Psst!!! For you Eau de Merveilles Parfum lovers, Imagination Perfumery has the 1 oz refill size back in stock for 99.99. Hurry, I may have got the last one. (Hangs head and looks guilty) Sorry, I went and looked again, and it now says sold out, I DID get the last one, but only because I’ve been bird-dogging that forever. But they do have the .25 refill for $55.99. If you’re wanting the deal of the century on that 1 oz, just keep checking back every day, they tend to get small amounts in, and they disappear fast. And if you’re any fan of Eau de Merveilles, the parfum is just a whole other level — richer, smoother, deeper.

Is it me, or does Coco smell a little bit like Youth Dew Amber Nude early on? I spritzed some in Saks and was driving to Petsmart after and kept smelling YDAN, until I figured out that it must be the Coco. They smell completely different in the drydown, but right in the first hour, they seemed similarish. So odd.

Speaking of Coco, I have to rat myself out. I thought I would try one of those great deals on eBay for Coco 3.4 oz EDP for $29.99 (stop laughing, I should know better, and I don’t know what came over me that allowed me to push the Buy it Now button). Got it, the bottom had a label that peeled off, the Coco label on the front was slightly crooked, plastic cap instead of glass, and it smelled a little like Coco, but my EDT was way stronger than this. Sent it back for a refund. She said they sent me a money order, which is weird since I paid with PayPal, but money all spends the same. The seller had 99.6% positive feedback, so I’m not worried. What shows up today under that item? User is no longer registered. Damnit, they are NARU!!!! Then I look more, and this seller has only been registered since the end of September of this year and somehow amassed 1400 feedbacks. Well, I”m sure they’ll open up shop under another name soon. So… Don’t Buy Chanel Perfumes on the Cheap on Ebay.

Sparkly mascara — Giorgio Armani has one. I tried it on in the store, and with their crappy lighting, couldn’t see sparkle one. Off to the truck, drove into light, and, voila! super-sparkling trashy eyelashes — love ‘em!!!! Now I need to call back down and have him send me some. I knew that would happen. You only see the sparkles after you leave the store if you don’t buy it. Also, the sparkly hairspray from Frederic Fekkai is awesome, too.

You know who has a great candle store on the internet? Candledelirium, that’s who. They have free shipping and gift wrapping for orders over $75. I sent in my order this afternoon and had a UPS tracking number within 10 minutes. Now, I have more candles than any sane person should have, but I could not resist the Voluspa Makassar Ebony and Peach candle or the Archipelago Havana candle (bergamot, tobacco leaf and Ylang Ylang) or the True Wheat candle, which sounds super-freaky –”organic garden notes with green tomato leaf, Bibb lettuce and Bradford cucumber, then layers them with grain and grass for an earthy clean blend” — but, hell, I never have been able to lay off the green tomato leaf and grain. I’m hoping for En Passant with tomato leaf tucked behind its ear instead of a sprig of lilac. Anyway, these guys have a great collection of candles. If they would just add Skeem candles to their list, I could shop here for everything candley.

Was I sleeping in class the day that everyone was told Annayake Miyako was a limited edition that was about gone before I bought it? It’s just a stunning incense scent, and I refuse to be addicted to it. It goes on with some freaky note that makes my nose wrinkle up, but in about 15 minutes, the drydown is this warm, enveloping incense smell that almost makes me cry. Hey, you, Miyako, go stand in the corner with the Gobin-Daudes.

Can we talk about Pilates? I finally broke down in my old age, because of the creaky joints and what feels like just a loss of strength, and signed up for private lessons with the most awesome Pilates instructor ever, Chris. I’ve tried these on my own over the years and got nowhere, just bored, didn’t keep it up, but there is a lot to be said by someone personally motivating you — in other words, making you do it. I’ve now switched over to the reformer classes, and I am just loving it, which is saying a lot for me. I got by forever with doing nothing. I grew up on a farm and had muscles layered on muscles, and they saved me a ton of pounds over 40 years because muscles burn so many more calories, so I ate pretty much whatever I wanted and dieted after babies and just didn’t worry about it too much, even if I had an extra 20 pounds, It wore well with that much muscle, and I was always just strong as an ox. Well, something about getting past 40 and then 45 really destroyed that safety net muscly calorie burner. Now I need to rebuild my muscle so I can go back to having ice cream every now and then. Ben & Jerry miss me and think I’m cheating on them. Pilates really does work, I can feel my old natural strength coming back with just a few classes.

Speaking of that, best diet book I’ve read is You on a Diet. I’ve got a ton of these books, especially since I hit 40, and this one is written by doctors, the ones that wrote You, the Owner’s Manual (also excellent), and they explain your body’s reaction to food and appetite and what triggers it in a way that isn’t dumbed down, but is completely understandable. Their explanation for why walking 30 minutes a day is vital really made a believer out of me, and I’ve been on my treadmill faithfully every day for a couple of weeks now (just one more week to make it a habit). Besides, I’m slowly working my way through the Battlestar Galactica series — one episode a day on my video iPod while on the treadmill (I’m flying my geeky freak flag proudly now). So when the Holidays are over, and you are looking at that extra 10 pounds, remember that book. I’m getting a headstart on y’all. I’m aiming to get back my much more youthful figger. Never aim too low.

In case you’ve been worried that, based on recent posts, I’ve grown a little too disciplined and refined in my fragrance sampling, don’t worry – I’ve been slutting around in the candy. In fact, the last week or two brought a shameful number of samples. Not that I’m ashamed …

Tocca – three fragrances: Touch, Stella, and Florence. I’m not a candle queen, and my research is a little … half-assed, but I gather that two of these EDPs (Stella and Florence) were based on Tocca candle scents. Stella is my favorite at the outset; notes are blood orange, aquatic notes, lily, orchid, freesia, sandalwood, musk. Stella makes me think of a creamsicle – but one from your favorite nouvelle cuisine spot, made by the dessert chef using a simple syrup of blood oranges and her grandmother’s closely-guarded recipe for vanilla gelato. I get nothing aquatic (thankfully). It’s a very nice fragrance, but I’m not sure I like it any more than the new one from L’Occitane, although the Tocca bottle has an appealing, old-fashioned charm. My drydown favorite ended up being Touch (Pomegranate, Peach flower, Tiare Flower, Jasmine, Gardenia, Egyptian Balsam, Sandalwood), with the tart opening giving way to the sweetness of the jasmine and gardenia. Looking at that list of notes doesn’t excite me, but somehow on me Touch ends up being better than it sounds – I get quite a bit of resin-y sandalwood in the drydown, which turns out to be a great foil for its white-floral headiness. Finally, Florence sounded interesting (Bergamot, Drenched Green Pear, Apple, Ivory Gardenia, Jasmine Petals, Tuberose, Iris, White Musk, Spiced Woods); I expected it to be rather green. I knew something was wrong as soon as it hit my skin; while it was morphing into a scrubber I did some further online research and discovered the following at La Crème: “Florence is the sophisticated essence of the old European garden rose known as Centifolias or ‘cabbage’ rose. Bred in the 16th and 17th centuries by the Dutch, Centifolias are noted for their highly fragrant blooms as well as their one hundred (cento) petals…” In other words, despite the notes listed, Florence is pretty much a rose fragrance. Ugh. Yes, I know that’s completely unfair and useless. You rose fans will have to do your own research.

Les Nez – I tackled L’Antimatiere on Monday. Today I’ll cover the other two. Let Me Play the Lion – I’m pretty sure I’m the last person to review this, and I want to say one word: cedar. Les Nez doesn’t publish their fragrance notes, and I know everyone else was over the moon on this one. But mostly what I smell is cedar, and I am sad to say that, like the princess with the pea, cedar is a note I don’t love in quantity. Any normal person would be entranced by its woods, its smoke and its warmth, like being wrapped inside a thick wool blanket. But instead I am left with the brutal B.O. of the locker room after a grueling session at my hot yoga studio. I am still mourning my loss.

Les Nez The Unicorn Spell starts off, as Legerdenez described so well, with a perfect green bean note, and then slowly unfolds into an early spring violet. Unicorn has been described with the words frosty, chilled, cold, dark; but to me it has the vegetal warmth of damp earth, like CB Black March. It also bears some resemblance to Annick Goutal Violette, a sharp, earthy spring violet which (for all I know) might also have been created by Doyen, since she’s done a lot of work for AG. Anyone who’s looking for a violet but can’t stand the candied aspect should consider Unicorn, my favorite of the line.

Next, we have Nemo by Cacharel, a men’s cologne with lots of positive feedback on the fragrance boards. It’s been discontinued; it was also recommended to me by a regular commenter who shares the same tastes (not naming any names, Dusan). Notes are: Hinoki, betel leaf, incense, cedarwood, cardamom. I bought it unsniffed when I ran across a discounted bottle at a local retailer and – hey, look – there’s cedarwood in there! And this is a fatal flaw (see Let Me Play the Lion above), morphing the fragrance from an Incense/Woods dream into the daft but terrifying nightmare of the Grim Reaper, post work-out and pre-shower, carrying one of those little bags of cedar shavings for your gerbil cage. On you, however, it probably smells lovely.

Finally, let us all bow our heads in prayer for Andy Tauer’s soul, which he must have sold to the Devil in exchange for the ability to create one gratifyingly quixotic scent after another. I spent two days sniffing the unnamed lavender mod he’s fiddling with right now, on the heels of the spectacular Orris. I like lavender – I grow it all over my garden – but I tend to shy away from wearing anything that smells strongly of lavender. It’s too much like a sachet or laundry spray, and lavender has been sadly overworked in that department. Anyhow, if Serge Lutens’ masterful Encens et Lavande captures the exquisite mournfulness of the blooms perfuming a gentle rain in the cathedral graveyard, Andy’s lavender renders a dusty country lane in the shimmering heat of midsummer, the shade of oak trees, and the smell of the lavender field over the next ancient hill. By the way, I accidentally layered it with Lonestar Memories (you know how these things happen), a mistake well worth repeating.

Today’s giveaway: My Loss, Your Gain! Yes, believe it or not, I have one barely-used, boxed bottle of Cacharel Nemo! If you like woodsy incense, and men’s fragrances (and cedar) don’t scare you – really, it is quite nice. If you’d like to be included in the drawing, say so in the comments below.

tocca bottles: sephora.com

WHEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For all you lovers of Caron’s Violette Precieuse, Diane at Caron NYC has ordered some bottles for April of next year. If you want your name on a bottle, dhaska@alesgroup.com can take care of that for you.

Before we get to perfumes, did you guys read this, Pammie Anderson and Kid Rock divorcing. So soon after Reese and Ryan, and considering they just got married in July, it’s disheartening — even for Hollywood. They are both so odd, they almost seemed perfect for each other. A shame.

Winter always turns my ever-forgetful mind to Caron. It’s inevitable. First snow hits in September or October — you snowbirds just stop that snickering, we don’t always get snow in September, and the sun is out the next day, and it’s not real snow like they get in Chicago or Buffalo — and my mind starts thinking… Caron. Doesn’t necessarily matter which one, though I have my favorites, but something about Caron whispers cozy and winter and warm hugs.

Since we’ve been organizing bottles splits recently, I’ve decided to devote one day a week through December to my great love, Caron, and especially the urn perfumes, though I do have a couple of others that I love as well. BTW, if anyone in Paris runs across the new Violette Precieuse at the French Sephora, please, please, please snag me a bottle or two, I will gladly pay for them and be your best friend forever and ever. I’ve even gone so far as to try and set up a French Sephora account, but they won’t let me set it up with a U.S. address.

I think they’re being a mite too particular on this rule. I’m about to say some especially bad words because it is so close (meaning online), but I can’t get it shipped to me. Tantalus’ fruit and water had nothing on this Sephoran evil torture.

Recently I’ve been contemplating what a horrible world it would be if the Caron urns passed out of it. Love them or hate them, they are unique and special in a world full of Curious by Britney Spears and Paris Hilton’s Whoress Heiress. Daltroff must be rolling over in his beautifully scented grave thinking of those two having their names on a bottle of perfume available at practically every 7-Eleven while the Caron urns are harder and harder to get. Too many perfumes are made now for the money, especially the celebrity scents, as we all keep lamenting. Made from cheaper and cheaper ingredients, more sugar and vanilla thrown in to cover up the cheapness of the raw materials, they remind me of the “low fat” things you find in the grocery store — they took out everything good to taste and good for you and put in more sugar to fool you into thinking it really wasn’t cardboard covered in sugar.

Many of Caron’s perfumes are not classically beautiful, though many were, but they held tight to that Caron base that is slightly revolting when you put it on instead of throwing some frilly top notes in the bottle so the casual sniffer would buy it on a top-note whim and be horrified when they found a very dark, randy narcissus in the bottle later. They didn’t sacrifice what they knew would sell well for what they knew to be a unique and beautiful perfume. Now, March can’t wear Caron, the base is just awful on her sweet-eating skin. I don’t know why. For me, the base is awful, for about ten minutes, and then it warms to my skin and turns any Caron into a thing of beauty.

Caron Parfum Sacre EDP — notes of Myrrh, musk, vanilla, rose, Jasmine, pepper, cinnamon and coriander. If this is not the ultimate snuggly blanket scent, I don’t know what is. This perfume is like the perfect Courtesan, nothing harsh, loud or jarring, but all smooth corners and soft embraces. What makes me so terribly sad is that the extrait of this is gone… hopefully not forever. If there is one thing Caron could bring back into existence — after Violette Precieuse in every 7-Eleven — that would be it. Victoria described the extrait here. I’ve never smelled it, but if it is more potent than the EDP, it is a smaller, less interesting world with the extrait gone. The best thing about Parfum Sacre is you can pick it up for a great price. This is the one I reach for when my head is all fuzzy and I’m stressed and I just need to feel like someone loves me.

Caron Coup de Fouet — The EDT of the much more potent, but quiet Poivre. Notes of red pepper, black pepper, carnation, ylang,ylang, opoponax, sandalwood, vetiver, oakmoss and giroflore. I have already waxed on eloquently about Coup de Fouet last year about this time (told you my Caron obsession is cyclical). It is a great introduction to the urns, and it is much lighter and frivolous, but no less lovely, than Poivre. This is the one that I spritz on with abandon and find it lingering on my coats and sweaters for weeks. If the whole urn thing has you nervous, especially the price, the Coup is a great place to dip your toes in.

Next week — Poivre and Nuit de Noel.

I joked with Marina that I was going to do a “review” of stuff like the canned air you clean your keyboard with, but I’d do it straight and see if anyone called me on the joke. Then I got bored with the whole concept, but at the core of my joke is a kernel of truth – in my visiting (and revisiting) of fragrances, inevitably I’ve run into a few things that, basically, (how do I put this delicately?) … I can’t smell at all.

I’m not talking about staying power issues – the summer colognes and florals (and teas) that are gone in 30 minutes, leaving you wondering whether reapplying is worth the effort. You can at least smell the stuff when you put it on. No, I’m talking about fragrances that for some/many/most people don’t smell like anything from the get-go. Confession: Narciso Rodriguez is like that for me – sometimes it’s strong (usually on other people); on a scent strip it’s often barely there. (An aside for you NR fans – the most stunning application I ever smelled was at a cocktail party, and the woman was wearing Narciso EDP over Nars Monoi oil. Yes, I asked. To do so I had to shove my way through the wall of men hovering around her; she smelled like something you’d definitely want a taste of.)

I find perfume anosmia fascinating. Christopher Brosius had Patty and I smell a vial when we were in New York, and we couldn’t smell a thing. It turned out to be labeled “wet sheep” (apparently it smells like wet wool) and is an example of gender-based anosmia – most men can smell it, most women can’t. There are all kinds of synthetic musks, and any number of people can’t smell particular ones among them. Anecdotal evidence on the fragrance boards suggests that a number of people can’t smell Narciso and SJP Lovely, while to some other people they’re fairly strong.

Anyway, all this was rolling around in my head at Art With Flowers when I smelled the new Miller et Bertaux, “Close Your Eyes and ….” Notes (courtesy of Luscious) are: Sicilian Lemon, Mandarin de Calabre, Fresh Jasmine Petals, Antique Roses from Turkey, Bois de Gaiac, Crisp Pear, Cinnamon Tree, Heliotrope, Almond. Yeah, whatever – here’s a hint of citrus, a breath of gaiac, but how could this smell so … tenuous? It’s a fragrance for someone who wants to wear fragrance but not smell it. Like Gertrude Stein’s fruitless search for her childhood home, there is no there there.

However, Close Your Eyes wears like Bandit next to my next nominee – Les Nez L’Antimatiere, which is the smell of having your leg pulled by Isabelle Doyen. It is the fragrance equivalent of The Emperor’s New Clothes; I don’t care how pedigreed it is, or that she’s been working on it for a decade – dude, you are naked. I kept my nose away from it for the first five minutes to avoid the alcohol somebody (Patty?) complained about. Then I thought, wow, it smells like a grape popsicle – weird! Only that turned out to be the popsicle stick sitting on the table next to me. I gave it two trials, two hours each, and a little aerobic activity to help it bloom. I get something – just the faintest whiff of wood shavings, and then something that smells like a cross between Escentric Molecule 01 and Chaos after 5 days – and that’s not a bad thing, is it? But I could soak my head in this (I practically did soak my head in this) hoping for one of those cool stealth perfume presences, but … nothing. I’ve read comments on other blogs describing the way this smelled, and some people are just wild for it, so I guess I’ll chalk it up to Wet Sheep.

Fragrance preferences also seem to be cultural to some degree. I’ve always heard (although I don’t know if it’s true) that Japanese women prefer much, much lighter scents and wouldn’t be caught dead in anything musky or animalic. Certainly Issey Miyake and the Kenzos support this argument, along with the mainstream Shiseidos (although some of their non-exports are weird and very strong.) Anyway, here in stuffy D.C., wafting big sillage is frowned upon unless you’re the wife of the French ambassador or some other exotic diplomatic bird. In my social circle, your fragrance should be chic and subtle, and should not convey the sentiment that you’d like to jump anyone’s husband. Which brings me to my favorite stealth fragrance – Armani Prive Cuir Amethyste. It’s pretty clear that I’m anosmic to some aspect of this – I sense it rather than smell it strongly, and I have to be careful not to overapply. I tend to wear it to cocktail parties. To the women in the room, it doesn’t seem to register as much of anything. But the men! Men looooove this stuff. The men are definitely getting the signal, so maybe this is another gender-anosmic scent. It’s just violet and leather, but it’s got some weird vibratory hum. I feel powerful when I wear it, as odd as that sounds. When I run out of my sample, I may have to suck it up and buy a bottle.

I’d nominate Hermes Eau des Merveilles as another example of something that is both subtle and powerful. It took me forever to come around to Merveilles. I fell for the rest of the line, one by one (Hiris! Sur le Nil!! Rocabar!!! etc.) but Merveilles was always that light, boring one. So there I was at Saks one day recently, and the SA wanted me to revisit Merveilles. I was about to say, meh, whatever, but she already had the bottle in her hand, so I stuck my arm out. And for once, I didn’t run off and bury it under some Dior in a fit of boredom five minutes later. Instead, I waited. After an hour, I was hooked. It’s here, it’s there, it’s everywhere – I can spray it all over myself, I can smell it the next day, it pleases me insanely. If an alchemist cooked up Seville orange marmalade, cumin and the ocean, with the musky smell of a sleeping child, you’d have Merveilles. There are people who dislike Merveilles; there is nothing sweet in its watery strangeness, and there’s an undercurrent of something a little like sweat. But I love to catch glimpses of it over the course of a day (it has surprising lasting powers) and it seems perfect to me right now. When I re-read Robin’s lovely review after falling for Merveilles, I found myself nodding in agreement.

Okay, now it’s your turn. What are your nominations for fragrances that smell like nothing? Which ones do you find to be stealth fragrances – deceptively light but a vital part of your wardrobe? Can you smell L’Antimatiere?

Hey, it’s not Trashy Friday, it’s Black Friday!

How many of you have been out shopping today? I haven’t gone shopping on the Friday after Thanksgiving for 20 years, at least. And why? Because of the crowds, the fighting, the trampling on small children…

This woman looks happy, but she’s not!

She’s just decked that woman behind her and is cackling madly. So, those of you brave enough to go out, how was it?

Happy Thanksgiving!! Today we are grateful for our families and for all of the friends we have made through this blog. The perfume community is truly one of the most generous, kind groups of people. Thank you for reading, for commenting, for your kindness and humor.

We’re all heading off to various destinations for Thanksgiving, and I hope if you are too, your trip is a safe one. Everyone’s busy, so I thought today I’d blog slightly off-topic. I’m not a big beauty-product gal, and most of the testimonial fluff I read in, say, the Bliss catalog makes me snicker. But here are three things that I’m pretty much never without…

Olive Oil. I have dry, sensitive skin and dry (color-treated) hair. I keep a small bottle of organic olive oil in my bathroom and use it as body oil after bathing; makeup remover; moisturizer for my face and hands at bedtime; fragrance remover; and hair shine (I just pour a dime-size dab in my palm and rub my hands together, then run them through my hair). I didn’t invent the olive-oil thing – look at all the high-end beauty products touting its antioxidant properties. My oil comes from the co-op and it works great. Yes, I do smell like olive oil for a couple of minutes, but the smell fades very fast (and it’s a nice smell, anyway). In terms of an actual catalog beauty product, I highly recommend…

LipFusion lip plumper. I like them better than the cinnamon-based ones, which irritate my skin (which is also how they plump). This has some hooey about micro-encapsulated collagen or whatever, but man – it makes my lips soft and pillowy. The colors go on really sheer, and I recommend their two new colors — Dream and Smooch. Available at Sephora and elsewhere. A rare example of a product that lives up to the hype.

Naked Bee products, especially the shampoo/conditioner combo. It works; it’s super-concentrated; it’s gentle and doesn’t strip my hair color; it smells amaaaaaaazing; and its small size means you can take it on the plane. The lotion and soap are wonderful, too.

Finally, ladies – if there was ever a season for you to wear red lipstick, this is it. (Guys, if you want to wear red lipstick, who am I to stop you?) Seriously – right now there’s a red for everyone, not just Dita Von Teese. I’m partial to the Lancome line because they don’t have a waxy aftertaste (a pet peeve of mine). I have pale skin and red hair, and my new love is Lancome Color Design in Work It! Chanel has some awesome reds, as does the Guerlain Kiss Kiss line; the Guerlain cases are gorgeous.

Okay, what’s your favorite beauty product? What’s the one thing you’d never run out of?

Housekeeping — over on the left are two links, either through Feedblitz or Blogarithm, if you would like to be e-mailed when there is a new post. I think both of them only e-mail once a day, but you’ll get it in your e-mail box so you don’t have to go hunting on the internet if you don’t want. So click on either one if you’d like that e-mail notification.

I got the little Garden coffret from The Different Company directly, and it looks like Beautyhabit is doing pre-orders on full bottles only now. You can also get the little three-bottle coffret with 10 ml each in it directly from The Different Company, but navigating to their order page can be tricky, just be warned. Two of the three got snatched up for my collection after being declared FBW. The bottles are the pretty colored ones in the traditional TDC bottle. The descriptions below with the notes are from Now Smell This. Celine Ellena, creator of my beloved Sel de Vetiver, is the nose behind all three of these scents, and I am quickly becoming her biggest fan — no, no, not a Misery-like biggest fan, just a fan fan, without the blocks of wood and the sledgehammer.

Un parfum des sens et bois – notes of white violet, cedar, pepper, ginger, elemi, patchouli and incense. This goes on peppery and sagey spicy, and the violet hides itself, like most good little violets do, but you can catch a little of it here and there peeping it’s beautiful, shy head out. I always think of the violet as the shy maiden that is dressed in her slip that hides behind the door and keeps peeking around the corner, and you think she’s shy until she finally steps into the room dressed in a black bustier with a pretty purple whip snapping by her side. Sorry, I love violets, I’ll continue on.

As it unfolds, the wood, the incense, the violet and spice all spin together to make this a veritable feast for the nose — there’s just not one thing that stands out, though you will catch a discrete note here and there — but this is not a heavy meal that you’ll be burping up for days. This has the same subtlety that Sel de Vetiver and Osmanthe Yunnan have, a light hand that is intent on creating a watercolor (description on basenotes that I agree with). For as subtle as this perfume is, it doesn’t disappear in a an hour or so, though it is not something that will trail you all day at full force like that ex-boyfriend from high school that never knew what “we are broken up, I don’t love you, I don’t even like you” meant. It’s a ghost, a cloud of scent that whispers across your nose every time you move, but that you just cannot find in the same strength, if at all, on your skin. Charming beyond belief.

Un parfum d’ailleurs et fleurs – notes of neroli, tangerine, tuberose, black elder flowers, star anise, musk, plum and hazel tree blossom. Wow! This one goes on very sharp and just pops from the skin, not entirely tangerine, some neroli, but I’m not sure what else is pumping up the volume on the open (wish I was better at picking out notes, sorry, guys!!!). There is an earthy fruitiness to this, and I didn’t even know that kind of combination could exist in a perfume and smell good, but that’s the best description I have. The drydown is just gorgeously soft. It stays earthy for a while, but then you get a little teeny bit of fruit, enough that you know you have fruit in there, and the florals blend in the fruit notes beautifully, and fruit is just not a major factor for the rest of its stay on me — you fruity floral hates can rejoice here because this is not a fruity floral. I never get much tuberose as a distinct note, but I’m sure it is in there. Many hours later, this has the prettiest, lightest, cleanest smell. Again, it’s a watercolor. When I think I can’t smell it, it is there, just dancing around my nose like a butterfly.

Un parfum de charme et feuilles – notes of marjoram, peppermint, Sambac jasmine, sage and clementine. I thought I would like this one the least only from the notes. This goes on very minty with a light spice, quite a lot of sage, but it’s tempered so well with the peppermint, it is not too much. I cannot ever remember being a fan of minty perfumes… but this one is probably the only one that would ever get me to change my mind. The longer this is on, it retains a little of the mint, but the jasmine and clementine and sage break through. I used to have pots of jasmine in my garden with catmint and Russian sage around it. This is that smell, but better. Again, this is a very subtle scent, it doesn’t whack you over the head with any of the notes. Just about the time my nose gets a little weary of the mint, it starts dissipating and letting the jasmine through, but maintaining a crisp sagey mintness througout the drydown, which lasts approximately forever (I’m at 8 hours when I wrote this). This is probably my least favorite of the three, but only because mint is not a favorite note, but it is definitely lovely and well crafted.

Can I just say that Celine Ellena is slowly moving to the top of the list of perfumers I adore? She has such a light and subtle hand, but the subtlety is never too light so that the scent just disappears. There are days I want perfumes that make a statement and days when I want a perfume that flutters about my senses, and these three fit the bill on the latter.

Giveaway this week!!! A set of all three of these perfume samples. Just drop a note in the comments that you’d like to be included in the drawing, and I’ll put you in!

Patty

My oldest daughter sniffed my sample of Russisch Leder and said, “it smells like some nasty thing the dog would roll in.” She’s always looking for a more poetic way to say my perfume is disgusting. But it never stops her from smelling something; in fact, there’s a certain Fear-Factor thrill to sniffing mom’s perfume which she clearly enjoys. (Number Two daughter, on the other hand, has never forgiven me for CB Musk.) This post is partly inspired by a recent blogversation in which the idea was raised that one can own too much leather fragrance. I, March the Maleficent, am puzzled by this concept and cannot make sense of it, although it appears to be written in English. That is like saying “too much wine.” Or too much air. You can have enough of something (for instance, rose fragrances – I have five or six and I’m done, thank you). But there is never too much leather, and here are a few that, while not new, are new to me. An aside: all of these were gift decants that appeared on my doorstep. Where would perfume addiction (and blogging) be without the sharing of samples, particularly the rare, the unusual, the vintage and the otherwise-impossible-to-get? I am amazed at the generosity of some of my fellow perfume fans (you know who you are!). Anyway, on to the post…

Farina Gegenuber Russisch Leder does, in fact, smell like something my dog would roll in, and if I could get my hands on a bottle (hope springs eternal on eBay) I’d roll in it too. Notes are bergamot, lavender, lemon, petitgrain, basil, fern, vetiver, cedarwood, patchouli, carnation, aldehyes, leather, moss, musk, civet, castoreum, vanilla, labdanum. Okay, take in those last few ingredients in that vintage formulation – because Russisch Leder is a filthy, rank juice, and if you ever see it on eBay, don’t buy it, because it will give you nightmares and make your nether parts shrivel. (While you are not bidding on Russisch Leder, you can amuse yourself by typing “leder” into the search engines of eBay – the mind boggles, really.) I’m in awe of the amazing morph from the “classic cologne” petitgrain-bergamot-etc. opening of the topnotes into Skankapalooza, with strong notes of leather and musk before the civet rears its dirty little fanny.

Le Labo Patchouli – It bears a resemblance to the newer version of Kolnisch Juchten – smoke, some leather, not much development, no discernable patch. That’s the whole story, and sometimes short stories are the best stories. A winner for your smoke and leather fans. You might not need both LL Patchouli and the new KJ, but you definitely need one of them. By the way, here’s Judith’s Special Sauce: Le Labo Patch layered with Lonestar Memories and CB Musk. Caution: I cannot be held responsible for neighborhood dogs following you down the street, howling.

Santa Maria Novella Nostalgia – my own answer to Bvlgari Black, which I admire as a concept, but I cannot get past the sex-shop rubber in the opening. Nostalgia is a wonderful amalgam of leather and car-repair-shop that dries down into a moderately civilized “men” scent. One of the weirder things I have smelled that turns out to be quite wearable, and a significant departure for the genteel SMN line, along with Kyoto.

Santa Maria Novella Peau d’Espagne – is this really from 1901? What were those people up to? Why did it take me until 2006 to discover it? Unlike some commenters on Basenotes, I get no “Tabasco” note – it’s pure, unadulterated leather to me. It’s refined and genteel, but not quite so expensive smelling as…

L’Artisan Bottega Veneta Intreccio room spray – I have a sample of #1, not #2 (both are available on lusciouscargo.com). It is a room spray but don’t worry, your arm won’t fall off. I am assuming the name refers to the distinctive intrecciato (woven) style of the Bottega handbags. I believe the scent (this is a candle too) was created by Olivia Giacobetti, and it is supposed to smell like an old farmhouse, with a library, old wood and new-mown hay. To me it smells more like burying your head inside a brand-new luxe leather purse, an opinion I’m going to confirm with my next trip to Saks (do you think sniffing the handbags will prompt a call to security?) The most luxury-leather fragrance I can think of.

What are your favorite leather scents, and why?

PS– if you care, my list of tolerable roses: SL Rose de Nuit, 100% Love, Malle Une Rose, Rosine Ecume and Homme, OJ Ta’if, the loathed TDC Rose Poivree, Paestum Rose, and Creed Fleur de The Rose Bulgare. (Wow, nine!) In general, nothing brings on a migraine quite like a prominent rose note.

I’m going to put up a link to this post on the left side of the blog, called Caron bottle splits, and I will keep it updated on what bottle splits are open and which are not. If you are interested in splits that we are done with, please e-mail me, and I’ll put you on the list for a future split when there is enough interest. I am going to do far fewer splits going forward. Any bottle splits in the future will require taking at least 15 mls of the fragrance.

Farnesiana — done

Tabac Blond — done.

Poivre — done.

En Avion — done.

Narcisse Blanc — done.

Coup de Fouet — Done .

Or et Noir — Done.

Acacosia — Will be trying to do this bottle split in March. It’s a jasmine perfume that’s been compared to Jasmin full. I haven’t ever smelled this one, so it would be new to me!

N’aimez Que Moi — done.

Pois de Senteur — done.

Alpona — Done.

French Cancan — done

Per ml cost, if we can do a 200 ml bottle is $2.60.

For a 100 ml bottle split, the cost is $3.40 per ml.

There are some additional costs per package — postage, decanting bottles, paypal fees, etc., which add about 10-15 cents per ml to the cost.

Let me know if you are interested in any of them by e-mailing me at pgeissler at gmail dot com.

This kind of thing just cracks me up. Despite whatever opinion anyone holds on this subject, the Catholic Church has had celibate priests for a millenium, and they may eventually change it since it is a discipline and not an ex cathedra proclamation, but these reporters who were supposing — since they started talking about it — they might actually change something in short order are just delusional. Good grief, there’s a reason the Vatican is in Italy, Italians take forever to do anything, and when you’re dealing with religious hierarchy, that’s an excellent thing. Do they never do their homework? Have they ever been to Italy? I love Italians, but you’ll go through three breaks and a labor strike before you can get coffee.

Speaking of people who should be celibate (the true reason for the first paragraph, I needed a segueway), FedEx is partying it up in MIami, apparently celebrating his new single status. Hasn’t Brit cut off his credit cards yet?

Nicole sent TomKat a wedding gift and a nice note. Any guesses on what the gift was? Nobody seems to know, but I think speculation would be good here.

Update on Caron split. We have the En Avion and Poivre 200 ml split full. We have close to or at least a 100 ml split on Or et Noir, but I’d love to get up to a 200 ml split. Farnesiana is actually pretty close to a 100 ml split, but it would need a few more people to get there. Not enough of anything else to be close. If anyone wanted to do a Coup de Fouet split, let me know. It’s the EDT of Poivre and is actually my favored variation. It’s quite a bit less than the Poivre, I’ll have to look up the price again.

BTW, I have the Montaigne EDT and the parfum, and the EDT is surprisingly close to the parfum and really, really lovely. It’s also a lot easier to get ahold of and much less expensive, I think about $75 or $80 for 50 mls at the Caron boutique in NYC, and they did/do have some in stock now.

Oh, hell no, Star.

I think everyone else and their dog has reviewed these scents already, but I am slow, slow, slow, having just gotten them this week.

Let Me Play the Lion — ohmylord, yum!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Send me to perfume heaven now, this is right up there in My Immortal Beloved Vetiver Tonkaland for me. I don’t know the notes on this, but this is dry woodsy goodness, very faintly gourmandish, but mostly woody spice. Remember that Wickle chestnut and vetiver that we declared genius? It’s like that, with woods, and tons of it, and maybe some other spice, but sophisticated and finished and so lovely to wear. This has to be my favorite of the three, though I do adore The Unicorn Spell. They are just very different. The Lion immediately went under DH’s nose, and he is smitten and marched me off to decant some for him (I dutifully ignored him like a good wife). He likes very little that gets wafted past his schnoz, and that makes it a Big Deal. Wearing Let Me Play the Lion all day today, it has all the huffing addictive qualities I love in a perfume. It was glued to my nose, and at the end of the day, I can still smell it as strong. Incredibly charming.

The Unicorn is icily beautiful and very wearable. It feels a little like a cross between Laura Tonatto’s E. Duse and Serge’s Iris Silver Mist… a little sweet, a little cold, it has some jarring notes when it first goes on, but the longer it’s on, it softens and the odd notes are there as just tinkles on your skin and not as snowballs pelting you.

As for the L’Antimatiere, I’m lost. I think this must have a note I’m anosmic to, like Le Labo’s Vetiver one, I smell… alcohol. Anyone else get something else? I really wanted a good sniff of this, it sounded really interesting, but just zip, nada.

Sephora is having its Friends and Family sale from 11/18/06 through 11/26/06. Put in the code FF2006 in checkout to get 20% off every time you shop. How sad is it that I can’t find something to buy? Grrrr…

I have a vicious sweet tooth. So every few months I give up sweets. Because I’ve discovered that if I quit hitting the Belgian chocolates and crème brulee quite so hard, other sweet possibilities become more alluring. I can appreciate the juicy bite of an Asian pear. Just thinking about a Satsuma mandarin makes my mouth water. I don’t view these mini-vacations from regular dessert as deprivation. Instead, they’re a way for me to up my daily pleasure quotient by doing something new.

Anyway, the above crossed my mind as I was thinking about my recent discoveries among the less amped-up perfumes. Don’t get me wrong – you know how much I love strong fragrance. I’m the gal who layers CB Musk with Mitsouko and lives to tell the tale. (My advice: don’t). From buttcrack to horseback, I’m all about the skank. However. I’ve also figured out that, like taking a break from my sugar binges, stepping back from the hard stuff for a day or three allows me to appreciate some really beautiful muted fragrances. No, seriously. My nose recalibrates, and instead of boooooooring my brain says, huh. That’s interesting.

Which is precisely what happened recently with two Kenzo Flower fragrances. No, do not click away to GFY immediately upon reading the word “Kenzo.” I don’t like the original FlowerbyKenzo at all. For what it’s worth, if you triangulate the reviews on MUA, folks who liked the original FlowerbyKenzo tended not to like its variations, and vice versa. So if all you’ve tried is the first one, please read on.

The original FlowerbyKenzo is not insipid, precisely, but it’s too sweet and waaaay too powdery to be anything I’d want to wear. (Notes of the original Flower are: Wild Hawthorne, Bulgarian Rose, Parma Violet, Cassia, Hedione, Cyclosal, Opoponax, White Musk, Vanilla.)

FlowerbyKenzo Le Parfum, on the other hand, has notes of Amber, Opoponax Resin, White Musk, Bourbon Vanilla, Almond, Parma Violet, Bulgarian Rose. Look closely and observe the difference, because as far as I’m concerned they’re scents with two different goals. Le Parfum is all about the amber, almond and vanilla, they’ve done away with the dreaded hawthorne, and rearranged the emphasis away from the florals. (The latter doesn’t list hedione, but given the warm glow and its presence in the air around me, I bet it’s still in there). It’s a rich, creamy comfort scent that manages a floral note without a sugar overdose. My only complaint about this one is that it’s absolutely gone in less than two hours.

Kenzo Flower Oriental, on the other hand, is surprisingly tenacious, and well worth exploring. Notes are: Bulgarian Rose, Violet, Vanilla, Musk, Sichuan Pepper, Kyara, Chinese Incense. This is a more steamlined scent than either the original Flower or Le Parfum, and once you get past the rose and violet of the opening, it dries down to a meditative incense. I probably need some sort of 12-step program for incense addicts, but it’s a note that makes me weak at the knees. It’s not really like any other incense I can think of; I can compare it to SMN’s Citta di Kyoto, with Kenzo being more refined (or less robust and herb-y, depending on your perspective.) At the same time, the drydown is austere and rather masculine.

KenzoAmour is a fragrance I dismissed immediately the first time I smelled it, because I was in the middle of some skank jag at the time. Notes are: Frangipani Blossoms, Cherry Blossoms, Tanakha Wood, Incense, Thai Rice Steam, Vanilla, White Tea from China. It starts off more floral, with the frangipani in full force, but dries down fairly quickly into milky woods – the fragrance equivalent of whatever your favorite creamy comfort food would be, assuming you have one. I’m tempted to reveal my fondness for tapioca, but that’s such a potential gross-out that instead I’ll compare it to the cream of wheat my mother made me when I was sick or sad as a child, topped with whole milk and sugar. The “Thai rice steam” is strongly reminiscent of cooked farina cereal, and I suppose whether that holds any charm for you as a fragrance would be individual choice. Given my general aversion to sweet, foody scents based on chocolate and dessert, I’m not in a position to judge you.

The surprising thing about both Oriental and Amour was the lasting power. They lasted most of the day – yes, muted, but decidedly there. They are both skin scents, but if you’re not trying them on in my usual fashion — between the new Tom Ford and Badgley Mischka, on a scent bender – you might be pleasantly surprised. I was surprised, anyway. I’m beginning to think there’s a whole world of lighter fragrances out there that I haven’t bothered with because I’ve been too busy upping the voltage – bigger, stronger, brassier, sexier. I’m always going to be the Queen of Skank, don’t worry (next week: Leatherfest!). But if you’re like me – if you’ve dismissed entire lines of fragrance because they’re “too light” — stop and consider whether you’re cheating yourself out of the luminous beauty of watching a candle flame in the dark because all you want are fireworks.

The winner of Le Labo samples: Stella Maris! Please send your mailing address under “Contact Us.”

So for those of you looking for some Nuit de Noel or Narcisse Noir parfum, Parfum1 has them at a discount.  1/2 oz of NN parfum for $58.95 and the 1 oz of Nuit de Noel parfum for 92.95, and Bellodgia parfum, 1/2 oz for $62.95 and 1/4 oz of Fleur de Rocaille parfum for 42.95.  They also have Parfum Sacre edp for 29.95 and 39.95.  Don’t forget to put in the code they always have on their front splash page for an additional 10% off.  Yes, get three!  I certainly did! 

Got Luca Turin’s book from Amazon over the weekend, The Secret of Scent,  and am enjoying it immensely! If you haven’t picked this up, I highly recommend it. Whether you agree with him or disagree, you will never be left wondering where he stands or how he feels.  It’s highly informative, without being technical, and is for anyone interested in scent.  When I finish it, I will give a more thorough review.

Coming up in reviews later this week and next — the new LesNEZ perfumes, and the new trio created by Celine Ellena for The Different company. A brief note on the new ones from The Different Company since I couldn’t resist spritzing all three of them on briefly as soon as they showed up in my mailbox –  to a one, I adore every one of the three, they are just delightful!  You can get the brief description at Now Smell This.  

Click on the left to get Luca’s book

First thing – ALERT! ALERT! – get your preorder in for Andy Tauer Orris, shipping after November 15, $85 for 30ml (or buy a 1ml sample for $4). Notes are: Rose absolute from Bulgaria, cinnamon, pepper, grapefruit, orris, frankincense, agarwood (aoud), Mysore and Australian sandalwood, vetiver, ambergris. I believe Luckyscent has 200 LE bottles, and they’re expecting it to sell out. If you’re outside the U.S., order directly from Andy’s website. By the way, Luckyscent is unloading Le Prince Jardinier original (a weirdly fetching combo of citrus, wood and leather created by Isabelle Doyen) for $25 …

Okay, this post is too long. Oh, well. If you keep reading there’s a giveaway at the end.

The real disaster of the week was my much-anticipated Guerlain Voilette de Madame. I want to beat my head against the wall when I think about it. Not the disgusting, animalic “Madame’s dirty underthings” as I have read elsewhere. (I would have accepted that cheerfully.) Not fragrance nirvana – the sort of buzz that had nine bottles sold in nothing flat at the NYC Sniffa. Nope, what I got was: celery with a Guerlinade base. The good news is I guess I won’t have to fork over, what — $400? – for a bottle. That’s it, that’s my whole stupid review, I’m going to pretend Voilette doesn’t exist, that’s how depressing this is to me.

On the other hand, something had to go right, right? Like Le Labo Tubereuse 40, which everyone has reviewed extensively elsewhere, so my only addition is: actually, I do get tuberose in this, and a fair amount. I know tuberose isn’t even listed in the notes in spite of the name, but Judith (from whence many good things come) was told by … uh, those two cute Le Labo guys that tuberose is definitely in there. Anyway. It is lovely, which is high praise from me for a line that has, with a couple of exceptions, pretty much left me cold. The Big Cheese is out of town, which allows me to waft maximum sillage, so I had Tubereuse on the right, Carnal Flower on the left. I’d give them 50% similar DNA on me. Carnal Flower has that weird floral-shop chill I adore so very much – the perfect juxtaposition of weird and beautiful that makes the Malle line so brilliant. Tubereuse 40 had slightly less sillage, and the base vibe was in the citrus direction others have noted but on me was much less pronounced and occasionally registered as faint citronella – which isn’t the end of the world, but I wasn’t wild for it, either. My final verdict – very, very good, but Carnal Flower is better.

Polo Double Black. The original Polo Black is like dating a nice, clean, reliable, but ultimately boring guy. And so, in a fit of pique and immaturity, you end up sleeping with his ne’er-do-well brother during the weekend at their beach house. I never would have tried Double Black if Bois de Jasmin hadn’t waxed poetic about it. Notes are: spiced mango, nutmeg, espresso, vetiver. I get a little pepper, and it’s a perfect balance of sweetness, spice and warmth. I’m still having trouble believing this is RL – did somebody slip something into his monogrammed flask? Anyway, it’s a men’s fragrance, but it’s so smooth and not-gender-tagged that a woman could wear it easily. I smell it every time I get my hands on a bottle, and I cannot get enough.

Chanel No. 22 – Angela did this great review on NST talking about how the drydown is incense. It’s been so long since I took a crack at Chanel (other than Bois de Iles and Cuir de Russie, both of which should be on everybody’s must-try list) … where the hell was I? … oh, Chanel. Notes are: aldehydes (duh), jasmine, tuberose, ylang, rose, vetiver, vanilla, incense. I never could get through the big blast of aldehydes in the opening, so I sprayed on some EDT (which seems to be the only concentration readily available) and then steadfastly ignored it for half an hour. And guess what? It does smell like incense – a la Chanel, meaning an extremely refined (but not powdery) incense wearing a long string of pearls but sharing the stage with something just a little … dark. This would be an excellent addition to the wardrobe of any incense fan, and I think it would smell amazing on a man. While I was there I re-tried…

Chanel Coco in the EDP, which is light-years better than the EDT. They’ve been tinkering with the formula (aren’t they always?) and for the last couple of years I was sad to find it flat and bitter, rather than the sensual, spicy signature scent that manages to be alluring and a bit stand-offish. Notes are: mandarin, cascarilla, pimiento, coriander, orange flower, Bulgarian rose, jasmine, labdanum, ambrette seed, opopanax, benzoin, tonka, vanilla. The EDP seems to have been returned to its burnished glory. Unlike most of the mainstream Chanels it’s sexy as hell, and I don’t care if the other one is called Allure, Coco puts the ass back in classy. Dab this in your décolleté and put on your dark red lipstick, and watch all the bad boys come to mama.

Clinique Simply – has been discontinued according to SAs at Macy’s and Bloomie’s when I went looking for a re-test. So if you love it, consider stocking up.

Guerlain Vol de Nuit parfum – I have tried and failed to love this one, and I assumed the problem might be the EDT, which smells harsh and sour to me, as if the juice had gone off. I was stunned to stumble across a bottle of the parfum at our nicer Nordstrom. Vol de Nuit would be a textbook illustration of why the Guerlain EDTs should be outlawed – with the exception of Jicky, they’re like poor counterfeits of their own line. Anyway, Vol de Nuit in parfum is a dark, fairly butch (on me) combo of oakmoss, leather and amber, somewhat reminiscent of Jolie Madame, with a Guerlain base. While it hasn’t displaced my favorites in the line, anyone with a weakness for leather or a hatred of florals should give it a whirl. Layered with L’Heure Bleue EDP it’s heartbreaking.

Finally, we’re doing TWO things today. First, the giveaway: samples of Le Labo Ciste, Vetiver and Rose 31; if you want them, leave a comment that you want Le Labo. Second, the swap – I have an almost-full 5ml decant of Guerlain Apres L’Ondee PARFUM (not EDT), which I’d like to trade for something, and I’m too lazy to swap on MUA. My first choice: a bottle of Hermes Eau Des Merveilles (the original) you got bored with because it’s too light. (The Apres decant is $50 on eBay, BTW, and the parfum is no longer in production.) But I’d swap for something else, and if you read this blog regularly you know my tastes are pretty wide-ranging, so don’t be shy (e.g., I’d trade it for Hilary Duff’s new thang). If you’re longing to try the Apres parfum and you have a bottle (used/no box, I couldn’t care less) you’d like to offer for swap, put it in the comments below. Off the top of my head, other things I’d like bottles of: Insolence, Betsey Johnson, maybe one of the Toccas?… if I pick your offer, I’ll throw in a vial of the Apres EDT too, just for grins. UPDATE: I’ve arranged my swap for the Apres and it is no longer available; however, you can buy some (in smaller amounts, too) from Dragonfly Scent Me on eBay.

Firstly, an update on the Caron split. One, I’ll likely be adding a Montaigne extrait split later, once I get more information on if it is available in an urn for a bigger bottle split. I believe it is significantly much more expensive, but how much more, I don’t know. Does anyone know the pricing on a big bottle of Montaigne, if it comes in a 200 ml? So if you are interested in that when it happens (probably after the first of the year), just email me so I can put you in the group once I get some specifics on possibility and price.

The rest of the splits, we are close to having a split on a 200 ml of Poivre, for sure we can do a 100+ ml split right now. We have at least a 100 ml split of En Avion. Or et Noir is halfway to a 100 ml bottle split. Narcisse Noir is actually Narcisse Blanc in the urns, so I’m skipping past that one at this point. There is interest in Tabac Blond, Acosia, Farnesiana, French Can Can and Pois de Senteur, but not enough for a bottle split yet. So if you are interested in any of those, e-mail me at pgeissler at gmail dot com and let me know which ones and what amount you’re interested in. If we do a 200 ml bottle split of any of these (except the Montaigne), the cost should be about $2.60 per ml, plus postage, etc., which shouldn’t add that much. If we do a 100 ml bottle split, the price will be about $3.40 per ml, plus postage, etc. Again, the cost will all be reduced if there is a Caron sale. Word is right now there probably won’t be a sale and that they are low on urn parfums, so be patient if they are out of stock.

Okay, enough of that, I’ll probably not update this but one more time next week and then close it.

Vanilla, almond and musk are the notes given for Castelbajac. I tested the EDP. This scent was one I had picked up shortly after it was released years ago, always liked it, and then lost it, and just rebought it again. Simply forgot how much I really love this clean, simple, slightly sweet scent.

Most reviews mention it smells like laundry, and it is very laundry-ish in the drydown, but it makes me think of sun-dried sheets kind of laundry, that fresh scent mixed with a skosh of almond — clean, crisp, soft, never overpowering. My mom used to pull out the old wringer washer once a month to do all the heavy laundry, mostly sheets, coats, rugs, etc. This day-long grinding chore was at the top of my detested farm activites list, until we’d start pulling those sheets off the line… heaven, and Castelbajac reminds me very much of that smell. If you like almond scents generally, but Rahat and other almond scents are just too, too much, this one might work for you. It’s a light almond, light musk and light vanilla. This is a definite comfort scent, and it’s widely available at discounters for a good price in the EDP.

Britney files for divorce… well, color me surprised that it took this long. Funniest part — they have video of Fedex getting the text message saying she was divorcing him. Now… that is coooollllllld.

Neil Patrick Harris comes out, maybe partly due to Perez Hilton’s constant haranguing him in blog posts. Now, it bothers me greatly that anyone would take another to task to make their personal sex life public. Am I wrong there? Or have we changed so much as a society that all gay people now have to make that public information? WTF?! Anyway, that’s what’s bothering me this week.

Before I get to the question of the day, is anyone interested in doing Caron bottle splits? Meaning, you get more juice at a better price the larger you go. If we could do a 200 ml bottle split, depending on if pricing has gone up in the last year, and if we they do their sale this year, and if you wanted it in a cute little apothecary bottle or plain one, it could be approximately $30 per 10 ml or so in a split, or 75-90 per ounce (list price from them is $180 for 25 ml), maybe more, maybe less, and that would include postage, bottle, etc, so it would save half. I’m probably in this year for some Poivre, Or Et Noir and En Avion (which I have missed sooooo much since mine ran out about mid-summer) and maybe Narcisse Noir, though I would arrange for others if enough people wanted them and I’d need to get enough interest for at least a 100 ml bottle (pricing would be higher), but 200 ml bottle split would be optimum.

So if you are interested in at least 10 mls or more, just hit the Contact Us Button over there, and I’ll see if I can get one organized in the next month.

Now, the holidays are just around the corner, and whether you celebrate Christmas or not, what three bottles, if cost were no object, of perfume would you want? I’ve thought about this and decided to go completely pig-eyed greedy. I’ll do some extra penance later to make up for it.

• Shalini — never smelled the juice, but don’t care, that bottle is to die for, and I want, want, want!!!!
• Baccarat Fountain full of Poivre.
• Gargantunormous gold Guerlain Bee Bottle full of Djedi

What do you want? Please try and outdo my greed so I don’t feel so, well, dirty.

Today, dear readers, I need your help. So please put down that decant of non-export Serge Lutens and rustle up your thinking cap. Because when I survey the shelves, drawers and boxes of my scents, lined up like preening, pouting divas at the Met, I realize: I need something less high-maintenance.

No, seriously. I seem to be missing a simple, easy-on comfort scent – the olfactory equivalent of curling up on my couch with my favorite junk magazines (Allure, anyone?), a Hershey bar, and no kids within earshot. What do I find comforting? Well … “comfort” smells I do NOT find comforting in general are: powder; amber; laundry/”clean” scents; extreme food scents (I want to eat my crème brulee, not wear it).

I also want it to be very much a skin scent — the winter equivalent of my default summer scent, Bvlgari’s The Blanc –- I’m aware of it, but it’s muted. It also needs to pass the Gym Test: something I wouldn’t have to scrub off if I decided to go to the gym half an hour after I put it on, BUT (here’s the tricky part) I don’t want it to just disappear in 20 minutes, either. It would be nice to have something polite that I could spray on freely for a change.

Believe it or not, I’m wondering if my comfort scent lurks in the vast wasteland (kidding, kidding) of barely-remembered department store frags — is there some really gentle musk? Tommy Girl? White Linen? One of those Philosophy scents? SJP Lovely? I want this to be a cold-weather scent, not a summer fruit or floral. I bet a mall fragrance is exactly what I’m looking for, but which one? Is there something at, say, L’Occitane or BBW I should try?

Here’s what I learned in an hour at Macy’s and Sephora:

Betsey Johnson and Hilary Duff both score comfort points (and I find them very similar), although Hil’s a little sweet, but I think if I really sprayed them on they’d fail the gym test.
Gucci Rush – Tigs reminded me about this – an amazing juice in a tragically ugly plastic container (YSL Nu being another example – stellar incense in what looks like a diaphragm case.) Quoting Luca Turin (I hope correctly): “Thanks to the milky lactone note, (Rush) smells like an infant’s breath mixed with his mother’s hair spray… What Rush can do, as all great art does, is create a yearning, then fill it with false memories of an invented past…” I adore this absolutely, it smells like hot skin, but am having doubts about the gym test.
JLo Glow – too sweet.
Elizabeth Arden Provocative – hahahahahaha! Er, no.
JLo Live Luxe – too sweet.
Armani Sensi – ? can’t smell it at all.
JLo Live – well … there’s a note of “fresh air” I’m not loving.
Tocca Stella – new at Sephora. Not half bad. The candle’s blood orange, but this is cinnamon and cream on me. Yum. Definite potential.
Tocca Touch – also new at Sephora. Starts sweeter, but dries down nicely. Notes sound heavy (tiare and pom — really?!?) but it wears light and musky. Definite potential.
Clinique Simply – huh. Never even saw this before. “Soy nut and smoked woods”? A little grassy/aquatic, but a possibility.
White Linen – no. Too powdery.
Versace Bright Crystal – reinvestigate in July – grapefruit, yum.
Dolce & Gabbana Blue Whatsit – do I have to wear this? That bony witch at Macy’s is hell-bent on my buying this, and I’m beginning to think I should, just to get her off my back…

Okay, your other suggestions and/or feedback on the above, please. I’ll give them a whirl and do a post on the results. PS I met the nicest gal at Sephora who’s a fellow perfumista! What is it about fragrance that makes someone feel like an old friend? Louise, if you’re reading this, hi!

While I’m waiting anxiously for the Unicorn and those little The Different Company new things to hit my desk, I’m going through some samples to see if something will catch my attention.

Let’s see what we have here — first of all, have any of you tried that new Sonic chili, cheese and Fritos wrapped in a tortilla thing? Go… get… now. Or get the ingredients and make them yourself. Comfort food non compare.

With my bottle of Castelbajac I got a sample of Elizabeth Arden Provocative Woman. The marketing hype: “There is something beneath the surface of every woman. It’s always there – ready, waiting. If she decides, it can silence a room or turn a grown man into a mere puddle. Introducing Elizabeth Arden Provocative Woman. The new fragrance. Men will melt.” :::rolls eyes so hard they get stuck in eyebrows:::: Good lord…. Notes of water lotus, ginger lily, midnight orchid, papaya blossom, pink freesia, white sand, red amber and hinoki wood. The notes sound awesome except for that water lotus, and unfortunately, that’s all I can smell is water lotus, the one note that blows in that list. Much into the drydown, about the time it starts to get a little interesting, it just almost vanishes. If this would have held up a little more in the dry, it would have gotten better marks. I vaguely smell some amber and wood and (white sand??? puhleeze)… well, that’s pretty much it. That aquatic note is a killer on this one, and I doubt I’m turning men into puddles with this, mostly just into, “Would you please get that away from me” which is the normal response in this house.

The lovely SA from Barney’s Armani counter has moved on to be a personal shopper, but before she left, she loaded me up with all of the incense series samples from Comme des Garcons. I slapped on some Zagorsk, with notes of white incense, pine, pimento berries, violet, cedar, iris, honoki wood, and birch wood. This is just stunningly lovely, just woody incensy goodness with the iris and violet floating around very lightly to keep this from being “just” a woody incense scent. This may wind up in my FBW list, though I’d be quite happy if I could get all of the Incense series in a little coffret. Couldn’t they just do all of them in 10 ml apiece coffret? That would be so totally awesome! Maybe I’ll get them all and make my own coffrets, dagnabit. If anyone is down to do that with me on a big split, let me know.

I spilled my Serge Lutens Bois de Violette yesterday. No matter how much I adore BdV, there is nothing about a spilled bottle of it that is attractive, it’s just an overdose of cedar and violet. So what’s the cure? Bois Oriental. Just enough cedar to be interesting and know it came from the Boises (beaux?), but it is softer and lacks the sweet that Bois et Fruits and Bois de Violette have, and that makes it beautiful and soft, which is turning into one of my favorite of the Beaux.

Now, as a follow-up to my TeeVee Post from last Friday. A couple of you asked if you could avoid getting cable now and watch some of these shows anyway, and the happy answer is… YES!!!! CBS and ABC have put most of the episodes of series up on their website, at least for the current season, and watching them there is as good as television. They make you sit through a commercial or two, but it’s a 30-second commercial or less, and it’s less add time than regular teevee. You normally can see the episode the day after it airs. So why buy cable when you can just go watch it online? Some of the best television out there, Grey’s Anatomy, Lost, The Nine, etc., are on the internet and easy to watch. Now, NBCs site has some weird thing going on where you have to have some kind of chip to download episodes? Works great if you have it… doesn’t if you don’t. Whatever. I just to go iTunes and buy any episode I’ve missed or get a season pass. Figuring cable is $30 a month or so, you can get a season pass for all episodes of a series for 30-40, so if there’s only one thing you want to watch, you’ve saved a bundle. Or you can just get episodes your Tivo screwed up taping or that you missed for $1.99 each. You don’t need an iPod to use iTunes. It will play the episodes right on your computer.

GEEK MOMENT WARNING!!! Another very handy thing to have for plane trips is a video iPod. Most of my plane trips are short, less than two hours, so no movie, and I get motion sickness if I read too much. Now I download a couple of things I’ve had no time to watch to my video iPod and catch up on the plane. It’s also great for the treadmill so I don’t have to drag DVDs upstairs and sort out what I have and haven’t watched. Sure, the screen is small, but for personal use, it is an amazingly great video picture. P.S. — if you have Tivo and get the 2.3 TiVO desktop, anything you record on Tivo, you can transfer to your computer and convert to iPod, PSP, Treo, Nokia, etc., that take an MPEG-4. Sorry for that nerdy moment, but the fact that I can now convert all my saved Nip/Tuck Tivos from this year to watch later I think is just awesome!

Winner of the Black Orchid sample is Natalie.

Winner of the Your Choice From my Collection drawing is Leopoldo.

Just hit the Contact Us button over there on the left, you two, and give me your address.