Category Archives: Cologne

Ever since Tom Ford stepped away from his eponymous brand, allowing Estée Lauder to temper the potency of his Private Blend releases, I’ve had to look elsewhere for the more challenging scents that can stand up to a harsh New York winter. Enter my favorite Spice Girl – Posh – also known as Victoria Beckham – and her line of fragrances. There are four of them, and the sampler set I received for Christmas has opened up a whole new world of desires, starting with ‘Suite 302’ which was a gift to myself. Sometimes, as on a dreary winter day to this already-dismally-insane year of 2026, you need to treat yourself.

Inspired by Paris visits and hotel suite stays, along with whatever she and David Beckham got up to in the 90’s and since, ‘Suite 302’ has a rich and voluptuous scent profile, with a powerful punch of black cherry, red peppercorns, leather and tobacco. This feels like what the Cherry line of Tom Ford Private Blends was meant to be (but fell short, as I never did end up wanting any of them after a disappointing sampling run).

‘Suite 302’ brings that smoky cherry vibe to delicious life, with a gloriously-dark tobacco and leather heart tempered by a sweet, but not overly cloying, sweetness and fruitiness that is precisely my current winter mood – nicely balanced with enough heat to cut through these cold and dry winter days. A bit of richness for the stark and austere season – and a beautiful accent piece to punctuate the frigid moment at hand.

Further proof that one should never count Posh Spice out.

Cynthia Erivo reportedly wore a trio of fragrances while filming the ‘Wicked’ movies, and in honor of the imminent return of the witches, I’ve been concocting my own version of this for when Andy and I attend an advance screening next week.

Her original combination included ‘Promise’ by Frederic Malle, ‘Lys 41’ by Le Labo, and ‘Witchy Woo’ by Vyrao. Having already fallen hard for ‘Promise’ and its absolute fulfillment of being billed as ‘a lot’, I already had the first player on the field. ‘Lys 41’ didn’t sound like my cup of tea at all, so I left that ingredient out (and at Le Labo’s ridiculous price points it seemed best to rely on the old adage that sometimes it’s so much friendlier with two).

That left ‘Witchy Woo’, which sounded much more intriguing. I was looking for another spooky fragrance to deploy at this time of the year, something to give ‘Myrrhe Mystere’ a companion for haunting the cooler nights. November can be tricky for fragrances, and I tend to rely heavily on ‘Bois Marocain‘ and ‘Japon Noir‘ but they can’t be expected to pick up all the slack. Enter ‘Witchy Woo’, which arrived a few days ago and immediately stands on its own as a fittingly bewitching scent.

Moroccan orris and rose absolute dance with cinnamon, nutmeg, black pepper, and patchouli – while elements of frankincense lend the heart a smoky resinous power. ‘Witchy Woo’ is a wicked fragrance on its own – when layered with ‘Promise’ it turns positively diabolical. (The Le Labo ‘Lys 41’ isn’t missed at all.)

Combining fragrances is new and slightly uncomfortable territory for me. I’m not usually a fan of layering or experimenting with multiple scents. While all the perfume counter ‘experts’ will extol the virtues of it, they’l say anything to sell another bottle. I’ve always trusted the perfumers themselves to put a scent profile together that needs no supplement or counterpoint.

That said, perhaps my purist’s viewpoint is too rigid for my own good – when I think of the possibilities that this potentially opens up, it may actually work against those craven perfume counter charlatans, allowing me to create a multitude of new fragrance options without needing to purchase new bottles. A whole new world of olfactory witchcraft just revealed itself, and I’m only beginning to flex these powers.

Oh sweet Linden tree, how you so deceptively hide your green flowers among your foliage, emitting your delicious perfume in disguise while we all seek out what exotic and colorful bloom is the cause of such sweetness in the air! For many years, I half-heartedly sought out a linden tree fragrance, as cloying as it could sometimes be when a grove of them scented the warm air, but I never came across anything worthy of note until a recent weekend in NY.

After perusing the Creed line for a summer fragrance at Bergdorf Goodman (and getting nowhere) the perfume rep off-handedly pulled a bottle of Tilia by Marc-Antoine Barrois. Before smelling it, I wondered if it was related to the scientific name for the Linden tree of these parts (Tilia cordata or Tilia americana) and once the rep sprayed a little on a sample card, the scent of summer immediately filled the air. The universe sometimes has a way of rewarding those who are patient, and often when it’s least expected.

This is not entirely a natural linden fragrance – it carries a few synthetic aspects that may not fool some people into thinking it’s the real thing, but it’s certainly close enough, and has enough charm to kindle the elusive aura of almost-summer. A most tender perfume for this most tender time.

Layers of honeyed florals – linden, heliotrope, jasmine and broom ñ somehow don’t combine into something atrociously cloying, though this is a sweet floral, fit mostly for those who love the linden. It also tends to go quiet rather quickly, shyly retreating after its initial burst of summery sweetness – which is part of early summer’s charm, and welcome when the height of mid-day heat would render it a burden. 

Still, there is a sparkling richness to this perfume, a creamy confection that shimmers in the summer sun, and shines in the summer rain. 

It was on this charming trip to New York last fall that I discovered the gorgeousness that is ‘Magnetic Wood’ by The Harmonist. I wasn’t even on the hunt for a new fragrance when I quite deliberately stepped into Bergdorf Goodman and found my way to their bustling fragrance counter. I was just seeking out confirmation that ‘Promise’ by Frederic Malle would be my holiday cologne, but the salesperson eyed me up and set up The Harmonist – a brand I hadn’t discovered until that moment. He sprayed some on a sample card and waved it in the air before presenting it to me. 

Immediately, I noticed the sweetness of mimosa and the freshness of something like bergamot or citrus, and my initial instinct was to politely back off. It was fall, and I was in the mood for something darker and spicier, and this was not it. I slipped the card into my pocket and went back on the ‘Promise’ prowl. Apparently he was pushing The Harmonist, so he showed me ‘Hypnotizing Fire’ but that wasn’t quite my jam, so I thanked him for his help and made my way back down Fifth Avenue. 

As I did so, I pulled the scented card out of my pocket and tried it again, knowing how perfume changes and evolves and becomes something quite different the longer it wears. I brought it to my nose and it felt like a rush of warm air suddenly broke through the cool fall air of October. ‘Spring’ it whispered, and the bright yellow blooms of mimosa filled my head with their sweetness. My introduction to the scent was from a bouquet that a friend had brought to another friend’s party – I kept smiling something delicious in the air, and circled about until I realized it was coming from the little yellow sprays of mimosa flowers. From that moment on, I loved the scent, even as it bordered on being too sweet for my decidedly drier tastes. 

That said, a little mimosa goes a long way, particularly when one is easy agitated by sweeter florals that border on cloying. The small bottle of Jo Malone’s ‘Mimosa & Cardamom’ I have on hand is almost all entirely still accounted for because I can only take it in small doses on those rare days when I’m feeling uncharacteristically soft and sweet. The card I suddenly couldn’t stop smelling was giving me a different vibe, and my nose was drawn back to it over and over again, haunted by its harmonious combination of the mimosa with something green and woody. At that moment, on some cold concrete corner of New York, I stopped and inhaled ‘Magnetic Wood’, and knew it to be my next spring fragrance.

It opens with those bergamot and green mandarin notes – fresh and crisp in the citrusy way that smells much too fine to last – and then the heart of mimosa and iris opens up into the main attraction. If you enjoy mimosa, this is a gift from the heavens for you. After that, it begins settling down into something with tinges of sandalwood and cedar – just enough to keep the sweetness from becoming sickly. I get a few aquatic waves from this too, which gives it some extra freshness and mellows the sweeter aspects. It’s a precariously fine balance, one which it manages to sustain in part by fading away right before it becomes too smug. Knowing when to pull back is the hat trick of the more challenging perfumes I’ve tried – and the mark of something that’s not going to annoy the wearer, especially in the warmer months. 

When Andy and I got married in 2010, I also married a scent to the happy day, and ever since then the whiff of Creed’s ‘Green Irish Tweed’ brings me back to that moment. The small bottle of that exquisite fragrance was a birthday gift from Andy a few years into our relationship, and I saved it for our wedding day because I wanted it to form that sensory memory. Since then, I usually only wear it for our anniversaries and other special spring occasions.

This year marks our 15th wedding anniversary, and we are reconvening in Boston with the original cast (at least those of us still alive), and to that celebratory end I’m hoping there will be a new scent to christen and mark the occasion for years to come: Louis Vuitton’s ‘Imagination’. 

It’s admittedly a splurge (though still not quite the most expensive fragrance I’ve ever owned – a dishonor that belongs to the gold-bottle original release of Tom Ford’s ‘Soleil Brulant’, and still worth every penny) but not close to other price-points I’ve seen of late. It also comes with optional complimentary personalized engraving (just my initials, ABI, will suffice, as illustrated in their simulated version above) which may be ordered on their website here. The 100 ml bottle would be the perfect size, and I’m not even asking for the travel case that is also available (and utterly ridiculous). This is called restraint. 

‘Imagination’ is high on the Holy Grail list of fragrances that many connoisseurs consider worth knowing, and having sampled it a few months ago I would agree that it is exquisitely divine. It would also make for a perfect new memory, which is the point of any lovely perfume. 

‘Rose & Cuir’ by Fredric Malle has already been gushed about and adored in this lush post, so I won’t delve any deeper into its olfactory delights. It’s enough just to spray some of this on and remember happier winter days, as this one reminds me of spending time with Dad in the old house, when Mom went out for the morning and I got to take care of the man who had always taken care of me. They were mostly quiet days, as Dad didn’t talk much then, but we’d take meals together, and sit together as he perused photo albums and occasionally took notice of an old movie on the television. I’m grateful for those days together, and they keep me warm in the winter. 

The bottle of ‘Rose & Cuir’ was a Christmas gift from Mom a few years ago, and while I originally intended to save it for spring, I decided to wear it that winter to offset the darkness of the season. It worked, as that winter still brings light and love to mind. The power of a fragrance to rekindle a memory.

Planning for this Virgo’s Christmas season begins in the summer, when Skip and I were last in Boston for our annual BroSox adventure. It was at that time that I made us stop at Neiman Marcus to try out a scent that I had in mind for the holidays. It was in the Frederic Malle line, and conjured by one of my favorites Dominique Ropion – who was at the helm of such gorgeous creations as ‘Carnal Flower‘, ‘Geranium Pour Monsieur‘ and the exquisite ‘Portrait of a Lady‘. 

Named simply ‘Promise’, this fragrance is part of their Desert Gems series, most of which carry a pungent and potent punch grounded in oud. ‘Promise’ starts with a fruity opening, something that I’ve fought for years but have learned to acknowledge as my starting point, all dirty puns intended. Pink pepper lends it some early spice, while rosemary and apple begin the journey in refreshing fashion. This gives way to the glorious midsection of Bulgarian rose oil, Turkish rose absolute, and a dash of cloves to keep the line of spice going. Finishing and resonating with patchouli, ambroxam, labdanum and Cypriol heart, the whole journey is a wild and worthy one – one that, upon my wafting a scented card in Skip’s direction, was described as simply “a lot” – a description that absolutely sealed the deal for me. When I asked him months later for a more in-depth take, he confirmed it as my holiday frag: “It didn’t announce when you entered the room, it declared it!”

A gift of my Mom for my birthday, it arrived in August, when I tried it on during a birthday dinner. It filled the room – perhaps the house – solidifying its status as ‘a lot’ – and there is no more perfect harbinger of the holidays than something that gets such notice. Sometimes you don’t have to yell to be the loudest presence in any given room. 

That’s the secret to any powerful perfume – it declares who you are without having to say a word, and the world simply knows. If you’re lucky, you’ll get to sniff me before the year is out. 

A quick look at two of my fragrance shelves (just the two – there is a third, which is actually the top tier) reminds me of the excess and gluttony of my one true addiction – and it’s ok because we all deserve at least one indulgence in life. (Some of us deserve many.) While I’ve been eyeing the latest Tom Ford Private Blend ‘Black Lacquer’, I’m a little more intrigued by his limited edition offering of ‘Amber Intrigue’ – which is, I believe, only available at Harrod’s in London right now. They always get the best things. Until I can get my paws on a sample, this perusal through the collection will have to do – and it makes me happy to rekindle all the memories that each of these scents provides. 

The main purpose of any fragrance is, for me, in making a memory. 

And I happen to enjoy making lots of memories.