Hi there Perfume Posse. Christopher Brosius is a bit of a perfume enigma. Every now and then while I’m shopping at Surrender To Chance I will grab a couple of Christopher Brosius’ beautiful scents and drop them in my cart. I buy the 2ml spritz so I have some juice to play with over a few days, they are always intriguing rides. My last order came with two new to me frags from the range; Tea/Rose and Black March. I remember shopping and thinking that they would be about as polar opposite as possible, let’s see…..

Christopher Brosius: CB I Hate Perfume

CB I Hate Perfume

M #2 Black March by Christopher Brosius for CB I Hate Perfume 2006

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Rain drops, leaf buds, wet twigs, tree sap, bark, mossy earth, a hint of spring

Green, wet, compost heap. Broken bracken, eucalyptus, the local creek after rain. Rock climbing, waterfalls, Australian Blue mountains walks. Invigorating. After rain if you dig in the lawn. Black march isn’t so much a fragrance as an experience. Instantly transported back to gardening with my Mum.

As it progresses Black March gets earthier and more clay like and I smell some narcissus too. Interestingly, the earthiness gives way to a soft woody sweetness that lingers till gone.

#204 Tea/Rose by Christopher Brosius for CB I Hate Perfume

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Tea, rose

Garden roses, sweet and delicious. Slightly fruity, wet with dew in the cool of morning. A little green. The dry at the back of your throat when you smell black tea brewing. For something offered up as so simple Tea/Rose is surprisingly complex. I am smiling, Tea/Rose reminds me of the yellow rose Freesia, a favourite of my Mums and we would grow them on and off throughout our gardening lives. They would be first to flower and Mum would have them in the bathrooms, the real harbinger of spring for me.

CB I Hate Perfumes has an extraordinary range of amazing scents
Surrender To Chance has CB I Hate Perfume samples from $3/ml

If you have enjoyed this then please pop over to Australian Perfume Junkies and continue the scented conversation. We love visitors, say HI while you’re there.

Do you wear CB I Hate Perfume fragrances? Do you have a favourite? Which of these appeals to you?
Portia xx

Black March by Stevie Smith

From In The Dark: This particular poem was written near the end of her life and it’s quite typical of her thoughts about death at that time. She had contracted a brain tumour and knew the end was coming soon. It didn’t frighten her at all, as the verse makes clear. She died in 1971, just a few months after writing this and without having to endure a lengthy illness.

Black March by Stevie Smith.

I have a friend
At the end
Of the world.
His name is a breath

Of fresh air.
He is dressed in
Grey chiffon. At least
I think it is chiffon.
It has a
Peculiar look, like smoke.

It wraps him round
It blows out of place
It conceals him
I have not seen his face.

But I have seen his eyes, they are
As pretty and bright
As raindrops on black twigs
In March, and heard him say:

I am a breath
Of fresh air for you, a change
By and by.

Black March I call him
Because of his eyes
Being like March raindrops
On black twigs.

(Such a pretty time when the sky
Behind black twigs can be seen
Stretched out in one
Uninterrupted
Cambridge blue as cold as snow.)

But this friend
Whatever new names I give him
Is an old friend. He says:

Whatever names you give me
I am
A breath of fresh air,
A change for you.