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Not a Bucket List Trip

This post is a travelog with minimum perfume-related content.

Do you have a bucket list? I don’t. And even if I did create one, a farmhouse stay probably wouldn’t have made the cut. But now, after experiencing it firsthand, I can confidently say that I’ve crossed it off my non-existent bucket list.

When we were planning our anniversary trip, we had a few criteria in mind: it had to be a car trip within a 4-hour limit, not another designated wine country excursion (we already do those 4-5 times a year), and a destination with moderate temperatures. Point Reyes, California, seemed like a promising option. After thorough research on Expedia and Airbnb, we decided to step out of our comfort zone and rented a farmhouse on a working cattle range in Nicasio, CA.

Day 1

SOTD: Jo Malone English Pear & Freesia.

Midday midweek traffic made our journey to Point Reyes a breeze. Since we arrived early for check-in, we decided to explore some renowned local cheese places.

Our first stop was Nicasio Valey Cheese Company conveniently located just off the main road. It’s a charming, tiny store with a window that offers a glimpse into their cheese-making process. They have an assortment of cheeses, crackers, jams, and chocolates. We couldn’t resist and ended up purchasing two cheeses.

Next, we ventured to Marin French Cheese Co., a larger store offering not only cheese and related products but also gifts and a cafe serving lunch. What captivated us the most was their picnic area. That was probably one of the rare cases when the photo looks almost more picturesque than what one’s eyes could register. After a brief introduction to their cheese varieties, we sampled four flavors (I don’t know who thinks that jalapeno is a good additive to brie), bought four (but not the weird ones) and took numerous photos of the grounds, promising ourselves to come back one day with a picnic.

Marin French Cheese Co Picnic Area

I know and like cheese from Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Co., so I was curious to visit their home place. But had I known the road in advance, I would have probably skipped it. The narrow, unpaved path with blind spots made passing other cars a nerve-wracking experience. Nevertheless, we persevered and were rewarded with a “self-serve” tasting station at their shop.  We bought two – one familiar and well-loved, and the other a recent addition to their lineup.

Our final stop for the day was Point Reyes Vineyards winery. Having visited before, we didn’t have high expectations for their wines… and the place didn’t fail to live up to them. While their wines are plainly not good, they have two redeeming qualities: their well-kept sitting area and … the scarcity of activities in the area. All-in-all, we enjoyed a tasting with our own supply of cheese and bread.

The farmhouse we rented was located a 5-minutes drive down a windy gravel road, “tucked beneath the rolling hills” (from the listing). It was spacious, clean (as much as can be achieved with a non-IKEA-standard “sanitized” furnishing setup based on the real people’s house) and quite unique. On our way, we encountered cows and chickens, and upon arrival, we were delighted to receive fresh eggs and farm-produced meat (we ordered in advance). We hoped the cows and chickens were oblivious to our culinary plans.

View from the Porch

Day 2

SOTD: Lancome Climat

Given the limited activities in the area, our day mainly revolved around indulging in local cuisine rather than exploring the outdoors through hiking or biking, which isn’t our forte.

Morning breakfast with the local eggs and cheese sustained us through the walk in the Point Rayes Station “downtown.” This town hadn’t been too flourishing for as long as I remember it, but it seems that Covid has almost killed it. It’s the same small provincial town it was but now without tourists.

Other food stops this day included a couple of (square) slices of pizza at an outdoor pizzeria (better than could be expected), oysters (for my vSO) and crab claws (for me) at a roadside restaurant (both dishes were perfect) and the local meadery (though once we got there, I decided their tasting was too expensive for what they offer, so we skipped it this time). We concluded the day with a celebratory dinner at the farmhouse, showcasing our culinary skills.

Day 3

SOTD: Ormonde Jayne Ta’if Elixir

As our short two-night stay came to an end, on our way back, we decided that wine country wasn’t such a bad idea after all and visited two of our favorite wineries, Paradise Ridge and Sunce. Everything cooperated that day – exceptional wine, friendly stuff and beautiful weather. It was the perfect conclusion to a memorable trip. And when we got home, Rusty was happy to see us.

Rusty on a Chair

 

Images: my own

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Saturday Question: What Perfume Would You Wear for Your Wedding Today?

I know, I know: most of my loyal readers are either already married or do not plan to. But it’s my anniversary week, so I have weddings on my mind. And by the power vested in me by WordPress G-ds… Well, since it’s my blog, let’s talk about weddings perfumes.

Saturday Question on Undina's Looking Glass

Saturday Question #171:

What Perfume Would You Wear for Your Wedding Today?

I mean, if you were to get married today, what would be your perfume of choice?

My Answer

Many moons ago, my wedding perfume was my all-time favorite Lancome Climat. So, would it have been today, I would have still chosen it, I think. Though, I might go for my second long-time favorite – Ormonde Jayne Ta’if.

Other contenders for me would be Amouage Gold (though, it would be very similar to Climat), Amouage Dia, Armani La Femme Bleue or Les Parfums de Rosine Rose d’Amour.

How about you?

What Perfume Would You Wear for Your Wedding Today?

L’Air du Temps parfum by Nina Ricci
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L’Air du Temps parfum by Nina Ricci

Hello Fellow Fumies,

Some of you may know that way back in the dimness of time I was a Squirt Bitch for a department store in Sydney’s suburbs, my fragrance section was Guerlain, Oscar de la Renta, Worth and Nina Ricci. At the time I was so dazzled by the Guerlains and Oscars that poor old Nina Ricci got left behind, it was the 1980s and very few people were after such subtlety, especially once I started on my “Make a statement” spiel. I recently purchased some L’Air du Temps parfum just for old times sake. Then I found  on Fragrantica Miguel Matos did a sensational 2013 L’Air du Temps 65th Birthday piece and judging by the packaging on my acquisition it’s 1986-2008 juice, except the parfum has gold doves on the box. Which is a SCORE. Today was always going to be about L’Air du Temps but now it has an extra special reason, Happy 75th Birthday L’Air du Temps.

L’Air du Temps parfum by Nina Ricci 1948

L’Air du Temps parfum by Nina Ricci 1948

Parfumo gives these featured accords:
Top: Neroli, Rosewood, Spices, Bergamot, Peach
Heart: Carnation, Lily, Ylang, Iris, May rose, Orchid
Base: Sandalwood, Ambergris, Benzoin, Moss, Musk, Cedar, Vetiver

I love a floral, fruity, aldehydic opening of yesteryear, there is so much depth and glamour. It’s spicy and sugared, crisp and warm and fizzy, L’Air du Temps is fun! The parfum version is so much fuller and more powerful in the opening than my memories of the EdT back in the 1980s but the scent is still the same, no not the same but same enough to feel the memories flood back. Both cozy and starched elegance at the same time. Luminous! I am back in time over 20 years and just getting my first perfumista stars.

After the first ten minutes L’Air du Temps takes a definite step towards soft, there becomes space between the various notes and the wall of scent becomes a lovely warm floral aura that is still spicy and punchy but more restrained. There is so much going on in L’Air du Temps that I find it hard to pick individual notes. The cloves are most discernible and I can smell flowers but it’s a dream of flowers nothing specific. While half the time feeling totally old fashioned and dated it also is still spare and pretty enough through the heart to be at ease in today’s fragrant climate. An hour in and I am softly fragrant, maybe if I was sitting in a small room for a while you’d smell a change in the air but otherwise you’d have to hug me to know I’m perfumed.

L’Air du Temps parfum by Nina Ricci 1948 parfum

Amber and sandalwood/cedar are what I smell most of in the dry down, there are other things but I can’t decipher them as notes it’s more of a harmonious background hum. After around 4 hours L’Air du Temps goes so soft I can barely register it but I know that I’m not smelling me, it is definitely other, an amorphous wash that I lose at around 5-6 hours.

How does L’Air du Temps make me feel? Pretty, I feel pretty, no bold statement, very laid back and comfortable. Wearable on any occasion, even close working quarters would not be offended by L’Air du Temps parfum. It is subtle and glamorous without the hard work of appearing to be.

Do you have any L’Air du Temps memories you’d like to share?
Portia xx

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Saturday Question: What Is Your Favorite Guerlain L’Art & La Matière?

After questions about the private lines of Chanel and Dior, I think it’s time to see how we fare with everyone’s darling Guerlain.

Saturday Question on Undina's Looking Glass

Saturday Question #170:

What Is Your Favorite Guerlain L’Art & La Matière?

Do you love any of them? Too many or not at all? Do you own them? Do you wear them?

Have you tried any of the new ones that they released last year?

My Answer

My most favorite perfume from the line, Cruel Gardenia, is from pre-reformulation time. I was so scared when I learned about the upcoming repackaging that I bought a backup bottle. Recently, I tried a new version at a store: without comparing it side-by-side with the one that I have, I can’t tell how much it has changed.

I smelled several new perfumes released in 2022, but since I’m not an agarwood fan, I didn’t give them any skin time, so I didn’t form a definitive impression of them. Anyway, I have at least two perfumes in the line that I would buy before any of the new ones.

Guerlain Cruel Gardenia

How about you?

 

What Is Your Favorite Guerlain L’Art & La Matière?

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Saturday Question: What Is Your Favorite La Collection Privée Dior?

Last week we discussed Les Exclusif de Chanel, so I thought it would be interesting to try another grand house – Dior.

Saturday Question on Undina's Looking Glass

Saturday Question #169:

What Is Your Favorite La Collection Privée Dior?

Do you love any of them? Too many or not at all? Do you own them? Do you wear them? What was the last new one you tried?

My Answer

My relationships with Dior cooled off when they stripped my favorite Miss Dior of its name to promote the “impostor” pink juice (not even in the original kind of interesting formulation!). And then they repackaged their Privée line. I didn’t mind it in principle, but they released so many new perfumes that I felt completely lost and overwhelmed. So, I am not even sure which perfumes I tried and which I didn’t. The last one that I tried and liked was Vanilla Diorama. I don’t want a large bottle of it, but I like it enough to wear it from the sample a friend sent me.

Technically, I do not have a favorite La Collection Privee perfume since 2 I own came from the pre-reformulation La Collection Couturier Parfumeur line. But since “my” perfume is still present in the updated collection, I will nominate it: New Look 1947, the first full bottle I bought from this line. It feels very elegant. It is present but quiet. Slightly powdery, with a exquisitely balanced floral and amber notes. Tenacious but not tiring.

Dior New Look 1947

How about you?

What Is Your Favorite La Collection Privée Dior?

Cote d’Amour by L’Artisan Parfumeur (Long Gone)
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Cote d’Amour by L’Artisan Parfumeur (Long Gone)

Hi Crew, Cote d’Amour byL’Artisan Parfumeur was released way back in 2009. I remember first trying it a few years later and it was already impossible to find, especially out here in Oz. Then it turned up on Surrender To Chance a few years later in the 8ml sale. So I bought some. My decant is nearly 2/3 gone and after that there will be no more. I thought you might like to enjoy one of my last ever wears of this beauty together.

It caught my eye that this is a Celine Ellena fragrance. Cool!

Cote d’Amour by L’Artisan Parfumeur 2009

Cote d’Amour by L'Artisan Parfumeur

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Rosemary Grapefruit Tangerine
Heart: Immortelle Cypress Rose
Base: Pine Woodsy Notes Laburnum

My memories of first smelling Cote d’Amour are very fuzzy now, the where is completely gone. I do remember being told that L’Artisan were trying an All Natural route but smelling its now that seems highly unlikely. What I do remember is thinking how differently the pieces were put together. That it smelled like pieces of things I knew but nothing smelled quite like it. Also the name, it felt like love as an adventure. Something you’d travel great distances to find. Haven’t we all?

Anyway, let’s smell this long lost beauty eh? The happily strange greenly herbaceous citrus is gone way too quickly and overtaken by crisp green woods. There are still tinges of the opening, hollow reminders. The immortelle is clean, all that gooey, sticky, stanky fabulousness shorn off. It’s still recognisable but barely. This is immortelle light and if its presence is often a huge no for you then this will sit quietly enough I’m sure. I’m getting some very vanilla vibes, and some cedar-ish pencil shavings. Funnily, Jin just bought persimmons and the scent is a little like them with woody overlay.

Cote d’Amour L'Artisan Parfumeur

Though this has very typically L’Artisan low longevity when it starts to fade off and meld with my scent it becomes a sexy me but WAY better. So manly. Well, clearly that’s some connection I’m making from past olfactory experience. Can’t place it but that soft overtone on my own smell is bloody good. Not fragrant anymore but a sheer overlay. Very cool.

Do you remember this? Did you get to try it?
Portia x

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Saturday Question: What Is Your Favorite Les Exclusifs de Chanel?

I was thinking about large brands’ exclusive lines and realized that it has been a while since Chanel released their last perfume in their Les Exclusifs collection (it was Le Lion, back in 2020). I was too absent recently, so I haven’t heard any news about new launches from Chanel. Have you? Meanwhile, let’s talk about our existing favorites.

Saturday Question on Undina's Looking Glass

Saturday Question #168:

What Is Your Favorite Les Exclusifs de Chanel?

Do you love any of them? Too many or not at all? Do you own them? Do you wear them?

My Answer

While I like many perfumes from this line, I have just two full bottles, a couple of minis and a few decants in my collection. So it makes sense to choose one of the two FBs. I think.

So, if I had to choose just one, it would be Cuir de Russie, probably the most favorite leather perfume in my collection. (And I’ll chime in if you mention my other favorites in your comments.)

How about you?

What Is Your Favorite Les Exclusifs de Chanel?

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Saturday Question: What Do You Think About Opaque Perfume Bottles?

Last week brought an unexpected interruption, and I couldn’t publish the SQ post. But I’m back, and I’ll try not to skip these traditional posts in the future.

Saturday Question on Undina's Looking Glass

Saturday Question #167:

What Do You Think About Opaque Perfume Bottles?

Do you like them? Do you own them? Or do you avoid them?

My Answer

I have mixed feelings about opaque bottles: many of those I’ve seen were beautiful. I almost bought Chanel Coco Noir even though I wasn’t that enamored by the scent. And I would have bought Chanel No.5 Red Edition if I hadn’t missed it – and I don’t even like No. 5!

But when it comes to owning and using those perfumes in opaque bottles, it bothers me that I can’t clearly see how much juice is left in the bottle, which is especially annoying with heavy, quality bottles. I know that it is not rational: I won’t go through most bottles I have, so it’s not like I need to be prepared or will buy a backup bottle. And still.

 

How about you?

What Do You Think About Opaque Perfume Bottles?

Ylang 49 by Le Labo
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Ylang 49 by Le Labo

Hey ULGers, Here’s a funny thing. A couple of years ago Surrender To Chance had a couple of sale days where you could buy 8ml of things for much cheaper than normal. Seriously good discounts. So I spent a truckload. Sometimes buying a couple of the same thing, many blind. Yeah, so I know YOU KNOW how that usually goes. One win to every 10+ WTF. Anyway, one of the things I bought a couple of was Ylang 49. Because it’s only tangentially ylang I was thoroughly let down and they got lost amongst the many. Then as I was packing for London it went in the bag. OMG! With all expectations removed it is bloody fabulous. Full disclosure: Someone I was spending time with HATED it on me and found it hippy patchouli heavy hell. Me, nope, LOVED IT!

I think part of my loathing it earlier is my general side eye cringe and snort at the Le Labo mix-just-for-you bulls**t. It’s so annoying. The juice then needs to macerate in your bottle and takes up to a year to smell like the tester you tried in store. (yes, I know you know all this but it rubs me wrong)

In their favour, the simple Le Labo bottle that is used by so many companies is one of my favourite. Clean lines, easy to hold, nice and hefty.

Ylang 49 by Le Labo 2015

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Ylang-Ylang Patchouli Oakmoss Tahitian Gardenia Vetiver Benzoin Sandalwood

The opening is all cool white florals and grassy greenery. A little more fresh than you would expect from something ylang named but well within purview.

The opening lasts about two minutes and already patchouli has pretty much taken over the field. At about 5 minutes Ylang 49 goes completely quiet on me. It’s so weird. Like a complete drop out of fragrance. When it comes back, not very long later, it’s a complete patchouli bomb with some quiet backing players. Dark, earthy patchouli that feels like walking through the cold still air of underground water cave complexes. Strange, beautiful, slightly dank and cool. Nothing tropical or ylang-ish at all.

Ylang 49 by Le Labo

Later Ylang 49 does get a little sweeter and creamier but still the patchouli is king. Lasting power is excellent and it has excellent projection, even though I as wearer only notice it in huffs.

Is Ylang 49 something you love?
Portia xx

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Saturday Question: What Is Your Favorite Vanilla Perfume?

One of the YouTube creators recently did a short video on the scent that, according to researchers, people consider the most pleasant. Of course, even before they ran a mini-poll asking to choose from the 4 quite ubiquitous aromas, I knew the answer – that’s why I won’t even try running it here (hence the topic). But I looked up the study, and I thought that the conclusions were interesting:

  • Culture plays a minimal role in the perception of odor pleasantness.
  • Individuals within cultures vary as to which odors they find pleasant.
  • Human olfactory perception is strongly constrained by universal principles.

Odor preference rankings were collected from nine culturally and geographically diverse populations. These included the three hunter-gatherer groups, Seri from a coastal desert and Maniq and Semaq Beri from tropical rainforest, one shoreline forager, Mah Meri, from a tropical coast; one swidden-horticulturalist, Semelai, from tropical rainforest; one farmer-foraging community, Chachi, from tropical rainforest; one subsistence agriculturalist community, Imbabura Quichua, from temperate highlands; and two urban dwellers from industrial and postindustrial communities of bustling urban settings, Mexican and Thai. The data from these nine communities were then related to available data from a large dataset on odor preference collected from urban dwellers from the USA (New York City).

If you want to read through the study, here’s a link.

Saturday Question on Undina's Looking Glass

Saturday Question #166:

What Is Your Favorite Vanilla Perfume?

Similar to bergamot, rose and jasmine, vanilla is a “usual suspect” in many compositions. But this question is about perfumes where one can unmistakably pinpoint that ingredient as a main player.

Do you have many vanilla perfumes? Any? How often do you wear those?

 

My Answer

I do not love vanilla in perfumes. I do not dislike it either. Over the years, I found 5-6 vanilla-centric perfumes I like and wear. Vanilla perfumes are my rainy day perfumes. Vanilla perfumes are my sick-day-but-still-don’t-want-going-commando perfumes. And sometimes those are “just because” – but not too often.

Today I wore Le Labo Vanille 44. I’m on my second decant, which means that I like it. If it weren’t for Le Labo’s idiotic “city exclusive” gimmick, I would have probably bought a small bottle of it by now, despite the price. I’m still contemplating getting a bottle of Tauer‘s Vanilla Flash. But my #1 vanilla perfume is still Mona di Orio Vanille.

 

How about you?

What Is Your Favorite Vanilla Perfume?