Mother-strong - Miller et Bertaux bois de gaîac et poire (Close Your Eyes And...)

In 2007, I listed this fragrance among my "Best of" list, but I didn't do much of a review. I mentioned that my skin brings out woody scents like mad, a fact which renders most perfumes with a strong cedar note unwearable, and then proceeded to gush for a few sentences about this scent.

I revisited this scent recently, and was again stunned at how lovely it was on my chemistry. When you sniff the concoction on a card, it's mostly ordinary-pretty - a powdery floral which doesn't have much oomph besides rose and cedar. It's Kenzo Flower with cedar replacing violet. (I think that simple replacement on its own is worthwhile, even though I love Flower, but I digress.) Sprayed on a card, the wood isn't remarkable.

Then I put it on me.

Oh my. I have to say, when I was an ignorant child reading all those Victorian stories which included lush descriptions of "teakwood," this is what I imagined teak would smell like. The wood note is almost resinous, smelling remarkably sensual without being sultry, and the rose and heliotrope fade into a scattering of warm face talc... not baby powder, but that unique mineral-ish powder smell. It also has a tiny tinge of brandy, which is kind of thrilling. It makes me into a woman of old, writing in a small room, with an apertif by her side. Or I am Jane teaching Adele how to write by a cloudlit bay window. Or I am a gifted pirate figurine on the desk of a lonely captain from the East India Company. Most importantly, in this scent, I am Sara Crewe's mother-memory.

"Close Your Eyes And..." turns into this stunning nostalgic scent on my skin while being modern and romantic. If you have the type of chemistry that makes cedar scents turn to ground pencils, I highly recommend you try this scent.