Le Parfum de Thérèse: A Non-Review

*Current Fragrance: Le Parfum de Thérèse by Edmond Roudnitska for Frederic Malle
*Currently Listening: Nobody Lost, Nobody Found by Cut Copy

Edmond & Thérèse Roudnitska

It's Spring cleaning time here at LeBlanc-Hood Manor (well, that and I've been watching WAY too much Downton Abbey). This WAS going to be a Musical Monday / Lincolnshire Posy post with  Le Parfum de Thérèse as the focal scent, but I blame this turn of events on my furniture. Yes. My furniture. Well, to be more specific my bedroom furniture...that and the fact that I am a sentimental schmuck; but I'm getting ahead of myself.

I can say with absolute certainty that I have found "My Malle" in Le Parfum de Thérèse. I love Lipstick Rose, Carnal Flower and Geranium pour Monsieur, but they just weren't making the emotional connection that I wanted. Every time until today that I tried Le Parfum de Thérèse, I loved it, but felt a subdued melancholic elegance, mixed with a twinge on nostalgia...for what, I wasn't quite sure.

My absolute favorite perfumes connect me with the past. For example, when I first spritzed Kilian's Liaisons Dangereuses and instantly connected with it, then let my Mom smell it; who then declared that it smelled exactly like something that my Great Grandmother Wiltz would have worn. (This is the woman that I'm supposed to be more like anyone in the world.) Also, Andy Tauer's Une Rose Vermeille has a sparkling aldehyde-esque opening that conjures memories of my mother spritzing Charlie when I was a young girl, then blooming into a jammy rose, which is one of my favorite perfume effects ever.

I deeply wish that my Grandmother and my two Great Aunts could have know me as an adult, as a grown woman. My Grandma Byrd had a lovely knack for being able to hold onto traditions and sentiment while being able to move with the times. The more mature I grown, the more and more important that becomes to me; and the more I realize what a tricky balance that is to strike at times. I was thinking about that as I was polishing the wood on the vanity in our bedroom. Our bedroom suite is the same furniture that my Grandma and her sister used when they were little girls. It's heavy, and clunky, takes up a lot of space, and has been a pain in the ass the move all over the place; but I wouldn't give it up for anything, it means to world to me, and in some odd way makes me feel connected. It's over 100 years at this point, and I thought to myself as I put my Chi flat iron back on the vanity about that balance. Then I took a deep breathe in and smelled the Le Parfum de Thérèse that I was wearing and completely lost it.

In the moment my connection to Le Parfum de Thérèse completely made sense. The retro yet ahead of its time vibe coupled with the fact that it was made for the perfumers wife and was worn exclusively by her for so many years, it all made sense to me. A close familiarity with something, wanting to hold on to it while still looking ahead. This is a sentiment that I hold very dear. So there you have it, now I have "My Malle". Now, anyone want to lend me that cash to buy a proper bottle? ;-)

Sorry I didn't really talk about the way Le Parfum de Thérèse smells, but I wanted to still be able to use it for Musical Monday.


*Currently Listening: Hurricane Jane by Black Kids
**Photo Credit: 1) cafleurebon.com