Primel

Why this scent is called that is a mystery to me. I probably wouldn't have even tried it in a perfumery, who wants to smell vanity and empty appearances? No, I found it in the ladies' room of a restaurant. What a nice gesture! At first I hesitated, of course, if someone had accidentally forgotten it? Oh never mind, I took two sprayers.

A soothing, fresh wave washed over me! My mind, a bit clouded by the red wine, cleared up immediately. When I took my seat in the restaurant again, the scent was commented very benevolently by my table neighbours (people I know very well and who are mercilessly honest ;). The scent lasted the whole afternoon, even the next day I could still perceive it, like freshly showered. Vanitas, however, doesn't undergo any development, it always stays the same. Very good, because I do not like surprises :)

When I look at the fragrance pyramid (which is quite simple, by the way), I don't see any components that would be exceptionally fresh now, no lemon, mint or the like. The scent is actually just floral-pasty with a little cedar. Nevertheless it is fresh!

The secret of Vanitas: you get an opulent, heavy floral scent and instead you get a fresh, clean scent. A pleasant surprise, no trace of "futility" :)

Unbelievable that nobody has ever written anything about this perfume! White Diamonds Lustre is completely out of the "White Diamonds" series, which all have roughly the same elegant floral framework. This one is completely different, the "White Diamonds DNA" is completely missing. This is a completely unique fragrance: a huge basket filled with fresh and crunchy fruits, garnished with flowers. A fresh, sour and fruity scent, yet round at the same time. Nothing is sticky, nothing bulky, nothing pompous, simply pure joy of life! Wait a minute, I know him from somewhere? After some thought, I realize that I'm dealing with an identical scent twin from Byblos (my favorite scent of the 90s)! I didn't expect that!
By the way, I bought the fragrance at an auction, the previous owner wished me a lot of joy with it when I picked it up, but she doesn't like it herself. Did the good one suffer from a lapse of taste?

Fortunately the fragrance is now available again in some online shops.

White Diamonds Lustre is clearly a summer scent, the durability is now not exactly overwhelming. It is also available as body spray, then you can even shower with it :) If you are looking for a really refreshing scent for the summer, but are tired of the everlasting citric scents, you should try it!

The timing couldn't be better to comment on the scent of the enchanting Joséphine de Beauharnais.

Scorching heat in the month Thermidor. Above the magnificent gardens in front of Malmaison Castle lay the gently yellowing patina of the beginning drought. Drinking water was slowly becoming scarce. The dispatch was delivered by a dust-covered messenger. He was on the road for three days and three nights, although he frequently changed horses.

With trembling hands Joséphine opens the letter, it was short as always:

Ma chère Joséphine,
nous serons enfin réunis. Ne te lave pas, j'arrive!

NB

Joséphine smiled and looked with reddened cheeks into the Venetian wall mirror in her boudoir. A lock of hair had come loose, she used to pin her hair up in Greek style. The pale pink dress with empire waist fell in loose folds as usual. Unfortunately, the last union with her lover had not borne fruit, she sighed with grief. What if he left her now? But no, she still had her secret weapon: the fragrance composed especially for Her Majesty by Rance. Light pink peony, framed by delicate lilac, she could not make out the other flowers, all in all a successful composition of the most beautiful flowers and fruits of the gardens of Malmaison. The hawthorn contributed a gentle bitterness and prevented the fragrance from drifting into sweetness (and would certainly do her dear husband's stressed heart good), ebony, sandalwood and spices from overseas skilfully rounded off the fragrance. Joséphine slightly ruffled her forehead, she just had to succeed in reconnecting him to herself.

Well, that could have been an anecdote from Joséphine's life. I don't know if she wore the scent and I don't think it's relevant. The scent is floral-romantic, but at no time sweet, with a good shelf life and tidy sillage. At least so that a complete stranger ran after me and wanted to know the name of my perfume :).
Fortunately, beautiful scents are no longer reserved for crowned heads

Vive la République!
Vive la France!

After the heavy downpour the evening before, the ever hotter morning sun transforms the meticulously tended garden with its meticulously trimmed bushes, English lawn and carefully planted flower beds into a huge mosaic of precious stones. Cowering in the emerald-green grass, like carelessly scattered amethysts, are violet violets. Ruby-red roses have a lavish scent and longingly stretch their open calyxes towards the rising sun. The bees hum lazily.

Whistling, I cross the garden on the way to my tree house, dressed in a washed-out shirt and jeans at the age of twelve. I drive my hand through my short cut curls. In a small basket I carry my mother's homemade spice cake, pick some ripe peaches and plums on the way and can't resist the temptation to pluck some flowers and put them in my basket together with the fruit. A beguiling potpourri of scents rises from my basket. I stop and sniff: a spicy and tempting scent is in the air, coming from the nearby cedar forest. I have never entered this forest, too many wild stories are going around the village and exploring the forest is strongly discouraged. Besides, my ma has strictly forbidden me to...

The wind rustles in the treetops. I take a deep breath and enter the dark forest. The birdsong stops almost instantly. Except for the sound of a knocking woodpecker it is completely silent. As I feel my way forward, a murmur and whisper rises, dark shadows scurry around, pairs of eyes watch me. Hands reach for me, I shake them off. Sometimes a bright voice cries out, then everything is quiet again. An indescribably spicy-balsamic scent fills the air, I literally suck the scent into myself. I don't know how long I have been wandering through this forest, I have lost all sense of time...

Finally I reach a clearing and stop. Completely astonished I notice that my clothes have become much too tight and too short, I irritatedly get rid of them, hopefully nobody will cross my path. Fortunately my underwear is still a little bit too tight. I throw my long hair back and continue my way.

It cracks in the thicket. A deer with huge antlers appears before me. For a moment it stands completely still and looks at me with big, dark eyes before it jumps away light-footedly.

A softly rising and falling hissing fills the air, the forest thins out, the hissing becomes louder...at the same time the scent becomes weaker.

The ocean stretches before me, dark blue, almost black. The roar of the surf fills the air. A huge red sun sinks into the horizon. I take one last look at the cedar forest where my femininity has awakened...

Slowly I wade into the water and let myself slide into the dark waves. Only for a fraction of a second I am amazed by the withered skin on my forearms and the light brown spots on my hands. I smile tiredly and swim slowly but resolutely further, further and further out to the open sea, towards the setting sun.

The true soul of " Féminité du bois " has departed forever

Tight and unbending he stands there. Nevertheless, the men's torso in our bathroom ekes out a dreary and unnoticed existence, and has been doing so for years! Now and then it gets dusted. But one day I got the urge to smell like a real guy! Gently I took hold of the torso and sprayed myself, not too close. A sweet cloud of scent spread out. I do not feel this scent as oriental at all. For me it smells very medicinal, like cough syrup, which is not even meant to be derogatory. However, there are some scents here that disturb me. I like tarragon on fish, but not in one fragrance! Caraway is okay in sauerkraut, but I can do without it in a perfume. Cardamom and cinnamon are supposed to give the fragrance the oriental direction, but fail miserably. They are mercilessly trumped by a rather musty-smelling duo (lavender and mint). On several occasions I have already noticed that mint can smell not always so fresh but also unpleasantly like cardboard. The base with vanilla and tonka bean makes it sweet, but not necessarily better, cedar makes it even worse.

All in all, a very sweet and confusing fragrance, combining the opposing ingredients in a way I wouldn't necessarily consider very successful at this point. But of course it's all a matter of taste, I'm rather from the conservative camp ;) However, Sillage and durability are really top, as always with fragrances with which one does not get so warm

In any case, my ladies' chypre smells more masculine than " le mâle ". Am I a masculine woman now?

I will probably be content in the future to take the torso in my hand from time to time and dust it off now and then