I am really-really-really picky when it comes to fragrance. It took me years to find a fragrance I loved and once I found L’Artisan Premier Figuier I wore nothing much else for years. I love it for its sensual and fabulous figyness and because every time I spray some on I am transported back to Paris. Just a few weeks ago it was announced that I was one of the lucky winners of the Absolument Absinthe Valentine love note contest. I was excited to win the contest but I have to admit I was prepared not to like the fragrance. I received the package yesterday of a full bottle of Absolument Absinthe, a gorgeous massage candle and a sample of Absolument Homme.
I sprayed some Absolument Absinthe on expecting to be unimpressed and instead I was really and truly surprised to discover I liked the fragrance inspired by the mythological emerald-green liquor. I let the fragrance of la fée verte sit on my wrist and I waited for it to turn bad on me or to fade away or cause me to hallucinate or drive me crazy, making a ferocious beast as a critics of Absinthe claimed it would do. Strangely, none of that happened.
I breathed in deeply the potentially intoxicating fragrance to try and determine the notes but I am really bad at figuring out the notes of a fragrance. According to the Scented Salamandar: “The top notes are bergamot, black Chinese tea, and cannabis. Heart notes are absinthe (wormwood), cardamom, galbanum, nutmeg, muguet, lotus, ylang-ylang, and jasmine. Base notes are sandalwood and musk.”
Absolutment Absinthe was created by Pascal Rolland, the man who broke the ban on absinthe in 1999 with the help of Marc Villaceque, a renowned “aromatician” from Grasse. “Famous for his skills as a grand nez (a “great nose”), Monsieur Villaceque was seasoned in the practice of cold extraction, heat concentration, and alembic distillation, and was therefore able to attain a pure essence of the absinthe plant.”
Now that I smell like absinthe I am looking forward to trying absinthe for the first time when we are in Paris. Sadly I don’t think we will make it out to Pascal’s Liquoristerie in Aix en Provence. We will, however, be going to a Parisian absinthe bar. Don’t be green with envy because we will be drinking the “Green Gold”.
For more info:
Places to drink absinthe in Paris:
Old-fashioned absinthe service can be had at the Hotel Royal Fromentin, 11, rue Fromentin in the 9th arrondissement.
Anthony Bourdain drank absinthe here(which is the foodie equivalent of George Washington slept here):
Cantada II
13 rue Moret
75011 Paris
01 48 05 96 89
Caves du Roy
31 rue Simart
75018 Paris
01 42 23 99 11
An interesting article on absinthe by The New Yorker.
For everything you wanted to know about Absinthe but were afraid you would turn into Oscar Wilde if you asked visit The Absinthe Museum.
For more info on Absolument absinthe check out his video:
Painting featured: L’Absinthe by Edgar Degas.
