I have a confession to make. Every day I wake up and think about what I would like most, and sometimes it is this perfume called Fille en Aiguilles Eau de Parfum by Serge Lutens.
Most of my relationship with this perfume carries on in my head, but once I explain it to you, perhaps you will understand. It is like a liquid form of winter, deliquescent rapture in a bottle. Fille en Aiguilles means "Girl in the Needles." Its notes of pine needles, frankincense and sugar sap have a holy aspect, which is unusual for perfume. I have only tried this scent once, but the effect was profound.
If you read Eyeshadow Government, you will know that I quite like fragrance, and appreciate a girlish floral scent. But sometimes the more commercial fragrances at the mall pander to the idea of what a woman could or should smell like, and seem kind of, well, condescending. These perfumes talk at you and tell you that if you don't want to smell flowery and sugary, you might as well not be a woman at all. I want them out of my life immediately, and yet, in my adventures across the makeup and fragrance counters, inevitably they cling to my coat like the flu.
With Fille en Aiguilles, it was an immediate match. I thought it had left me after the first night, and yet found it lingering on my jacket and cashmere sweater. Maybe one day we will meet again.
This scent is sold at Aedes de Venustas, 9 Christopher Street; Barneys, 660 Madison Avenue; and Serge Lutens' boutique, Jardins du Palais Royal - 142, Galerie de Valois - 75001 Paris.