Ever since I started this website almost twenty years ago, I wanted it to be a respite and sanctuary of quiet and calm, a little corner of serenity and beauty, where old memories could be rekindled and new ones could be made. Keeping things light and tranquil was as much for my own enjoyment and inspiration as it was to provide that which I always found largely lacking on the internet. The sites that I enjoyed were simple, stripped-down, sparse, and pretty. They were mostly silent and without ads or interruptions or fanfare, and they provided a safe space away from the noise and bombast and vitriol of the rest of the online world. At their best, they showed us a world filled with beauty and peace, even if it was brief and finite.
In the ensuing two decades, social media grew and expanded, turning into the overriding monstrosity that it is today, and I’ve kept close to my original design because I felt it was needed more than ever. As the world around us demands serious work and concentration to address all of its growing ills, I still only want this space to be light and airy and frivolous, our own tiny loft of safety and whims, where memories are conjured, and the simple joys of life can be studied and celebrated.
To that end, fragrance has always been one of the more powerful memory triggers and creators. With certain scents, I can be brought back to happy summer days, smoky autumn afternoons, and wintry holiday evenings.
Having only recently succumbed to the rich beauty of the rose after avoiding it for years, my rose binge has found its culmination in one of the latest Tom Ford Private Blends: ‘Rose De Russie’. This gorgeous juice is as pretty as its fuchsia-hued shade – a sumptuous treatise on the darker elements of rose, tamed and centered by accents of pepper and leather, allowing the rose to truly shine, while bringing out greener hints of fresh woodland wonder.
I didn’t have high hopes after the disappointing ‘Rose Prick’ – such a promising name deserved so much more than its sweet and light flimsiness. Ford delivers that rosy promise here, with a stunningly beautiful fragrance that is richly nuanced, and easily the best of his rose trio. It’s the darkest and richest of the bouquet, and bridges the lovely distance between the heavenly ‘Rose & Cuir‘ and his own ‘Oud Fleur‘. It is only sightly reminiscent of the gorgeousness that is ‘Portrait of a Lady’, bringing in a woody and green element of freshness that might make it the ideal day companion for that smokier beast.
As we approach the month of June – when roses are at the height of their enchantment – this may be the memory-maker we need for the moment.
