Last year, I did a project called Scent of the Day. For a month, every day, I talked about a scent on Facebook. I have been asked by friends to make these musings available on the blog, as it’s impossible to find anything on Facebook. So I’ll copy my mini-reviews here, but it needs to be done in batches – otherwise it’d be an insanely long post.

To start off, we’ve got some of my absolute favourite fragrances: Chanel’s Cuir de Russie, Iris Silver Mist by Serge Lutens, Eau Sauvage from Dior and Bronze Goddess from Estee Lauder. The pictures lack any stylistic coherence, as they were just random snaps for the Facebook. But I’ve included them, as they are marginally helpful – at least the bottles are recognizable.

29 MARCH
Scent of the Day: Cuir de Russie EdT (Chanel)

Team Chanel or Team Guerlain? This question is perfumista’s version of Barcelona vs Madrid. But unlike in La Liga, in perfume world you really can support both and I certainly do. Still, I’ve discovered that despite loving and owning several Guerlain scents, I’m more of a Chanel girl. This is somewhat surprising, as I never thought myself polished enough to qualify. But with a few exceptions (No 5 among them, of which more in a future post) I like all Chanel scents and there must be around dozen that I love.

If I was forced to choose one Chanel for the rest of my life, I would probably contemplate suicide but then settle for Cuir de Russie. It’s a classic from 1924 and now available in the hard-to-get Les Exclusifs collection. Despite its age, I find it very modern – the same way Bauhaus or Kandinsky are modern.

To me, it smells mostly of leather and iris, a genius combination that has never been better executed than here. It starts quite tarry and pungent and sharp (aldehydes!), which is perfectly fine with me, and moves then to soaped saddle territory. I’ve never smelled a soaped saddle, but I’m convinced that if Katherine Hepburn had a Hermes saddle that she cleaned with iris and violet scented soap, it would smell like Cuir de Russie. I know there are other flowers in there, but these are so seamlessly blended that I cannot tease them apart. The result is smooth, but assertive: Cuir de Russie is simultaneously elegant and tough, intelligent and glamorous. I can imagine a flapper speeding in her leather-seated car to a naughty cocktail party, lips painted red and a cigarette in hand. If this image is appealing to you, you know what to do.

Les Exclusifs are available in Chanel boutiques and very few other places. If you happen to travel through Copenhagen Airport, do yourself a favour and smell the whole collection in the large Duty Free shop.

30 MARCH
Scent of the Day: Iris Silver Mist (Serge Lutens)

If Chanel is my favourite classic perfume house, Serge Lutens is probably my favourite niche brand. Serge seems to be a Frenchman with a huge F. He makes pronouncements like this: “It is only after he had been penetrated by the winter that, laying down his arms, the Lord of Glass came to place at the feet of the Lady of Wool flowers and ferns which had frosted on him.” I mean, seriously? But many fragrances in his line truly are outstanding.

Serge Lutens is best known for his orientals, but my favourite from him is the absolute opposite of the warmth, spices and lusciousness of a typical Lutens. Iris Silver Mist is, unsurprisingly, an iris scent. Now, if you allow me a brief technical digression, iris in perfumery is not derived from the flowers, but from the roots of the plant. Therefore, unlike rose or jasmine, iris doesn’t really smell floral. There is an affinity with violet, but the association that many people get from iris perfumes and from ISM in particular, is carrot.

I realize many of you are tempted to stop reading right now, but I beg you not to let the carrot-talk scare you off. Actually, the first impression I had wasn’t carrot, but getting the muddy potatoes from the cellar at my grandmother’s house, washing them in ice cold water and peeling them until my hands were totally frozen (yes, I admit, this sounds possibly even less appealing than carrots). It still strikes me as a pretty accurate mental picture: ISM is definitely cold, vegetal, earthy and damp. But it’s also radiant and stunning. It’s all about iris and other facets – I mostly get vetiver and wood – are there to enhance it. Towards the end it does become a bit more friendly, but this is not a fragrance trying to please. It’s austere and minimal and fit for people with no heart but great sense of style: Snow Queen or Frank Underwood, maybe. But its simplicity and strangeness work equally well for ordinary people in jeans and a grey t-shirt.

A note on availability: The perfumes of Serge Lutens are divided into two categories, the export line is available quite widely, while exclusives (including ISM) can only be bought in Lutens’s Paris shop, online or in Barney’s with a horrible mark-up. However, there is a limited edition of ISM in a black spray bottle that is currently also available in Tallinna Kaubamaja Lõhnatuba and other places where export line is sold. I’m fully aware that this fragrance is not everyone’s bowl of carrots/potatoes, but if you have an interest in iconic perfumes or want to experience something unique, do go and smell it at least once.

31 MARCH
Scent of the Day: Eau Sauvage EdT (Dior)

It’s +23C in Brussels today and I picked a SOTD to match the weather: Eau Sauvage is one of the freshest and brightest fragrances I know. It’s also a perfect example why gender divisions in perfumery – as in so much else – are absolutely inane.

Created by the legendary Edmond Roudnitska in 1966, this is a lovely, lovely citrus scent. Now, I’m usually not excited by citrus in fragrance. Leather, woods, gardenia, tobacco, iris, tuberose – yes. Lemon? Not really. But even I don’t necessarily want to smell like a saddle or wet potatoes every single day. And if something is done as well as Eau Sauvage, it’s difficult to remain indifferent. The ingredients are nothing extraordinary, it’s mostly about lemon and bergamot with a few petals, some moss and a little wood and vetiver thrown in. But it’s beautifully balanced, radiant, crisp and uplifting. I cannot imagine anyone to be annoyed by Eau Sauvage, it’s classy and very versatile, but not bland. Eau Sauvage’s only shortcoming is its lack of longevity, so you need to be prepared to repeat the spraying action from time to time.

I find the notion of dividing fragrances into male and female ones entirely unnecessary at the best of times. I’m actually looking forward to the day when a clueless Sales Assistant tries to shoo me away from the men’s section (it does happen to women, honestly). I plan to look her straight in the eye and douse myself in A*Man while she’s watching helplessly… Anyway, why Eau Sauvage should be marketed only to men is a mystery to me. I can see (with difficulty, I admit) how a smoky wood fragrance might be considered more of a male thing, but a nice, bright citrus? How is this not OK for everyone? I do think every man should have a bottle of Eau Sauvage in his collection, if possible. But so should every woman.

Note on availability: Eau Sauvage is, fortunately, available almost everywhere fragrances are sold. It’s also reasonably priced, something that happens less and less often.

1 APRIL
Scent of the Day: Bronze Goddess (Estee Lauder)

I got about three hours sleep last night, I haven’t had time to wash my hair and my skin tone is somewhere between green and grey even on days when I’m well rested. So you can imagine that if there’s a 10-point scale with a bronze goddess at 10 and… whatever the opposite of a bronze goddess is at 0, I’ll currently score something like –2.

I’m not quite deluded enough to think that Estee Lauder’s Bronze Goddess will actually turn me into one, but it certainly makes pretending so much easier. It smells like skin, suntan lotion, tropical flowers and coconut, but if it sounds trashy, it isn’t. (I would recognize trashy. I think.) Bronze Goddess is beautiful, creamy and sensual, but also light enough to wear on the beach – or when you feel like you should be on a beach. In fact I find it a little bit too light, I don’t get the point of perfumes that I cannot smell on myself, so I have to spray like a madwoman to get the intensity I want. Other than that, I find it perfectly named and perfect for what it’s meant to do: a vacation and an ego boost in one golden bottle.

A note on availability: Bronze Goddess is widely available and usually hits the shelves every spring. I’ve seen this year’s version is stores already and they have a gorgeous body cream as well. Often there’s some stock left over from the season and you can buy a bottle in the middle of the winter, too, as I did.