Slumberhouse's Zahd. Or: what you don't want people around you to smell like.

The photo above may be misleading, but this post is not about dessert. If it was about dessert I would have much nicer things to say than what is about to follow. Because I love dessert. I especially love chocolate. I also love all kinds of berries. Yum. But as any sensible person probably knows, eating way too much of it can make you feel pretty damn miserable. Therefore my discovery from last weekend shouldn't actually surprise me all that much: desserts should not be worn as perfume. Because, do you really want someone close to you to smell of cranberries and cherries and chocolate all day? 

Slumberhouse is a small niche perfume house with an awesome website and some very interesting fragrances on sale (and also not on sale -- because limited/exclusive/indiehypedandsoldout/etc.). I enjoy Vikt, Sova and Jeke and consider those three of the most unique, fun and intriguing fragrances my man wears. I was therefore excited when he received a sample of Zahd, the latest Slumberhouse scent, which is already sold out everywhere. But my excitement didn't last long, and could probably have been prevented entirely by a prior check of what notes are in it: Cranberry, Champaca flower, Benzoin, Plum, Pink lotus, Fir, Cocoa, Tolu, Gromwell, Wine ether, Mysore sandalwood, Cherry, Incense, Oak. Gross? You bet. If the woody, floral, Benzoin stuff was a little more prominent, maybe this wouldn't be all that disgusting. But the cranberries, the cherry and the cocoa are so overpowering, I couldn't help but be reminded of those horrible Punica drinks that are popular in Germany, and cherry wine, and cheap cranberry chocolate bars. As the perfume develops, the incense becomes a little more noticeable. But instead of evening out some of the fragrance's unpleasant sweetness, it just makes it smell like a chocolate bar that was lying around in an esoteric shop for a little too long. 

As much as I generally respect passionate independent artists who create daring, different products that will not appeal to everyone but thrill an enthusiastic small cult following, I have little admiration for this particular fragrance. It is not for me. And hopefully people around me share my sentiments about this. Smelling this on my man all morning and evening was somewhat traumatic. So it is comforting to know that it is not widely available and I probably do not have to worry about anyone else around me giving this a try. I advise you not to do it.

Juniper Ridge Cabin Spray: 'Cascade Glacier'

source: juniperridge.com 

Everyone who shares a small-ish apartment with several cats will agree that room sprays are brutally essential to your life. Both of our cats are extremely proud of the strong odor their visits to the litter box produces and like to demonstrate it as soon as we enter the room. They have every reason to boast, it's rather impressive. Needless to say, it was not hard to justify getting each cat their own fancy Le Labo room spray (Cedre 11 for the lady, Santal 26 for the gentleman). But once our cats had their luxurious home fragrances, it seemed unfair we would continue using just a cheap, terribly chemical-smelling spray for our bathroom. Luckily, on a very recent trip to Urban Outfitters, we spotted Juniper Ridge's Cabin Sprays. 

The great thing about Juniper Ridge's products is that they are 100% real, plant-based fragrances. As fans of weird, 'non-pretty' fragrances we were delighted with how all of their sprays smelled. We decided to get Cascade Glacier. Its scent profile reads, "Evergreen forest, snowmelt, bright citrus, Christmas, the Timberline Trail on Oregon’s Mt. Hood, where Fir and Pine give way to ice-age glaciers". Like all the cabin sprays it was "distilled from plants, conifers, bark, moss, mushrooms, and other things found hiking in the Oregon backcountry". I have never been hiking in the Oregon backcountry, but the aroma seems familiar from the wet mossy grounds and resin-coated fir trees in the wintery forests in Switzerland, where I grew up. It's striking how all the natural ingredients stick out in this spray. So if you like any of the "things" used for its distillation, you are almost certainly going to love these home fragrances.