It’s hot here. And Humid. Now, I know that I should add the addendum “humid for LA” because the actual humidity has got nothing on the rest of the country, where it can get to 100% without even having an actual raindrop form. Having grown up in New England, lived in both New York and Milwaukee I can attest that I know what that’s like and I am sure that March is remembering DC and thinking “oh yeah?” I have a friend who now lives in Alabama who could chime in as well. So whinging on when we get to the upper 80’s and 50% humidity in the Hills of Beverly does, I will admit, seem churlish. I will say that that’s just for today, and that we have actually had some crazy downpours both here and (more often) in the desert. So, I am going to whine. It’s humid. It feels like you’re swimming through the air and that those little suspended droplets of moisture are acting like little magnifying glasses, making it seem hotter than it is.
So of course I look to cool off using perfume. Lately and specifically Florida water.
Florida water was according to Wikipedia introduced in 1808 in New York City and apparently has been pretty much the same and sold under the same Murray and Lanman brand since then: a super light and super fleeting splash scented with sweet orange, lavender and clove, none especially discernible. I actually think I feel he clove more than smell it- a slight prickling sensation that’s oddly cooling. Then it’s vaguely powdery, then it’s gone. You’re just left with a slight scent of spice and, well, freshness that’s quite appealing. It’s so light it makes Jean Nate seem like Fracas, but on a hot and sticky day it’s perfection.
It’s also, ridiculously, absurdly cheap. I bought a tiny 2oz bottle from Amazon for under $5 and could have (and might) get the two pack of 16oz bottles for $17 and keep one in the icebox. The 2oz bottle has resided in mine all this week and has been popped in my bag when I go out. A little splash on the neck after a stroll out (and before reapplying sunscreen- priorities, people!) is as refreshing as a cocktail and better for your liver.
So I know that practically the whole of the northern hemisphere has been roasting- what are you doing to keep cool? Wearing? Recipes? Hats? Let’s discuss in the comments (where it’s cool.)
As I wrote, I purchased my bottle from Amazon. Photos are mine except for cover photo from Pexels.
Hey Tom,
I never heard about this fragrance but I love the idea of spritzing something cooling, it being fragrant for 15 minutes and then gone.
Summer is nearly done for you guys. Hope autumn is a soft and gentle one.
Portia xx
P, it’s not really a fragrance – more like a splash (similar in ‘type’ to Jean Nate or 4711 – but even more fleeting). One would wear fragrance atop it – it’s really used just to cool down.
xoxoxo
It really does make 4711 look like Poison by comparison. Of Giorgio..
I’ll bet you can get it there if there are any lasting stores.
Sept usually has two calm weeks then we get a month more of summer..
The last two summers in Atlanta have been freakishly semi-tropical, thunderstorms just about every afternoon. We use it for “sponge baths” and just splashing on itchy, overheated skin after being outside (for more than 5 minutes).
I think that’s possibly the best use of it.
Some Cubans use Florida Water in purifying rituals (along with pigeons, which we then have to release (not kill) once you are splashed with the FW, chanted on, then cleansed with this screeching, flapping bird.
Refreshing, indeed!
I love Florida Water – when I’m in Mexico it’s definitely my pick up at the grocery! Like you, I mostly get the clove. At home, I never wear it, reserving it for religious purposes. Go figure!
xoxoxo
I knew it was used for purification in religious rites (and was sold by practically the gallon at bodegas downtown) but I just use it to purify me. If that’s possible with a splash…
It is possible. But don’t forget the pigeon.
xoxoxo
I take a ‘Tippi’ view of flappy fowl..
We had a cold front move through the Dallas area yesterday, bringing us a too small sprinkle of rain and the hope that temps will only top out at 95 today. So…yeah. I’m loving the lemon based 4711 Remix I bought in Germany for this weather, though I sprayed In Ineke’s Poets Jasmine for a change this morning.
Fall is coming. Not soon enough, but its coming!
We are still in the 90’s here. I can’t think how unpleasant it must be in Palm Springs. But at least there’s AC. And eaux de cologne to slap on
I bought a bottle of this in the grocery store one time for $3! Cheapest scent ever! Smells nice but vanishes in a flash, which I couldn’t handle. I guess it doesn’t have any base notes. That’s okay. It’s refreshing, like you said. Thanks Tom!
It actually doesn’t bother me that it’s gone in a flash. I kind of like that. I’m really using it like antifreeze in my car- personal boil-over protection. In this heat I get snappish.
I definitely had a bottle of this at some point! I love those super-light refreshing scents, kept in the fridge (which is where my 4711 lived). Makes perfect sense when it’s hot. I am allllll about the sun protection, with a hat wardrobe and SPF50 – 100, which I wear every day, the sun is intense here at 7000 feet. It was too hot earlier this summer but is absolutely lovely now (it’s 62F as I type this, will rise to the mid 70s for today’s high) and I’m feeling bad for those in the scorching heat in the UK and elsewhere, I hope it doesn’t last long.
it is unpleasant here. definitely a country that shouldn’t be this hot, with no plans in place to deal with it. your weather sounds so pleasant. plus, we need some rain … who’d’a thunk we’d need rain…
New Mexico does sound pleasant. Let’s all go visit March!
I hope for their sakes it doesn’t. As you know LA was pretty much built about 10 minutes ago, so AC is everywhere. And yes, I have my SPF 1000 and big hat for outside (and have taken to wearing a long-sleeve shirt driving- no farmer tan for me!)
March, your current late summer are my late winter temps, almost exactly. Over the last few days we have had lovely, sunny 20+C days (around 70F)
Portia xx
OMG What I wouldn’t give for your kind of winter day!
I’ve not heard of Florida Water but I love to hear about history of fragrances. It sounds lovely in your CA humidity. It remains too hot and dry here in CO. I stay cool by staying indoors which is not for me! I can’t be out in this heat and my dog melts. I have a wonderful Columbia hat with wide brim to keep the sun off my face and neck while walking with my pup. And lather on the SPF for face, neck and hands and wear long sleeved top and leggings to mitigate sun damage. Like most of us, I’ve had enough sun exposure in my youth when a tan when considered “healthy.” My summer citrus fragrance is Oyedo by Diptyique, a yummy candied orange citrus.
That diptyque sounds great!
The humidity is unusual “monsoonal moisture” (well, not so unusual since it has a name) that comes from unsettled weather off the coast of Baja. Otherwise it’s dry here, which I like better.
I tanned for about 10 minutes in the 80’s until it sank in that it really just doesn’t take on my skin. the color I have now (which could charitably called “almost lifelike”) is about as dark as it gets. If I don’t wear long sleeves and pants in the car I can feel my skin burning after about 15 minutes. Which does beg he question why do I live in SoCal and drive a convertible?
This sounds like the Agrumi di Sicilia which I got before our last heat wave. I actually used it this morning as we’re in heatwave number 2 and I have to go to the dentist this afternoon (just a checkup hopefully). We’re eating a lot of peaches and nectarines which make the kitchen smell beautiful and remind me of the really good fragrances with fruit notes. It’s too hot to dig out SL Rose de Nuit but I think about it. I have a wonderful straw hat I got ages ago which has a broad enough brim to shade back of neck. As to recipes, I made whipped cream a few days ago to have with berries and put both vanilla and rosewater in it. Will do that again.
I have started to really love hats. I have a big one that has built in SPF and I have been thinking that, damn the torpedoes, I would just get one of those giant brimmed ones that are supposed to be ladies only. So one day soon I may be releasing my inner Allan Carr and wearing a Muu-Muu, wide brimmed hat, Jackie-O sunglasses and sipping a (non-alcoholic) Mai-Tai while ogling pool boys.