Meeting The Swiss Perfumistas (Again!): Part One - Caldey Island Gifts And Another Perfume Vial "Grab-Fest"

So last week I treated myself to a mini-break in Switzerland, which I split across two centres (Basel and St Gallen), with an afternoon's sniffing in Zurich in between. Basel was the first stop, where that week perfumista friend Potiron was celebrating what is known in German as a "round birthday". Meanwhile, my other fumie friend Alicka61 had celebrated a "round birthday" of her own last summer (there's a clue in her name...). So we decided to get together for a joint birthday bash with added perfume sniffing. Conspicuously missing from our party was the former Swiss resident, Wordbird, who "migrated" back to Wales a year ago. She was with us in spirit though, and had also engaged my mail mule services to send on a gift for Potiron that equated to half her body weight at a guess, a worthy second to her being here in person! : - )

We met at our usual tram stop in the Marktplatz, and after a quick hug and mutual clocking of hair colour changes (Alicka61 darker, me lighter), we repaired to the Roter Engel cafe, where we had sat outside in June of last year, though the weather was a bit too nippy for that on this occasion. The Roter Engel is noted for its outlandishly HUGE tea cups, its ability to serve up a small portion of cold milk on the side without batting an eyelid, and its fine selection of fruit tarts.

I actually opted for a croissant myself, because the Swiss know how to make them properly and they couldn't be further removed from the lumpen yeasty parodies you get in Germany. I suggested we sit at the largest trestle table at the back, thinking that we would need all the space we could annexe for the present-opening ceremony and the subsequent pooling of samples. As you can see from the photo of our "on-table vial jumble", the biggest available surface was a good call.

The session kicked off with Potiron opening her presents, including my gift of an OJ Tiare decant and a few other items loosely connected to perfume storage and reporting - all of them (quite fortuitously) black in colour. And then there was the enormous box from Wordbird, containing a host of goodies, notably several perfumes and chocolate from the Caldey Island range, and some decants and samples from Fragonard, Molinard and Ava Luxe (or Ava Luxard as she is properly known).

I am something of a lavender-phobe as a rule (Ava Luxe No 23 being a shining exception to this rule), and didn't really care for one of Potiron's gifts, the classic Caldey Island Lavender scent, which Luca Turin famously gave five stars, and which is one of the 100 classic fragrances featured in "The Little Book of Perfumes".

The highlight of the Caldey Island range for me was a cute little 5ml mini of the "Number One" perfume from its skin scent range, a very soft and barely there fragrance that I have now got on order myself. : - ) On the company's website the only notes listed are jasmine and rose, and I would be hard pushed to say that they were or they weren't in it, because the scent is so very light and fresh - and frankly ineffable!

Another item from Wordbird's package to which we all took an immediate shine was a sample of Ava Luxe Johri, a crisp, citrusy-green scent which I have since found out has fig in it, though we didn't spot that at the time. It is showing as temporarily out of stock on the Ava Luxe website, but I will be checking back in to see if it reappears - what's not to love about those notes?!

NOTES: Green Fig, Sicilian Lemon, Chinese Pepper Blossom, Galbanum, Coconut Milk, Cedar Virginia, Sandalwood, Tonka, Bourbon Vanilla, White Musk

After the present opening, it was time to toss all our spare samples in a heap in the middle of the table, and take what we fancied, employing the same method as on our first meeting, which I described as follows:

"It was like a leisurely version of supermarket sweep, or perhaps like a swinger's party - where (I believe) you toss your car keys into a bowl. On balance, going away with a clutch of new scents rather than someone else's husband probably offered less potential for emotional discombobulation."

Out of the three of us, I think I may have come off best, for here is my personal grab-fest haul:

GINESTET BOTRYTIS

The Luckyscent website describes this as a "lush autumnal fragrance" and I would agree with that. It pushes the boundaries of my liking for gourmand scents, but never quite strays into that Serge Lutens house style which Abigail of I Smell Therefore I Am so brilliantly dubbed "icky stewed things". It is not as spicy as Aomassai, for example, and has a dusty smoky character to it offsetting the sweetness. It isn't quite me, but I will enjoy dallying with it as the weather gets colder.

Notes: honey, candied fruits, quince, pain d’epice, white flowers.

The name of the scent derives from a type of fungus (or "noble rot") used in wine-making, as I have now learnt in Wikipedia:

"..the fungus removes water from the grapes, leaving behind a higher percent of solids, such as sugars, fruit acids and minerals. This results in a more intense, concentrated final product. The wine is often said to have an aroma of honeysuckle and a bitter finish on the palate."

(Photo of Botrytis cinerea growing on a plate with a ring of visible sclerotia (dark brown balls)!)

VINTAGE CALECHE

Potiron made both me and Alicka61 a decant of this - I look forward to trying it when I am in an aldehydic mood.

PERLES DE LALIQUE

Classic "fuzzy sweater" scent that will be good in winter when my tolerance of powder peaks.

JIL SANDER SENSATIONS

Alicka61 is a fan of Jil Sander (who is much bigger on the continent than over here). Sensations is a warm yet sheer oriental dominated by a sweet, orangey accord. Again it is very modern in feel and reminds me a bit of EL Intuition without the grapefruit (mercifully).

JIL SANDER STYLE

Notes: freesia, mango, cardamom, pink pepper, iris, jasmine, magnolia, woody notes, vanilla, amber and musk

Those notes look very pretty to me (even allowing for the mango), and it is nicer than Valentina on a retrial, but with the same resolutely modern, slightly synthetic feel to it also found in CK Beauty and Caroline Herrera 212.

AMOUAGE LYRIC WOMAN

For when I am feeling braver and have got over my memories of the curry note from the last sampling.

LE FEU D'ISSEY BY ISSEY MIYAKE

A discontinued lactonic ambery woody treasure recently reviewed by Candy Perfume Boy here. I was delighted to pick up a sample of this in our grab pile!

MOLINARD FLEUR DE FIGUIER

Grabbed on the strength of the name alone and it doesn't disappoint. Neither juicy and fruity like PG Jardins de Kerylos nor woody and dry like Philosykos (both of which I also like), it has more of an in-between greenness about it. L'Artisan's Premier Figuier might be the nearest to it though even that is more woody, I think, and also boasts a phantom coconut matting note entirely absent here.

MOLINARD NIRMALA

Keep thinking this is called Nirvana and hoping it will send me there. Alicka61 explained that it has been compared to Angel. There is an enormous peach note in the opening, and am currently waiting for chocolate and candyfloss to join it.

ANDY TAUER ORANGE STAR

Briefly tried at the perfume store to which I so badly want to add a definite article but which is in fact called Scent Bar. In the fog of war (aka my extensive sniffing session with fellow perfumista Qwendy), I recall being pleasantly struck by the complete absence of Tauerade in this one, but it was a fleeting impression so a retrial is indicated!

NINA RICCI LOVE IN PARIS

Someone in Perfumeland likes this one very much - it may be my friend Farah or possibly even Wordbird herself. So I will keep an open mind, even if the name doesn't particularly endear this scent to me. Couldn't resist a quick spritz and the opening strikes me as pretty and feminine. And I note that the nose behind Love in Paris is the extremely personable Aurelien Guichard. Definitely now added to my list of easy to wear daytime scents.

Notes: bergamot, star anise, apricot, jasmine, peony, rose, crystal musk, woodsy notes, vanilla.

VIVIENNE WESTWOOD ANGLOMANIA

As the only Brit in our party I was urged to take this one. And on the card it actually says: “The bewitching empire of the senses for a modern nomad, mixing British eccentricity and Asian intensity to express extrovert femininity.”

“You should take it”, my friends said: “You’re a modern nomad with all your trips and you’ve got the Asian eyes too!”

Not convinced I have the extrovert femininity to go with this one, but I'll gladly give it a whirl.

LIZ CLAIBORNE CURVE

Liz Claiborne is one of those famous US mainstream houses I have heard of but never tried, being woefully behind the curve. : - ) I think it is at the more downmarket end of designer, and the notes are a little sparse - did the budget only run to three? - but it smells all right actually, a sort of clunkily yoked together aquatic woody floral. The wood has quite a kick to it and is faintly spicy:

Notes: citrus, water lily, and sandalwood

REALM FOR WOMEN

And last but not least, in terms of the concept certainly, if not the scent itself, we have Realm for Women perfume, from Erox Corporation. It proudly describes itself on the card that came with the sample as: "the only fragrance with a synthesized human pheromone component. Only Realm adds that extra dimension of human pleasure." I thought there were more perfumes made with pheromones nowadays, but then maybe that sample is quite old. Anyway, Alicka61 was giving it away, and there was some lively debate as to who was the most deserving recipient. In the end it fell to me: as the eldest in our party I could use all the hormones I can lay my hands on at the moment. Realm for Women is a deep and disconcerting shade of orange and smells like a rich oriental of some description. Aha, just found the notes:

Notes: mandarin, water lily, sandalwood, vanilla and honey.

Well, as we know, some men are attracted to vanilla perfumes. So even if I don't particularly care to wear Realm (which has an annoyingly tingly spice in it somewhere), the addition of a synthesized human pheromone component may tip the opposite sex completely over the edge. Sometimes you have to suffer to be beautiful.

Up next - sniffing in Parfumerie Hyazinth...


Photo of Basel Marktplatz from switzerland-traveling.com, photo of Caldey Island Lavender from roullierwhite.com, photo of noble rot from Wikipedia, photo of Jil Sander Style from gimahot.de, photo of fig tree from figtrees.net, photo of Realm perfume from 99perfume.com, other photos my own

Another Bonkers Road Trip - The Scented Bit!

I have been back just over a week, and the scents on the blotters I keep finding at the bottom of handbags have long since become an indistinct blur. This actually matters less than you might think, as the perfume names I had scribbled on them were illegible from the off. But I reckon it is time I wrote up the perfume related aspects of from my recent travels - before the memories also become irretrievably fuzzy.

Mileagewise, this trip was 37% longer (in duration) and 48% longer (in distance) than the one in March, yet I seemed to have had less time to explore any perfume outlets that crossed my path. The extra miles covered may have had a lot to do with this, for on three occasions I spotted interesting perfume shops but made myself drive on by because I needed to be somewhere at a particular time. Should anyone be familiar with the Parfumeries in Stolberg, Erkelenz and Herisau (Switzerland) please tell me what I missed!

The few perfume outlets I did manage to visit - in shopping malls near Stuttgart and in former East Germany - barely left an impression: there seemed to be a disproportionate amount of Joop! and Bruno Banani, I do remember that. Well, that is not strictly fair: I did try out a few things that were new to me, for example the Chloe trio (Eau de Fleurs Neroli, Lavande and Capucine). The Neroli was too aggressive; I don't like lavender, and the Capucine was a sort of indeterminate green scent (with nasturtium!) That would explain my nose's complete inability to place it...

I also tried the new Dior Escale flanker a couple of times (Escale aux Marquises), and while I thought on first encounter that I might like it better than the previous two scents in the series - it lacked the sharp edge of Portofino and the overt herbiness of Pondichery - after prolonged wearing I decided it was rather odd: a sort of upmarket fruity floral marred by a faintly unpleasant note I couldn't quite put my finger on. Odd in the way Byredo's Bal d'Afrique is odd, but that is "good odd" and this was "bad odd" - a dubious accolade I would also award to Comme des Garcons' Daphne.

Okay, so far so unremarkable. After all, on my previous trip - as I later learnt - I managed to interest an online retailer, Parfumerie Nidderau, into stocking Kristiansand NYC. And here I was, over two weeks into the trip, having only tried a couple of Chloes, a Dior flanker and Lancome's Tresor In Love (which I wasn't even going to mention).

But things started to look up on 12th June, when I hooked up again with that cosmopolitan trio from Basenotes: Alicka61, Potiron and Wordbird. We agreed to meet in the Marktplatz in the centre of Basel, in exactly the same spot as back in March. This time, as it was the weekend, I was glad not to be suited and booted, or carrying a briefcase.

After a bit of excited chattering on the spot, we installed ourselves at an outside table attached to a quiet courtyard cafe recommended by Potiron: Der Rote Engel. The others ordered mouthwatering slabs of fruit tart, for which I inconveniently developed a major craving a couple of hours later, but I just felt like a cup of tea at the time.

And what an impressive beverage it turned out to be! For it came in the largest cup I have ever seen in commercial use. Mr Bonkers' mother, who has a bit of a phobia about disproportionately large tableware, and who, on our way back from Bruges last year, famously complained in Costa Coffee at Watford Gap Services that the cup her tea was served in was unacceptably large, would have been outraged and totally spooked by this freak of the ceramics industry. (Wordbird kindly placed her hand in the shot to give you a sense of scale.)

Then it wasn't long before we did that "upending of the handbag" trick and samples poured out on to the table. Wordbird was even looking for a new home for half a bottle of a natural floral perfume I had not heard of before. She kindly gave me a selection of Possets' perfumes, one of those kooky indie brands I had been curious about. (I will test and report on them in due course.) I have already sneaked a trial of the whimsically named Ghost Fart, and am bracing myself to try the rest!

After this pitstop - and given that we had loitered last time (without making a single purchase between us) in the niche perfumery Hyazinth for an indecently long time - none of us felt bold enough to return so soon, and instead checked out the perfume section in Globus, Basel's high end department store. I didn't spot any new launches, but we all found scents that were new to us - whole swathes of the Acqua di Parma or Bond No 9 ranges, for example, plus the odd Prada, Marc Jacobs or Etro. I gave Annick Goutal's Ninfeo Mio its fourth or fifth trial but my original verdict still stands: way too sharp!!

From Globus (having said goodbye to Alicka61, who had to head home at this point) we went to Import Parfumerie and had a very satisfying scavenge in their bargain bins. These were crammed with deeply discounted perfumes - some to as little as 10 or 15 euros (a steal for Switzerland!) - but most of them were not on my radar and for the most part looked like Swiss equivalents of Elizabeth Arden's Red Door and things in that vein.

I thought I had found a true bargain in a 30 SFRS bottle of DSQUARED She Wood, only to discover that it was the body lotion. But let me not downplay the thrill of the rummage, which was considerable, and enhanced by Wordbird's helpful commentary about the general style of different brands.

By now my stomach was rumbling, so we popped into an Italian cafe (another Potiron haunt) and ordered freshly made paninis, and in my case a cup of tea served in a receptacle of conventional dimensions. Our energy levels restored, we hit Douglas, where I made a purchase! (Two metal decanting funnels for 2 SFRS apiece, which struck me as pretty good value.) And Wordbird's more substantial purchase of a small Steiff bear bought us some more valuable "loitering time".

In Douglas I used my prime skin sites to retry Rance Eau Royale (fresh, foresty) and Laetitia (woodier than I remembered, doubtless due to the heat). My first trial of Guerlain's Flora Nymphea was a nondescript disappointment on skin - I had expected some kind of honeyed beauty like Chanel Beige. I also sampled DSQUARED Crystal Creek Wood (intrigued by the blue colour of the juice), and found it a pleasant, vaguely aquatic number, just as you would expect.

After Douglas and a mosey round a nearby shoe store (some interesting Camper-esque styles here and there, but with prices to match, sadly!), Potiron suggested taking a ferry ride across the Rhine. It lasted all of 3 minutes, but it was fun to look back at the city skylines on from the water. On the other side of the river we wandered along the tree-lined promenade bordering Klein-Basel, before stopping for a beer within the grounds of a former army barracks (now a green area fringed with cafes, bars and an arts venue). We were dimly aware of the early English goal against the USA in the bar next door (it has been downhill ever since!), and before we knew it it was getting cold and dark and time to accompany Wordbird to the railway station. Potiron and I rounded off the night with an Italian meal, and it was after 11pm when we went our separate ways at a tram stop near the centre.

Summing up, it was fantastic to see everyone again, and this meeting further cemented our international friendship. To the point where - while perfume will always be the interest that first united us, and we will probably brave Parfumerie Hyazinth again one day - I think we could have just as much fun next time hitting the shoe shops instead.

The Bonkers Road Trip: Part Two - Meeting The Swiss Perfumistas

I have been travelling abroad on business for over 20 years now: always driving, and always on my own. I might take a couple of paperbacks along for company, and on longer trips I have been known to sneak a small soft toy into my luggage: a rat called Maxim being the companion of choice because he is extremely slim and bendy, fitting snugly into the smallest interstices of your car, such as the ashtray or the cubby hole where I keep coins for the Dartford Tunnel.

On this trip, however, I had an uncharacteristically sociable time, thanks to several hook ups with perfumistas in Basel, Switzerland. Basel is a cosmopolitan city with a large expat community, and our mini-gathering of perfumistas from Basenotes represented no less of a melting pot, comprising:

1 x Welsh (Wordbird)
1 x Slovakian (Alicka61)
1 x Swiss (Potiron)
1 x Northern Irish and just visiting (me aka VM I hate civet!)

On Wednesday 24th March, following my two morning meetings, I took the tram back to the market square where the other three were already standing outside our meeting point, Brasserie Baselstab.

The Swiss perfumistas had had some prior contact with one another through the Internet - and I had myself done a swap with Alicka61 on MUA - but none of us had ever met before in person. To have got together with one fumehead in Switzerland would have been exciting enough - suddenly to be greeting three at once was almost emotional overload!

Introductions over, we sat at a table outside and enjoyed a leisurely lunch, only slightly marred by the waiter's signal failure to bring cold milk for my tea. He first brought boiling milk, which is as good as no milk in my view. I requested cold milk, but none was forthcoming. Shortly before we got up to go, the waiter informed me that they were in fact clean out of milk - fresh out of it, even. Or perhaps they were only out of discretionary supplies of the stuff that could be spared for cantankerous foreigners. Anyway, it didn't much matter, for by this point I had long since drunk my glass of tepid black tea.

But not even a serious beverage irregularity could dampen the ebullient mood of our party. We chatted away about our jobs and families, and our likes and dislikes on the fragrance front, pausing every so often to rummage in the pile of samples in the middle of the table. For shortly after we had sat down, Wordbird and Alicka61 had upended their handbags and encouraged us all to help ourselves to the resulting carded sample sprawl. It was like a leisurely version of supermarket sweep, or perhaps like a swinger's party - where (I believe) you toss your car keys into a bowl. On balance, going away with a clutch of new scents rather than someone else's husband probably offered less potential for emotional discombobulation.

All the more so in my case, because I scored a sample of Sonia Rykiel's Women Not For Men from Wordbird and promptly fell in love. A full bottle is currently on its way to me following a lucky break on Ebay. I may do a separate review of this dreamy comfort scent one day, but here are the notes to be going on with.

Pink Pepper, Violet, Date, Jasmine Petals, Solar Flowers, Bulgarian Rose, Black Pepper, Olibanum, Agarwood, Leather, Amber.

After lunch, we repaired to a high end perfumery, Hyazinth, and proceeded to stand chatting and sniffing in the perfume section for the best part of two hours, clearly displaying not even the merest hint of a purchase intention. To their credit, the sales assistants tholed the clogging up of their store by such time-wasting customers with dignified stoicism.

I was in such an excitable state in the store that I did not systematically note down all the lines carried, but Hyazinth had a most impressive selection, greater even than that of Les Senteurs, I would say. This list is by no means exhaustive, but I recall seeing The Different Company, By Kilian, Byredo, Parfumerie Generale, Heeley, Rance, Etro, Divine, Ulrich Lang, Mark Birley, Les Parfums de Rosine, Annick Goutal, Bois 1920, The Party, Bond No 9, Floris, Penhaligon's, Keiko Mecheri, Mark Buxton, Les Parfums d'Empire, Biehl Kunstwerke, Ineke, Parfums 06130, Balmain, and several ranges featuring the prefix Profum-!

I ended up trying the following (on a mixture of card and skin):

By Kilian Back to Black (strong and honeyed, but not as cloying as I had feared)

The Different Company Oriental Lounge (lightly spicy oriental reminiscent of Penhaligon's Malabar or the quiet vibe of Prada L'Eau Ambree overlaid with spice)

Ineke Field Notes from Paris (soft orangey number, that somehow smelt more foody orange than perfumey orange, but then I have been left deeply traumatised by my experiences with Boss Orange and Prada Infusion de Fleurs d'Oranger, so I may not be best placed to judge)

Il Profumo Musc Bleu (perfectly pleasant straight up musk)

Annick Goutal Ninfeo Mio (This scent was wafted under our noses on a fan, but not even such a delicate delivery system could mask its offputting astringence)

Rance Eau Royale (green foresty vibe, a bit like Miller Harris Fleurs de Bois)

Profumu Roma Ichnusa (don't rightly recall, but it was nasty)

Now that doesn't sound like a whole lot of testing given that we were in such a fabulously stocked temple to fragrance, but to be honest I felt a little awkward about running amok with the testers. I got the impression that the SAs would rather direct the customer's sampling experience rather than let us ransack the fixture...

Sadly, Potiron had to leave us to go back to work while we were still at Hyazinth, and finally, after our indecently long stay in the store, we moved on to a branch of Douglas, where we felt less overlooked, though even here we were periodically interrupted by SAs asking if we needed any assistance. This was a good branch of Douglas as far as I could tell, carrying some of the Serge Lutens range, which would be unheard of in Boots, if one were to take the nearest Douglas-equivalent.

I tried a few more things here, while staying just the right side of sensory overload:

Sisley Eau du Soir (classic old school chypre - with skank!)

Jil Sander 79 (classic old school chypre - without skank!)

Jil Sander Sun (strange sun cream number - it is to Ambre Solaire what Clinique Simply is to Johnson's Baby Lotion)

Prairie Life Threads (Silver, Platinum, Gold: didn't care for any of them, but Platinum seemed to be the least worst, and Gold was particularly gross in a Poisonesque kind of way)

Alexander McQueen Kingdom (not the groinfest I was eagerly anticipating - only the merest dusting of cumin to my nose)

Alliage (another green classic)

By 5.15pm, after a solid three hours of fixture scoping and sniffing, we were starting to feel a little jaded, so we wandered over to the Barfüsserplatz, where I jumped on a No 14 tram to Pratteln to pick up my car, while the others headed for the railway station.

It had been such an enjoyable afternoon that we agreed that we must do it all again sometime. Meanwhile, I managed to meet up with both Wordbird and Potiron again during my trip. I rendez-vous-ed with Wordbird on the shores of Lake Zurich the following Monday, where - after a token trip to the lilliputian branch of Manor (a local department store) - we headed for elevenses and some surreptitious at-table sampling at a picturesque cafe. Yet again there was a lamentable failure to bring milk with my tea - any kind of milk - but a small catering portion was finally secured after a bit of pointed staring and slightly less pointed pointing.

The next night I met Potiron back in Basel for dinner in an Italian restaurant and some more discreet at-table sampling. Thanks to her I discovered the woody delight which is Rance Laetitia Milliseme. Unlike the Rykiel, it is unlikely to turn up on Ebay any time soon, and after loitering without intent for hours there the previous week, I wasn't brazen enough to go back to Hyazinth and blag a sample...
All in all then, the Swiss leg was definitely the highlight of my trip, for I made new friends there - and new scent discoveries. And next time I am over, Maxim Rat may well be out of a job...