Guerlain Vol de Nuit

THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY

When I started reading the perfume blogs, no other name stood out for me the way Guerlain did. True, Guerlain, along with Chanel, was one of the only perfumers I recognized, beyond the basic department store offerings. But there was also the reverence of the perfume world for fragrances like Mitsuoko and L'Heure Bleue; I knew had to try these. And so I try I did, starting with Mitsuoko. Now, Mitsuoko wasn't my first attempt with a Guerlain. That would have been over a decade ago, when I bought a bottle of Shalimar EDP. I was so excited about owning what I thought was my first real sophisticated fragrance (I was mainly wearing Opium and Calyx in those days). Sadly, my excitement was short-lived. Something in that lovely perfume turned on my skin and produced a smell so awful, even my cat wouldn't come near me. I returned it and went back to my department store friends.

Not long after I started this blog I was browsing in TJ Maxx and I came upon a bottle of the revered one, Mitsuoko. Without sniffing, I snatched it up and took it home. The minute I got into the house I tore open the box and sprayed...In the air, the scent was lovely, sophisticated, what I'd hoped it would be. And on my skin, as it dried?

Bug spray. Honestly, I couldn't think of another way to describe it. But I didn't have to, because Bob thought of something: industrial-strength household cleanser. Not a scent that exactly says "Come here and take a big whiff," unless you have a problem and plan to huff it out of a paper bag.

At that point, I almost walked away from the perfume game. After all, if one of the "greats" was not for me, then where did that leave me? How would I ever find a Guerlain that might suit me? After I calmed down a bit, I decided I was being slightly unreasonable, and I set my sights on L'Heure Bleue and Jicky, two of the other much-revered Guerlain scents.

Months would elapse before I would sniff either of them, and sadly, when I did, both turned strangely industrial on me. Even the Guerlain SA told me "No, absolutely not!" And then she bid me to try Vol de Nuit.

The notes (from the Guerlain site) in Vol de Nuit are:
Top: bergamot, galbanum, petit grain
Heart: jasmine, jonquil, and spices
Base: woods, iris, vanilla, amber

Sweet fragrance angel from heaven, that SA was. But I still didn't know it, even then. Although at first sniff, I thought, "Yes! Finally, this is my Guerlain!", my excitement was tempered with doubt. What if I only thought I loved Vol de Nuit because L'Heure Bleue and Jicky were so disappointing on me? I couldn't be sure, so I walked away.

The scent of Vol de Nuit haunted me so much that I finally caved and bought a decant from eBay. I'm going to find a velvet box for that little plastic sample spray container, a soft cushiony protective home. This pungent powder, soft and alluring, is even better than I remembered. The opening is a soft, grassy citrus with just a hint of sharpness, but it moves quickly into the middle notes, which temper the green and start the descent into a soft heady powder with a twist of something--I suppose I should say animalic, but seriously, what I think is sex. This scent is alluring and sensual, but also comforting. I don't think, in my brief sampling time, that I've ever smelled jasmine this way, so evenly present among a deep spice that quiets into powdery notes that make you feel as though you'd been lifted into the clouds. I generally don't wax quite this rhapsodic about fragrance, do I?

I'm serious when I say this: I could happily wear this scent alone until then bitter end. If this were only about the hunt for a signature fragrance, we would have reached the end. I'd eBay everything else and use the proceeds to buy my bottle of Vol de Nuit.

*image from basenotes

Satellite Padparadascha

Let's see...

Warm? Check.
Spicy? Check.
Dry? Check.
Woods? Check. And check.

Q: What makes you warm, Padparadascha?
A: Amber. Definitely amber.

Q: And spicy?
A: Pepper. Probably the pepper. Just enough to be interesting, but not so much you sneeze. I got a big laugh out of seeing someone have a sneezing fit off Rose Poivree the other day.

Q: Do you consider yourself a dry scent?
A: I'm not the driest scent out there, but you know, I have no fruit or floral notes. Fruits and flowers would make me juicy. White flowers might make me creamy. I could stay dry with rose or violet, maybe, but then I might be a little sweet. I'm not into sweet.

Q: How about those woods?
A: Cedar, sandalwood, juniper. Although technically, juniper, if we're talking berries, makes me spicy. More spicy. But these woods add a touch of smoke, too, you know. Like the winter smell of smoke from a fireplace in cold air. Makes you want to go in and get warm. Snuggle up with someone.

Q: Would you say you're a bit of a vixen, Padparadascha?
A: Let's just say, if you have someone you want to slide in a little closer to you when the temperature drops outside, you might want to consider wearing a little bit of me. I think I'm probably responsible for a lot of the kids you see running around these days. We'll leave it at that.

*photo from LuckyScent

First Impressions

My Guerlain decants finally arrived today, along with some Jo Malone decants so I can have fun with a little layering without having to spend an arm and a leg. It was my first time to buy anything from this seller (who, for the time being, shall remain nameless for reasons to follow), and I must admit, I was slightly underwhelmed.

Every eBay perfume seller I've bought from--until this one--has written me a personal message to let me know my package has shipped, and to say thank you for shopping with them. You all know how I feel about great customer service, and for the most part, the eBay folks and the online perfume sellers all excel at customer service. This person did not write me any message--I simply got an automated notification that my package had shipped. Certainly no problem, really, just not what I usually expect.

And like the other lovely eBay sellers I've dealt with, this person also threw a few extras into my package. One was nice, a small sample of Parfums de Nicolai Sacrebleu. Another was a perfume with which I'm not familiar, Attar Bazaar (you all know what a newbie I am). Then there was another handful of department store samples: Carolina Herrera Chic shower gel and body lotion, Escada Sport Country Weekend lotion (partially used), and then...

A spray sample of Dune. Now, I'm not knocking Dune. I wore it over a decade ago. And no big deal that it's not one of the more exclusive Dior perfumes or anything (actually, it's the EDT). No, what bothers me about this sample is that it's so old, most of the name has worn off the bottle, which is dirty and covered with fingerprints. And the clincher: IT'S EMPTY.

Okay, to be fair, perhaps this person has a big bag of department store discards she simply grabs stuff out of to throw into packages as extras. But still, wouldn't you maybe look at the samples before you put them in the bag to make sure they didn't leak or weren't dirty or perhaps had the full name on the bottle? And also, if you were sending samples to someone ordering Guerlain decants, wouldn't you be a bit more selective about what you decided to include as samples?

I'm going to hope everything's up to par with the actual decants. As far as I can tell, I have no reason to worry. And the seller does have a 99.7% positive rating. But isn't it amazing, just seeing this empty, dirty sample spray makes me doubtful. And a little less excited. *sigh*

Waiting...

Sorry to keep you waiting for a new sample post, but I myself am waiting and waiting...You see, I ordered several Guerlain decants, and I had hoped to have them so I could have a full week of Guerlain scents that I'm excited to try and, as far as my experience, aren't all ones that are frequently reviewed or discussed (which of course does not mean they aren't loved by many!).

My other problem seems still to be how to approach the rest of my samples. The sheer volume is overwhelming. (Listening to me complain about this problem, you might be asking yourself, "Why did she order more samples, if she can't manage what she has?" Because it's a sickness, people! I'm not well!) Do I sample by perfumer? Do I sample from oldest acquisition to newest? Do I divide things seasonally? Do I organize according to all three of those principles and then give it a whirl? What about the stuff I want to try again, now that I have more--don't laugh--experience? I think some do-over reviews could be in order.

Or do I just put everything in a big bag and grab something every day, like a reverse sort of trick-or-treat? What if I'm not in the mood for what I grab? If I put it back and grab again, am I cheating?

And finally, you know, I realize it doesn't matter. Most of the samples I own have been well-reviewed by other, more competent bloggers than myself. It's as though I'm struggling over how to arrange my journal: Do I write daily or weekly? Do I write about actual things or only my impressions of the things? How will I know the difference? Do I try to capture life as it actually happens, like conversations, or do I simply emote onto the page, all the things I can't say to anyone, all the things I think during the day but find it better not to share?

I read a column in the November Vogue about keeping diaries, and why the author prefers them to blogs. If memory serves, he basically objected to most blogging because it seems so self-aggrandizing in one way or another: bloggers either think their lives are so amusing and amazing they must be shared with others, or they think blogging is their ticket to fame, to a book deal, a magazine column, a movie deal.

Granted, I've read some blogs like that, and I know some people like that. Those are the blogs I get bored with rather quickly. But I don't find that to be true with the fragrance and beauty blogs, and I guess that's why I signed up to do this myself. I always learn a little something from every blog I visit daily, and I appreciate knowing that mostly, no beauty editor or public relations person is behind much of what I read. I'm getting some straight-up information at best, or just sharing a person's thoughts at least. And I have few illusions about my own little project. I've mentioned here many times how I actually started this project in a diary, keeping notes for myself. And while that's fun, it's not nearly as much fun as sharing it with you all and getting advice, or hearing what you think about what I'm sampling, whether you've tried it or not. I know I'm not inventing the wheel here, but, overwhelmed as I may be by the sheer volume of thigs I have left to learn and try, I sure am having fun.

*image from WebMuseum

Small Pleasures

I've been absent much of the week, out with a chest cold that kept me away from work and from this blog. Today I'm feeling much better, but I still didn't feel up to picking a sample, so I am wearing Santa Maria Novella Citta di Kyoto from a decant sent to me by a very kind reader and MUA regular (thank you again, eaumy!). It's also shaping up to be a very pretty fall day here in Atlanta, and it's Friday...hence my title, Small Pleasures, and the picture of the painting of the same name by Kandinsky.

I wanted to comment briefly on something I read on Ayala's SmellyBlog, in a post she wrote about one of her first perfume loves, Miss Dior: "What stroke me as most special about Miss Dior when at first was how warm and round it was. No one note stood out in particular. It was a true “perfume” in the sense that the sum was greater than its parts…" This struck me because I felt she put into words nicely the way I've felt when I've tried several perfumes, most notably for me Delrae Amoureuse and Rance Josephine. I call them "Perfumes with a capital 'P'," because, as Ayala put it, the sum is greater than its parts. Not all perfumes, even ones I love, have this quality. I think it's an interesting distinction.

I also realized, after reading Patty's post on PerfumePosse about finding a foundation, that I hadn't done a beauty post in a while. Frankly, I'm a little irritated. First off, I'm still struggling with the right skin care, but beyond that, foundation. I finally got to try BareEscentuals, thinking it was going to be the greatest, most natural thing ever, and instead I got dry, tight, powdery, awful...I don't know how they can say this is great for a person with dry skin. Let me tell you right off, if your skin has even the slightest bit of flakiness (I won't go into my skin care rant right now), it will magnify it by clinging to every little flake you have. And the brushes that are supposed to be so soft and wonderful? No. Itchy. And every time I used them, hairs fell out. Not the sign of good brushes.

Yes, I watched the video, the whole thing, and I practiced with the "creamy minerals" for five days. The only good thing I can say about it is that after some of it wore off, I thought my skin looked relatively okay, and the coverage stayed even, which means my little red nose wasn't peeking through late in the afternoon. So far, the best thing I've found is Smashbox Photo Finish primer with the Stila Tinted Moisture (not the illuminating stuff...I learned that's not so great for dry skin either when I wore the DuWop Revolotion, which has a wonderful consistency but also highlights every dry patch if you have dry skin). I'll be sticking with that until I find something better. Anybody out there with dry, sensitive skin want to recommend any skin care or foundation? Feel free! (I should warn you...don't say Cetaphil. That stuff doesn't get your skin clean, and what's the point of moisturizing cleanser if you have to wash your face three times to get your makeup off?)

But to end this post on an "up" note (after all, I did call it "Small Pleasures" and not "Little Annoyances"), I've been meaning to mention the best product in the world for removing eye makeup, DHC Deep Cleansing Oil. I've used their full system and some of their moisturizers, and while nothing else really works for me, this oil does wonders. Eye makeup, regular or waterproof, simply melts away when you gently rub this into your eyelids and lashes, and it rinses cleanly away with water, leaving your eye lashes well-conditioned and soft. This is the only thing that saves me from the wonky eyelash syndrome I mentioned back when I participated in the Great Mascara Hunt.

That's all for today. Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

*photos from WebMuseum and DHC

L’Artisan Drôle de Rose

Drôle de Rose means "special rose," according to L'Artisan, but really, I think there's something else going on here. Drôle can mean funny or amusing or peculiar, all depending on context, but it can also mean whimsical. Whimsical rose.

Whimsy, often considered a feminine trait, may mean fanciful, or it may mean prone to sudden change. Ah yes, that's our rose. Prone to change she is, depending on her surroundings. Plop her down in the middle of violet, musk, vetiver, vanilla, and amber, and you get Lipstick Rose, that waxy dark specimen who hurls Baccarat crystal when she's angry and eats her men for breakfast.

Let her cozy up with violet and iris powder, and see how soft she can be, how well she plays with others, like a kitten holding her nails back so as not to scratch. For this is only play, after all. We're amusing ourselves here.

If Lipstick Rose is Joan Crawford, then Drôle de Rose is Scarlett O'Hara. When she wants something, when she's the absolute center of attention, she's the ultimate feminine specimen, soft and flirtatious. She's powdered decolletage and wide-brimmed hats and fans.

But upon closer inspection, realize the kitten is really a cat, and the cat has claws. And on a whim, that soft violet can turn waxy and a bit hard, that soft whisper becomes a shout, and you realize that soft powder masks a boozy vanillic note you didn't detect before.

Truly, Drôle de Rose to me is Lipstick Rose without its edge. The rose and violet are beautifully subdued into a lush powder, but I can't help knowing what else it is they're capable of.

(I find it odd that the L'Artisan site, although it distinctly says this is a "concealed powdered rose with freshly picked violets," lists the notes as orange blossom, rose, and iris powder. As a serious lover of orange blossom, I must say, I don't detect any here. Orange blossom would make for a decidedly lighter rose scent, with a bit of sparkle, even with iris to calm it.)

*photos: top and last from Yahoo; middle from movieweb.com

L'Artisan Dzongkha

One thing I love about perfume is its ability to take me to a place I’ve never been. Dzongkha is the journey of perfumer Bertrand Douchafour to the tiny land-locked nation of Bhutan, situated between Tibet, India, and China. According to Wikipedia: “The entire country is mountainous except for an 8-10 mile (13-16 km) wide strip of subtropical plains in the extreme south which is intersected by valleys known as the Duars.” Along the mountains, the Bhutans built fortresses called dzongs. Most of them were built in the seventeenth century, to keep Tibet from invading. Many of them still survive, and dzong is considered the main architecture form of Bhutan.

In her review, Colombina says she feels Dzongkha is an introspective fragrance, and I could not agree more. Given the internal, introspective nature of Buddhism, Bhutan’s national religion, and the geography of the nation, it makes sense that this perfume would be closer, quieter than one might expect. The name itself implies strength, both through its origin and the sound: Dzongkha!

And I think that’s where one can be easily fooled by this perfume. For although it feels introspective and thoughtful to the wearer, I wonder if it always leaves others with the same impression. As I left the house this morning, Bob remarked on how I smelled (good). After thinking it over for a minute or two, he told me this fragrance smelled powerful and sophisticated. He mentioned it smelled like something a well-respected female CEO we know might wear. I took this as a compliment and went on my way.

The notes in Dzongkha, depending on where you look, are:
Top: lichee and cardamom
Heart: peony, iris, incense
Base: peony (LusciousCargo)/vetiver (Aedes), iris, incense
The L’Artisan site does not yet list Dzongkha, so they were no help in settling the dispute. I went osMoz and found this:
Top: peony, cardamom
Heart: tea (with milk), incense, cedar, vetiver, spices
Base: Indian papyrus, iris, leather

Take your pick. I’m assuming the perfumeries got the notes directly off the packaging or from the distributors, but neither of them list leather, and I definitely get a very distinct leather note here. I’m guessing the truth lies somewhere in between, perhaps based on how it mixes with your skin. Different reviewers have had very different impressions of this scent.

The iris softens the incense, keeping it very dry but not powdery. The peony sweetens it, and vetiver makes it slightly pungent through the middle, although it disappears later on for me. The dry-down is all milky floral leathery incense. I find it strikingly pretty, and although this is a very thoughtful, meditative sort of scent, I understand also how another person might find it powerful. It has a quiet confidence, a tall tower wall protecting the soft introspective side, the way the dzong walls protect the courtyards, temples, and monks’ houses inside.

*photos and facts from Wikipedia

Mini Sniffage and Many Thanks

I just got a package from LusciousCargo, and I owe Marcy a big "Thank you!" for being so wonderful. I ordered a bottle of the Fracas EDP, but apparently they were back-ordered, and when the shipment came in, a couple of the bottles had broken and soaked through the boxes and labels on the other bottles. She tried to send me an email, but it looked suspicious (was from L U S C I O U S instead of the usual address) and had a strange looking title...It looked like the emails spam-readers create by reading your usual email, so I deleted it. (I work in internet security--what can I say?)

In the meantime, I was waiting and waiting for my package, and finally I contacted Marcy, who got in touch with me immediately. I felt bad when I learned she'd tried to contact me and I'd deleted the message (but still, better safe than sorry), especially when she told me she had sent my package and thrown in some extras! I continue to be impressed by the kindness and the level of customer service I receive from the niche perfume e-tailers. So many businesses should take a cue from people like Autumn at La Creme Beauty and Marcy at LusciousCargo.

And so, the samples! I don't want to overdo it, but this is as bad as a bag of Doritos. I can't stop myself. Here's what I've sniffed (mind you, not sampled):

L'Artisan Dzongkha - Dry, incense-y, like Messe de Minuit but better? More floral, but still dry. I see a bottle in my future.
Diptyque Tam Dao - Gorgeous spice and woods...also dry. How do I not already own this?
Robert Piguet Bandit - Bad girl in her boyfriend's leather jacket waiting it out in the woods after knocking over a bank. Get out of there girl! The police can smell that sexy perfume from a mile away. (By the way, that girl will be me, after I knock over a bank so I can buy a full bottle of Bandit.)
Les Parfums de Rosine Poussiere de Rose - Holy boozy rose Batman! This is one seriously hot drunk flower. Gypsy Rose...no grannies allowed.
L'Artisan Passage d'Enfer - More incense and soft musk. Really, can I just buy stock in L'Artisan at this point? Is that possible?
Tocca Touch - (extra thrown in!) Soft, sophisticated fruity-floral, very pretty. Pomegranate's quite popular these days.

I have more--another L'Artisan (Drole de Rose) and the Amouage sample pack I ordered (plus an extra), but I'm all sniffed out. Oh, the excitement!

Sarah Jessica Parker Lovely Liquid Satin

I know, I know. I shot my mouth off and prattled on about how I hated the idea of buying a perfume because of a celebrity when I sampled Fracas, and then I go and actually buy a celebrity perfume. But it's not entirely my fault. Two things happened that practically forced me to buy it: first, I read Ayala's SmellyBlog review, and then I lost my NR for Her EDT during the airport TSA debacle. I had to have something to replace it, and Ayala mentioned that Nordstrom offers a 30ml roll-on bottle, a perfect size for someone who has more fragrance than she can handle (even if most of it is in tiny glass vials)!

The notes in Lovely Liquid Satin are:
Top: rosewood, lavender, mandarin, lemongrass, apple martini
Heart: paperwhites and orchid
Base: patchouli, cedar, white amber, musk

The difference between Liquid Satin and the original EDP is that Liquid Satin contains no alcohol. (Ayala, a perfumer, explains this far better than I can.) But no matter, the scent is--well, lovely. I frankly don't get any of the apple martini note, and the whole creation is decidedly very un-fruity. The top is dry yet sparkling, effervescent like a nice champagne. I get the lavendar and lemongrass mostly, and the rosewood and mandarin save it from being sharp. I love paperwhites--one of my favorite flowers--and with the orchid they lend the most delicate white floral note. If you are easily overwhelmed by white florals (and Lovely does not classify as one--in fact, according to osMoz, it's classified as a chypre), you need not be afraid. The white amber lends warmth, but the patchouli and cedar keep this scent very light and dry.

I think a man could wear this scent, if he weren't afraid of a little floral, because I think it's a wonderful blend of masculine and feminine. Lovely Liquid Satin feels balanced to me in such a way that I think of a man who's just embraced the woman he loves, and his fragrance mingles with hers. It's sensual without being sexy, romance without the frills and silliness.

P.S. I also sampled the new Hilary Duff fragrance...mmm. Um, well, it's quite pretty. Not typical. I don't get much fruit, but I do get a nice woodsy dry-down that's very livable. If you don't believe me, see what Ina has to say. Oh, and I also bought a bottle of Fracas. What's next? Will I start buying tabloids?

*photo from Nordstrom

Odalisque

Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres

Parfums de Nicolai Odalisque

IRIS GONE WILD

Look at them, all huddled together in the corner, those snooty sorority sisters—Hiris, Iris Silver Mist, Iris Nobile, Gris Clair—all trussed up in lavender silk and silver organza, doing their best to be cool, regal, and ethereal. Enter our iris, Odalisque, all got up like Sheila E. backing Prince on his Purple Rain tour. At some point during every show she takes the stage and sings that 80s anthem, “The Glamorous Life.” The sisters look down their noses and shake their heads. Who is this Odalisque?

Odalisque is an iris scent, but maybe like no other iris scent you’ve tried. From what I’ve found online, the main notes are iris, lily of the valley, and green notes. (Unfortunately—or fortunately, depending on how you look at it—the network at work blocks Luckyscent, where I got my sample and could probably find the exact notes, as pornography. I find this incredibly funny.)

The iris sisters you love and know primly sip vintage Clicquot. This iris drinks Cristal out of the bottle with a straw. She does shots with her friend, lily of the valley. Lily is sweet, and she amps up the iris, makes it a star performer, loud and bright, but still powdery and royal. The green notes barely restrain the sweetness, much the way a teeny-tiny chain somehow manages to hold back a giant dog. In the dry down, the iris remains prominent, but I think I smell a bit of pepper in there among the heightened powder. Something about Odalisque reminds me of those heady scents that were so popular in the early 80s. This scent is so shout-it-out purple, it could be easy to overlook how pretty it is, how very strong but also intensely feminine. I don’t find it at all cloying. At times I find it tiresome the way people work so hard to be subtle and refined, and I wish someone would come crashing in, someone interesting and loud and a bit wild, yet elegant in the end, despite it all. That’s Odalisque.

Update: Now that I'm home, I was able to look up the notes: lily of the valley, jasmine, iris root. Yeow!

*photos from Wikipedia

Frederic Malle Le Parfum de Therese

As I seem to have recovered from last week's frenzy, I thought I would revisit a fragrance I took along on my journey and sampled, but had no time (or attention) to notice, Frederic Malle's Le Parfum de Therese. When I put this on in the hotel room, I thought it was quite pretty, but A) it's quite light, and my application was poor and B) it was too light to compete with the environment.

As many perfume fans already know, Edmond Roudnitska created this perfume in the early 1950s for his wife, and it was hers exclusively. This scent opens with tangerine and melon at the top, with carnal rose and plum in the heart, and cedar, vetiver, and leather in the base. The tangerine overpowers the melon note for me (which is not a problem), and the leather is prominent and lovely from the open. The vetiver is not sharp but rather herbal in feel, a little watery and salty beneath the tangerine. The leather tempers it and keeps away the celery note so many people dread. It takes a while (about an hour) for the rose and plum to emerge for me, and along with them the cedar. The plum is not juicy or dark, but instead serves to sweeten and warm the rose and cedar just enough to make them more prominent. But make no mistake about it, this is a leather scent: soft yet supple leather, refined and lovely.

Le Parfum de Therese is a very, very light scent. The first time I wore it, Bob couldn't smell it, even in the hotel. Today I applied what was left of the tiny glass vial (about 2/3), and the scent is still quite faint, but definitely there. This fragrance creates an aura, rather than your "typical" sillage, and this is one case where I might recommend applying it to your clothing (or perhaps your hair, if it's not oily or you don't wear products with competing scents).

I find this beautiful, feminine and compelling. Like Serge Lutens Daim Blond, it evokes an idea of mystery and elegance. I suppose what makes me think of Daim Blond is its softness and the smell of suede, compared here to the soft leather combined with this watery citrus rose. Of the two, I prefer Le Parfum de Therese. I find this far more bottle-worthy (or on my budget, eBay decant-worthy), and more suitable to my personality.

You can read Colombina's wonderful review of Le Parfum de Therese at Perfume-Smellin' Things.

*photo from Frederic Malle

Jo Malone Pomegranate Noir

After my whirlwind tour of fragrances on vacation and suffering a little bit of a cold, I found it difficult to get back into the swing of sampling. I wore Safran Troublant all weekend--oh, that's a forever favorite--and I almost wore it again today. But I spotted this box on the shelf and thought, "Why not?" This scent is perfect for the season and the weather, after all, and a nice boost for a Monday. I bought Pomegranate Noir unsniffed, all because of Ina's review several months ago. Pom Noir is my first Jo Malone fragrance, and after trying this one, I'm ready to jump in and try some others, especially combining the scents as they recommend.

Pomegranate Noir has notes of pomegranate, raspberry, plum, frankincense, and patchouli. If I hadn't been convinced by Ina's review, I never would have chosen this scent. I'm not one for anything overly fruity, and just reading the notes would have scared the pants right off me. But since wearing it a few times, I like to think of Pom Noir as the poor woman's Bois de Paradis. It shares the same dark fruit, although it's less mulled and more straight juice than Bois de Paradis. I also find the dry down is much spicier, without the rose and amber to soften the patchouli and frankincense, which are a bit more harsh (or maybe dry is the better word) than the woods. To be sure, it's less refined, but no less wonderful in its own way. If I had tried a sample of this, I would have deemed it bottle-worthy in a heartbeat, and now I'm anxious to try layering it with some of the other scents. One they recommend is the Vintage Gardenia, with notes of gardenia, tuberose, cardamom, sandalwood, incense and myrrh. I think the floral aspect of this would soften the juice somewhat, and I'm interested to see how these spices would mix. I'm also interested in the Orange Blossom body creme (orange blossom and water lily) for layering with either of these. I thought about Red Roses, but I'm afraid the lemon and spearmint would clash awfully with the dark juice. The Wild Fig & Cassis (fig, cassis, hyacinth, cedarwood--cedarwood is the siren's call for me) also intrigues me, as does the new one (which I also heard about through Aromascope--I swear, I have to quit reading Ina's reviews), Blue Agave and Cacao (which they did not have yet at the Jo Malone store I visited on vacation and is not yet listed on her official site).

If you've tried any Jo Malone scents, or have a favorite layering combo (Jo Malone or otherwise), I'd love to hear about it! I'll let you know when I try layering, although it may be awhile. Giving that pocketbook a rest!

*photo from Gloss.com

Better Than the Runway...

The runway is about fashion, but this picture is about style. This photo is from The Sartorialist on Style.com. I spend more time looking at his photos than I do looking at the collections. I find them more meaningful. The runway might tell us what the trends will be, but these pictures tell us how to live with fashion. They show us it can be done, not with flippant tips and silly advice. And more importantly, how it can be done at any age.

Rambling

I know, I know...I'm trying to get back in the swing of things. I returned home to a new mess of samples, and I find myself completely overwhelmed. What should I try next? Should I have a theme? Should I pin names on a dart board and throw darts to pick? Alphabetize? Categorize?

I didn't even manage to get through what I brought with me on my trip. No, I distracted myself by sniffing new stuff I could sniff right here in this city. A waste! No, I take it back--snffing is never a waste, unless you have a cold or hay fever.

I think I mentioned I got a sample of Donna Karen's Gold. I won't even try to say anything about this, because the most eloquent thing has already been said by Ina at Aromascope: "If there was a champagne made of lilies, that’s how it’d smell." My only complaint probably has to do exclusively with my weak application--light to begin with, it seemed to fade rather quickly. But I think with many scents you can't really gauge lasting power by what you manage to get on your person out of a tiny glass vial. And also, I fear over-application. Anyway, the scent itself is just as Ina describes. I was hoping for more insight: in this month's Harper's Bazaar, they have in interview with Donna Karan. They hint at talking about her new fragrance, but they never do.

I also tried Hanae Mori's new scent, Magical Moon. According to Basenotes, the notes are "Osmanthus Flower, Rose, Sugar Cane, Cotton Flower, Coconut Milk, Vanilla, White Musk, White Sandalwood, Red Cedar, Incense, Litchi, Patchouli, Pineapple Pulp, Guava Nectar, Star Fruit, Orange Flowers and Pink Berries." So, the fruity floral we all know is popular. I prefer Butterfly, but I like this one too. I don't find it overly fruity, and the womanly osmanthus at the top makes it a bit more stately than other fruity florals on the market (or at least the few I have smelled). The sandalwood, patchouli, and incense also ground it somewhat. Still, it is too sweet for my taste. I like a bit of tanginess with my sweet and woods. It's a stately sweet, but there's nothing deep. I believe it needs a little of what the perfume experts out there call skank.

At Neiman's, a kind lady named Irene bid me to try Badgley Mischka. She only named few of the several notes: blackberry and peach at the top, jasmine and white peony in the heart, sandalwood, amber, and suede musk in the base--but that was enough for me. I thought this was amazingly pretty, yet really "everyday" wearable. I can't wax on about it much because I wore it and enjoyed it, but didn't have the presence of mind to analyze it. I seriously considered buying a bottle of this. I need to go over to Nordstrom and get a sample, because they wouldn't give me one at Neiman's.

One fruity-floral I tried and wasn't so crazy about was Guerlain Insolence. Very possibly this is the amateur nose talking, but I found it sort of meh. No doubt it's too subtle for me somehow. I didn't wear it, either, and maybe that makes a difference? Whatever the case, my battle with Guerlain continues. Mitsuoko and Shalimar have rounded up Jicky and L'Heure Bleu, and they've all decided to band against me. The only one who loved me was Vol de Nuit, so how could I help but love it back?

And as for the samples I just got: The perfume everyone's raving is completely mediocre, Serge Lutens Chypre Rouge, something from Santa Maria Novella (grr...which one is this?), Etro Royal Pavillion, Parfum d'Empire Eau Suave (Did I mention how much I love Ambre Russe? I didn't, did I?), Creed Love in White, Mona di Orio Lux (to round out the trilogy), and Lorenzo Villoresi Alamut.

But wait--that's not all. Everyone is talking about Weil. In general, when it comes to the perfume party, I'm the child at the top of the stairs, listening to the grown-ups, waiting for the day I'm down there among them. I go back to my room and practice. That's what this blog is. And so I had to order a tiny sample of Zibeline, the pure parfum, off eBay (thanks to Diane at Dragonfly Scent Me). But still--not everything! More tiny samples: Vintage Chypre de Coty! Oh yes! And--now I'm downstairs, hiding under the table, taking sips off people's drinks when no one is looking--Caron Narcisse Blanc (no Noir to be had for my budget). Patou 1000 Parfum. Guerlain Chant d'Aromes. I even got a few extras: Coty Les Muses, Gaultier 2...and a decant of Etro Heliotrope, which I wore today. It soothes me.

So add all this to my existing stash (you don't even know what's in there!), and you can see, I'm completely overwhelmed. Hence the rambling. But one day my senses (and scentses) will clear, and I'll be rational again, and then I'll talk about the few samples I dragged along and actually wore: FM Parfum de Therese and Fifi Chachnil. Unless, of course, I get distracted along the way. Stay tuned, friends!

*photos from Nordstrom, Basenotes, and Bergdorf Goodman

A Fungus among Us

Some of the clothes at the Dior show were so lovely...I think. I got distracted by the little mushroom caps all the models were wearing on their heads.

This hairstyle, not unlike leggings, was a bad idea the first time around. Don't get any bright ideas. Just let it pass by and pretend you don't notice.

*photos from style.com

Land of the Free?

I’m home from my journey, trying to get caught up. Our trip was a last-minute thing we threw together when we realized we might not be able to take a vacation again for some time. We’ve done a lot of visiting in the last five or six years, but this was only our second real vacation. We were ready to relax for several days in the company of strangers. Sad, then, that the vacation began with me fuming mad.

I know all about the restrictions for carrying toiletries on to an airplane. They must be in a plastic bag, the items can only be a certain size, the bag can only be so big, yadda yadda. That’s why I packed my toiletries in my suitcase, which I checked. Ever since 2001, after airport security personnel unpacked my entire suitcase, pulled the toiletries bag from the bottom of the suitcase, rummaged through it and found my nail clippers and informed me that the file on it was a weapon and he would have to break it off (he did, and I still have them), I have been checking my bags.

Last Friday, we approached the security line at the airport, where a rather large man who worked for the TSA (yet looked strangely like a forest ranger) yelled that we must declare all and any toiletries we had in our bags. And so, because I have an uncontrollable impulse to do the right thing, I pulled out the one and only object I thought I might need to “declare”—a spray sample of Narciso Rodriguez For Her EDT—and was promptly told to throw it away. I balked. Surely the man had to be joking. He assured me he was not. He told me I could either get a plastic bag from the table where they were handing them out and secure my sample in the bag, or I could discard it. In a huff, I threw it into the garbage can and proceeded to the line. He continued to scream at me like an angry marine trying to break a new recruit as I walked away.

When I got to the line, the sight of women with their little bags of toiletries only made me angrier. Not only are we subject to a stupid rule, but people follow it without question. In retrospect I wish I’d been calm enough to walk over and grab one of the bags, because surely the sign of me in line with my tiny spray sample of perfume locked up in a plastic bag would have been the perfect illustration of how ridiculous this rule really is. What scares me more than anything is how slowly they’re removing basic rights from our lives, and how we take it all, calm as cows being led to the slaughter. Here’s a woman with her baggie full of sample size toiletries, and then right next to her is a man with a suitcase. Am I supposed to believe he has no shampoo, toothpaste, deodorant, cologne? I had lotion in my purse that I hadn’t taken out, and it went through the x-ray unnoticed, both going and coming home.

And so the rule is arbitrary, arbitrary and stupid to begin with, and yet nobody asks WHY? Are we not in danger just being packed like sardines in the airport security area? Are we not in danger on buses and trains and cruise ships? How about on freeways, or in malls or grocery stores? We are vulnerable. Packing toiletries in plastic bags after the fact makes us no safer, but it makes us less free. I know that sounds dramatic, but I am afraid of the slow removal of our rights, so slow we almost fail to notice. It seems like such a small thing. What are two or three drops of water on a rock over the course of a day, right? But what about a year, or two years, or five?

Think about it. You can take knitting needles on a plane. You can take ballpoint pens (I learned to use a pen as a weapon in a self-defense class years ago.) You can take your friend, the whatever-degree black-belt in karate. You can take a rope or a belt. For now, you can take them all on the plane. Until someone decides (allegedly) to use one of these things as a weapon. Pretty soon we’ll all be in the airport security line, wearing nothing but hospital gowns.

Oh, enough ranting. I promise to return soon and talk about the sampling I did on vacation. In the end I didn't wear all of the samples I took with me (I tried only the Fifi and FM's Parfum de Therese), but I got samples of the new Donna Karan and Hanae Mori, and I also tried the new Badgley Mischka and several Guerlain fragrances. It was quite an event for my nose!

Long Weekend

Friends, I'll be away until Wednesday of next week. During that time, I'll still be sampling, so I should have plenty to talk about when I return. What am I taking with me on my journey? I'll be revisiting some fragrances, like Fifi Chachnil (I have the EDP to try), Delrae Amoureuse, Fracas, and Creed Fleurissimo. And I've chosen these new fragrances: Serge Lutens Arabie and three Frederic Malles: Parfum de Therese, Musc Ravageur, and Iris Poudre.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Ormonde Jayne Ta'if

Ormonde Jayne's sample pack started my adventures in perfume. I have sampled them all, but I haven't recorded my thoughts on every one on this blog. Early on I kept notes in a journal, and sometimes I didn't write down my impressions at all. I wore Ta'if for the first time back in the spring. I remember being convinced it would probably end up as my favorite. Today, I think, it leaves me slightly underwhelmed.

The notes in Ta'if are:
Top: pink pepper, saffron, dates
Heart: Rose oil, freesia, orange flower absolute, jasmine
Base: Broom and amber

Ormonde Jayne scents typically have very bright openings, and this one's no exception. The top is peppery sweet and deep, but shiny. When I applied it this morning, I thought, "Too much." I loved the pepper, but as it sometimes does in cooking, it felt a bit over the top. But it quickly transitioned to florals, and in this had more of that distinct Ormonde Jayne brightness. I don't find it as beguiling as Ormonde Woman or Tolu, and it's not as wrist-to-the-nose for me as Frangipani. What leaves me perplexed about this fragrance is the way it just falls away to a demure ambery sweetness that almost isn't there. I get a picture in my head of Wylie Coyote falling off a cliff and hitting so hard at the bottom he's accordioned, shrunk to a quarter of his actual size.

I'm confused. It's nice, more uncomplicated than other OJs, but still pretty. But...I wonder now if I liked this so much last spring because it felt safe. It's not so far away from ordinary (but well done) perfumes one might find at the deprtment store counter. My reigning favorites are still the cedary-tropical Frangipani and the jasmine rice and tea-scented Champaca. Tolu, which still feels too big but is no less wonderful for it, rounds out the top three. Maybe it's just my mood today, but Ta'if lacks the grand or unusual styling of the other Ormonde Jayne perfumes. But I guess it would be a nice way to ease into niche perfumes.

*photo from Ormonde Jayne

Santa Maria Novella Citta di Kyoto

I no longer know how to classify myself in terms of perfume. Of course, I don't think I ever could, but I was more able to say definitively what I didn't like (or so I thought) than what I liked. I did not like vanilla. I did not like citrus. Turns out I like a little or a lot of both, all depending on the composition.

One thing I may have known all along, somewhere in my perfume subconscious, was that if there were one perfume category I'd gravitate to, it would be floral orientals. Let's take a look at a bit of my perfume past:

Fendi. Oh how I loved Fendi. I bet if I were to buy a bottle, I would still love it. Notes: leather, rose, sandalwood, amber, musk. I was nineteen when I got my first bottle of Fendi, and I thought it was very sophisticated. This is one of those perfumes you wonder why it has fallen so far out of fashion. Take Beautiful...leave Fendi.

Coco. This is still a favorite, although I haven't owned a bottle in ages. Notes: Bulgarian rose, Indian jasmine, tonka bean, sandalwood, leather, wood, and vanilla. I wore this for a long time, and I'd switch it out with...

Opium. Another fragrance I wore for years, but haven't owned a bottle of in such a long time. All through my twenties I pretty much considered this my signature scent. Notes: tangerine, plum, cloves, coriander, carnation, lily of the valley, rose, myrrh, opoponax, castoreum, cedarwood, sandalwood. I've only ever tried the EDP, and I would love to try the parfum. One of my recent favorites from these past few months of sampling is the limited edition Opium Fleur de Shanghai.

And all of this brings me around to Santa Maria Novella Citta di Kyoto, with notes of tangerine, orange crown, hyacinth, rose, hawthorn, ylang-ylang, plum, peach, cinnamon, sandalwood, cedar, ebony, ambergris, and vanilla. Citta di Kyoto smells nothing like any of the scents I listed here, but it shares the same spirit. It's more ethereal, a brighter floral at the top that seems deceptively sweet. The fruit and cinnamon of this scent warm its heart perfectly. You'll find heart notes listed for any number of fragrances, but in this case it seems so true. Think of a package, wrapped in beautiful paper, a paisley of dark orange, pale green, and white. Tear away the paper and find a box, a dark, polished wood box, hand-crafted with clean, simple lines. Open the box and find there nested in brown velvet a heavy, handblown piece of glass fruit. Set it in a window, watch the light shine through and change through the day, shifting somehow from amber, to blood-red purple. The dry woods meld with the soft spicy fruit and floral notes, making a subtle statement. Where Coco strides confidently, where Opium slinks, where Fendi shouts and waves, Citta di Kyoto floats gracefully across the room, like a ballerina, effortless. You can't help but notice.

I feel as though this is floral oriental all grown up into the kind of woman I might like to be. Sadly, I used almost every last drop of my sample. I can hear my bottle-worthy list groaning under the weight of yet another addition. Luckily, my wallet is safe. For now.

*photo from Aedes

Music and My Favorite Films

I'm a serious fan of Woody Allen's movies. I say it that way so that I won't catch flak for saying "I love Woody Allen." Soon Yi blah blah blah. (On that note, Mia Farrow looks amazing in that Gap ad she did recently.) It may sound callous to say so, but sometimes--when they aren't doing something like, say, promoting genocide--we must separate the art from the artists. As it stands, he produced some of the finest films of the last century, including my favorite movie of all time, Crimes and Misdemeanors. I like a little side of something dark with my humor.

My other favorites are Hannah and Her Sisters and Manhattan. Oh, and Broadway Danny Rose. And Husbands and Wives. I love Judy Davis in that film--her rant about Don Juans, the fox and hedgehog debate, the way she's a little (ha) cold to Liam Neeson. I love Purple Rose of Cairo and Radio Days. The ubiquitous Annie Hall. Love and Death. (Diane Keaton is one of my idols.) I'm a pain in the rear to watch a Woody Allen movie with, to tell you the truth, because I have to recite all the lines I know along with the movie (and I know a lot of them).

And so I wonder if it doesn't make me a little bit of a geek that I bought Woody Allen's playlist on iTunes. I'm amazed how all kinds of people put these things together and put them out there for us to buy. I guess it's as close as possible to having a personal soundtrack as you can get. I can barely make playlists just for myself to listen to...they end up full of everything but the kitchen sink, so to speak. It's easier for me to just copy everything over and just select shuffle.

Last night I was looking around on iTunes and saw the link for celebrity playlists. You all know I am not big on the celbrity thing, but when I saw the Woody Allen one, I could not resist. Here's what's on it:
Blue Horizon - Sidney Bechet
Burgundy Street Blues - George Lewis
Original Jelly Roll Blues - Jelly Roll Morton
The Pearls - Jelly Roll Morton's Red Hot Peppers
Cornet Chop Suey - Louie Armstrong
Shine - Louie Armstrong
Over the Rainbow - Bud Powell
A Night in Tunisia - Bud Powell
Just You, Just Me - Thelonious Monk
Koko - Charlie Parker
Giant Steps - John Coltrane

If you like jazz and you like Woody Allen, you can't go wrong with this. Even if you don't like Woody Allen, it's a great playlist. And while I'm on the subject of music and film, another of my favorite movies has such a wonderful, eclectic soundtrack: Rushmore. I whip this out every fall. I don't know if it's because Rushmore starts with the beginning of the school year, or if there's just something about the list of songs on there that strikes the right note with the turning leaves and the bright blue sky. If you haven't listened to it and can get your hands on a copy, give it a shot. Listen to it all the way through. And if you haven't seen the movie--well, why are you still sitting here? Go! Run to your favorite rental spot and get Rushmore. Pick up a Woody Allen film while you're at it. Oh, and Whit Stillman's Metropolitan. (If you can find it...and whatever happend to Whit Stillman? I loved all three movies: Metropolitan, Barcelona, Last Days of Disco...his last was in 1998! Too bad.)

*photos from woodyallenmovies.com, IMDB, and Yahoo!

Serge Lutens Daim Blond

After my scent debacle on Friday, I was hesitant to try anything new on Saturday in case my sense of smell was still out of whack. I decided to brave it anyway, so I went for the best: Serge Lutens. I have many samples left to try, all in my Serge Lutens grab bag, so I reached in and pulled out Daim Blond.

This scent is said to mimic the scent of the finest suede, and in that it succeeds fully. For such a soft scent, it has an amazing amount of texture. If you were to close your eyes and sniff, you might swear someone was holding an expensive suede bag up to your nose. The next thing you would expect would be the soft touch of it against your skin, perhaps on your arm, or brushing lightly against the back of your hand.

The notes in Daim Blond are Padilla iris, apricot kernel, cardamom, musk, heliotrope, and hawthorn. I think of a woman, sometime in the 1950s, wearing a beautiful cashmere coat with three-quarter-length sleeves and a chic hat with a wide brim that sends a shadow across part of her face, giving her an air of both elegance and mystery. She wears long suede gloves that cover her arms beyond the edge of the coat sleeve. This is her scent. Soft, refined, and slightly haunting.

*photo from Aedes

Scent Lab

A few weeks ago we went to our neighborhood Starbucks and ended up joining a coffee tasting. The Coffee Master (like a sommelier of the bean) gave us sheets that explained what we'd be tasting, what aromas to look for, and how best to pair the coffees with food. I've done this with wine, but never with coffee, and it was a treat! Two things stood out for me; the pairing of the coffee with the food (I just think something dark--I'm a French Roast fiend--and something sweet, and that's about as far as I usually get), and the Scent Lab Starbucks has developed for its coffee masters.

When I took a wine course, the instructor had us all begin by smelling and tasting a base wine. Then she brought in four or five more cups of wine, all of which she had "tainted" with some other flavor. We had to guess what it was she had added to the wine. This was more difficult than it might sound on paper (or, uh, on screen), but essentially she added both flavors that would work with and against the wine, so we could tell the difference. When the course was over, she gave us a print out of a "wheel," and on this were listed all the flavors one might encounter in a wine. One thing I'll always remember: reisling wines smell of petrol. Something to do with the soil where the grapes are grown. If someone hands you a glass of white wine and it smells of petrol, then it's a reisling. Or that person hates you and is trying to kill you. You be the judge.

The Starbucks Scent Lab consists of nine different scents that can help you identify a type of coffee and its classification. Sadly I didn't think to write them all down, but the three I smelled at the tasting were smoke, berry, and citrus. (If you're curious and a coffee drinker, the coffees were French Roast (smoky), Arabian Mocha Sinani (berry), and Ethiopia Sidamo (floral/citrus).) We sniffed the bottles from the lab, and then we sniffed the coffee. Amazing! Now I drink enough coffee to know they don't all smell the same, but I hadn't ever paid specific attention to the real undertones or tried to classify them. We had the Ethiopia Sidamo with a bit of lemon poundcake to complement the citrus, and wow! It was seamless. If you've ever had something sweet with coffee and wondered why it just didn't taste how you expected, this might have been the reason. A dark French Roast can overwhelm a delicate lemon cake, and on the flipside, the cake can make the coffee taste bitter. Wrong pairing. Voila!

Quick aside: I know some people who eschew Starbucks. I met one girl who referred to it as "the evil empire." Of course, she worked as a photo stylist for the Neiman Marcus catalog. I'm not sure: What's more evil? A generally available good cup of coffee, or a custom Mercedes that comes with a pint-sized miniature for one's offspring to drive around the manse? And who knew Neiman Marcus kept a social critic on the payroll?

This got me thinking about creating a scent lab for myself for perfume. I've Googled away for "scent lab," "fragrance kit," "scent kit," and so on, but all I seem to be able to find are fragrance kits that make my lab better at identifying scents when I take him hunting. But I don't have a lab, I have a cat. And although civet or something might be of interest to someone's dog, I was thinking more long the lines of bergamot and ylang-ylang in oil form. If you know where I can find a (perfume) scent kit for beginners, please let me know. If not, then I'm going to set about creating one for myself. I'm getting a little better at picking out notes, but I know I'm confusing some of notes with each other. What I'm planning to do is to order some essential oils and train my nose to identify the scent. Geeky, but it seems necessary to have this basic level of knowledge. I don't know how any of the rest of you started out, or if you awoke one day after smelling a gajillion perfumes and found you could just name notes off the top of your head when you smelled something, but me...well, let's just say I'm no Luca Turin. I think my own personal “scent lab” will be a nice addition to The New Perfume Handbook, Second Edition, which I ordered but must wait for, as it was backordered through Powells. *Sigh* I’m ready to continue this education, but until all this comes together, I’ll keep sniffing.

When Bad Things Happen to Good Perfumes, Part 2

I'm just not happy with my perfume today. I don't have a sample to discuss--I had planned to talk about Comme des Garcons Incense-Zagorsk, which I wore yesterday, but I neglected it because work was so busy. I can tell you right now that my impression was favorable. Details forthcoming.

Today I'm not having any luck with scent at all. First, we had to take Diva to the vet this morning for her yearly shots, so my first big fragrance hit of the day was the smell of frightened animal sweat. Diva's not just pretty--she's smart, too. She knows when something's up. Although I thought I was doing quite the acting job, she sensed I had something up my sleeve and promptly hid under the bed. By the time we got her out and into the car, she was releasing hair like pollen. I'm used to her, so I don't sneeze too much, but I got a few hives on my neck.

And talk about animalic smell. And not in a sexy way. It was only very prominent for a few minutes, in the waiting area at the vet, but still...I think it threw off my sense of smell completely. When the appointment was over, we took Diva home and decided to go get coffee. I was getting ready for work in a piecemeal sort of way, so I put on a little makeup and then applied Anne Pliska before we left. I was bothered my the scent of myself all the way to Starbucks. When we got there and were standing in line, Bob told me he didn't like my perfume. While I wasn't thrilled with his timing (it was a little bit as though he'd leaned over and whispered that my butt looked big), I secretly agreed with him. When we got home I washed it off and decided to try again.

I applied Loukhoum and then left for work. But this one isn't working either. You all know how much I love this. I washed off as much of it as I could in the ladies' room. I think perhaps the animal sweat tainted my nose. I long for something bright and juicy. Amber or incense was not the way to go today at all. Perhaps I should have spent the day with Bois de Paradis again, or with Jo Malone's Pomegranate Noir. Or even with a light floral. *Sigh*

Parfums Delrae Bois de Paradis

Oh, what a dark, juicy, spicy treat this scent is. I'm supposed to be sampling fall scents, but this one catapulted me straight into winter, into the holidays. The notes in Bois de Paradis are:
Top: Bergamot (Aedes)/citrus (Parfums Delrae site)
Heart: French rose, blackberry, fig (PD site), spices (PD site, listed as cinnamon on Aedes)
Base: Woods and amber

This isn't an oriental per se, but with the spice and amber, it qualifies at least as much as Chinatown does, and it does a far better job (in my humble opinion). The citrus is joined wholeheartedly by the cinnamon at the top. I say this is "dark" because the juice quality of this scent is heavy and thick, mulled with the other notes to create a rich fragrant brew. For some reason I think of Dickens (Except, well, I don't care much for Dickens. But in this case, I mean it as a compliment. Really.), and children with oranges in their stockings on Christmas morning. (Uh, like that ever happens anymore. Can one shove a Sony Playstation into a sock? Give me back the days of oranges, chocolate, and books.) To me that signifies a timelessness. I'm afraid the rose was lost on me, and the woods aren't very strong. (I wonder if this is a rosewood or something light...I didn't get any cedar. If it's sandalwood, it's not very prominent to my proboscis...ha! I just cracked myself up. How sad.) But the amber--I can still smell it faintly on my wrist, like a faded memory of the previous year's festivities.

(Today I am Queen of the Aside.)

*photo from Parfums Delrae

Creed Santal Original EDP

Creed Santal Original was one of my very first samples, but I've been saving it for cooler weather. Inside the vial, it smells heavily of sandalwood, so I thought it would be perfect for fall. The notes in Santal Original are:
Top: Royal Indian sandalwood, cinnamon, coriander, juniper berry
Heart: Lavendar, orange tree leaves, rosemary
Base: Tonka bean and vanilla

I was right--this is a wonderful fragrance for fall. But this scent in particular serves as a fine example of why you should never judge a scent after simply smelling a sample. Upon smelling it in the vial, I thought this unisex fragrance would favor a man, and I almost gave it to Bob. I'm glad I didn't. Immediately upon applying, beyond the sandalwood, I got the most wonderful sweet juice, what must be the juniper berry. I need to stop for a second and interject: the notes listed above are from Aedes, and they are the same notes that appear on Neiman's site. If you go to the Creed site (where they do not list notes, and where they say directly this is a unisex scent, which is important) and click the link to buy a fragrance, it takes you directly to Neiman's. This one's a bit out of my budget, so I went to eBay to see what the prices are like out there, and I found several shops that listed both a men's and a women's version of this scent. Interestingly, the men's version contains the notes listed above, while the women's version (remember, according to eBay) also contains neroli, ginger, mandarin, orangewood, cedar, benzoin, and ambergris.

Because Neiman's is an "officially sponsored" site, I'm going to assume they have all the notes correct. And because Neiman's and Creed both say this is a unisex scent, I am going to assume it is. eBay also sells a cologne version, and I'm wondering if this is the "men's," however Neiman's and Aedes both sell only the EDP. Make of all this what you will.

But to return to the fragrance: I admit the first thing that came to my mind, before I read the notes anywhere, was neroli. If other notes are present, then neroli must certainly be one...but on the official list the closest thing is "orange tree leaves." The juiciness of the opening is tempered beautifully by the spice, and the sweetness softens somewhat after the first thirty minutes, when rosemary and lavendar take the stage. This stage is fresh and slightly medicinal, in a comforting way. Think of it as luxurious aromatherapy, as this scent bids you to relax. The tonka bean and vanilla lend a warmth and slight creamy sweetness.

I am trying to be picky about what I put on the bottle-worthy list, and I can't see how to leave this off. Of course, it will take me forever to collect everything on that list, and I've still barely made a dent in my samples. There are whole houses whose perfumes I haven't even sampled yet. I cannot afford this hobby. I'm going to go buy a lottery ticket now.

Update: I've been wearing this all day, and I'm sad to say that it does fade quite a bit. I smell a barely-there deep orangey vanilla, and not much else. For a sandalwood fragrance, especially one with such a strong beginning, I'd expect more. This tempers my longing somewhat. It'll stay on the list for now, but so far the winner this week is still Shaal Nur.

*photo from Aedes

Comment Trouble and Blogger Beta

Argh. You have my apologies if you have been trying to comment and been unable. Apparently Blogger has this known issue with its current Beta:

"Users are seeing errors when posting comments with current Blogger accounts to blogs on the new version of Blogger in beta. Until we fix this, the workaround is to preview the comment before publishing. (You only need to preview once per account.) Update (9/13): This issue has been re-written to clarify the core bug and offer the workaround."

I work in technology, and I just love developer-speak: "clarify the core bug and offer the workaround." Huh? Anyway, looks like if you choose to preview first, it might work. And naturally, they have no way for me to switch back to the old blogger, so we all must hang in there until this gets fixed or is released. *sigh*

Ormonde Jayne Tolu

If I have any feeling of discontent about any of Ormonde Jayne's creations, then it's got to be that some of her fragrances are simply too big for me. Of course, that's blaming it all on the perfumer, which isn't really fair. Instead, I suppose I should say, I'm not big enough for some of her fragrances. Still, Tolu rounds out my top three favorite Ormonde Jayne fragrances, where the other two are Frangipani and Champaca.

The notes in Tolu are:
Top: Juniper berry, organge blossom, clary sage
Heart: Orchid, Moroccan rose, muguet
Base: Tolu, tonka bean, golden frankincense, amber

This is a juicy incense of a fragrance, and it lasts forever. The opening is bright and slightly sweet, but it settles quickly into a floral-incense combination. As I said earlier, I'm not really big enough for Tolu, but I love it anyway. I feel as though I'm wearing a cashmere sweater that's a few sizes too large (wait, that's in again this season, right? Where'd I put my leggings? Ha!). I'm not sure how to explain "too big" any other way, except to say that I don't fill it in. I'm sort of small--not dinky, just short, somewhere between 5'2" and 5'3", and a decent weight for my height. I say all this to give you a frame of reference: I am what some might call petite. But what I feel like a little bit when I wear Tolu (although less so than when I wear Osmanthus, which overtakes me completely) is one of those petite women who, in an effort to not be thought of as small, has gone large with everything: huge jewelry, high heels, big hair, too much makeup. She bought up all of the castoff suits at some Hollywood auction for Dynasty, and she wears one every day.

Now that I have that picture, I can't get it out of my head. It reminds me of a time in college when I had a brief crush on someone, and one night I was driving home and thinking of him when I smelled a very distinct scent: skunk. My brain locked in the association, for better or worse. Every time I thought of the boy after that, I then remembered the smell of that skunk. No fault of the boy, to be sure. He was quite clean. But the crush was over. Not quite the same, but you get the idea.

Anyhow, so many women pick perfumes that wear them, instead of the other way around. They aren't necessarily the women in the elevator wearing too much--over-appliaction isn't the problem (although at times they can go hand-in-hand). More often they are women who get into costume every day of their lives. You notice their perfume as you notice everything else about them because it seems somehow forced and artificial, discordant. The scent, no matter how pleasant, simply does not fit its wearer. Of course, you could argue that just because a scent is unexpected does not mean it's inappropriate. But I would answer that I think you can have a scent that's unexpected and still fits. I push back the sleeves of Tolu and readjust the neck. I squirm and rearrange. And it's too bad, because the amber in this scent is quite comforting, even if it doesn't quite fit.

*photo from Ormonde Jayne

Etro Shaal Nur

The trees are getting tired. Everywhere around Atlanta they droop and yellow against a crisp blue sky. This past weekend was an odd mix of heat and cool breezes, the sort of weather that makes it apparent the air conditioning in most places is too strong, yet still necessary. Over the weekend I wore Fleurs d'Oranger, and while I love it, I didn't think it was striking the right chord. It's sweetness left me wanting something dry and woodsy, so I went into my little box that might as well be labeled "Fall Samples" and pulled out Shaal Nur.

According to Etro's web site, the notes in Shaal Nur are:
Top: Citrus floral (lemon, bergamot, grapefruit, tangerine, rosewood, coriander)
Heart: Aromatic floral (thyme, tarragon, rosemary, karo karoundé, rose, petit grain)
Base: Spicy, woody, amber (nutmeg, patchouli, vetiver, cedar wood, opoponax, incense, musk)

Karo karoundé is apparently a daffodil-like flower, similar to narcissus and jonquil in scent (facts I patched together from their site and the card that came with my sample--if you look at Aedes, they'll tell you the scent actually contains narcissus and jonquil, but don't be fooled). If you took Laura Tonatto Iss, mixed it with Etro Messe de Minuit, and then threw in some rose and a few herbs, you'd have something like this scent. If I had read the notes previously, I might not have tried it. Herbs in perfume frighten me a little--when the list of ingredients sounds like something I might want to rub on a chicken before roasting it, well...it's off-putting. Let's leave it at that.

But no worries. You won't want to spice your chicken with Shaal Nur. One thing I love about this scent is how different the sillage smells from the up-close and personal smell of it directly against the skin. At a distance, it's a dry woody floral, and the rose peeks through beautifully, uplifted gently by the herbs that surround it. Up close, the rose disappears somewhat behind the woody spiciness; the nutmeg, cedarwood, and patchouli hold court with the incense and musk. You get a bit of the citrus at the opening--not really a bright burst--but to me it was still much more woods and incense even at the top, although the vetiver comes right through and holds on until the end. I love a fragrance that has many dimensions at once, and to me this has the best of incense and vetiver and rose. It's a literal potpourri of a fragrance, and I mean that in the best sense: dry but intoxicating, a little tricky to the senses, and could easily be worn year-round by those who love incense-based fragrances. Etro lists this as a unisex fragrance, and I think it is, even with much rose in the sillage. Maybe think of it as the perfume for a man who loves roses. I think this one goes on the bottle-worthy list for me.

*photo from Aedes

L-O-V-E

I love these shoes. They're from the Trovata show. Oh....*drool* Photo is from Style.com.

Life in the Slow Lane

Ah, today I am wearing Temper Chocolates Temperare 03: oakmoss, chocolate, fig, vanilla, kukui nut, sage, dalmation. Outside it's raining and raining and raining, and it's cooled off quite a bit. This scent is perfect for a morning liek this--it's like a nice, dark, strong cup of coffee, comforting with a bit of pick-me-up. That's about the best I can do on a review today.

I've fallen behind not in actual sampling, but in writing about sampling. Work is not only crazy busy, but also crazy. The group I work in is going through major upheavals at the moment, and it's none too pretty. Sadly, I work with some seriously malicious and insecure folk who have nothing better to do than spread conspiracy theories and nasty rumors about their co-workers. Nasty gossip drains the life out of me. I keep my door closed (yes, thank goodness, we have doors on our cubes), but I can still hear them out there, spreading venom. Everyone's talking in a normal voice and then suddenly, it's all hissing whispers. I put my headphones on and listen to music and try to keep working, but sometimes I find myself just staring out the window, the headphones silent, wishing I were somewhere else. I'm doing my best to stay away from toxic people. I've had my fill.

I also now have this new Blogger Beta, because I fancy myself an early adopter, but now I find I can't comment on some of my favorite blogs! Ohhh...ggrrrr. So if you are visiting me today, and you know I usually visit your blog and comment regularly, well...it could be Blogger's fault. That's all I'm saying.

And to close on a high note, I can't stop looking at all the pictures of Fashion Week! Whenever I take a break at work I go to Style.com. The shows, the parties. My favorite thing to look at is The Sartorialist's pictures he's taking of people outside the shows. The Sartorialist is one of my very favorite blogs--I'm sure you've all heard of it. I love looking at these pictures of real people and how they dress every day. The show clothes and the models are fun to look at, but I know I'll never be a model. On the other hand, I do hope to be a real person one day, so these pics inspire me.

*photos from Temper Chocolates, The Sartorialist and Style.com

i Profumi di Firenze Tobacco

I wish this weren’t a day when people remember where they were at that moment. For people who lost loved ones on this day, my heart goes out to you. But much disturbs me about our insistence on dwelling on the tragedy of the event rather than on what we might do to prevent such a thing from happening ever again. Is there any way on earth that people might begin to understand each other, ever?

Obviously, I’m not going to answer that question on a blog about things like eye shadow and perfume. In fact, I hadn’t planned to bring it up, but I was going to work this morning, and I decided to stop and get a cup of coffee at Starbucks. Usually I go to one closer to my house, but because I came up with the idea on my way to the office, I headed to a different location, and on my way there, I realized: I was headed straight for the Starbucks where I heard the news. Back in 2001, I went to the same Starbucks every day, and the guy who usually made my drink was the one who told me the first plane had hit the tower. We always joked around with each other, and I thought he was kidding. I chided him until another customer told me it was true.

And just before I started to compose this post, I was knocking around Napster, looking for something to listen to. I was going for The Killers new album, but it’s not posted yet, and then I saw a link for The Strokes. I clicked through and selected Is This It without much thought, and then realized: this album came out in the fall of 2001. About a month after 9/11, I went to see Janeane Garofalo perform, and she mentioned this album was really great, so I went out and bought it. Very strange to go see a comedy act after the events of those days, especially the act of a person who was there that day, and who had a lot of stories to share. But I suppose the important thing is to remember to keep laughing, to keep finding things to enjoy: comedy, music, perfume, eye shadow. While we pay our respects to those who lost their lives that day, we must move forward and enjoy what we can of life. Difficulty and unhappiness are never things to look for—they will find you. They have your address. But happiness, you should always strive to seek.

And my perfume that day? Something I no longer wear: Elizabeth Arden Splendor. I wore it for many years afterward, but then one day I put it on and realized it didn’t smell the same anymore, that it or I had changed, and it was time to find something else. And look at me now: a new perfume every day, practically!

i Profumi di Firenze Tobacco is an uncomplicated blend of tobacco flower and sandalwood, a spicy floral perfect for fall. It’s warm without being heavy, like a light blanket in your lap on a cool afternoon. It makes me long for crisp air and a glass of hot apple cider. It’s still warm here, but the breeze carries a little chill on it, and the other day I looked out the front door and saw three burnt orange leaves amidst the tired green on the tree in our front yard. Crazy as it sounds, to me fall is the beginning of a cycle more so than the end. I love watching the leaves turn, I love the holidays, the barrenness of winter that allows spring. To me, summer, in all its stifling heat, is the end of things. But no matter what you think of as the beginning or the end, it’s all a cycle, no? Endless cycle of life.

*photo from LusciousCargo

Shiny, Pretty Things

Fall is my favorite season, and I’ve never gotten over the “new clothes for school” syndrome as I’ve aged. Personally, I think we must continue to mark changes in seasons, which is why, despite fashion trends to the contrary, I am all for putting away the white clothing and the linen after Labor Day. (Okay, I live in the South, where it stays hot, so maybe dark linen is acceptable, but please, people: put away the white linen! Save it for a cruise!) As far as clothing goes, I’m pretty basic. My job does not require me to dress up (at all…seriously, people wear clothing to work here that has holes in it…and this is a professional, white-collar company.), and I have the basics covered: sweaters, jeans, some cute shoes. I love coats, but owning a bunch of coats in Atlanta…if I owned ten, I’d have one for each day of winter, let me put it that way. Pointless to have so many awesome coats and leave them hanging in a closet.

For some reason this year, I couldn’t bear the thought of buying another sweater. I was completely unenthusiastic about fall shopping. But then, I found Modish. Modish is one of my favorite blogs featuring the works of independent craftspeople from around the world. Every week Jena, the “owner” of Modish and a jewelry designer in her own right, shares all kinds of interesting finds, from notepaper to art to bags and t-shirts to jewelry.

Yes, jewelry. Frankly, I’ve never been one to accessorize. I tend to wear the same watch and earrings, along with my wedding ring, every day. But some of the designs I saw on Modish got me thinking: instead of buying new clothes, I could just get some cool jewelry to spice things up! I mean, I thought about doing this before, but let’s face facts: Atlanta is the land of the old Mall & Chain. I find it difficult to get excited about buying a necklace when it’s hanging on a rack with fifteen others just like it, and it also screams “I AM A TREND!” And if you can find a boutique that features independent crafts, you must be prepared to pay through the nose for them.

But I found some interesting, unusual, and pretty (and very affordable) stuff thanks to Modish, and so I wanted to share!

Anna Sofia Designs
Anna Sofia Kukafka makes handcrafted jewelry out of glazed handmade or silk-screened papers from places as various as Japan, Nepal, Italy, Thailand, and Bangladesh. She also uses sterling silver, semi-precious stones, and Swarovski crystals. I ordered this pair of earrings, and also a necklace (not the one pictured…she’d removed the picture from the site, but it’s lovely!). The paper is quite pretty, and the pendants and earrings are very lightweight. I’ve only worn the necklace so far, but I got many compliments, because it’s so unusual.

Spipo Designs
Rickina Velte, a former Aviation Electronics Technician with the U.S. Navy, is the owner of Spipo Designs, and her site features earrings, bracelets, necklaces, rings, and brooches. Let me get the bad news out of the way first: This site is difficult to get through—because it’s just so impossible to decide what to buy! Rickina thinks of her jewelry as works of art, and I would have to agree. She puts a great deal of time and effort into perfecting her designs. I bought this carnelian necklace—which is stunning in person—and these gorgeous emerald nugget earrings. Hm…the Navy’s loss was the art world’s gain!

Sweet Thunder
Jenny Mangun and RJ Porter are Sweet Thunder Designs. According to their site, Sweet Thunder “supports limited edition production with an emphasis on using recycled, reconstructed, rare vintage & antique materials.” This is yet another site that’s difficult to get all the way through without wanting to click the Add to Cart button next to almost every item. I ordered this pretty necklace made out of an antique box clasp the first time, and the second time, I ordered this Mercury Loop necklace. I had to be very disciplined and actually take items out of my cart. *Sigh.* Just wait until I win the lottery! I’ll join their Earring of the Month Club.

And finally, in closing, let me tell you the most impressive thing of all about these businesses: their amazing attention to presentation and customer service. All of them sent me messages personally thanking me for my order, and each time I received an item, I felt like I was opening a gift from a friend. Not only are these people crafting beautiful and unique pieces of art, but they make their customers feel as special and unique as the work they do.

So please, if you get a chance, visit these sites, and visit Modish. Support independent business people!

*all photos are from the designers’ sites