Author Archives: Karen Dubin

With the dusting of snow flurries yesterday afternoon, I’m still inspired by winter and all the season implies. So, in looking for some more seasonal sillage, I decided to research fragrances with frosty names that tell you exactly what they’re meant to smell like. Don’t you love when fragrance companies give you an image with the name? I do – and right now I’m looking for snow in a bottle!  Here are some choice candidates that I’d love to add to my fragrance armoire…

Floris Snow Rose – This hard-to-find, cult-favorite scent is inspired by a sunlit unfolding of warmly scented rose petals crystallized within a winter wonderland. Icy cool leafy green top notes give way to the vibrant floral heart of rose, geranium, and jasmine, which are ultimately warmed by soft sweet Oriental base notes of vanilla, musk, and sandalwood.

I have always loved the smell of leather, in all its variations.

I can remember as a little girl pressing my father’s black leather car coat to my nose and inhaling the smooth, cool surface until I felt faint from the sharpness of the chemicals used in the tanning process. I thought it smelled similar to the odor of the dregs of cherry tobacco that came out of my Uncle Harry’s pipe when he turned it upside down to empty into a little ceramic decanter. I can recall thinking that these were both ‘man’ items, and that this is what a man smells like!

Sometimes the scent of leather is overwhelmingly sweet, almost gourmand in effect, like a rich, cloying fruitcake that has been left in the pantry too long. And often, to me, it smells like black licorice candy – dense and chewy, redolent with just the faintest wisp of violet.