As promised (see Nosing Around New York), this week I will review the magnificent items I purchased at Bond No. 9 this weekend. I usually stay away from reviewing fragrances, save for snarky comments about ones I don't like or walks down memory lane with fragrances that stir up nostalgia for me. This is because fragrances are considerably more subjective than lipsticks; additionally, I do not think I could parallel the near-poetic reviews of "the masters" I read every day (access their blogs at right). However, in honor of the Sniffapalooza, I will give it a go.

If you are not familiar with Bond No. 9, you should be. The line was launched in 2003 by Laurice Rahme and includes 24 unique scents named for New York neighborhoods. The shop at No. 9 Bond Street (naturally) in New York is a delight and encourages lingering and sampling. I could spend a lazy Saturday afternoon there quite easily.

After sniffing everything in the Bond shop, I decided that Eau de Noho was bottle-worthy for me. For non-NYCers, this one is named for the neighborhood North of Houston St., where the original Bond shop is located. It opens with a bright juicy burst of mandarin, which evaporates quickly, revealing a mimosa note that strikes me as very similar to L'Occitane's Eau d'Azur - clean and sweet, like sheets drying under the warm sun. Cool, rain-drenched violets then present themselves as an interesting followup to the sun-drenched mandarin and mimosa. The whole effect is that of a brief shower on a sunny day, or of dew-soaked plants on a morning when the air is warm but the ground is still cool from the night before.

Eau de Noho dries down into beautiful, warm cashmere woods. The violets linger there in the background, but eventually dry off and take on a powdery aspect. This fragrance is wonderfully fresh and clean, but has a buttery warmth about it that reminds me of the summer sun on bare skin.

I've read mixed reviews of Eau de Noho on MakeupAlley, and I chalk it all up to body chemistry. It smelled like sickly sweet gardenias on my mother, but on me it was a beautiful mixture of lush, wet flowers, and warm sunlight and soft cashmere.

Eau de Noho is available at Bond No. 9 boutiques, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Kitson. I highly recommend visiting the Bond No. 9 shop at No. 9 Bond Street in New York (of course) and picking out an atomizer bottle from their "altar" (see for yourself). Or, you can go with the classic star-shaped bottle with the great subway token label.