Heya Posse! Less than one month till Christmas. For those of you who don’t celebrate, or celebrate other religious milestones at this point, fair play to you. Thing is, across the western world it’s almost impossible to ignore the marketing, festivities and events surrounding the retail industries annual bonanza. So even if you are a different culture, atheist, bah humbug or anything other than TEAM XMAS then you’re probably going to be having a Christmas party at work or with some of your friends. So as perfumistas I feel like it might be extra fun if we arrive smelling like the season, no matter our affiliations. What better way than with Christmas on the balcony, or Noel au Balcon?
Even if you are solo for Christmas, by choice or not, then as you’re here I’m thinking you have definite perfume leanings. So leaning into the season scent wise might be a fun way to do it, just for you.
Noel au Balcon by Etat Libre d’Orange 2007
ELdO gives these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot essence Orpur®,Cinnamon, Peppercorn
Heart: Rose essence Orpur®, Lilly of the Valley, Honey
Base: Cedarwood, Vanilla, Musk
Noel au Balcon is a happy and delightful surprise. Ostensibly a white floral, a super clean, jasmine-ish LotV plumped out heavily by honey, orange peel, cinnamon, pepper and vanilla. Yeah, I know you can read the note list but what the list fails to tell you is that this smells like a Christmas party, a gingerbread cookie, mulled wine and some very glamorous white floral wearing party people.
Is it groundbreaking? More like envelope pushing, a meld of the fancy white floral and a spice laden vanilla bomb. As with many of the ELdO oeuvre there are two main protagonists battling it out. What they also seem to do flawlessly is keep them so beautifully aligned that is never a clear winner.
If you’re going to have to do the Xmas things then you should be thinking about smelling like Noel au Balcon.
In 2024 I will be. Oh and I’ll also be smelling like Arabie (beautiful post here), Nuit de Noel and Sancti too.
Is Xmas a time you scent for?
Portia xx