This time round, we’re hitting you with a a couple of Frederic Malles.  March is traveling, and Bryan got called away, so it’s just us two! 

Noir Epices – notes of notes of orange, rose,  geranium, nutmeg, cinnamon, clove, pepper, patchouli, cedar and sandalwood.

Vetiver Extraordinaire – notes of bergamot, bigarade orange, pink pepper, nutmeg, floralozone, Haitian vetyver, sandalwood, cedarwood, oak moss, myrrh, cashmeran, muske-tone and tonalide

First up, Noir Epices:

Patty:  This is one of the few Malles that are completely wrong on me. It’s like one of those Christmas clove oranges fermented until it’s gone off completely wrong and rotten. Since lots of people love it, I have to assume that it’s just something that goes bad on me or it just has notes I just really, really hate, but hate it with a passion I do.  Fans of very over-the-top spicy scents should love it.  I read Lee’s notes, and powder? I get no powder.  Powder would be welcome, and I hate powdery scents.

Lee: I’m not a fan. It’s an austere geranium and patchouli number with a cold clasp of spices and orange. In my mind, I see the Habit Rouge gentleman stripped of his woollen raiment.Underneath, he’s in a plastic bustier and not much else. It’s a feminine scent with a hint of powder, big on the chypre attitude, but without the delivery.

And now, Vetiver Extraordinaire:

Lee: I can’t get beyond the fact that over time I’ve had to place this scent in the ‘gives me an enormous headache’ category. I’d say I was allergic to oakmoss, if it didn’t love me in so many other scents… Anyway, beyond the temple throb, this is all about the vetiver. I thought Haitian vetiver was the airy stuff, but here it’s all about earth. Slightly sour earth. I can detect the oakmoss and maybe a hint of nutmeg around the edges, but it’s either so wonderfully blended or so vet-dominant that all the other notes are indistinguishable, at least to me. But as I’ve said, I’m not the one to judge. I need to lie down. Send over the En Passant and Bigarade Concentree, wouldja? Them’s two Malle bubbas I love.

Patty:   Lee and his aching head are just crazy – this is vetiver perfection. It does start out a little sourish and sharp, but the longer it is on, the more beautiful it becomes. I pulled out my CB Haitian Vetiver Accord to compare the two, and the CB Haitian vetiver on its own is earthy, slightly nutty perfection, and VE is much more robust, but the Hatian vetiver is very much prominent in the drydown.  This is one of my all-time favorite vetivers, coming in only second to the vetiver I huff on like crack, Hermessence Vetiver Tonka.

Patty

Time to round up all my new samples I’ve gotten to sniff!

Bond Saks for Her — Notes of Jasmine, tuberose, gardenia, vetiver and vanilla.  I’m totally underwhelmed. It’s kinda nice, soft, nothing offensive here, and the drydown just fades… to a softish gardenia.   Okay, take that back, should have been more patient — as the drydown continues, the gardenia becomes more prominent and richer. Maybe I’d like it more if I were a big gardenia fan..  With the tuberose/gardenia mix, I prefer the new one from Estee Lauder, which has a balance between tuberose and gardenia that I like a little better.  Due to be released in September 2007 only at Sak’s.

Bond Saks for Him — Notes of chili, black pepper, cardamom, bergamot, incense, guiac wood, amber.  Muuuuchhhhh better!  Okay, this is supposed to be for the guys, but I’m digging the pepper and spices and incense immensely on the open.  Wait, where did it go? It was really great out of the chute, but the interested parts vamoosed.  Okay, that’s not good. If they amped this up and could maintain that open for a while longer, this would be perfection. It’s not terrible at all and certainly a nice scent, but the interesting parts of it are on the open and fade too quickly.  Due to be released in October 2007 only at Sak’s.

Bond  Andy Warhol Silver Factory — Notes of bergamot, grapefruit, lavender, violet, incense, jasmine, iris, amber, wood resin, cedarwood.  Freak Alert, love, love, love it!  This starts off like metallic rubber, if that’s possible, a more metallic SMN Nostalgia, and then dries down to a smoky, soft incense with that never loses that little tinge of the metallic — it’s a Weird Scene scent. This is probably the most interesting scent Bond has ever done.. it’s not their normal floralish thing. Set to launch in December of 2007, this is the one of the three that goes on my wish list. It is an adorable freak.

biehl . parfumkuntswerke Mark Buxton 03 — This is a new line available from First in Fragrance, modeled along the lines of Frederic Malle where the perfumer creates and has their name put on the perfume. MB 03 has no top notes.  Notes include roman camomille, red pepper, elemi, cistus, cashmere wood, styrax, amber, incense, sandalwood, and patchouli.  Incense lovers will be thrilled with this dry, peppery, woody incense.  I’m actually loving a lot in this line, which I’ll explore more on Friday!

Andy Tauer’s new hyacinth and the Mechanic mod –  The beauty of the hyacinth is captured here perfectly, and then firmly planted in a mechanic’s gloves, spring floral perfection in an oil-soaked mechanic’s glove.  There aren’t enough words to say how much I adore this, and I can’t wait until Andy is finished with it. 

Patty

I actually figured out how to upload this image from my camera onto the laptop and into the Posse without reading the instructions. I’m thinking about writing a letter to Canon suggesting a new slogan for their PowerShot A540: “Technology for Morons.” The only problem is the individual .jpg files are so big they take forever to upload, so don’t be holding your breath for the photo album. I’ll figure out how to compress the files when my children leave for college. Yeah, that’s me a few days ago, sailing on Phang Nga bay, with Ko Phakak in the background. In case you’ve been wondering what I look like. Okay, usually I look a little less wind-burned, and my hair’s either curlier or straighter, and I’m wearing makeup, and not a yellow vest and Bushnells, and don’t have a wicked sunburn on that overlooked slice of unprotected skin below the bottom of my shirt and the top of my swim shorts. But that’s me, more or less. I am pensive. I am reflecting on the transitory nature of my life against the seeming permanence of my surroundings. Alternatively, I am watching the depth-finder closely (nothing like a lot of really shallow water to liven up a sail on someone else’s expensive toy!) and holding, just out of the camera range, a can of Singha beer. You choose.

I haven’t been reading the fragrance news or the other blogs. I’m a little worried. A lot could have happened in the last month. I’m going to feel foolish when I found out Guerlain’s been bought by Beatrice and their next boutique fragrance is for Lindsey Lohan, called … Commando? Je Suis Une Drunk? (Okay, I’ve been keeping up a little bit with the international newspapers. Shoot me. The Beckhams seem to be settling in nicely. So far as I can tell, that’s the only news.)

Anyway, here are random notes I made that I didn´t work into other posts. We´re leaving tomorrow and I won´t be posting Thursday, since I´ll be up to my ears in five weeks of backlog. I miss you, and perfume, and I´ll be back on it next week.

1) Want to be treated like royalty in Thailand? Bring your children! Experience the surprising, precise inverse of the response to kids in public in the U.S.! Turn your back on your tots – or even your sulky teen – for 30 seconds and random Thai people will be feeding them, handing them toys and chucking them under the chin. Simultaneously. Four kids gets you the best table in any restaurant.

2) The beach activities (loungers, etc.) are run by a cadre of lean, muscular, deeply tanned men with shaggy hair who could be anywhere in age from 15 to 45, I have no idea. Many of them have tattoos that cover their torsos, done in black ink that is only slightly lighter than their skin. I find their beauty compelling, although when I was young enough to have the freedom I’d never have had the confidence to approach them. Their relationship with me is … wary friendliness? I am the crazy white lady with red hair who walks by several times in the heat of the day with her iPod. (Walking is dangerous and for poor people.) Some of them are Burmese, and all of them look like they could kick you to death in two minutes without spilling their beer. Having witnessed a brief, violent ass-kicking of two foreigners over a soccer ball, I would not want to get on their bad side. These same men, however, will play like four-year-olds with my four-year-olds, building sand castles and kicking the mini soccer ball for 45 minutes straight. One group joshes me from a distance every day on my walks – Jet-ski? We all laugh. I´m pretty sure they´re all smoking dope. I finally talked to them about the tattoos, which they say (I wasn´t following the details very well) is made by burning bamboo. Maybe they use the ash under the skin? Or they use sharpened bamboo? I´m not sure which, although the one with the best English said it was different than needle tattoos. They call me something he says means “happy heart,” because I smile and wave at them when I walk by. He said it´s a Thai expression. Maybe he´s lying and they´re calling me Pink Ghost or something (honestly, I have never felt whiter – I wonder if my skin disgusts them?) But I´ve decided I´m going to believe him. Because it makes me happy.

3) I have developed a taste for the smell of durian. Having smelled it for a month, I´m going to miss it. It´s a completely distinct smell, like no other. Somebody definitely needs to try to work a smidge of it into a fragrance. On Dinazad’s advice I’ve tried three brands of durian chips, and they taste great! Unfortunately, all their stink seems to be missing. I was hoping for a touch of durian to carry home with me.

4) I really miss walking. New York, London, Paris, Vienna — these places and many others I have enjoyed extensively on foot. I love to walk. Walking by myself, in the city or countryside, is a great pleasure. Even in London, with traffic going the wrong way and drivers who’ll run you down, is delightful to walk in. These parts of Asia, cities and towns — not so much. There’s … a general lack of pedestrian concessions? Sidewalks are intermittent or nonexistent. Motobikes drive and park on them. Roadsides are parking lots, pitted, trash-strewn, muddy. Okay, you can walk — there’s no law against it — but it’s mostly such a risk (crossing any street without getting hit) you give up and get in a tuk-tuk or whatever. I wonder whether urban/suburban walking is a great unsung luxury?

Yesterday and today: Culture Shock! Back in Bangkok for the new Harry Potter movie at the Siam Paragon — at the IMAX Theatre in 3-D!!!!! Yeah, read that and weep. It was soooo great. Today a trip to the big Weekend Market — can’t remember the name but I think it means “how many people can you wedge into 8,000 stalls”? Got lotsa cool stuff. Hitting some more local sights tomorrow. But it’s weird what you miss. Right now all I want is something I can’t find — just a regular ol’ cheese sandwich. Made with English cheese. Maybe the one with the bits of Stilton in it (Double Gloucester?) or some Cheshire or something. Okay, gotta go — Diva’s waiting for me to conjure an alternative to Scary Noodle —

March

My arm/hands are feeling much better, thanks everyone, but I’m still taking it easy since if I do anything too long, the pain kicks back up. I highly recommend that 3M joystick-looking mouse, and I am going to look into acupuncture. So thanks very much for the recommendations!

I have a drawing winner from a while back for the Profumum Volo AZ 686, Bois 1920 Sushi Imperiale, Profumum Alba, CdG Play and NR For Him and Musc for Him samples, and that winner is… Carlene!  Just hit the Contact Us button over there on the left and send me your address, and I’ll get these sent out to you.

Estee Lauder’s Private Collection Tuberose Gardenia showed up this week. I wasn’t paying much attention to it until both Marina and Ina said they liked it when sniffing in NYC last week. It has notes of neroli, lilac, rosewood, tuberose, gardenia, orange flower, jasmine, white lily, carnation and vanilla bourbon. I have this in both the EDP and parfum. The EDP is a big, but not too big, tuberose and gardenia scent. I get just the slightest blue cheese from it, but it is pretty beautiful and something only gardenia and tuberose haters would not like.  It’s not my favorite gardenia scent, that nod goes to Isabey Gardenia, nor is it my favorite tuberose scent, that goes to Frederic Malle Carnal Flower, but the combination of notes makes it not simply one or the other, but brings some of the best quality of each into a tandem run.  Taken for what it is, it’s certainly gorgeous and worth owning, and the price point on the edp isn’t horrific, under $65 for 30 ml or $120 for 75 ml. At least they did this in a smaller bottle, so maybe someone at EL has been listening to us. 

Now, the parfum is far superior to the edp for me.  Where the edp goes on a little sharp and pitches high, the parfum is a little richer in the right places, mostly in the gardenia, and the two flowers run in tandem truer in this strength. It just feels a little more complex of the two, but I still wouldn’t call this scent complex by our snooty niche-spoiled standards.  The parfum is $300 for 30 ml, and it may be worth it for those of you that love both tuberose and gardenia and like the scent a lot… The parfum may move you to love.

So while I’m still typing short things, let’s do another drawing!  This one will be for a sample of both the edp and parfum of the Estee Lauder Private Collection Tuberose Gardenia and how about I throw in a sample of POTL cream and Carnal Flower Beurre Exquise. Just drop a comment and let me know you want to be in the draw!  I may or may not be responding today, depending on how the arm/hand is doing!

Patty

UPDATE: I’ve inserted Noy’s commentary on ladyboys at the bottom.

Today´s candy didn´t start off very promisingly. I put on two Miya Shinmas – Kaze and Feuillage Vert (green leaves), both samples of which I got awhile back from Luckyscent which, interestingly, doesn´t seem to sell them. They both were really soapy on me, before Vert went off in the disheartening direction of privet and Kaze in what smelled to me like a rather plastic rose. They´re pretty light. I did fret. Is there something about my tropical locale that just rejects perfume?

Then I tried Carthusia´s Via Camerelle and was cheered immediately. I´m not a fan of some bits of the line I´ve sampled; Fiori di Capri´s overbearing florals gag me, although Mediterraneo is a perfect all-season fragrance, particularly in winter, a breeze of citrus and a cool glass of tea. Replace the tea with some musk and sandalwood and you´ve got Camerelle. Is it genius? Nah. But it´s delicious – a lime gelato in the Cinque Terre, served up with a suggestive smile by some sloe-eyed Italian boy in a white shirt, his curls of dark brown hair blowing in the breeze. Whiff of armpit – his, not mine. (I checked.) Thing I love about Italian and French men: your appeal as a woman doesn’t evaporate with your 30th (or 40th, or 60th) birthday.

But Via Camerelle should work here, because it´s such a hot-weather snack of a fragrance. So then I wished I´d brought Guerlain Mitsouko, because I wanted to conduct an experiment on my theory of environmental incompatibility and Mitsouko just seemed, off the top of my head, like the wrongest possible thing to wear to Patong Beach. Mitsouko is my queen, my most elegant lady, and walking her around here is like taking the Mona Lisa to happy hour at Hooters. I dug around in my sample bag and came up instead – miraculously – with Guerlain L´Heure Bleue in the parfum, which is also a strong contender in the wrongness category. I was excited – how would my melancholy beloved wear, mashed up against the roast bananas, roadside garbage, strutting ladyboys and general sleazy charm of Patong, which, judging by the pornographic tee shirts and hardcore action on Bangla Road, is getting a little less family friendly?

I waited for sunset, splashed on some LHB and took my stroll.

Is the suspense killing you? What happened was so peculiar. L´Heure Bleue on me is very … proper, the variant being the degree of melancholy on any particular day. Even the parfum, which is way stronger on me than the EDP, keeps its velvet gloves on like a lady, and (whispers) sometimes that powder-heliotrope thing can get a little cloying. But this! Holy moley! I wandered down the beach, through the crowds at Bangla, and back up, working up a sweat, and my velvet lady danced around in front of me in a sarong, every inch of her reinvented as one of Gauguin´s Tahitian beauties. It was all smoke and incense and hot brown skin on me – no, seriously – the inside of a temple. It was fabulous.

Top photo: Thai ladyboy band Venus Flytrap (what a great name!) The ladyboy phenom here is just one more thing I´m a little confused about. They seem to be pretty accepted – you can go see them in cabaret shows, and they´re out in public. Maybe Noy will enlighten? Basically they´re transvestites, but they´re not. I wonder how they fit in culturally, and/or to whom they are providing services? Separate from the old joke of discovering at an awkward moment that, you know, the lady´s a dude, seriously – some of them are drop-dead gorgeous, and there are interesting shadings and variations in the level to which they´re looking female. Many of them seem to be deliberately androgynous – splitting it right down the middle, provocatively.

NOY’S COMMENTS:

Ladyboys. Wooooo…could write a book on that. They’ve been around a long time. In terms of societal “roles,” they have been part of animistic rituals and the like for ages, and were part of the entertainment scene since at least the 1920s. Every Thai drama must have a ladyboy sidekick to simper and screech…so they are present in mainstream media, but also reduced to caricature. Not unlike how queer folks are often treated in Hollywood films.

Lesbianism is, however, hardly discussed outside of queer circles, which is its own vast problem, and there is a tremendous amount of societal pressure to get married, have babies, etc.  Really a difficult situation, but not forbidden. Queerness in Thailand is more open but also…not discussed so much. Most of my Thai gay friends (particularly the Sino-Thais, I’ve noticed) are not out to their families, and they are in their 30s and 40s, it’s a really don’t ask, don’t tell situation. In both Japan and Thailand you’d likely find higher numbers of queer people living in marriages with people of the opposite sex and having children…while stepping out on the side…than the States. Do your public and familial duty, and then sneak off to explore or engage in your individual desires. And never, ever let the two worlds collide.

Venus Flytrap photo, thaiphotoblogs.com; Gauguin Tahiti Women with Mango, mpa.org

March