Today is Lunar New Year’s Eve, and I’ve decided to wear Parfum d’Empire Osmanthus Interdite as I did last year, so I suppose it’s a new perfume tradition of mine.

My other half and I have been working fervently each on our own projects during our free time, so conversations around the apartment have been somewhat parallel, and I’ve learned (but struggle to retain) some highly technical terms related to bicycle work. Mine has involved much less specialized vocabulary to describe—I was requested to draw 7 (!) dogs by Valentine’s Day, and I spent pretty much all of last weekend (including Monday, which was Martin Luther King, Jr. Day) and most evenings after work this week on this, finishing them in one week. Now, I can say: the dogs are in the mail!

Having a project really kept me in the present moment and out of the wallows of winter depression, which in itself is immensely valuable. Even though, at times, doing something I love started to “feel like work,” I was motivated by the visible progress and energized by the prospect of making the recipients happy.

Now I need a new project… perhaps back in the olfactory space?

Perfume-wise, I’m still wearing a different one each day, although by now they are all familiar ones, even the few samples I have left. It does seem harder to find as many things to say about the perfumes I know well compared with those I’m trying for the first time.

I did discover a sort of synergy between smell and taste the other day while wearing Tauer Perfumes 08 Une Rose Chyprée, which has a heavy dose of cinnamon. It’s usually quite strong on me the whole day, but I found myself perceiving it less, so I reapplied it. One of these spritzes was right after finishing my lunch, which was a little spicy hot. With the aftertaste still in my mouth, the cinnamon blast really enhanced the flavor, which in turn magnified the scent of the cinnamon! It was like they were meant to go together. Still, I wouldn’t generally recommend mixing perfume with food smells.

Yesterday, I went into the office wearing a sample of Hermès Terre d’Hermès. The first time I tried it was last summer, on a hot day when I thought it might be suited, and I didn’t like it very much, which was disappointing as it’s such a classic. So I didn’t expect to like it much better on a snowy winter’s day, but it really grew on me. The citrus and vetiver glowed around me and felt warmly radiant (there is also a “flint” note listed, and the grapefruit adds a rounding sweetness). The office was virtually empty, and when one of the housekeeping staff commented that it smelled like paint or something chemical, I started to suspect that the culprit was Terre d’Hermès, but I refrained from verifying!

May the new year of the rabbit bring peace and prosperity to you all!