Day 28 ~ One Year, One Nose

Clove Pink Carnation Faux


I've rarely had the opportunity to smell real clove pinks -- they're hard, if not impossible, to find. In fact, I think it's been since my childhood that I smelled a real clove pink -- an aunt who had a florist business grew some in a hothouse (I think, if my memory is correct) and I distinctly remember their spicy warm and cloying scent. Smelling florist's carnations now don't even compare -- much less pervasive and spicy a scent.

So I made my own faux clove pink carnation some years ago, something tucked away in the scent library cabinet to sniff from time to time. I've made several versions, but the one I'm evaluating now is made with cananga, clove, pink peppercorn, peppermint, rosa bourbon and a faux ambergris (veg based), to this I added a mere touch of fennel and ended up with something very close to my memory of those dank, dark, richly scented carnations of yesteryear.

How can something be both cool and warm? I cannot separate the cold air of the florist's refrigerator from the whole scent of carnation, so it was included by using just a bit of peppermint, which at such a low level isn't detectible much as peppermint, just a sensation more or less. This particular composition took months to mature into something cohesive -- during the long maturation process, I was still able to detect single notes -- sometimes it was the cananga, other times it screeched cloves and pepper. But after a while, the scent melted into itself and -- well, as close as I've gotten so far.

Warm with a slight chilliness, creamy smooth floral spice scent that catches in the back of your throat. As lovely as the scent is, as much as I adore it, I cannot help but associate it as a funerary scent. Sublime, sad and still.