Purple Afternoon

i loooove this. a scent for introspecting, maybe even brooding, on a busy, sunny day. you have errands to do, you're hoofing it through the city with an americano that's slightly too hot for your gloveless hands. you're a little hungover, the sun is a little too bright. the cashmere scarf hanging loosely around your neck smells like the american spirits you borrowed last night. there's a cool, autumnal breeze in the air. i'm learning i REALLY like iris perfumes and this is no exception. the iris really comes through! seems really well-blended, all the notes compliment each other pretty seamlessly. feels perfectly unisex to me. it has a vintage vibe to it. it's sophisticated, but not stuffy. wears very well with a leather jacket. definitely perfect for fall thru winter, but i can see myself liking this mixed with the sweat and humidity of summer too, especially on a night out. also, my roommate just surprised me by saying he's been getting whiffs from across the room -- i'm not wearing that much so i think the sillage can be deceptively strong (which i like tbh).

as soon as i purchased this fragrance i doused myself in it. sweet and spicy like a roasted carrot spiced with powdered cardamom. later that day i went to see my mother who said she had news to share with me. her partner of 10 years had been having an affair with a woman who lives in a house filled with cuckoo clocks. this fragrance is very long lasting. Purple Afternoon accompanied us as a beautiful aromatic soundtrack deep into the night as we smashed his guitar, threw his bodybuilding weights on the lawn and mopped up our wine spills and vomit with his clothes. to this day when i put it on i am teleported to a night of shrieking banshee possession. i now wear this scent when i need to summon my inner wicked witch. a must have!

anyone else get leather from this? i get condensed milk, leather, and just a tad of coffee and warmth—whatever that is—without being spicy. it’s a dry fragrance, in my opinion—how can it be? because it also somehow manages to give me sticky vibes. i originally disliked it when i got a sample years ago, but now i’m kind of digging it. there is something in it that reminds me of band-aids—like the scent of a band-aid (i also get the same thing from santal kardamon)—that sometimes gets on my nerves. i like this brand; their creations are quite wearable and not try-too-hard. p.s. ok, my bad, i just realized that this too has cardamom 😂

this is what the kids call “dark academia”. dusty sexy, powdery rich. the coffee is so chocolately, like a box of dutch process cocoa powder, i’m surprised i don’t see chocolate on the notes. theres as much orris here as coffee - it’s old wool garments and mothballs and wooden drawers. there’s a lot of that imagery in these reviews: cozy! library! but it’s a sexy, cozy, library. it’s lace under the wool sweater, cigarettes, whiskey in the coffee. really signature. debating buying a bottle because i WANT to have it, but i can’t imagine wearing it often. so distinctive.

The orris and spice smooth all the edges, softening any bitterness and leaving only the ghost of coffee and tobacco behind. Like an imprint. Like noticing the smell of your own home after a long vacation. Or for me, like stepping into my uncle’s house in Seattle in the nineties, when he had just bought his first espresso machine after doing design work for Starbucks, and the pipe he smoked while tying flies. He always saved me the best feathers. Really great longevity. I catch little whiffs all day.