Christian Schloe Tutt’Art@
The scent of the beloved can be many things: the warm, satin smell of the curve of a neck … catches of a favourite perfume that cling to their pillowcase … the flowers and herbs of the garden shared at days’ end or the driftwood redolence of the beach house you rented last summer. Or perhaps it is the embodiment of that thing they do that always makes you smile. This was the case for Jan Ahlgren, founder and creative director of Vilhelm Parfumerie. Dear Polly, created by Ahlgren and his wife with Robertet perfumer Jerome Epinette in 2015, is a fragranced love letter, a scent that suspends time and distance.
photo by Lauryn©
Dear Polly evokes the morning tea ritual of Ahlgren’s wife with its distinctively astringent black tea heart and cheery bergamot top note. As it opens, Epinette dunks an assertively green, crisp apple in the cup.
image via @vilhelmparfumerie Instagram
As the fruit mingles happily, a spoonful of honey comes through, and the combination is so evocative, I swear I could almost smell bread toasting. After a while, the tea steam twirls into a gentle furl of smoke and Dear Polly changes keys. The daybreak aromas begin to settle. Pungent Ceylon tea pens the next paragraph, fumy and astringent. Combining with citrus, the tea is familiar and comforting as well as zesty. In counterpoise, earthy, woodsy smells begin to coalesce; dark, pensive cedar and loamy oakmoss fill in the background, their bosky aromas bringing a subdued depth to the composition.
Jan Ahlgren at Arielle Shoshana in Fairfax , Va. courtesy of Arielle Weinberg
Time ticks by. Vilhelm Parfumerie Dear Polly is still prominent on my skin, crunchy apple and chirpy bergamot still present, but merging into a dusky base of dry amber and cedar. Furry musk joins the tea party and things become un peut intime. It no longer feels like mid-morning but like the hours when the sky outside the kitchen window has put the stars to bed in anticipation of the dawn. The dregs of tea stand cold in their china cup, a smear of honey rests on the lip of the saucer. More masculine-leaning notes move forward towards Dear Polly’s conclusion, and the bright notes go to bed. It is as if the beloved and lover change places, and it is she who writes the ending of this missive.
Christian Shloe©
While the opening of Dear Polly expresses the familiar joy of being in the company of the one you love best, its opaque, cedary-smoky dry-down hints at something more enigmatic – perhaps the unknowable nature of love itself, that tether of the heart even continents cannot sunder.
Notes: Bergamot, apple, Ceylon black tea, oakmoss, musk, black amber.
Disclaimer: Bottle of Vilhelm Parfumerie Dear Polly generously provided by Eden Square (formerly Europerfumes). My opinions are my own.
Lauryn Beer, Senior Editor
Vilhelm Parfumerie Dear Polly via Instagram
Thanks to the generosity Europerfumes/Eden Square, we have a 100 ml tester bottle of Dear Polly for one registered reader IN THE USA ONLY. To be eligible, please leave a comment saying what interests you based on Lauryn’s review. Have you tried Vilhelm Parfumerie before? Draw closes 9/19/2020.
Vilhelm Parfumerie Dear Polly and 12 in the collection is available at Arielle Shoshanna in Fairfax , VA DC and other fine stockists. Please read our WE LOVE THIS STORE: Arielle Shoshanna for a virtual tour
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