It is Hottie Friday, and it’s time to remind everyone that Christian Bale is simply the most gorgeous thing intheworldperiod.
And speaking of obsessions, and because I’m always thinking about you guys, and my obsession is your obsession, plus we can feed the world with this trifling obsession, just head over to Feed Rice, indulge your word knowledge and feed the world some rice. I’ve spent far too much time on there today and need to pass it along because now I feel singularly responsible for starving children when I can’t ferret out the meaning of tussock without heading to dictionary.com which –I would never do because that’s cheating.
Hey, did you know that Basenotes is doing their 8th annual Fragrance Awards? Well, sure, you know that. But did you know that they have a category for Best Fragrance Blog? Now, there are some truly wonderful fragrance blogs out there, but being the shameless, pandering, popinjays we are (thankyou, feedrice, for reminding me of all the best words I forgot I had!), we want to extirpate the competition — well, that’s a little strong, but we’d really like to win this year. So head on over and vote? There’s something in it for you too, a Basenotes drawing for a nice prize from Fragrancenet.com. And if we win…. well, there will be much merry-making, frivolity and sample giving away. So this is our time to importune you to shag your fingers over and vote, vote, vote! And do I need to add that one vote should be for us as Best Perfume Blog? I know, we really are shameless, and I almost feel bad about it, except if we don’t win, March and Lee will weep like puppies kittens baby lambs clubbed baby seals — oops, not pc — newborn owls.
Speaking of gorgeous obsessions, the winners of the Iris Gris and Candide Effluve samples are — Teri and Cathy/bluechile. Just click on the Contact Us button over there to the left, send me your full name and address, and I’ll shoot you off the samples.
As I’m dwelling on my own obsessions, it occurs to me that my trip this weekend could be Exhibit A. So while I head off to an overnight visit to Portland based on this post from Perfume Smellin’ Things, I’m thinking obsession, what obsession? This is an opportunity to smell some things that sound pretty special… snow rose? Come to mama! We’ll have a drawing for a sample of all of the ones that I bring back. If I bring back nothing… well, yeah, right. So just make a comment to get in the drawing!
If you haven’t already, go read that Perfume House article and tell me which two do you think would be your favorites? And what is your latest obsessions, perfume or nonperfume?
P.S. Anyone living IN London and able to run a quick little errand for me, let me know!
My biggest obsession, perfume AND nonperfume? Get rid of the running nose, forever.
Enter me in the drawing please, if it’s not too late.
I’ve tried to comment twice so far, I hope they don’t all show up in a big rush!
Have fun.
Sniff violets. Love them. They love you!
That place sounds so alluring.
Hope that you have a wonderful time.
Please enter me in the drawing,
thanks,
sunlit
being so jealous :”> i completely forgot:
please include me in the drawing – thank you!
hi patty,
i SO envy you for going to portland. ever since i read that article i´m dreaming to be able to go there, but trying to be realistic :(( :
it´s just a dream that will never become true!
the ones i´m most interested in (refering to the descriptions, perhaps i´d love others much more when i´d smell them…you never know.)are:
– semiramis
– no. 18 de HJ
– marie antoinette violette
– # 4
– palma
my current obsession is…that´s hard 😕 as i´m always pretty obsessed with perfume but i think that answer would be much too boring, so i choose something else that i´m obsessed with (at the moment!): eating canned fruits (especially mandarines).
have fun in portland & bring back some perfumes, pleeeease 😡 !!!
ooh..I just re-read the Perfume House article..from the descriptions my favourites would probably be #4,Yasminale,Marie Antoinette Violette ,Snow Rose (oops..did you say 2 favorites??..:)..And please do include me in any drawing for any of these samples-they sound wooonnderful!!
My current obsession- scented candles. (Did you find any new ones to love after your last post about candles??)
My favorite Hermes scarf is the pink Napoleon, with the bees moired in the silk…sigh.
I think the Snow Rose sounds divine, and #4. There’s something mysterious about a number.
Yes, I voted for PerfumePosse as best EVER blog (brown noser..!)
My shoe obsession is sooo strong & enduring. Takes over my closet space, but I still love the look, smell, & feel of new shoes!
My two favorites from the Oregon trip would probably be Marie Antoinette Violette (for dress-up days)& Fuissal, one of the men’s frags for casual days. So love me some violet! Giving myself Cuir Amethyste for Christmas. It has already arrived, but I’m trying to put on my grown-up face & not open the package, although I’m longing to see the bottle as much as to smell the frag. Used up my decant forever ago.
hey, glad to hear you will be coming up to portland. while you’re here, you should thing about checking out this chocolate shop called cacao. i think it is in sw portland somewhere. also, i think i am going to finally check out the perfume house. intimidating, i think.
When I read that post my first thought was — how can I work this in to our West Coast road trip? My DH and I have been planning a long delayed honeymoon and I think he’s just gonna have to spend some time in Powell’s while I hie myself to that beautiful labor of love…
Please do enter me in the drawing!
And, oh yes, apparently I’m obsessed with yesterday’s post. Retried SL Bois Vanille with great results, and also really, truly “got” Organza Indecence late last night while typing away on deadline — the cinnamon top notes I’d never smelled before and the dry patch underneath the benzoin, oh heaven… Thanks for the inspiration, March!
I am so greedy and so obsessed. After I read that article on the PH, I called, probably later on that day or next day and ordered me up some stuff. Well, they called me yesterday and today I had to pay for it all. I can’t even tell you how much money it’s gonna cost me, but I am beyond thrilled to be getting some of these lovelies. I ordered the Snow Rose, Yasminale and #4. I spoke to a gentleman there who was so sweet and nice and I had been afraid that you could not order online, you can, it takes a while for these oils to come, but you also have to promise to come to the actual PH within the next year, which I will do. I lived in Portland many, many years ago, and I still remember how beautiful it was, yes, it rains 9 months out of the year, but I long for it nonetheless. I live in L.A. now and I would love to go back to Portland one day, I’m kinda trying to work on it. I hope you have a lovely time, the people in Portland are friendly and very down to earth. Please include me in your drawing, since there might be something else that will be as great as the others I will be trying. I really need to win the Lotto!!
Hey, looky all these people want to try some of that new lovejus you’ll be bringing back.
I practically snorted coffee out my nose at well, if I bring back nothing….
😡
You’re gonna have such fun…
I’m 888 planning for you.
You are my unrequited hero. *smooches*
Another Portlander here wishing the weather weren’t going to be so terrible this weekend because you’d love it all the more as you covered the spots Maggie already mentioned above and then some. Perhaps the snow followed by torrential rain and 80 mph winds that are predicted will keep everyone inside the Perfume House all weekend long! Include me in your drawing and welcome to Portland.
snow, then rain then wind? Yikes!!!! Well, normal day at home for me. 🙂
Thank you!
I’m so greedy that I admit it’s difficult to pick, although rose and violet scents are appealing these days… Have a great trip and please enter me in the drawing! Thank you…
ABsolutely, Noy! Well, wait until you get the description of me paralyzed into indecision because I want them all, which even my business budget won’t allow.
Have fun! I’m lucky enough to live in Portland and frequent the Perfume House regularly. They’re so nice and helpful!! I *know* you’ll have a great time. 🙂 Please enter me in your contest.
Bon voyage!
So have you done the Private Reserve thing? I bet so. Thank you!!!
Oh, how fun! Have a wonderful trip! I have the PH on my list of perfumista pilgrimages to make before I become privy to the secrets of the great unknown. Peluche and Faisal were the most appealing sounding to me.
No current obsessions other than reading to escape – just trying to survive this month w/out being excessively grinch like.
I am trying to avoid the whole Christmas thing until… well, Christmas!!!
patty – After a year of enjoying this blog, I’m delurking after reading this post! On Hawthorne, up the street a bit from the P.H. is Essential Oils – HIGHLY recommend the shea butter lotion scented with Myrrh. Peets is close by. Across the street from there is a “mini” Powells, and a Powells cook book store (good, but not an excuse to skip the real thing). Next to the Mini powells is PIX patisserie – perfect for that afternoon pick-me-up. The REAL Powells is across the river on East Burnside at about 10th. Truly amazing place. The only downside – they are saying it will snow here Saturday and Portland is notorious for shutting down when it snows. Oh, and GREAT food here too!
Maggie delurking from Portland
I am so tickled you de-lurked! Thanks for that info, I’ll definitely hit those. Hey, I may be the only person out the streets that day, I lurve driving in snow!
have you gone to the private reserve thing before?
I haven’t done the private reserve yet… a little afraid I might, y’know, empty my wallet. The thing about Portland that “outsiders” are often confused by is that a snow day here is an unofficial floating holiday! It happens rarely, so we all just stay home and play \:d/ Should all be back to normal for Sunday though. Too bad it’s such a short trip – I could give you a weeks worth of restuarant recs easy! And by the way, Powells is open late late, so it could even be an after dinner thingy. (but plan to be lost for a few hours! (It’s the only bookstore I know of that prints maps of the store)
Have a great trip to Portland! I’ve wanted to go since reading that article.
I’ve realized that whatever I get into becomes an obsession for a time and then I move on to something new. Some of these obsessions result in a lasting change, but a suprising number get tossed aside. Past obsessions have included mineral makeup, book collecting, and any number of crafting projects. Current (non-fragrance) obsessions are knitting, and finding the perfect eye cream and sunscreen. :”>
Thank you again for the last drawing, and I trust you go my email with the details. :d
Ooops! forgot to include a coffee link. I love Peets, but like Raven’s Brew that I discovered at Whole Foods. I haven’t tried all the varieties but I’m especially fond of “Dead Man’s Reach” and “Three Peckered Billy Goat”. The packages are a delight with poems and beautiful art work.
http://www.ravensbrew.com/
Did get your e-mail, you’re all set.
I’m off to rder the three-peckered billy goat. My dad used to use that phrase all the time, “hornier a three-peckered billy goat.” So I need coffe that says it for my mom and all my brothers and my sister!!!
You must bring back the #4!!! (could the description of that one be any more evocative???!!). My current obsession – a georgeous piece of glass at Pismo in Cherry Creek that I can’t afford. Sigh. . . . Have a great weekend!
I’m thinking 4 and snow rose for sure, and that jasmine one, and then there’s like six others that look soooo promising!
Current obsession is rose perfumes – never thought I would like them and now … @};-@};-@};-
Loving Maitre’s Rose Opulente and Rose Muskissime, Ormande Jayne’s Taif. And then there is Lutens’ Rose de Nuit and Guerlain’s Nahema. Oh my goodness – full bottle time! 😡
I would want to try any of the rose perfumes from the Perfume House – Snow Rose sounds amazing.
Please count me in for the drawing and hope you enjoy your trip.
Yeah, snow rose has me going too. 🙂 My rose phase comes and goes, and when it does, sometimes I want them light and sweet and ephemeral and sometimes dark and hot.
Oh, sign me up for the #4 and the Peluche, or maybe the Marie Antoinette violet one, since I think I should try more violets and it has incense *swoon*.
Can I live at the Perfume House? Work there? Don’t they need one on the East Coast? Maybe they’ll let me open a branch in Philadelphia. (Cheaper than New York, and up and coming, or so we say.)
And if you end up doing a drawing with whatever you end up buying, oh count me in.
Obsessions? My cute black sling backs from Macy’s for a song.
I intend to lobby for a Denver branch while I’m there. 🙂
My latest obsession is Guerlain Spiriteuse Double Vanille: after reading post after post about how amazing this is, it’s all I can think about. I’ve decided a decant will be mine in December.
My other obsession is Parfums DelRae Amoureuse. I bought a bottle last spring and I find myself going back to it all the time, even now when it seems the wrong time of the year to be wearing it. It’s such a changeling, with those piquant green notes and heady florals duking it out for hours, and the honey note midway through that adds to the decadence. I just can’t resist it.
Oops! Forgot to answer your 1st question. Snow Rose and Semiaramis would be my choices. Have a great trip!!
Thanks, Suzanne. DV is well worth lusting after. The great news on that one is, if it won’t work for you, and it doesn’t work for everyone, it has great swapping capital!!!
Love amorouese, they really are due to bring out another fragrance, you know.
Oooh, I love Portland’s Perfume House, you’re going to have a blast. I would have to say especially the #18 de HJ or the #4, sound goooorgeous. So *please* sign me up for a sample of anything you do get there!
My most recent perfume obsession is Chamade, which I had never tried because of the blackcurrant (I have a serious fruit-phobia), but it has this lovely silky bite that is just the most perfect thing I’ve ever smelled since #19.
Thanks for the pic of Christian — yummy! Can’t wait for the next Batman, to get my fix.
Yes, ma’am! This is my first trip there. Do they have a lot of other things too? I’m thinking yes. I better get there early!
Yes, loads of lovelies — I just went to Harrod’s and I like this place *better.* In fact, I don’t know whether I should divulge and cause a stampede or give out false hopes, but when I was there this summer there was a bottle of Jil Sander #4 PARFUM, which I seem to remember was a highly-sought-after item mentioned in blogs recently…/:)
Oh. Yes. I did read that and get instant lust for several scents, esp. Marie Antoinette and #4. Have a great trip and enjoy Portland!
Thank you, Sybil, I will! I’ve never been, and I can’t believe I’m just going to go in and out in one day. So silly! But my husband couldn’t go with me.
Oh yes….I read and salivated and shivered over that article in PST’s! The ones’ I want to try are Yasminale, Rose Etoile, #4 and Clelia. Actually all of the parfums she described sounded lovely.
Do please enter me in the drawing!
I am all about the coffee right now. I train horses and I have to be out in the damned cold all day long. I keep coffee going, and at the moment I am hooked on this german coffee that a german client of mine brings me. I think the brand name is Contessa. She brings me the bold. It is very smooth yet strong and it’s way better than the Folgers I usually buy! Oh yes, and the german chocolate. *sigh* I always gain weight in the winter and this is why! Because of course I have to have the beautiful unrefined sugar and real cream in my german coffee.
I am such a coffee hag. How in the world would I get my hands on that German coffee. It sounds nice and strong, which is necessary for me to function. 🙂
Believe it or not, she buys this coffee at a cheap grocery store chain called Aldi’s. They always carry this coffee and occasionally get german bread, desserts and stuff in. She buys tons and stocks her freezer. If you don’t have an Aldi’s near you I can send you some! The best thing is it’s not expensive. It’s not as high as Starbucks.
I don’t even have to go over there…I know exactly which exclusive fragrances you are talking about…I immediately e-mailed my friend in Seattle and asked her to go there…ooh I would love to smell those Himalayan blossoms…
Oh, is she going this week? I think this was the last showing this year. Not sure when they start up again next year! If she’s there, let me know, I’ll say hi!
I remember that article. I keep a little MS Word document of “Would Love to Try” and I put 2 on there, the #18 and the Snow Rose. Patty, I know you will have a fantastic weekend!
My seasonal obsession is knitting. When the temp drops ever so slightly here in South FL, I get the urge again and must make extremely difficult decisions, to shop for Christmas or for yarn!
Love to be in the draw for anything, anytime!
:)>-
Those two I think are my faves just from the notes. Crossing fingers they are great.
I used to knit and crochet years ago and loved it, but because of the work I was doing then, I couldn’t add on more fine hand movement. Now I’ve sorta destroyed my hands. 🙂
Thanks for the coffee recommendation! I’m going to get some! :d
The article about the Perfume House and its great treasures had me mesmerized (obsessed?), thinking about it day and night for some time. I was so happy to hear that there are still hidden gems in this word but at the same time it made me devastated because I would never be able to feel, touch or smell them myself. Now I’m holdning my breath, wishing you will bring home something from that Alladins Cave of perfumes in Portland and that my name will come up first in this draw[-o< Ther obessions of mine is knitting. I love to knit and it's the perfect thing to do on your free time this time of the year. There's something truly sensual about the colours and the texture of expensive silk yarn. Hopefully it will become lovely gifts for my family if I ever finish it before christmas#:-s
I like that, Aladdin’s Cave. Hee hee! 🙂
Portland must be one great place, what with the Perfume House and being the home of Pink Martini (love ’em – I saw them in concert a few weeks ago, and they were just superb. They had the naturally reticent Swiss rocking!). Have fun!
Snow Rose sounds great. And Faissal. And Rose Etoile, Clelia, Semiramis, Palma……… all of them!
My current obsession: baking cookies. It’s been going on since September. I should have a regular daily delivery service of butter, sugar, eggs and flour. And because I try most of my cookies before giving them away, I can’t find a boot to fit my calves – that’s obsession number two: finding a good, handsome, elegant yet sturdy pair of boots. Not just the only one they have in that size, but something I’d really love wearing. Sigh.
That’s exactly what I was going to write, Portland sounds like THE pleace to be ! Went to the Pink Martinis in London on 10th Nov and they were fab !:d
Pink Martini, is that a group?
Hear you on the boots. Even when I was waifish-like, before menopause, I’ve always had athletic calves (farmwork). So even my otherwise thin legs (well, then) could almost never find boots that would go over them. REally frustrating. I look at those skinny boots and realize that you can have zero calf muscles.
I would love to bake more than I do, but my resistance to hot baked goods is zero, so I just avoid it. If I didn’t, my perimenopausal weight would double!
No. 4 and Semiramis sound like two for me.
I’m currently working my way through a few BPALs a friend sent me and am really enjoying how different they are from my usual scents, which are mostly French and originated pre-1960 (although no bottles actually date from then).
My only real perfume obsession is whether to buy another bottle of Mitsouko EDP before it all goes from the shops… My local shop has the EDT in new, pink boxes, so I guess those are the reformulated ones. I prefer the EDP anyway and can’t decide whether to let it go and mourn it or whether to stack up a big pile of bottles and hope they don’t turn. (I’ve never had a fragrance turn on me yet, including an open splash bottle of Obsession that’s nearly old enough to have the vote, so I’m hopeful.) I’m not sure whether to postpone the loss or accept it now. (Dammit, LVMH, you’ve destroyed my SOUL!)
What cave have I been in? What is going to happen to the Mitsouko EDP? 😮
I’ve heard a lot of mixed things about BPALs, but I’ve never tried them. I really should!
The Mitsouko EDP isn’t being discontinued, right? Just harder to find? I know I used to be able to pick it up for at least some discount at discounters, but anymore it’s full price everywhere for that and L’Heure Bleue. Weird, must be having a resurgence, so no need to discount!
I don’t know. On the perfumeoflife forum someone said they’d heard from Guerlain that so far only the EDT has been reformulated, and as my local shop is running the EDT in the pink boxes and everything else in the older yellow-and-gold ones, I suspect the pink boxes contain the new stuff. You’re right about it being hard to find the EDP at online discounters; I’ve been checking the British ones and Mitsouko EDP appears to have all but disappeared.
As a few other Guerlains appear to be being discontinued/limited, I’m seriously worried. For a decade I wore Mitsouko pretty much exclusively, and while the reformulation news was what drove me to look at other scents*, opening a whole world of beautiful things to me, I can’t imagine not having Mitsouko!
*Wouldn’t you know it, I fell for Patou’s Ma Collection. I’m just doomed.
Currently, Mitsouko EDP is available on the Costo website. Actually, there are a lot of nice fragrances available on the Costo website.
Oooh, ta. I’ll check that one out.
Patty, have a wonderful time. Do visit Powell’s, as Tom suggested. Also find a good clam restaurant. You can order the mollusks by the pot and sit there eating clam after clam. At least one could when I frequented Portland.
My favorites? Semiramis, Snow Rose, Yasminale. The list could be long. Happy hunting!
My current obsession: Guerlain Aqua Allegoria Winter Delice, courtesy of the Perfume Posse Scent Club. My other obsession is planning for NEXT semester. Winter Delice sounds like more fun, doesn’t it?
Winter Delice? Yikes, I’m not a fan… well, more about that next month. 🙂
What in the world is Powell’s?!?!?!
I’m with Patty on this one….
More for March and me. Neener, neener. (Notice how mature I’m feeling today.)
Patty, Powell’s is nirvana for book lovers. Walls and walls and walls of books and rooms and rooms. You’ll be amazed at the books that exist in this world. Dreaming…
Wow. Have fun in Portland. You’re gonna have a wonderful time. Most intriguing scents? The Marie Antoinette Violette and the Faissal because my obsession of the week is violets, thus leading to my current unsniffed obsession: Andy Warhol Silver Factory which I Must Have. So many obsessions all in one-violets, incense, and Andy Warhol. Do you know when it will be available at TPC? Hint, hint, hurry, hurry.:d It’s awful pricey to buy a full bottle unsniffed and seems a little greedy right here at the holidays. But I can be pretty shameless.
Thanks for entering me in the drawing. Have a great trip!
Hey, Matt, great choices! I’m all over that violet thing.
Silver Factory is awesome and weirdly wonderful. We do have it, I’m pretty sure! I know my bottle is supposed to be in today. If it’s not there, let me know, but pretty sure it is!
Patty-have a most excellent adventure! Portland is my hometown, and back when I discovered Opium (my gateway)and began to think seriously about perfume, I remember hearing about some speciality house over on the other side of the bridge. Little did I know…I am scheduling an “event” now for my next visit. After, of course, seeing my baby nephews.
My maybe favorites from the descriptors-Semiramis and Rose Etoile, and Snow Rose and and and…
I can’t wait for your report back. And have a blast! Portland is a wonderful city.
The link that has been working for me for the Free Rice site is:
http://www.freerice.com/ I have spent waaay too much work time testing my vocab…instead of teaching vocab to my kids (shhh)
Oh, excellent! Anything else I should see while I’m there? I’m in on Saturday afternoon and back out on Sunday evening, so it’s a really short trip, to say the least!
Louise, I bet you’ll enjoy your visit. I love Portland now that I don’t have to keep flying back and forth to it from DC, as I did in the mid-1980s. I did have a bit of a depressive reaction tro the gray weather, but that could have been partly jet lag.
If forced to chose just two (just two?!) I will take Palma and Peluche. And as for obsessions – do you mean things we are lemming or things that are in heavy rotation right now? I am currently frequently working the Patou Sublime, the Serge MKK and MM, and still with the PdN Maharanih, but am particularly obsessive about the Dior Homme Eau Noire, which just makes my day every time I wear it lately. I’m also embarrassingly into House on TV right now (thank heavens he kept Kutner! I love Kutner!)
House is just one of those series that I never got into. I watched a couple of episodes and LOVE the characters, but it must not fit into my schedule. 🙂
Portland? Lucky you! You can go to Powell’s too!
Have a great trip! Can’t wait to read the report!
Powell’s? What is/are Powell’s? Give!
only the best bookstore in the western hemisphere!
http://www.powells.com/ :d
And it’s an independent, too. Yay!
Just re-read that article. My favorites would be Snow Rose and Semiramis. The men’s were very interesting, Emilio and especially Faissal – violet, leather, tangerine.. I guess my latest obsession is trying love it/or hate it scents. I just received a decant of MKK. The reviews were either “sweaty armpits, dirty socks, take no prisioners feral beast” or “polite unoffenive floral with a musky drydown”. It was driving me crazy. Well, I’ll find out soon ..will let you know! I suspect that all of you on this blog have already tried it, I’m probably the last one here that hasn’t.
Patty, have a FABULOUS TRIP, can’t wait to hear about it.
Thank you for entering me in the drawing 🙂
You know, MKK may surprise you. I love it, but not in any traditional way, and the first ten minutes are a fright.
No, you’re not alone! I am working my way up to it – trying some of the less scary Lutens first. 🙂
What a great line of perfume though – even the ones I don’t like, I can see how beautifully composed they are.
I loved that article, too! I felt like buying a ticket to Portland right then and there. My best friend lives there so I think he might be hearing a knock on his door before too long! 🙂 So, I imagine that my favorites would be Semiramis and No. 18 from the women’s and Dragonera from the men’s. I can not WAIT to read your article about your trip.
My non-perfume obsession is coffee, and the best I’ve found is Peet’s. If you are in Portland you should look for it and if you love coffee, buy some beans. Their Sumatra is to die for. My perfume obsession currently is B*Men. I know it’s pedestrian but I can’t help it. I love it at this time of year.
Please enter me in the drawing! 🙂
THanks,
Anthony
Anthony, can I add my 2 coffee beans here? I have tried Peets, an online purchase though, and their Sumatra is my fav too. But as much as I love Peets, I always go back to a little known company, Taylormaid Farms. My daughters get tea from them but I am a foreverfan of the Red Rooster French Roast. http://www.taylormaidfarms.com/
Don’t they sound yummy? I just hope they live up to half of what I Have them doing in my head. 🙂
I have an ongoing coffee obsession, along with my candle obsession and my Hermes scarf obsession. Heck, I redid all of my wardrobe on top just so my scarves show up better. OCD, me? no, of course not!