Favorite Things 2006

March and I are going to do a dual post on our Best Things of 2006, along with many other bloggers (listed at the bottom of the post). Please make sure to visit all of them, many of whom have been the primary source for lemmings! These aren’t necessarily new things for 2006, but they may be new to us.

Patty’s List, with musical accompaniment:

1. You’re the First, the Last, the Everything (love ya, Barry)… The very top of my list has to start with Parfumerie Generale. This whole line has blown me away. From the Buttcrack Accord on the open of Aomassai drying down to one of the most beautiful, soft scents imaginable to Harmatan Noir, which is rich smoky tea and wood that just haunts me every day that I don’t wear it, there is something for everyone at this Perfume House. It will truly go down with Serge Lutens and Frederic Malle scents in what are now modern day classics. So what in the heck are you waiting for, go find one that you like! Best Perfume Line 2006.
2. Once I was afraid, I was petrified… (Gloria Gaynor) that Armani would stop making the Luminous Silk Foundation. Now I get night sweats thinking they could discontinue their new Shaping Foundation, which is the most ground-breaking foundation I can recall in a very long time. You get less with more, which is to say, it has better coverage that makes you look like you have nothing on at all. How? Who knows…Italian fairies is my best guess. Best Cosmetic 2006.
3. I wanna fly like an Eagle to the Sea, fly like an Eagle, let my Spirit Carry me…(Steve Miller, yes!) How could I have missed Guerlain’s Vol de Nuit parfum? I sniffed it briefly before and liked it, but I didn’t have enough to truly luxuriate in this classic beautiful scent. This is like the best of Sous le Vent and one of the sweeter Guerlains all wrapped up together. Stunning. Best Oldie but Goodie 2006.
4. In my dream, I was drowning in sorrow, but my sorrows, they learned to swim. Surrounding me, going down on me, spinning over the brim. Waves of regret and waves of joy, I reached out for the one I tried to destroy… (U2, Actung Baby, only the best album ever made) Chocolate Martinis. the end. Drink enough of them, and you will feel beautiful and fragrant. Best Vacation 2006.
5. Imagine me and you, I do, I think about you day and night, it’s only right to think about the girl you love and hold her tight, so happy together…(some band in the ’60s, Turtles?) Caron Poivre fills the slot of magnificent obsession for me quite well. There is nothing else quite like it, nor should there be. Best Obsession 2006.
6. When I was a young boy
   I was honest and I had more self-control
   If I was tempted I would run
   Then, when I got older
   I began to lie to get exactly what I wanted
   When I wanted it
   – And I wanted it
   Now, I’m having trouble differentiating
   Between what I want
   And what I need
   To make me happy
   So instead of thinking I just act
   Before I have the chance to contemplate the
   Consequence of action … (Stabilo, Flawed Design) Best Perfumista’s Siren Song of Obsession 2006
7. Help, I have done it again. I have been here many times before. Hurt myself again today. And the worst part is there’s no one else to blame…(Sia, Breathe Me) in a land full of candles, there can be only one Leather candle, and that is Assouline’s leather candle. At $45 apiece, there is pain involved. Best Sniffy that’s Not Perfume 2006.
8. I feel the cold, loneliness unfold like from another world. Come what may, I won’t fade away, but I know I might change. Nothing comes easily, fill this empty space. Nothing is like it was. Turn my grief to grace…(Kate Havnevik, Grace) Serge Lutens Encens et Lavande and Iris Silver Mist. Encens is the grief, and Iris Silver Mist is the grace. Best Mood Scent Discoveries 2006.
9. I feel like letting you know how much i love you today. I feel like letting it show, showing you rightly now, they’re never going away…(Open Heart Surgery, The Brian Jonestown Massacre) Frederic Malle Beurre Exquise (in any flavor). Nothing should feel this great or cost this much, but loving this exquisite butter that glides on like silk is easy…and insane. Best Ridiculously Priced Luxury of 2006
10. Oh, the deeper I spin, Oh, the hunter will sin for your ivory skin. Took a drive in the dirty rain To a place where the wind calls your name. Under the trees the river laughing at you and me. Hallelujah, heaven’s white rose. The doors you open, I just can’t close…(Who’s Gonna Ride your Wild Horses from U2’s Achtung Baby, may I repeat, one of the best albums ever) Narcisse, as in Caron Narcisse Noir and L’Artisan Fleur de Narcisse. When you feel beautiful and free and strong and way wild. Best Scents to Make a Statement for 2006

March’s List, Without Musical Accompaniment:

Here´s my list of my Top 10 for 2006, in random order. Some of these weren´t released in 2006 but I´m including them because they were new to me.

1. Donna Karan Chaos – I promise, this is the last time I mention Chaos on the blog (in 2006, anyway.) So I´m maybe four (?) years too late to buy it retail, but in this case – better late than never.
2. Armani Prive Cuir Amethyst – an unconventional blend of leather and violet. I get compliments on this every time I wear it.
3. Less is More – at the beginning of 2006 I didn´t want scent to comfort me – I wanted it to enthrall me, enchant me, disgust me … I get the idea of a low-key scent now. Random scents that comfort me by staying in the background when necessary: Jil Sander Sensations, KenzoAmour, Clinique Simply, Hermes Eau de Merveilles, Matthew Williamson Incense, Bvlgari The Blanc (or green, or red), Annayake Miyako… I´m sure I´ve forgotten five things I´ll feel guilty about later.
4. Virtual Reality – another category I enjoyed playing around in. Perfumes that take you somewhere. My favorite virtual reality line: CB I Hate Perfume (Black March, Burning Leaves, Gathering Apples, Winter 1972, etc.). I´m also going to stick CB Musk on here in honor of my fellow fans of hardcore skank, although I´m still going to argue that it´s both sensual and beautiful.
5. Andy Tauer Perfumes – both Lonestar Memories (virtual reality leather) and Orris (woody, incense, iris) are well worth smelling. The new lavender mod is shaping up to be another winner.
6. Malle Carnal Flower – tuberose with just a bit of a chill. Stunning, and remember, I´m not the Queen of Big White Florals, either. My other favorite Malle is En Passant, which I´m sliding in here because, frankly, what list is complete without En Passant? The only one of my fragrances my daughter has ever asked for. She calls it “the sad lilac rain one,” which just about covers it.
7. Parfumerie Generale — some of them (Iris Taizo, Hyperessence Matale, Ilang Ivohibe) I loved. Even the ones I hated (Aomassai) were interesting. I believe there´s now a coffret with samples of all 15 scents, which sounds perfect.
8. Houbigant Apercu – if I wanted to be a pill I´d stick Mitsouko on here (have you noticed there´s no Guerlain on my list? And I´m not adding any from 2006, either.) Instead I´ll be a pill and stick in Apercu, which must be 80 years old at this point. If you´re looking for a classic woody chypre that doesn´t smell dated; if you can´t quite “get there” with Mitsouko; if you´d like to smell something that makes 98% of the perfume at Sephora look like crap – get some Apercu, which they still make, unlike a lot of other great vintage scents, so you don´t have to pay a fortune on eBay and then discover the bottle´s gone off. Although poking around online I´m nervous it´s now been d/c´d, because it´s getting harder to find…
9. The men´s department — it took me forever to cross the aisle – I have an irrational fear of vetiver-heavy, cedar-forest, citrus-scarifying generic guy-cologne smells that all boil down in my mind to being drowned in a vat of Mennen Skin Bracer. What a dumbass. Considering how much I love a little dark and dirty, the men´s department is loaded with winners. A partial list of the men´s fragrances I discovered and fell in love with this year: the Carons, especially Yatagan (wave your big dagger at me, baby!); Hermes Rocabar and Equipage; Ralph Lauren Double Black (no, seriously); Guerlain Derby and L´Instant; Dior Eau Noire; Lanvin Arpege Pour Homme, and Prada Amber Pour Homme (which, let´s face it, is more femme than the woman´s by a mile).
10. Smaller bottles — for about five weeks there, right before the holidays, a number of mainstream fragrance houses came out with miniaturized, usually roll-on versions of their scents. I´d prefer a small bottle instead of a rollerball — like the purse sprays of yore (did anyone else see those adorable teeny-weeny three-pack bottle sets of Kenzo Flower?!) but it´s a start. Sing along with me: Wouldn´t It Be Wonderful …. If we didn´t have to buy 100ml of something? Frankly, I don´t even want 50ml – 20 to 30ml would be plenty. No, I´m not holding my breath, given the opposite gigantism trend (exemplified, for instance, by the new Chanel Exclusifs coming out in February in 200ml bottles). That´s just … silly. How´m I gonna pick that thing up and spray – with my third hand? My super powers? The Cheese keeps complaining what we need around here is a wife. Hey, maybe we´ll get one! And then she can spray me with perfume…

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