Mariah Carey M Eau de Parfum
L de Lolita Lempicka pure parfum extrait
Serge Lutens Jeux de Peau Eau de Parfum
Molinard Vanille Marine Eau de Toilette
Thierry Mugler Womanity Eau de Parfum
My Savory Perfumes (and a Quick Note on my New Camera!)
Warning: There’s no way to tell you about a perfume other than to describe it in words, so if you’re not interested in reading a lot of text, you might want to skip this post (or just like it for the images)!
Let’s begin by first establishing that pure salt doesn’t actually have a smell. Popular references to the scent of salt are created by things that accompany it. Like the scent of fried chicken, or the ocean. When you smell the ocean, it is not the salt you smell but the scent of a chemical (dimethly sulfide) produced by algae and bacteria in the water. This smell triggers an “impression" of saltiness in our minds based on an association we have formed between sea water and saltiness. And that’s also why salty scents are far more subjective than regular ones. Lets lay it out there. What smells yum to you might smell like decay or bodily emissions to someone else.
While we can imagine smelling like cotton candy or a creamy dessert, the idea of smelling like steak and pizza doesn’t quite have the same appeal. So it’s a particularly interesting challenge for perfumers to incorporate “salt” into perfumery, and still keep it acceptable to the mainstream buyer. Here are the ones that I own and how I’d rate them on a scale of saltiness!
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Mariah Carey M
(salt factor: 1)
M is a lightweight when it comes to salt. The powdery sugary marshmallow and tiare drown most of the “sea-smell” out. If you are keen to sniff something that has a hint of salt but not so much that it becomes a talking point, give this one a shot. Some people can’t stand even that bit of slightly aquatic smell. If you’re one of those, don’t even bother trying the rest of the perfumes below!
The bottle actually comes with a pretty butterfly cap, just to complete the whole grown-up girly theme, but I bought a tester so it doesn’t come with one.
Very cheap if you can get hold of a tester. (Purchase notes at bottom of post.)
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Serge Lutens Jeux de Peau
(salt factor: 2)
The savoriness in Jeux de Peau comes from Immortelle, which has a salty-sweet, maple-syrup-and-butter kinda edge. The salt is just a slight edge in the whole picture, and adds a little texture to the slight brown-sugar and clean wood smell.
This isn’t a fragrance to blind-buy because it’s so expensive you’d better really like it.
Side note: If you’ve followed me for some time, you’ll know Jeux de Peau is one of my all-time favorite scents in the world. It’s the scent that holds the strongest memories for me, and if I had to throw everything out and use just one fragrance for the rest of my life, this would be it. (The hubby doesn’t like woody fragrances so this is far from his favorite, but who cares eh?)
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Molinard Vanille Marine
(salt factor: 3)
Vanille Marine is a straightforward scent from classic French parfumerie house Molinard, and doesn’t contain that many complex notes or accords, so the salty edge stands out.
It’s not complex, but I would say it’s not the easiest scent to appreciate simply because vanilla and salt is such an unlikely combo (unless you like fancy French pastries). This vanilla is not a sugary vanilla. It’s a very aromatic French vanilla.
I would personally describe this as an expensive salt-water taffy. But the beauty of it is the fragrance is actually very affordable.
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L de Lolita Lempicka
(salt factor: 4)
L is oranges and salted caramel. A very strong and sticky-sweet vanilla caramel with a splash of citrus and a few crumbs of expensive sea salt on top.
This isn’t as popular as the original Lolita Lempicka in its purple apple bottle but it’s just as quirky and interesting. It’s also a pretty popular mainstream fragrance in its own right. The rich, salty-sweet “Werthers’ Toffees" type of feel helps many people to overcome the slight bitterness of the salt note from (again) immortelle. I find the salt, the orange, and the vanilla to be equally dominant at the start, but the fudge-like vanilla quickly takes over. If you like vanilla scents, this is one that stands out from the usual, but isn’t too far from the comfort zone.
If you can’t get past the salt note though, you might find it a bit musty and like brine.
Tip: If you can get hold of the parfum extrait version (pictured above) go for it. It’s softer and the salt note isn’t as pronounced as the regular eau de parfum.
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Thierry Mugler Womanity
(salt factor: 4)
Unlike the others, Womanity doesn’t have any sweet confectionery notes to cut the strong salt. While I don’t think the almost-ozonic salt accord is necessarily stronger than the salty note in L (it actually disappears quite quickly), it stands out more at the start, because of the lack of sweet vanillic notes.
Think of carbonated sports drinks that have a fizzy mineral saltiness to them. Fortunately or unfortunately (depending how much you like it), the savory tang disappears quickly, and you’re left with a sweet, fresh fig, so even if you’re not a fan of savory notes, if you love fresh fruity scents I’d check this out and wait about 10-15 minutes for the drydown before dismissing it.
Sidenote: This comes in one of the strangest and most kooky bottles ever. It’s like a scifi totem-pole or pink monolith complete with sculptured face and a grungy ring on a chain. I’m not a fan of the bottle because I feel it’s trying so hard to make a statement. But hey - it makes for great shots.
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Scent Purchasing Notes:
Aside from the Thierry Mugler which I bought retail (ouch), I got all of the above from Fragrancex.com at different times in the past 2 years. This is my default discounter because the service is good and international shipping is free. I’m always a little surprised when people write to ask me if they’re trustworthy or if they’re selling fakes. I think 80% of my perfume collection came from there and I’ve honestly never had a problem!
Camera note:
Finally upgraded to a Canon Powershot G15 and I LOVE it! Not sure if anyone else in the world can see a difference but I thought it was high time I stopped using lower-end cameras anyway.