Stats 'n Crap

I often wonder if the stats provided by FB or here, on this blog, are in any way relevant to what I do. I suppose not. Since a perfumer exists within a bubble of sorts, knowing that one or two people pay attention to us is a small triumph. Seeing the number of likes on our FB pages go up is a thrill -- sort'a. Relating those stats to sales, however ... Still, it's a little bit of a rush when the numbers go up, like winning a video game. Meaningless personal triumphs.

(I just deleted a whole paragraph about people in perfume who crow about their fake accolades. Just so you know, you missed a great diatribe there. See? I do have a filter. A teeny, tiny, wee, bitty one.)

I'm here to talk about smells. Three in particular (today), gems amongst the gray stones. I may be doing this for some time as the haul from the Bay Area is epic. Mostly library pieces, nothing I can use in great quantities, but epic nonetheless.

Marigold concrete ~ in a word, surprising. It smells fruity, like a mish mash of apples, plum skin, and sour grapes, but the surprising part is the leather! Yeah, it has this smooth, creamy leather finish. It reminds me of sleeping all hot and sweaty on a leather sofa, the summer sun peeking through cracks in the curtains, a slight breeze from a fan carrying the smell of dust and sun warmed wood. Calming. I haven't properly evaluated this one yet as it's still in the tin and undiluted. Perhaps I will update this mini eval at a later date.

Cestrum Nocturnum ~ night blooming jasmine! Okay, I'm sure you're expecting a heady, narcotic white floral profile with this oil, but no, you're not going to get one exactly. This is different. Right off it smells of carnations and vaguely of tuberose. Very strange. At 1% it has an airy quality to it, like sea breeze, and a leafy note, green and juicy and not altogether pleasant, like something decaying. It's not an ugly scent at all as all these elements together create a lovely slightly indolic floral and leafy green profile with a hint of clove. A mere hint of clove.

Nerium Oleander concrete ~ hmmmm. This is so much more than what I had been expecting. It's warm and creamy, floral, somewhat heady, vaguely powdery, reminiscent of ylang-ylang. There's a slight mint note, and a weird maple-like urine note in the background. Also, not an ugly scent, but very, very different from the usual jasmine-rose-gardenia-orange blossom dense florals we're used to.