London & Paris

Do you know how hard it was not to title this post “I smelled London, I smelled France”?

Last month I was very lucky to take a trip to London, with a quick mini-trip to Paris sandwiched in. I made a list (and a map!) of everything I wanted to smell while we were there, and my family humored me to a ridiculous degree. It’s been a very hard past six months, and I have to say, blissing out and just smelling stuff was truly restorative to my soul. (You know, aside from seeing beloved family and old friends.) I got to visit one of my favorite places in the world, Liberty, and add a new favorite place in Paris, Officine Universelle Buly 1803. If someone told me to go to my happy place, my immediate thought is always my childhood public library (I would go there when I died if I believed in that), but next I’d imagine a quiet afternoon wandering Liberty, zero time constraints, and a friend willing to sniff everything I held up (thank you to Antonia and Danielle for historically being this friend).

Here’s a roundup of all the things I smelled and saw on my trip!

Things I loved in London:

Byredo Coin Laundry room spray: I’ve worn Byredo Blanche for over a decade and this room spray is very, very close to that scent. It has a powdery, clean laundromat smell that you’re either going to love or hate. I love it. It’s so soothing before bed. Bonus: if you’re a Sifl & Olly fan, you will get “Prostitute Laundry” in your head every time you use it. The day I bought mine, there was a lovely artist at the Covent Garden store, personalizing purchases by painting on the bottles with gold ink, so I got mine with my initials. My family was waiting outside the shop (definitely not having any meltdowns about ice cream or street magicians) or I would have taken more time and just let her go wild, because her other designs were so intricate and gorgeous. Had a really nice experience speaking with her and the sales associate about other Byredo scents and what was coming and going. Sad to learn that the scent my husband wears, Eleventh Hour, is going away soon, so I’m very glad I bought him a big bottle last Christmas. 

Olverum Restful Sleep pillow mist: I was very into this scent, a mixture of essential oils (Siberian fir, lavender, and eucalyptus), and it came in a wide range of products, but the pillow mist seemed like the easiest to travel with and nicest way to experience it. I love a spritz before bed.

Nesti Dante Dolce Vivere Sardegna soap: I don’t use bar soap to wash my body, but I love to stow one in my luggage, linen closet, or drawers to make everything around it smell good for a very affordable price. This scent is beautiful: “captures the vibrant spirit of the Sardinian coast, with notes reminiscent of the sea, wild herbs, and sun-kissed citrus.” What did you do today? Oh, I captured the vibrant spirit of the Sardinian coast for under a tenner.

Diptyque Foin Coupe candle: I discovered that I love this scent last year, only to learn last month it’s one of the scents Diptyque is retiring! It’s hard to find it online anymore, but some stores still have it in stock. I tried the one in Liberty with no luck, but then my amazing friend Antonia surprised me by tracking it down at another location and sending it home with me. Foin Coupe translates to “freshly mown hay” and it smells like a sunny field on the first warm day of spring. I love it so much and am so glad to have one to remember it by.

Rhodia Unlimited pocket notebook with racing stripe closure and Iconic Un Jour de Reve .38 gel pen: My family spent a loooong time in London Graphic Centre and probably could’ve spent even longer if we hadn’t gotten hungry. Food or stationery supplies, the eternal battle. I always used to carry a tiny notebook in my bag but that’s fallen off due to my cursed iPhone use, so I’m trying to bring this habit back. So far I’ve used it to make a list of the movies I watched on our flights (Blue Moon, After the Hunt, Splitsville, My Mother’s Wedding, The Life of Chuck, Jane Austen Wrecked My Life, Pavements) and write the first version of this post. Love the notebook, meh about the pen, but then my husband gave me his Uniball Zento Signature 0.7 gel pen and its fluid flow and satisfying snaps are really doing it for me.

We went to the Wes Anderson: The Archives exhibit at the Design Museum and we all loved it and went a little ham in the gift shop. Rushmore is one of my favorite movies of all time, and we have a family tradition of watching Fantastic Mr. Fox every fall. It feels impossible to have lived the past 25+ years without Wes Anderson touching your life somehow, and while I have found some of his stuff twee or tiresome, I always appreciate his attention to detail, and boy, were these all the details. If this exhibit travels anywhere close to you, I strongly recommend seeing it.

Things I smelled in London but did not buy:

Trudon! Six years after starting this account, I finally smelled Trudon candles. I get it now. My two favorites were Spiritus Sancti (my kind of church) and Cyrnos (I am such a sucker for that Provence/Mediterranean scent). The only one I wanted to sniff but couldn’t find was Balmoral, which is fine because I think it’s actually healthy to have a white whale.

Carriere Freres lavender: I do love a lavender but, like tomato, it has to be just so for me to get involved; more herbal than sweet, but not too sharp. I loved this one and thought I might order the perfume at a later date, but when I searched online once I was home, I realized they don’t make perfume. I must have sprayed room spray on my wrists? Whatever; I’d do it again. Only there’s no room spray for sale anywhere either! It just wasn’t meant to be between us, Carriere Freres Lavender Scent That Was Definitely in a Spray Bottle and I Didn’t Just Imagine. If you’re reading this, find me.

Things I didn’t love in London:

Westman Atelier Hyrdobalm Tinted Lipstick in English Rose: I regret this one. I’d been getting ads for this lipstick for weeks so I was eager to try it in Liberty, but now I know I didn’t remove my original lip product beneath well enough, because it’s way too close to the color of my own lips to be worth it. It has an initial minty zing that fades quickly and it feels very nice, but I absolutely did not need this. I bought into some fancy vacation lady fantasy like a rube. My Burts Bees gives the same level of color. 

Muji nail clippers: I learned years ago that Muji has the best nail clippers, so sharp that you barely even need to file after trimming, so we always stock up. But the ones we brought home this time are vastly inferior to our previous clippers. Even though they say they’re stainless steel, they feel plasticky and lightweight, and when I trimmed my nails, they immediately split and frayed! Muji, what have you done?!

Things I loved in Paris:

Nuxe Reve de Miel lip balm and Caudalie lip balm 2-packs: the internet told me these were the item to buy at a French pharmacy and the internet was absolutely right. I’ve been so loyal to my Avene cold cream lip balm (my first real post here!) but they’ve reformulated it in recent years, and now I think the Caudalie has taken the top spot in my roster.

Buly Eau Triple Scandinavian Redcurrant and Peruvian Tomato Perfume: this was my Big Treat and like the best big treats, it was a complete surprise. I’d been planning my visit to Officine Universelle Buly 1803 since Tuesday told me about it a few months ago, and I was hoping I’d find something there that could be my Big Treat, but had no idea what that might be. I smelled everything in that shop and this was by far my favorite. I’m not a fan of most perfumes, but this one, from their Jardins Francais collection, is a water-based perfume, made without alcohol (which is usually the linchpin for me) and such a soft, sweet, delicate scent that I was immediately obsessed. I know tomato is super popular recently but I’m not always on board – it has to be the right tomato, which for me usually means in combination with another scent that calms it down a little, and apparently Scandinavian Redcurrant is the trick. It doesn’t last all day, which is also fine with me – I think that’s what I hate most about alcohol perfumes, that headachey lingering scent. I don’t mind topping up again in the afternoon or evening. This will be a treat in the summer.

Buly Eau Triple Peruvian Heliotrope: This was my second favorite scent, and I wish I’d bought it in a bar of soap. It was so light and clean and springy. Did you know you can get the soap monogrammed? Hnnngggghhhhh.

My husband loved so many of their scents that he talked me into getting the sampler box of their twelve main perfumes because “who knows when we’ll be back here again?” This ploy absolutely worked, and now I kind of wish I’d bought the Jardins Francais sampler box too. My faves here are Lichen D’Ecosse, Makassar, and Yuzu de Kiso, and my husband was very into Al Kassir and Foret de Komi.

Of course I also got their little signature lip balm that comes in an elegant box you can customize in a chosen color with your initials embossed in gilt lettering and enclosed in an embroidered velvet pouch because what am I, made of steel???

Buly itself: The experience here was so luxe. There was a very short line outside (we were at the Richelieu location), but we waited less than five minutes, and they brought us a collection of their scents on paper to smell while we waited, with all the products available in that scent printed on the back. Genius!

The inside was an apothecary in beautifully polished wood that felt hushed and reverent, with glass bells and pumps to sample each scent without filling the air.

The staff was dressed in black shirts with white collars and long black pleated skirts with their hair braided like they were novices. Once I made my selection, the sales associate had me wait until she applied a bespoke calligraphied label to my bottle before boxing it… you know I ate this shit up.