Our minds’ connections between things can reveal a lot about our priorities and obsessions. For instance, if you say “magnolia” to me, my train of thought will first go something like “difficult to capture as a perfume ingredient, so usually compounded of jasmine, rose, neroli, and ionone.” And that’s because I’ve been seeking out and studying perfumes my whole life, and have the veritable perfume museum starter kit in my closet to prove it!

Usually what happens is that I get an attraction to a particular note, and then I’m off finding perfumes that feature it. For instance, I love the smell of real violets. This is a tough one, because their flowers don’t give themselves up to perfume (only the earthier-smelling leaves do) so for years I had a quest to find the best synthetic violet. I’ve narrowed it to two basic sources, Borsari’s Violetta di Parma, and the violet Guerlain uses in a few different scents like Apres L’Ondee, Meteorites, and Insolence.

Of course, all of this sniffing research requires tracking the scents down. In that short list I just mentioned, Meteorites is discontinued, and Apres L’Ondee is only available in Europe.  So a serious perfumista has to have connections. I adore The Perfumed Court, which will send you samples of their hundreds of rare and expensive and discontinued perfumes if you just ask them nicely and pay them a little bit of money. This is super as it gives you the opportunity to decide if something’s full bottle- worthy instead of purchasing it online un-sniffed because you’ve been seduced by the description (that’s never happened to me, of course).

Once my mind has processed “magnolia” as a perfume ingredient, it will move on to work, because our rice sack bags with the magnolia graphic look at me all day long and declare what they are. Alexis, our office manager, is possibly as enthusiastic about the topic of perfume as I am. She has a Magnolia Cinchy Tote that sits near me. And when I’m on my way to the fridge for vanilla soy milk I’m greeted by the Magnolia  Small Cinchy Totes, our product of the week. Regularly $52.00, they’re $39.00 through the end of next Tuesday.

Magnolia Smally Cinchy Tote

All the Best Smells to You,

Bonny