Autumn is the perfect time to wear a chypre perfume. Something in a chypre’s mossy, musty base echoes leaf mold and feels right at home on days with cold mornings and sunny afternoons. Among chypres, fruity chypres are especially nice. The fruit adds sweetness and color — so nice on a rainy day — without going all pumpkin spice.
Here are five fruity chypres to sample:
Guerlain Mitsouko: I’ll kick off the list with the queen of fruity chypres…
(Quick PSA: I am on the road today and heading to a place with very limited internet access. I’ll be slow to answer comments or questions all weekend long, but I’ll do my best.)
Fall is not my favorite season, but even I will admit that it’s probably the best time of year for perfume. You can wear just about anything, and for many of us, it’s a joy to finally pull out some of the heavier woods and orientals that we’ve been neglecting all summer. I’ve already done autumn posts covering iris, incense and vetiver, now I’m turning to vanilla (and Angela will join in the fun on Monday, with 5 fruity chypres for fall). As always, these are just my suggestions, and again as always, the line between the seasons is perhaps a bit arbitrary and/or personal: some of these fragrances wear just as well in summer or winter, and some of them work perfectly fine all the year round.
Indult Tihota: Vanilla cake, yes, but vanilla cake from perfumer Francis Kurkdjian…
Why are so many fragrances, not to mention entire fragrance lines, inspired by travel or destinations? Fashionista recently posed this question, without quite getting around to answering it. While I may not have the answer, either, I do know that it’s not a new idea, no matter what Fashionista may say: I’m thinking waaay back to best-selling classics like Evening in Paris, but also to more recent destination-inspired scents from Hermès (remember Un Jardin sur le Nil?) and L’Artisan Parfumeur (Bois Farine! Timbuktu!), not to mention entire brands like Bond no. 9.
If you’d asked me a month ago, I might have had some deep theory about this, but my current reality is that I’m laid up with a broken ankle and I just want to close my eyes and imagine places other than my living room. So I’m back with two more fragrances from Le Jardin Retrouvé, following my thoughts on Cuir de Russie…
“He had received a mysterious invitation to Venice just a few days after that unforgettable night. He was wondering what this was all about, then he recognized Café Tuberosa. There she was, staring at him. Suddenly it was clear. In a moment they would have the chance to start over again.”
Unforgettable, but in a good way? Staring at him…why not gazing or something less intense? Café Tuberosa: stalker? Ex? Watch out! All those Venice canals are perfect for drowning.
Atelier Cologne Café Tuberosa1 is a new fragrance in the brand’s Avant Garde collection.
Tuberose seems to be overtaking rose as the fleur du jour in perfumery…
Aura is the latest pillar from Thierry Mugler (I know, I know, it’s Mugler now, not Thierry Mugler, but my brain is not quite ready to make the switch). I have an ambivalent relationship with the brand’s feminine pillar fragrances. Their debut fragrance, 1992’s Angel, was a masterpiece, but not one I want to wear. I really like a few of the flankers, though, and have almost bought Angel Liqueur de Parfum any number of times. I thought Angel Eau Sucrée was fun and I thought Angel Muse was fantastic, but I didn’t buy either of those either.
The success of Angel is often attributed to its unusual (at the time) overdose of patchouli and candy; Alien followed in Angel’s footsteps with an overdose of jasmine, vanilla and cashmeran. I did not love Alien but I didn’t really hate it either. If I had found it more appealing than I did, I probably would have tried more of the flankers…