For this week’s Fragrance Friday, Laura is talking about one of her favourite scents, Thumbsucker from Stora Skuggan.
Self-soothing in a bottle, Thumbsucker scratches a primal itch in our brains, swaddling the wearer by evoking memories of childhood and good times gone by.
THE INSPIRATION
In Thumbsucker, the perfumers wanted to create a hangover cure in perfume form; a self-soothing (if a little hedonistic) fragrance that could satiate a craving for physical contact and external comfort through smell. It was only after adding Himalayan cedarwood to the composition that the perfumers made a connection between this concept and the Hindu myth of King Yuvanaswa. Yuvanaswa, despite his many wives, couldn’t seem to sire any children. It was only when he accidentally drank one of his sage’s fertility potions meant for one of his wives that his luck changed – he became pregnant! He carried the child to term, and after giving birth to him, discovered he couldn’t breastfeed. The king of gods, Indra, intervened – turning the king’s blood to nectar, and slicing open his thumb so that he could feed his newborn son. And that’s why babies, being born with the memory of their divine ancestors, still suck their thumbs!
THE NOTES
Thumbsucker starts with a blend of honey and narcissus that together create a pollen-y nectar aroma – fresh, airy and sweet, like golden particles being carried by a spring breeze.
As the fragrance develops, the scent of fresh but powdery blooming violets and realistic cherry come to the fore, adding a soft sweetness to the composition.
The dry-down reveals bitter almond and sharp cedar, drizzled with wax and resins for a warm and comforting finish to the fragrance, which will last 6-8 hours on the skin.
WHY WE LOVE IT
Laura loves this fragrance because it reminds her of an apricot kernel baby oil her mum used to use on her as a child: “As soon as I tried this fragrance, I found myself drawn to it. It made me feel swaddled and safe”.
Lots of people report that Thumbsucker has the ability to trigger vivid childhood memories – of scented talcum powder, honey, of dolls, plastic cherry flavouring, of summers spent outside – everyone has a different association, and isn’t that the magic of perfume in the end?
AN OLD-WORLD FEEL WITH A TWIST
While due to its floral notes of violet, jasmine and narcissus, there is something vintage/old-world about Thumbsucker (it’s been compared to Joy by Jean Patou and Shocking by Elsa Schiaparelli), it also has a slightly animalic edge that comes out on the dry down. It can be, we think, best described as a vintage perfume sprayed on an old fur coat. There’s something soft and furry about it that makes you just want to nuzzle into your skin when you’re wearing it.
