Sarah Baker Perfumes: Bascule
I got my first horse, Kit Kat, on January 24th, 1998. I can recite that date from memory, because all my sister and I wanted when we were little was a horse. We talked incessantly to my parents about horses, bought every Saddle Club Book at Barnes and Noble and I even made a makeshift stable in my bedroom with stalls for all my Beanie Baby horses. Kit Kat was quickly followed by Snickers, so one of my parents could accompany us on rides, and then Trinket, because my sister and I were tired of taking turns riding.
I spent every spare moment I could at the stable where my horses were kept. You couldn’t keep my sister and I away from them. I loved everything about horses and riding them, even mucking out their stalls. Give me a pitchfork and wheel barrow, and I was the happiest kid around. I probably would have lived in the horse’s stalls if my parents would have let me.
After my sister and I went to college, Kit Kat and Snickers were sold, but my parents kept Trinket, and eventually added another horse, a beautiful Appaloosa named Cash. 23 years later, Trinket and Cash are both still alive and well. My parents relocated to Colorado a few years ago and brought the horses with them. Nobody is more surprised than me that my childhood horse still whinnies at me from the fence when I drive up to my parent’s house. What a joy it is that Trinket still remembers me and I can still wrap my arms around her sorrel neck and warm my hands under her flaxen mane.
Sarah Baker Perfumes Bascule takes me back to my horse riding days. The barn at our stables faced south and was bathed in sun all day. I used to sit on a bench outside the barn, basking in the sun and smelling the hay, leather tack from inside the barn. Trinket was always tied up right in front of me, drying off in the sun after a ride through the forest near our stables. I am all too familiar with the scent horses give off when they sweat because Trinket has always been a sweaty horse. Even in the dead of Winter, Trinket was always wet under her blanket and her chest was covered with sweat. Bascule so accurately portrays this animalic scent, it’s hard not to think that you’re riding an actual horse.
The notes listed in Bascule are grass, peach, bergamot, Lily of the Valley, hay, leather, vetiver, amber, musk, fir, tobacco and metal tack. Along with the animalness, the leather and metal tack stand out to me. As Bascule dries down, the peach, musk and Lily of the Valley soften the animal qualities of it. The peach is quite prominent for me, along with the Lily of the Valley. I like how the hay and grass makes this feel dry and green, like walking into a barn filled to the rafters with hay. It has been a transformative experience for me to wear Bascule and experience the pleasure of wearing memories from my childhood.
I don’t ride hardly ever any more; Trinket is mostly a pasture grazing horse, having a well earned retirement. The only person that rides Trinket these days is my toddler daughter. I could have never imagined when I was 11 years old that I would watch my daughter ride the same horse I was riding. Thank you, Sarah and your Bascule perfume, for nudging my memory about why I love horses to much.
