Nest Cocoa Woods ~ fragrance review

Posted by Jessica on 9 August 2018 28 Comments

Reading the press announcement for Nest Cocoa Woods, I had one of those “time flies” moments. Cocoa Woods has been released to coincide with founder Laura Slatkin’s 25 year-anniversary in the fragrance industry and the 10-year anniversary of the Nest fragrance line. Yes indeed: Slatkin and her husband Harry launched Slatkin & Co. home fragrances in the early 90s, and Nest’s candles and other home and body items made their debut in 2008. I just can’t believe it’s been that long!

Nest’s “fine fragrance” collection started up in 2012 and currently includes twelve scents, by my count. Cocoa Woods, the newest addition, is described as a “woody-gourmand scent” with notes of cocoa, sequoia wood, white sandalwood, tiaré blossom and ginger. Like the rest of the line, it has a beautiful bottle with decoration inspired by eighteenth-century floral illustration and découpage. And it’s really the packaging that keeps me coming back to this line, because I’m still looking for a Nest fragrance to love…

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Chanel Paris-Venise ~ fragrance review

Posted by Angela on 6 August 2018 46 Comments

Wow, has it been hot. Where I live — and now in Paris, where I’m spending a chunk of August — summer has been one heat wave after another. What’s a perfume-loving girl to do? Turn to light, fresh fragrances, of course, like Chanel Paris-Venise Eau de Toilette.

Paris-Venise is one of the three Eaux de Toilette from the new Les Eaux de Chanel collection (the others are Paris-Deauville and Paris-Biarritz). Perfumer Olivier Polge developed all three…

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5 perfumes ~ vanilla fragrances for summer

Posted by Robin on 2 August 2018 37 Comments

I should have written this post weeks ago, when we had a brief period of glorious summer weather. Other than that, it’s been a rather odd summer, weather-wise, after a rather odd spring. At the moment, we’re having the usual heat and humidity you’d expect in August, but far more gray, gloomy days than usual for this time of year, and we seem to be on a daily thunderstorm schedule. But onward and upward: this is the last of my seasonal vanilla posts, since I’ve already done fall, winter and spring. As always, do chime in with your own picks in the comments!

Diptyque Eau Duelle: The vanilla martini top notes are perfect, and even though I don’t love the dry down (a quiet hum of tea and spice) quite as well, Eau Duelle would be my first choice for a vanilla that can take the heat of high summer…

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Aroma M Geisha Botan ~ fragrance review

Posted by Jessica on 26 July 2018 10 Comments

Just imagine: enchanting peonies, transformed into invisible irezumi to beautify the skin and its surroundings.

This is the introductory line in the press release for Geisha Botan, the newest fragrance from independent perfume house Aroma M.¹ This scent is an homage to the peony (“botan” in Japanese) and its cultural significance in Japan and China, where the peony is an auspicious motif and has appeared for centuries in art forms from porcelain and tapestry to printmaking and, yes, traditional tattoos.

The mention of irezumi (tattoos) and these other visual arts is telling, because Botan is much more an artistic interpretation of the peony’s color and texture than a literal recreation of its scent…

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Inside the Perfume Cabinet ~ Kevin

Posted by Angela on 23 July 2018 47 Comments

For this Inside the Perfume Cabinet article, we feature NST’s Kevin. Who better to tell his story than Kevin himself?

I became interested in perfume through gardening. My grandmother got me hooked on plants when I was 8 years old; her favorites were all scented: wallflowers, geraniums (for the leaves’ scent), daffodils, sweet peas, Summersweet, magnolias of all types, Nicotiana alata, evening stock, mignonette, roses, lilies, sweet box, Carolina allspice, on and on. I was intoxicated by those aromas and thrilled when I realized many of the scents were available year-round — in soaps and perfumes…

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Now Smell This

a blog about perfume

Nest Cocoa Woods ~ fragrance review

Chanel Paris-Venise ~ fragrance review

5 perfumes ~ vanilla fragrances for summer

Aroma M Geisha Botan ~ fragrance review

Inside the Perfume Cabinet ~ Kevin