We are finally having some legitimate August weather – in the 90s and humid. I am not even complaining. Now is the time for all the summer greats – fresh fruit and vegetables, straight from the garden (even if it´s not your garden.)
To honor high summer’s arrival after a very long wait, I thought I´d put up a post on great veggie/garden scents. This is a random sample and by no means exhaustive. Please add your suggestions. The fun thing about a post like this is, some of these are obscure enough that newbies and lurkers get a peek at a whole different area of perfumage!
L´Artisan Fleur de Carotte. I don´t know if actual carrot flowers have a smell; this smells delicately of sweet, juicy carrot. Available in giant vats from the flagship stores with a little Beatrix-potter-looking paper hat on the bottle (shown at right).
L´Artisan Piment Brulant – green bell pepper. Not a personal favorite of mine (why don´t I want to smell like green bell pepper? I don´t know) but I know a ton of people who love this.
CB I Hate Perfume Memory of Kindness – tomato leaf, dirt, sunshine. While we are on the topic of CB, I know I pimp his stuff all the time, because it´s wonderful – he´s not giving me freebies. Here´s a link to his accords list – I notice he´s got four tomatoes (tomato basil, tomato leaf, green tomato, market tomato.) Visiting his website gives me the perfume version of the horn. I wonder how the rhubarb leaf smells? Also, as soon as it cools off I´m getting me some boiled rice. BTW unfortunately, unless the ORDER button appears next to what you´re eyeballing, it´s only available by visiting his Brooklyn store, which is well worth the trip. Any other CB faves? How´s his Grass? Also, has anyone smelled Baby Butt?
For the budget version of CB, of course there´s Demeter – in addition to the iconic Dirt, there´s Grass, Pruning Shears, Privet… Also – friends – Turpentine! Should I order it?
Donna Karan DKNY Women – okay, this is a little different, but it´s so interesting and under the radar I´m including it. I´ve only ever seen it at airport duty frees – it´s in the long frosted glass bottle with the silver holo box. Notes are tomato leaf, blood orange, water lily, coral orchid, narcissus, tulip, birch. To me it smells like an urban balcony container garden – the tomato leaf is dominant, but in the background there´s a hint of orange juice, wet pavement, trees, and the florist down the street with the buckets set up on the sidewalk.
Okay, your turn. What would you like to add to our garden today that isn´t a conventional flower? (Maybe I should have included CB Dandelion?)
image: tomatoes in my kitchen, courtesy of a friend’s garden. He did all the work and then left for vacation, inviting me to harvest for the three weeks he’s gone. It’s a tough job, but somebody’s got to eat them, eh?
No blight here – for the first time in four years. Oh my. Hope I haven’t cursed my 10 varieties by typing that.
When I want to smell of garden I go frolic in earth.
xxx
I’m trying to remember if I might have sneezed on my computer…
Hey, this wandered! Clams, are you there?????
I love garden scents!
I own Piment Brulant, Thunderstorm & Dirt and probably a few more I’m forgetting.
I also bought those brand new Brooklyn Bunny home fragrances, that were done by Christopher Brosius: Apple and Lettuce. The Lettuce is positively giggle-inducing in recreating that sweet torn bibb iceberg lettuce smell, but the drydown is kinda gummy and shampoo-esque – which makes it more of a stand alone room spray. The Apple is TO DIE FOR. Lovely. Better than Gathering Applies by CBIHP (which I also love) because it smells more like an actual apple (peel, pit, fruit) than an apple orchard. Plus MUCH cheaper than CBIHP scents ($14 for 150 ml). Get ’em while they last!
Oh my lord — what have I done? Please excuse the multiple posts, I have no idea what happened. Can you delete the first two, pretty please Miz March?
No problem. FWIW the Posse is loading really slowly on my end today, did you get impatient and resend? Really, though — minor matter.
Slow loading here, too…especially comments…but I have the initial load problem on and off with PP. I thought it wasn’t working before, hence my own double posted comment above…
March if you have that latest download of Firefox (3.5) it’s absolute crapola. I did as your friend suggested and got the hell rid of it and replaced it with the trusty-dusty old 3.1 version. Much better! If your head just went on tilt at the mere sight of this get someone to read it and attempt a translation.
I’m still running 3.1… not sure what the problem is, Shelley says it’s slow too. Maybe the internets caught the clam flu?
Hey look! The perfume people really *are* reading…
I lurve The Unicorn Spell, of course, and also Piment Brulant, Demeter Dirt, Philosykos (Surely that counts as a garden scent? My imaginary Mediterranean garden?), the green shrubbery and magical sap of the long lost Sous Le Buis and Seve Exquise, and all sorts of other things I am probably forgetting about right now.
I have a funny relationship to Memory of Kindness. Every time I order a sample or a decant after a few wearings it leaps out of my hand and into someone else’s–as a gift, intended, or unintended. Haven’t tried again in awhile…
And, if you’ll excuse the self-serving promo,I did a little book review yesterday on Ann Lovejoy’s Fragrance in Bloom, a wonderful book about scents in the garden, over on PST. It’s hardly a review at all, more like a fan letter, but it’s such a great book!
Philosykos!! Certainly there is room in this post for a fig, we must have a tree near our garden, right? I have so many fig sprays I can’t decide if that one’s my favorite. I am also quite partial to Christopher Brosius’ fig, Revelation. And the Satellite one.
haha..of course we read this blog. We are fragrance lovers just like all of you!
Hey, dearest!
How about Stecca? It smells like just picked vine ripe tomatoes. Yum!
Turns out I will not be in DC this summer, so until next time, hugs and loads of love!
Wah! I was hoping to see you! :: pouts:: well, next time, then.
L’Artisan Fleur de Carotte was a limited edition fragrance, but I do know that we have a few remaining bottles at our boutique in the Henri Bendel department store in NYC (212-904-7910). Your local independent L’Artisan Parfumeur retailer might also have the fragrance in stock. I hope this doesn’t seem too spammy! I just wanted to let those who are interested know that even though the fragrance is no longer being produced there are still bottles available out there.
I’d also like to make a quick note on the closing of the L’Artisan Parfumeur boutiques in Chicago and on Madison Avenue in New York City. We did close both boutiques. We closed all of our exclusive boutiques in the United States except for the boutique in Henri Bendel that I mention above. L’Artisan Parfumeur decided we would rather focus our efforts and our resources on producing the finest and most unique luxury fragrances available. Rest assured though that our full line is always available on our website as well as the many independent L’Artisan Parfumeur retailers through out the country.
Hey, not spammy at all! In fact, you can stick your name and/or phone # in, I won’t complain. The gals from Chicago used to drop by and clarify things for us… I am sorry to see the boutiques go only because they were such a pleasant place to hang out and concentrate on a favorite niche line of mine … L’Artisan was my first “niche” perfume and it has a special place in my heart. Thanks for the update. BTW the gals in Chicago and NY were always friendly and very helpful.
Durn tootin’! I miss that little boutique in Chicago. I mean, I LOVE Bradley (Barneys) like nobody’s bidness…but Darcie and Rebecca and Lydia were just sooooo knowledgeable and wonderful…and the boutique was so charming….
alas….
I miss the Chicago boutique, too…was my special stop when I had to run an errand in that area…and as much as I appreciate Barney’s for being what it is, there was something about knowing you could hang there in the boutique, and keep your attention on the one line…which in the case of L’Artisan, is a bit of a library anyway…and the staff were truly enthusiastic and knowledgeable. Plus, I could bring any variety of friend by and find something for them w/o them being overwhelmed….
Un Jardin en Mediterranee smells like tomato vines, oranges and figs. Of the three jardins, it smells the most like gardens I know–probably the tomato leaf note.
I think we can safely include this one. Interestingly to me it has replaced Sur Le Nil in my affections. I used to prefer Nil.
That’s an interesting take on it. I don’t think I get tomato stems and orange in it, but definitely fig and cedar. It’s a great scent and I haven’t pulled that one down in awhile.
Don’t worry about the double post … I do think L’Occitane did a tomato, maybe that is what you’re thinking about. I swear I saw it again a year or two ago, but briefly.
You made me reach for my little spray vial of Saveur D’Artichaut…which I don’t really get artichoke from, but I do like its variety of vaguely dirty (earth dirt, not human skank) green-ness…
That DKNY…it is…weirdly fun on me…I never know if I should call a fragrance that has “wet pavement” in it “refreshing”…but the odd notes in there never turn me off, they just throw a virtual crossing guard in my path…pause, pay attention, go back to your business but now with your head cocked kind of thing…I am happy to have my bargain partial bottle.
Shelley, I’ll stick my response here — I just went blind for half an hour squinting at online pics at duty frees — I *think* the deal is, on the outside of the DKNY Women box, it says “energizing eau de parfum” so that’s where “energizing” comes from. The bottle is … trapezoidal? Says nothing but DKNY at the top and Women at the bottom? Now, whether DKNY “to go” is a different SCENT or a different SIZE is debatable. I am guessing it’s the 1 oz size of the same perfume, everything else looks the same.
Yes! “Trapezoidal” was the word rolling around in my head…and the complaint on my lips was that all the bottle offers in print is “DKNY.”
Years ago, I distinctly remember having a bottle of an eau de toilette that was based on tomato – stems, leaves, fruit. For the life of me, though, I cannot remember what the bottle looked like, the name of the juice, or the maker!!! ARGHHH! I remember the smell, though. VERY vegetal and earthy. Was it something by L’Occitane? If anyone knows what I’m talking about, please chime in! And it definitely wasn’t Demeter…
Ooops! Sorry for the double post!!! Tried to stop it midstream to add something, and looks like it had already gone. Oh well.
And I replied in the wrong place! See, I mess up too. I think L’Occitane did it.
Can you still get Demeter Tomato? I’m not big on smelling like vegetables (another negative scent association that I won’t go into), but I loved this one.
CB really has a scent called “Baby Butt”? I haven’t been on his website in ages… I’d couple a trip to his store with dinner at Peter Luger’s; now that’s really worth a trip to Williamsburg!
Speaking of Luger’s, I would happily smell like their steakhouse tomato and onion salad smothered in their signature steak sauce. Beefsteak tomatoes, huge, sweet white onions and heavenly, heavy on the horseradish and brown sugar, steak sauce. YUM!
It looks to me like he has a bunch of new stuff. Also the website has been redone. I like it. He talks about layering the accords as well. Nice to hear straight from the perfumer.
Oh, Nava, Luger’s! Wow, what a great idea. What time do you want to eat?
Anytime you do! 🙂
I. Hate. You. All.
xo >-)
Don’t hate us because we have beautiful meat.
Ha! Meat we got. I can take down a Black Angus any day of the week less than a block from my house.
It’s all the things that go WITH the meat that we ain’t got.
xo >-)
Oh. Well, the sides are grand, to be sure, but it’s the incredible aged beef that is worth the trip and the astronomical prices. No other steakhouse in this town has ever been able to touch Peter Lugar for steak, and heaven knows they’ve tried. But if any place could, it would no doubt be somewhere in Chicago.
which would be great if I lived anywhere near Chicago. When I said I could hit a Black Angus, I meant ON THE HOOF.
Which is why I. Hate. You. All.
You have restaurants.
We have cows.
xoxox >-)
I had a cow, just the other day…but my family got wind of it, and told me not to. Have a cow, that is.
I’m also in the market for a decant of Piment Brulant – looks like this one would be a good candidate for a split – but my favorite vegetal cheapie is Mariella Burani Messages. It’s light, more like a cologne than an edt, and it has the nicest blend of spices and woods offset by green & red pepper. The peppers provide this pleasant bitter edge.
I’d love to try DKNY Woman, but I get confused at the offerings of online discounters bcs they usually don’t list notes. There’s another DKNY in a similar bottle and I’m not sure which I’d end up with. It sounds really nice.
I’d not heard of Messages, thanks! The way you describe it makes it sound very appealing.
I *think* (but cannot promise) that the DKNY “energizing” and the DKNY “to go” that look the same as DKNY Woman are in fact the same fragrance. I’m about to find out, as I just bought one on eBay. 🙂
Let me know what you find out–the bottle I have and refer to below is frosted on two (opposing) sides, and is kind of like a rather flattened obelisk (but no taper toward the top). I’ve been trying to sort out for sure what it is for a year now…
Let me know what you find out–the bottle I have and refer to below is frosted on two (opposing) sides, and is kind of like a rather flattened obelisk (but no taper toward the top). I’ve been trying to sort out for sure what it is ever since I got it.
Shelley, I answered you at your other comment
Rosarita, do you have the first Mariella Burani? The self-named one? I kind of like that as an inexpensive floral amber…I don’t get as much out of Messages as you do, but I rather appreciate both as something that you can find inexpensively online…I used to use the MB as a…what was it you called it, March? wallpaper scent?…when I was too scared of using more pricey numbers for that purpose. (I still am scared of that, but have enough samples hanging around that I have identified some really nice no-brainer goes with most stuff w/o thinking spritzes…)
Wallpaper scent. We need those sometimes. Argh. Like, right now, when CB Revelation is getting on my nerves a teensy bit. Wondering what I might try on top of it.
I’m not much of a vegetable scent person and I only get a hint of mushroom from Dans Tes Bras. But I had an urge to grab my sample of The Unicorn Spell and sure enough, there it was-the scent of green beans! I don’t think that I would wear this regularly, but it is such a strangely compelling fragrance. And there is a violet leaf note in there too. So, maybe something in the combination of vegetable and violet works for me?
The Unicorn Spell! Those green beans … what a fantastic scent that is, thanks for reminding me. And a legitimate addition to our garden scent list. We can have violets growing around our green beans, yes?
DTB smells amazing on you. Much better than on me.
God, I love every single one of the LesNez fumes, including the violet veggie one. René Schifferle (through the brilliance of Isabelle Doyen and Sandrine Videault) has staked out a prime plot in my perfume garden right next to Patricia de Nicolai; not one bad apple in either bunch.
Welllll…. there’s the one I sort of can’t smell…
L’animatiere! Just keep at it — sometimes I can smell it, other times nothing, but when I smell it, I swoon. Line-dried sheets! And even if you can’t smell it, others around you often can.
Hunh. Must be the Emperor’s sheets.
LOL.
My favourite tomato scent is Sisley Eau de Campagne.
I’ve never tried a bell pepper scent, I’m curious about that one…
Campagne is popular on here today! The Piment is allegedly more complex than what I’m describing (see my message to Joe) but bell pepper is what I get…
March, do you get any red chile from CdG Palisander? I love that stuff, but Kevin at NST said he gets roasted/charred red chile pepper and I just can’t smell it in there.
I’m with Joe on the Sisley Eau de Campagne. Now that it has finally gotten hot here, I think I’ll wear that today. Maybe it will attract the tomato Goddess and she’ll smile down on us after all. Just found out yesterday there’s a tomato blight in at least the tri-state area, compounded by too-cool, too-wet weather. One of my colleagues puts in hundreds of tomato plants every year, and they have all gone belly-up. Most likely NO decent tomatoes for me this summer. How will I survive.
I’d imagine carrot flower would smell more or less like Queen Anne’s Lace–dry, a little peppery (black pepper), a little carroty, a little parsley-ey?
And that photo looks like something from Monet’s kitchen. Maybe I could lick my computer screen?
Silvia, I love your scent recipe!
What’s DTB? All I can think of is Dans tes bras, and I don’t think that was a big hit with the Posse, was it?
The Sisley’s on here several times today too! Sorry about the tomato blight — I know it’s going around here too, but my friend’s garden (knock wood) seems to have been spared. Mostly I’m fighting the squirrels and raccoons… DTB is indeed Dans you are right, I didn’t care for it (very mushroomy to/on me) but it smelled extraordinary on Melissa, earthy with hints of violet.
What’s the Sub-standard doing? Put his pampered butt to work!
The only critters I have in my garden are cats – there’s a pack of near-ferals that roam the neighborhood; I encourage them because they keep the squirrels in check during the day and the raccoons out at night – right now our yard is only partially fenced so I’ve recruited them (and these are some tough cats. Even my boys are careful around them). When I lived in the City my boys were in their fenced-in yard all day – nary a squirrel. And let’s not get started on the carnage one night that was not one but THREE raccoons….
…in Rottweiler Hell the Devil is a raccoon.
xo >-)
If your dogs stay away from them, they must really be something.
Hellooo, Francesca? You have been actively participating in a running tomato blight conversation on FB and had absolutely no idea that it was taking place all around you. You make me laugh so much with your Connecticut weekend/vacation head, but apparently now it has branched out into Upper West Side territory.
And yes, Sweetie, Dans tes bras, which is what I was teasing March about in my comments. I get violets and earth, she gets toadstools, which serves her ass right for the tomato tease. I am so happy to know you 🙂
Ditto on the happy to know!
Now I do have to try DTB–I hope it’ll be violets and earth on me, and not mushrooms. There’s enough fungus in my life right now with all the damp in CT.
Francesca, in case you couldn’t tell from my comment above, I LURV Dans tes Bras; to me it’s a musky/salty skin-scent violet.
tomato, tomato tomato…. are you feeling better?
No (thank you for asking) I’m delirious and hallucinating. Must be the mushrooms. And did someone up there mention squirrels?
What? why are you not well? still tummy stuff?
sending you some goodness, hopefully today.
March started with the squirrels, then me and my boys chimed in with the feral cats. They are pretty useful in that they terrorize squirrels, raccoons and possums but have no interest in tomatoes or peppers, etc. If we can just get some consistent heat and sun I might have a decent crop!
Occasionally we will have deer in town but that’s where the boys really earn their keep.
xoxo >-)
I have either the squirrel or the killer clam flu at the moment, not sure which — day two and counting.
The squirrel remark is in reference to an exchange between March and myself about a comment made to me on the street one evening by a guy who approached me and said “Squirrels to the left of us, squirrels to the right!”. I found this particularly amusing because an old boyfriend had contacted me on facebook just the day before and in referring to a photo of my dogs wrote, “Geez, what the heck are those things? Squirrels?” You can understand why I left him.
See, this is why I miss the City. Here, there isn’t anybody on the STREET (one street) after 5:30p. I could launch an ICBM and not hit a soul….(mustn’t think that way….:-p
Hope you are better Very Soon and the Man-eating Clams don’t get you. I hear they’re particularly bad this time of year.
xo >-)
ps. my boys are afraid of very little – but they are respectful of those cats. And geese.
The media are really underplaying the clam flu…. a conspiracy?
Kenyan clams, no doubt.
CdG Harrissa is another fab tomato, if you add the bunch of kitchen herbs of Diptyque Virgilio, you can make a nice pasta sauce ! Need some mushrooms? Pick them at TF Velvet Gardenia, together with some gorgonzola cheese.
I think I just created a scent recipe 😉
That’s hilarious. I wonder if you did that whether it would be fantastic or terrible?
I am going to experiment when I get home…
Report back!
And here I am: left arm layered with Virgilio + Harissa, right arm with Velvet Gardenia+Virgilio+Harissa, applied in that order and… both combos really work on me !
I can sort of smell each individual perfume but they harmonize well, each mix could be a stand alone scent in its own right. For sake of scientific precision, the VG I used is a roll on, while V and H are both spray.
V+H veers on the masculine side, VG+V+H is keeping my nose glued to it.
Please somebody else try it to compare notes !
Hey, thanks. Those combinations sound excellent. I also like to “layer” things by putting them side by side, rather than on top of each other, so I can catch the nuances of each if I want to.
I do that, sometimes…I call it my “scent harmonica.” 😉
I looked up the notes for CdG Harissa, which turns out to be a veritable garden party unto itself:
Harissa, Blood Oranges, Red Chili Pepper, Angelica, Saffron, Nutmeg, Cardamom, Tomato.
Um… how did I miss that one on my sniffage? The only one I fell for was Palisander.
I’m confused…either a sharp white, or a white sangria, could go with that. How about we try both…I’ll bring the beverages, you set the CdG on the table. 😉
I just recently fell in love with Piment Brulant. I definitely get more of a red bell pepper personally, but it’s so strangely intoxicating…. I want one of those 15 ml bottles but it only comes in that special set. I don’t like the other ones, so it may just be a pipe-dream.
I would have to second Iris Silver Mist, though, when I first tried it, I thought green bell pepper. Now I think, “Iris-infused pastel mint.” Which is much nicer.
Sometimes you can get a split going … that’s how I wound up with Safran, someone else wanted the other two. And I think sometimes they buy and split the sets on TPC….
Is someone insuating something *mushroomy* about my beloved DTB? >:-| (which I wore all day today and which gave me my *own* perfume version of the horn, to use March’s phrase) Oh well, more portabello goodness for me, I guess…
Funny you should mention Piment Brulant; I’ve been having a serious lemm for it and trying to nab some at a good price. Not green bell to me, but a delicious roasted red pepper with some sweet fruity-florally slightly powdery notes buoying it up. I’ve gotta have it!
I’ve always wanted to try Fleur de Carotte (I thought it was dc’d), and I love MoK enough to want a FB. I’ve also been getting my tomato leaf fix lately from Sisley Eau de Campagne. (And about that photo: MMMM, tomatoes. I miss New Jersey gardens!)
I just this week got some D.L. & Co Lady Rhubarb parfum, and I would seriously love a bottle of the CdG Rhubarb as well. Speaking of rhubarb and look-alikes, I know someone is bound to mention that Dzongkha turns all celery on them, but I’m pretty thrilled that I don’t get that.
Joe, I’m with you on DTB. So some people wear tomatoes and I wear mushrooms. To each their own! But really, on me it is all damp earth and violets with a peppery note, before it settles into a quiet skin scent.
M, that’s the thing — on you it is not mushrooms. On you, it is extraordinary. Really, amazing. Earth and violets, yes.
Joe, the weird thing is, when I look up PB to make sure it’s spelled correctly 🙂 ,there’s all this hooha about hot red pepper, chocolat, cloves etc. — it’s supposed to hint at the ol’ Aztec chocolate drink. But all I (and some others) can ever smell is …. bell pepper.
I think maybe Carotte IS d/c’d, but I’ve seen it any number of times at the L’Artisan boutiques, although the boutiques themselves are getting harder to find … I think Madison Ave closed?
They iced the Chicago store, which is no surprise – L’A put it less than a block away from Barneys, which also carries L’A…and tucked it under the escalators. Way to go, L’A!!!
I don’t think I have any veggie/garden scents, though the concept of tomato leaf is intriguing… I used to have Demeter Thunderstorm (gave it to my sister – it made my fragile Rottweiler crazy). Does that count? I mean, you need rain for the veggies, right? 🙂
xoxoxo >-)
We should definitely include Thunderstorm! How silly of me to overlook it. A very summer garden smell…
Okay, then toss in my Rain, even though I don’t know if Demeter makes it anymore (it is from their early days, and Christopher Brosius was one of them).
Green pepper is pretty much Bertrand Duchaufour’s signature note, isn’t it?
This is what I wrote on my blog about this stuff…
“Piment Brulant smells like hot peppers and green tomatoes and chili powder, vanilla and sweet spices and a warm trace of bittersweet chocolate. It smells like the best dessert enchilada in the world, or something, and if you sniff your skin too closely right after applying it, you get a sharp little capsaicin blast to the sinuses. It’s rich, and lovely, and WOW.”
I adore it to distraction. But then again, as I’ve said, Eau des Merveilles smells like bug spray to me, so we all have our smelly crosses to bear, so to speak.
I am all over the dandelion..
It’s a great scent, yes?
I get my carrots primarily from Iris Silver Mist, thenk yoo, and my mushrooms courtesy of Freddy Malle in your very, very favorite scent, March, and I think you know what mean. But my squirrelly little heart goes pitty-pat at the sight of that bouteille en Carotte.
And you are so mean with your tomato porn, but I forgive you, darling.
My tomato porn! Hehe. I had no idea people were having such a rotten tomato year, no pun intended. Your favorite mushroom seems to be a hit today.