Top 10 Best Perfume for my Life.

Ms. Mimi’s comment yesterday about the tale of Marie-Antoinette going to the guillotine with a bottle of perfume clutched in her hand got me thinking about what bottle of perfume I would take the to the guillotine, what is the best perfume to describe my life? But before Idunst-antoinette.jpg talk about that, can I just say the idea of Kirsten Dunst playing Marie-Antoinette may make me wish for a guillotine?!  I would like to go see this movie, but I’m hoping I can just forget that she is in the title role, maybe if I wear a flip-down visor so I can just cover my eyes when she is on screen — wait, the voice is as bad.  Ayeeeeiii. If Sophia Coppola makes another “think piece” like that abominably boring Lost in Translation, it will truly be a movie that will make you roll your eyes at Kirsten, just to find your eyes staying up at the top of the eye sockets, asleep from lack of anything remotely interesting or entertaining on the movie screen.  I’ll watch Bill Murray over and over in Groundhog Day, it was the pinnacle of his career and one of the best movies ever made, but LiT was just a pale copy of that middleagedguyangstthatcanbeverytediouswihtoutsomehumor, but Scarlett Johannsen was lovely.

If I had lost everything in my life, my family, my position, my dignity, and was about to lose my head and there was nothing left, what bottle would bring back the memories of how sweet my life had been, even as it was ending?  So I have a poll that I’ll answer first, put your answers in the comments!

first-date.jpgBest Perfume for my first date: L’Artisan La Chasse aux Papillon for the obvious virginal reasons, along with a carefully rehearsed “why would I want to do that, I don’t want to MARRY you!” in my verbal pocket.

(Art found at this site, scared me!  but it did remind me of my first date… a lot!)

Best Perfume for my wedding: Hermes Eau de Merveilles.  Beautiful and perfect.

Best Perfume for my honeymoon: Hermessence Osmanthe Yunnan or Yuzu Rouge or some other tarty thing because I read somewhere that men see you as younger and prettier if you are wearing citrus scents, and heavy, sin-filled perfumes would just get in the way of my beloved seeing my in all my youthful gloriousness.

Best Perfume for begging for forgiveness for something really horrible I have done: Bond No. 9 Eau de Noho, which should make me appear more innocent and forgivable than I really am, or Guerlain Apres L’Ondee if I know forgiveness will never come.

Best Perfume for a long lunch with my best girlfriends where there will be liquor and gossip: Serge Lutens Tuberuese Criminelle, so I can feel all grown up and dangerous and sophisticated while I’m getting bombed with my buddies.  The tuberose shouldn’t conflict with the lime smell from my margaritas.

Best Perfume for my coronation as Queen of the F*&^ing World (Laurie, I kept that t-shirt, you know and wear it whencrown.jpg I feel my fiefdom falling apart) — Caron En Avion.  No reason needed, it is the most confident perfume on the face of the planet. Yes, I know that is the crown of the Holy Roman Emperor, but I like to aim high and hope for a return of my rightful dominion.  (queue crazy Sunset Boulevard music)

Best Perfume to take to the Guillotine:  This one was so hard, and it came down to three — four. Ormonde Jayne Ormonde Woman, Frederic Malle En Passant, Hermessence Vetiver Tonka and TDC Sel de Vetiver, all for very different reasons. The Ormonde Jayne Ormonde Woman because it just feels like my life and me.  The Sel de Vetiver because it smells like so many of the best times of my life, vacations on the ocean, lazy days drinking with the rain pattering outside, the salt, the wet, just happy and not very serious.  Vetiver Tonka because it is smooth and intoxicating and may let me forget they are about to separate my head from the rest of me.  The En Passant won because it smells like all of my life, a little wistful, but content, as it looks back at more time than it can look forward to, and it brings me comfort like the others do not.

  • Katie says:

    This is just an awesome list P – great reading, thank you 🙂

  • Patty says:

    Laurie, I still can’t wear it in public, nor can I wear my STFU sweatshirt Warren gave me, but I love wearing it around the house when it is a “mommy in a bad mood” day.

  • Patty says:

    CW, I die for those things too. I know I’d hate them, but they look so exotic and fun!

  • Patty says:

    Amy K., I think they’ll whack off your head anyway, but you will make some wonderful sillage when that thing comes flying down! I need a ghoulish smiley now.

  • marbledog says:

    “Queen of the F*&^ing World (Laurie, I kept that t-shirt, you know and wear it when I feel my fiefdom falling apart”

    !!!!! LOL and all that!!! I had totally forgotten. Don’t launder it too many times because you will be Queen of the F*&^ing World for many decades to come.

  • cheezwiz says:

    I’m actually looking forward to the Marie Antoinette movie. I’m disappointed that Kirsten Dunst is in the title role, but I am a BIG sucker for historical costume dramas.

    French 18th century costumes fascinate me: I think I’ve always harbored a secret desire to wear a ginormous powdered wig and elaborate silk gowns with lots of lace and ruffles. Oh yeah, and a hand-painted fan too!

    I have no idea what my scents of life are, but I will take a stab at a few:
    First Date – something girly & flirty Maybe Baby
    Wedding-L’Artisan Fleur d’Oranger
    Honeymoon-Annick Goutal Eau d’Hadrien
    Lunch-L’Artisan La Chasse OR if its a fancy lunch, Chanel No. 19
    Forgiveness -Guerlain L’Heure Blue
    Queen of the World-Josephine by Rance (made for an Empress non? a romantic but spicy robust fragrance).
    Guillotine – no idea.

  • Amy K. says:

    I’d be clutching a bottle of Fifi Chachnil at the guillotine. “It’s a crime to execute someone with such sexy sillage, n’est-ce pas?”

  • I’m thinking, for the guillotine, either L’Autre because of the briskness of the spices (courage, pride, lucidity) followed by a very natural musky drydown that makes me think of my husband’s natural smell (comfort, love, humanity) – I would feel he’s close next to me, but it might make me feel too tender too, or Violetta di Borsari. VdiBorsari, because again, it’s a very natural scent, it’s a light, fresh, pure, and supremely elegant scent — it would help me put out the bestiality of the situation out of my mind, think of a better order of nature. M-A would have loved it BTW.

    In answer to violetnoir: yes, there is such a book devoted to M-A’s relationship to perfumes, it’s entitled Jean-Louis Fargeon, parfumeur de Marie-Antoinette, by Elisabeth de Feydeau, Perrin, 2004.

  • Patty says:

    E, I had a hard time leaving out a La Nuit and Un Lys, but I had to, sobbing!

    I like your picks too. Tea for Two? I put that one on today, it really is a stunner and perfect for summertime.

  • Patty says:

    Sybil, I really am having a long drawn-out thing for sel de vetiver. I keep thinking I’ll get over it soon, but it really is an enjoyable fragrance.

    I’m hoping Kirsten pulls it off and that the movie worth seeing.

  • Patty says:

    R, saintly? Well, er, um, ok, I won’t argue with you.

    I’d love to know what she wore too. Houbigant, but which one?

    Oh, Kirsten isn’t so bad, I guess, I just have too much fun loving to hate her than anything else. I really liked her a lot in that cheerleader movie, one of my favorite guilty pleasures.

  • Patty says:

    Robin, it can truly be said, if you took Therese, you’d be taking everything including the kitchen sink ! But it is a perfume to make one feel brave, no doubt.

  • Emotenote says:

    Ha! I love the pictures with the fragrances! They really express ‘moi’ when I wake up on a tired morning. First, thanks Patty for the mention of my blog, that was so nice of you and I’ve gotten some great comments so far which I enjoy so much.

    Now, off to the Guillotine, I think it would have to be ‘A la ‘Nuit’ by Luten. Jasmine can make me forget everything and put me in a heavenly state. Second might be Bvlgari’s Rose Essential. I don’t know what it is about that Rose, but it is so warm and comforting to me.

    First date – Chrystalle – flirty
    Wedding – One of the Rosines (funny, same scent a for the Guillotine..coinsidence?)
    Honeymoon – Divine, by Divine
    Lunch – L’artisan’s deep Tea scent who’s name I can’t recall right now.
    Forgiveness? – Carthusia Mediteranea
    Queen of the F*#@!&G world? Well, if only they would ask…Tonatto’s Amir. Sort of commanding regal and good sillage. Can’t be Queen without sillage!

  • sybil says:

    I’m such a newbie, it’s hard to say…so far, if I’m going to the guillotine, I think probably SL Vetiver Oriental, because it makes me feel calm and peaceful. Although Sel de Vetiver would also make me feel better, I’m guessing.

    Kirsten Dunst, Marie Antoinette? I’m not sure I see it…I keep thinking of her as the bratty baby vampire in Interview w/ a Vampire…

  • violetnoir says:

    Oh geez, I’m just way too saintly to ever go to the guillotine, so I will demur. :-”

    I read a comprehensive biography of MA written by…oh goodness, I forget her name! Is it Antonia Fraser? Anyway, Sophia Coppola’s movie is based on that biography, which was excellent. The only criticism I have of the book was that it focused on MA’s fashion, but not on any of the perfumes she wore…and I am sure there were many. If anyone knows where I can find out what fragrances MA wore, please let me know.

    Hey, I love Kirsten Dunst, woman, and I have a feeling that she will capture MA’s immaturity, naivete, silliness, and ultimately her steel. But yeah, LIT was overrated, and Ms. Coppola’s films may be, too.

    Hugs!

  • Robin says:

    Great categories! Perfume I’d take to the guillotine: Frederic Malle Parfum d’Therese. It makes me feel braver than I am.