Owen Bawn
Garden party cupcake scented
London by Burberry. I took it out this morning for the first time in at least a year and a half; probably longer. But it snowed last night and London is a quintessential cold weather fragrance. Some say it is Christmas in a bottle. I can see where they might get that, but I get something else.
London is harsh when first applied. I usually think I've made a mistake and I begin to regret it. But after 2 minutes it opens to a bergamot and tea- a real Earl Grey experience. At the same time there's a lot going on in the background, and after 7 or 10 minutes the Earl Grey is joined by a rich and sweet tobacco note. And then another. And another. Tobacco with fruit, tobacco with port wine, tobacco blended with tobacco. Have you ever been in an ancient tobacconist shop? A shop with old wood paneling and oak and glass display cases that have held tobacco for so long that the shop could close and be emptied tonight but 5 years from now the tobacco scent would still fill the air. Not one tobacco note- a seemingly endless variety of flavored and blended tobacco in a shop where even the wooden fixtures smell like tobacco-- THAT's what I get from Burberry London. I'm transported back to Harvard Square and I step in to Leavitt & Peirce, Tobacconists, with the game balls from Harvard Yale games played in the nineteenth century and oars from the Head of the Charles Regatta adorning the walls. They, too, smell like tobacco. Then as I am nearly overwhelmed by the sweet scent of so many tobacco products someone brings in another white china pot of steaming Earl Grey tea and I enjoy another fragrant cup while I peruse the goods on offer and try to think of a way to slip a hockey puck from a 1948 win over Dartmouth into my pocket without being caught.
All that for 30 bucks. Highly recommended. You might even find Christmas in a bottle!
London is harsh when first applied. I usually think I've made a mistake and I begin to regret it. But after 2 minutes it opens to a bergamot and tea- a real Earl Grey experience. At the same time there's a lot going on in the background, and after 7 or 10 minutes the Earl Grey is joined by a rich and sweet tobacco note. And then another. And another. Tobacco with fruit, tobacco with port wine, tobacco blended with tobacco. Have you ever been in an ancient tobacconist shop? A shop with old wood paneling and oak and glass display cases that have held tobacco for so long that the shop could close and be emptied tonight but 5 years from now the tobacco scent would still fill the air. Not one tobacco note- a seemingly endless variety of flavored and blended tobacco in a shop where even the wooden fixtures smell like tobacco-- THAT's what I get from Burberry London. I'm transported back to Harvard Square and I step in to Leavitt & Peirce, Tobacconists, with the game balls from Harvard Yale games played in the nineteenth century and oars from the Head of the Charles Regatta adorning the walls. They, too, smell like tobacco. Then as I am nearly overwhelmed by the sweet scent of so many tobacco products someone brings in another white china pot of steaming Earl Grey tea and I enjoy another fragrant cup while I peruse the goods on offer and try to think of a way to slip a hockey puck from a 1948 win over Dartmouth into my pocket without being caught.
All that for 30 bucks. Highly recommended. You might even find Christmas in a bottle!