Scent associations

This is not the first time I've written about scent associations and how powerful (and surprising) they can be. I mentioned quite a long time ago about how certain perfumes have become almost unwearable for me due to having being ill while wearing them (not because of them) or having gone through a very stressful experience while wearing them.

The other day I had worn Profumum Roma's Olibanum, which is a very well executed incense and sandalwood perfume. I like it a lot and if you enjoy fragrances like 10 Corso Como, I think you might like Olibanum too. Anyway, the day after I had worn this my family and a couple of our friends had brunch at a local hotel which does brilliant eggs benedict. When we arrived the dining area smelled very strongly of what to me smelled exactly like Olibanum. My initial thought was that someone else who was there was wearing the perfume. What a coincidence. A little while later I had to go to the bathroom and upon entering I was met with a massive whiff of Olibanum again. Gosh, she/he had been here too! However, once I had been in there for a couple of minutes I realised that the smell was way too strong to be left from someone's sillage. It struck me then that the lovely smell was actually some sort of toilet cleaner or bathroom product.

The weird thing is that in this case I don't feel repulsed or inclined not to wear Olibanum again. Even if I have a mild association with toilet cleaner now, it doesn't bother me. Isn't that strange? One would have thought this might have turned me right off the perfume.

Has this ever happened to you? If you have a positive story to tell, please do comment, or if only negative, I'd still be interested in reading what experiences you have had. 

Monday 'vrooms' by

As I mentioned on Friday, we visited friends of ours who live in Cambridge. Actually, they have just moved a little way outside of Cambridge, to a village called Girton. It is a lovely place, and while their new house needs a bit of work, it already feels quite homely and welcoming and we had a lovely time. George, their son, turned four and it was his party that day. It was a long drive up from Kent, but we had lunch with John and Katherine and after the party we stayed on with another family of close friends to have a few laughs, some cider and then a curry. The only down side was having to drive back to Kent at 9 at night, with two shattered young children for company! Incidentally, Girton is sort of famous for being the location of Cambridge University's first female college. This being a bit before the Suffragettes movement reached its height, the ladies were housed a 'safe' two miles or so out of town. I could be wrong, but I think males were only admitted well into the 20th century.

Anyway, rambling on, the last three days have been relatively devoid of perfume, as I suspected it would be. Today, back at work, it was scentless, until this evening, when determined not to remain unscented, I applied a few dabs of Le Labo's Iris 39 and Profumum's Olibanum. Yes, I know. There isn't much science in how I wear perfume. I simply looked at my sample vials and picked two that randomly shouted out at me. Wear me! Wear me!

The highlight of my day was that we completed the exchange of our car for a new one. Nothing fancy - one Honda Jazz for a newer Jazz model. We like the Jazz. It's a very small family car that for it's size is surprisingly spacious inside. It's hardly a boy racer's dream, but hey ho, so what. Now I am obsessing like a new parent, looking outside the window to where it is parked, terrified that someone is going to scrape it as they walk by, or some idiot is going to dent it as they try park nearby. Anal, I know. I'm sure the feeling will pass in due course!

Profumum Roma Olibanum

A few months ago I went on a bit of an incense rampage and really sampled quite a few incense-focused perfumes, including Olibanum, by Profumum. I think I'm naturally drawn to incense, having always loved its smell, even as a small boy, when I most associated it with church ceremonies. I love the contemplative nature of incense, and the sense of history one gets when considering it's varied uses over the centuries and its versatility and incarnations. Profumum is not a line I am familiar with. In fact Olibanum is the only one I've tried and often when reading reviews of their fragrances I am surprised at the often negative reviews of many in the line. Anyway, the listed notes include incense, myrrh, orange blossom and sandalwood. The opening of Olibanum is unusual (at least to me) in that it doesn't seem to pair the usual tart citrus notes with incense. In fact, until I had read what the notes were, I couldn't quite make out what was paired with the incense. There is a sweetness to the opening which I couldn't pin down, but now of course I realise that it is orange blossom. I must admit that I didn't find the opening particularly enticing. It was rather nondescript to me, but thankfully, the heart onwards became rather more alluring. As the sandalwood creeps in, the fragrance becomes woodier and creamy, which combined with the slightly smoky (but by no means churchy or gothic) incense is a nice, if fairly well-charted route. Think 10 Corso Como for example, which to my nose is the most comparable. Nothing wrong with that. If anything, I would say that Olibanum is perhaps a bit more intense that 10 Corso Como, with more of an incense presence. The second half of the development works really well on my skin and I must say that I ended up liking Olibanum rather a lot. I wouldn't say it is particularly daring or innovative, but it smells darn nice and that is surely what counts? I don't detect a huge myrrh presence, but I must admit that myrrh is not a note that I'm very familiar with and I'm sure it is in here, somehow complementing the incense and sandalwood, but not in a manner that I can readily identify and comprehend.

Olibanum is, I think, perfectly unisex, particularly with the creamy sandalwood note and I think any fan of incense perfumes would most probably enjoy it very much. If you already like 10 Corso Como but perhaps find it a bit too restrained, then I would recommend giving Olibanum a go, as it seemed very much like a more intense version of a similar theme.

Image credit: Luckyscent.com