RANDOM THOUGHTS AND RANDOM PERFUME REVIEWS: TWO FROM SOIVOHLE

Now that the weather is starting to warm up all across the US I’m finally able to ship plants that have been sitting in limbo for weeks or months – or at least I thought I was. Today I spent all morning packing orchid plants, thinking I could make it to the post office this afternoon before they closed, and ship them out. Then I looked at the calendar and realized that Monday is a government holiday, and there will be no mail delivery. That’s too long for tropical plants to be in transit when they’re likely to be sitting on loading docks in places like Minnesota. The way things work, chances are by Tuesday it will once again be too cold to ship.

This afternoon we’re having a storm with hard rain and wind. I don’t think I’m going anywhere, so it’s time to work on perfume stuff. Administrative stuff. Ordering materials and supplies. The not so interesting things that have to be taken care of so that I can spend some time working on Devil Scents this weekend.

When I’m not working on my own perfumes I try to sample one made by someone else every day. Here are two random perfumes for today:

Soivohle Acoustic Flower
This EdT starts off with indolic gardenia, jasmine, and a bit of orange blossom, so it’s basically a typical white flower composition - not my favorite genre by any means. It’s not bad for what it is, though, staying indolic and sweet throughout its development, with some faint vanilla and musks in the base. Sillage and longevity are moderate. If you’re a big fan of restrained white florals, Acoustic Flower is worth a sniff.

Soivohle Vanillaville
Vanilla and much more, this EdP starts out sweet, woody, and smoky, with notes that to me smell like roots and root beer. It then becomes drier and even woodier and smokier, and I love it. It’s a raw, natural scent like campfires, vanilla-flavored pipe tobacco, and weeds. It remains more or less linear throughout its life span of 4-5 hours. A good one!

As always, I would like to emphasize that I write this review strictly as a consumer, not as an expert of any kind. It is completely subjective and simply reflects my own idiosyncratic personal tastes and opinions.

[Gardenia photo from Wikimedia]