The Butterflies, the Sun

Carolyn and I went to Phoenix/Scottsdale for a few days recently. There were several goals – get out of this charming but in some ways very small city; be someplace warmer; eat good food; and walk around Old Town and their fancy mall for the kind of retail therapy that is not available anywhere near us. It wasn’t on the original bucket list, but we also ended up spending a morning in an indoor “butterfly garden” which was a delight, here’s one perched on my hand.

We stayed literally across the street from the Scottsdale Fashion Square. It’s big and fairly high-end, with Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom and Macy’s as well as stand-alone boutiques like Louis Vuitton, Prada, Chanel, Bottega, Hermes, Jimmy Choo, etc etc etc. We laughed at the people queuing up to get into LV like it’s a nightclub, and we spent quality time and not toooo much money elsewhere.

I can’t think of the last time I took a gander at L’Artisan. They were one of my first niche discoveries, in Paris, and I still remember the hours I spent sniffing with abandon. I’m not thrilled with their reorganization/rebranding and reformulations, but nobody asked me, did they? With no notes in front of us we tried their Soleil de Provence, and we both loved it. From their website: “In this luminous perfume, Daphné Bugey conveys a sun-drenched trip along the Route du Mimosa in Grasse. Clouds of fluffy yellow blooms for miles, radiating their green, honeyed scent with a sparkling freshness. Lemon and benzoin capture the heat of the moment.”

For something that sounds simple, this is hard to capture in words. It has that old-school L’Artisan je ne sais quoi, the offbeat originality I fell for way back when. It smells (surprise!) like mimosa, and I’m not a huge mimosa fangirl, but this. Maybe it’s the benzoin? Something moderates the powdery sweetness that can become cloying, and the essential green earthiness is pushed forward.

Anyway, I see a decant of that in my future. Do you have a favorite L’Artisan? I have quite a few vintage bottles. I was surprised to see Bois Farine still in production, only because it’s so odd.

Back home, it’s time to break out the Annick Goutal Noel room spray, which smells wonderful and gives me lovely memories of the Bergdorf Beauty floor during a Sniffa years ago.

Finally, Musette sent me these links – I am intrigued! Have you tried any of these Cotys? I had no idea! She’s hoping / planning on heading to Chicago and will give them a whirl, especially the vintage formula one.

I hope you’re awash in something delicious-smelling. See see you in the New Year.