Voodoo Love

I just got back from New Orleans -- my favorite American city! -- and both Bourbon French Parfums and Hove Parfumeur were on my list of places to visit. Hove was closed on the day we were there, however -- so I'll just have to go back! -- but Bourbon French Parfums was open. I picked up both their "Bourbon French Collection," that includes several of their historic perfumes, and "Fragrant Florals of the South," that includes the quintessentially Southern flowers, Magnolia and Gardenia, of course! Voodoo Love is the best known creation of this house and is absolutely beautiful, a MUST TRY for vintage perfume lovers. It has that particular quality shared by both Guerlain L'Heure Bleue and L.T. Piver Heliotrope Blanc -- both perfumes I adore -- of being at once soft and rich and very much a journey. The first thing I noticed was an almost sweet though not sugary cinnamon. As the drydown progressed, the soft powderiness of heliotrope emerged and began to combine with a very subtle rose. Further on, I detected sandalwood and some super light patchouli (I think...?) that might be giving it an incense-y, "earthy" note underneath. Overall, it's smooth and beautifully blended. Voodoo Love is a soft, gently radiating scent without much projection; someone sitting within 3 feet of you would probably enjoy your scent, but it would not be overwhelming. It shares a powdery heliotrope with both L'Heure Bleue and Heliotrope Blanc (but L'Heure Bleue is sharper and announces itself more than either of the other two) but Voodoo Love dries down warmer due to the cinnamon and sandalwood, I think. Just like these other two vintage beauties, on my skin, at least, Voodoo Love does not boast amazing longevity; it lasts well for about 3 hours, becoming a skin scent by the 4th (I'm not sure what the concentration is in this sampler set, but when I get a full bottle, I'm going with the strongest concentration they have). But OH! Such a beautiful, elegant, warm scent! So happy I found it! :)))

Perhaps more than most cities in the US, New Orleans has a notable scent. I’d go as far as to say each neighborhood of New Orleans has a distinct smell—where I grew up Uptown/Carrollton, it smells mud and decaying magnolias, horse shit and jasmine, sale beer and a beautiful dark roux or something stewing for hours on a stove. The humidity only amplifies these smells, like a heavy blanket trapping scent, pressing it into your skin. And if you went into a rich lady’s Uptown house—a divorced or widowed woman living in center hall cottage, something old with holes in the wooden floor and paintings on the wall—it would smell like powder and potpourri and jasmine and a slightly musty Persian rug and silver polish and butterscotch candies in a glass jar. This perfume smells like that, except younger and softer. It’s incredibly nostalgic and very New Orleans. The first time I smelled Voodoo Love, it reminded me of the violet candies from Choward’s that my French teacher would give us as children—Voodoo Love is chalky but floral, with a gentle spice and subtle sweetness. Though I should note, it doesn’t smell like violet! It’s hard for me to isolate notes in this one. It’s all soft edges and mystery, spices that are mellowed by the powder scent. To me, this scent is more feminine than unisex. It’s got a glamor to it. Yes, an oldness—though anything powdery smells old to me—but the spice makes it wearable at any age. Perfect for a humid summer, day or night. The woman who wears this prefers bowls of potpourri to candles and writes postcards to friends when she’s on vacation. She likes going to the Botanical Garden and orders a Cafe Brulot after dinner. She wears vintage and second hand clothes and likes a lot of loose, light layers. Minimalism is not in her vocabulary. She prefers the streetcar and Amtrak and her bicycle to cars and planes. She reads The Oxford American on her balcony with a whiskey. She lives in a city, and would never dream of being anywhere else.

A gorgeous, soft, spicy, feminine, sophisticated, alluring, respectable fragrance. All the things. It's all the things. But it is NOT modern, and if you don't have an old soul, a commanding presence, or a nostalgia for true vintage, you might not like this one. It gives the impression of a freshly bathed and powdered woman looking over the balcony on a balmy summer night in the recesses of modern history. Nocturnal creatures cooing in the distance as the intoxicating scent of spicy flowers floats in the still, dark air. And she is beginning to "glow" slightly in the heat, her own natural perfume mingling with all the others. Poetry aside, this really will help you attract your lover, if only for the romance it stirs within you as the wearer, causing you to emit come-hither pheromones and frequencies.

I must love Voodoo Love, as I actually committed to purchasing the whole fragrance wardrobe. It's so pretty! It's a light oriental scent, meaning it's not a big blaster like Opium or Youth Dew (not that there's anything wrong that). It's hard for me to pick out a specific note, like, oh, here is the jasmine. Voodoo has a great harmony. It's earthy, oily, and powdery. I think it would be suitable for girls or women of any age, it's called unisex but it veers quite feminine and dare I say, ladylike. Good projection and long-lasting on me, even in summer. I'm also happy to do business with a small house like this. Will be excited to see how the other iterations of the scent will be like (lotion, powder, perfume, edt,etc).

The perfect unisex scent both my partner and I love it. The name is fitting with a mysterious earthy, powdery dry down. Some spice to it throughout the day it changes and it's very wearable day and night. Less sweetness to this one than the other perfumes from this house.