Top Notes 
Oil paint
Red dahlia
Saffron
Heart Notes 
Ballet shoe
Caramel
Ginger
Spice bread
Base Notes 
Cedar
Musk
Oud
Sandalwood11/29/2024
Katemorganb
32 Reviews
Katemorganb
2
Ginger in Technicolor
The Red Shoes is a stunning film, and it follows that Les Chaussons Rouges would be a stunning scent. A bright, almost bitter ginger note carries this perfume, from its slightly astringent opening to its sweeter, woodier base. There is an old-fashioned quality to this scent, not necessarily in the way of how a "grandma perfume" would smell to a younger, more modern nose, but in the way a vintage fragrance can surprise you by smelling fresher and brighter than you expected. It paints an olfactory picture of an old theater with velvet seats, and the frilly dressing room occupied by its head ballerina; the old wood, the bite of hairspray, the tart sweetness of oil paint thinned out with linseed and then brushed onto wooden backdrops.
As I wear it, the caramel note sweetens the dry woods and hint of oud-y funk in the base, and the overall impression is that of a pile of candied ginger surrounded by woodshop sawdust, interpreted through the lens of a classic perfumer. I like that it isn't as gourmand on me as the notes made it sound, and I like that it feels a little old-fashioned. It reminds me a little of when my grandma took me with her to get her hair permed, and how the salon smelled like Elnett hairspray, and of working behind the scenes at my local theater, which opened in 1919. The bright spices and olfactory nostalgia have made this an easy reach as the weather cools and the looming specter of Christmas creeps closer.
As I wear it, the caramel note sweetens the dry woods and hint of oud-y funk in the base, and the overall impression is that of a pile of candied ginger surrounded by woodshop sawdust, interpreted through the lens of a classic perfumer. I like that it isn't as gourmand on me as the notes made it sound, and I like that it feels a little old-fashioned. It reminds me a little of when my grandma took me with her to get her hair permed, and how the salon smelled like Elnett hairspray, and of working behind the scenes at my local theater, which opened in 1919. The bright spices and olfactory nostalgia have made this an easy reach as the weather cools and the looming specter of Christmas creeps closer.
