LG SOTD Jun 20 2024 - Summer Solstice Sun Seeking Hike
#photocontest
Theme: Grass
- Brush: Muhle Travel Brush - Synthetic #HOLLOW
- Razor: Bic single blade disposable
- Blade: Bic single blade disposable [1]
- Lather: Eleven - Sicilian Lemon (smush by u/OnionMiasma)
- Post Shave: Murphy & McNeil and Black Mountain Shaving - Nantahala aftershave (sample)
- Fragrance: Maher Olfactive - Sun Soaked (sample)
Today's weather forecast was for an overcast sky, high humidity, and max temperature of 37°C/98,6°F.
Not a Sunny Day, not the ideal day for a hike.
But I'm no quitter blah blah: woke up an hour earlier for an AM hike to one of the hills that surround my city.
Today's SPECIAL CHALLENGE forced me to revolutionize my plans.
The Eleven - Sicilian Lemon kindly provided by u/OnionMiasma fit the Citrus-forward Theme Requirement, and was also easy to take outside for a hike.
Everything else I had planned to use today was not as minimal as I now needed.
The special challenge made me decide that the rest of the hardware and software had to be something that I could carry in my pants' pockets, without forcing me to carry a bag during the hot humid morning hike.
I wanted the hike to be enjoyable and meditative.
No luggage. Literally and metaphorically.
The prospect of a hike into nature immediately inspired me to grab the Nantahala AS sample, because of all the outdoor references in the official description for the scent.
My previously selected pairing, T+S Sicily, would have been more connected to the "Sunny Days" theme as well as to the "Sicilian Lemon" lather, but my full AS bottle refused to go out for a hike, also claiming that all this Summer / Citrus association is vastly unnatural. Google up when the majority of Sicilian lemons and oranges are harvested, and start questioning the criteria behind the arbitrary decision to associate Italian citrus and Summer. Just to double check, after the hike I went to my greengrocer and asked what citrus they had: lemons from Argentina, oranges from Spain.
There was also no way to bring with me the envisioned large bottle of my favorite Citrus-forward chypre. So I quickly browsed my samples collection and picked Sun Soaked, hoping that through powers of synesthesia it would have provided the Sunny-ness that was absent from my actual view.
FRAGRANCE WRITEUP
Sicilian Lemon is a rigorous and straightforward "restitution" of a green lemon scent. I particularly appreciated the vaguely herbaceous (almost, but not really, smoky) note, that made it more vegetal than gourmand. It reminded of Limone Verdello, the Sicilian variety that actually does mature during the Summer.
Hats off to Eleven for actually picking a citrus scent that has an actual connection with Summer.
The transition to Nantahala was perfect: after the citrus top notes, the AS opened up to the rest of the accord, providing no contrast to the actual experience of being outside for a hike.
This was my first experience with Sun Soaked, and I must confess that it took me completely by surprise.
The accord is not just citrus/neroli forward, as the amber and chamomile notes are making their "rounding" presence felt from the very beginning. This is not a background citrus cologne, it's a main player who requires your full attention, a properly "mature" scent, also in the sweet / "ripe" sense of the word (in Italian we use just one adjective, "maturo", for both meanings). I would've sworn I could smell a mossy chypre drydown, but I see no mention of such notes in the official writeup, nor on the Fragrantica page.
A fitting Baudelerian correspondance to the serendipitous, off-the-beaten-path nature of my experiences today.
Baudelaire, which rhymes with Fougère.
See you tomorrow.
#FOF
#ROTY