These days I am all about combos. I am finding that wearing complementary scents in tandem boosts their pleasure and play; their smellability (you can’t become anosmic when the contrasts are so easy to detect on either arm.)
Yesterday I needed emotional security. Nahema is one of the best perfumes for that. But the rare pdt I have is compromised badly in the top accord, which has obviously degraded. The base – all rosey peach cherryade ; muted passionfruit Guerlinade is worth the wait though.
In the meantime, how about Annick Goutal’s lovely Grande Amour (a Nahema tribute, essentially), but greener and more obviously hyacinthine – the hyacinths have gone in my old Guerlain – on the other arm?
Yes ! They propped each other beautifully yesterday – working in concert. It is not the correct weather for these perfumes but sometimes you buck against the fraghead meteorological edicts and weave some olfactory joy nonetheless.
What about more traditionally summer friendly layerings then? A combo can mean on yourself – or it can also involve pairing your scent with another so they give harmonious sillage : wearing clashing perfumes can be pituitary pit-grating for you and those around you – d and I have got it very wrong on several occasions, particularly when he has opted for marine.
Last weekend we were both in green tea. I wore the matcha green Hyouge; he wore Goutal L’Isle Au The – which was like a glass of sparkling lemonade with hints of subtly spicier, smokier undertones that created a real double vibe.
Earlier this week with the New Boilingness I suddenly took to revisiting a rare discontinued favourite of mine, Creed Zeste Mandarine Pamplemousse- a sheer, ambergris lined citrus of great understatement which was cooling to the senses and though rather old school, refreshing and refined. I thought that perhaps Eau D’Orange Verte (unfortunate 2009 remake – why did I buy this?) would work, but nope. Top notes : fair enough. ‘Mossy Vetiver’ base ? I hate it (could be good on the right girl in Tokyo) but here, the effect was simply jarring. Zeste definitely works much better on its own.
What else can be combo’d? Incense, actually. I can’t afford the really high end stuff right now, but with an erratically semi incontinent elderly cat who is currently pissing on the stairs, and – unforgivably – on my RECORD COLLECTION – I know she can’t help it but why did it have to be my beloved Joni Mitchell Miles Of Aisles? —— you had better believe that I consider daily incense to be a true daily essential.
Two very affordable boxes I use which you can get from the local supermarket are the bog-standard Seiun by Nippon Kodo – a hazy benzoin patchouli with a hint of tatami mat that never thrills, but masks to an extent what I shudder over from the cat drips and mopped up leakages and leaves a pleasant aftersmoke of Japanese old temple hanging in the air.
Another I get on occasion is the white rose – Kataribe -by the same company: these sticks I prefer just left sitting in the box – they give off a Japanese pot pourri scent when you walk by; even if when lit, they create a certain sourness (rose can sometimes just be so… fogeyish).
Yesterday I suddenly had a lightbulb moment. Might the rose prominent soliflore joss sticks be rounded and softened by the warmer, more wide reaching benzoin patchouli of Seiun? Might the latter also be rendered less boring and multifaceted by a swirlier upnote of ‘fresh’ rose ?
Bingo ! I vastly prefer these two in combination – and will be burning them together henceforth. Again on the topic of roses, the good roses, I am having really quite the nerve-shredding time of it right now with bureaucracy and pre-operative realities and many other things I have to contend with – don’t we all – and scent is thus more important to me than ever. It really is a cushion, an emotional comfort blanket. We have to go out in a while to deal with some of these things in the town centre despite the incredible heat – and I know I will need my Nahema/ Amour combination – just some, on each wrist, to give some anchoring. I will also have my more recent Nahema eau de parfum in my bag – not perfect, but a thrilling, very soapy rose hyacinth opening – that I may find myself spraying when one more notch in the bullshit list has been crossed off and I head outside.
I have a newish Nahema and an oldish Grand Amour and am looking forward to combining them today! The Nahema was a gift from my husband that disappointed me as it didn’t smell how I remembered it from decades ago, but it might be transformed by pairing it with the Goutal. Grand Amour always reminds me of Chamade – I have some of this but I can’t imagine that a mixture with this would work as well as your invention.
Ah. Elderly felines and the peeing ….. one Christmas our dear cat weed all over the presents that were sitting under the tree ….
I hope that things get easier for you and that the weather cools down soon. When is your next surgery? Good luck and best wishes.
On the 14th if all works out.
Thanks for the laugh out loud belly guffawing at the tax office re the Christmas Tree – what the hell did you do ?
You are also probably right that GA is more like Chamade – but I find it quite Nahema-y as well:definitely very nice combined !
Fingers very tightly crossed for the 14th.
Erm … it was too late to do anything except blush, apologise, get kitchen roll to mop and wipe and tear off the wrapping while handing the gifts over. Fortunately the presents themselves were OK, and there was nothing edible!
You have inspired me to combine. Used to do it, years ago, mainly to try to replicate discontinued favourites, but will enjoy trying again.
Sending good vibes and a cool breeze.
I don’t combine perfumes very often, but I tried one I really love- vintage Caron Parfum Sacre over Annick Goutal Myrrhe Ardente body cream. It’s so good!
Ooh I can imagine that being heavenly. I miss the vintage Caron Parfum Sacre- it was so attenuated in the reformulated versions (admission; today I was burning some incense I made in which I used my annoying bottle of edp by plunging the incense sticks into the perfume until it was all absorbed and dried…..and it actually smells really nice as a once in a while special encens). I can imagine the Goutal myrrh must be stunning with that – you must smell like an orgy in a monastery.