The Unexpected

First up, the winners of the two Christmas sample packs are: Anna and Karen (of the combat boots and war games in Germany variety). Just click on the contact Us button over on the left and send me a shipping address, and I’ll get your little gifts out to you!

There are a mess of new things sitting on my desk that I had been putting off while thumbing my way through Carons and old Guerlains this month. Distraction in the aged is not a pretty picture.

Indult Tihota — Vanilla on steroids, and I mean that in a good way. If you are a vanilla lover, this is The Vanilla Killah. Not overly sweet, it has the best of vanilla in it without all the cavities, which is a welcome change, with a slightly earthy bent to it. I’m not a vanilla fan for the most part, but I quite like Tihota. It has great lasting power — all of these do. I can still smell this the next day, though fainter. Is it FBW at EUR160 for 50 ml? Well, not for me, a nonvanilla fan, but for fans, i think this would be the one to have.

Indult Manakara — This one is fairly sweet, but just about the time you think it is going to be an over the top fruity floral, it reigns back in and stays just at about the right place on the sweet level for a fruity floral. I wasn’t sure how much I liked this one at first, but as it dried down and the sweet faded a bit, it’s a very lovely blend. Enough to buy? If it wasn’t quite so much, I’d say yes… though there’s something that is a little mesmerizing about it that I like and keep sniffing. I still may change my mind on the bottle.

Indult Isvaraya — Okay, this is the one I truly have to have, if I get any of them. Marina lists notes of patchouli, Indian plum tree and jasmine sambac. A gorgeous blending of jasmine and patchouli, a little fruity note, and this makes a very earthy jasmine, like you picked up the earth and the jasmine all together and rubbed your nose in it. I really didn’t think these notes could be done well, but it seriously is a great creation.

The price point on the Indults still bothers me, though it’s about the same as the Armani Prive scents. There is a smoothness to all three of them, and they are done very well. Dare I hope that at some point they would sell these three in a coffret? They all seem well suited to layering with each other. All of them will be available Jan 8 at Sephora in Paris with a limited run of bottles for EUR160 for 50 ml.

Recently some very odd magazines started showing up in the mail, like Inc. and Entrepeneur and Money. Even though those are the sorts of magazines I should read for my real work, I just don’t — I much prefer the fluffier magazine-reading side of my job, like “Entertainment Weekly” and “Us.” Yes, that is TOO part of my job! (stamps foot in emphasis) Of course, like with all magazines that enter our house, they got snagged up for a read and left wherever. When my youngest son came back from his dad’s, he was all huffy and demanding why we had stolen his magazines and not even told him they started to arrive. Completely baffled about what magazines he was talking about, he informed me that was HIS Money magazine and Entrpreneur. Huh. After my WTF moment, which was the unexpected thwapping the known up the side of the head, I about peed myself laughing as he explained how he came by those magazines. Apparently ThinkGeek gives him Geek points every time he orders something, and he got an offer from them to pick three magazines, and he said those sounded like the most interesting of the three. ThinkGeek, 16-year-old boys, financial magazines…what on earth do these three have in common? In Harry’s case, just throw a kickass guitar, a ginormous amp, a love of physics, chemistry, writing poetry and puzzles in there, and it all starts to clear up, or as well as he ever will come into focus.

There is a dissonance when what you thought you knew gets splattered with Some New Thing. It’s not an unpleasant feeling, it is just jarring, like silk on gravel — two things that you didn’t think went together are now inhabiting the same space in a brain cell. My children have always remained a mystery to me in many ways — they both have a deep interior life that leaks through every now and then, and it is puzzling and usually comical. How in the world do they keep so many fragments of who they are concealed?

This is also how I feel about all of the Parfumerie Generale scents — well, not quite as strongly as if they were my sons. Most of you know I’m a Parfumerie Generale slutty cheerleader and will pimp this line every chance I get. There is truly at least one scent in this line for everyone, but not in that plain vanilla way that works because they won’t offend you, but you’ll find one that speaks to you and is pleasantly discordant and mesmerizing.

Parfumerie Generale Bois de Copaiba — Ho-ly Mo-ther of God. When this sample hit my skin, I was in deep, deep love, but, alas, that love faded, to be replaced with respect and very deep likey lust. Notes of crystallized orange pulp, red ginger, Amaretto, Copahu balm, mahogany wood, myrrh and sandalwood. Bois de Copaiba is just extraordinary. Normally I’m not happy with the “boozy” scents, but this one doesn’t turn too winey or grapey, which is the tipping point for me, but stays so rich and warm and spicy and in the drydown almost silky, and it just makes me feel, well, hot! There is something in the drydown that reminds me of Armani Prive Pierre de Lune (which has slowly turned into one of my favorite perfumes… ever), though I don’t think any of the notes are the same, but there’s a similar feel to them both. It’s like a polished rock sliding over your skin, just has that smooth, luxurious feel to it. I loved the open better than the drydown, but that shouldn’t take away from the incredible scent this is. I guess I just wish it had stayed more spicy raw as at the beginning — if it had… oh, dear, there would be no limits to my love. But I’ll just keep applying it every 7 minues to get that open.

Parfumerie Generale Cedar Sandaraque — Notes of vetiver, African cedar, Sandaraque resin, cereals and praline amber. Cereals? If I’d known cereal could smell so good in a perfume, I would have started chucking special K in all of my perfumes. This one joins my absolute favorites in the line, Harmatan Noir and Hyperessence Matale, with my favorite woody tea scents (this category doesn’t necessarily have both notes in there, but I always lump wood and tea together, don’t ask why). There is a crisp earthiness about this wood scent that is just invigorating, though the resin and cereal adds a little bit of sweetness to it.

Parfumerie Generale Corps & Ames — Notes of geranium bourbon, spices, everlasting flowers, Melati wood, leather and sandalwood. It took me a little longer to love this one, but slowly its beauty emerged for me. A very unique blend, it’s the one that keeps me sniffing because it is deeply interesting, even though I don’t love it the most. I’m not sure what that means… maybe I do love it the most. Nope, nope, I’m going to spritz on some Harmatan Noir, which is truly magnificent.

All of the Parfumerie Generale scents can be bought from their website or at The Perfume Shoppe.

BTW, guess who scored a teensy bottle of Parfum Sacre Extrait on The Bay this week? That’s right. I’m having a parfum month, which will get all wrapped up in a post or two in January.

Painting from Marie Shell. Photo of fountain from Jamb.