Party On The Lawn

Grass is such a simple plant and yet it is everywhere. In the 1990s, GAP came out with a perfume called Grass and it was an instant hit. People went nuts for that fresh green, slightly aquatic scent, a huge departure from the heavy spiced florals of the 80s. Minimalism was trendy in 1994 and GAP Grass was the perfect minimalist scent. GAP Grass is now discontinued and extremely hard to find. Not to worry, I have a roundup here of some perfect "summertime on the lawn" fragrances for you to try right away. 


Hermes Un Jardin Sur le Toit 

 This might be my favorite "freshly mowed lawn" scent. It starts off sweet from the pear and apple notes and then quickly becomes a dewy morning grass, intensely green and summery. The nose behind this is Jean-Claude Ellena, one of my favorite perfumers. (When you get as into perfumes as I am, you start to see the noses like rock stars and you await their next release with great anticipation) I really don't pick up distinct florals here, they're just seamlessly blended in to round out the grass notes and prevent any sharpness. Jean-Claude Ellena was inspired by the rooftop garden of the Hermes building, a private tranquil oasis above the busy streets of Paris. I've seen photos of this rooftop garden and it definitely looks like a place where I could easily lose an entire day to reveries. This is actually better than GAP Grass because it's realistic but also smells expensive, higher quality with a French chic that GAP could never have achieved. Makes me excited to picnic with friends this summer, sipping riesling and nibbling on sliced fruit. Un Jardin Sur le Toit is not a head turner, but it is fresh, youthful and bubbly. 

 
Crabtree & Evelyn Summer Hill 

This really smells just like the grassy hill at my grandmother's house. Many afternoons as a child were spent rolling down this grassy hill. The scent of wildflowers was thick in the air... black eyed Susans, mullein, Indian paintbrushes, clover, daisies and the thick bed of dried pine needles in the nearby woods. This isn't something that's my personal taste for a perfume, as the florals are very "dry" (unsweet, like green plant stems and sun warmed earth)... but oh my if this isn't the perfect snapshot of a hot afternoon in the countryside.
 

Lauren by Ralph Lauren 

There is something about Lauren when I first spray it that makes me think MINTY. I actually see the color mint green in my mind's eye. (Same thing happens with Anais Anais so perhaps it is the carnation note?) When that dies down a bit I smell CLOVER, a huge field of it. That smell you get from the open windows as your car twists and turns along country roads, past farms and forests. I was too young to know Lauren in its heyday but apparently it was a hit with young ladies in the early 80s. I have a coworker who must have scent memories of Lauren because whenever I wear this one to work (maybe every four months or so) she remarks "Which one is that? Oh it is so familiar to me!!" Every time. I laugh and tell her she must have deep memories with Lauren but doesn't even realize it. Like many perfumes of the 80s, it is potent so you only need one or two sprays for the entire day. Side note, the bottle is very pleasing to me with it's garnet colored glass cube and brass door handle top. You would never guess by looking at that dark opulent bottle that such a fresh floral lives within. 
 

L'Artisan L'Ete en Douce 

One sample of this had me adding it to my wish list. More than a smell, it was an entire emotional experience for me. It's from L'Artisan, a house I already love and have sampled extensively. The nose behind this is Olivia Giacobetti, the talent behind my beloved Dzing! as well (See December 2014 post 'A Little Too Personal') Notes of linden blossom and orange blossom mingle gorgeously with a very realistic sweet hay accord. This lasts for half the day and then fades off into a smooth skin musk that makes me wish I had someone to hold me close and smell me. This is the sweet air that breezes through a hot summer day, refreshing and somehow nostalgic. The magic of summer days that go on forever. 
 

Andrea Maack Coven 

Saving this for last because it's not exactly a grass scent but it still fits into the style of this post. The grass notes are there, for sure, but it's more of a wet, freshly overturned soil accord. That fragrance of walking into the underbrush following a hard rainstorm and everything is muddy. A very cool feeling perfume but with something alive underneath it all. A snake or a frog in the grass perhaps. If you've ever been digging in the garden for hours and actually enjoyed the mixture of dirt and leaves on your hands, this is the fragrance for you. 

What I Wore: HAWAII

This spring I had the opportunity to take part in a luxury vacation getaway to Hawaii. It was a once in a lifetime event and of course I had to go. Now, I am the person who plans out what perfume I am going to wear each day up to 3 months ahead of time. It's true, I am a giant nerd and I make a perfume calendar. So after I said yes to my friend's invitation, I started thinking about what I would wear on my trip. I knew I would be book-ending Hawaii with two weekends in Seattle, that I would be flying carry-on bag only and that I wanted to purchase some Hawaiian perfumes while there. I made all of these things happen. Here is my travel story as told through the lens of a perfumista.
 
 Kate Spade Walk On Air 

Walk On Air just so happened to be my Scentbird subscription flask for the month of March. It turned out to be the perfect pick! First of all, the name. This was my airport perfume... light, fresh, calming. That last aspect, calming, turned out to be necessary as I went through some of the worst turbulence I'd ever experienced and spent a lot of flight time praying. Walk On Air was also perfectly suited to the rainy early spring weather of Washington. It's a lily of the valley perfume first and foremost but it sidesteps the normal pairings of other high pitched floral notes and instead is balanced by a lot of greenery... fiddle ferns, linden blossom, violet leaves... and some surprise accords when I finally looked up the official notes. A plant called Solomon's seal was in there, which made me smile because I named my child Solomon. Another note listed was crinum lily, which I had never seen in a notes pyramid before, didn't even know what it was, but lo and behold the pool area in Hawaii was decorated with a low hedge of crinum lilies. Walk On Air ended up being a very happy random buy, and the Scentbird flask fits TSA liquid rule requirements.


Profumi del Forte Vittoria Apuana

I brought 3 samples along in my liquids bag, each one milliliter of perfume. We arrived in Kona quite late at night and found our way to the air b&b where we were camping for the night. It was a cute tent setup in the backyard of a quiet pretty neighborhood. My traveling companions and I passed out pretty quickly on the comfortable mattresses inside the tent. I woke up early the next morning to the sound of strange bird calls and plumeria blossoms falling softly onto the ground outside the tent. After using the charming rustic outdoor shower, I selected Vittoria Apuana for the first day's adventures. Upon applying, this smells like a smoothie from Orange Julius. That dies off after about twenty minutes and by the time we had said goodbye to Kona and were zipping north along the Highway 19 coast, the scent had changed. The banana note came forward in a very creamy, pudding like way. Underneath was a coconut and vanilla smell, almost like I was wearing sunscreen. I had not put on sunscreen yet, as the day was overcast with scattered rainshowers. Even with no sunshine, the island was a beautiful dream come true. We skipped along hardened lava flows at a state park, bought local fruit, flowers and coffee at a roadside farmers market and finally we reveled in the billionaire worthy condo just outside Puako where we were making ourselves at home for the week. The bright, fruity, summery scent of Vittoria Apuana went perfectly with the blissful feeling of aloha that was quickly infusing my soul. 


  James Heeley Coccobello 

 Day two on the island and it was still rainy and overcast. No worries because I woke up in the nicest bed possible and was able to take my morning coffee by a roaring fireplace, with a view of the waves crashing against the rocks just past our backyard. We took a walk along the water and I dipped my feet into the Pacific Ocean for the first time in my life. Coccobello was my scent choice for the day, a very woody fragrance, unripened coconut still green and attached to the palm tree. We saw crazy looking neon fish swimming along in the shallow water and plumeria blossoms were scattered everywhere. Coconut was a theme for that day, we drank pina coladas and ate dried coconut chips. James Heeley Coccobello was woodier than I expected it to be, but that actually went rather well with all the getting caught in the rain. I became a palm tree and leaned into the weather, leaned into the woody green lifestyle.


Montale Intense Tiare 

 Growing on bushes along the lanai outside my room were hundreds of white tiare flowers. Tiare is a type of gardenia plant that grows in the Pacific islands, native to Polynesia. Every day I would tiptoe out along the stone path and stick my face into these bushes and in those moments I truly knew heaven. Montale Intense Tiare was my selection for the third day I spent in Hawaii. My friend balked at how strong and sweet the smell was after I had just put it on, almost like grape juice. "You're going to get chased by insects all day!" she warned. Luckily that never happened even though we spent a large part of the day in a tropical botanical garden. I'm not sure how much was the perfume and how much was my surrounding environment but all day I was surrounded by the sweet almost honey like scent of tiare, coconut, ylang ylang and jasmine. It was gorgeous, made me think if Thierry Mugler's Alien went on vacation and traded her edgy city slicker garb for a sarong and sunglasses. This was my favorite of the three sample vials I had packed for the trip. Quite lush and elegant.


  Forever Florals Hawaii Plumeria 

Day four in Hawaii and we were finally blessed with sunny skies. I had made my Hawaiian perfume purchases.. Forever Florals, a Honolulu based company, had inexpensive island scents available in every corner grocery, and I had scooped up the Plumeria and the Pikake, two flowers I had been smelling in the air everywhere since I stepped off the plane. I sprayed myself down with Plumeria and hit the beach. It's such a light and feminine petal scent. The scent of the $5 lei I bought from a woman on the side of the highway, stringing the blossoms with her young daughter helping. Whenever I have worn this perfume since the trip, I immediately feel blissed out and taken right back to the beach, sipping fancy cocktails and napping on the sand. Incredibly unique smell, reminder of the humid air filled with these blooms. And even though it's inexpensive, it does not smell cheap. It felt perfectly suited in a 5 star sushi restaurant for our final dinner of vacation. 


Forever Florals Hawaii Pikake 

 The last morning in Hawaii and I did not want to leave. But alas, all good things must come to an end and there would be flights to catch that day. I sprayed myself thoroughly with Forever Florals Pikake and took my final morning coffee on the lanai, watching a spectacular sunrise over the ocean. As I sipped my Kona brew and reflected on the beauty I had seen over the week, I wondered if I was smelling my own perfume or if it was the star jasmine bushes surrounding the doors to the living room. On the plane ride back to the mainland, I kept getting wafts of the most beautiful musky laundry floral and I was ready to ask the woman seated next to me what she was wearing. Then I realized it was me! This fragrance changes as it wears, going from a highly indolic realistic jasmine to a soft musky, slightly vanillic warm skin scent. And it last and lasts, through several time zones, all day long. Not bad at all for a $10 perfume! I went to reorder online and realized how steep the shipping costs are from Hawaii, so I might have to find something comparable that's locally available. That is, until I can get back to the big island and stock up in person. What a gorgeous reminder of being in paradise.