Fabienne's First Year Death Anniversary

[marisaviola]

I do love her carnations, too, Minh! Same ones you mentioned--I just recently got a full bottle of Pre-Raphaelite Seductress after hoarding my sample for some years! Another one I love that I think might have been from the same collection as Frieda Kahlo is Portrait of Judith Leyster. Of course, I love Summer (Mucha) and Silver Carnations, 14 Carnations from Sicilian Summer and for the current retour, I highly recommend Autumn (Vivaldi) which I think is beautiful and very fall-like. It can be hard to find a really high caliber carnation, so this is one I would suggesting carnation lovers try. Another recent discovery is The Ruined Reputation, which I believe Boudicca introduced me to.

Goodness, now I want to try them all at once! Now that would be fragrant!

[marisaviola]

I'm wearing Silver Sandalwood layered with the Woodstock collection Piece of My Heart--so good together!

[Minh Scent]

Oh, I forgot about 14 Carnations, Marisaviola! I also highly recommend Autum (Vivaldi) for those thinking of retour possibilities.

I am restesting many scents this month and am quite in love with my collection. Yesterday I got into my Neptune which is such an unusual fragrance. I was going a little buggy trying to figure out the notes without looking. It is a very green scent, almost fern like. I gave up and saw it is sandalwood, champagne and the leaf of sweetbriar rose! Those first two notes are two of my favorite, but I couldn't detect them at all! I would highly recommend at least a tester of this.

[marisaviola]

Tomorrow (the 15th) is Fabienne's celebration of life date which we participated in on the forum here in 2016--a special time of remembering all our experiences with her and her perfume gifts to us. The thread is still active if anyone wants to read.

[marisaviola]

I'm wearing The Golden Diadem today in Fabienne's memory: "This fragrance is composed of all golden things: sweet hawthorne, darkest gold honey and molasses, syrup of tamarind, and candied ginger. The composition is beautiful."

This one is a beauty and I believe is currently available in the fall retour!

[Minh Scent]

Ah, thank you for your reminder of that thread, Marisaviola!

This weekend I pulled out all my Possets (more than 150 bottles and more than that in poppets), trying to make a "system". It was a wonderful activity and I fell in love again and again! I have been wearing Jeanne DuVal (5 ambers (two golden, one dry, one sweet, and one which is what I call Black Amber), add to that African Musk, a drop of aged sweet patchouli, a nice swath of labdanum, a large part of a very very dry and somewhat woody Bourbon vanilla, a bit of sandalwood, and just the right amount of Haitian vetiver) and Salome (Musks and resins- Black and African, myrrh, frankincense, cedar, ivory musk, green coffee pulp extract, and a very light light misting of black Mexican vanilla) and both of these are in the same scent family. They are marvelous! If I had to choose one, it would be Salome because it has a very "weird" note which must be the green coffee pulp. It smells nothing like coffee, but it does have an organic, almost fermented vibe. I have not smelled it in a perfume before and I could see some being turned off by it, but I can't get enough!

Agree with you on the Golden Diadem, Marisaviola.

[marisaviola]

I remember that note in Salome, Minh! I think for me it kind of overpowered, but it was an intriguing fragrance and I love how Fabienne continued to evolve in the work and try things. I love Jeanne DuVal and have a full bottle of that. She did those deep ambers and resins and woods so beautifully, with a classical yet modern twist. Another one I love in that vein is Mona LIsa which may be coming up if there's a winter retour, as it's from Yule 2015 collection. "A highly woody scent with red cedar, luan, muhuhu, teak, and artemesia. Added to that are a very dry cocoa (powdery not sweet at all), and a combination of cardamom and coriander. This is an oriental perfume of the dry spice variety combined with wood and maturated to perfection. This fragrance breaks a lot of new ground for combinations of fragrances, and is a thoroughly modern scent in every way."

Another one I love from that same collection is Emine, an amazing resin-oriented that is almost like classic Arabian perfumery with its components. This one I liked so much I actually got a backup bottle! It's the only perfume I've ever worn where the grocery store clerk actually swooned and exclaimed "Is that you? What is that amazing perfume you're wearing?' to me. "Named after the only French consort to the Ottoman Sultan, this is a perfume worthy of one of the most splendid eras in perfumery. All the beauty of the East is spread before you in shimmering profusion. The most beautiful of frankincense, the most subtle and luxurious of white oudes, the most sweet of myrrh (a very special type of golden myrrh), a light golden patchouli, and a drop of styrax. This is a very Eastern, thick, and resinous blend, a comforting and sweetly languidly seductive thing. Emine is more "come hither" than demanding, almost foody but not quite. I am very proud of this one, and I think it will be very popular at Yule."

[Minh Scent]

You had me pull my Ermine out, Marisaviola. Honestly, I can't remember trying my bottle. It is stunning! Interestingly, I get a toasted coriander top note on it! Except for cardamom, I usually only like my kitchen spices in my curry, but this is a lovely, teasing note. It is not listed, so I am wondering what I am picking up!

I managed to pick up a decant of both Mona Lisa and Jeanne DuVal from Ajevie, thanks to your recommendation. Mona Lisa does have coriander listed in it, so I will be curious how it compares to Ermine.

[marisaviola]

I will need to try Emine again, Minh Scent, I am now very curious about what you were picking up!

On another forum a friend was writing about what scents were ones we were drawn to when we were feeling melancholic, and I thought of Fabienne's dark blends like Winter (Mucha), Dark Lady and Black Prince, Mordred's Passion--and her dark chypres that she made from scratch, like Dies Irae, Sorrow, and Death. She did these so beautifully. When Tom and Jennie took on Possets I remember I got Dies Irae as it was one that I did not want to risk not having a full bottle of.

For comfort, I love her lavender blends, like Sweetbaby, Lavender Pepys, Feather Down, Indigo and Amethyst.

[Minh Scent]

Oh, I love those dark chypres, too!! Sorrow, Death and Dies Irae are out standing.

Yesterday I had on Venus Black (another amazing black musk...with pear!

Today I finished off my (probably favorite Posset of all!) Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal. But no worries...I have another bottle in the cellar. This is the perfume that had me fall in love with zdravetz and other oils in the rose geranium family.