Discount Diamonds: Demeter Pistachio Ice Cream- Ice Cream Parlor

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We have been having our first heat wave in Poodlesvile. Which means I have made my first visit to the local ice cream shop. There is a scent to the mixture of chilly air and vats of frozen treats. There have been few perfumes which have tried to capture this particular scent. If you were going to guess a brand which might try it would probably not take too many attempts to end up saying Demeter. The 2014 release Pistachio Ice Cream is an ice cream parlor in a bottle.

For the purposes of this column I could spend a year discussing the perfume brand run by Mark Crames. For over twenty years their brand identity has been in creating fragrances for less than $20 which are essentially single accord perfumes. Except these are not the single accords you might expect. Two of my favorite entries are one of the earliest releases Dirt and Funeral Home. Both of these capture exactly what is advertised on the label. The latter is particularly apt to compare to Pistachio Ice Cream because Funeral Home evokes subdued floral notes in a very chilly room. Pistachio Ice Cream embeds some gourmand facets inside a similar refrigerated accord.

Mark Crames

Pistachio Ice Cream uses a nutty note along with a light green note to form the pistachio. If you’ve ever smelled actual pistachio ice cream you will recognize this. It isn’t the nut it is the processed version crushed into a vanilla cream. The cream accord is vanilla and something which makes it creamier. Then the chill air accord settles over it all. I have not figured out exactly what produces it but the Demeter team does it as good as anyone. It pulls together the ingredients into two scoops of fragrant fun.

Pistachio Ice Cream has 6-8 hour longevity and average sillage.

If you’ve ever had an interest in what single accords in perfumery smell like Demeter is like a reference library. The entire collection is an educational experience in that regard. Most of us just want to smell good and the Demeter perfumes also achieve that. In the best cases, of which Pistachio Ice Cream is, it can be educational and fun at the same time. Take a step into Mr. Crames’ fragrant ice cream parlor and chill out for a while.

Disclosure: This review is based on a bottle I purchased.

–Mark Behnke

Cosmoprof North America 2016 Day 3 Wrap-Up- The Final Toss of the Dice

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I started the final day of Cosmoprof North America 2016 learning about the new brand i smell great. Co-founded by Jane Daly, Randi Shinder of Clean, and actress Sophia Bush. i smell great is a full-service beauty line but it was the fragrance part I was most interested in. They currently have four releases; Angel Cake, Wild Honey, Candy Crush, and Beach Babe. It is a line with Millennials in mind. They have dedicated social media channels for users to post what they’re wearing and layering daily. Ms. Bush also joins in with her scent of the day. The first three are all variations on sweetness with Wild Honey having the most balanced approach. Beach Babe is an outlier for its suntan lotion and ocean vibe. The other interesting thing is the perfume is formulated in micro encapsulated spheres which over the course of the day open up as you apply friction to where you applied. I put some on today and found I would get a surprising boost of scent throughout the day. I also got a kick how my scent strips from the morning turned in to scratch and sniff by the evening. This is another one of those Millennial targeted fragrances which I will be following.

It was great to have the opportunity to reconnect with Mark Crames of Demeter. I have always admired his straightforward sensibility when it comes to making perfume. Oh and he also has a lot of fun at the same time. Mr. Crames gave me a preview of something that will be a bit of a new direction for Demeter. In time for the Holidays they will release a Zodiac collection. One perfume for each of the astrological signs. The fun part is those signs which are supposed to be attracted to each other have been formulated so they can be ideally layered. Brings a whole new twist to the old pick-up line, “What’s your sign?”

mark and the karens at cosmoprof

Myself and the Karens of Sniffapalooza

My last two stops were to acquaint myself with two fragrance collections; one new and one which has been around for a few years.

Parfums Berdoues is the one which has been around. I had tried their original 1902 collection of which the Violet is still a favorite. Over the years they just sort of drifted away from my awareness. Jose Penalba of Amerikas brought me up to date. Starting last year Berdoues released a six fragrance collection which has a new entry Vanira Moorea. They also did a three fragrance Grand Cru collection focused on oud. My favorite of that line was the Oud Wa Misk. The brand has evolved significantly from the last time I checked in. The new direction and perfumes are worth taking a look at if you also let Berdoues fall off your radar.

Then new line is called Paglieri 1876 and will be launched in the fall. An Italian line Working with perfumers Henri Bergia and Eric Fracapane. Each of the first six releases is inspired by a city in Italy. Each bottle has a laser etched colorful logo to also go along with the fragrance to identify its city. It is a well-balanced collection which I enjoyed but the one which stood out for me was Romae based on Rome. It had a wonderfully sophisticated spicy core sweetened with rose and vanilla.

I had a fabulous time in Vegas covering Cosmoprof North America 2016.

For the last time Colognoisseur has left the building.

–Mark Behnke