I spent most of today in Versailles, mostly outdoors, and smelling the Royal French countryside. The Petit Trianon and the stables/hamlet/little fake village that Mary Antoinette escaped to are so pastoralle and beautiful. I even loved the smell in the food-heating room. It smelled like old stones in ancient places like Jerusalem or the Bar Kochvah tunnels in Askelon.

The gardens were full with luscious lilacs and wisterias in bloom and the scent of moist leaves, dirt and cut grass was liberating and refreshing after being in the noisy city for a few days (Paris is so much noisier than Vancouver, not surprisingly!).

After Versailles we went back to Paris for a visit to the Musee d'Orsay, but on the way to the restaurant for dinner I noticed the tiny Annick Goutal shop and stepped in to sniff some unfamiliar scents - the new Musc Nomade, Un Matin d'Orage and Vetiver. I tried Un Matin d'Orage and found it to be too sharp for my taste. Magnolia, gardenia, citrus and the signature Annnick Goutal leafy-green sharpness prevent me from fully enjoying this scent.

As an aside: the l'Air de Rein is no longer available. I think they took it off the shelves because it changed overtime (that's how much I gathered from the sales person). They sold some perfume named "Reverence" in the gift shop that smelled horrible and definitely not authentic, and some Napoleon cologne that I didn't even bother trying.

Today was a perfume day. And although I wasn't able to visit ALL the perfumeries I intended to visit, it was a great day!

First I made my way to Palais Royal, where both Salons Shiseido (aka Serge Lutens) and Le Parfums de Rosine reside. It was a little tricky to find the place, and I ended up approaching the place from the back. I tried to sneak in through Stella McCartney’s shop, and a kind sales associate opened the back door and advised me to go around the building where the real entrance is. The Palais Royal are like a secret garden in the middle of Paris (practically just across from the Louvre, to the direction of St. Honore). Green coifed trees line up in the middle, leading to a central sitting area in front of the fountain and near a little mysterious garden that is fenced off.

Le Parfums de Rosine was closed for lunch, and Serge Lutens was so dark I thought it was closed too. I entered the shop which seemed empty, and suddenly from outside of the wall a friendly clerk appeared all smiling and apologetic in case I got startled. The walls and ceilings are all purple with moon, sun and starts designs that resemble a wizard’s magic box. Any place in the wall can open to reveal new sales clerks, or just another makeup collection… In the middle there is a winding staircase that leads to what one would think is the magician’s chambers where all the concoctions are made, but in fact is “just the office”…

The shops’ exclusive collection of perfumes, bottled in bell-jars, lay in three corners of the room, and only one was dedicated to the export line. I sniffed a few scents that I haven’t had a the opportunity to try before – Mandarin Mandarine (more spicy than citrusy, but with an opening of juicy candied mandarins that really appealed to me), Sarasins (an intense jasmine), Rouse (rich cinnamon oriental with a hint of black Russian tea if I recall correctly), Gris Clair (lavender and mineral), Flouve and La Myrrhe (plasticy and aldehydic for my taste but I wanted to re-visit in the future when less pressed for time and precious skin space) and Nuit de Cellophane (an Herbal Essence hair conditioner in a Serge Lutens bottle). On the back of my hands/wrists I let the sales clerk dab some Tubereuse Criminelle with a blotter strip (which begins with medicinal vapors of camphour, fuel and an overload of heady floral tuberose and jasmine) and came back later for a bit of El Attarine (which unfortunately I had to wash off as it had too much of Safranal - a leathery-saffron molecule in it that doesn’t agree with my skin). Tubereuse Criminelle smelled more creamy and agreeable as time passes (the aggressive camphoreous opening disappears after 5 or 10 mintues). It’s an interesting, multi-faceted tuberose, much darker than real-life tuberose and with only a little bit of green and powdery aspects. I was also given the little book of wax perfume, which is perhaps the most explicit Serge Lutens souvenir one could hope for that can make a very interesting scrap-book item!

When Le Parfums de Rosine finally re-opened after lunch a most vivid young sales lady expressively explained to me the concept behind each fragrance. I have many samples from this line thanks to a generous perfume-friend; so I sniffed a few scents that I was not familiar with. Rose Kashmirie (warm oriental rose, I think with allspice and musk – a little like Parfum Sacre but different), Rose de Feu (also spicy oriental, but with the bracing sharpness of freshly grated ginger) and the newest in the collection – Rose Praline, which was inspired by rose macaroons! The girl was so was eager to tell me how she is particularly smitten with Laduree’s Ispahan macaroon – rose macaroon with raspberries and lytchee. I made a mental note since I did plan on another visit to Laduree; however, later on I learned that this is a signature creation of Pierre Herem, which he may or may not I believe this is a creation of Pierre Herme, which he may or may have not given away to Laduree before establishing his very own patisserie on Rue de Bonaparte.



We than continued walking towards the Opera house, and had an espresso at Café de La Paix and than continued to Place de Madeleine to find a Fleur d’Oranger fragrance for my neighbour next door from Fragonard (which was swarming with tourists). On the way there I stopped at Divine, where I smelled for the first time l’Homme Sage (sensual oriental for men, with unusual aromatic and ambery notes), l’Homme Ceur (a beautiful masculine iris that is equally soft and cool with violet leaf, vetiver and angelica) and l’Inspiratrice (rose-patchouli, dry and voluptuous at once). The lady at the shop was very knowledgeable, friendly and helpful as well and the tester cards had all the information about the fragrance, and folded into three parts to cover the centre, which is sprayed with the scent. It was than placed in a cellophane envelope, which retains the scent for days on end even after leaving the shop (even some of the alcohol seems to stick around…).

Another interesting stop, just by Divine, was a chocolatier on Rue Scribe – unfortunately I did not take a card and did not remember the name, but the store was very chic and the package was impeccably elegant and simple with etching of large cocoa bean on everything. The flavours seemed unusual too – there were beautiful shapely truffles with Violet, Rose and Orange Flower (a flavour I never heard of existing before my own Guilt chocolate truffles).

But my restraint with this chocolatier went out of the window as soon as I spotted nothing less than Tonka-Chocolate ice cream and an Apricot-Rosemary sorbet in front of Le Maison de Chocolat. I had to try both of course (shared with my boyfriend to reduce the guilt factor and also to enjoy his facial reactions to tonka!) , and while the rosemary was toned down in the very jammy apricot sorbet, the tonka was intense even with the dark chocolate ice cream. In both cases, these aromatics were only at 1% concentration. I was very, VERY impressed. And thankfully I survived carcinogenic attack of coumarin. So far so good. After that we wandered around in Place de Madeleine – I window shopped at Fauchon, which was an almost disnified version of French pastries – éclairs with pink frosting and little daisies on top, cakes that look like a bunny rabbit’s garden, and so on and so forth. We continued to a few other very interesting spice, pastry and tea shops, including Mariage Freres which had an overwhelming selection of scented teas and quite impressive tea-scented candles (I was particularly smitten with the mint candle and the red tea candle). While the teas may not be the best or most authentic teas (and many seem too artificially flavoured to my taste), the atmosphere there was mysterious and calming. It was quite dark and felt a little bit Asian. I only wished they had a place to sip on some teas as it started getting quite gloomy outside… In fact, it started pouring a couple of mintues after we left the shop.

We decided to take the metro to the Louvre and skip the rest of the plans for that day (i.e.: Colette, Chanel, IUNX, JAR and all the perfumeries I was not planning to visit Paris without seeing first). But than we ended up in a maze of metro transfers because we were looking for passes for Le Chateau de Versailles for tomorrow first, and by than it was too late for the Louvre…

I arrived in Paris late on a gray morning and on the way from the airport was able to view the many chestnuts in blossom while experiencing some Parisian morning traffic jams. The apartment I’m staying is close to everything (walking distance from the Champs Elysees for one thing) is quite old and has very steep swirling staircase leading to it. There I met my boyfriend and his sister and we spent the entire day together.

After spending a couple of hours recovering from the longish trip and its various side effects (via Montreal – over all about 11-12 hours flight), which included eating fresh strawberries from the market and some baguette and trying to taste a ripened cheese with a sharp taste of cooked cauliflower, we left the apartment for the first little tour of Paris on the Champs Elysees. Our first stop was Sephora, a very short stop that is because the entrance was infested by what I could only describe as petroleum fumes. I had to leave before getting an idea of what’s in the store, but I did notice it was gigantic – almost like an entire mall of perfume and makeup! – and that there is some lighter version of KenzoAmour already out in France, that comes in a beautiful white bottle with gradually transparent edges. I left as soon as possible and immediately spotted Guerlain, which is almost the next door neighbour but decided to cross the street and have some tea at Laduree so I can recover some of my strength before the strenuous mental activity of perfume sniffing…

Laduree had the nicest muted turquoise-green entrance in a somewhat art-deco style with a butterly motif and purple accents. We sat at the bar at the back and had some of Laduree’s house-blend tea (very fragrant with roses and violets I suspect), and accompanied by some of their newest macaroons – mango & jasmine, muguet, bergamot and the violet-cassis ones. The mango and jasmine was mostly mango, with the slightest hint of jasmine and quite delicious with an almost jelly-like texture of the mango filling; the muguet tasted primarily of almonds, the bergamot was intense and impressive and the violet-cassis was a heavenly balance of floral sweetness and tart red fruits.
On the way to Laduree we spotted an Arabian Oud boutique and now was a good time to check it out. I smelled 5 types of oudh – two Indian and 3 Cambodian ouds, ranging from light and woody to smoky and animalic. My favourite was one mild Indian oudh and also another more smoky Cambodian oud. This is the first place I’ve seen that actually sells real oud as well as the oud wood chips. The shop owner was kind and knowledgeable and even let me take picture of him and the shop.

We than crossed the street and went over to Guerlain, where the walls of two story shop are stacked with shelves of perfume and eaux de cologne vats ranging from 500ml to 1 and 2 litres. On the second floor is where the exclusive perfumes reside – including Sous la Vent, which I had planned to impulsively buy on this trip and wear it in my 5 days in Paris so it would be how I remember the trip by. .. I tried it at Montreal once and was immediately smitten… I also smelled a few other perfumes there: Vetiver pour Elle, which I had hard time not buying on the spot as well (and my boyfriend loved too – he seems to be really into the vetivers I like – i.e. Sycamore and Vetiver Tonka and always comments on them). He was also smitten with white florals and I think Cruel Gardenia was his favourite. But than he’s also smitten with my gardenia plant that blooms in the middle of my living room…! I love the dry gin beginning of Sous la Vent. It is quite herbaceous and dry with only very little florals and gradually warms up into a chypre base with only the slightest hint of tonka bean. This is how I'm going to smell in the next few days...

By now it was time for dinner and we wanted to check out l’Atlas – a Morrocan restaurant at St. Germain. Unfortunately, 5pm was too early for them to be open and we had to find something else. Of course we knocked into another parfumerie on the way – Diptyque – and I got a chance to check out all the candles I was curious about (Flouve, Figue Vert, etc.) and their new eaux. I was particularly taken with the freesia soap though above all things.

We went on and had some cheese fondue in a little side street and got scratched by a friendly yet aggressive resident cat and than went home all the way through Notre-Dame and along the Sienne, going through the Louvre and Jardin de Tuilleries and than all along the Champs Elysees and Arc de Triumph.