ACQUASALA EDP BY GABRIELLA CHIEFFO

"We have always held to the hope, the belief, the conviction that there is a better life, a better world beyond the horizon" - Franklin D. Roosevelt

Last week I took a quick trip down to the beach. I spent my day walking barefoot on the sand, smelling the sea breeze and siting at the deck to contemplate the horizon. 
It makes wonder to the soul. I felt happier with a sense of belonging.

For someone like me who suffers from motion sickness, I have been hearing the same advice all my life "if you feel unsteady, look at the horizon". Well, It is true. When you sit in front of the ocean and you focus into the horizon, that sensation of never-ending brings an idea of freedom, simplicity, unification and steadiness. I guess Nature does that to us in general.

The beach offers us even more. Being near the ocean and to profit from its salty marine breeze relaxes us in such a way that right after I sit behind the wheel to get back to the city, I am already missing my spot on that deck. 
Unfortunately this is far from happening.

Back home I was wondering if this is the reason why I love salty marine fragrances so much. Fact is that besides the relaxing effect, they wrap us by the neck and slowly drags us to a romantic day at the beach or a joyful summer vacation memory. Who does not want to live that again right?

They are also very sexy. Most salty marine fragrances feels like touching the skin with the nose and taking a long deep inhale. Bodies embraced, a long lasting kiss...

During the years I have reviewed many marine fragrances and each of them has taken me to a different shore and a different story.

Today I am exploring a fragrance that I received sometime ago from Gabriella Chieffo and I am letting it sink into my skin to see where it takes me.

                                         

Launch: 2014
Country: Italy
Concentration: EDP
Gender: Unisex
Perfumer: Luca Maffei
Olfactive Notes: Neroli, seaweed, elemi, caraway, black pepper, nutmeg, iris, incense, myrrh, patchouli, cashmeran, amber, oakmoss, musk.

                                           

"With a dive, it leaves behind the safety of the dry land. Now it finds itself here, in salt water, a mirror of the enveloping sky. A state of rest and movement in breathing, captivated by the primordial element, Purifying, Sacred. Water and salt. Life and wisdom. The branches of its soul swell inhale knowledge. It remembers being a fish and then a reptile before becoming itself. To have known smells, tastes, lives. It knows it was vertebra below the vertebrae, rocked by its breath, calmed by its heartbeats. In the salt water, made of little tears and little seas. It perceived the same smell that is here now, the never ending smell of a breath that is the end of all smells. Spit that became flesh. Dived into dryness with a wave. Having carried out the ritual, that includes the power and magic of regeneration through generation, it swallows a syllable of breath and becomes life". (Gabriella Chieffo)

ACQUASALA EDP REVIEW

ACQUASALA EDP is different from all the other fragrances that I have reviewed because although it has a rather pronounced opening, with a less "at the beach, but gazing the beach from the library window" kind of aura, it mellows in a way most salty fragrances don't. I see myself in a fancy lodge at the beach during winter time. No bikinis, no colorful drinks and certainly no Beach Boys tunes. Just a fireplace, a cozy blanket, a sip of wine or hot cocoa and a large window to look at the waves crashing on the stones. The sea shore, a salty icy breeze...a walk hand in hand wearing a warm overcoat, gloves, rain boots and a woolen scarf. It is still relaxing and sexy, but also cozy, instead of refreshing.

I didn't embrace the brand's invitation to dive right away. According to Jean Claude Ellena a fragrance needs to tell a story, and the story ACQUASALA EDP is telling me is a bit different of the one told by Gabriella. It happens. Creative people tend to create stories of their own based on memories of their own. But during dry down, after all the saltness was washed away just as a wave washes the sand and moves back down, a sensation of being under water submerged (can I say that at all?). This is what I liked about this fragrance - its versatility. It will bring you either a summer time aura or a gray-ish icy day at the beach. It depends on the mood you are in.

If you watched the Terrence Malick experimental romantic drama To The Wonder (2012) you will never forget Ben Affleck and Olga Kurylenko love scenes. The entire movie is rhythmic and fluid, but the beach scenes are really beautiful and poetic. Bodies collide and separate, they approach and they part from one another just like sea waves on the sand. That is ACQUASALA EDP to me - Malick's Normandy love scene captured in a flacon.

To feel romantic today:

To read more about salty (beach-y) fragrances:

Fleurs de Sel EDP by Miller Harris
Acqua di Sale EDP by Profumum Roma
Sel Marine EDP  by Heeley
Sel de Vetiver EDP by The Different Company
Côte D'Amour EDP by L'Artisan Parfumeur
Mr. Hulot's Holiday EDP by CB I Hate Perfume
Eternal Return EDP by CB I Hate perfume
Bois Naufragé EDP by Parfumerie Generale
Marine Breeze Comparisons 


ACQUASALA EDP can be found at GABRIELLA CHIEFFO WEBSITE. 
Also at LUCKYSCENT if you are in the USA.

Images: +Q Perfume Blog/ Gabriella Chieffo/www.bfi.org.uk
Sample: Given by Brand

LE PETIT GARÇON EDP - MY VERY OWN BLEND

LE PETIT GARÇON EDP

Launch: 2015 – Customized Edition

Perfumer: Ane Walsh

Olfactive Director: Simone Shitrit

THE COMPOSITION

Olfactive Notes of: Cedrat, white grapefruit, mimosa, genet, tagetes, osmanthus, roman chamomile, calendula, fabriana imbricata (pichi), adesnemia boroinoide (paramela), honey & pollen tincture, ambergris, musk algazal.

Olfactive description: Yellow-ish radiant, sweet, waxy-honeyed, slightly fruity, hay-ish and herbaceous, with a balsamic, warm leathery, animalic - mineral undertone. Unique, sensual and slightly inebriating.

INSPIRATIONS

Continuing to work on discrepancies in perfumery, this time I wanted to work the concept of incongruity, in such a way that we would not have either contrast nor opposition.

“To me, you are still nothing more than a little boy who is just like a hundred thousand other little boys... But if you tame me, then we shall need each other. To me, you will be unique in all the world. To you, I shall be unique in all the world...” Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1900-1944)

The Little Prince character represents the open-mindedness of children, as the prince is an explorer who restlessly asks questions and is willing to engage the invisible secret mysteries of the universe. The beauty of Saint-Exupéry's poetic writing goes into such details that in the original French version of the book he has never used the word adult. Instead, he calls adults "les grandes personnes" (the big people). What he meant with that was to say that what matters is the attitude of a person and not his actual age. In that sense children can act like "grandes personnes" and adults can also see the word as little children. Which brought me to an intriguing question that has been challenging me for a while: Do we all have a little prince (child) inside of us?

Continuing to explore psyche as inspiration the brief that I shared with perfumer Ane Walsh was the thought of creating a fragrance that would evoke this child that we have inside of us and what it means to have one when you have already grown. 

Having an inner child means that you are constantly questioning and opened minded without limiting your perspectives. You are aware of and sensitive to the mysteries and beauty of the world. 

But what happens when you let your inner child run your life?

“…The inner child comprises and potentiates these positive qualities. But it also holds our accumulated childhood hurts, traumas, fears and angers. "Grown-ups" are convinced they have successfully outgrown, jettisoned, and left this child and its emotional baggage long behind. But this is far from the truth. In fact, these so-called grown-ups or adults are unwittingly being constantly influenced or covertly controlled by this unconscious inner child. For many, it is not an adult self-directing their lives, but rather an emotionally wounded inner child inhabiting an adult body - A five-year-old running around in a fifty-year-old frame. It is a hurt, angry, fearful little boy or girl calling the shots, making adult decisions. A boy or girl being sent out into the world to do a man's or woman's job… And then we wonder why our relationships fall apart. Why we feel so anxious. Afraid. Insecure. Inferior. Small. Lost. Lonely. But think about it: How else would any child feel having to fend for themselves in an apparently adult world?" (Stephen Diamond, PH. D., edited)

In a nutshell: if the little child does not have an adult making the rules of the game there will be a lot of suffering. I asked the perfumer to stay away of tantrums! Suffering was not the aspect I wanted to explore because I wanted to come up with something that I would like to wear; that brings out beauty, not pain. For that matter I had to detail the brief in a more personal level and explain to her that it all came from the fact that a friend of mine once called me little prince and that I also have a little friend that needs my constant attention and that the fragrance had to be about him...and me:

MY IMAGINARY FRIEND

Garçon is a little boy born in the northwest part of France called La Bretagne (French Brittany), part of the six Celtic nations. In the Celtic language his name means warrior.

To bring the aura of Britanny I asked Ane Walsh to compose a bouquet with mimosas and genet. Mimosas brought a soft, delicate, sweet, powdery floral note with a suave green honeyed undertone, while genet added a hay-honey-like scent with a tenacious herbal tone. To add a marine sensation of a coast line ambergris was added. 

MIMOSAS

Photo credit: + Q Perfume Blog

Following the thoughts of the little prince's friend the fox, in the excerpt of the book cited above, Hervé is not just like a hundred thousand other little boys. He is a unique little warrior who has tamed me. He is my inner child, my imaginary friend. 

The inner child embodies innocence and openness; love and joy; creativity and curiosity; wonder and awe; appreciation and devotion; beauty and playfulness; forgiveness and unity; determination and strength; gentleness and enthusiasm.

Hervé has all that. He inspires me to create; he challenges my curiosity; he is the fine-tuning of my appreciation and determination; he brings unity to my thoughts. Garçon is the little child in me and he is responsible for what wonders and awes me and this is exactly what I wanted the be the core of this perfume.

In that line of thought the fragrance had to be about The Little Prince’s idea of grandes personnes and what Hervé represents to me. The name LE PETIT GARÇON EDP was my idea of a merger of both.

The funny thing is that this composition not only had to have a scented composition of La Bretagne, but it also had to have the golden locks of the little prince and myself (I also have them!). Garçon, my imaginary friend, has red hair and freckles. 

TAGETES, CAMOMILE, PARAMELAS, CALENDULAS 

Calendulas were added to compose an orange yellow-ish bouquet, adding a warm creamy texture (like redheads' skin) with an herbal undertone. Tagetes (marigolds) and a bright crisp, sweet-herbal balsamic chamomile with its apple notes brought the essence of little children and a fruity sprinkle. Honey and pollen tincture were not only the final golden touch but they added a spring-y solar aura to the fragrance.

“WONDER IS THE FIRST OF ALL PASSIONS”

René Decartes (1596–1650)

“Passion may be a friendly or eager interest in or admiration for a proposal, cause, discovery, or activity or love – to a feeling of unusual excitement, enthusiasm or compelling emotion, a positive affinity or love, towards a subject. 

The origin of the word passion is found in the Latin word "passio" which means suffering. On the surface, the word “passion” can stir emotions in us inspiring, motivating and elevating us to live life at a more exciting fulfilling level. But just as the core of an apple cannot be separate from the apple itself, “suffering” is always at the core of passion. We cannot have one without the other. In that sense could Hervé inspire passion without making me suffer? 

Both Garçon and myself are solar souls. So I wanted this aura for the very first whiff. I also wanted the notion of freshness because both children and passions have in its core the freshness of a new adventure, the excitement for life. Cedrat and white grapefruit were added to give this freshness that only citrusy notes can give, but also to balance the sweetness of the fragrance with a zesty varnish. Paramela notes were also added to bring a sensation of well being and fluidity.

LA BRETAGNE

So far the idea was a solar fresh orange yellow-ish Breton composition which brought me back to the question of incongruity (the proposal mentioned at the beginning of this post) and other questions that came along: is it possible to create a fragrance that is slightly carnal and yet, take you to a spring/summer trip to the blooming coasts and still make sense? And if we can't have passion without suffering how can I leave pain out of the brief?

The term passion is particularly used in the context of romance or sexual desire though it generally implies a deeper or more encompassing emotion. For that matter the perfume had to contain both wonder and awe, but in a different tone  - the tone of passion. Ane Walsh surprised me by adding Fabriana Imbricata, a note that is said to have inebriating effects when inhaled. By the way, I learned that Paramela smell is also very attractive. Both notes combined with ambergris and musk algazal ended up developing a rather disturbing stimuli. Something that it is kinda difficult to explain. Provocative and instigating.  Sensuality with a fleshy-warm-sweet kinky touch was added, bringing the sensation of touching skin, of instinctive sex, of something rather chemical (chemistry of attraction). Osmanthus came to compose the flowery bouquet with a sweet, warm, rich, honeyed leathery note and an elegant animalic undertone. Fact is that smelling this perfume on my skin makes me blush.

So, answering my very own question, as incongruent as it seemed, passion, desire, wonder, awe, the coast of La Bretagne and my imaginary friend were brought altogether to compose one fragrance. LE PETIT GARÇON EDP ended up being artistically conceived and unpredictable exuberant as passions are. 

***

Cole Porter was an all-time talented composer and song writer. In 1936 he composed a song about the incongruity of passions and in 1946 Frank Sinatra brought a beautiful romantic tone to the lyrics. 

Wearing LE PETIT GARÇON EDP puts a huge smile on my face and it feels as silky as Sinatra's version of I've got you under my skin.   It makes me travel to La Bretagne.  It fells like lying on the warm sand. It brings me closer to my inner imaginary friend Hervé.



I've got you under my skin
I've got you deep in the heart of me
So deep in my heart that you're really a part of me
I've got you under my skin

I've tried so not to give in
I've said to myself this affair never will go so well
But why should I try to resist, when baby I know so well
I've got you under my skin

I'd sacrifice anything come what might
For the sake of having you near
In spite of a warning voice that comes in the night
And repeats, repeats in my ear

Don't you know little fool, you never can win
Use your mentality, wake up to reality
But each time I do, just the thought of you
Makes me stop before I begin
'Cause I've got you under my skin

SMELL IN THE CITY - AN URBAN OLFACTIVE JOURNEY IN SÃO PAULO - BRAZIL - PART IV

In my first article of the SMELL IN THE CITY series I started to describe the SMELLSCAPE of São Paulo City. Today I will continue to  deepen into the unique olfactive qualities of this city by bringing to you sensory information of my perception of different places and sites.

Before we start this journey I will introduce a concept that will be used many times in this text - SMELLSCAPE.
 In "Landscape's - ocular-centrism and beyond?" Hannah Mcpherson from the school of Architecture, Planning & Landscape of the University of Newcastle, UK explains that although the environment perception literature focus mostly in the ocular centric approach (sight), there are other alternative aspects of how the land is sensed and interacted with. 
Talking about multi-sensory interaction with the land she points out that the relationship between perception, the senses and the landscape is not fixed, but geographically, historically and culturally contingent. She also mentions the works of Porteous and the inclusion of the such terms as soundscapes and smellscapes.
Our perception of places and landscapes are also understood experiencing sounds and smells. Landscape perception is therefore, a "whole-body activity".
The experience of visiting a city cannot be reduced only to a visual perception of the place and its landscape, but an enriched experience that must bring a multi sensory exploration!
For us here sound and touch are less important, but not excluded. I will focus more on the SMELLSCAPE of São Paulo by bringing general smellscapes for the entire city, no matter where you are located or local olfactive experiences in neighborhoods of my choice.
 Last time I started describing São Paulo's general smellscape as follows:

"My smell walk in São Paulo City starts with an olfactive exercise of trying to decompose the general smell that is particular of my city. 

Unfortunately the stench of Tiete & Pinheiros Rivers is growing stronger as we approach to Summer, added to the fact that the air is denser and dryer due to a long and severe period of drought. We are facing an increasing amount of dust in the air and also in the level of the city's pollution. The result is a stronger odor of sewer discharge (consisting of industrial and domestic waste) combined with the stench of abrasive metallic pollutants and the smell of a haze of urban dust which is a mix of fine particles of residual concrete, paint, wood and many others materials used in the construction of buildings.
These 02 rivers with high concentrations of sulfides flow through the city bringing a smell of putrid waste and rotten eggs all together.

It is indeed a very difficult task drift away from that stench, but a trained nose must be succeed by focusing in something else".

Updating the local meteorological status - it started to rain. In fact we have been celebrating many heavy to medium showers lately - which painted a slightly different scenario in our smellscape. Let's say the smell of dust has decreased and the smell of humidity has returned.

To describe the olfactive urban design of São Paulo I will start from below the nose with smells located underfoot with the Brazilian pavements and sidewalks.

BRAZILIAN PAVEMENTS & SIDEWALKS
You will find different types of pavements and pavements techniques in São Paulo. The most beautiful one IMO is the mosaic shaped sidewalks:

Calçada portuguesa – Portuguese Calçada or mosaic (also known in Brazil as Portuguese stones) is a specific pavement, used mostly for finishing the walkways and sidewalks, alleys, squares and other bustling places. This stone flooring is particularly popular in Portuguese speaking countries. The unique mosaic pavements (typically from limestone or basalt) are irregularly shaped. The game of contrasts allows forming various decorative designs because of the difference in the nuances of the different pieces. The most common colors used for shaping the cobblestones are black and white, but there may be found in red and brown. (extracted from the work of Tatiana Weintraub and Waldemar Celes "Modeling the Copacabana Sidewalk Pavement").

Contrary to Israel and the United States where pavements made of concrete are everywhere, here we find a vast array of styles and materials. What is unique about these pavements is that there is a sense that time has stopped here. Sometimes you feel you are in a small village centuries ago just by looking to these trails of limestones. Brazilians are not picky about plants growing on the corners of the sidewalks. Sometimes the roots of trees have such extraordinary growth underneath the pavements and that they lift the sidewalks and street pavements resulting in superficial runoff, or end up crackling them considerably, taking over the landscape. 

São Paulo has many streets and entire areas presenting partial or total pavement destruction due to high traffic density and the high volume of pluvial waters a year round. Urban flooding is still a reality here even in the fanciest neighborhoods.

In terms of smellscape there is a very exquisite combination of mineral smells of limestone and basaltic stones combined with the smell of dirty humidity from soil and rain water evaporating with the heat. 

São Paulo is in constant rebuilding, so it is very common to find the smell of shaving/grinding stones, the tarry- rubbery smell of blacktop (asphalt mix) or the smell of smoke and oil of tractors working outside on the streets.

RUSTIC TOUCH

Interlocked concrete pavements do exist in larger areas and squares, but the streets of São Paulo still offer the vintage experience.Then there is the particular smell of the humid dirty accumulated between stones combined with the smell of moss that grows within time - a deep green smell of moss with a decay aura on top of it and the fresh flowery smell of plants, little flowers and fungus. Fact is that ecological pavements do not offer the infiltration of pluvial water and the growth of plants and mosses like these limestones do.

Visually São Paulo still presents some sort of rusticity to its landscape. All over town you will find rotten cut branches of trees with huge fungus cultures shelving up and rotten wood benches and fences. This brings a particular smell of wood decay and humidity to the air that is very countryside-ish. To me it is natural, organic and mushroomy. 

In my next post we will continue to explore the city's smellscape focusing in smell sources of all kinds. Good or bad. because the olfactive identity of a place is not the designed by a home spray or a city themed perfume!

    

SMELL IN THE CITY - AN URBAN OLFACTIVE JOURNEY - PART THREE

If you haven't read the previous posts here you can find the links: PART ONE/ PART TWO.

My smell walk could have ended once I found myself under the lime trees. It would be considered an amazing olfactive experience of smelling scents in natura, after all I have encounter many sources of raw materials. Curious as I am and eager to find more beauty I continued to explore the park and its surroundings.

Location 07: Hortensias.
Even that they were beginning to bloom I caught one that had a hint of fragrance. Truth is that these flowers have a very delicate smell that is almost imperceptible. Slightly flowery, they are more beautiful to look than to smell ;(.

Location 08: Sweet Alissum.

Although Sweet Alissum is a border/edging flower from the Mustard family and said to glow in the dark (I have never seen it) it does not smell like mustard at all!

What a joy to the senses is to experience the sight and the smell of these beautiful little flowers! Originally from the mediterranean region they bloom beautifully in Brazil. And the scent? OMG the scent! Pure golden sweetness!

It is very floral - gourmand mixing notes of honey dew, honey comb and pollen. 

By far my favorite honey note of all flowers.

Location 09: Plumeria.

Most commonly known as frangipani these flowers are natives here, found in white, dark pink, light pink and pink and yellow.

Although it releases most of its scent by night in order to attract moths  (their pollinators), here in São Paulo you can smell these flowers from far. They are everywhere and right now it is an endless display of beautiful trees in the entire city!

I am surrounded by them. All my neighbors have at least one tree in their garden. My right neighbor has a tree that is almost the size of her house.

I smell these beautiful flowers from the time I wake up till I go to sleep feeling blessed by this gift from Nature.

It evokes a sweet tropical scent of sunsets at the beach and picnic under trees. It is a sensual and alluring fragrance reminding tiare and jasmine with fruity undertones. 

When I close my eyes under a frangipani tree and smell the scent of its flowers I feel elevated. It is a mythical experience for me.

In perfumery the fragrance of frangipani varies according to its extraction method.

The British brand Ormonde Jayne has a beautiful Frangipani perfume that I recommend to every person who likes the scent of this flower.

Location 10: Magnolia Champaca.
Here in Brazil they are not yellow at all. In fact they are dark orange, almost red.

Heady-floral, creamy, warm, exotic, Joy-ish (by Jean Patou), magnolia - like fragrance with a hint of a tea note and a apricot undertone, it is by far the most beautiful scent I've encountered in the park. 

Champaca is loaded of carotenoids, ionenes, jasmonates and indoles which are some of the main ingredients of its brilliant scent.

Although lime blossom was equally amazing somehow Champaca is more luxurious, more chic.

Finishing the smell walk in the park I could not be happier to close my fragrant experience with the scent of green mangoes!

Outside the park, near to the place where I parked my car I found 3 mango trees.

Final location: Mango trees.

Unripe mangoes, what a scent!

Luxurious, ethereal, fresh, green-ish floral, delicate with a fading metallic hint (due to acetone molecules). It is a perfume ready to be bottled and sold.

Just like frangipanis, the mango trees are to be found all over town. In my neighborhood I have seen many, but not with this quantity of mangoes.

Yes, it screamed JEAN CLAUDE ELLENA loud and clear!

In my next smell walk you are going to take a walk with me and discover why São Paulo in a way is similar to NYC and the versatility of cultural backgrounds and how they influence in the general olfactive experience. Stick around because it is...

To be continued...

SMELL IN THE CITY - AN URBAN OLFACTIVE JOURNEY - PART TWO

My smell walk in São Paulo City starts with an olfactive exercise of trying to decompose the general smell that is particular of my city. 

Unfortunately the stench of Tiete & Pinheiros Rivers is growing stronger as we approach to Summer, added to the fact that the air is denser and dryer due to a long and severe period of drought. We are facing an increasing amount of dust in the air and also in the level of the city's pollution. The result is a stronger odor of sewer discharge (consisting of industrial and domestic waste) combined with the stench of abrasive metallic pollutants and the smell of a haze of urban dust which is a mix of fine particles of residual concrete, paint, wood and many others materials used in the construction of buildings. 
These 02 rivers with high concentrations of sulfides flow through the city bringing a smell of putrid waste and rotten eggs all together.

It is indeed a very difficult task drift away from that stench, but a trained nose must be succeed by focusing in something else.  

The way I did it was by looking for different olfactory perceptions and experiences and provoking different stimuli dissociating from the nasty stench. 
I set my mind to explore beauty by making the transition from urban concrete to Nature. From gray to green.

Here is how I did it:

An EUCALYPTUS PATH seemed to be the easiest way to find clean air and reset the nose. Due to its deodorizing and decongestant properties, eucalyptus clears the respiratory system and the mind. So my journey started inside the eucalyptus forest.

Location 01: The eucalyptus forest.
It was planted in São Paulo in the end of the 20's and the beginning of the 30's to border the Park and block the dispersion of gases of the avenues surrounding it.

The species planted found today are: E. camaldulensis, E. cinerea, E. citriodora, E. goniocalix, E. resinifera and E robusta.

Walking into this forest I had a multi sensorial experience. I closed my eyes and focused on the crushing sounds of the dried leafs spread all around. The crackling sound under my feet made me relax and smile. I love to crush dried leafs since I was little. 
I reconnected to my childhood.
Hugging an eucalyptus tree is also a mystical way of receiving energy. The secret of the healing power of these trees are long known by Indians, africans, Australian Aborigines, Celtic Druids, among others.

Once I felt my body filled with energy and my mind clean of thoughts I took a long breath to consciously smell my surroundings. The smell of fresh green leafs combined with dried ones. The smell of the decay of humid leafs and soil...the sun warming up the tree branches exhaling a woody scent.

Refreshing, slightly camphoraceus or lemony, the oil of the eucalyptus contains eucalyptol, cineol, pinene, limonene, citronellal ... and 250 of other components. 

In a nutshell it is a relaxing and uplifting fragrance  - A very delicate smell of sauna is spread in the air.

  

Location 02: Bamboos.
Following the track I found myself surrounded by high bamboos. 

Technically bamboo is a grass. Some are delicate, some are more woody and sturdy. In the park they are simply huge. The smell of the bamboos in the park is fresh, green-grass-y and the dried leafs have the smell of straw. 

Bamboos can have a foul smell if they are infected with fungus and bacteria. I have once encountered this stinky smell, but not at the Park. Here they are healthy and well treated. There was a hint of decay on the ground, but only if you bend your torso and look for it.

Location 03: Agapanthus garden. 

Continuing to walk I found myself surrounded by Agapanthus flowers. Although known as or Lily of the Nile is not a lily. It is a flower from the Amaryllidaceae (Amarillys) family and although it is not a flower of Brazilian origin they are fully adapted to our weather and soil conditions so it grows beautifully here in São Paulo.

I must confess I am crazy about these flowers, so walking in a huge garden full of them, widely open in their full bloom, is a dream come true for me. These purple-blueish little cornets are so delicate, so nicely displayed that all that could cross my mind that day was The Walt Disney Fantasy.
Unfortunately they were not scented, but the entire area had a fresh green grassy smell that was pleasant.

Location 04: Climber plants corner - Honeysuckle/sweet peas and jasmines.

The wind brought to me a whiff of a combination of flowers composing a bouquet. I followed it and to my surprise I encountered Caprifolium (or best known as Honeysuckle) climbers. These are beautiful flowers with the shape of little creamy forks that is a treat to every child who loves flower nectars. Frankly I did not have the courage to break and squeeze the honeysuckles to experience their taste. 

Truth is that its diffusive sensual fragrance shouts one word: Summer! 
It is a combination of a solar flowery bouquet with honey notes. 
The scent of the honeysuckles was such a treat that this journey could end at this point and yet, I felt another whiff of a similar honeyed note coming from a different direction. I turned to my right side looking for that perfume and I found the vines just 5 paces from me: Parallel training vines of sweet peas were neatly planted running like a hand caressing the skin.

Sweet peas have a classic scent of fragrances from the 19th Century.

It is intoxicating, romantic, sensuous in a delicate way.

Although native of Italy it smells very English, slightly honeyed with hyacintenite orange blossom notes.

Next to the vines there are also climbers running on pergolas and fences such as Madagascar jasmines, know as Bridal Wreath (Stephanotis floribunda). 
Its fragrance is strongly reminiscent of true jasmines. 
They are quite big flowers and at this time of the year they are in their full bloom. 
It was a hot day so the scent was really intense, warm, narcotic & intoxicating, sensuously feminine, slightly waxy.
It has tropical smell...different from the Caprifolium, which is more "Mediterranean" or even different of the sweet peas that are so British - vintage.
Continuing to explore the beauty of white flowers I found a path of lime trees in full bloom.

Location 05: Lime trees path.

One of the most beautiful spots in the park is a street with lime trees (citrus aurantifolia) on planted both sides. The scent is so strong and diffuse that you can trace it for very far. The tree branches display little bouquets or florets that are not only a treat to the nose, but also very delicate to the sight.

Rich, luxurious and citrusy honeyed this uplifting fragrance smells like a finished perfume itself.

Lime essential oils have a lactonic and woodsy undertones combined with spicy flowery ones. It smells very tropical due to a coconut-coumarine underlayer.

From all the white flowers I've encountered in this smell walk till now they were by far the most fantastic ones.

Location 06: Lilies plantation.

We can find in the park has many types of lilies. The most fragrant I have encounter were the white ones, or Madonna Lillies ( lilium candidum). 

Sweet, penetrating, heavenly scent flowers that bring a duality of good and annoying, of beauty and chastity.

Its heady white floral note is sensuous and sultry and although beautiful, they are not my favorite white flowers' scent to tell the truth.

Apart from white flowers, the park offers many other treats. walking around I got to a hidden place with a disturbing sign saying "entrance for staff members only". Uf! Disappointing!

Although closed for visitation during the weekend's the herbal garden can be enjoyed outside its fences. The aromatic smell of thyme, mint, lavender, sage, rosemary and other herbs is intense. In terms of quality one cannot compare to the ones I have found in the Mediterranean Region, yet still fragrant.

Fennel aroma is the one that I could capture the most from far. The scent is similar to anise-licorice; it is herbal and semi-sweet.

Thyme was also very close to the fence and blooming.

Thyme contains thymol, carvacrol, cymene, terpiene, camphene, borneol, linalol, menthone, geraniol, citral and thuyanol, besides many more constituents, but with those listed, if you are introduced to fragrances and chemistry, you can understand the aroma of this plant.

The only herb that I was able to reach with my hand was sage, which is in the mint family. Its aroma is very spicy, uplifting, herbaceous, and minty. Needless to say the flowers are beautifully growing upwards like purple sticks.

If you are enjoying this smell walk, please kindly wait for part III!

In the next chapter I will bring more beauty of tropical flowers and scents found in the park!! 

Meanwhile...

For more articles on fragrances and scents and places:

Smell in the City - Israel 1
City themed fragrances
Hamman - a Moroccan experience
City themed fragrances trend
City of Kyoto by Della Chuang
The scents of New Zeland
Passeio Olfativo por Nova Iorque I e II e III
Miller Harris and Salty memories - Búzios - BR