But this post is actually about a different perfume sample order. One made from Bloom Perfumery in UK, which I paid almost 30GBP to ship to me. Plus it was an impulse buy.
Why did I go that far? Because I absolutely fell in love with the concept of Parterre and the style / notes of their 3 perfumes. Extra points for being SW UK, which I instantly feel great affinity for.
I also ordered samples from Grossmith's full line (their brand story, via Perfume Shrine, was also fascinating, but their full bottles are insanely expensive) and Fleur de Louis from Arquiste so that my shipping fee isn't more than my order ;o;
But today is about Parterre.
First up is A Tribute to Edith, my current platonic ideal of rose:
Super sharp and fresh (like wasabi almost, but not pungent / nasal clearing) opening, but the roses are there right off the bat too. The sharpness turns into a sparklingly, soda-bubble texture. Like a rose soda water? At a distance (elbow to nose), the sparkling texture is barely noticeable, but the rose projects well. The rose is…a true rose? It’s at least what I expect rose to smell like. Not light, not dark, no spice or oud. Just a lovely, pure rose scent. About 1.5h in, the rose scent haven’t changed much, the sparkles are gone even at close range. At 2 hours, the strength has faded a bit, but still noticeable. Ah, this is a jammy rose, this descriptor just popped in my head as I made the connection to Lush’s Rose Jam, which high school me owned a tiny bottle of. But not sweet, or more like, no added sugar haha. At 4 hours, I’m getting hints of the base, what it is I’m not so sure.
Overall I love it, don’t regret paying the insane shipping from UK to get this in my grubby hands. And you bet I would pay the more expensive shipping to get a full bottle. I consider this a “queen” type scent, not princess-y (perhaps something lighter) and not empress level.
...
Then is A Run of the River, which is functionally a more interesting Bergamote 22:
Day 1: Opening is the most realistic herbal scent, literally how it smells if you rub the leaves of some mix of herbs and then smell your fingers. No particular herb stands out, it’s a smooth mix. If I smell really hard, I can pick out the lemon thyme. I’m also picking up a slightly musty base, maybe it’s the oak moss or the frankincense? This one doesn’t project well, can barely smell it at an elbow to nose distance. On second thought, this smells both realistically herbal and now powdery at the same time, like if someone made a dry ointment from the herbs in their garden if that makes any sense. Very interesting since herbal and powdery are usually opposites, but here they are in harmony. Time to revise another impression, the projection is stronger now that its about 10 mins in. After 40 mins in, this fragrance has settled into the heart notes and now smells more like dried herbs rather than the fresh herbs at the beginning. I think I smell the juniper now as well. This is what I imagine a hardcore gardener to smell like, with the soil, verdant herbs, and herbs that’s been snipped off and dried. Interestingly for a fragrance with “river” in the name, there’s no intent for any aquatic impressions. Huh, 2 hours in and I get a sniff of bergamot? Yeah there’s definitely a citrus accent to the clean soil scent. This does give me the impression of being on a river bank. Alternatively, this would make a great drink with some soda water. Day 2: Sprayed on chest this time in contrast to my usual elbow. Opening is still the fresh herbal, but I’m getting bit more citrus which reminds me of Le Labo’s Bergamote 22. I find the texture of both perfumes to be similar as well. I can consistently smell the scent from my chest, which is really about ~3” closer to my nose (oh the horrors of using IP units). In both days, the scent didn’t last as long as A Tribute to Edith, fading considerably in 4 hours. I do periodically catch a whiff of it later on.
...
Lastly, Root of All Goodness, which sadly I didn't like because the amber ruined everything :(
The opening is herbs and citrus, but fuller and rounder likely due to the amber and leather. But ugh I can't stand amber, at least I know that for sure now. I had high hopes for this one due to the vetiver too.
No comments:
Post a Comment