Rainforest radiance: Samarinda by Providence Perfume Company

By Donna I am always eager to try a new fragrance from Providence Perfume Company, because I know it will be interesting and stand apart from the crowd. Samarinda is no exception, and testing it has involved keeping my nose firmly glued to my wrist. It's one of those perfumes that has so many interesting notes that it's hard to focus on trying to analyze it; I keep getting pulled in by one thing or another and “following” it with my nose, only to be led astray by something else. Samarinda is not a heavy-handed Orientalist fragrance loaded with spices and patchouli, as one might expect from something inspired by Indonesia, but rather a subtle perfume that mesmerizes by stealth, unfolding one beautiful note after another until its full glory is revealed. It captured me immediately with a particularly excellent cardamom opening – that is my favorite of all tropical spices and it's usually relegated to a supporting role in masculine scents and often overwhelmed by bolder notes, so it's a rare treat to find it in a fragrance I would actually wear. A delicious sweet orange is the perfect accompaniment. The floral heart that includes a rich orange blossom is sweet and redolent, but its headiness is tempered by a deep impression of Sumatran coffee, enough to give the whole thing a backbone, and not overdone; it is by no means a coffee perfume. Just when you think that is the final act, the base notes begin to peek out, and they are quite unusual – jasmine rice (another one of my favorite aromas), rum, vanilla oakwood, and of all things, roasted seashells. I have smelled the last in a couple of other natural fragrances and it's fascinating, a warm mineral note that's not really smoky, more earthy and salty. Combined with the savory aura of the jasmine rice, it creates a feeling like a sense of place. I can imagine a small island village where the smells of cooking mingle with the aromas of spices and jungle flowers, and over all there is dust and mud, perhaps the essence of the rice paddies where man and water buffalo work as one. A faint scent of the sea comes in on a languid breeze. Like all fragrances from this company, Samarinda is completely natural, and 5% of sales will be donated to the World Wildlife Fund to help preserve habitat and critically endangered wildlife in Borneo and Sumatra. I can't think of a more worthy cause, and this is definitely a worthy perfume. There is nothing discordant or “difficult” about it, just pure pleasure and a certain restfulness and ease as it spirits you away to your own private island dream. Perfumer Charna Ethier has once again shown us that natural perfumery is limited only by the imagination, and hers apparently knows no boundaries. Image credit: Samarinda logo and bottle via providenceperfume.com Disclaimer: I received my sample of Samarinda  for testing directly from Providence Perfume Company.

Moon Flower by Providence Perfume - Giveaway

By Marina Providence Perfume has recently introduced solid scents, which "are blended in a base of pure shea butter, beeswax and oils. The soft buttery consistancy is similar to the vintage solid perfumes of the 1950's and 60's without the added petroleum and chemicals of this era." The composition of the fragrance I liked the most among them, Moon Flower also has a retro feel to it, perhaps due to its lusciousness, to the unapologetically animalic and earthy feel of the white flowers. The creator describes the scent as nocturnal, and it really is. Smelling it, I imagine white petals suggestively opening in the night, greedily drinking the moisture of the dark air...the carnal yet ethereal blossoms slightly sinister in their dazzling whiteness, on the black velvet background of the night sky... We have one 1/2oz jar of Moon Flower to give away. For a chance to win it, please, leave a comment telling us whether you use solid perfumes and which one is your favorite. Image source, allposters.com

Digging the Dirt: Indolice by Providence Perfume Co

By Marina If mushrooms were flowers, if jasmine shrubs were subterranean, this is how they would smell. If ever roots of a jasmine instead of jasmine petals have inspired a perfume, I imagine that Indolice is such a perfume...In Cepes & Tuberose, mushrooms were edible, and there certainly is a lot of that umami flavor here too, in the beginning of the scent, with herbs, basil and cilantro adding to the savory effect. In Cuir et Champignon, they were elegant, unexpectedly fitting in the composition of a leathery chypre. In Charna Ethier's creation, mushrooms are probably the most as nature intended- earthy. Interestingly, that earthiness becomes the most prominent in the heart, where the jasmine accord acquires its strength. The jasmine (three different types of night blooming jasmine, according to Providence Perfume Co.) here is breathtakingly indolic. The unapologetic skankiness of the note will take your breath away. If, like me, you belong to the group of skank-seekers (thrill-seekers?) in perfume, if you like your jasmine outrageously dirty, you might have found the holy grail in Indolice. Somehow, the indolic nature of jasmine brings out the earthiness in mushrooms. In return, the raw, fleshy accord highlights further the animalic quality of jasmine. The two bring out the worst in each other. And when I say, worst, I mean it in a very good way. Let's not forget the oakmoss, and a lot of it, which, of course, also piles up the earth in the composition. Mushrooms and oakmoss are layered in Incolice like puff pastry sheets in some unimaginable Napoleon tart, the layers held together by richly ripe creaminess of jasmine. Why do we enjoy a cheese that smells like body odor?- asks Stacey Slate in an article, Why We Love Stinky Cheese. She maintains that "our attraction to stinky cheeses reflects part of our human nature" and that "for enthusiasts of this type of cheese, its bodily odor activates our 'cheese pheromones.”' Can it be that skanky flowers like jasmine (or tuberose, gardenia and even orange blossom, which can be indolic) are so irresistibly attractive because their aroma is also perceived as human? And thus the dirtier they are, the more "like us" they are and the more impact they have? What say you? Indolice can be found at Providence Perfume Co., $20.00-$98.00, depending on the size. Samples of this must-try are also available. Image source, hiltonpond.org.

Sukhofrukty: Huitieme Art Parfums Fareb & Providence Perfume Co. Osmanthus Oolong

By Marina Russian cuisine is all about preserving, pickling, marinating, fermenting, smoking and drying. I grew up eating dried fruits (sukhofrukty, сухофрукты) and somehow have considered them to be a Russian phenomenon. I now know that it is, of course, not so (hello! Moroccan food, to name just one...or Uzbek, to name one in the former Soviet realm!). My subconscious knee-jerk reaction upon seeing, tasting and smelling prunes (chernosliv, чернослив) and dried apricots (kuraga, курага), my two favorite types of dried fruits, is still, however- it's home! I mentioned numerous times before that I love a prune note in perfume. One doesn't come by it too often. The prune-iest of them all is Histoires des Parfums 1740 Marquis de Sade. I also smell prunes in L'Artisan Al Oudh, Eau d'Italie Bois d'Ombrie, Serge Lutens Arabie and Chene and the old Sonya Rykiel scent, 7e Sense...that might be pretty much it. I was delighted to realize that Pierre Guillaume's new collection, Huitieme Art Parfums, will add another scent to that list. Fareb is an acronym for Frais, Aromatique, Résineux, Epicé, Boisé (Fresh, Aromatic, Resinous, Spicy, Woody), which tells you right there to which olfactory territories its composition is going to lead. Apparently, in Hindi and Urdu, the word also means, delusion. Which might be appropriate in my case, since I have no idea whether there is in fact a prune-like accord in Fareb, whether the mix of the star notes, bois d'immortelle and ginseng extract, creates that effect or whether I am imagining it. Smell it and let me know. In any case, the fragrance starts with a somewhat sweet smell of prunes, with immortelle and a hint of leather in the background. As it develops, the prunes become spicier, even saltier, in other words savory rather than sweet, and the blend as a whole acquires what I will rather primitively call a "curry" smell. Which might not be a far-fetched comparison, since curry powder blends often include fenugreek, and everlasting has a fenugreek-like aroma...(I also detect cumin in the drydown.) The image I see when smelling Fareb is that of curried prunes, served on a leather plate...I don't know about you, but I find that idea irresistible. By the way, while googling bits and pieces for this review, I came upon a recipe of spiced pickled prunes and could not think of anything else ever since... While it is possible to once in a while come upon a chernosliv note in perfume, I haven't smelled a kuraga one until I tried Charna Ethier's Osmanthus Oolong. Now, though kuraga is dried apricots, the smell of the two is not nearly identical. Kuraga smells much more ripe and simultaneously drier (obviously), with an almost leathery undertone. And that is exactly what Osmanthus Oolong smells like, to my nose. Osmathus famously has an apricot-like quality, and the tea note brings a certain smoky leatheriness to the blend. There must be additional fruity and leathery accords that add intensity to the blend, and overall the effect is oddly delicious. The two do not smell alike per se, but the only comparison I can come up with is Daim Blond. Imagine the latter with a more pronounced apricot note, with a smokier, darker leather instead of suede; imagine the composition stripped off any trace of heliotrope, iris and pretense...and you could sort of imagine Osmanthus Oolong....but not really. It is rather unique and a must try for fans of unconventional, non-sparkly fruity fragrances, leather and tea notes, osmanthus and especially for fellow lovers of sukhofrukty in perfume. Surely there are some. Raise your hand! On this culinary note, I would like to invite you to the first post in PST's Foodie Sunday series, which will be curated by Beth and Tom. Please, stop by this Sunday to find out from Beth, Why Sunday Dinner? Tomorrow, Birgit will be discussing reed diffusers. Have a fragrant and delicious weekend, everybody! (Fareb is currently sold at Huitieme Art Parfums website, First in Fragrance, The Perfume Shoppe, €95.00 or CAD$110.00 for 50ml, and will probably be available at Luckyscent along with the rest of Pierre Guillaume's creations. There is also a discovery sample kit for €19.00 or CAD$40.00. Osmanthus Oolong can be found at Providence Perfume Co.'s online shop, $25.00-$112.00, with samples also available.)