Summer strode into California this year with the heat buzzing at around three digits daily. It’s dry, acrid and sometimes unbearable .My scents always come to the rescue. The only time I do not complain much about the tenacity of scents, is during the desert like summers here in the San Joaquin Valley of California. It is perhaps the one time I will shut my mouth and just spray to my heart’s content. During these sauna-like days, to re-spray a scent that makes you feel human again, revives your mind when the heat is dragging you down, is heavenly.

 

 

Although I am not in the habit of having winter- summer rotation fragrances I do find I am drawn to gauzier, less dense ones at the height of summer. Ones that do need re application and I am happy to do so. This summer, three fragrances have my heart and I cannot get enough of them.

 

 

Guerlain’s Sous Le Vent is presently, at the number one spot for me. This fragrance is a ‘scent paradox’. Light in character, its aroma manages to have a gravity and a depth. Maybe this is because of its history (Josephine Baker’s scent) or because of the era in which it was first conceived by Jacques Guerlain in 1933. They simply do not make fragrances in this way, anymore. Its history, scent character, bottle make this Guerlain fragrance so interesting. Sous Le Vent is summer personified. Even the name "Sous Le Vent" meaning the Leeward Isles of French Polynesia, makes us think of tropical climates. She’s a gal with a past -somewhat like me, so we connect. Although this is the re-issue which I hear it lighter than the vintage, I don’t care – I am happy to have Sous Le Vent at all.

 

It’s slightly acerbic lemon and bergamot top notes are mouth watering tart, spice-y and sparkly – it becomes a haze-like, citric zest on skin. Sometimes described as a chypre, I find there is not a lot of oakmoss in the new re issue so I think of it as an aromatic fougere instead. Sous Le Vent is versatile in all weather but it does soar in summer. Always refreshing from the first spray, there is herbal goodness from tarragon and lavender. A savory, unisex fragrance that may be shared with your partner. I find that there is longevity with Sous Le Vent and it remains a skin scent for several hours. Of course, re spraying is always a welcome option! Newly discontinued by Guerlain, this perfumista has enough Sous Le Vent stucked away in her cupboard for a good few years to come…..

(Lovers of Guerlain’s Jicky who want find it just a little too ‘ripe due to the civet will find this an ideal summer scent as will those who love there chypres like Mitsouko. Sous Le Vent is an excellent fragrance if you want to dip your toes into Guerlain waters for this summer.)

Walter Schott’s ‘Three Dancing Maidens’ (Untermyer Fountain) at Central Park, New York

For me, one summer scent love is never enough, I must have choice! I cannot get enough of my new love for Creed’s Jasmal.

Subconsciously I have been influenced by the blooming confederate jasmine that seems to be climbing every yard wall in my city. Jasmal is the exact aroma of the newly opened jasmine flowers whose scent wafts through green leaves on a late spring afternoon. It’s a huge jasmine trip, a happy smell, uncomplicated and it’s sexy clean. The top notes are bell – like in tone – clear, clean with galbanum, a floral high. There is very little indole – maybe just a touch. Rose comes through, adding a little roundness and warmth . Though Jasmal is fairly simple, it is luxurious, classical and polished. I can carry off my simple cotton T-shirts and sandals with the flair of Creed.

Jasmal was created in 1959 and was said to be the fragrance of choice for the late Natalie Wood. Those large Creed stoppered bottles are also enticing.

Forget your  dirty, sticky Jasmin and broody, sweet Sarrasins – if you must do jasmine this summer- gauzy, playful Jasmal will keep you sniffing and smiling. Lovers of Joy by Jean Patou will also appreciate the jasmine and rose notes in this fragrance.

If I am going to survive this summer, I will have to replace my small decant with one of those 250 ml bottles from Creed! While this scent’s tenacity is not great, I can forgive Creed for that this summer. To spray and spray again for those top notes and the clean jasmine musk skin scent it becomes, is wonderful.

 

 

Chanel Gardenia really does not get a lot of love from the perfume world. It’s kind of the ‘pariah’ of the Les Exclusifs Line and gets a bit of a  bad rap. So of course, this is the one I had to make mine even if it was just for the name ‘gardenia’! Though one does have to stretch the imagination to smell gardenia in it, I take it for what it is. The original Gardenia was composed by Ernest Beaux in 1925 and ‘fixed’ again by Jacques Polge for the Les Exclusifs line released in 2007. The name is really a play on the the word ‘garden’ and the fragrance, an olfactory homage to Coco Chanel’s favorite flower the camellia. All these tidbits of information add to my fascination for this scent. A light, white floral eau de toilette in such a monster sized bottle, it really does not matter if you ‘spray till Kingdom come.’ Chanel Gardenia eau de toilette is addictive to me because of its piquant yet light character. It’s dewy fresh, like white buds at dawn in a hidden garden.

 

It’s an unusual aroma – a little like Dior’s Poison but tremendously lighter. Chanel Gardenia is a summer gal – she’s fleeting and flighty but has a Chanel character of her own. I have even carried that huge bottle in my handbag with me.

Gardenia is still available in parfum extrait but I love the entire concept of the Les Exclusifs line – satisfyingly large bottles, magnetic black caps and availability online.

This Les Exclusifs scent  is a wonderful summer alternative to Dior’s Poison and Isabey Gardenia. They all have a ‘grape-like’ note and the trio share a similar tuberose note but Chanel Gardenia is the lightest and airiest of them all.

All three of these scents are attractive characters. Being the fickle perfumista I am, who knows how long my love affairs with them will last…. However, I do know they’ll keep me satisfied this summer.

– Melloney Findlay,  (aka Mimi Gardenia)  Contributor