodads hanging from them, a velvet tree skirt, and a fairly realistic tree, but couldn't make gingerbread man ornaments that didn't look like squids or scrotums or triceratops. I had to add them manually from another source.
Not sure why the oranges are so wrinkly, but good enough I guess.

I'm one of those people who swaps out fragrances seasonally. I like light citrussy scents in the warmer months, and richer fragrances in colder months. And at the holidays, I want to wear perfumes that smell like Christmas. Specifically, fragrances that smell like things I associate with the holiday-- gingerbread, nutmeg, chestnuts, mincemeat, orange and spices, pine trees--that sort of thing. 

I have a handful of scents I pull out every fall to wear between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Fendi Theorema smells like sweet gingerbread to me, with lots of cinnamon, nutmeg, and other spices, and a touch of candied peel. Theorema was discontinued a few years back, but I still have a bit left in my original bottle from 1998, and a backup. I also own Etat Libre d'Orange Noel au Balcon, a spicy orange blossom scent that I wear when I want something lighter than Theorema. Noel au Balcon is marketed as a holiday scent and it definitely has the citrus + spice vibe I crave during the holidays. 

The somewhat subversive Divin'Enfant is another ELDO fragrance that I wear in December, mostly because of the name that brings to mind the lyrics of a French Christmas carol, Il est né le divin enfant ("the divine child was born"). While it doesn't have what I consider traditional Christmas notes--it smells like a giant orange blossom-flavored marshmallow, a gimauve--I find that I enjoy this scent's candy sweetness at that time of year. And while it's sweet and innocent on top, there's also a little naughty tobacco, leather, and musk hiding under all the fluff. 

I also reach for Jacomo Art Collection 08 around Christmas. A deeply spicy tea scent, it also has creamy and dried fruit notes that give it a fruitcake/mincemeat vibe that I enjoy. Finally, last winter, I purchased M. Micallef Gourmet, a cozy chestnut/leather/incense fragrance that I'm going to test this Christmas, to see if it fits my holiday vibes. 

Those fragrances are all lovely, but what I really want to smell like is the Nest Holiday candle. The classic one that smells like mandarin oranges, cloves, cinnamon--and pine. The conifer note is missing from the scents I usually wear, and its what I want to smell at the holidays. Since I am having a hard time finding scents on my own, I decided to pose a question on the Fragrantica forum. I specifically mentioned wanting to smell like the Nest Holiday candle. What I received was a hodgepodge of suggestions ranging from Mancera Tonka Cola to Tom Ford Tobacco Vanille, from Britney Spears Hidden Fantasy to Kerosene Winter of 99, and from Serge Lutens Bapteme du Feu to a couple from Pineward Perfumes (Gluhwein and Ponderosa). There were also some oddballs like Tauer L'Air des Alps Suisses (fir and pine and nutmeg, but also lavender, thyme, basil, and lemon balm) and L'Air de Desert Marocain (um....), the Tom Ford cherry line, Elizabeth Taylor Diamonds & Rubies (so many flowers!). I own Bapteme du Feu, so need to give that another sniff, and multiple of the Hidden Fantasy reviews mention Christmas, so I may just have to try that one. None of the fragrances suggested, however, have orange AND spice AND pine. 

So does that fragrance exist?

I tried another tack. I did a simple google search for "perfumes that smell like Christmas," and under "popular products," I found Demeter Christmas in New York, which doesn't have the three notes I'm looking for but does have eggnog, chestnuts, and spices. That sounds pretty Christmassy, huh? And I also found an indie perfumer called Wicked Good that offers nearly 50 holiday-themed scents. I ordered six samples from them, including Merry & Bright, which has notes of Orange Peel, Cranberry, Cinnamon, Clove, Evergreen, & Pine and sounds exactly like what I'm looking for. I also tried two other holiday-themed fragrances, Fruitcake and Midnight Mass, because why not?

So how did I do? Not so good.

Wicked Good 

As a crafter myself, I love the idea of indie perfumes, but so many of them fall short of the mark. Or of my insanely high standards. Some creators are definitely, uh, creative, but it's rare to find one that uses really high-quality ingredients. It's not their fault--perfumery ingredients are pricey, and if one is going to offer dozens and sometimes hundreds of fragrances, that's quite the expensive inventory of ingredients. 

I think the folks behind Wicked Good might have some talent, but their raw materials let them down. I have synesthesia, mostly color-grapheme, but when I concentrate on smells, they have literal physical presence in my head. Well-made fragrances with pricey ingredients tend to smell very solid, rigid, and deep. And ones made with lesser ingredients are more diaphanous, unstable, and have a hollow core. Sorry, can't explain it better than that! I can sense that hollowness in some mass market/designer fragrances, which is why I can't wear many of them. And I definitely sense it in a lot of indie perfumes. 

Merry & Bright

Orange Peel, Cranberry, Cinnamon, Clove, Evergreen, Pine

This smells 100% like a Christmas candle, though not a Nest candle. The opening is heavy on the forest-y notes, and I get a bit of tartness from the cranberry. Then the cinnamon and clove come on strong and hijack the scent. The overall effect is Christmas candle + old fashioned ham studded with cloves. I'd probably appreciate this more as a room spray, because it's giving me childhood flashbacks to Christmas Eve. We always had baked ham for every major holiday, which Mom cooked the evening before so we could have it warm for dinner. We all loved the chewy ham skin, with its sweet glaze of pineapple and brown sugar, and every once in a while there'd be a mouthful with an unwelcome whole clove in it. 

The drydown is almost entirely clove with some cinnamon, and smells exactly like a big box craft store, Michael's or Jo Ann's, at holiday season. 

Fruitcake

Candied Fruits, Vanilla Extract, Churned Butter, Brown Sugar, Rum

Fruit cake anyone? Why in the world would anyone do something so cruel to cake? We're normally right there with you, but swear this is one you won't want to re-gift. A warm, mild cake layered with wonderful candied fruit top notes --cherries, mango, cranberries, currants, and orange soaked in rum. It's a fruity, sweet aroma that is sure to remind you of the holidays. 

This one is weird. It smells like no fruitcake I've ever eaten. It starts out rather dusty, as if the fruit has been sitting on a grocer's shelf for too long. There's also too much of a tropical vibe in the top notes, though I can definitely smell the weird "are these actually edible?" scent of plasticky candied cherries. But on top of the fruity smell is an odd metallic yet vegetal note, like freshly grated raw carrots or parsnips. I'm not sure what that is, but it doesn't belong here. Instead, there should be a nutty note, because what good fruitcake isn't also filled with walnuts, pecans, and/or almonds? The drydown, which isn't too sweet, might even be pretty nice if I could smell it over the WTF root vegetable note. And I do love a good carrot note--L'Artisan Parfumeur Fleur de Carotte is amazing, but then it was created by Olivia Giacobetti who was the nose behind so many of my favorite fragrances. This one had potential, but I think the inexpensive perfumery ingredients really lets it down.

Midnight Mass

Frankincense, Omumbiri Myrrh, Tonka Bean, Sandalwood

I grew up in the Catholic faith, so I know exactly what Midnight Mass smells like. Though some people say CdG Avignon smells like church incense, it doesn't smell like what I smelled most of my life. And neither does this. Midnight Mass smells like a fairly generic masculine-leaning fragrance, rather green with some woodiness. And that's about it. It's not bad at all, but it's not giving me any sort of church-y vibes, at midnight or any time of the day.

Demeter Christmas in New York

Milk, Marron Glace, Rum, Cinnamon, Red Apple, Nutmeg

The Scent: Christmas in New York is a special time in a special place. It took the genius of Demeter Fragrance Library to capture that special moment in time in scent. Egg Nog, Spices, Apples and roasting chestnuts, all the elements that are uniquely New York at Christmas-time. Christmas in New York: A unique olfactory experience, created by Demeter Fragrance Library.

I love New York at Christmastime. My experience is that the air at that time of year smells much the same as the rest of the year: a miasma of sewer, hot metal, garbage, and Le Labo Santal 33. If you're near Chinatown/Little Italy, add garlic. If you're in K-town early on a Sunday morning, there's also a soupçon of post-late night-karaoke vomit. And for much of the winter, the acrid and unmistakable smell of roasting chestnuts. I've definitely never smelled eggnog or apple. In any case, Demeter's idealized version of a New York Christmas definitely smells of the creamy nog, heavily laden with cinnamon. There's a warm toasty maple/nuts kinda thing in the opening, though it's certainly not roasted chestnuts (nor does it seem much like marrons glaces, the delicious French candied chestnuts), and rum, too, and a brief segue into apple. Christmas in New York--though not at all New York-y--is really quite good, and one of the rare Demeter scents that lasts more than 5 minutes. It might be worthwhile to buy the body lotion to layer underneath, to make it last even longer. 

Not what I was looking for, but worth adding to my collection.

Stay tuned for Part Two.

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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.

Favorite Scents That Nobody Has Heard About: L'Eau de Kasaneka

created with Ideogram AI and Adobe Photoshop

Menard L'Eau de Kasaneka
Japanese Rose, Cardamom, Nutmeg, Ginger, Orange, Basil, Bergamot, Heliotrope, Ylang-Ylang, Jasmine, Carnation, Ambrette, Vanilla, Sandalwood, Musk, Cedar, Vetiver

Japanese firm Menard was founded on my birthday in 1959 (a coincidence, as I wasn't born until 6 years later). Their pricey products can be found in shops in 23 countries, including Osswald in NYC.  In addition to their skincare lines, Menard currently has salons, a resort, and a museum. They have also dabbled in perfumery now and again, releasing at least 7 scents between 1979 and 2012. L'Eau de Kasaneka (2004) is the creation of Shuji Suzuki. And as befitting such a lovely fragrance, the fabulous bottle was designed by artist Shozo Shimada, whose works can be found in Menard's museum. 

There's something gently old-fashioned about L'Eau de Kasaneka, a spicy floral scent reminiscent of spilled powder on a tabletop near a carelessly discarded scarf bearing traces of yesterday's perfume. It's demure, but sexy at the same time. I have owned L'Eau de Kasaneka for years and have always thought of it as a spicy rose fragrance, though the rose isn't all that prominent. Honestly, neither are the spices. It's not like Opium, Lune Feline, or Coco--deliciously in your face. This is a Japanese fragrance, after all, so the spices are subtle and exist on multiple levels. The opening brings the sweet baking spice aromas of cardamom and nutmeg. The basil--which I know is an herb and not a spice, but nonetheless can be described as "spicy"--adds an aromatic green sensation that is noticeable on a blotter but is sadly missing on my skin. The final layer of spice is found in the peppery carnation of the drydown. However, everything is buried in a sweet and fluffy mountain of almondy heliotrope, ambrette, and musk, with a grounding base of vanilla and sandalwood. 

I don't wear this scent as often as I should. Especially as I have a backup bottle. Hm. Maybe I should sell it?

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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.

Beauty Pie The Scent Lab No. 3

created with Ideogram AI and Adobe Photoshop

I was so pleased with the summery green La Botanista fragrances in Beauty Pie's The Scent Lab No. 2, I thought I'd try the No. 3 release as well. A good 90% of their prior perfume launches impressed me not. Granted, they are quite reasonably priced--between $34 and $39 for 50ml--but they seemed pretty one-dimensional to me. There are plenty of reviews to the contrary; however, my tender skin is a real snob. Inexpensive stuff seldom smells good on me. 

I must confess that I happily purchased a full bottle of La Botanista 001. And when their ambery-peach Element 79 was a successful blind buy, I thought the company was heading in the right direction by creating decent-quality fragrances that finally had some depth. Fortunately, I wasn't wrong. While I can't say I'm in love with either half of The Scent Lab No. 3, Flower Drench or Amber 01, I am happy to report that they are both complex and interesting fragrances, if not particularly ground-breaking.

Flower Drench

‎Ginger, Lime, Lemon, ‎Rose, White Flowers, Lily, Ylang Ylang, ‎Vanilla, Cedarwood, Amyris, Musk

On paper, Flower Drench is shampoo-like, creamy and clean, with a hint of lemon-lime soda over some quite un-subtle floral notes. On my skin, it's a bit different, less shampoo-y, more creamy, with a definite vanilla aspect. While the ginger note is largely absent on paper, it becomes fairly prominent as the scent dries down on my skin, and the lemon and lime make a late appearance as well. Unusual that, as the citrus notes are usually right up front and fade fast. The floral notes are quite loud, lots of shouty jasmine and banana ylang, thankfully muted somewhat by a bit of woody notes. The drydown is pleasantly musky.

The website refers to Flower Drench as "a cascade of dazzling white flowers and rose;"  I think both "drench" and "dazzling" are misused here. "Drench" implies wetness, a sudden shower, perhaps refreshment, but I find this scent quite heavy and sweet, definitely suitable for cooler weather. As for "dazzling," which implies bright light or impressive skill--I'd say this scent has more of a warm glow.

Amber 001

‎Bergamot, Cardamom, Basil, ‎Sage, Cinnamon, Cocoa, ‎Patchouli, Sandalwood, Vanilla, Tonka

Out of the sprayer, on paper, this scent leans masculine. I think it's the addition of herbs like basil and sage in combination with the warm spices and foody notes. On skin, mine anyway, the opening has a very prominent alcohol note that turns into a medicinal saffron-adjacent thing. I don't get the herb-y notes at all, but the cinnamon is there, way in the background. That saffron-y smell, or whatever it is that's going on, is so distracting when sniffed up close. When I put my arm down at my side, however, I get whiffs of an almost caramelly amber that is quite pleasant. As Amber 001 dries down, it gets sweeter and creamier, with a pronounced tonka note. 

According to the website, Amber 001 "a buttery-soft and mellow scent for days (and nights) when you want something warm and enveloping." It's definitely warm and enveloping, though I wouldn't call it buttery. The medicinal quality is slightly spiky, and the drydown is a bit powdery. On my husband, there is no saffron-like note. Rather, it's almost immediately a sweet amber and definitely leaning towards the masculine. I think I'd like it better if it were more unisex. 

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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.

Guerlain Eau Secrete/de Coton/de Bain

Mostly Photoshop this time, with a little help from Ideogram AI 

I am confused.

A couple years back, I was browsing at Saks (as one does) sniffing what appeared to be a new line of Guerlain fragrances, Les Matières Confidentielles, and fell in love with the white-musky Eau Secrete. It was damn expensive for what it was ~$175 or so (at the time--that line retails for $190 today). I could--and did--buy a big bottle of Body Shop White Musk for less than a quarter of that price. Still, I was a little obsessed with Eau Secrete until I was able to snag a full bottle from a Mercari seller for a considerable discount. I wore it twice before deciding there was something weird about it that I didn't like, put it away, and didn't think about it again. 

Recently, while rummaging through my ever-expanding fragrance collection, I happened upon my abandoned bottle of Eau Secrete and decided to give it another chance. I spritzed it on the back of my hand and gave a quick sniff. Yes, it was still primarily white musk, but I also noticed some citrus and almond notes that I hadn't noticed before. These were probably the "something weird" that turned me off my brief obsession. My brain was so focused on the musk that anything not-musk stood out as something that didn't belong. Au contraire, brain, they do belong in Eau Secrete. This is very much a Guerlain scent, like a much younger, and less-complex third or fourth cousin to both Shalimar and L'Instant Magic. 

Another reason Eau Secrete and I may have had our falling out is that I'm ordinarily not a fan of clean laundry scents. I grew up in my grandmother's house, and she did laundry several times a week. There was no drier, so everything went on the lines outside. Pretty much everything got ironed, including towels, socks, and underwear. (I think Grandma enjoyed ironing.) While I adore the ozonic scent of clothes fresh off the line, and the clean hot metal smell of a shirt still warm from the iron, I don't want my skin to smell like either of them. Yes, I realize some people adore those smells. Whole perfume lines have been created around the olfactory sensation of the various aldehydes and keytones produced by the action of garment cleansing, and there are numerous candles and air-and-fabric-scenting products on the market that mimic those smells. I just prefer to encounter the natural versions caused by washing and drying--actual clean--as opposed to filling my world with the scent of dryer sheets. Eau Secrete does has a whiff of clean, but it's subtle. As if the almond note is sugared, like Jordan almonds, and they are nestled in a freshly laundered white napkin.

So let's go back to the part where I'm confused. 

Apparently Eau Secrete, now discontinued, is very similar to Eau de Coton, another member of the Les Matières Confidentielles family. There are people who swear they are identical, that Eau de Coton replaced Eau Secrete. There's some confusion about their release dates. As best as I can tell, Eau de Coton was released in 2023, Eau Secrete in 2022, so it seems plausible. And then there's Eau de Bain, a release from 2019. Some folks think--you guessed it--that it was renamed Eau Secrete, and then became Eau de Coton.

Let's compare the notes, keeping in mind that most online sources for this sort of thing, like Fragrantica and Basenotes, are not reliable. Eau de Bain (2019) has Almond, Orange Blossom, and White Musk, with additional Bergamot, Lemon, Green Notes, Vanilla, and Precious Woods. Eau Secrete (2022) contains Almond, Orange Blossom, and White Musk. Finally, Eau de Coton (2023) is made with notes of Almond, Orange Blossom, and White Musk, plus Cotton Flower and Linen. All three scents include the same triumvirate of notes, but there are a few differences.

My main confusion is this: if the scents are so similar, why discontinue one and put out another on its heels? I realize that Guerlain is trying to appeal to many different tastes these days, what with the introduction of multiple oud fragrances, regular releases of the watery-fresh Aqua Allegoria EDTs, and updates to their classics. But I have to ask: as pleasant as they are, does Guerlain really need multiple white musk fragrances? 

I needed a definitive answer, so I asked a friend who had worked for Guerlain, and he said the three were definitely different fragrances. Then I sent an email to Guerlain customer service and received this response:

Eau Secrete and Eau Coton are indeed different fragrances. While both offer a fresh and clean scent, they have distinct compositions:

Eau Secrete: Known for its light, airy, and slightly citrusy notes, Eau Secrete is designed to evoke a sense of freshness and subtle elegance. 

Eau de Coton: This fragrance tends to have a softer, more powdery profile, reminiscent of clean linens and a comforting, cozy atmosphere. 

As for Eau de Bain, it is a third fragrance entirely and not the same as either Eau Secrete or Eau Coton. Eau de Bain typically features a blend of fresh and aquatic notes, designed to evoke the feeling of a luxurious bath experience.

Eau de Coton is the only scent still available, and I feel like I have to give this one a good sniff at some point. It's not really a shame I missed out on Eau de Bain if it has "fresh" and "aquatic" notes (not my faves). Still, I would really love to be able to compare them side by side by side.

Has anyone out there been able to do that? I'd love to hear from you.

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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.