Winter Blues

Posse!  Like pretty much everyone else in the Northern Hemisphere I am suffering from the Winter Blues.  Trying (and not doing too badly) to practice Gratitude – the weekend brought a fresh hit of snow, which I always find demoralizing  because it usually blends in with the grey-white sky and is Just Too Much – but this time I stopped and took a look at my Situation:  at the time I was having my pity party I realized that

1. I was in a warm(ish – it’s old and drafty) house, wrapped head to toe in fleece
2. I’d just made an excellent pot of pourover coffee
3. I was watching my boortz sucking down chow in the boort feeders and drinking their fill in the Winter Bath (and bonus points for those who know why we call them ‘boortz’.  Hint:  the fabulous Sam Rockwell is behind it)
4. I was notNOT in a box under a bridge.  Seriously – Life changes on a whim and … well.  I am still warm, clean, dry etc.

But even with all That Grat, Mr Chartwell (another bonus point) was nipping at my heels, so I decided to take a hot shower, slather a half-jar of body creme and reflect on what I wanted to wear that day (see Gratitude), perfumewise.

I wanted something that sort of gave a nod to leather/caramel notes but also had some flowers therin – sort of a ‘warm floral’ if you will.  Something I really didn’t know all that well.  So I stuck my hand in the samples area of the Messy Armoire (again More Gratitude) and came up with Azzaro Couture, which was a blind choice from Surrender to Chance – I think it came either in a gourmand group (?) or the Apricot group (insert shrug emoji)

Notes, from Fragrantica (which I think may be AI generated now – it’s got a weird tone to it and a whole buncho typos and is just… odd): Rose, Galbanum, Ambrette, Iris, Mimosa.   My sample is from Aurelien Guichard’s  2008 revival of the 1974 original and the notes would suggest it’s less chypre and more straightforwardly floral.

Except I get nunnadat.  What ‘I’ get (and this may be me) is a sweetish floral-caramel skin scent that turns slightly acrid after … 30 minutes… (?) on my skin.  And even though it sounds like faint praise, it really isn’t.  I wasn’t looking for Warm and Sweet – I wanted something that had just a little bit of bite to it, not “I just got bitten by a snake” bite… more.. “dang.  I just got stuck by a thorn’ – and Azzaro Couture delivered.  I wouldn’t have known there was iris therein but now that I do know I realize that’s what I’m smelling on the drydown, that acrid, rooty note.  Iris, especially the root, is one of the most beguiling notes in perfumery for me.  It plays extremely well on my skin and warms up without losing that rooty, dirty ‘snap’.

I have no idea why I am getting the warm, leather/caramel hints but I’m 1. glad they’re there and 2. glad they’re just a hint.  I have plenty of those beauties.  This?  This is a weirdly interesting mashup of notes that I have been huffing all day, marveling at the shifts from warm to acrid root to chilly floral … and back again.

I’m also particularly glad that I am in a warm house, with a hot shower (and pourover coffee).  So I’ll continue to practice Gratitude!  Oh!  A reason to celebrate!!!  Sunset today is 5:08p today.  Tomorrow?  5:10!!!  Squeeee!  We’re gainin’ on it!

Have any of you tried Azarro (either the original or the revamped)?  Your thoughts?  My sample came from surrendertochance.com and full bottles are inexpensive at e-tailers (though I am not sure I need another bottle of perfume).  Are you looking forward to warmer weather?