Although spring has started, I have no illusions - we're going to have many gray days in Vancouver, with pouring rain and cold temperatures; and it's probably going to snow sometime in April, as it usually does (yet somehow everybody is shocked time and time again when that happens).

So the time is still perfect to summarize the scents that made my winter and make a little list of winter favourites for this year:

1) Sycomore
One of the first times I’ve worn this was when visiting Harrison Hot Springs this winter. In a way it reminds me of the scent of hot wood in a dry saune.

2) Hinoki Bath Salts
These are pretty close to the real thing and dye the bath in a bright green colour, alluding to fresh branches of these Japanese cypress. And – they can be had for a townie at Daiso.

3) Bois d’Hiver Candle
Even though I have a part in this product, I feel as though it’s a complete surprise every time I burn it. It feels very different from the perfume. And I just am so grateful to have had the privilege to work with Nikki on such a beautiful candle.

4) Roses et Chocolat Tea
Another fortunate experience of something that started with a perfume concept but ended up in another talented person’s hands (Dawna of Inner Alchemy Tea Co.). This tea is perhaps my first time falling in love with a black tea.

Interestingly, I feel like I’ve re-discovered the perfume when the tea was launched. It’s funny how when you revisit something you’ve done a long time after the fact you see it in a different light. Just a little more objectively I suppose? It smelled so much more perfumey and less obviously gourmand. I liked that. And the tea is a real treat (I ran out of over 2oz this winter just on my own).

5) Burning Sandalwood Incense
To clear my mind and make my home feel a little more tranquil, sometimes all I need is plain sandalwood incense that I got from Science World eons ago when they had an exhibit about China. That package seem to never run out…

6) Tea Rose perfume
Another rose and tea theme for me this winter. Rose seems to come back into my life. I created this one relatively recently. I have to admit I’m partial to tea roses. I think they are so much prettier and refreshing than the Damascena or Centirolia roses (this is due to the presence of the violety ionone in this Asian variety of rose0.

7) L de Lolita Lempicka
This is a winner yet another winter – a comforting vanilla and cinnamon scent that never feels overly done. It’s simple and easy to enjoy, but not as simplistic as, say, wearing plain vanilla from The Body Shop. It’s luxurious, comforting and sexy at the same time.

8) Immortelle l’Amour
My winter comfort scent, sometimes make me feel sticky like after eating pancakes with too much maple syrup…

9) Oeillet
Reminds me of washing my hair with dark sage tea in the winter time. A wonderful all-natural perfume!

10) Velvet Gardenia
The floral discovery for me this year. This is a truly haunting scent and is both pretty and mysterious, floral and sensual thanks to the labdanum base.