Miranda Priestly, originally uploaded by bsouza001.

The quote above (- Miranda Priestly, “The Devil Wears Prada”) is perhaps the only way to explain why the number of Spring lists on SmellyBlog is embarrassingly low. Spring has always been my favourite season and I’ve been very careful here not to be overcome by my naïve passion for flowers and get carried away.

For this list, I’ve decided to give you the option of floral or not, depending on where you live and what you are doing this season.

Spring in Vancouver
Cherry blossoms galore, washed by rain and tortured by snow.
My favourites are: Liz Zorn’s Waterflower for brighter days, and KenzoAmour Le Parfum for the cooler snowy ones. And of course my new Hanami perfume, which to me represents botanical beauty in my city and the first spring I was able to appreciate and enjoy here (it was last year and it took me ten years to get there!).

Spring in Israel
Bees are buzzing in the air, orange blossoms everywhere. To blend with this environment I enjoy wearing Zohar, my rather realistic orchard in full bloom soliflore; or for a more abstract and urbane take - Narcisso Rodriguez for Her.

April in Paris
I’m very excited to be visiting Paris this spring, but that won’t be until May. Rather than the obvious Champs-Elysées or romantic Paris, I am thinking of something sophisticated but light hearted like the bubbly Champagne (Yvresse) or more sophisticated and dark, namely Sous le Vent. Which is, by the way, the one and only item on my shopping list to Paris (besides pastries, of course).

Spring Cleaning
Pure Turquoise - nothing gets cleaner than that. You might just be able to skip the cleaning altogether if you wear this!

Easter Celebrations
Vanille Galante - in this Last Feast, heady Madonna Lilies are served with the sweet and salty touch of caramel & fleur de sel.

Passover Celebrations
Hiris by Hermes - starchy but without wheat, to satisfy the Jewish pastry craving during Passover.

The Spring that Never Comes
You know the feeling – spring is just not coming. It’s snowing, or raining, or perhaps the ground is still covered with ice and frozen rain and really dirty compact snow that hides who-knows-how-much dirt. For that I’d recommend a dabbing of Neil Morris Dark Earth – a cold, moist and very earthy perfume that matches its name perfectly. I also heard wonders about Black March, but never quite tried it, so perhaps you could tell me more about it?

Hay Fever
Spring also means green. Green shoots of bulbs and new green grass. And of course tree pollen that makes for runny noses and red teary eyes. To accentuate the sensation of sneezing, why not add to your breath a little bit of Yerbamate, or that fresh cut grass from Demeter’s library, or better yet – the iconic cheerful green of them all: Vent Vert.

Photo: Miranda Priestly, originally uploaded by bsouza001.

Cherry Blossoms, originally uploaded by Ayala Moriel.

Spring has officially begun this morning, and I'm glad to see that the cherry blossoms are cooperating with the calendar and start creating the beautiful atmosphere that makes this season special, regardless of how cold it may be.

I am busy these days getting interesting print materials for the exhibit at Blunda that will showcase the perfume I created last year for Perfume Inside a Poem project on Memory & Desire blog. I'm putting together a few things with my graphic designer - including a postcard with one of my cherry blossom photographs of last year. The rest of it you will just have to visit Blunda to see for yourself!

From olfactory point of view, the perfume I created for this project is about the contrast between the botanical and the urbane. The images that flicked before my eyes as I was reading the poem were the dusty Metro in Montreal and the humidity of New York City, and in contrast to that – the surprise of discovering the cherry boulevard in full bloom at Burrard SkyTrain station in Vancouver. And because of its stunning beauty at this time of the year it was also chosend to be the centre of the Cherry Blossom Festival in Vancouver.

After much thought, I've decided to call the perfume Hanami. Not so much because it is particularly Japanese, but because Hanami (flower viewing) is totally not what Westerners might expect. It's not about Geisha roaming around in bamboo flip flops and writing haiku about cherry blossoms and playing on koto as the blossoms dust their coiffed hair. Hanami is really more like a picnic where people sit under the cherry blossom trees and drink so much sake they can’t remember a thing. I have to admit that I liked how the name sounds all pretty and romantic but in reality isn’t so. Plus I like the sound of it, and it will be my first perfume starting with the letter “H”.

Spring Cleaning 2: "Out out damn spot", originally uploaded by sidewalk_story.

Dust, paint, tax returns... All those hectic things that come with spring cleaning can really throw one off balance. How to handle this without freaking out?! Well, one room at a time for one thing. And one thing at a time as well. Creating a checklist of what needs to be done is an excellent way to cope with the stress, and also make sure everything is done.

In several cultures, the year start at springtime (Persian New Year is only one example). In our hectic lifestyles, it won’t hurt to re-visit our New Year’s Resolutions from a few months back and see what we have accomplished, what we’d like to change, etc.

What I find helpful is to instead of looking at spring cleaning (or any other cleaning, for that matter) as a chore - see it as an act of cleansing. It really does make one feel good to have a tidy and clean space to live in. And just as we enjoy bathing and showering daily, the household “chores” can become a daily ritual of beautifying, cleansing and re-organizing the space.

Some of the aspects of house cleaning that definitely makes a difference is what do you smell when you clean. I noticed that ever since I switched to natural, bio-degradable and naturally scented household products, cleaning has become a lot more pleasant. Not getting a headache from the chemical fumes is definitely a bonus (although I have to note, that every once in while I do need to use a touch of chlorine to get certain stuff “really” clean and get rid of those tough spots...). There are more and more cleaning products available now to choose form that are “green”. You can also make your own mixture of water with anti-bacterial essential oils for surface cleaning. Simply add a few drops to a spray bottle filled with clean tap water. Examples of oils with anti-bacterial actions (that are also very affordable, by the way) are: rosemary, mint, citrus oils, pine, lavender, eucalyptus and tea tree oil.

Once you’ve finished your spring cleaning, you may want to try performing a clearing-space ritual, using incense. There are many variations on this ancient ritual, as many as the cultures there are in the world. Two universal elements seem to be the use of incense burning, and creating a circle in relation to the 4 directions of the wind. The Native North Americans would burn sage, cedar and sweetgrass to clear the space, approaching each direction of the wind and communicating with the spirits; Western cultures used frankincense and myrrh and create a circle protected by guardians of the four elements; also purification with water can be added to the ritual, using rosewater or water with hyssop oil. Weather or not you believe in spirits, angels or any divine forces is not of particular importance (in my opinion, anyway...). Even the most secular and atheist person can benefit from giving attention to every room in the house and fumigating it with incense. These fumes cleanse the air and the attention you bring to each corner stirs up any stale energy that pervaded clutter-zones and replace it with fresh flow of air and energy.