Just a Fun Browse

Sometimes I want a good old-fashioned browse. You know, where I pretend to be a normal consumer of fragrance and go to a place and poke around as if I’m going to up my entire collection from two bottles to three (ha!). I did some sniffage over the course of two visits to Things Finer here; they sell several lines of fancy niche fragrance as well as candles and estate jewelry and interesting bibelots*.  The SAs are welcoming despite the fact that I don’t leave with bottles of everything I sniffed; I should get that Nishane Wulong Chá to thank them for their Job-like patience. A thing they do that I really appreciate is affix small stickers with the list of notes onto all the bottles, which makes browsing so much easier. I wish everyone would do that.

First off, before I forget, their Lorenzo Villoresi line is 50% off. I sniffed them again and nothing triggered the credit card even at that discount, but if you’re jonesing for a bottle of Teint de Neige or another scent, here’s a link (I’m assuming you’d have to order over the phone.)

Next up, from the Memo line: Winter Palace. (Grapefruit, bergamot, lemon, mate, gurjum balsam, amber wood, tolu, benzoin, labdanum, red tea, tonka, styrax, vanilla, musk.) Welp! I wasn’t bored! This is the weirdest scent, at least on me… it’s like a fragrance see-saw. It’s either the first half of those notes (a bright, sparkly tea-citrus) or the latter half (winter woods and spices) and there’s about 60 seconds where it’s right in the middle, and I wish I could get it to balance there. Reviews are hilariously all over the place for this, with some people getting bubble gum or orange soda, and others complaining how dark and woody it is, so … YMMV.

I tried a couple of the Floraiku and tbh I cannot wrap my mind around how much money they are, relatively speaking — $360 although the packaging is gorgeous, they come with extra bits and I think a travel spray? The ones I smelled are nice in a sort of … streamlined, minimalist way, but they don’t make me swoon – they’re as nice and as spare as the haikus they reference.  One Umbrella for Two (blackcurrant absolute, Genmaicha tea extract, cedarwood oil) is not-overly-sweet blackcurrant and the nutty/toasted rice before it fades fairly quickly. I am Coming Home (Ginger oil, cardamom oil, white tea extract) was equally pleasant and short-lived.

Then on the way out the door I tried Lubin Gajah Mada, for the sole reason that I saw dates listed as a note. (Damask plum, quince, blood orange, dates, tolu balsam, frangipani, patchouli, benzoin and sandalwood.) I … don’t know how I feel about this one? There is a lot going on, as you’d suspect given those notes; the More is More style of perfumery, and given those notes I think I’d love it, at least in cold weather. Instead I found it somewhat off-putting, too muddled and too noisy and a bit sour. It reminded me of an early, murky L’Artisan that was not my personal favorite, Navigateur (I feel like there’s another one I’m forgetting).

Do you have any of these? Do you have a favorite little shop you love to browse that takes you out of your everyday life? I admit a major part of the allure of Finer Things for me (aside from the fragrances) is their total lack of southwestern or Santa Fe-themed objets, I could be in Los Angeles or NYC. There’s only so much howling coyote art and turquoise jewelry I can look at.

* I love the word bibelot(s) and always hear it in my head in Georgie’s voice from the Mapp and Lucia BBC series

images via Pexels and floraiku website