It is pouring outside today, in that melancholic, chilling winter way; the rain coming down in sheets.
The cat is in the futon cupboard, curled up into a ball; it is cosy in here and I am steeling myself to go out…..
I wondered. What perfume best captures rain?
Perhaps Olivia Giacobetti’s fleeting encapsulation of a lilac bush laden with rain drops in the city park, as you pass by on your way to your destination; that momentary soar in the heart as your brain picks up the flowers’ heartrending, overripe perfume before you even know the source…that sudden mad rush of possibility amid cold emptiness.
Winter is here. Spring is still far off.
Which makes these flowers seem even colder, even icier on the skin in this rain now – more cruel.
Sad lilacs.
Cold, ozonic umbrellas reflected in black pools of rain.
Ozone, lilac flowers, cucumber, and wheat absolute comprise the watery essence En Passant (‘In Passing’), a jolt to the senses after the dead of winter. An impressionistic, leaf-fresh rendering of what is to come.
An inspired synthesis of the chemical and the natural, this is possibly the wettest, coldest perfume I know.
The Black Narcissus 