Field Notes from Paris – evocative and tender and romantic

Photo: perfumeniche

Living in Toronto gives me access to some great perfume sources, but occasionally, you come across a little gem outside your area code that warrants attention. That is how I ended up in a small shop in Burlington, Ontario, one winter’s day.

When I walked into the store, I realized it was a niche lover’s dream, with shelves of lines I’d never seen and fragrances I’d never smelled. The owners discovered these lines during their travels to Europe. Sniffing and chatting with them was great fun, and I learned a lot that day. One of my surprises was Ineke, a small indie line based in San Francisco, named for owner/perfumer Ineke Rühland. My takeaway that day was Field Notes from Paris by Ineke.

Ms. Rühland was born in Canada but moved to Europe in the mid-eighties to study perfumery in Versailles. After completing her apprenticeship in Paris, she moved to San Francisco, where she launched Ineke in 2006. Field Notes from Paris is part of the Alphabetical Collection, where names of the fragrances represent a letter of the alphabet. For example, ‘A’ is represented by After My Own Heart, ‘B’ is represented by Balmy Days and Sundays and ‘F’ is represented by Field Notes from Paris, and so on. My takeaway that day was Field Notes from Paris by Ineke.

Ineke likes to tell stories with scent. Field Notes from Paris was inspired by the halcyon days she spent studying perfume as a young woman in Paris. It evokes romantic memories of sitting in an outdoor café, lingering over a café crème for hours, people-watching, smelling the scents of the things around and making notes in a journal.

It opens with fresh, citrusy bergamot that soon yields to a note of sweet, jasmine-faceted, heady, orange flower. Coriander seed gives the opening a spicy warmth. As it moves to the heart, rich, aromatic notes of tobacco flower and leaf are warm and ambery sweet and with a slightly grassy, hay-like facet that creates a cozy, comfortable feeling. The tobacco also has an earthy aspect that calls up a note of patchouli, which adds depth but not darkness. It’s the perfect counterbalance to the tobacco. Cedarwood is warm, woody and balsamic, and it links to the patchouli to give Field Notes from Paris a woody character. Tonka bean is warm, smooth and hay-like. It extends those aspects of the tobacco facets to the base. A note of leather is soft and supple, sitting on a note of honeyed, musky beeswax. Creamy, sensuous, cozy vanilla completes the composition.

Field Notes from Paris dries down to a floral, warm, woody, slightly powdery spring scent that’s gentle, evocative, tender and romantic.

I am sitting in an outdoor café in Paris. A warm, gentle breeze carries the scent of flowers, green grass, my leather-bound journal, and the cream in my café crème. I feel cocooned in its serene beauty whenever I wear Field Notes from Paris.

Check out Field Notes from Paris in our Shop.