From a perfume friend: Ylang ylang and vanilla
Wednesday, December 30th, 2009
You’re looking at two purchases I’m excited about that I made from a dear friend in perfume (Hi LC): Ylang Ylang (VOP) and vanilla.
LC says that ‘VOP’ stands for ‘very old process,’ which is a long distillation, and that today’s ylangs are reconstituted from fractional distillations – something I didn’t know.
This ylang isn’t as cloying as others I’ve sampled. Some have been cloying to the point of making me nauseous and giving me a headache.
There’s a maturity to this ylang – light but significant at the same time. I’ve just put a sample on a piece of blotting paper. Let’s see how it expands:
Immediate reaction: Soft, sweet, floral. Sophisticated. I’m not deep into sweet florals, so for me to like this is interesting.
5 mins: Dare I say that I detect a very, very slight peppery note?
10 mins: It’s expanding. It’s a tad bit too much for my head right now.
Went to lunch
Approx 1 hr: Much, much better. The pepper hint is there, enveloped by the ylang’s warm sweetness, a ‘pourous’ sweetness for lack of a better term. The pepper delicately seeps from the pores of the ylang.
Would love to see how this works with cedarwood.
I’ll examine the vanilla later tonight or during the holiday weekend.
Oh, the dashes and ellipses are showing up as funny symbols. Will try to figure that out. Use ‘Courier New’ instead of ‘Courier’ in stylesheet. Duh.
