Haydria Perfumery

Just because you've never heard of her doesn't mean she's not a terrific perfumer. I'm speaking of Haydria Bish, whose Haydria Perfumery specializes in hand-blended, vintage-inspired scents, glamorous ones that harken back to the days when ladies wore garter belts and powdered their noses. She learned her craft in France under master perfumer Jacques Maurel of Galimard, and it shows - all of her fragrances are extremely well-blended, rich and luxurious.

Currently, she has eight scents available:

Bernie! is gardenia, jasmine and sandalwood accented with soft exotic notes

Burlesque Blue has notes of myrrh, sandalwood and plum cascaded over a cool undercurrent of exotic Eastern flowers

My Geisha has notes of green tea, orange blossom, white flowers and musk

Gypsy Queen with lush florals and rich spices smoldering with deep wood notes

Harem Girl with notes of iris, musk and opoponax veiled with incense

L'Eau Exotique features aquatic notes, Asian champa flowers and sandalwood

Pure Sin has passion fruit, champagne, dark chocolate and white musk

Tainted Love with notes of violets, berries and light amber drizzled with honey

One sniff of any of these, apart from My Geisha, takes me back to my childhood, when I played with my mother's collection of perfumes and scented soaps. My Geisha is a more modern fragrance, a lovely white floral-and-tea scent that dries down to a very clean white musk. To my nose, it's like a stepchild of Chanel Beige, with some Gendarme thrown in, and definitely my favorite of the collection. But then vintage scents are not my thing. However, if you appreciate the bold florals and deep woodsy notes of scents of yore, you will love Haydria's collection of pin-up inspired fragrances. You can find them at HaydriaPerfumery.com, including samples. And they are priced right - $35 for 1 fl oz.

Bond No. 9 Saks Fifth Avenue for Him and for Her

Saks Fifth Avenue for Her
Notes: jasmine, tuberose, gardenia, vetiver, vanilla

This is not your grandmother’s gardenia perfume! The first of two fragrances commissioned by venerable New York fashion institution Saks Fifth Avenue, Bond No. 9 Saks Fifth Avenue for Her opens with notes of jasmine and tuberose. The gardenia, supreme queen of white flowers, becomes evident within a minute or so of this largely linear fragrance. The effect of this triple whammy of all white is intense. Elegantly so. White floral fragrances, particularly a powerhouse combination like this, can be overwhelming, and for some more sensitive people, headache-inducing. Bond’s genius of adding a dash of earthy vetiver and sweet vanilla keep this luxurious new scent grounded. The result is a gorgeously creamy and warm floral with an underlying tropical quality reminiscent of coconut cream. The drydown retains all of the gorgeous heady quality, but speaks more in a whisper.

Saks Fifth Avenue for Him
Notes: chili, black pepper, cardamom, bergamot, incense, guaiac wood, amber

Initially, Saks Fifth Avenue for Him is all about a bright bergamot note dancing among spices. There’s a bit of pepperiness, more black pepper than chili, and combined with the sharp yet warm sweetness of cardamom, it lends depth to the opening notes of this scent. The pepper/cardamom gives way, quite seamlessly, to incense and the delicious resinous quality of guaiac wood. There’s a bit of bitter sweetness in here too, almost licorice-like in quality. Several minutes into the drydown, a soft amber note is detectable.

Merely reading the notes would give the impression that this scent is a spicy woodsy fragrance, however, it is actually strongly aquatic. All of the pepper and incense seem to be submerged in a cool blue-green quality that floats somewhere just above the skin. It’s only when one takes a deeper sniff that the other elements make themselves known.

I'm being nice here, but I really hate it. Aquatic notes are vile and should be banned, and they completely ruin what could have been a nice scent. Bah!