Atelier Cologne Pacific Lime Cologne Absolue Evoking Memories of Europe
Atelier Cologne Pacific Lime Cologne Absolue Pure Perfume ($28 to $135) launched a few short months ago and I ended up blind purchasing it because I was too impatient to wait for it to hit stores for a sniffle. It was a safe blind buy because I haven’t met an Atelier Cologne I didn’t like.
I had some hopes it would be a Tom Ford Azure Lime dupe but I knew that it would likely be a more herbal, earthy lime scent. With notes of lime, coconut, and eucalyptus it was far off from the masculinity of Azure Lime. The fresh, fruity notes and the promise of a “tropical burst” of lime drew me in but it wasn’t exactly what I expected.
However, it was a pleasant surprise that evoked good memories of my childhood summers spent in Europe with my family.
When I was a kid and well into my teen years my dad, who was always self-employed, would pack up my mom, my sister, and I and we’d fly to Portugal for nearly the entire Summer. We had a home by the beach in Viana do Castelo but it was about 40 minutes away from my father’s birth place, Arcos de Valdevez, and where my grandparents lived as well as many of my cousins. We made a drive there practically everyday because my grandmother wanted us to have lunch with her and my grandfather everyday, like EVERYDAY. I remember how she catered to me and my sister! Trying to buy us stuff we’d eat because we were picky American eaters that didn’t like most of what was on offer. Most of my time wasn’t spent at the beach even though it was like two steps away from my door! My time was spent with my cousins swimming our days away in a river in the heart of the village of Arcos.
I’d like to say I would never cross paths with a river in my adult life. I’ve become an utter snob that doesn’t like sand, water, oceans, rivers, etc…! Give me a pool any day! But in my youth I was a river rat. There are so many times I look back on my childhood and I forget how good a time we used to have on those vacations. I took them for granted because I literally hated going. I wanted to stay home with my friends and spend the Summer staying out late riding bikes or going to the movies. I was so envious my friends went to camp and here I was being dragged off to Europe. I really, literally though it completely sucked. Now that I’m an adult I realize how lucky I was to have the experience and I think it is what evoked my love of travel in my later age. I remember the year I entered 8th grade my crazy Social Studies teacher wanted to hear everything about my Summer vacation. She wanted to know about the currency, the places I visited, the cost of food, the people, she even had me stand up in front of the class and talk about it much to my embarrassment. I didn’t understand what she was so excited about. I realized much, much, much later what evoked her excitement.
When I first misted Atelier Cologne Pacific Lime Cologne Absolue it didn’t instantly bring back my childhood vacation memories. It’s a burst of zesty, juicy lime initially that reminds me of a freshly blended margarita. I don’t get any coconut even during the dry down but I do get a very subtle hint of the eucalyptus which rounds off the lime’s tart edge.
It’s during a hot, humid day when the fragrance has settled and I’m wearing it for three or four hours that I can smell a bit of Portugal in it. I spent many, many hours, days, and nights with my cousins Carla, Annebell, and Tiago at there home. My father and their father were cousins and the bestest of friends when they were children and it came full circle with me when I visited Portugal as Carla and I were as thick as thieves. You know, it’s weird because I knew very, very basic Portuguese and Carla knew a little bit of English but will still had the very best Summers of our lives. I think I seen my parents a hand full of times most Summers because much of my time was spent with Carla and her family. Tiago was about five years old at best back than and now he’s a full grown man which is a bit hard to digest! It means I’m getting old ha…! My cousin Carlos, wicked in his black sunglasses and Duran Duran hair ha.. (he has very little hair now LOL)! Now he has children of his own. Where does the time go?
I remember the many times we’d play and run through fields and fields of different fruit trees. Lemons, oranges, peaches, they had so many different fruits growing on their land. It all rushed together and smelled so wonderful. That smell of fruit hanging from a tree on a hot Summer day. Earthy, herbal, fresh…! If the Summer sun could smell like something I am positive it would smell like a combination of all the fruits in her backyard. Kids, don’t try this when visiting Europe or any other country, but there were many times we’d pick fruit from the trees and rinse it in the fresh running water flowing into the washing tank in her yard and eat it on the spot. Yup, they do laundry the long, hard way in Portugal 🙂 They take a shirt, wet it in the tank, slap it on a rock, rub the shit out of it with a slab of soap, rinse it in the tank and put it on the line to dry. It’s all old school AF up in Portugal on washing day! If you visit major cities like Porto and Braga most people have laundry machines but as you head deeper into the country you’ll find many people use washing tanks.
But I digress..The scent seems to morph as my skin warms it and within three to four hours it becomes a heated fresh fruity fragrance. Lime is the dominate note but there’s something that smells like wet leaves, the sun, and good memories of my childhood! Nothing sweet, nothing tropical, just freshness, earth, a hot day in the Sun.
Atelier Cologne Pacific Lime Cologne Absolue isn’t special nor unique. But it had the power to evoke beautiful memories for me and that’s what I loved about this fragrance. I’m glad I got it because I always seem to forget to think back to good times in my life. Life runs by so quickly that it seems like I literally don’t have time to think back to yesterday and how great day it was or last year and the times I spent with my friends or family, or even further back to my childhood. Sometimes we need a little reminder and fragrances are just those reminders that bring back a perfect sense of nostalgia.
I hope you read this and mist something from your collection on that reminds you of a great time in your life.