Cheap and Cheerful: L. T. Piver Heliotrope Blanc

Well for those of you who read last week’s post, the Trial of the Century is over (after three hours) and we will see what the outcome was. The expected morning rain put itself off until mid-afternoon, which meant that I was able to run out and get a few errands done before the skies opened (note to non-Angelinos: there is a stereotype that people from LA don’t know how to drive in the rain and we generally fold our tents and hide at the first sprinkle. Like some stereotypes, this one is based upon fact: the first rain of the season brings to the surface all of the oils and goo that are washed away in other cities that have rain every month and not just in one season, so it can be like driving on black ice. Our media will bombard us with dire warnings about “StormWatch 2024” and we will get alerts across our phones, TV’s and other devices often telling us about flash flood warnings and weather alerts of hail, tornados, and dogs and cats living together for the county that may not affect us in the flats but will in the hills we we drive through to get home. So, yeah, it is partially true that we drop everything if it rains and stay home faster than a Manhattanite being told the party’s location has been moved to Brooklyn.) Yesterday (Thursday the 7th) was lovely and I was of course in the office. Late in the afternoon I heard a rumbling something that sounded for all the world like someone using a trash dumpster as a toboggan down the middle of the street. Surely that was too long to be thunder? Well, it was. After a bit it started raining, then pouring. I turned on the news to see that north of us in the Hollywood hills it was hailing, and north of that in the Valley Van Nuys airport looked like it was dusted with snow. Action McNews couldn’t even take McNewsCopter3000 out of the hangar, so dire were the flying conditions.

I said “screw it” and ordered a pizza, tipping heavily.

All of this might make you think “Fine, Tom, but what the heck does this have to do with heliotrope? Or anything at all?” Well I suppose it only does tangentially. I had read in some comment somewhere about the smell of almonds and the smell of heliotrope, and thought that something that was all-heliotrope-all-the-time would be a nice balm to the Seasonal Affective Disorder I am telling myself I am having. Searching the interwebs I found that good old L.T. Piver, purveyor of quite a few C&C favorites had one, and Amazon carried it in a 3.3oz “lotion” size for $15USD.

So how does it smell? Like Heliotrope. Not quite almonds (they don’t have that much of a smell until you do something with them) but does have the foody, doughy smell of something with almonds in it: a buttery almond croissant, covered in flaked toasted almonds and with a layer of sweet marzipan in it (shi7, it’s before noon, the sun is out and I think I might need to go over to Gelson’s and see if Viktor Benes has any left..)

(Okay I went. There were two left. I bought them, purely in the interest of science. See how I suffer for you? I also got a ham and cheese one and some salad, but that was in the interest of lunch)

Heliotrope doesn’t seem to be used much as a planting here in LA, and you rarely see the tree version. I am assuming that the LA climate might be a little too arid and sometimes cold (even in the basin it can get down near freezing in winter) for the trees and I think the plants issue might just be the smell. That doughy, fecund aspect that some people think of a cherry pie or almonds in small doses could get, in profusion, to be  a bit much. Not quite the cat pee of Miel de Bois (that’s drier and more acrid) but kind of like being smothered with marzipan and brioche dough. Personally that would make me want to plant a whole bunch of it around the front porch: i would enjoy the heady, yeasty sweetness and the fact that it kept other people away would just be like sprinkles on the olfactory sundae.

Whether that’s something you personally want to smell like is of course your choice. I don’t get the JustTooMuch aspect of it, but then, few things are just too much for me. I did decant some of this into a travel sprayer I bought and spraying it makes it a fair substitute for Uncle Serge’s Rahat Loukoum. Of course the SL is far, far better- this is kind of like a copy of the Mona Lisa done in elbow macaroni. But it’s also only $15 for 100ML. Will it replace the bell jar I have, either in my cupboard or my heart? Nope. The Lutens stays far truer while the Piver goes towards powdery after and hour or so, then stays as a powdery skin musk with a hint of almond. But when it’s a grey say and I need a cheap uplift, here’s one that costs only what I’d pay for three of those croissants, won’t go stale, and won’t live on my waistline until I work it off. Bargain of the century in my book.

So what’s your bargain of the century or rainy day lift? Tried any of the other scents from L. T. Piver? let us know in the comments.

Bottle is mine, purchased from Amazon. Photos are mine and Pexels.