I wrote a whole post asking for jasmine perfume recommendations – because while I have a huge, amazing jasmine vine in my garden, I realised I have no jasmine-centric perfumes in my collection. I know I did in the past but I don’t know what happened to them. So, please make some recs in the comments. I’m after skanky, not soapy.
But, after rereading, it got ditched and replaced with this, a vague, meandering commentary on my spur-of-the-moment visit up-country. I actually did the ticket purchase last Friday and went up Saturday morning early. Sometimes these sorts of things happen…
London was due massive thunderstorms overnight Friday into midday Saturday and Mother Nature certainly had her way.
Anyway, I got a bit damp and did some perfume and other bits.
Note to self: doing London on a Saturday in July is sort of silly. Way too many people in central London. Way.Too.Many. Also, I seem to have reached my time in life when I want 2-3 days to do these sorts of trips and I need to stay over for a night or two. Lesson learned.
But, what did I do?
A bit of food, a couple of small perfume attempts, a lot of walking. I am rubbish at following the map app on my phone and get lost fairly easily.
Anyway, food. First, I visited a Japanese crepe cake shop. Very Instagram, but I was curious.
These are cakes made up of thin layers of crepe with filling. Very gooey.
I got rose (really rather nice gentle flavour) and matcha. Now, matcha is a thing I’ve gotten curious about recently after a friend talked about drinking the powder mixed with hot water in the morning. It’s supposed to be very healthy.
I actually drink green tea in the morning. Hojicha, which is a lower caffeine version.
But matcha. I’ve now tried an iced latte version and a hot one, and I’m still not sure about this. Tastes of hay to me (yes, I’ve nibbled hay but not in decades). The cake is very sweet and has a slightly strange after-taste. The slice will get finished but I won’t go looking for more.
Anyone into matcha?
I also stopped at Pierre Herme for macarons. PH gets a lot of love but I’m not sure if these are superior to anything else I’ve tried.
After sugar, I did Liberty to try the new basement level perfume salon. I ended up trying the January Guerlain peach release, Pêche Mirage, from the Arts et Metière line: peach, blackcurrant, saffron, osmanthus, leather, amber and sandalwood (notes Fragrantica). With that list I should love this, but the opening was peach and … fish. Really. So deeply a no go. A complete fail. If someone else has tried this and it has worked please comment ‘cause it was actually shocking how unpleasant this was on me.
Also, Liberty’s salon is not brilliant (the rest of the shop is). Too hot, not enough seating, really really needs a ventilation system and a bit of AC. Harrods 5th floor is much much more worthwhile.
I then ate lunch at the Marylebone Ottolenghi deli. I’ve written about Ottolenghi delis in the past. If you find yourself in London and want lunch highly recommend. The food is very good (I had cold grilled salmon, hummus and orzo with pesto) and the people watching superb.
Post this I tried to visit Perfumer H but their shop was deserted and by that time I couldn’t be bothered to ring bell, be admitted, be the only one sniffing, etc.
So, I slowly made my way back to Paddington station to go home.
In my post about my trip to Europe last September I commented that some cities are clearly way over-touristed now, meaning historic centres are no longer pleasant. I’m becoming concerned that this is true of London. There are always things to want to do or see in places like Covent Garden, but I think one is better off with Primrose Hill, Hampstead, the area near Boro Market, etc, etc. Good shopping, good food, great things to see, much less busy. Why do we as beings all gravitate to the same areas and things to see when travelling?
Pics: Pexels and wiki parfums
I miss living close to a proper city – I’m on the West Coast and the cities here tend to feels more sprawled out and not as conducive to aimless wandering as East Coast or European cities. Given a choice, I pretty much avoid traveling during the summer unless it’s a beach type destination – everything is so much more congested! I think people really suffer from FOMO nowadays, magnified by all the social media that makes all these things seem impossibly fun ( and you impossibly boring for not joining in) – recently got back from NYC ( as parents, if you have an opportunities to travel without kids, you take it whenever you can get it!) and I’ve never seen so many lines to get into the latest hyped places.
As far as Jasmine recs – have you smelled Isabelle Larignon’s Bangla Yasaman? I can’t do skanky or indolic Jasmine but this one is quite interesting, with wine and black tea type nuances. Wouldn’t characterize it as soapy.
Still chuckling at fishy peach. Reminded me of my early BN days. I’d been singing the praises of vintage Poison. Another member was inspired to get a sample. She was NYC based & got a sample locally. I got a message asking if Poison always smelled of smoked fish!!!
Turned out the person she bought the sample from had made & eaten a smoked fish sandwich, then decanted the perfume. Didn’t was their hands GAK!
Jasmine? Neither Sarrasins or A La Nuit are what they were. I have a vintish travel size of Lush Lust which is dirty jasmine.
If you want skanky with jasmine Salome by Papillons Artisan Perfumes might hit the spot. More complex than just jasmine.
I don’t get not washing your hands. And I hate watching people, particularly on public transport, nibbling their fingers and then touching their eyes or noses. Get yourself sick, why don’t you …
I don’t think I’ve ever smelled Sarrasins. A la Nuit didn’t make my heart go pitter pat. None of the Papillons work that well on me, though I admire them.
I thought I sent you some Sarrasins. The deep purple stuff that stains clothing? If not, I will when I’m out of this fatigue flunk. It’s the latest batch & different to my original decant. The OG was leather jasmine. The current lacks the leather & is super pretty.
Peach and fish? Not sure which is worse for me..
I’ve tried Matcha and didn’t care for it. Yes, tasted like Hay and I was vibrating like a tuning fork for hours.
What I really don’t get is people who come to, say, LA and end up hanging out at The Grove. It’s a mall. With pretty much the same stores as every other mall on the face of the earth. They will stop at the original Farmer’s Market next door to get food but then dive back into the mall, rather that wandering around the Farmer’s Market which is a true slice of LA and LA history (it even has a historic adobe) But I guess the lure of an American Girl store or an Apple Store is just too much..
Interestingly I found a fair number of peach and fish recipes that sound good.
The only reason I can see for visiting malls on holiday would be if it were wicked hot and you need some AC.
The answer to your last question – because we are very social creatures with lemming tendencies. A neighbor likes to travel and always goes to whatever places are IN but never has a positive thing to say (and she’s a talker) about where she went. Does let everyone know where she went though.
You got me with peach and lost me with fish. lol.
It’s good to get away from time to time. It breaks up the routine. Food can definitely be fun!
I guess…perhaps… I watch some YouTube travel videos simply to get a sense of why they all gravitate to the same places (hotels, shops, bakeries) in a given city. It seems sometimes to be ‘cause I can present it better. That’s it. Not because they are specifically excited about this particular place.
Anyway. Yup, fish. It was quite surprising.
… peach and FISH?!?! It’s hilarious the way some fragrances go wrong on us! I just don’t have the stamina any more … I used to go to NYC (4 hours away) for the DAY — up on the 6am bus, got there at 10, caught the 6 or 7 pm bus home. I would absolutely need a hotel room at this point, for an overnight. But it was wonderful being close enough to do that. I was obsessed with those Lady M crepe cakes and delighted when they opened one in DC, although it was the regular (vanilla?) flavor and not matcha, which I don’t care for, too grassy. They have such an interesting texture.
It was quite shocking and I have no idea what in the notes list (or that isn’t listed) would do that. The rose crepe cake was quite nice. I could see maybe doing that again.
Your trip up to London sounds like it was very tasty, Cinnamon. I’m sorry the peach Guerlain was such a fail. I haven’t tested it yet. I love green tea and drink it every morning. I’ve had many different varieties, but not matcha yet.
I have to be careful about caffeine so hojicha is it for me. I was just really curious about matcha, as it’s everywhere in everything.
Okay! You win the Make Musette Bark Award this morning!
Peach and…. fish!!!!
I’m in the middle of harvesting the first flush of peaches… I will probably laugh through the whole process now!!!
Well, glad to have been of assistance.
I actually had to stop to check after that first wrist sniff, but indeed: peach and fish. Will not forget that soon.
Hey Cinnamon,
I love that you go try new flavors and experiences in food. Jin has got me doing this all over the world now (even though I’m happy with the most basic of foods) and it’s exhilarating.
I quite like matcha but prefer a black/green/herbal tea or cup of coffee.
My laborite super skanky jasmine is Santa Maria Novella Triple Distilled Jasmine extrait. It will blow the back of your head off with rapture. Promise.
JAR used to do one too. HUGE
Portia xx
There are some textures that are just no nos for me, but at this stage if it isn’t animal related I will try it, if cautiously.
I mostly do decaf everything these days but Hojicha is low caffeine enough that it doesn’t bother me. And it’s sort of addictive.
Ah, JAR. I remember when it was the talk of the boards. One day I’ll do the visit to the Paris place maybe. I will put the SMN on the list.
Haha- I was in London this weekend – I went to Perfumer H on Saturday too (I wish you had gone in – it was a very easy place to sniff & test). Went back on Sunday and picked up Heliotrope – which is an uncharacteristically soft choice for me (I’m a Serge & vintage Shalimar gal) but I loved it – lovely light woody-ish scent for the warmer months.
I love straight up matcha- like a usucha or koicha- there is something very meditative about whisking & drinking it- but strangely I do not like matcha as a flavor in drinks or dessert. I’m not sure why. So no matcha latte for me. It is an acquired taste, though and the highest grade ones have little to no bitterness & you can sometimes get creamy, sweet notes from some really good ones.
Agree re: Pierre Hermes macarons- they are good but not the best ever etc.
Hmmm, snap. I think I tried the wrong Marylebone shop — ie, the quieter one. In any case, it was late afternoon and I had had enough of wandering.
I think I will next try matcha at a specialist place. I’m not sure the stuff I’m getting is all that high quality.
The world and its instagram mother goes on about Pierre Herme. They are perfectly nice but not astonishing.