Welcome to another edition of Mood Scent 4. This session we’re discussing diva fragrances. These days I feel that meaning of the word diva has a bit of a bad rap, however it can simply refer to a very successful and famous female singer, originally of the operatic variety. Typically though we tend to focus on the disagreeable and temperamental behavioural part of the definition, as someone who is self important and rather difficult to please, perhaps rather bossy and with a high level of entitlement.  It also must be noted that this word is typically associated with women. One can’t help but ponder that the same behaviour may go rewarded from a male. Anyway moving on … For the benefits of this post I will take it to mean that it’s a perfume that is a force of nature, it demands your attention and when you wear the scent it makes you feel like you could morph into a diva at any given moment.

I will confess that I’m not staying at my usual abode and do not have my fragrance collection with me, only a small set of treasures and samples. So my playing the diva perfumes are coming from this selection as I need to  wear them to get inspired and I feel that these are the fragrances that best fit the brief for today’s post.

Please follow my other fellow Mood Scent 4 group writers : Samantha on I Scent You A Day, Esperanza on L’Esperessence and Portia at Australian Perfume Junkies.

Diva No 1 : Anubis : Papillon  : Liz Moores : 2014

Anubis is a sultry diva who is looking to behave badly in a dark space somewhere, hiding away from onlookers. This has been my favourite Papillon perfume for some time now. As an aside, I must note that there is a challenger to this top spot, as new scent Bengale Rouge is simply fantastic. Anubis has such an hypnotically smoky, sexy feel. The diva is woke in this scent. There’s a leathery, aspect with dirty jasmine and frankincense that somehow smells more intense and majestic than the sum of its parts. I always wear this scent on NYE  – it’s my diva ritual. Long may it continue.

Diva No 2 : Red Shoes : Cecile Zarokian : Jacques Fath : 2018 

This is a voluptuous, blood like diva scent inspired by a red dress that Jacques Fath created for model Bettina in 1950 (see above). The name comes from the film Red Shoes (1948), for which the designer made costumes for the prima ballerina. Red Shoes the fragrance has a Maria Callas style of drama with an operatic feel. This is a big, bold blend of berries, rose and patchouli with a  touch of spice and something sharper that manages to smell really different to your average rose perfume with a patchouli flash. There is something rather dangerous about this fragrance, it has a sense of power and risk taking. Red Shoes feels like an event perfume for me, in that it’s not a spritz and go scent, this is definitely for moments when impact is required, when you want to cause a scene.

Diva No 3 : IrisSoir : Sultan Pasha : Sultan Pasha Attars : 2016

I do feel that iris themed perfumes are usually more of the ice queen than the diva but this beautiful attar is one of my favourite fragrances in this genre. Irisoir is a diva with the most captivating voice winging her way in from the Belle Epoque.  This scent is lushly textured with a vintage feel with iris, fuzzy peach, violet, rose and jasmine, all of whom are jostling for position. It’s definitely not a solifore style of scent, it smells intricate and lush. Irisoir wears closer to the skin than the two previous scents but every time you smell it, you will be paying attention to this complex diva.

Honoary mentions : Fracas by Robert Piguet would fit the mould very well but I don’t have a sample with me, however a big tuberose strikes me as something that is a force of nature that can be a little disagreeable and very temperamental. While we’re at it let’s throw Poison (Dior) on the stage. This is an 80’s super duper diva, a soprano with inflatable shoulder pads that will give you a bumpy ride. Another scent is the original formula Coco by Chanel that once upon a time was so much more of a diva than the cuddly scent she is now.

Do you have any playing the diva scents?

Images : Cover photo from Pixabay // Bettina from Pinterest //