Indulgence by JoAnne Bassett Natural Perfumes

By Tom Blunda, the Los Angeles store specializing in natural and botanical perfumes hosted JoAnne Bassett this Saturday and I jumped at the chance to meet her. She is of course the perfumer of her own house, combining a love of botanicals and aromatics with a firm knowledge of the basics of fine French perfumery. I'd always been impressed with her French, Divine, and Royal collections; they all manage the feat of being almost impossibly suave using the structure of classic perfumery, but with ingredients that seem garden-fresh. Her new scent Indulgence, was there. I copied the notes from her onto my iPhone: (an aside- you can email your notes to yourself to cut and paste later. Whee!) Top notes: lime lavender Clementine blood Orange Middle: cabbage rose tuberose neroli ylang-ylang nutmeg cardamom palarosa Base: frankincense vanilla Mysore sandalwood On me the citrus is silky-smooth and underscored by the lavender, the flowers subtle and the creamy vanilla drydown accented by the woods and frankincense, The other notes don’t seem to completely disappear on me, they only add depth. I wrote about this effect in an earlier review of Miss Dior, comparing it to a Fugue. Indulgence is a symphony. JoAnne also does private fragrance consultation, and I one day hope to indulge myself in that luxury.. Available at Her Website