Now that the 2010 calendar has begun its final quarter, the editorial team at Ca Fleure Bon is beginning to reacquaint ourselves with our cold-weather favorites. We thought we’d take this first weekend of October and have each of us share three fragrances we’ll be wearing as the Harvest Moon waxes.

 

 

 

 

Mark Behnke’s Picks

One of the few things I like about the cooling temperature that go with the Fall is the opportunity to wear some of my favorite fragrances that I just can’t bring myself to wear in the heat of summer. I look forward to putting on these three perfumes the same way I look forward to feeling snug in my cashmere sweater, hot apple cider in hand.

 

 

Frapin Caravelle Epicee is my favorite spice perfume. This is good because Jean-Marie Faugier empties the perfumer’s spice rack over a beautiful sandalwood base. My only problem is when I wear this I’m spicier than my apple cider.

 

 

 

For some reason Fall brings out the foodie in me fragrance-wise and so my next pick is Jo Malone Vanilla and Anise. I have a number of vanilla fragrances that I like but this release from late last year keeps being the one I pick up when I’m in the mood for vanilla. Now that it is Fall I’m in the mood for vanilla.

 

 

My last pick is By Kilian Back To Black. The more I have worn this the more I have become attached to it. Calice Becker’s brilliant tobacco accord which slowly reveals each of its components over the course of its development continues to beckon both my curiosity and my admiration.

                                   

 

Ida Meister’s Picks

 

 

Take No Prisoners

 

I crave sultry…and warm.

[I like my comfort, thank you.

Act as if you’re surprised!]

 

 

Maison Francis Kurkdjian Absolue Pour Le Soir: it purrs, I purr.

Reminiscent of the famed Prunol base- echoes of Femme of old.

Old-school glamour , warm, animalic.

It fits like a glove.

MEOW!

 

Chantecaille’s Kalimantan: resinous, tenacious, velvety vanilla and aged patchouli, with an herbal top.

Mmmmmmmm.

Comfort combined with elegance, wearable anywhere- and superb for bedtime [nudge nudge, wink wink].

 

Amouage Jubilation 25 for Women : for women, not girls.

Consummate complex animalic chypre of timeless beauty; it sings magnificently on the skin of loveliness that endures forever.

 

 

 

There are many others I adore, faithless one that I am-

But these are my current madness.

 

[This bit pretty much says it all: thank you, Julia Migenes-Johnson !]

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uV9iGv4sKNI

 

Photo Credits :

Carmen and Don Jose : nfsa.gov.au

Carmen: cinemotions.com

Carmen ensemble: scene4.com

 

 

 

Michelyn Camen’s Picks

 

Ahhh, my whimsical friend Ida dallies with new “scented lovers; she is an adventuress. I don't flirt or lead a perfume on…even with a decant. So unfashionable, so uncharacteristically practical. I wear the same scents year round, (isn't fragrance seasonless?) and I am forever faithful… until it is discontinued (Doblis! Escada Collection! ). However, I DO reach for my sophisticated "gourmands for grown-ups" once the thermostat dips.

 

 

Frapin 1270– 1270 is the year when the Frapin family established its vineyard in Cognac, France. 1270 is perfect for ‘sweater’ weather. Opening with a distinct woody accord, redolent of oak casks, as the fragrance develops on the skin it becomes richer and sweeter, enveloping me in a textured wrap of wine/dried fruit notes. The dry down is a gourmand’s delight of honey, pralines and vanilla…sweet but never cloying. Beatrice Cointreau, managing director of Cognac Frapin and great grand-daughter of Pierre Frapin is the nose.  

 

 

 

Afire– I met perfumer Neil Morris in 2006, and within five minutes I fell in love…with him and with this smoldering gourmand. I am not sure which embrace was more enveloping, Neil’s or this scent’s. Afire's notes, per Neil Morris' website: Citrus, berries, caramel, frankincense, wood. The whole is much more than the sum of the parts. Like my warm memories of Neil throughout the years, this scent lasts and lasts…amazing sillage

 

 

 

Bois de Paradis by Parfums Delrae – It wasn’t an apple that tempted Eve, it probably was her scent. And she would smell like Michel Roudnitska’s frankly sensual and intriguing perfume for Parfums Delrae. Bois de Paradis is a warm blend of woods, blackberry, fig, rose, amber, and spices that undulates like a snake, beckoning you to abandon all thoughts of heaven and flee into the wilderness; who wants to be ignorant even in paradise?

 

 

 

Monica “Skye” Miller’s Picks

 

My personal modus operandi when it comes to Fall is to stay in denial as long as comfortably possible. No, I don’t wear sandals in the snow but I have been seen wearing white after Labor Day and when it comes to fall fragrances…I’ll let my Picks speak for themselves…

  

Mr. Hulot’s Holiday by CB I Hate Perfume allows me to stretch out those delicious summer days as long as I like with the scent of ocean spray, seaweed covered rocks and battered leather suitcases. This scent (and roomspray) keeps me in my relaxed holiday mood.

 

Vodka 5 (V5) by Rodney Hughes for Therapeutate is my 100% natural fragrance of choice for Fall and my fall evening scent. V5’s sexy heavy floral incense is a warmer and wafts just the right amount of sensual heat needed for those crisp days when a fire starts to sound attractive… to quote myself “ Vodka 5’s chypre based incense – tropical flowers -black currant  seems overly headshop at first but quickly gives way to a sultry-cougarish-purr enhancing probability for even the most jaded of females.” 

   

 

Maitre Parfumeur et Gantier Jardin Blanc captures my summer flower garden with it’s delicious bouquet of white flowers jasmine, seringa flower, honeysuckle, tuberose and ylang ylang. These beautiful flowers soothe my floral heart, calming my need to bring my summer garden with me into the dusk of fall….

 

 

Take my hand and lead me blindfolded into the Jardin Blanc

Take my hands and gently place them on a flower

So I can feel the texture and guess their names

Put a flower to my nose and make me guess the scent …no clues!

Walk me to a citrus tree and touch my fingers to the bark and leaves

With your two hands over mine we crush the leaves from one tree

Guess! Lemon, grapefruit, lime?

In the perfumed garden you are my hypnotist

My magician

My savior

You teach me how to listen to the voices of the pretty flowers

As they whisper their secrets

how to make a perfume

the color of my heart

 

 Art Credits:

 

Photo by Bill Ewart

 

Painting by Paul Cornoyer (1864-1923) "Summer Garden, Gloucester, Mass."

 

 

-The Team At Ca Fleure Bon