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’ve shared my mini-reviews here, in batches. I realized yesterday that I only have three final posts to go and I really should get them up before the end of the year – it has taken ages already. So this is the last instalment and one of my favourites, as it has lots of mainstream scents and some things that are completely free.

If you’re interested, you can find the first instalment here, the second here, the third here, the fourth here, the fifth here, the sixth here, the seventh here and the eigth here. My notes on availability are a bit – but not entirely – specific to Estonia; I’ve kept them, just in case. I have to apologise for the pictures again, as they were random snaps for Facebook, but I’ve kept these, too (the cover image is somewhat misleading, as calla lilies don’t really smell, but all those more to-the-point pictures from last spring looked a bit weird on the landing page).

APRIL 30
Scent of the Day: everything (by everybody/everything)

The good thing about smelling stuff is that you don’t really have to buy anything. True, if you insist on being scented yourself, it can be a bit tricky, but otherwise it’s easy to find (rather than buy) things that smell lovely or interesting or both.

When I took the pictures today, I limited myself to things that I can smell at home or on my way to the shop/metro station. I also limited myself to blooms, simply because if one is photographically challenged, it’s so much easier to take a half-decent picture of flowers than, let’s say, of cinnamon (also because wanted to feature lilacs, because glorious). The magnificent rose bush is sort of cheating, as it was on private property and I didn’t quite dare to go and smell it. So I sent Lill to fetch me a petal from the ground (children can be useful sometimes) and even that one petal smelled unbelievably good – somehow green and creamy at the same time.

But it’s of course not only flowers that smell incredible. When I began to be seriously interested in perfume, I found the spices and other food ingredients the easiest to identify: if you regularly use industrial quantities of cardamom, you will most likely recognize it in perfume. Spices, herbs, fruits, berries, vegetables (fresh cucumber!) all smell great. And you’re going to buy food in any case, so for smelling purposes, it’s completely free! I’ve taken to adding some rose water, cardamom and vanilla to my caffe latte and it smells no worse than Tom Ford’s Café Rose that costs 160 Euros (for a small bottle. yeah, it makes me weep, too). Although, to give a balanced picture – those damned pink sweet peas were so expensive that I could almost have bought a Tom Ford bottle with that money.

Personally, I’m so far gone that I sniff my leather gloves on a regular basis. Then there’s gasoline and paint thinner and tar and smoke and all other things that don’t smell conventionally good, but can be extremely appealing. I’m not saying you should all smell your furniture (still, it could be sandalwood!) and accessories, but smelling as many things as possible will keep your mind alert and make life more enjoyable. Scientific fact.
Note on availability: yes.

MAY 1
Scents of the Day: mainstream favourites (by the mainstream)

Many of the scents I like are either expensive or very difficult to obtain or both. This doesn’t mean you cannot get a good one from a regular department store (at least if you live in a city) for a reasonable price. Several of my SOTDs actually belong in that category, but there are many others. And I love lists! So here we go, my Worthy Mainstream Scents Top 17 (in no particular order and it’s probably not 17 anyway).

· YSL Opium – incense is not common among mainstream fragrances, all the more reason to celebrate this sophisticated take.
· Dolce & Gabbana Light Blue – a massive bestseller and as with Coco Mademoiselle, I can see why. A very appealing fruity-floral-woody fragrance.
· Chanel – honestly, I cannot pick just one. Cristalle and No 19 are among my absolute favourites no matter the price point; Coco is one of the best orientals ever and No 5 Eau Premiere seems to me an improvement upon No 5.
· Cacharel Eden – I chose this exotic floral because of fond memories and because it’s probably the most original of the Cacharel line-up. Noa is at least as good, though, and easier to wear.
· Prada Candy – a great modern gourmand, more sophisticated than many suspect. Cute bottle, too.
· Narcisso Rodrigues For Her – I have problems with musk-centric scents (I’m anosmic to some, maybe many), but this is a good one. And I absolutely love the visual with Carmen Kass.
· Christian Dior Diorissimo – it’s May Day and therefore impossible to ignore the most famous and still the best lily of the valley fragrance in the world.
· Guerlain Aqua Allegoria Herba Fresca – I refuse to include La Petit Robe Noir in my list, but Herba Fresca is that rare thing in mainstream perfumery – a herbal fragrance.
· Balmain Ivoire – elegant soapy freshness, beautiful classic bottle.
· Estee Lauder Sensuous – a very wearable wood fragrance with good flankers, but I love the original best.
· Balenciaga Paris – green and violetty, very pretty and polished. I like the new Rosabotanica, too.

Honourable mentions (because I suspect they are not currently available in Estonia): Marc Jacobs Daisy, Bottega Veneta, Marni, Stella McCartney Stella, Cartier Baiser Vole.

In the interest of user-friendliness, a separate section for men:

· Chanel Egoiste – my heart is bleeding that this one didn’t get the full SOTD treatment, it’s a woody-spicy-plummy-rosy piece of wonderfulness. I wear it regularly, but find it very alpha male as well.
· Dior Fahrenheit – I think I wear more Dior’s masculines than I do feminines and Fahrenheit is another favourite. A perfect combination of leather and woods.
· Terre d’Hermes – I personally find this citrus-wood combo a bit boring, but it’s very well done and more refined than 99,9% of stuff out there. Very few people dislike it.
· Victor & Rolf Spicebomb – better than its feminine predecessor Flowerbomb, the name pretty much says it all.
· Guerlain l’Instant – seriously smooth and lovely with an interesting but subtle cocoa note.

Honourable mentions (again, because haven’t seen them in Estonia): Chanel Pour Monsieur, Guerlain Vetiver and Habit Rouge, YSL M7, Cartier Declaration.

MAY 2
Scent of the Day: Bandit EdP (Robert Piguet)

In my first SOTD post, I imagined Cuir de Russie as a flapper, driving to a cocktail party, lips red and a cigarette in hand. Well, CdR might be pretty badass, but Bandit would speed past her on a motorbike and, quite possibly, give the finger.

Bandit is the only fragrance ever I’ve been somewhat hesitant to wear. I’m afraid of no glamour bomb out there, I can do them all (well, I’m known to believe that a transparent nude floor-length gown is entirely appropriate attire for Ministry of Environment’s Christmas party). The elegant, the weird, the vampy, the masculine I can handle, no problem. But Bandit is just too cool. No matter that it’s decades old, it can out-attitude everything that has come after it. I’m still astonished that it was created in 1944 and firmly believe that Germaine Cellier (who also composed Fracas) is a genius.

Bandit smells, unsurprisingly, of leather. It’s not the Chanel bag leather of Cuir de Russie, but black, rubbery, maybe even cheap material of jackets and biker boots (I wanted to photograph Bandit with my studded boots, but of course these are in Tallinn when I need them). There is a strong, bitter green note that smells of dirty grass and leaves. And it all starts out with aldehydes that – miraculously, in this case – do not smell dated, but rebellious. It’s an aggressive scent and definitely not for everyone, but I’m in love with it. No matter that I lack both the motorbike (and even the boots, currently) and the cool factor, I’ve come to wear Bandit with passion and conviction.

I realized yesterday that I have in fact done more than a month’s worth of SOTDs, so I promise to stop now. There will be a wrap-up post when I return from Abu Dhabi and if I encounter anything particularly interesting while there, I’ll do a special edition. Otherwise – until the next project.

A Note on Availability: so what if it’s not easily available? (Edit: it is now, in Crème de la Crème in Tallinn)