Lately, more and more I’ve noticed the texture of fragrance. Not just how perfume smells, or the colors or moods it evokes, but the sense of thickness, slipperiness, or warmth it evokes. How can liquid smell furry or smooth, cool or scratchy?
Sure, some fragrances smell like particular materials, so it’s natural they’d remind you of that material’s texture. For instance, an oily leather fragrance might bring to mind the rough texture of a motorcycle boot including its rubber tread. Other perfumes, though, don’t smell like any one particular thing, yet they have definite texture. They can be expansive or tight, fluffy or slick, pebbled or icy smooth.
As I unpacked my fall clothes this weekend and laid the wool skirts, cashmere sweaters, velvet jackets, and mohair cardigans on the bed, I thought of perfume and texture again. Here are some of my matches with cool weather textures. I’d love to know about yours.
Wool. Wool can be fluffy like mohair, thick like a sweater, or tightly woven like gabardine. Oak moss has always felt earthy yet fluffy to me, so for me moss-laden perfumes often have the warm, airy texture of mohair. An old-style chypre like Acqua di Parma Profumo feels just like a pale mocha hand-knit cardigan with half-dollar-sized mother of pearl buttons. Fragrances with warmth, body, and presence but not a lot of structure feel more like a Shetland sweater. Serge Lutens Chêne is one. For a wool gabardine feeling fragrance, I turn to Lancôme Cuir de Lancôme. I know — it should feel smooth and hard like leather, but to me it is a sweet, toasty gabardine.
Cashmere. A skin-like musk can feel as soft as cashmere to me. The musky second half of Frédéric Malle Angéliques sous la Pluie feels warm and delicate as cashmere, for instance, as does, believe it or not, Jovan White Musk. A powdery iris, like another Frédéric Malle, Iris Poudre, has the smooth and tight yet soft texture of cashmere, as does Annick Goutal Heure Exquise.
Velvet. Warm, fruity rose fragrances feel as dense and soft as silk velvet with its supple hand. Guerlain Nahéma is an example. Amber scents, like Annick Goutal Ambre Fétiche or densely woven orientals, like Amourage Epic Woman, can also feel velvety, but more sturdy, less texturally sinuous, and more like cotton velvet.
Then there are the hybrids. Oscar de la Renta Esprit d’Oscar has the texture of knitted wool overlaid with wet silk charmeuse. Guerlain Shalimar Ode à la Vanille is velvet knotted with scratchy tulle (in the best possible way). Flower by Kenzo Oriental is velvet, too, but whipped somehow into powdery goose down. Ormonde Jayne Tolu should feel like velvet, but has a surprising crisp edge that gives it more the texture of organdie overlaid with beaver (horrible as a dress, but lovely as a fragrance).
Does fragrance have texture for you? What are some of your favorite autumn textures and corresponding fragrances?
Note: image is One more blossom by ingermaaike2 at flickr; some rights reserved.
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Interesting. For me, Aqua di Parma Profumo has always been an olfactory equivalent of a fur (but without any of the unsavoury aspects which come with the real thing). Same goes for Vol de Nuit. In extrait, at least. Two luxurious winter scents, dark brown in colour, just like a mink of a sable.
And for wool, I think that JCE hit the nail on the head with Vetiver Tonka. It has that slightly scratchy quality which seems to invoke the texture of the fabric so very well.
I once heard certain perfumes used to be referred to as “fur” perfumes. I think it was more that they suited being worn with fur coats, rather than that they had a furry texture, but who knows?
I can see how the vetiver in Vetiver Tonka would tighten it up and give it a little scratch.
I believe you’re thinking about Weil perfumes. They were Parisian furriers originally from Alsace that developed a line of perfumes that could be safely worn on furs, since other perfumes would destroy fur. (By the way, I think although I’m not sure that the strange French philosopher Simone Weil and her brother, the great mathematician Andre Weil, were members of the family.)
I know the perfume company you’re talking about, and even have a bottle of vintage Zibéline – lovely! – but I feel like a fur perfume might have been a general term at one time. Or maybe I’m remembering wrong and it is all about Weil.
According to a French website, Weil asked Claude Fraysse to create perfumes that would hide the ‘animal’ smell of the skins they used.
As for Simone and André Weil, they may or may not have been connected to the other Weils. Weil is a fairly common Jewish name.
How interesting! Fur doesn’t smell like much anymore–at least the few vintage coats I have with fur collars don’t smell like anything. I wonder if processing has changed over time, or if the odor has simply faded away.
Angela, I love this article and concept.
I still have an open bottle of the original Acqua di Parma Profumo, plus an extra that I bought in Rome in 2004. Both have maintained their fragrance very well. It is such a sumptuous fragrance that I would go with the fur feeling as well, but for me that fragrance works with anything. I haven’t had a chance to sample to reformulated version although I’ve heard it is also a beautiful scent.
Isn’t Profumo gorgeous? I have a 10 ml decant and will cry when it runs out. It’s a classic.
I often think of fragrance having a texture and sometimes color as well. For instance, today I am wearing vintage Emeraude parfum de toilette, which is for me a forest green silk charmeuse gown with fur trim. Vintage Opium is more like a precious antique Oriental carpet, with its intricate patterns in jewel tones.
What gorgeous images!
Fracas immediately came to mind as a dense, heavy and wonderfully vintage feeling satin, while the strangest association I have would be L’Artisan’s Coeur de Vetiver Sacre as a crisp, clean and sun-warmed cotton. I’m not much of a “clothes horse”, but do appreciate good fabric for bedding, draperies and the like, and also like to either dress up my often casual wear with something that feels luxurious or curl up in lovely blankets with a scent that seems to suit them best. One of my favorites is a rich vanilla perfume with a nice soft fleece blanket. It’s the epitome of comfort. Throw in a good book, cocoa or wine by the fire and I’m done.
Fracas feels vaporous, like airy chiffon, to me, but it smells MUCH more powerful. I like your image of its texture a lot. And I love the thought of curling up by the fire with a vanilla fragrance and soft blanket!
I associate Fracas with unabashed playfulness. I wear it more in the spring. I love to wear it with cotton dresses and/or anything sleevless or even backless. It’s a fragrance that transitions very well from a fun loving day right into a fun loving night.
Nice! I hope you have lots of fun loving days and nights to wear it, too.
Sounds like you are describing synesthesia, or polysynesthesia, where senses cross over and are experienced in multiple sensory modalities. (Boy, that sounds nerdy!
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I tried to explain this to a family member, when her soft wheezy snore sounded orange to me. She thought my idea “smelled brown,” and I’ve never lived it down. Music often seems like washes of color to me, but I’ve never noticed textures having scent associations. That is a neat crossover.
What fragrance would be a thick, nubby, klunky texture, I wonder? My first instinct was a vanilla gourmand, but I don’t know. I’ll have to sniff things and think about their texture now. Thanks for an interesting idea. Be well.
My aunt sees music as color and wrote her master’s thesis about it. It’s so interesting. There’s one set of references, where music (or perfume, in this case) evokes an emotional response, which can in turn bring up all sorts of images.
Then, there’s another reference that is less emotional than it is simply an experience. For instance, in another set of comments we talked about Fracas. Fracas doesn’t smell at all like chiffon or bring on the light, fluffy feelings of chiffon. But it’s texture is so chiffon to me!
My instinctive response to your question of a thick and nubby fragrance was Wazamba.
That’s still one of my favorite perfume names, Wazamba. I’m going to have to dig out my sample and think about the texture. All I can remember right now is pineyness.
I wish I could better relate to this concept of texture and fragrance. How fun! I do make strong scent-color associations. However, when you mentioned thick, nubby, and clunky I immediately though of the somewhat rough-around-the-edges chypre that is Niki de Saint Phalle.
Nice association! That one definitely does have edges.
I always imagine Niki de St. Phalle as burlap. But in a good way.
I can see that!
That might be a better one, Emily!
Any discussion of textures suggested by scents should include Donna Karan’s cashmere line, particularly Black Cashmere. It doesn’t smell like the goat hair which cashmere is, but it smells exactly like the cashmere feels.
It’s a nice one to wear in cashmere weather, too…
Lancôme Cuir de Lancôme is for me a soft suede. ELdO’s Rien is a sharply tailored suit of some unyielding fabric. DG Feminine is flannel sheets.
Flannel is a texture I didn’t even think of! Now I’ll spend the rest of the afternoon doing a mental run through my perfume list and thinking of which ones are flannel…
Just about time for flannel Out West– in fact, I am wearing a locally-designed dress made out of some sort of eco-flannel…
Very Laura Ingalls! (Actually, having met you, I know it’s not Laura Ingalls at all.) It’s been flannel weather here, too. It rained all weekend. I have a venison and barley stew cooking right now.
I love flannel, any pretty much everything else made of cotton. I will watch this spot for updates.
Now I know this is wandering off topic, but:
http://www.shopelroy.com/clothing/Elroy-Apparel/Galax-Dress.html
Very interesting, Angela. Fragrance is generally color-coded for me. I don’t know that I’ve thought much about it in terms of texture per se. Certain fragrances do seem wet (not aquatic!), i.e. the old Femme always felt wet to me, sharp, dry, etc. Or shaped – Cuir de Russie is a “round” fragrance.
Shaped is such an interesting concept, too! Put it with color, and I wonder if someone could draw fragrance portraits?
Oh! Great idea. Calling all perfumista-artists!!
mmm….i have painted music….have been moved by the beauty and artistry of uncle serge to paint …but i have not yet painted a fragrance…definitely something to work on!
Yes! It could make a wonderful series of paintings.
That would be cool! I sometimes make those shape associations, too. Some are curved, some angular; some narrow, some ample; some smooth-edged, some toothed or jagged.
Hey, maybe even fragrance sculpture!
Cool!
Yes- Cuir de Russie is definitely round (Thank you so much for letting me try it!)
It’s funny, I was just mentioning that Cinnabar was like being smothered in spicy syrup, but what I really wanted to say was that is was like being asphyxiated by a clump of very soft raw fiber, like wool roving, that was also damp. You can tell Cinnabar is not my favorite, I’m sure. Several of the heavy orientals, like Opium, just smell so… thick.
All this talk about wool is making me itchy.
Mitsouko brings to mind silk taffeta to me, which is probably why I don’t wear it – I haven’t worn taffeta for a very long time.
I can’t think of anyone who wears taffeta anymore! Taffeta is due for a comeback.
You know, it’s funny – somebody was doing a post recently on fragrance colors… who was that, gotta go check… oh yes: Annemarie at BotO. (http://botoblog.com/2011/09/05/perfume-by-colours/)
… and I was commenting that I never know what I’m going to get, but some fragrances have color for me, some have musical tone, and some have texture. For example, I think of Iris Poudre as being fluffy as an angora sweater, or maybe even a feather boa. There are others, but I’m limited on time at the moment so I’ll leave it there.
Love this post. Thanks, Angela.
There are so many new perfume blogs! I’m so bad at keeping up.
It’s so interesting how different perfumes remind you of totally different sorts of comparisons–not just color or texture, but music, too.
I always “see” colors and textures with smells! Two fun– and favorite– examples from the same perfumer are Nathalie Lorson’s Poivre 23 (fine grit sandpaper, russet-orange) and Carbone de Balmain (hacksaw, pebble-gray).
Great post Angela! I enjoyed reading your texture associations
Nice! I especially love the Poivre 23 comparison.
I am still enjoying summer but I am looking forward to be able to wear my Guerlain Spiritueuse Double Vanille which always brings to mind thick and heavy wool damask draperies with thick corded silk tassles. I think it’s the kind of curtains one would see in an old fashioned gentleman’s club or smoking parlor. I think the smell just brings me back to my grandfather for some reason and he was always in his den smoking a pipe and reading the newspaper…
You paint a picture of a terrific place to settle in on an autumn evening! I’m ready to bring my novel and crack out the brandy (and the SDV, of course).
Lovely post, Angela! I love these multi-sensory associations that perfume evokes..I ‘see’ perfume in color/texture, or as high pitched or low pitched (violets are low pitched, jasmine can be high pitched- not screechy but clear), angular or not etc (I wrote something very similar on my blog recently)..
Iris Poudre ‘looks’ like fluffy white cashmere/pashmina but it also reminds me of my mother’s silk saris- almost as if it were the smell of those saris..Ta’if looks like a dusty pink silk sari to me.
Chypres like Jubilation 25, Miss Dior I see as amber-colored shimmery interspersed with rough edges (not able to articulate what i see)- almost like a golden ‘netted’ shawl (I would never wear that shawl but love the scents..lol)
Now I’m visualizing a movie with all these visual sensations passing by representing the different perfumes you mention. Wouldn’t that be great?
Yes- it would be! A visual interpretation of perfume- we should make one, Angela!..:)
I also love the idea of perfume sculpture mentioned earlier..
We’ve touched just about all the art forms here.
great idea….memories of the chanel movable art exhibition creeping in..but I cannot remember the architects name (senior moment)
I just keep taking fish oil and hope those moments go away….
yup..i cant stomach the fish oil…i try eat salmon regularly..i think it was zahara hadad or something like that! she is middle eastern…ugh ugh ugh!!! (salmon not working)
Tweed makes me think of chypres. To me, Givenchy III practically begs to be worn with it!
A nice autumn combination, too! Tweed and Givenchy III while the leaves change color.
Oh, how interesting! I used to have so much fun on long car trips asking everyone what color the other people with us were. The best part was when everyone would sort of “switch” into another mode of thinking and experiencing – very non linear and playful.
Then we went on to vegetables, etc. Passed the time!
I have been thinking of perfumes as tones. As in high and clear, like a bell, or maybe like a flute – Esprit de Oscar is a fairly high-toned perfume for me, mostly from the heliotrope, for example. The sound can have intensity too, loud or soft.
Then there are the low, rumbly ones, like Scent by Theo Fennell. I adore that one and I find the low scents are often very comforting like a kitty purr.
There is also the effect of the complexity of the tone, from singular to orchestral almost.
Thanks for introducing this idea, I think it’s really fun!
I love your comparison of fragrance to tones. If Esprit d’Oscar is a bell, Elie Saab must be so high-pitched only dogs can hear it! Now all I want to wear are kitty purr perfumes.
Krizani, I love that concept, too! And Angela, you just talked me out of putting Elie Saab on my “to try” list.
Oh, I think it’s worth trying, just for the olfactory reference. (It really is best sprayed on skin, too, to get the full explosive vapor effect.) You just might not want to take home a bottle.
OK. Everyone seems to be talking about it lately!
how fun!! I think of perfume as tones too- for me violets are low pitched, while jasmine or roses have higher clearer tones.
I can see that for sure. Patchouli and leather feel low to me, too.
Whenever I wear my peach silk crepe-de-chine blouse, it seems imperative that I also wear Yvresse. I think the affinity derives from both texture and color.
Oh, I see that all the way. Peach silk crepe de chine, Yvresse, and maybe a glass of champagne?
Yvresse always to me brings to mind a Holiday more so than anything. funnily i associate it with Xmas more so than anything else because the when the perfume premiered (all the way back in 1992) it premiered in Oct then the scent strips of it were in all the magazines in Nov.. so it for me always smells like that time of year… like wrapping paper and satin bows and cardboard gift boxes and xmas tree ornaments… so bright and shiny and festive and happy! i always smile when i smell Champagne/Yvresse
What a happy association!
Yvresse is becoming my go-to opera perfume — it has that special-occasion feel without also having that special-occasion sillage. (I feel kind of guilty about wearing any perfume to the opera, so I make sure to apply very, very gently. By the time I arrive, the top notes are over and it’s become the most fabulous skin scent.)
That sounds like perfection!
But of course!
I don’t think very much about the texture of perfume, but I do like to recall the review of Chanel Bois des Iles in The Guide, where TS writes, “Though I’ve never worn a sable stole, I insist that it must feel like wearing Bois des Iles: a dark, close, velvety warmth, sleepy and collapsingly soft.”
I can totally see AG Heure Exquise as cashmere and Guerlain Nahema as velvet, as you suggest. SL Bois de Violette would also be velvet – amethyst, of course.
Calice Becker’s Kilians, especially Liaisons Dangereuses, are silky soft, yet with that hidden strength of silk. Samsara is heavy silk satin. Guerlain Vol de Nuit is a yummy, expensive, colorful Italian wool.
All wonderful connections! I especially like the association of Vol de Nuit with richly colored wool–a great way to express both its depth and liveliness.
One of my favourites, EL Sensuous, is thin soft cotton jersey – like a comfy t-shirt that has been washed over and over and over.
That’s a great comparison!
Amouage Epic for me is actually a handwoven crisp dupioni silk. Chanel No. 5 is a lightweight ivory silk chiffon.
I work with fabrics and textures frequently because of my costuming hobby and tend to always associate a certain perfume w/ a type of fabric. What type of fabric I’m wearing definitely influences what perfume I choose.
Very interesting! I bet the change of seasons to heavier fabrics definitely changes the fragrances you wear, then.
Putting a fragrance to a sweater would need to much mental analysis and discipline of thought for me and not enough impulsivity/instinct….could be a great exercise in calming the H in the adhd!!!