Harvest Home, Part II

In a world of niche perfumeries Pierre Guillaume's Parfumerie Generale is a fragrance house waiting to be discovered. Guillaume cleaves to a pleasantly conservative philosophy of naturals, naturals, naturals, using higher percentages than most of his tribe. Of late, Bois Blond, originally created as a limited edition in 2006, has captured my attention as another ideal "scent of harvest." Redolent of cut grasses, cedar, hay and sweet blond tobacco, Guillaume's little olfactory suite pastorale positively sings for me. Many fragrances purport to flaunt "hay" notes but often end up smelling like a pair of socks abandoned in a grain elevator, as if "hay" translated into dry, slightly fermented and herbal. Blended with cedar, galbanum, and woodshed notes, one would expect this scent to be dry indeed. But it isn't. Bois Blond possesses a pleasant humid note which reacts like a smoky musk on the skin and says "I am comfort married to allure. There needn't be anything frou-frou about the country life I lead. I conduct myself with the dignity and freedom of a woman painted by Courbet." Once you've met her, it's a total coup de foudre.

Bois Blond is available in a 50ml eau de toilette at luckyscent.com. Image credit: Claude Monet, Haystacks, or Summer's End, oil on canvas, 1891. Courtesy of the Musée d'Orsay, Paris.