Winter Scents – Citrus

Possedarlings!  We’re (and by ‘we’re’ I mean I) in the midst of Bleak Midwinter – except it’s been a wild couple of days – I’m writing this on Friday (because tomorrow and Sunday are Plumbing Day!!!  Wheee!) and today, in the middle of a Midwestern January, we had temps top out at 51F!!!

Which is great.  Except!  Come Sunday, it’ll be a high of… 7.  Seven.  Se.Ven.  Which is.. absurd.  But.. (oh, here’s the shrug emoji).  Anyway, I was thinking about Winter perfumes and for some completely incomprehensible reason, landed on citrus.  Actually, I know the persack reason I landed on citrus – it’s actually Citrus Season right now.  Oranges, grapefruits, those little clementines… all are showing up in the produce aisles, looking all jewel-like and tasting like little pops of heaven… funny how I rarely think of citrus as a Winter scent, though.  So I decided to remedy that, trying some of my favorites in the chilliness of post-Christmas.

Agraria Bitter Orange:  I was really nervous about trying this in January because it sits firmly in my scent memory as an Urban Summer Perfume – it (along with Liz Zorn’s Violets and Rainwater) always reminds me of sitting at one of the outdoor cafes near Gramercy Park in NYC  right after a brief Summer shower.  But!  Turns out Bitter Orange, with it’s strong sweet orange (almost orange juice) scent underpinned by the round spiciness of clove, is a great Winter scent.  Plus it smells like Constant Comment tea, which I always drink with a slice of orange in Winter. It’s even better if you use the shower gel and body lotion to amp up the scent.   (n.b. looks like Agraria isn’t selling a lot of body products anymore, which is both a damb shame and a blessing.  If they made a good body cream I’d probably never get out of the bathroom!)  I have one bottle of the cologne left – once that’s gone I’ll use the Room Spray.  See if I don’t 😉

Hermes Pamplemousse Rose – JCE must love him some Musette because, sweatergawd, it feels as if he made this especially for me!  I’m on my third (!) bottle and it’s one of those evanescent perfumes that nevertheless manage to hold my interest (and has quite a bit of longevity).  This is the most elegant grapefruit/citrus I’ve ever smelled (none of the bitter pith ) with Ellena’s always nuanced composition… and a bit of a wink and a nod to the double meaning of ‘rose’.  I have the cologne – there is a concentree’ but imo it loses the freshness that makes the original so appealing.  Ymmv.  If so, lmk!

Demeter Sweet Orange – omLORDT! This has the fabulous CB written all over it (and fingers crossed I am not just presuming/wishing – there’s no actual timeline I can find to determine persackly when he left Demeter and my plumber’s coming in about 30 minutes * so (insert that lovely shrug emoji) – if anyone knows if this is his, please lmk.  Anyhoo – back to Sweet Orange...

so.. this is exactly how so many have described it – the smell of that first orange ‘mist’ you get when you break the peel of a really good, fresh orange in Winter.  It’s simple, charming, beautiful, so lighthearted-yet-grounded.  There’s no way in an orange grove you can spray this and not be transported to Good Mood Land.  It’s also a perfect layering scent for Agraria, if you’re looking to dilute the clove a little bit.  It also works well underneath vintage Coty L’Origan, which is kinda bizarre because who would’ve thought a very decidedly ORANGE orange would work so well under a carnation-centric scent.  But it does.

These are my 3 in current rotation.  Obviously I’ve focused on the sweeter citrus; lemon is beautiful..but it’s not as ‘cozy’ as orange and grapefruit and in the extreme cold something about that note vanishes almost upon application   At least it does on my skin.  Has anyone had better luck?

• tickticktick…any time now, my doorbell with ring and MY PLUMBER – my BELOVED PLUMBER!!!  will be here to hook up the ‘facilities’ in my new bathroom.  TO BE FAIR… there is still a lot to do (baseboards, etc) but the essentials!  DONE!  (or, at least, they will be once he gets here)!!!