Arabescos

 Being a perfumista has the added bonus of getting to know new people, adding those to your circle of friends. But they rarely/ never have such a thing as a signature scent. It made me think of a few of my closest friends who actually do have something akin to a signature scent. For this post, I felt like sharing with you a tiny part of these wonderful people, and the fragrances that I specifically associate with them.

Let me begin with my friend ‘I’. She is an opera singer, but she is also the owner of an amazing soul voice, and can sing ‘Back to Black’, ‘Bagdad Café’ or ‘That’s what friends are for’ to match the Amy’s Winehouse or Dionne Warwick’s of this world or beyond.  She has been an exceptional friend in this last and fairly troublesome time. It’s fair to say that she and her two cuddlesome Persians have made me whole again through nurture and friendship.  ‘I’ wears Kenzo Flower (by Alberto Morillas), not solely, but mostly. On her it comes alive to smell like she just stepped out of a vanilla and violet scented bubble bath. It becomes an invitation to come closer and rest your head on a steady shoulder. Flower enhances the spritely, bubbly and very femme sides of her personality; she wears it like a cloud of femininity while she picks out a pair of heels for the day from her bursting shoe cabinet.

Exotica

I also have friends whom I have urged to come with me to have a peek into Perfumeland, and look what happens: ‘T’ jumps in with both feet and falls in love with By Kilian’s Pure Oud by Calice Becker. Actually, this is not the perfume that I’d most associate with her. She’s a warm, calm and steady friend, always ready with an embrace and calming hands. She loves to find hidden paths in the wood, and explore them her nose on alert towards the undergrowth and the damp leafs, and her eyes on everything with an unusual, or slightly amoebic shape. She wears Parfums D’Empire’s Ambre Russe by Marc–Antoine Corticchiato  like the queen of the forest- its boozy fumes draws you in, and the closer you get, the more you fall under her spell. There is the sweet amber and vodka, but what makes Ambre Russe ‘T’s scent, are the dry herbs of coriander and juniper, the slight whiff of cinnamon and of course, the woodsy notes that makes this like going for a walk through ’T’s own magical forest of golden autumnal hues.

Cabaret

My childhood friend, J, is a red-head-hot pianist and dancer, with a sharp wit and the softest of hearts. She might pretend to not care a whole lot for fragrance, when actually she owns too many to deceive me. The one I think of as hers is the luminous Guerlain Aqua Allegoria Pamplelune by Mathilde Laurent. We have laughed and cried together though many years, and her caring and concern for those in her heart are boundless. In Pamplelune I smell the spacious liveliness of a red grapefruit, like ‘J’ deep in the ‘duende’ of a flamenco solo and the spiky green enhancing the focus of that mood. In the end is Pamplelune’s sensibility, which it owes to the shades of patchouli and cuddle-up vanilla like the moonlit night and star made shadows. Thus the grapefruit, the sun, takes all her fellow players in her arms, knowing that only together will they achieve harmony like the true musician that is ‘J’. And like her, the sun, Pamplelune too has a golden heart and fills the world with her generous, lively and mischievous fragrance.

Sirena

Whenever I smell Christian Dior J’adore (the original by Calice Becker), I will forever think of my beautiful friend ‘S’, whom I met at university. We clicked immediately, and have stayed close friends ever since. J’adore is her perfume, and they are the perfect match, both golden, extrovert and contagiously exuberant. ‘S’ holds nothing and no one too tight, and yet you know she’s always there if you reach out, or even when you fail to do so, she will somehow magically appear probably bringing along a ray of sunshine. J’adore suits her with all its facets, it’s sprightly but not fresh-clean, its flowers are a rounded bouquet yet of inviting and slightly come-hither-esque femininity, it’s sweet but never tooth achy, lovely but not cute. And last but not least it’s that peach bellini that we have often shared.

Black Dress

Another friend who’s move away from Copenhagen I only forgive since she told me that she is intend on educating her 4 year old daughter to perfumistahood, went a-looking, thinking she wanted roses, and ended up with  Serge Lutens Serge Noire! I repeat Serge Noire.  The way to this though, was not covered with roses, but with thorns, because my dear friend ‘M’, so loved the Black Monsieur, that upon smelling it for the first time, she seriously over applied- in MY tiny flat.  It’s still her one and only true fragrant-love, and I’m, after years, slowly recovering from the incident, and of course, in the mean time I wasn’t actually short of other perfumes to wear.  ‘M’ is a no-fuss person, who used to not be bothered with either make-up or smart clothes. It was her friends’ great luck, since had ‘M’ cared for those things; no one would have taken notice of us in her ‘super model-look’ presence.  Serge Noire says ‘I’m here’, like not many other scents.  This, the fragrance with the most brutal of sillage, on ‘M’ the patch and spices are yummy and comfy like a wrapped around fur stole, and it writes poetry with its smoky ink-black incense.  She might be far away, but spray Serge Noire, and you can almost feel her close.

 

The Golden Mirror

“For good times and bad times
I'll be on your side forever more
that’s what friends are for”-  Dionne Warwick, Elton John, Gladys Knight and Stevie Wonder 1985 

 All  paintings are by Spanish Artist Felix Mas who uses his paintbrush to convey emotions as memorable as perfume and is renowned for his beautiful paintings of women

 What are the perfumes you associate with your best friends/ friends you met through fragrance?

 –Jasia Julia Nielson, Contributor