It’s Wednesday and National Pots de Creme Day. Birthdays: Man Ray, Lester Young, Ira Levin, William Least Heat-Moon. What fragrance are you wearing?
So I sat down last night to compose my list of 5 perfumes I'd need as a castaway, and boy, that is no easy task. (Plus, even Desert Island Discs gives you 8 audio tracks plus a book and a luxury...5 is just stingy!) I narrowed down to a list of 14 and I still don't have a rose or a jasmine or any white floral. I'm stymied but I do assume I'll have something to read, so I'll need my fragrance for today, Diptyque Philosykos.
Reminder: 8/29 will be Desert Island Friday...come up with a list of 5 fragrances you could live with for some unspecified amount of time while marooned on a desert island. Share your list on Friday and wear one of the fragrances. (Suggested by springpansy)
And for those of you who like to plan ahead, see Scent of the day ~ Friday community projects 2025, where I'll try (but usually fail) to have the next five or six weeks mapped out in advance.
Note: top image is Gilligan's Island? [cropped] by Ron Reiring at flickr; some rights reserved.
Good Wednesday Morning to all my scented friends. Hope everyone is having a good week so far.
My SOTD is Jo Malone’s Poppy & Barley. I have no particular reason why I chose this fragrance today. I just saw it in my collection and said to myself that I haven’t worn it in a while. Its a subtle scent but definitely makes a statement.
Can’t wait to do the challenge on Friday. It will be hard to decide, but I think I can do it.
Have a phenomenal day everyone! 🙂
This series somehow makes me think of harvest, or September more specifically. I have Oat and Cornflower, which is pretty nice
Poppy & Barley is weirdly great! When the SA mentioned it, I could not imagine it, but it was soft and elegant. Then she layered it with?Jasmine & Marigold. Wow. Any of those, singly or the combination is a hit. You smell amazing.
Thank you! 🙂
Hello.
Sotd is Zara Blanc Ensoleille. Coconuts, sunscreen, sandy beach and sea breeze. Really lovely stuff.
I need to get on with my list too because it’s not easy! (It is a lot of fun though) I guess the desert island is just hot? Because weather has everything to do with perfume choices… hmmmm.
I decided my island was temperate, ha. With warm afternoons and cool evenings.
Fans of mainly winter and heavy spicy musky fragrances could also do a ‘cold’ island, say, off a fjord in Norway or in the Orkneys, Shetlands, etc.
My island will have to be on the cool side as most of my fragrances are going to be more for the fall/winter months.
Yeah, I think it’s more that desert islands convey difficulty escaping, so you’re stuck with your choices. Argh!
My island must have 4 seasons or I refuse to go there! 🌱🌼🍁⛄️
SOTD = new favorite incense Bestia Sacra, flowery and incensey and deep. Good for this coolish, fallish day!
No new news on the fire in Wyoming.
I saw a regenerative medicine doc yesterday, and after telling him the story (years of increasing pain, cortisol shot before the trip to Fance, tired of taking enough OTC pain killers to knock down a horse), letting him poke and prod my hip, leg and lower back, and doing an US of the hip socket, he said, “Well honestly, I could give you some shots that would last longer than the cortisone shot, but realistically you have severe arthritic deterioration of the hip joint, and you are looking at a hip replacement, which works really well, much better than knee replacements. We could do shots and you might have 6 months before you do the hip replacment, or maybe just explore the idea of a hip replacement now.” And he charged me half his normal consultation fee. I love honest professionals who don’t beat around the bush. Sigh. I suppose I should try to get this done before deep winter, since I know recovery involves lots and lots of walking….
Hope everyone one is wrapping up their summer activities and feeling ready for the transition to fall!
Doctors like that are worth their weight in gold. I remember helping a friend after her hip replacement and I was amazed how much relief she felt, even shortly after the surgery. She’d become so accustomed to the pain and couldn’t believe how much better she felt even as she was recovering.
I have had other people tell me that. The pain and the constant guarding against doing another that will trigger the pain is really exhausting.
Your fragrance today sounds absolutely delicious.
At least you have a clearer picture of your issues and choices, meredify.
Sigh.
Good for the doctor, and good for you! I heartily recommend going ahead now with the replacement. They are constantly improving on them and my friend who had one recently is back already to doing long hikes and bike rides, and she’ in her mid-70’s. I second the point made above that you feel relief from that ongoing pain immediately after the surgery. True, you’ll have some new pain for a while but only for a few days and you’ll be amazed by how much stronger your leg is. I was also hesitant and had the shots a few times but they honestly did not do much for me.
Good luck meredifay…glad you found a nice doctor.
Wow, love the simple, honest, no-nonsense talk. It is so rare these days. Glad you found this doctor, he’s a keeper.
Good luck with the hip decisions.
Sounds like a great doctor to me.
That sounds like overall good news. And kudos to the doctor.
Yes, good doctor.
Good luck as you make your decisions; at least you have some time to ponder what’s best for you.
Glad you got some straight answers from the doc. Best of luck figuring out what your next steps are, no pun intended.
Next steps-LOL!
Miss Dior Originale would have to be there on the island if I was there for some indefinite time aka anxious, not just vacationing, because it reminds me of my mother when I was young and comforts me🥰
I picked a comfort fragrance too! It’s important.
Love this. Honestly, I think most of my beloved fragrances are comforting in some way to me.
No SOTD yet but like some others here, I’m thinking in terms of genre atm rather than individual fragrances. Right now, I’m considering that I would need an amber, a woody sandalwood, a musky heavy “Oriental,” maybe a patchouli, and a dark/edgy floral. Or something with a prominent orange note. Darn it, that’s already 6.
Yeah, it’s tough isn’t it. I’m with you on the orange note–Azemour?–what do you think for that? But, like you, I also have more than four other NECESSITIES! Uh oh! I need a rose, a fig, a patchouli, a white floral, and…. several others!
Criminy, I have 14 and I did not include Azemour. Not sure I can do this.
Azemour doesn’t last long enough on my skin, it’s that fleeting cologne thing I have problems with. Since this is a fantasy, I might have to pick the original L’Occitane Neroli EdP, long discontinued, which is also spicy and woody. Theorema also has an orange note that I love, but it’s also a spicy amber so it straddles genres. Hmmmpf. Not getting any closer, I fear.
As little kids, my sisters and I used to play a version of “desert island,” but with food. We were allowed three foods/beverages, with water being plentiful on the island. Our selections varied over time, of course, but I recall that my mom’s Beef Stroganoff was one of my foods, along with pizza or fried chicken. The third food was either milk, which I consumed in great quantities, or a dessert – some days it was mint chip ice cream, other days it was donuts, or homemade chocolate chip cookies.
My dad used to tease us by saying he’d bring orange juice, coffee, and wine. We’d argue that he should choose a food, but he was steadfast. As an adult, I came to see the wisdom in his choices.
Happy Wednesday, everyone. I’m in Eau De Magnolia from Frederic Malle. (Whenever I wear it I think, “I should wear this more often!”)
That’s so funny. I wonder how Mom’s beef stroganoff was going to arrive on the island for you!
We didn’t worry about those details!
Ice cream, steak, asparagus. But what about my tea? And what about my roasted beets?
Tough game; tough choices.😊
“as an adult I came to see the wisdom of his choices.” Very droll, Daniel
Gosh this sounds like fun! Your mom’s beef stroganoff sounds utterly delicious! And dad’s beverage picks shoe wisdom (can we count coffee ice cream as both beverage and dessert?). What would I pick: My own paella full of seafood & saffron, Mom’s moussaka, and lastly bagels w lox & cream cheese!
Delicious sounding choices!😋
Only 3 foods? Nope. Couldn’t do it, even as a kid.
I would probably take with me on a desert island.
An eau de cologne, probably Chanel edc
A rose perfume, couldn’t decide which one, probably a fresh rose
A clean musky perfume, Serge Lutens Clair de Musc
An orange blossom Serge Lutens Fleur d’Oranger or Fragonard Fleur d’Oranger
A vanilla one for the colder nights, Guerlain SDV.
You sound like you’re already pretty close to your final list!
You can row over to my island, Hera, and we can swap.
Chinatown will go with me on the island and today it gets two sprays post shower.
Nice. Plus you’ll have a pretty bottle to look it.
Loved the bottle and the fragrance with equal fervor the first time I saw it.
I am wearing Guerlain Apres L’Ondee and drinking a cup of peppermint tea.
A duet of pleasures!
Such a classic. I love it but it’s so fleeting on my skin. I wish Guerlain had made this in extrait but maybe that would have killed its ethereal-ness.
They did make an extrait at some point, but it has been discontinued for a long, long time.
Apres l’Ondee is so pretty.
Yesterday I wore Bois de Paradis and today I’m in Amoureuse and I have now decided which one goes on the island with me. You’ll find out on Friday! Now I just need to settle on the other four to be on the list. Hmmm. Anyway I am smelling pretty delightfully decadent today!
Bois de Paradis feels like a perfect winter holiday scent, as it reminds me of gluhwein.
I refer to both Bois de Paradis and Noir Épices as my vin chaud fragrances.
Bois de Paradis would be on my list too, I think. It’s so complex. You smell marvelous, Calypso.
The Cold that Would Not Die is still with me, although fading (too) slowly. Meanwhile, I’ve begun to think about the CP. Seems to me that being marooned on a desert island would call for a completely different set of five than being marooned on, say, a snowy mountaintop. Also, a desert island would presumably come with its own aromas, like hibiscus and bougainvillea and date palms — that warm, heady scent that hits your nostrils the moment you go through the airport doors on Maui. So, do I want my perfumes to blend with those desert island aromas, or would I be wishing to smell something totally different, given the “unspecified time” I’d be marooned? Takes some thinking. SOTM, to aid the thinking, is Vol de Nuit extrait.
Very thoughtful, SheriG. For me, having those scents already present on the island would be freebie bonuses and so make me veer in the opposite direction.
Glad the awful cold is fading at last.
Guerlain Vetiver Pour Elle would probably be one of my top five, and I am wearing it today in the last day, I trust of the heat wave.
I wish they would rerelease this one. You smell marvelous, AnnieA. That is such a perfect summer scent!
Pots de creme day?? I’m burning daylight!
I’m wearing chanel no 22, could anything smell better? This would be my #1 desert island pick. In fact maybe I’ll just bring 5 bottles!
I agree, chibibrooklyn. One and done.
For me, picking just five desert island fragrances is way too hard, so I decided to simply wear whatever I feel like for a change.
Today, that meant Mirto di Panarea – fresh and bracing.
YouTube suggested a video I found quite interesting: “Best Perfumes for Mental Health: Scientific(ish) Diptyque Review.” The creator reviews several Diptyque fragrances and cites studies on how certain notes can affect mood and state of mind.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ab6X1Lcyul0
If you don’t want to watch it all, this is what he wrote in the description:
🌿 What Science Says About These Notes:
Jasmine → reduces anxiety, boosts alertness.
Bergamot → lowers cortisol, improves mood.
Geranium → balances emotions, reduces labor anxiety.
Sandalwood → activates relaxation response.
Juniper Berry → reduces fatigue, promotes calm.
Bitter Orange → lowers stress, supports heart health.
Patchouli → grounding, supports serotonin balance.
Vanilla → comfort, dopamine release.
Incense → meditative, reduces anxiety.
Clove → energizing, antimicrobial benefits.
Rose → lowers blood pressure, calms nerves.
Pine → reduces stress, increases vitality.
Eucalyptus → improves focus, clears breathing.
🧠 Why This Matters
Our sense of smell is directly connected to the limbic system, the brain’s emotional center. This means scents can instantly affect mood, memory, and behavior. Studies show fragrance can help with:
Anxiety reduction (jasmine, rose, bergamot)
Relaxation & sleep (sandalwood, patchouli, vanilla)
Focus & awakeness (eucalyptus, citrus, clove)
Emotional balance (florals, resins)
Even physical benefits like easing labor stress or supporting metabolic health.
Thanks for the list, Glannys. Very interesting.
Very interesting. Thank you so much!
Thanks Glannys!
As usual you do an incredible and illuminating post Glannys. Invaluable ! Thank you!
I can’t decide what sort of island I want to go to: tropical ( complete with frangipani, hibiscus, sandalwood etc), or sub- Antarctic ( peaty, kelp, grassy-turf), or NZ South Is,and ( beech Forest, earthy, mossy), or Mediterranean ( stony, citrus, figgy, cistus, juniper)…so many choices. But I’m wearing Journey woman which is a top 5 scent for me, and I’m going on a plane today to a bigger city where there are perfume shops to browse. It’s going to be a bumpy flight as there’s a typical spring weather system in action, with gale winds off the alps…yuck.
Kanuka, you choose one sort of island, and I’ll take the other-then we visit:) Can I please start with the tropical-I’ve never been, and would like to experience 🙂 Please tell us about the actual perfume stores and good luck with the flight.
Hope the plane ride is better than you’re expecting, and hope you find wonderful new perfumes to smell!
I need flowers on my island, jasmine at the very least.
Happy Hump Day!
Sotd from my newly arrived The Harmonist Discovery Set: Guiding Water
Top notes are Ozonic notes, Watermelon and Aquatic notes;
middle notes are Lotus, Cyclamen and Jasmine;
base notes are Lily, White Musk and White Pepper.
Quite liking the top notes! We’ll see as day goes on.
Re: yesterday’s Florae Nebulae, LOVED IT! Every time I took a whiff, I was transported to a garden.
Hoping all have a wonderful Wednesday!
I notice you gravitate to The Harmonist perfume house. I had never even heard of it until you joined us. I wonder if it is not very well known or if the price of their fragrances keeps some people away. Just curious.
Probably both Kris. I first read about it on Fragrantica, and got a discovery set I quite liked. It’s big bottle or samples. Because I didn’t want to spend $350 on a FB of Moon Glory, I bought 4 samples for $40, then received a free sample for which I picked another MG, so $40 for 25 ml total. I can live with that.
IIRC, the full bottle prices for The Harmonist start at eye-watering and go up (WAY up) from there.
Wearing Ormonde Jayne Tanger today. Kevin liked this one, and I agree! It’s feels joyful and appropriate for late summer.
It’s a lovely fragrance.
SOTD is MJ Daisy as it is just what I grabbed.
I see many of you are giving a lot of thought to the island you will be on. I have decided to just go with five of my favorite perfumes and since no one will be there with me, it won’t matter how strong I smell🤣
Same, hah!
Oh, good. I’m glad I’m not alone.
MJ Daisy is so darn likeable! I’ve gifted it on a couple of occasions.
I’m wearing Chypre Mousse for a day in the yard.
Nice choice, anytime!
I’m yet to properly focus on my five, but meanwhile Hiram Green’s Shangri-la popped into my head for today.
I’ve decided narrowing down to 5 is too hard, so I will wear what I feel like out of my list of 14 🙂
I wore Bigarade Concentree today, cause it’s the last week in August and I haven’t worn it enough. Suspect it will be Angelique sur La Pluie tomorrow, cause I didn’t wear it this summer. Gosh this summer is flying by.
And it feels like fall here! Summer went way too fast and was way too hot for too long.
SOTD = Love, by Kilian, don’t be shy Extreme
Oy, loving Love 💕 💕💕 as usual! I should wear this more often.
My list of perfumes is still TBD but I will probably just end up wearing whatever I want. Just like I couldn’t come up with my 10 all time favorite perfumes, this will likely go in the way of the dodo 🦤.
So sad about the news coming from the Catholic Church…
In other news, not that I’ve flown often since COVID (once RT, maybe?), but I do not want to be caught up in the middle of any drama:
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/20/travel/air-rage-conflict-avoidance.html?unlocked_article_code=1.f08.NV6T.jTcbf0EtEb2Y&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
The comments were something else.
They were.
Never have encountered any “air rage” while flying. Hope my lucky streak continues!
I haven’t decided if I’ll do a practical list (like 5 perfumes that I love from different categories – floral, musk, cologne, etc) or just choose 5 all time loves. So many ways to do this PC.
Wearing Vacation Grand Cuvee today. Because I’ve worn it in some way almost every day since I bought it. It’s the body mist, so doesn’t really interfere if I want to add something else.
Lillyjo, if you’re reading, thanks so much for the heads up on the Ulta sale on 9/12. ♥
Lol — that should be CP, not PC.
I can hardly wait to see what people pick for their five. I have a feeling there will be quite a few of us that have some, but not all, of the same scents.
Recently got into Profumum Roma Confetto, and decided to try more from that house. Am wearing Soavissima and it is very pleasant. Soft florals against soap and powder. Something warm and sweet in the background. Gorgeous quality.
Not bottle worthy from my first impressions, but i am looking forward to trying it in cooler weather to see how it acts. And I could see having a decant on hand.
I went ahead and ordered another 12 or so Profumum Roma samples from Luckyscent, so that I could get a good feel for the house. Those samples really add up, but also it is cheaper than a plane ticket to travel to a store that carries the whole line so i could sniff in person. That’s what I tell myself, at least!
Okay – just figured out was was hovering in the back of my mind. Soavissima reminds me of a gentle, modern-ish Chanel n22. Yellow flowers, powder, soap, teeny tiny hint of vanilla, idea of incense that i might be imagining. Lovely. Not a breezy wear, not modern in the sense of Glossier You or Juliette Has a Gun, but more a 1960s as imagined in the 2000s.
I have a black and white Chanel magazine ad featuring n.22 and it has two young women with wide brimmed floppy straw hats in a sun washed field, surrounded by babys breath and other tiny wildflowers. Soavissima reminds me of that – demure, feminine, and with enough body to avoid being wistful.
Love when fragrance sends me on a journey like that.
Fresh strawberries and yogurt smoothie
Lavande Velours this morning, not a desert island choice but one of my best lavenders and tonight one of my all time favorites, Must de Cartier.
Ack, my list has no lavender at all!
Sigh, and LV shone yesterday, maybe I’m going to call it quits on the list🥺
It is hard!
Another nice day here, a tad warmer but still very low humidity. I’m home all day, so windows wide open and I’m grateful for this blessed respite. Expecting some rain tonight and cool temps the rest of the week.🙏
I don’t wear a lot of floral fragrances but violet is a favorite note of mine and I try to wear a violet fragrance each month. A favorite one for summer is my choice for SOTD, JCB Fleurs d’Ombre Violette-Menthe. The top note of mint gives it a nice crisp freshness and other notes contribute to a soft, sheer, mostly violet-scented fragrance. And it has the same beautiful bottle as the Ombre Rose and Ombre Bleue.❤️
Happy halfway-to-the-weekend, and for those of us in the U.S., to a holiday weekend!
Windows open all day here too! But it honestly got chilly this evening, which is downright weird for late August.
Fleurs d’Ombre Violette-Menthe is also a lovely name!
Sharing lovely temperatures with you today. Looks like the 90-degree temps might be finished out here for this year. But never say never!
Still stubbornly sticking to rose fragrances as I have been too preoccupied with work to think of a top five.
🌹of the day is Rosine’s Rosa Flamenca, odd and memorable.
You could presumably be stranded with 5 rose fragrances, why not? Frankly might be easier to come up with the list.
Random choice of Atelier Oolang infini. Today for some reason I’m picking up a dreaded aquatic note. Might have to vote this one off the island.
Uh oh!
Have you ever noticed an aquatic note before?
Sorry for the ultra-late reply, but I’ve never noticed it before. I’m thinking it was related to the warm weather. I probably wear it in cold weather typically.
I am wearing Chanel No.5 Eau Premiere edition, which would definitely be going with me to the island. This is one of the first perfumes I bought when I really got into perfume and unlike most of my “early days” purchases, I still like this one a lot. It really is good for any occasion. I have a big bottle but I am considering a BUB, which I rarely do but this perfume warrants it.
I have my grandmother’s Chanel No.5 EDT, probably vintage 1980’s. I have to say it is too strong for me. I cannot tell if maybe it turned. I keep it for sentimental purposes. I have considered trying the perfume, just to experience it.
Ah, maybe it has turned. Have you ever tried layering it with the Eau Premiere?
Nope. I could try that but I suspect it would not salvage my impression of the OG.
Gotcha.
Busy day today! I had a dentist appointment right at lunchtime, plus I picked up my new glasses today, and did a quick Costco run. My brother is coming over for a bit tonight, since he needs a computer that works to do some work stuff, and his computer is on its last legs.
Still having unsettled weather here. Yesterday Denver broke a daily rainfall record, with 1.38 inches. I got rained on a little bit right as I got home from my errands this afternoon.
SOTD = commando again due to the dentist appt., but still enjoying the Tuscan Blood Orange body butter on my shins.
Hope the dentist went well Jalapeno!
I meant to order new glasses last week and still haven’t done it, thanks for the reminder.
No cavities or fillings that need replacing right now. I had yet another new hygienist this trip. She was really good, so I hope she’s around when I have my next appointment.
I find there is lots more turnover than there used to be…I rarely see the same hygienist more than 2 or 3 times now.
Hope the dentist visit went well. That’s a lot of rain for Denver.
sotd = l’Attesa
I really love this perfume. It is a changeling. I get a very different feeling when I sniff the bottle, smell the scent on paper, and enjoy the wafting of the perfume on skin.
Wore it last night then today, and the layering of newly applied scent over base notes is wonderful.
Posting and running. It’s been a hectic day.
My sotd is original Alien. As of right now it’s a top 5 desert island pick. We will see how I feel on Friday. Lol.
You do love those classic, old school TM perfumes!
No scent today, so I decided to spray a little of a Fulton & Roark sample – Calle Ocho. I pulled 5 of 15 samples to retry, the rest are duds. This one is a rum/tobacco, spices which I always enjoy. Need to start working on my desert island list!