Eve and Pandora: Two Perfumes by Diane St. Clair

I don’t know how to say this without sounding condescending, but one sniff of Eve and Pandora, the new duo of perfumes from Diane St. Clair, is enough to tell that there has been an evolutionary leap somewhere between her first group of releases and this one (I haven’t smelled Casablanca, so perhaps this is the missing link). 

Don’t get me wrong – I really liked the first Diane St. Clair releases. First Cut, Gardener’s Glove, and  Frost were quiet études of a lifecycle as viewed through the eye of a woman intensely connected to it; each perfume a little door cracked open onto an internal dreamscape.

St. Clair Scents Casablanca: Sultry Darkness & Vintage Beauty

For people of a certain generation, “Casablanca” is a name which instantly evokes passion, longing, and romance. The famous Oscar-winning film starring Humphrey Bogart as “Rick” and the beautiful Ingrid Bergman as “Ilsa” was, on the surface, a war-time drama involving spies and Nazi resistance figures in Casablanca, Morocco, but it was ultimately a heartbreaking romance involving star-crossed lovers. “We’ll always have Paris,” Rick’s quiet words as he said goodbye to the woman he loved, a farewell full of sacrifice, tenderness, and yearning as she boarded a plan to leave, have become one of the most famous lines in movie history.

Casablanca, the new fragrance from St. Clair Scents, was not originally created to reference the movie but it does a great job of evoking the same sultry, steaming, hot and dark elements that the film embodies. 

Queen Midas of Vermont: Gardener’s Glove, First Cut & Frost by St.Clair Perfumes

Brilliant bitch and scent writer, the Silver Fox, on the debut of American perfumer, Diane St Clair and the beauty of her process. From butter to perfume, get ready for a smelly treat… 

As a scent writer one of the main reasons I gravitate toward niche and artisanal perfumery is that the makers, creators and artist perfumers are born to tell stories. Theirs is a different route to scent as opposed to those who enroll for perfume school and courses, inhaling their way through the exacting tenets of commercial perfumery. There is of course nothing wrong with this route and the olfactive world would be . . .

St. Clair Scents Perfume Review Roundup

St. Clair Scents is a new indie perfume line located in Vermont.

When I posted my samples of St. Clair Scents on Instagram Stories, someone responded with “It’s Chef Keller’s butter lady’s perfumes!” with a heart emoji. I was completely confused by this. After doing a little more research, it made sense. The perfumer, Diane St. Clair is an owner of a homestead creamery that does supply Chef Thomas Keller (The French Laundry, etc.) as well as other well-known restaurants . . .

I Scent You a Day “INTRODUCING…ST CLAIR SCENTS”

I was recently approached by Diane St. Clair from her farm in Vermont, USA. Surrounded by nature and with a side career as a producer of artisan foods, Diane had taken the natural step into fragrance. After all, if you live surrounded by nature, it’s hard not to find its beauty intoxicating.

Inspired by her surroundings, Diane has launched St. Clair Scents – a bijoux collection of three fragrances and I have been enjoying sampling them all this week . . .

St. Clair Scents — Part II: Gardener’s Glove, Frost & First Cut Reviews

Gardener’s Glove, Frost, and First Cut encapsulate the philosophy and world of their creator, Diane St. Clair, who was profiled at length in Part I. On an olfactory level, they are nature-based bouquets (with roughly 80% natural raw materials or essences) that embody the smells of the world around her — the gardens, flowers, meadows, grass, hay, woods, and earth — but they are also extensions of her artisanal philosophy . . .