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Monday, October 03, 2005

Plaisir by Laura Tonatto

The definition of a comfort scent can only ever be subjective; it is also bound to change with one’s mood, hormonal balance and weather. On a hot summer day nothing is more comforting than a spritz of a clear lemon scent like Eau d’Hadrien. In certain dark moments of the soul only an incense scent like Passage d’Enfer is capable of bringing me consolation and peace. Typically though, for me, to qualify as a comforting scent, a perfume has to be fairly sweet, more often than not gourmand, and even rather powdery. There are many scents that would fall under these categories in my collection; I will review three of them, my relatively recent discoveries in the warm and dreamy land of comfort perfumes.

First, the most favorite one, Plaisir by Laura Tonatto.

On Laura Tonatto’s website, Plaisir is described in sensual and exotic terms: “Recollecting the alcove: the passionateness of patchouly dressed with an exotic and bitter-sweet note of pink grapefruit and vanilla.” Truth to be told, I don’t think of Plaisir as a sexy scent, least of all as a passionate one. That is not to say that it is bland and cold, not at all, it is just not about “the alcove” for me, or not in the sense that I assume they are implying. Plaisir is a cuddly scent, a perfume to make you feel snug as a bug on a cold rainy day, curled up with a book or with your cat, you child, your significant other, anything and anyone who would compliment this scent’s gentle warmth and coziness.

The other thing about Plaisir is that the official notes do not prepare you for the luscious deliciousness that is this fragrance. Orange, grapefruit, rose, cinnamon, vanilla, white musk, amber … They could describe an insipid citrus scent for all we know, nothing here warns about the incredible edibleness of this scent. And edible it certainly is. Plaisir reminds me of a wonderful layered cake called Napoleon, one of my mum’s masterpieces. Don’t be scared by foody references though, Plaisir is not overly heavy on vanilla or cloying, no one would ask you if you were baking. Imagine Taint de Neige or Talco Delicato without all the powder, with creaminess instead of powderiness…In fact, if you asked me to describe Plaisir in one word, it would be “creamy”.

According to Laura Tonatto site, Plaisir can be found at Takashimaya, Art et Maison and Bigelow’s (New York); Kuhl Linscomb (Texas); Beauty Collection Apothecary (LA); Martin Richard (San Francisco); Luminaire (Chicago). It also seems to be available from hqhair.com, $72.50 for 100ml (with 4 weeks stock delay).

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6 Comments:

Blogger NowSmellThis said...

Very interesting post, M. I agree that comfort perfumes are almost always sweet, but there are so few sweet scents that I like. Plaisir was too sweet for me, LOL -- yet my favorite comfort scent is Molinard Tendre Friandise, which might be even sweeter. I guess I am just inconsistent? Of course, Plaisir also has a healthy dose of amber, which is not my favorite note, and to my nose, it smells like there is patchouli in there as well.

11:30 AM EDT  
Blogger Marina said...

Thank you R! I actually could not stomach Tendre Friandise and not because it was too sweet, but there was some note in there that smelled off on me. I am thinking maybe it was Freesia.

1:45 PM EDT  
Blogger Marina said...

:-D V., I made myself almost ill with craving that tart when I was writing the post.
It inetersting that both you and R. talk about patchouli in Plaisir. I am quite sensitive (and not a fan) of that note, but it is absolutely no-show here, to my nose.

1:47 PM EDT  
Blogger katiedid said...

So, I'm not going to conquer baking my own cake. But we fortunately are blessed with some Russian groceries and bakeries here, so I'll keep my eyes peeled to see if they have that. Looks drool-worthy, so delish.

(Nothing to do with this post, but the one below: great find on the picture!)

I love when I discover frags that are creamy - Plaisir sounds lovely.

2:05 PM EDT  
Blogger katiedid said...

Oh! I see you have that pic from the post previous as your icon!

2:06 PM EDT  
Blogger Marina said...

K., I've chsen the picture to show how miserable I am about this whole autumn thing, I so dislike cold, wind, rain...arrgh

2:11 PM EDT  

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