I feel like conserving my perfumes at the moment. Where usually I might strategically micro-overspray (for a general ‘atmosphere’ – do you do this ?) – right now I want to have a small, but more concentrated source. It gives me comfort.
The other day at work I was (quite out of the ordinarily) wearing a couple of sprays of Parfums De Rosine’s glorious Roseberry on my right wrist, next to a white cotton shirt, but hidden directly under a couple of thin black woollen jumpers.
I was amazed by firstly how totally gorgeous it smelled as the day went on – roses; chamomile; wine lees; an aura – but also by the fact that when you are otherwise unscented, the effects when pinpointed on one sole location – but slowly, unfurling and blossoming, through the air – can be quite marvellous.
The Black Narcissus 
Good wrist days, bad wrist days.
Last week, injudiciously, I sprayed on a bit of perfume onto my wrist from a sample I had got: Jo Malone “English Pear & Freesia”. It is, I find, quite horrible, both loud & cheap. I will throw it away. On Saturday, on the other hand, I splurged on a Chanel extrait. I though the times are so horrible, war is raging, people are being killed, a country ravaged, lies and propaganda are once again implemented full-force, and a nuclear incident not so absolutely improbable, that I thought: what the heck, I want some beauty, I will buy a Bois des Iles extrait. On my wrist it smells sublime, it is so heartbreakingly beautiful it leaves me speechless.
Yea !
You sum up what is wanted to say better : it is not such a terrible indulgence, but it allows a person to be anchored.
The situation is horrifying, ghastly, cruel , and very wrong – I can imagine that nuzzling aldehydic slightly animalic quality under the warm spiced woods and they it hovers between different states to be mesmerizingly soothing
I love sublime florals so I’ll put Roseberry on my list try. Rose & chamomile sound like a combination I’d like.
I find perfume sets the mood for my day, a sort of non pharmaceutical anti depressant if you will.
I don’t get the excitement over Jo Malone fragrances either. Yes, the compositions are spare, modern, and intriguing. But the perfumes are all very short lived and the notes often fall flat in an hour rather than develop. The packaging is ridiculously cheap for a luxury product too.
Jo Malone is on the whole exactly as you say. Not for the likes of us!
As for Roseberry, it is not sublime as such – in fact it is quite problematic for its acidulous, green streak – very tannic and astingent – even sporty you might say in a way, and yet when it all coalesces, it IS sublime – at least on me. Worth a try for sure.
I’m not the only one who sometimes sprays myself — copiously, everywhere — and the air around me, so that the scent soaks into the general atmosphere so much so that it feels almost visible? Right now I have that urge, to detonate my own personal perfume bomb when that rat bastard is on his deadly, pathetic, unjust, immoral, terrifying rampage.
I also relate to that discrete use of a fragrance, that one wrist that gives a private, intimate joy in surprising little moments through the day.
Right now, I am firmly in the former camp. My whole cabin is shimmering with Miss Balmain. It feels like a force field of beauty.
I am doing the same with Hermes Rouge and Nahema PDT when at home – practically choking on the stuff – a deep and beautiful fuck you.
The timing – as we claw our way out of the pandemic – is so horribly cynical it’s unbearable. Thinking that 2022 might shape up to be a good year; a tilting towards the light … but no. THIS.
I find myself spraying myself after my evening shower most abundantly with rich and heady scents, ones I have been trying to save, Misia and Cuir Cannage from Dior for example, just for a bit of emotional protection. I do the same as you do though, I will reflexively smell my wrist all evening long just to be calmed and grounded by the fragrance. It is all one can do in these uncertain times.
There is something very special about the wrist, don’t you think? I mean I often test things on the back of my hand (and then frequently have to wash or scrub them off!) but a wrist is more intimate; the skin there so delicate and pure in comparison; definitely something very special about it. The dirty notes at the end of Hermes Rouge were driving me wild the other day. I don’t think it really suits me – but I derive an enormous amount of pleasure from the experience in any case!
My wrists are one of the most sensitive spots on my body, so they are quite an intimate place for me. My veins are also very close to the surface, so the fragrances really warm up and project nicely when I smell them.
I always found it to be such a personal gesture when someone sprays, or dabs, a fragrance on their wrist, then draws it to their nose to inhale. Almost sensual.
I know what you mean about Hermès Rouge, it dries down so incredibly. Same with Parfum d’Hermès.
What IS that final dirty note that is so classy and decadently elegant ?
I’m not sure exactly? I remember when we carried it at Sephora, one of the odder notes in the drydown was myrtle. I am not sure how dirty myrtle can get, but it is a strange note to use in a basenote.