Spring hasn't been so cold in decades.

No, it doesn't just happen to us when looking at the thermometer every day, the evaluation by the German Weather Service also proves it.

“Coldest April in 40 years” it said there and the balance for May should be similar.

If it doesn't get warm outside, you can at least make yourself comfortable inside - we have mastered the technology since autumn, especially fragrances can help.

Encens 9 by Le Labo

We thought that the supply of scented candles would only have to be enough for the winter.

As if the American niche fragrance label “Le Labo” had suspected that warm fragrances would still be in demand in spring, it launched the “Encens 9” candle in May.

It looks back a long way into the history of perfume, to the ancient time when perfume was actually still “par fume”, i.e. through smoke or the burning of aromatic woods and resins.

The scent of this candle meanders around the incense (nothing else is called “Encens”), which was once traded more valuable than gold.

In order not to turn the living room into a church and conjure up images of Christmas, resins and amber round off the scent of candles and take away the sacred.

What remains is fragrant warmth that tells of distant lands.

Musc Ravageur by Frederic Malle

When the perfumer Maurice Roucel designed the “Musc Ravageur” fragrance for Frederic Malle 20 years ago, it was a minor scandal: sensual opulence that focused purely on amber and musk, no floral accords, no floral essences. Bergamot and tangerine flicker only briefly, only to be immediately displaced by vanilla and cinnamon and musk and amber. How it succeeds in preventing such olfactory force from slipping into vulgarity remains Roucel's secret.

Can you still wear it today?

More than ever.

Working at home has made wearing perfume a very private pleasure again.

Why shouldn't you treat yourself to the extravagance of reaching for sensual fragrances.

The home office also has the advantage that not even colleagues can complain about the warm cloud of scent that envelops you like a cashmere sweater.

If that is too daring for you, you can take the shower cream that matches the scent into the bathroom, which also helps against rainy weather with vanilla, musk and a touch of patchouli.

Open Skies from Byredo

Anyone who missed traveling in the past year knows the feeling that Byredo founder Ben Gorham tried to capture. "Open Skies" pays homage to the fleeting moments of being on the move, the dreamy view from the airplane window and the transit rooms that you could not enter during the pandemic. “The empty space between the places,” as Gorham puts it.

So no exotic spice capism emerges from the simple round bottle. Rather a longing memory of the vastness of the horizon and the anticipation of future adventures: tangy pomelo goes over to the calming green scent of hemp leaves, vetiver and palo santo envelop the notes with a soft woodiness and black pepper gives light spice. With the limited fragrance, it can then be endured until the second vaccination brings travel back within reach.