Maybe That’s My Jam

One of my iris blooms.

To quote that famous line from Alfred, Lord Tennyson, “in the Spring a young man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love.” As a not so young woman, my thoughts of love are currently directed at my garden – what’s worked, what hasn’t, what it needs more (or less) of in terms of perennials, are we truly past the last frost, how to discourage the trash pandas from flipping over the plantings in that one particular spot looking for grubs, etc.

The irises are blooming like mad all over town. I stick my nose in them at each and every opportunity, occasionally startling a bee … that glorious scent. Today however I will not be hammering on about how iris perfumes (which are made from orris butter, from the rhizomes) don’t really smell like the flower’s scent to me, although I like iris fragrances. Why does iris seem like the focus of whatever fragrance it’s in, rather than in a supporting/background role? Am I wrong?

Anyway, today my fancy lightly turns to a ramble in the brambles, dare I say currant (hah!) affairs, with thoughts of jammy fruits – the very limited period of time when I wake up in the morning and go, hey, today’s a perfect day for L’Artisan’s Mure et Musc! (Do fragrance muggles have these thoughts? Probably not.)

You’d think with all the “fruity florals” out there we’d all be fruit lovers, but for many of us, not so. Too pedestrian, too lamestream. BUT. Right now I’m wanting (from my limited repertoire of fruity-jammy-berry things) Mure et Musc, maybe some Ines de la Fressange, whatever else slightly tart / jammy I can dig up. That Snif croissant one comes to mind as well, with its dab of blackcurrant jam; perfect this time of year.

Carolyn and I saw The Devil Wears Prada 2, a delightful (if somewhat bittersweet) sequel, twenty years on, when fashion mags are circling the drain alongside traditional journalism. But the clothes! The fashion of it! All the surprise cameos! Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt, Stanley Tucci and Anne Hathaway looking stunning, etc. There’s a Dior focus (movie Emily works for Dior) and it got me thinking about this gorgeous new bottle, Miss Dior Essence, nose is Francis Kurkdjian.  Also we busted out Carolyn’s vintage bottle of Miss Dior. Am I babbling? I said it was a ramble! (Fun fact: Stanley Tucci is married to Emily Blunt’s sister.)

I’ve always found the Miss Dior houndstooth bottles stunning, but the vintage fragrance was too galbanum-forward for me; the current iteration has had its claws trimmed and its teeth pulled and bears little to no resemblance to the original.  Essence brings back that houndstooth in embossed glass plus a berry tinted juice. No seriously, is this not gorgeous? Notes are blackberry, jasmine, elderflower, oakwood; released in 2025, Francis Kurkdjian is the nose.

How is it?  Well….. yikes. It’s weird – so weird that Carolyn and I spent the rest of the day trying to parse what, exactly, is “wrong” with it. There’s this … off-putting note. This note that neither of us likes. It’s omnipresent and (to me) sort of varnish-y, or like acetone. Looking at those notes listed, we have no idea (edit: Carolyn thinks it’s the elderflower). Anyway, a real-life demonstration of try before you buy – I really liked it on the magazine scent strip! I still think it’s gorgeous to look at, but I prefer the current Miss Dior which has the same inoffensive masstige prettiness of Coco Mad. I mean, you could do worse.

Any fruity-jammy favorites in your collection? If so, are they mentally assigned to a particular time of year for you?