Let’s Pretend

I gave myself a good, stern talking-to about the recent foolishness on the blog with those Harry Potter Equus photos. The Big Cheese and 12-year-old Diva were ready to stage an intervention as I sat there, staring at those giant photos on the screen and contemplating a second career as a thatch stylist … anyway, no more lowbrow, juvenile, icky sexual stuff on the blog. Next week: a complete review of something rilly, rilly serious.

On to today´s post: I´ve always assumed that, if forced, most people would define hell as either the presence of heat — or its absence. My idea of heaven is the humid mid-80s, at which point I´ll be wearing a cute sundress and a smile (as opposed to a cardigan). Naturally, I am married to the Big Cheese, a man whose ideal temperature is somewhere in the low-to-mid-60s. Since we both work out of the house, in the summer I tend to retreat to our screen porch for hours of happy reading or work in temperatures that would give him brain damage. Winters are more problematic. I have suggested the porch solution for him and been given the cold shoulder. We keep the thermostat at his compromise position of 67 – the highest temperature he can bear, which leaves him swanning around in a tee shirt (and sometimes shorts) while I accessorize with heavy wool sweaters, a scarf and a mug of hot tea. If I add a hat I can sometimes get him to nudge the temperature upward to 68F, but watching him literally break into a heavy sweat at his desk doesn´t make me happy, either.

Here are a few scents I put on to cheer myself up when I´m cold (and a little depressed) and wish it was spring, already:

Carthusia Mediterraneo – Robin at NST and I share a love for this. Perfume genius? Nah. But its faintly herby, lemon-leafy green-tea smell is irresistible on miserable, sleety winter days.

Muelhens 4711 – it´s a straight, conventional, citrus-petitgrain cologne, you can dump on the whole bottle in June, I keep mine in the fridge for additional chill. I wear it so much in the summer, I can trick my brain into thinking it´s warm outside by applying it now.

Creed Spring Break – okay, it’s not called that. It’s called Virgin Island Water, and this is a bit of a cheat because I just smelled it last night on a wee sniffage with Louise, Sariah and Sasha. Sariah gets credit for the discovery. Notes are: bergamot, lime, mandarin, coconut toddy, copra, jasmine, hibiscus, ylang, ginger, musk, white rum, sugar cane. It doesn’t have that funky Creed base (Sariah smelled Creed Cuir de Russie for the first time, jerked her head away and said “damn,” and I know what she means.) Spring Break smells like a CSP scent done by Creed, which is kind of cool. No, really. Our favorite part is the coconut, which is less like tanning oil and more like buttered popcorn. It made me smile all the way home.

CB Black March – because it smells like it will be spring. Someday. Smell that warm, wet earth? Damp green shoots? Look, the snow´s melting.

L´Artisan Fleur de Carotte – this scent is just goofy – it smells like tender baby carrots, and maybe a little lettuce. I have heard it´s discontinued, but I run across bottles (most recently at their flagship store in New York.) Also, it lasts maybe half an hour, tops. But it´s such a cheerful scent all is forgiven. An aside: I feel that, sometimes, L´Artisan doesn´t get as much love among perfumistas because it´s a little too accessible – not that difficult to get ahold of, not that difficult to grasp. I refuse to join the snob squad. It´s the first niche line I hit hard, and for people easing into fragrance, I still recommend it as a great place to start. The scents are generally fun and interesting, and some of them are staples in my wardrobe.

photo: bbc.co.uk