Mona di Orio

Mood Scent 4 Blogging Project: Rainy Day Fragrances

Welcome to the first joint blogging project by MoodScent4!

We are four perfume bloggers based in France, Holland, England and Wales who will be posting on a different joint subject every couple of months. Each time we will individually pick a selection of five or so fragrances to fit a particular mood or occasion. You will find links to the other blogs at the end of the post.

We hope you have fun reading our different choices and adding your own in the comments.

The first joined theme we picked are rainy day fragrances. As I live in Amsterdam, I experience quite some days of rain. On those days I like to wear fragrances contrary to the grey weather to add some sunshine and light to my day. These are generally energizing or uplifting citrus (with for example notes of bitter orange tree leaves or lemon) or cologne style fragrances like Hermes Eau d’orange verte, Annick Goutal Neroli Cologne. On other rainy days I choose more comforting oriental fragrances like Keiko Mecher Vetiver Velours, Guerlain Shalimar, Miller Harris Fleur Oriental or Mona di Orio Vanille.

One of my favorite scents to add sunshine and light to a day is the Eau de Cologne Hermes Eau d’orange verte. Eau D’orange verte is an extraordinary uplifting scent. True to its original name, Hermes Eau de Cologne smells very much like a cologne focussing on freshly squeezed bitter orange tree leaves. The Eau d’orange verte shower gel smells just like the Hermes Eau D’orange verte Eau de Cologne and is well worth a try for an energizing shower on a rainy morning.

Another very suitable fragrance for a rainy day is Annick Goutal Neroli Cologne. Neroli Cologne smells very much like a blossoming bitter orange tree filling the air with its magnificant scent, adding a feeling of a sunny spring morning near the Mediterranean coast.

A more comforting scent would also be a good choice for a rainy day to bring the feeling of being wrapped up in soft blanket, hanging on your couch reading a book with a cup of tea or Netflixing. Keiko Mecheri Vetiver Velours from the Les Merveilles Collection (previously The Bespoke Collection) is very suited for a grey rainy day. It is an elegant and sofisticated dry oriental woody fragrance leaving a soft powdery veil on one’s skin. Vetiver is very well blended into the whole fragrance by perfumer Yann Vasnier by not making it a dominant note.

One could also choose for the classic oriental Guerlain Shalimar or one of its modern (and one of my favorite) siblings Miller Harris Fleur Oriental. Fleur Oriental has amazing longevity and leaves a warm balsamic powdery scent. The soothing Mona di Orio Les Nombres d’Or Vanille would be an excellent choice as well. Vanilla is known for its comforting and uplifting properties. Mona di Orio Vanille is a more woody oriental fragrance. The perfumer Mona di Orio was inspired by an oriental romantic fantasy of an old ship travelling to Madagascar for vanilla pods, rum barrels, precious spices and sandalwood.

Have a look at the scented suggestions of Tara from A Bottled Rose, Megan from Megan in Sainte Maxime and Sam from I Scent You A Day for fragrances on a rainy day. I am curious what they have chosen, aren’t you?

What fragrance do you use on rainy days? A comforting one or do you choose an energizing scent? Let us know your choices!

The other blog posts on rainy days fragrances can be found here: A Bottled Rose, I Scent You A Day and Megan in Sainte Maxime.

Disclaimer: all perfumes mentioned in this article were bought by me.

Daphne du Maurier Rebecca, What perfume would Rebecca wear?

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In my English Classics Bookclub we just discussed Daphne du Maurier Rebecca. I brought perfumes to suit the main caracters in the book. Rebecca was written in 1938 and filmed by Alfred Hitchcock in 1940. I found it an interesting and at times haunting book with the dead Rebecca de Winter in the leading role. It starts with the very catching and famous sentence: ‘Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.’

For the three main caracters Rebecca de Winter, Maxim de Winter and the young nameless second Mrs de Winter I choose fragrances which would suit them as a person. It was great fun to do. All of the fragrances were from my own perfume collection so I could bring the bottles for people to sniff. *

Rebecca the first Mrs de Winter, beautiful, ruthless, evil and chameleonic with the people around her. I choose the rich floral and creamy Isabey Gardenia for her glamorous evenings at the Mandeley estate in Cornwall. For her secret life in London I choose the darker mysterious Mona di Orio Oudh Osmanthus. In the book the clothes of Rebecca were  said to smell of powdery of azalea (rhodondendron) but I have never found a scenting azalea or a fragrance centered around azalea.

imageMaxim de Winter, widower and a handsome elegant man in his forties.  In the beginning of the book Maxim walks out of the bathroom while shaving to meet the young nameless (soon to be) Mrs de Winter. An intimate scene, which inspired me to look for a  classic cologne like Aqua di Parma Colonia.

The second Mrs de Winter, very young, attractive, a bit of a grey mouse in my opinion but others from the Book Club saw her as girlish, pretty and not yet fully developed. As she did not have much money I chose a cheaper fragrance. There are many references in the book to flowers in the garden like azalea, roses and lilacs. The beautiful, lilac centered discontinued Yves Rocher Pur Desir de Lilas would have suited the young Mrs de Winter. The others thought so too. Maxim de Winter could have bought her a pretty fragrance like Dior La Collection Privee Grand Bal.

These are the fragrances I choose.  What do you think of them? Have you read Rebecca or did you see the Hitchcock film? Did you like it?

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photograph 1 and 2 taken from the Internet, photograph 3 was made by me.

*I had asked people to comment on the Facebook Fragrance forum which perfume they would chose and got wonderful ideas like Worth Je Reviens, JHAG Lady Vengeance, Givenchy Monsieur de Givenchy. But as I did not own any of these fragrances, I choose scents which I could bring for people to smell. Nonetheless I enjoyed all suggestions and will try them in the near future.

Disclaimer: all fragrances which I brought to the meeting were bought by me. The large Dior Grand Bal sample was a kind gift from Tara.

LM Parfums O des Soupirs by Mona di Orio

Finding ‘new’ Mona di Orio fragrances can create the same feeling of joy as the discovery of a Van Gogh painting. It is a rare delight. As many of you might know Mona di Orio died very suddenly from a minor medical procedure in December 2011 at the age of 42. At this moment one of her un launched fragrances has just been introduced by the Dutch perfume company Maison Mona di Orio: Eau Absolue. Later this year another ‘new’ fragrance will be presented by Maison Mona di Orio for the Les Nombres d’Or Exclusive line.

Some weeks ago I read on the parfumaria website some of the Laurent Mazzone (LM) perfumes were attributed to the perfumer Mona di Orio. This had been rumored before on several perfume websites but it was never officially confirmed by LM Parfums. Yesterday LM Parfums officially confirmed three perfumes were made by the perfumer Mona di Orio: Ambre Muscadin, O des Soupirs and Patchouly Boheme. I will review O des Soupirs briefly.

O des Soupirs is a very happy uplifting original floral perfume. The opening was a bit off putting as it reminded me of the scent of plastic dolls and gave me the impression of something artificial but after its top notes its scents were wonderfully uplifting to me. At this moment it is my favorite of the three perfumes but this might be due to the season we are in, as it is spring time. O des Soupirs gives me the feeling of a young girl being in a candy store and feeling intense joy of choosing a candy. The purity of innocent joy like the children on the painting.

O des Soupirs means water of sighs, O being short for eau. What a beautiful delicate name for a perfume ! Lovers of fragrances made by Mona di Orio can enjoy these three newly found perfumes. I can imagine this to be very happy news for lovers of Mona di Orio perfumes.

LM Parfums can be bought at www.parfumaria.com, www.jovoyparis.com, and www.ausliebezumduft.de and many other niche perfume shops online.

Do you own a perfume made by Mona di Orio ? Which one is your favourite ?

Leave a comment by telling us which Mona di Orio perfume is your favourite and subscribe to our website or follow us on twitter or tell us how you follow if you already do, you can win a 2 ml sample of O des Soupirs, draw will close on Sunday 16 august 12.00 AM Parisian Time. We will contact you by mail if you are the winner. Worldwide draw ! And the winner is: Fazal ! We have sent you an E mail. Congratulations, Fazal ! The give away is now closed.

Painting by John Singer Sargent, Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose, 1885-1886,  copyright Tate of Britain.

First published on April 8th, 2013 Re edited: August 11, 2015