Brandy — I’ve been meaning to try this one forever, I think I’ve had the sample for about four months. Notes of apple,
peach and herbs, with the claim that horses are enticed by the scent. You know, it’s not terrible, kind of a mess of fruit and something else that isn’t offensive, but isn’t very memorable either. What does this have to do with horsies? The apple maybe? I’m thinking more rocking horse than the palomino that inspired it. I don’t get so much apple, I get that pear-like smell that seems to happen instead of peaches on many scents. I don’t know why exactly that happens with peach perfumes. A mystery! BTW, for those of you that were skeptical of Madonna’s new W photo shoot, you can go view most of the snaps here. Some of the photos are just gorgeous, very beautiful, but some of them are so disturbing. Art or horsie pr0n?
Givenchy Le De — Created in 1957 and I believe discontinued now, with notes of bergamot, mandarin, coriander, jasmine, rose, carnation, lilac, lily of the valley, sandalwood and gaicwood, amber and moss. Goes on soft and a little powdery. I generally don’t like older or vintage perfumes, but a darling friend sent this, and it is just gorgeous. I feel a little like I just stepped into a Rita Hayworth movie — a little dangerous and a lot of estrogen floating about. So very feminine and beautifully blended with enough depth to keep it interesting. Just beautiful.
And now that I’m going down memory lane…
My mother used to make a burnt sugar cake from the recipe in the old green Watkins recipe book, which I still have in my possession even though the pages are falling out and it is messed up with notes from my mom like “Patty, make this tonight.” We had to work for months to talk her into making that sinfully calorious concoction, and she just hated doing it. We always pinned our hopes on Aunt Nelda every year to get it made. Aunt Nelda would breeze in for a vist and just ask once, and my mom would skip into the kitching, bitching the whole time under her breath about that damn cake and make it anyway. Burnt Sugar from CdG does not smell like the burnt sugar I remember. Burning sugar isn’t that sweet. The sweetness is there, but is is overlaid by the acrid smell of browning. I really want to smell that again, and my mom cannot be bribed, sweet-talked or otherwise goaded into making that cake now that Aunt Nelda is dead, and I’m not talented enough at baking to make it, but CdG did not get anywhere near the mark on this one. As a perfume, it’s actually pretty flippin awful. Too sweet, more like cotton candy gone wrong, just horrible, it’s got to get scrubbed.
06130 Yuzu Rouge is FBW and is now added to my list of favorite crisp summer scents, along with 4711, Eva and Osmanthe Yunnan. Notes of yuzu, cassis, grapefruit, verbena, damascena rose, nutmeg, bergamot, cardamom, musk, moss, gray amber. There is nothing in this perfume that you can’t love. The rose that shows up at first is one of those small little blushing roses, with the citrus just wafting about it to give it zest and life.
I also need to find the perfect self-tanner. Ideas? I know I shouldn’t, but I’ve tried almost every self-tanner in existence, and I still just prefer the sun.
Rescue Me — I love this series, and they are re-running seasons 1 and 2 (partway through 2 now) in anticipation of season 3 starting on May 29. I’ve always been a Dennis Leary fan, and this series just makes me laugh and cry and cross my eyes. In what is a wasteland of television, it is a seriously refreshing series. If you aren’t watching it, why aren’t you?
Bleak House miniseries from PBS — oustanding. Loved the book, and this was a great adaptation. I only regretted that the Snagsby character only said once his best line “not to put too fine a point on it.”
Someone I work with’s husband died over the weekend from a very unexpected heart attack, though he had been ill for many years. She is young, about my age, and one of the kindest, sweetest people in the world, and she loved him so. I am so very sad for her. Sometimes that’s why I appreciate perfumes so much, they are like life, they never stay long enough to make us really want it to be over.