The New (and the Old) Fall Candy

Louise came shopping with us Tuesday — and can I just say how much levity she injected into the new-fall-dress-for-my-12-year-old expedition?  It wasn’t quite the job from hell that it was for the more curvaceous Diva, who at 14 now looks like she’s a high school senior, but still — no stroll in the park.  Bonus points to mom for not having a smackdown with the insane sales clerk, who talked about his desire to be a comedian when he wasn’t macking on the woman ahead of me with his prison stories … no, seriously.   Ask Louise.  (Me to clerk, eventually: “I feel your pain, and yet, I just want to buy these dresses and get out of here.”)  Louise is like the cool auntie — both girls have really taken a shine to her — and is a big riot to shop with.   Today she showed up toting a ginormous bag of nail polish she was getting rid of and being Louise, we are talking about purple, blue, green, black, etc.  The girls are in heaven.  Mom, too, since I get to borrow!

So, happy October!  I am thrilled to be digging some of the heavy-handed favorites out of the closet.  Soon everyone around me will be able to enjoy once again the seasonal miasma glory of such magnificent scents as DK Chaos and Black Cashmere, SL Chergui, CB Burning Leaves, Gathering Apples and Musk (the musk knows no season), CdG original and its tipsy cousin, Kenzo Jungle L’Elephant, Versace Dreamer, Dior Addict, Malle Noir Epices — the list goes on and on.  Doesn’t it?   I know, I know.

I finally got to try the Lacroix Tumulte Pour Homme (thanks, Kevin!), and call me daft, but the first few seconds I thought: Chaos!   Notes are juniper, laurel, bay, violet leaves, incense, plum, atlas cedar, Virginia cedar, Chinese cedar, Virginia cedar.  I know the big joke about Tumulte is it’s being whomped with the cedar-cedar-cedar stick, but on me there’s so much incense — the woody incense makes me imagine this as Chaos Pour Homme — absent any of Chaos’ sweetness.  I would definitely wear this though, it’s unisexy, and I am not even a huge fan of cedar, although now that I think about it, I also loved Rochas Lui and then looked up the notes and it’s mostly cedar, so what do I know?

The new L’Artisan Aedes scent is … very bitter on me.  Not sure why.  It starts off so promising, all peppery incense, and then gets too sharp.  The same thing happened to Louise.  I like the actual room spray on which this is based a lot, so not sure where the misfire is.  For a completely different perspective read Robin’s review, as she generously sent me a sample.  The notes (orange, cardamom, incense, black pepper, rose, iris, cedarwood, resins, patchouli, coffee, opoponax, benzoin, treemoss, immortelle, white musk, vanilla) sound like heaven, don’t they?  Like Robin, I don’t get much in the way of immortelle or coffee either.  Wah.

In this transitional period, I have been wearing the new Chanel Beige — a lot.  It wins this fall’s award for humorous name disconnect — I am deeply NOT beige.  I dislike beige and its wan stepsisters, ivory and cream.  I was pretty sure I wouldn’t be interested in Beige.  But not only does its honey-musky warmth make me smile, it also lasts — it even passes the Louise test, and many of you know how fast she burns off fragrance. It was delightful and luminous on her.  Also in rotation right now — Lubin’s Idole, which is perfect for the fall but not too heavy when it warms up mid-day, and I have a question to ask my fellow sinners — have you accidentally bought a second bottle of fragrance having forgotten you owned the first?  Duh.  I’m thinking that’s the fragrance equivalent of one of those warning signs of addiction quizzes.

Finally, I want to flog another fall fragrance, relatively cheap, that makes me smile – Esteban’s Sensuelle Russie.  It’s such a warm, cheerful thing — notes are bergamot, orange flower, pine, white cedar, cinnamon, cardamom, amber, woods, patchouli.  The spices are fairly pronounced while retaining a certain transparency; I have seen this described as a poor man’s Ambre Narguile, but AN’s cloying richness makes me queasy — this is more like Fendi Theorema in my book.  What I like most about it is that, while it is not “light,” it’s not so heavy that I have ever regretted applying it, which is more than I can say for some of my other fall favorites.  It has historically been impossible to find online (mine was shipped from France via a friend) but researching this post I discovered it here for $45.  Has anyone tried any/all of those yummy-sounding Voluspa body sprays on there?  Burmese Rosewood, Cardamom Fig, Champaca Bloom and Fern, and etc.?  Heh.  Not that I need any more perfume.  But I want it.  Twenty bucks is free, right?