Past and present scents

I was excited last month when my perfume kit arrived. It was the first time in my life I had ordered something online ALL by myself and got it delivered to Nigeria, not  sent  to some address abroad and then shipped here but really, from the supplier straight to Nigeria. Where in Nigeria and how the hassle I went through to get my goods home is another story for another day. 

My special perfume kit  had arrived, the world was at my finger tips! I was going to make fragrances that  no nose had ever smelled! It was going to be glorious, my name everywhere, people talking about my invention that has hit the world by storm... I hadn't decided on the name to call it yet but whatever name it was, it was going to be just as earth shattering as the perfume itself. It was going to smell like ... well nothing!

I opened the lesson notes that came with the kit and the first lesson was, everything smells like something. Every scent you could think of falls under one category or the other... that was a bummer because it meant making the perfume the world was yet to smell would be impossible unless it smells like a unique combination of different scents(notes) the world is familiar with. Ditto!

Little things seem nothing, but they give peace, like those meadow flowers which individually seem odorless but all together perfume the air. Georges Bernanos

The second lesson was the first step to making my own perfume; "smelling." 

 The kit consisted of twenty six bottles of  different fleuressence labelled  A to Z to help the perfumer's apprentice (not beginner, please) like me, easily remember the different categories of scents, form association with them and smell them with my brain not my nose.If that sounded confusing,then you're welcome because soon it shan't and it will be thanks to my exploits on this adventure you have decided to go with me.

The first bottle A contained the Ali-fat-ic category fleuressence, Aldehyde. I shall write my thought on that some day but the second which is the reason for the long story above was B- for Ice berg.

B- for IceBerg- cooling notes. The smell of my past in a bottle! menthol! methylated rub, trebor, dusting powder, tom-tom,  sprint gum, nico sweet(black sweet in transparent red wrapper) all that smell brought back memories of prickly heat and being covered in dusting powder, chewing an unhealthy amount of sprint gum after winning several packs during a  7UP promo, buttermint and nico were the candies we spent our Herbert McCauley coins on back then, we bought those things in packs for one Naira. I broke the Number one rule of smelling, for nostalgia, I inhaled deeply, again and again, holding the paper strip to my nose.

It occurred to me then;  why in the world would I want to make a perfume that smells like nothing! why wouldn't I want to make a perfume that makes me feel like running in the rain and coming home to my mum's warm arms, where she had rub for my chest and dry clothes ready so I didn't catch a cold. The scolding always came after the first cup of hot cocoa  never before and the smell of rub lasted until later into the  night when I fell asleep.  I'm not saying I intend to make a perfume that smells like Vicks inhaler, I mean a perfume that makes someone nostalgic. 

What smell would trigger that nostalgia for you. Please share, I'll be happy to read them.

Perfume we hate but love

Fleur Poudree de Musc Les Nereides for women

My very good friend visited last year and he brought with him a "beautiful new release from a niche perfume house" at least that was what the sales attendant told him.

 I was thrilled. Being a perfume lover for me means the few seconds before you open a bottle of a new perfume, especially one you haven't had the chance to read a review on,is the most sensational, it feels like you are about to be serenaded with an offering; like smoke sent up to the gods of ancient times. Aye, as I pulled off the gold cap on the square shoulder bottle, stretched out my arm so I could see my wrist, sprayed and poised my nose to inhale, exhale, relax and breathe ahhhhh(sigh) like one would after the first sip of cool water on a hot dry day.

 I couldn't believe my nose ! or was it my brain.  My body stiffened and my nose cringed as the scent  hit my olfactory palettes. Fleur poudree de musc opens with a smell I can only describe as faecal. I put it down instantly but declined my husband's offer to throw it in the bin. "that is the most disgusting thing I have ever smelt in my life!" he said as I put my wrist to his nose.

I decided to keep it. I was fascinated by the boldness of the perfumer and all the many people who would wear this proudly as their signature scent. I wanted to take it with me on my perfume journey so I kept it in the drawer. Once in a while I would spray it again, hoping my reaction was exaggerated the first time, it would be different.  It was the same. Recently, my perfume voyage got me looking into the world of skin scents, animalic and musky scents and  the light of knowledge illuminated the beauty that this strange perfume could offer.

 I sprayed it one more time and decided to wear it all day even if it meant not hugging anyone.  I wanted to get to the bottom (the dry down)of this perfume. My very supportive husband wished me a sarcastic good luck and shrunk when I tried to hug him. I put my nose to my wrist every ten minutes or so, waiting for the transformation.

Forty five minutes into sniffing myself like a dog, Fleur poudree de musc transforms into this soft powdery scent that is quite delicate yet strong with the muskiness that seems to hold it together. It doesn't transform into something magical that would gain a popular appeal especially with a very young person or someone who loves flowery and fruity perfumes but it does awaken some carnality within someone who gets it. I understood the spirit of the perfume then, it was human in our au naturelle state with no sweet flowery masks but it was still warm and pleasant, even sensual especially to a nose that gets it.

Stepping Out

I  am embarking on a personal journey, an adventure into the olfactory universe. I will be posting many of my discoveries, musings  and ramblings here, I invite you to join me. Who knows, you might develop a passion of your own or accidentally fall in love with a perfume or  a particular scent. You might even discover how the world smells you. You might be inspired to leave a fragrant trail for the next generation to find or remember you by. You might even get to teach me the way of the nose or point me in the direction of where the alchemist and the perfumers are born and made. Come with me as I take my first step into the beginning of the life I've always dreamed of.

Scentfully yours,

TL