Parfum Extrait
Chamomile, Lemon, Golden Ambergris, Labdanum, Cistus, Opoponax, Myrrh, Oakmoss Absolute, Vietnamese Oud, Cedarwood, Mysore Sandalwood, Vanilla AbsoluteI want to call most of this dark, once the lemon has gone. The chamomile stays a little longer than the lemon, and then it goes too. What is left is oud, oakmoss, the gums. But what am I saying when I say it? Not that the liquid is dark, because I haven’t looked at it, and in any case that would say nothing about the smell. Perhaps I mean low, something I smell near the floor. Or damp, like a cellar. Oakmoss is damp enough, so for that I would accept it.
But labdanum and cistus are not damp. They are sticky and dry at once, and if I called them dark it would be for a different reason. Someone once told me a perfume was dark, and when I asked what she meant she said sweet and thick, almost syrup. By her use the vanilla here is the darkest thing in it, and I would have put it nearly last.
So we could both say “dark” of this and be pointing at different ends. (Does it matter? It matters if she buys it on my word.) The sandalwood and cedar I would not call dark at all, yet they are in the bottle too.
Dedicate to: No Longer Human by Dazai Osamu
Parfum Extrait
Chamomile, Lemon, Golden Ambergris, Labdanum, Cistus, Opoponax, Myrrh, Oakmoss Absolute, Vietnamese Oud, Cedarwood, Mysore Sandalwood, Vanilla AbsoluteI want to call most of this dark, once the lemon has gone. The chamomile stays a little longer than the lemon, and then it goes too. What is left is oud, oakmoss, the gums. But what am I saying when I say it? Not that the liquid is dark, because I haven’t looked at it, and in any case that would say nothing about the smell. Perhaps I mean low, something I smell near the floor. Or damp, like a cellar. Oakmoss is damp enough, so for that I would accept it.
But labdanum and cistus are not damp. They are sticky and dry at once, and if I called them dark it would be for a different reason. Someone once told me a perfume was dark, and when I asked what she meant she said sweet and thick, almost syrup. By her use the vanilla here is the darkest thing in it, and I would have put it nearly last.
So we could both say “dark” of this and be pointing at different ends. (Does it matter? It matters if she buys it on my word.) The sandalwood and cedar I would not call dark at all, yet they are in the bottle too.
Dedicate to: No Longer Human by Dazai Osamu