Summer fragrance

Laboratorio Olfattivo Salina

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Salina
Laboratoria Olfattivo (LO) is a not very well known Italian brand which deserves much more attention. It was founded in 2009. Many of its fragrances are worth a try. It’s price (30 ml/40 euro and 100 ml/100 euro) are quite reasonable compared to prices from other perfume houses and some of its scents are fabulous. I also like the modern design of their bottles and packaging. My personal favorites are Kashnoir, Decou-Vert and Salina. Perfumers Cecile Zarokian and Pierre Guillaume have made fragrances for LO. Last year LO introduced 30 mls spray bottles, which can only be applauded.

Salina is a small Italian island in the Mediterranean Sea, north of Sicily. The word salina means salt lake. Salt lakes were used on the island for the production of salt by evaporating sea water salt was produced. In certain parts in the world salt is still produced this way. The island was the inspiration for the eau de parfum.

Salina Eau de Parfum evokes the scent of salty skin after a dip in the sea at a secluded warm sandy beach. The herbaceous wormwood and lavender giving the impression of a natural beach with low bushes where one can retreat in the shadow under some pine trees. It is a fairly modern and invigorating scent. At times it is almost as if I get a whiff of chlorine, which adds a contemporary and clean touch to the fragrance.

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Reviews on fragantica, basenotes and from some bloggers are very mixed. Some found Salina horrible and too intrusive. I like Salina and own a 100 mls full bottle. But I can imagine people finding it too  aggresive especially its chlorine note. Personally Salina reminds me of visits with my parents and their friends to a solitary Mediterranean natural beach in Southern Spain. A beautiful quiet place to swim and sun. I only use Salina when I crave for the beach on a very warm day and I am not able to go. It cleanses me like sea salt and water do. In other days it can be too intrusive for me as well. I would recommend to sample before you buy.

Have you tried fragrances from Laboratorio Olfattivo? If so, which one is your favorite?

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Notes: (according to official website)
Top: Lemon Peel, Marine Salt, Pine Needles
Heart: Hot Sand, Myrtle, Wormwood, Marine Spurts, Lavender
Base: Vanilla, White Musk, Cedar

Release: 2013

Perfumer: David Maruitte ( who also made Heeley Menthe Fraiche, the re edition of Le Galion Whip and Especially for Gentleman)

Family: Marine/Aquatic

Origin of bottle/sample: own acquisition

All photographs were made by me.

 

What a scent can add to your outfit or day

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Photograph: Esperessence

Photograph: Esperessence

Some weeks ago while talking to my sister, she told me she tends to wear the fragrance I gave her for leisure time, Guerlain Jasminora, for work, to add a bit more softness especially when having difficult meetings with clients. She works at human resources so her meeting involve hard meetings with people from time to time.

I had found this phenomenon before myself, as I tend to wear tropical floral fragrances like Guerlain Terracotta Le Parfum or Madonna Truth or Dare during summer when it was raining outside. You would expect Terracotta or Truth or Dare to be more suited for hot weather but I like to add tropical warmth or sunshine with these fragrances and add a holiday sensation by wearing these.

You could try it for yourself, wear a really summery fragrance in another season, a very expensive smelling fragrance while going to the supermarket, an informal fragrance to a very formal occasion to feel more relaxed or a very glamorous scent while not dressing that way at all.

Chanel Bois des Iles is the fragrance I tend to wear when I want to add to glamour and richness to my outfit or Chanel 31 Rue Cambon when I want to feel I am dressing formally, like wearing a beautiful feminine tailored suit.

Do you wear your fragrances contrary to weather, occasion or outfit ? Tell us more about it !

 

How to prolong your summer with perfume

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Photograph: Esperessence Sail 2015 in Amsterdam

Photograph by Esperessence Summer 2015 Amsterdam

Fragrance  can help you get through a clouded rainy autumnlike  day by inviting summer in and adding a holiday feeling to your day.

  1. You can use a fragrance you would normally use on a warm summer day, for example a more calming tropical floral perfume
  2. Use an uplifting stimulating scent, a cologne or cologne style fragrance
  3. Wear a fragrance which makes you feel like you are on an actual beach

Tropical floral perfumes can contain the tropical tiare flower, frangipane or ylang ylang. Or they might not actually contain tropical flowers but give the impression that they do. According to Jennifer Peace Rhind the scent of frangipane is said to impart inner peace, release tension and bring comfort. Research demonstrated that ylang ylang increases calmness. Examples of perfumes which contain tropical flowers are Ormonde Jayne Frangipane and Guerlain Le Terracotta. Nicolai Juste un Reve evokes containing tropical flowers.

Uplifting fragrances can be a fresh eau de cologne or a fragrance from the citrus family containing for example lemon, bergamot or bitter orange. Eau de cologne or eau de cologne type fragrances are my favorite refreshing Atelier Cologne Trefle Pur or Hermes Eau d’Orange Verte.

Drawing by Rene Gruau

Drawing by Rene Gruau

Another option is a fragrance which makes you feel like you are on an actual beach. Like 4160 Tuesdays Sunshine and Pancakes. With its  sweet citrus stimulating opening Sunshine and Pancakes was meant to evoke a British summer beach day in the seventies according to Luckyscent. I find it to be one of the most stimulating and uplifting fragrances I know. Estee Lauder Bronze Goddess is another fragrance which makes you feel like you are on a beach the moment you spray it with its sun tan like coconut scent.

To help you prolong your summer feeling you can use a tropical floral, a citrus/cologne type fragrance or a perfume which evokes the feeling of a  beach. This can be opposite to what you might wear normally on a rainy more autumn like day but I find it works to add an uplifting or very calming feeling to a day depending on my needs at that moment.

Do you use fragrance contrary to weather or season ? If so, tell us about it !

Disclosure: all fragrances mentioned are my own acquisition either full bottles or samples

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