NEW FRAGRANCE REVIEW: The Scent of Departure Collection “Around The World In 20 Fragrances” (Part 1) + Reader’s Choice Draw

As I have passed my 50th birthday I have seen many changes. Music has gone from vinyl to digital. Phones have gone from rotary dials to touchscreens. As David Bowie says “Ch-ch-ch-changes”. One of the most important changes has been the affordability of air travel. When I was a young child in the 60’s I traveled vicariously courtesy of the Travel Section of the Sunday newspaper, National Geographic TV specials, and movies about the comedy of travel like “If It’s Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium”.  Now the world is available to many more people and you don’t have to resort to a whirlwind tour of 10 cities in 10 days.

One of the joys of traveling is that so many places seem to have a unique fragrance which makes them identifiable. It seems Gérald Ghislain, the creative artist behind Histoires de Parfums also seems to be able to couple a scent to a destination. He has created a new 20 fragrance collection called The Scent of Departure. Each entry has the three letter abbreviation of the city it is describing. The other special thing about this collection is that all of the fragrances are $45 for 50mL acrylic encased bottles. This makes for affordable fragrant travel courtesy of our intrepid fragrant tour guide M. Ghislain.

I am extremely happy to be one of the first to have the opportunity to try all 20 of The Scent of Departure fragrances and it is a bit like those whirlwind tours described in “If It’s Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium”. I am going to attempt to travel to 20 fragrant destinations over the next five days, four at a time. For those of you who are Histoires de Parfums lovers I can tell you M. Ghislain has pulled off a virtuoso display of perfumery. There are definitely cities I like better than others but this is an amazingly consistent and cohesive collection for the breadth that is present here.  All of the fragrances are simple constructions of four to five notes. So come along with me as I whisk my way around the world one fragrance at a time for the next five days.

The start of my trip begins in the city I consider the American Capitol of Perfume, New York.  NYC is colloquially called The Big Apple and that is what NYC begins with, a crisp sour apple note. The sour aspects are softened by a floral duo of lilac and rose. This is all placed over a slightly aquatic base.

As I catch my overnight flight at JFK I wake up the next morning in Vienna. VIE takes you to one of the gardens in the city where the smell of grass, mint, and water lilies re-create a morning stroll through the floral beauty. VIE then pivots from a floral to a gourmand as you find yourself with the smell of vanilla and coffee. At first a fresh pastry and dark blend, it turns almost yeasty and bready before the end.

Next we land in Abu Dhabi; Middle Eastern hub of spectacular skyscrapers over ancient history. The brilliant sun is evoked by an equally bright bergamot, at the top of AUH, which is followed by a selection of lightly ozonic notes that feel like sitting on a beach. Jasmine inserts its floral quality in an ethereal way. This is jasmine at its most unobtrusive.  Which leaves space for the smell of the market as a deep spicy amber is where AUH comes to rest.

No rest for me as I am off to Singapore. SIN opens with a touch of tart lime and then the slightly watery note of orchids and grass mingle with the tart lime. A light gaiac wood closes out SIN and it floats on the cloud created by the orchids in a way that makes them seem like natural partners.

It’s time for a rest for me but I’ll be back on Monday to continue my journey with another four cities.

Disclosure: This review was based on samples provided by The Scent of Departure.

Thanks to The Scent of Departure we are offering a reader’s choice of a full bottle of any of the 20 cities in this first release. To be eligible leave a comment talking about your connection between city and a fragrance. Each comment from all five parts will be combined for the draw. You get one entry for each piece so you could conceivably have five chances if you leave a comment on all five parts. You also can give yourself one more chance by “liking” The Scent of Departure Facebook page at this link. We will draw one winner via random.org from all five parts on April 29, 2012.

We announce the winners only on site and on our Facebook page, so Like Cafleurebon and use our RSS option…or your dream prize will be just spilt perfume.

-Mark Behnke, Managing Editor

Editor’s Note: Those of you who live in New York City have a unique chance to experience The Scent of Departure in a very special way. On Tuesday night April 24th, at Henri Bendel from 5-8PM, Gerald Ghislain will debut the collection underneath 240 airplanes hanging from the ceiling. There is also a Proust Questionnaire which is supposed to help you narrow down your choice. If you can’t make it on Tuesday night for the party M Ghislain will be there on Wednesday and Thursday from 6-8PM each night. -MB

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57 comments

  • Heather says:

    Fantastic draw! There are specific places I remember based on fragrance; I used to live in a city that had flowering trees lining the area where I was, and the smell after rain was heavenly.

    (Oh, and I liked the Scent of Departure FB page as well!)

  • Fernando says:

    Well, let’s start with Santos and the smell of coffee. Santos, in Brazil, was once the port through which most coffee was exported. There’s a beautiful building in the downtown area where small cups of coffee were smelled and tasted to assess the quality and set the price. So smelling coffee makes me think of Santos.

  • FG says:

    What a neat draw! For me, if I start regularly wearing a new scent, it becomes part of the time and place where I first discovered it. I can think back across moves i have made, and think of the scents that are linked to the different cities I have lived in. If I mostly wore the fragrance in that place, and stopped or mostly stopped before I left, then afterward when I wear it or smell it I end up flooded with the ‘feel’ of the place.

  • SueK says:

    I like to think of Berlin and the avenue Unter den Linden and how that must have been in later spring, strolling along just when the weather gets really pleasant and everyone comes out of winter hibernation. We had a linden tree in my grandparent’s back yard, and there are plantings of linden trees all over town. They smell a lot like orange blossoms but a little fresher and greener.

  • Claudia says:

    The one fragrance that evokes a certain city in me is ironically a fragrance by Histoires de Parfums called DÉFILÉ NEW YORK, its is exactly as would imagine the streets of NY to smell like walking by numerous coffee shops, bakeries etc. Great draw and definitely sounds like some great fragrances coming 🙂

  • Tourbillion says:

    I would like to try New York. My main connection between fragrance and a city is Paris though, since I love to go to the perfume shops there and try so many different scents!

  • Alica says:

    I would choose VIE. My associations of fragrance and city goes to San Francisco where I used to wear Costes. Thanks!

  • Bellatrix says:

    Portugal & L’instant magique – the sweetness of perfume and the sweetness of Portuguese’s coffee shops (where you can always have a croissant or even more concrete mail).
    My island & L’instant – it has some saltiness inside… I never use this perfume anywhere but at home (and i am there several times per year). It smells just like summer on my island (with tourist haha).

    (Bot Guerlain but totally different impressions)

    VIE or SIN…

  • Bulka says:

    Vienna sounds fantastic. The whole idea of this line is just wonderful. I love to travel, air travel is by far my favorite way. It inspires me from watching people in airport bars to anticipating seeing new places while in the sky…

    The first connection that comes to mind is Seattle, my current city, and Angeliques Sous la Pluie – it catches the gentle silky rainy green feel of this city so well…

  • Olga says:

    Vienna sounds right on — a beautiful garden and then a coffee with a pastry! If I think about strolling in Vienna, this is how I would do it!

    But Vienna seems too far off right now, so if I do a stroll in DC instead, I would think of the delicate smell of cherry blossoms in the air, the way Jo Malone did their last year’s Sakura mother’s day special.

  • Kathryn says:

    What a lovely concept.

    I’ll start with Melbourne, Australia. It’s a rather cold and windy city during Winter and a hot, dry one during Summer.
    I associate this city with the scent of wet cement, smoke, coffee, salt and spice.
    There is no fragrance that completely captures the city itself, but DKNY for Women comes close.

  • d3m0lici0n says:

    I don’t know why but i always connect Carnal Flower with Los Angeles, I think maybe because the oppulence and beauty related to all the gorgeous women in the city and also because of all the stars. All the collection sound really nice but of these first four Singapore sounds really nice.

  • MariaA says:

    An early memory I have of my hometown is the smell of Tobacco. It is a major port and the tobacco storage houses were downtown where we would go for shopping. I still remember and love this smell. SIN sounds lovely, wish I was in NY to smell them all

  • Ingeborg says:

    Having family in Vienna and other parts of Austria, I have other scent memories from there than what you find in the VIE perfume, scents from savoury dishes like Tafelspitz and Backhuhn and sweet dishes like Kaiserschmarren and Mohnkuchen. The Singapore scent sounds lovely, but they all sound very likeable.

  • Amer says:

    the hillsides around my hometown in the summer smell of labdanum and thyme. For me this is the scent of coming home

  • Bonbori says:

    I like the smell of exhaust and pavement and street vendors in New York City but perhaps that would not be as nice if bottled.

  • missp says:

    My hometown was big but clean, and had lots of parks, so it smelled rather grassy and green and sunny.

    My old neighbourhood in my present city, was near a cookie factory, so it smelled very strongly of chocolate. It was fantastic. 🙂

  • TaffyJ says:

    London! and the sights and scents of those beautiful gardens.

    One first day in the Cotswolds, we were a little lost and ended up in a grassy field with sheep and border collies. The smell was marvelous!

  • Devon H says:

    I have never been there, and would kill to, but just wearing YSL Paris makes me think of Paris in the Spring. I have no idea if this is correct, I’m assuming it does since it’s YSL, but when I wear it, my brain starts visualizing and I hear the accordion music from Amelie movie soundtrack and my mood instantly changes 😀 That’s really one of few city-scent relationships I can think of. I don’t tend to associate what I’m wearing with a particular city or have a fragrance memory of any particular city. Smells yes, but nothing perfume-related.

    Thanks so much for the draw!

  • Jorid says:

    I have found great results with wearing “new” fragrances when visiting new cities and places. This way you can explore a new perfume and a new city at the same time, and when you get back home a spray of the perfume will take you right back to that lovely place you visited.

  • Brooke says:

    Oddly enough, I haven’t traveled to one city here and it is the fragrance that intrigues me most AUH- Abu Dhabi. I love the concept of this line and the price points are great. I love to travel and it is interesting how a whiff of a note can transport my mind back to a place. I often get it with CdG Avignon – Spanish churches, Azemour remind me of the streets of Seville with the bitter oranges, Lush’s Breath of God remind me of temples in Cambodia.

  • LegoBoy says:

    One of the cities I remember by its smell is Barcelona and the smell of sea and paella as I was having dinner near the seashore. Beautiful memory and experience!

    I’d like to win VIE from this draw!

  • noetic owl says:

    During my first visit to Paris the hotel I was staying at had Annick Goutal’s Eau d”Hadrien as all of the toiletries for the guests. I fell in love with the scent and actively sought out the AG boutique. However, it was a large bottle of Eau de Ciel that accompanied me home to the States. All of the older Annick Goutals (Eau D’Hadrien, Folavril, Eau de Sud, Eau de Ciel, Eau de Charlotte, Eau de Camille,etc) instantly transport me to Paris whenever I smell them. Also,Ineke’s Field Notes from Paris,as cliche as it may sound, reminds me of that city as well.

  • Maureen says:

    Coppertone and sand & salty sea air reminds me of OC, NJ. I like this concept and of the fragrances reviewed i think SIN sounds lovely.

  • Holly F. says:

    I associate Milan with the smell of “cold,” and Christmas-y church smells, probably because we visited over the winter holidays. I would love to go back. Of the fragrances described, Vienna sounds the most intriguing to me. Thanks for the draw!

  • Lisa says:

    Its been several years, but salty smells and coconut and humidity reminds me of Rio.

    So far Istanbul sounds quite lovely! Never been there, but always wanted to go.

  • Lean S says:

    I’m continually reminded of places and experiences when I come across various fragrances. The smell of lilacs reminds me of the city I grew up in, in the Mediterranean. Roses on the other hand remind me of Vienna, Austria and the last time I visited.

  • GinnyM says:

    When I was in college, a boyfriend gave me a bottle of L’Air du Temps, and every time I sprayed it on, I thought of Paris (a city I’d only been to once, by that time). My taste has evolved considerably since then, but that was my first association of “city” and “scent.”

  • cheesegan says:

    To be eligible leave a comment talking about your connection between city and a fragrance.

    I’m from a city of roses, rain, cherry blossoms and moss. Someone should make a Portland Oregon fragrance, it would be lovely.

  • Jan says:

    The smell of the air is different in every city. Humidity variations are the main difference, but also the molecular essences that float unpercievably in the air and leave a subconcious footprint.

  • Cynthia says:

    Whenever I step out of the airport in Adelaide, I always smell the wonderful scent of fresh eucalyptus. It is clean, stringent, and always makes me smile. I would pick SIN from this list.

  • Sujaan says:

    Scent of Departure’s Bali sounds lovely! I’ve never been there but maybe the fragrance would make me feel like I have.
    My scent memory is of my hometown in northern California. We had eucalyptus trees, lots and lots of eucalyptus trees. So whenever I smell eucalyptus I think of Los Gatos, California.

  • Amy says:

    My scent of memory is where I grew up, and still live today, in the Washington DC Metropolitan area. Here in the Mid-Atlantic it is lilacs, cherry, and apple blossoms.
    In bottled scent form, I think En Passant is probably comes the closest to invoking my “home” scent.

  • taffynfontana says:

    the scent and aroma of a place leaves a powerful memory. I remember going to the painted desert in Arizona and smelling the earth and wild vegetation.

  • ineverwas says:

    When I went to Prague a couple of years ago, I wore Prada Tendre every day I spent there, and I strongly associated it with the city. It’s a beautiful thing, especially when I smell this perfume, the feeling of being back there in Prague is sometimes overwhelming. But in nice way :).

    From the fragrances mentioned in this article, Vienna (VIE) sounds the most attractive to me. Besides, I LOVE the city as well :).

  • Isa says:

    I already like the Scent of Departure on Facebook.

    All these perfumes sound lovely but I’d love to try Sin. It seems to be citrus, woody and green, so I think I would like it.

    I associate my hometown, Murcia (Spain) with the scent of orange blossoms and lemontree flowers. The air smells to geraniums, roses and carnations too. Lovely perfume, isn’t it?

  • Gypsy Parfumista says:

    I lived in Arizona (upper Sonoran desert) for five years and BUD Parfums “Kalgoorlie” reminds me of that dry desert spicy scent just after the (welcome) summer monsoons release their first wet droplets on the sand and dust! *sighs*

    Great draw and great idea for a series or reviews. 🙂

    I “liked” the Scent of Departure page on FB as well…

  • JessieB says:

    Thierry Mugler Angel always takes me to the south of France, where a dear friend whom I haven’t seen in years lives. Visiting her 5 years ago was one of the most fun times of my life.

  • harper says:

    the scent of eucalyptus leaves (bark, blossoms) always reminds me of the royal gardens in sintra, portugal.
    god, i have to go there again…

  • Tami H. says:

    Thanks for the draw! Went to Italy last year and wore Bond no. 9 Nuits de Noho for the trip.

  • Lauren says:

    Hmm, I’ll start this off with Philadelphia. The historical section smells green and lilac in spring, mixed with dusty, baked smell of the narrow streets.

  • mim says:

    One of my most vivid scent-city associations is the wild rosemary in Jerusalem. It grew everywhere, and I broke off a sprig and crushed a little between my fingers. It smelled exactly like my mother’s garden half a world away.

  • winstonsmith4 says:

    When I lived in Prague, I remember the green smells of the park we lived near, and the bakery across the street… lovely… 🙂

  • ringthing says:

    I lived in Houston for years, just down the block from the Baird’s Bread factory. Walking home from the bus stop, smelling that wonderful scent of baking bread amid the flowering mimosa trees, is one of my favorite memories of that time.

  • Connor M says:

    i spent last summer in NYC. there I bought as many niche fragrances as my budget would allow. We don’t have many of them available in Colorado. So there are a few fragrances, santal 33 in particular, that remind me of NYC.

    That being said, I love how this line tries to capture the city in a scent.

  • Ggs says:

    In Paris several years ago I purchased a suitcase full of fragrances, to bring back to the US, both for myself and for perfumista friends here. I visited the flagship stores of Guerlain and Serge Lutens and Parfums de Nicolai. But my favorite perfume discovery–which will always remind me of that trip–was The Different Company’s De Bachmakov, newly released and exclusive to Bon Marche.

  • Nick N says:

    I visited San Juan Puerto Rico with my brother. We brought with us a bottle of Ambre Sultan, which bloomed in the humid heat. To this day, every time I smell Ambre Sultan, I think of my wonderful time spent with my brother by the beach in Puerto Rico.

  • MN Nick says:

    I recently traveled to San Juan Puerto Rico with my brother. We brought a bottle of Ambre Sultan with us, and now I strongly associate AS with that trip. I’m transported to our place by the beach, cooking beans and rice with my brother while having a cold beer in the hot humid weather. it always brings a smile to my face.