Aura 1968

Aura

Farfalla

Ohhh, now I have to be careful.

Ohhh, very gently. (*White flag waving*)

Don't hurt me, I come in peace.

How do I start? I'm now swinging the apologetic natural wood hammer quite vigorously and justifying myself as best as I can. So.

One thing upfront: No, I am not (NOT!) esoterically inclined, I am neither a vegan nor a pescatarian, nor do I come from the innermost circles of the anthroposophical scene (in other words: I am not a Waldorf girl). I only do yoga for pragmatic reasons and I don't believe in Bach flower vibrations (Hello? Biology class!). So I am ideologically completely harmless.

AAABUT (*ducking*): Actually, I shouldn't be hanging around on this beautiful site, because at least when it comes to caring and decorative cosmetics, I am an ultra-militant anthroposophical noodle. What you dear ones hoard, cherish, and care for in perfumes, I practically inhale in anthroposophical and health food store cosmetics. Conventional "youth enhancers" and "beautifiers" are for me freely available chemical weapons. (My only sin is the good old toxic cream in the blue and white jar-- because of the familiar I-Am-So-Clean smell.).

Phew! Now it's out.

And now let's continue with the text-- to the eco-fragrances themselves. Natural cosmetics are olfactorily a completely different story, and I now appreciate this story very, very, very, very much. Conventional and natural are completely different spheres. There are no gray areas or intersections. Only eco gives the eco-cosmetic heavy user the dearly beloved olfactory eco-high. That's why they usually possess fragrances like the Farfallas. Some take it very seriously (*windshield wiper*) and become ...uhm... unobjective. About protective auras and fine substance. Not me. I simply love the scent of natural cosmetics and the honest "heartbeat" of the plants.

So much for the justification of the Farfallas (and relatives) in themselves. Now to the description. How do the Farfallas smell in general (whether "Aura" in particular or not, that doesn't matter for now)? Well. Have you ever sniffed a health food store body oil or an anthroposophical facial tonic? THAT is Farfalla. For those who don't know such an oil or tonic:

Grab a couple of real little plants or flowers (NO, not little vials with essences). PLANTS. A wild rose or a common arnica flower, for example, and crush them between your fingers. Tear them apart, roll them between your fingers, warm them in your palms. Imagine a hint of authentic beeswax and a homeopathic amount of citronellol and some limonene added. Nothing more. Just what is organically and authentically mashed in your hand while it still "breathes".

Petal-beeswax-limonene-citronellol-mash. Rose water on top (rose WATER, like for making marzipan). Rose water must, must always be there. Organically pulsating, slightly bitter like chewing on edible flowers. It mashes and oozes and "plants". Boooaaah, how awesome!

What? Am I hearing you say "Buhuuh"? Unfamiliar, I accept. But "buuuh"? They are just plants, grown from the earth. Buuuh are actually the amodimethicones, hydroxypropyltrimonium chlorides, the PEGs and PPGs in every baby shampoo, let alone in Dior's Poison. So: Nothing against plant mash.

Ah, I can already tell: I'm mentally writing myself into the total phyto-high. Before I completely drift away...

I hope I could at least make the deep chasm between eco and conventional a half millimeter shallower. Don't hit me, don't scold me, I don't want to convert anyone (I'll leave that to the vegans). Hello? I voluntarily spray "Rive Gauche" and "Maroussia" in my décolletage. For my part, I am (half) open to chemical weapons.

And what about you? Open to a spritz of authentic flower soup?

Oh, by the way: I particularly recommend "Aura" as a variant for beginners and initiates because in my eyes it embodies the best of Farfalla. At the same time, I find it the most universal, the roundest, and simply (subjectively) the most beautiful.

EDIT: I knew you would probe further (*grumble grumble*). So:

That "Aura" captures the typical Farfallian plantiness best, I've already mentioned.

Now a bit more precisely: I only smell the bergamot and the eco-citrusy scent in the first minutes, and even then only muted (so no citrus kick, definitely not juicy-citrusy, no!). I also smell the aforementioned citrus more like a spritz on clothing. On (my) skin, the heavy-hearted meadow flowers immediately burst through. Why heavy-hearted, anyway? They are just meadow flowers! Pondering....

Well, somehow melancholic-moral meadow flowers. Slightly nature-soapy, but above all very stem-heavy: I mean that you don't just smell the massacred flowers, but also the massacred delicate stems and leaves (maybe that's why they seem melancholic, because they are reproachful ;-)). I smell significantly more arnica than chamomile, yes, only very shy chamomile (otherwise "Aura" would be significantly less enjoyable for me).

I don't smell any grasses. There are the flowers and the stems and nothing else. Maybe the sweet grasses seem "stemmy" to me. Oh yes, rose water. That's always somehow in eco, as already mentioned.

Now for the finish: There is no fading of "Aura" for me. Firstly, my nose is too coarsely tuned to perceive a fading of this phyto-soup, and secondly, "Aura" definitely smells and smells at the same unchanged level and brilliantly enduring until I eventually wash it off with a heavy heart (now definitively and highly melancholic).

Ah, my heart is feeling heavy again...