memories of Oma - Annick Goutal Encens Flamboyant

anyone who knows me knows i'm a nutmeg fan. i dump quantities of it in certain recipes, and occasionally i'll let myself go to a Starbucks and will have an iced chai with at least a tablespoon of nutmeg dumped in. since the oil is so volatile, i'm wary of putting it in my own products, and i've not yet found an accord i particularly like. i am also a huge fan of frankincense scents, and have made several of my own with frankincenses from various countries. so when i saw those notes, along with cardamom and pepper, listed in Annick Goutal's Encens Flamboyant, i had to try it.

oops.

now, i've noted before that cedar comes out strongly on my skin. considering that cedar is an evergreen, i would be glad to say that it was some reaction to the fir balsam in the perfume that i was smelling. however, when someone else comes into the room and asks, "have you been sharpening pencils in here?" you have to know something is wrong.

sadly, i get absolutely no cardamom, no nutmeg, no pepper. i get the faintest sense of frankincense behind the cedar, and a layer of rosey, grandmotherly perfume behind it. after the initial blast, i noticed the distinct smell of bergamot twining among the roses, as well as some rosemary and, oddly enough, violet twinges. it smells like something my great-grandmother (Oma in german) wore, combined with the smell of her sweaters which were kept in her cedar chest. there's something vaguely nostalgic about that, but when you're still trying to bring the sexy on, the last thing you ever want to smell of is your great-grandmother.

i've now tried it three times, and i'm sad to say that the promise of the notes does not live on in my skin. i also cannot smell any of the hoped notes out of the bottle. it is possible that my bottle has turned, and i honestly hope it has. i'm setting a plan for myself to go test this from another bottle and see if i get the same result.