L’eau par Kenzo, picture by @ Nicoleta 

“Water lilies load all over

The blue lake amid the woods,

That imparts, while in white circles

Startling, to a boat its moods.

And along the strands I’m passing

Listening, -waiting, in unrest,

That she from the reeds may issue

And fall, gently, on my breast”  Mihai Eminescu, Romanian poet, The Lake (English version by Dimitrie Cuclin)

Many years ago, a lady from Human Resources Department told me ( she seemed quite exasperated) that I’m the only “true INTJ*” she has ever met. In the Myer – Briggs personality tests I.N.T.J. stands for introvert-logical-intuitive – a type of personality that is found very rarely, in just under 0.5% of the female population tested.

If there was such a test in the world of perfumes, I think that L’eau par Kenzo composed by Olivier Cresp in 1996 would perfectly fit in the INTJ drawer. It is silent, introverted, contemplative, without too many sentimental outbursts, deconstructing nature and recomposing it from simple touches.

 L’eau par Kenzo perfume ad from 1996

I remember the sample of that was a gift-with-purchase with a glossy magazine (that I used to buy only for the occasional perfume samples it held) in the year the perfume launched. The commercial was so wonderfully in tune with what I felt. I kept sniffing the sample, thinking, this is like an… implosion of happiness! The best kind of happy! Almost 10 years later, in one of my favorite movies of all times I found the perfect quote that sums up what I’m feeling while wearing it:

 Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind movie still

I think of L’eau par Kenzo as my own, personal “sensory deprivation tank” perfume. I close the lid to reality and I find myself, half asleep, chewing on some minty gum, the curve of my spine following the wooden curve of the boat, eyes watering from the sharp weightless blue of the sky. Suspended floating on my imaginary forest lake, surrounded by impossibly perfect waterlilies, ripe fluffy peaches, frozen in time, still and endless like in an eternal summer vacation time-loop.

L’eau par Kenzo, picture by @Nicoleta 

Top Notes: Mint, Mandarin, Pink pepper;Heart Notes: Lotus, Peach;Base notes: White musk, Cedarwood

Disclosure: My own bottle, opinions are my own

Nicoleta Tomsa, senior contributor

 

Do you have any examples of introverted fragrances? Do you know your Meyer-Briggs Personality archetype?

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