{poem + story} spiritueuse double vanille.

white jasmine, rum, ylang ylang
sweet vanilla kisses the delicate petals of the bulgarian wild rose
candle wicks do twin and kiss
moonheld, i blend
notes of perfumes under the melody of an acoustic guitar

intimate, smooth and deep onyx
the sky is now above and all over me
skins of rose water
blue velvet musky nights
beyond the flames of the silver lantern

& somewhere beyond the edges of comfort and the uncertainty
of rivers
on the other side of burning
i know that beneath a shirt of cotton or wool
you are the curves of muscle
a steadfast rhythm of pulse

as if my heart jumped out from my chest
to become you
a man
my man

your hands,
my warm and loving temple

A little more:

Deeply inspired by one of my signature perfumes “Spiritueuse Double Vanille” by Guerlain. Ah … love sweet love. If I was a flower, I’d be a wild rose. If I was a town, perhaps I’d be Santorini, or Ios, or Positano, or anything else small, tiny, intimate by the sea – surrounded by fuchsia flowers, and the masculine hands of the Poseidon blues. And if I was a scent, I’d be vanilla; a scent eternal, sweet and unmistakably itself.

Spiritueuse double vanille. A beautiful love poem translated through the olfactory senses and the magic of trusting hands. Intoxicating and inspiring. A little spicy, smoky sweet or bourbony, a little mysterious, complex yet delicate, very romantic, and very edible. Somehow changing with each time the hands of wind touch it. Non-linear. Just when you think you “know” it, another layer unveils. Perhaps to some, exotic or even distant – known yet always leaving something unknown and wild like untamed distant lands. And always, dreaming. Currently mainly dreaming up my future parfumerie and blending all kinds of deliciousness in the moon garden that my bedroom becomes.  

Ah, I can talk about fragrance all day! Fragrance is a big part of my life every day – and as a writer, poet and artist, it is also deeply inspiring to me. When I was writing my first book, I had a very special candle that was burning, custom made for me with beautiful oils and flowers, and I feel that its magical scent translated on the pages of the book also.

Ever since I was a little girl I loved smelling things. Perhaps I can write an article soon sharing my perfume collection, inspirations and my favourite scents. I am very very selective in all areas of my life, and so my perfumes are carefully selected also. Surely I am aesthetically pleased, so I love beautiful bottles and design, almost as if they are jewellery pieces, but it is the scent that matters. It needs to feel like me. Vanilla is certainly one of my favourite notes, and even going back to my early teenage years and some of my first perfumes, it seems they all had that note. But I also love how scent changes on the skins, on every person it smells different – temperatures change it too, so in different climates it may be different. My skin loves sweet scents and is obsessed with vanilla, so it amplifies it!

I recently added a new vanilla based perfume to my collection, Absolute Aphrodisiac by Initio Parfums, which is a very (yummy!) carnal sensual vanilla with some animalic undertones; it’s like a pheromones mixture and it is reserved for special intimate nights only with the one you love. And for summer, I’m looking forward to Sublime Vanille by Creed, which blends the vanilla with some subtle Italian Amalfi citrus and light airy musk, making it beautiful in the heat. There is also Shalimar by Guerlain – one of my most loved – and this is a love poem in a bottle, which will probably forever be a part of my collection. The scent takes you back to France in the 1920s and 1930s (as the perfume was launched in 1925), and also the gardens of Shalimar in the Taj Mahal (which was its inspiration) – a temple built out of love. We touch history and culture through our olfactory senses. We resurrect memories. Imagine how many people have loved and cried and then loved and danced again with Shalimar. It is a beautiful deep and rich vanilla amber scent, with a somewhat animalic note because of the leather and musk at the base marrying the sweet vanilla, which makes the dry down a delicious skin scent. It is very sensual and romantic, and sometimes I just sniff it to feel inspired. Back in the day my signature scent was Lei by Armani, wow I wore it religiously almost all the time. Until the hot summer day when during a trip to Havana, Cuba, I bought a custom made cacao oil perfume from the Habana 1791 perfumery – absolutely intoxicating. To this day I have no idea what else they put in my blend (I wanted a surprise lol!), but it is absolutely addictive. I only have a drop left on the bottom of the glass bottle, just enough to smell it and roll myself into a chocolate heaven.

The past few weeks I’ve been wondering about Note Vanillée by M. Micallef (a beautiful and unique French perfumery), but I’m not tempted enough yet for a blind buy. I’ve also been playing around with Tom Ford’s Noir Pour Femme, and while it is sweet, vanillic and complex, it doesn’t feel quite right yet for me with some of its notes, so I’ll need to test it more on my skin. I love everything Tom Ford does as a designer because he is such an amazing creator – absolutely brilliant – but I have to admit that I am having a really hard time liking his perfumes; they are just too strong and too packed with things my nose dislikes. I actually felt nauseous at the dry down of Soleil Blanc, and Black Orchid is not just a hard “no” – it is a “definitely never” for me. I do love Tuscan Leather on a man, but it is a bit too masculine for me, and many of his perfumes tend to lean that way even those part of his feminine collection. I own Rose Prick, and I remember at first I felt overwhelmed and almost suffocated at the opening, but the dry down was lovely, sweet and romantic; and although not quite perfect for me, the scent kept drawing me in, keeping me interested and intrigued, so I took the plunge. Now I love it more and more each time I wear it. His Jasmine Rouge is next on my list to try because I am still searching for my perfect jasmine perfume, and Mugler’s Alien is just a bit too strong for my nose, although I did really like it many years ago. I love my flower gardens – so I know what real roses and jasmine smell like, and that perhaps makes me even more picky. I can’t unknow things. Of course, nothing will ever come close to my most loved flower of all – the wild rose. And obviously, this is why I am making my own perfume oils – so that I can have my own versions of perfect vanilla, cacao, and all and anything I’d want.

Today we took a walk outside and saw the snowdrops, so spring is in the air! Makes me think of the beach and the ocean, of my favourite summer scents Margiela’s Beach Walk and Skylar’s Salr Air … and of a sweet darling eau de toilette that I have from the South of France which is basically white flowers and seafoam. It’s like a bouquet of jasmine, rose, lily-of-the-valley, magnolia, cassis and violets, all dancing in a gentle sea breeze. Love by the sea, always.