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.
