Warm and woody fragrances, from crackling-fireplace smoke to churchy incense blends, always come to the fore once the leaves begin to brown, but this year there’s a distinct change in the air. Perfumers are placing raw materials with ritualistic heritage at the centre of their most intriguing creations, resulting in scents that conjure a meditative mood.
— Read more in Why spicy, woody perfumes will be everywhere this autumn at Harper's Bazaar.
I’m writing this review from my favorite beach or, more accurately, the beachside inn where I’m taking a short breather from the city and soaking up some of the last warm temperatures of the season. It’s been an unpredictable month or so, both in the weather forecast and in my day-to-day activities, and I needed this sunshiny break even more than I realized at first. I also brought along a few fragrances that I’ve been wearing regularly over the past few weeks, since they seem to bridge the various moods of this summer-into-autumn moment.
I bought the Lush Garden box of travel sprays back in August, and initially I was focused on Rose Jam and V, since I already love the Rose Jam shower gel and the discontinued (and similar to V!) Don’t Rain on My Parade shower gel. Lately, though, I’ve been gravitating towards Pansy…
The third edition of a poll about transitional fragrances: what are your favorite fragrances as summer turns to fall? What scent makes you happy as the nights get chilly and the days take on that crisp edge? And tell us what perfume you wish you owned for chilly weather.
(Or, if you’re like me, tell us what fragrances will allow you to hang on to that summer feeling just a little bit longer.)
Or, as always, talk about something else…
A quick reminder: the freebiemeet will be next Saturday, the 29th.
Today, a repeat of a poll we first did in 2010, about transitional fragrances: what are your favorite fragrances as summer turns to fall? What scent makes you happy as the nights get chilly and the days take on that crisp edge? And tell us what perfume you wish you owned for chilly weather.
Or, as always, talk about something else…
While growing up in the hot and steamy South, I loved autumn and its coolness, and you’d think that after Seattle’s oven-like temperatures and dangerously smoky skies this summer, I’d be looking forward to autumn. Wrong. I’m already counting the weeks till spring and wishing I could move to Buenos Aires for the next six months and enjoy spring and summer all over again. Perhaps I’ve changed (emotionally?) but fall feels sad this year; I reckon it’ll be dark, sodden, the beginning of The End — the interminable winter months.
This year I’m going to avoid sentimentality, Japanese death poems, lethargic piano music and drama (I won’t be stoking my self-pity). I’ll tackle my negative autumn (and winter) moods with fun things…