It’s Sunday night and I got nuthin’.  I’m not even going to lie.  I’ve spent the past week enveloped in some long-outstanding tax stuff requiring insanely tedious amounts of detailed preparation and copying and trips to the post office.  I’ve also spent the week enveloped in four particular Serge Lutens scents – Miel de Bois, Santal Blanc, Fleurs d’Oranger and Cà¨dre.  (And a shout-out to Nava for Friday’s post – I love Encens et Lavande!  Go, Serge!)

The Big Cheese and I share an office at home, and I am quite confident at this point that he wishes I had almost any other obsession besides perfume — online gambling, perhaps, or internet porn.  He’s told me he will be spending much of this coming week away from the office.  I’m sure it’s a coincidence.  The folks at the post office have looked at me funny once or twice — I’m sure I’m wafting pretty intensely for 10:30 a.m., and you know what?  I just don’t care any more.  Desperate times, desperate measures.

The nice thing about these four scents I’ve been wearing is that I can layer them – or, more precisely, I can wear them one right after the other and come up with delightful combinations.  Miel de Bois layered with Fleurs d’Oranger is lovely, although you need more FdO, as MdB will eat almost anything in its path.   MdB layered with Santal Blanc would be lovely, and is lovely, for about ten minutes, until MdB kills it off.  I’m still tinkering with the ratios.  Cà¨dre is a bit trickier in rotation, as its poisonous, viscous tuberose trends a bit in the direction of Poison if you put too much on, although eventually it smells more like woodsy honey.  Cà¨dre, MdB and FdO are each slightly strange, and all possess a potentially lethal sweetness (tuberose, honey, and orange blossom, respectively) that has driven me once or twice to the shower, so I can … start over.  Usually with Santal Blanc.  Sort of as a palate-cleanser.  And then I go from there.  I’m probably killing off brain cells doing this, but I’ve still got some to spare, and the reward is worth it.

So today I’m asking: is there a group of scents you find yourself juxtaposing?  Not two or more entirely different, beloved scents that you find yourself wearing regularly (on different days) and don’t really expect to play well together.  I’m talking about some combination of scents that seem to complement each other, even if you aren’t precisely layering them, so that at the end of a week all your clothes smell like a glorious combination of all of them?  I’ll probably have to take everything I’ve been wearing to the dry cleaner in March, or just burn them; maybe the snow will have melted by then, and I’ll be ready to move on.  I’ve worn my snowboots more in the last two months than in the five years I’ve owned them.  For all I know, they smell of Lutens.  It wouldn’t surprise me.

March

The past couple of weeks have been an all-out stressfest for many of us; even though I no longer live in the DC area, I feel for everyone dealing with the aftermath of “snowpocalypse” and all the resulting annoyances that much snow is capable of producing. When my dad passed away in January 1996, his funeral took place a few days after a major storm hit the New York area. If memory serves, there was more than 2 feet of snow on the ground, and getting around was an absolute nightmare.

In the Jewish faith, we sit shiva for the loss of an immediate family member, and quite often, family members will stay together at the home of the deceased during that time.  I resolutely decided not to stay at my parents´ house during the shiva. Instead, I drove back and forth from Long Island to Brooklyn every day for a week to be with my mother and brother. The driving was part and parcel of my grieving process; I actually found the time I spent in the car to be quite cathartic, despite the horrendous weather conditions.

Unfortunately, not every drive in inclement weather carries with it a form of catharsis. I had to go to Buffalo the other day, and almost immediately after I crossed the border, I found myself in the wrong place at the wrong time. It was about 6:45 am, and there were many trucks on the road. Before I was even sure what was happening, I witnessed a piece of ice roughly the size of a king size mattress fly off the top of a tractor trailer. I saw it break apart in mid-air, and watched, seemingly in slow motion, while a large fragment of it hurtled straight at me. I can´t tell you what I was thinking, or how I was feeling, but when that fragment landed on the road, instead of on my windshield, I was so relieved that I didn´t realize I had driven over a big chunk of it. It didn´t register until I pulled up to the toll booth on the New York State Thruway, and the person inside asked me, “How big was the deer you just hit?” I immediately jumped out of the car (while still in the toll booth) and found the driver´s side portion of my front bumper almost completely demolished. It could have been worse – it could have been me.

After obtaining a $1,200.00 estimate from the auto body shop, and reluctantly filing a claim with my insurance company, I sit here typing this tale wearing Serge Lutens´ Encens et Lavande. What better time is there to “look to the cookie” than right after you manage to escape unscathed from a life or death scenario? I haven´t worn anything from my Serge collection in a really long time, except for Five O’ Clock Au Gingembre. But something made me reach for Encens et Lavande as blindly as I´ve been reaching for Chaos over the past year and a half. What is it about the combination of incense and lavender that soothes me so? I´ve practically been bathing in it to the point where I´ve relocated the bottle to my dresser so I can reach for it periodically to re-apply. Of course, the bottle remains in the box, and the box is still in its original cellophane. I absolutely cannot get enough of it.

Encens et Lavande is one of the less controversial Serge scents. In fact, it might as well be non-existent when compared to the monsters in his collection (no need for specifics; we know who they are), and most of the reviews I found online were not generally positive. What I read ran the gamut from “uninteresting” to “too masculine”, along with the inevitable comparisons to Gris Clair. I´ve never been one to care one way or another about what anyone else thinks of the fragrances I wear. If it does it for me, I wear it. And lately, the comfort and joy I´ve been getting from my existing collection has been seeing me through some major insanity. So, what could be better than that?

Mineral Madness: Thanks to everyone who responded to my mineral makeup query in my last post. Ironically, in the midst of an insomnia attack that Friday night, I tuned in to The Shopping Channel and there for my bug-eyed viewing pleasure was Pà¼r Minerals, offering their product line along with a very tempting “Today´s Showstopper”. I resisted the urge to order, but I did punch up the website, www.purminerals.com, only to find that the line is also available at select Shoppers Drug Mart stores. Suffice it to say, I proceeded to dash around to all the Shoppers Drug Marts in the area looking for Pà¼r Minerals, but had no luck finding any. Finally, out of utter frustration, I asked one of the SAs in the Beauty Boutique at one of the stores if she knew of any specific locations that carried the line. She did, and the rest is history.

I´ve always refrained from using the term “holy grail” when talking about fragrances, makeup and skin care products, but I will say that Pà¼r Minerals has hooked me completely. The foundation is the antithesis of Bare Minerals because it is pressed, but the ease of application, the coverage, and the way it feels on my skin is a vast improvement from the heavy cream cheese frosting feeling I got with BE.  I love that I don´t need to futz with any Mineral Veil or other finishing powder; I just brush it on and I´m done. Speaking of cream cheese, Pà¼r Minerals is not without its own hokey application slogan: “Dip, Draw, Dust”, as opposed to BE´s “Swirl, Tap, Buff”. Whatever. As long as it looks good…and it does.

Disclosure: The bottle of Serge Lutens Encens et Lavande is from my own collection. I purchased a Pà¼r Minerals “Start Now Essentials Collection” at Shoppers Drug Mart.

I’m having a little trouble just focusing on one perfume to talk about these days – or any – after the halcyon days of last fall when practially everything that got popped under my nose was interesting or beautiful or both.

Back to reality. Isn’t that an Eminem song?

Van Cleef & Arpels Oriens, the bottle is really beautiful. I’d like to have it as a ring.

What?  I can’t just stop there?  I mean, it’s okay, it’s a nice Fruitchili, I do like it well enough, I wouldn’t hate wearing it and would probably like it after the initial pretty patchuiti blast.  Top notes of raspberry, black currant, and praline; middle notes of jasmine and fresh-cut white flowers; and a base of patchouli.    Is it wrong to just be disapointed because of how much I loved their Collection Extraordinaire?  Probably. This is definitely a more mainstream scent, following the same tried and true paths.  But if you are a bottle trollop, get it for that.  It doesn’t have the cheese factor that some of you ( not me, I love cheese!) found with the Feerie bottle.  It sits in your hand perfectly and has some heft to it.  You won’t hate the perfume in it, but you also won’t be exclaiming about its originality or anything close to that.

On the other hand, I love Parfumerie Generale Papyrus de Ciane.  Denyse was kind enough to let me smell some of hers when I was in Paris, but I sorta glossed over it in my rapture over the new L’Artisan (nope, you can’t get a word out of me, I am sworn to secrecy).  Notes of galbanum, broom, plants, creamy wood and Mousse de Saxe. What is not to love there.  It has that yummy base that feels all Caron’ish floating in a boat of green.  It really is so lovely to wear. It’s just hard to sniff this on one hand, which feels like such a loving tribute to perfume of the past, while making it modern and Oriens on the other hand.   If you haven’t read Denyse’s interview with Pierre and stared at his mysterious, dark, super-stud image as well (we’re having image problems on the blog – no, not cosmetic surgery ones, just can’t upload anything new, which is getting frustrating), you need to go do so now (fanning self).  I love his reverence for the art of perfumery and history, and I so hope he does what he is contemplating, bringing out non-IFRA compliant perfumes only for contemplative purposes.

Source of perfumes – Lisa at TPC send me some of the PG to smell, and the Oriens is from my bottle I’ll be decanting for TPC. Do you guys need me to tell you that?  You can usually assume that, unless I specify that I got it somewhere else. It’s usually there or the free samples I get with perfume orders 99% of the time.

And I am out of space! Winners of the Kilian Red Oud samples are:  Natalie and Melissa.  Just click on the contact us on the left, remind me what I’m sending you, and give me your address. This will be a teeny sample since I only have a bit.

Patty

So, it’s late and I’m tired, but here we go.

Having blogged on a difficult, fancypants niche scent on Monday, I thought I’d blog on the opposite end of the spectrum today.

As many of you know, I was trapped in Snowmageddon, parts I and II (part III, yesterday, failed to materialize.  The kids went to school, today, sort of.  The snow is piled now five feet high on the roadside, and there’s nowhere to walk.  Friday was declared the worst commuting day in regional history in Washington, D.C., and that’s saying something.  My guess is today wasn’t too much better.  We’re missing a lane on most of our major roads.)

So our car was still snowed in, and Louise came down this past weekend, on the nearest plowed road, to pick me up for some sanity time.  She got stuck in traffic.  I’d had terrible insomnia the night before and was feeling a bit sick and sad.  I sat outside of the local market nursing a Coke and watching angry commuters honk at each other.  My mood could not have been much more fragile, although I was trying to keep my game face on.

She brought along La Via del Profumo’s Balsamo della Mecca, which is being bounced around hotly on the blogs and perfume boards right now.  I figured I’d get around to trying it eventually, but “eventually” came sooner than I thought.  (Look, I’ve created a new tag: Blame Louise).  I sprayed it on in her car before limping into Starbucks for a latte and conversation with someone other than my immediate family, about something other than some dire aspect of the blizzard.  (Did I mention our gutter fell off?  While I was out?  40 linear feet of metal in the driveway, fortunately not on anyone’s head, as that’s the route to the side door and the mudroom that we all use.  It was laden with a foot of slushy ice, and is now twisted like a dead sea serpent on the concrete.  I don’t want to think about what would have happened if it had landed on someone’s head.)  Notes are: cistus labdanum, frankincense, benzoin, agarwood, tonka bean, tobacco, Indian tuberose and Damask rose.

This is not a high-art scent, like perhaps a Serge, or a Malle, where you are thinking your way through what you are smelling.  (In the case of some Serges or Malles, perhaps your thought process is w…..t…..f….?, even if you find yourself loving it later.)

This is the olfactory equivalent of a giant, warm embrace of the incense/benzoin sort.  Don’t be alarmed by the name – it is not balsam-y in the Pine-Sol way, as you can see from the notes.

Balsamo della Mecca (or Mecca Balsam) is, according to the perfumer, inspired by a trip to Mecca.  I’ll link here so you can read all the blurbage.  At the opening it’s sweeter than I’d have expected, rather ambery, but not overwhelmingly so.  It settles quickly into a fairly uniform scent that tilts very slightly, constantly, back and forth, between warm and cool – that’s the only way I can think of to describe it, and as I see the same description on The Perfume Shrine I’m linking to Helg’s review, as she clearly knows much more about the line than I do.

I was smelling it without thought, on a messy, sad, frustrating day.  And … it’s lovely.  Lovely. I smiled and the sun broke out from behind the clouds and my heart lifted.  It feels more like an essential oil, and I don’t mean that disparagingly – it sits on the skin and then blooms and blooms and blooms.  I could not keep my nose away from my wrist.  I deliberately sprayed the sleeve of my jacket so I could enjoy it later, and I did.  Very much so.

I can’t think of the last time I smelled a fragrance cold, without much in the way of preconception, and was so enchanted.   It’s not really about the florals (rose and tuberose) at all; I can’t even pick them out.  Incense freaks: man, you need to try this.  There is nothing austere about it; it’s warm, like a golden orb.  It’s honeyed. It makes me think of burning those papiers d’Armenies, with their smoke and benzoin.  It’s rich but not cloying.  There’s nothing at all edible about it, it’s not gourmand, but it provided me with approximately the same amount of pleasure as a mouthful of a really excellent crà¨me brulee, or the rice pudding I had recently at an Indian restaurant.  It has a fullness to it. It’s smoke and amber, tobacco and the dry/sweet joy of frankincense.  (Oud lovers – it’s really subtle here, I wouldn’t buy this scent for that note.)  I, who have a ton of incense scents, can’t say that this reminds me of anything at all other than why I think incense scents are so fabulous.

PS Looks like Trish is giving away a bottle on Scent Hive — here’s a link to her review, she liked it too.  (nope, they didn’t offer me a giveaway bottle for the Posse, sorry folks!)

You can get a 16ml bottle for 34 Euros, and that seems more than fair to me.  I’m ordering it.

March

Keep this vintage body running is expensive – it is a needy, cranky model that sputters, chokes and whines without the proper fuel and cleaning.

After that deluge of shopping indiscretions that came out last week, it gave me pause about my spending habits, which on big purchases are really pretty restrained.

What’s become the large budget item for me is just routine vintage body upkeep, which I’d never bothered to add up and get a total for before.  I  could fill my closets with Birkins in the course of the year if I’d just let Mother Nature have her bitchy way with me.

Do you remember reading some of those divorce settlement requests of the stars where women requested a few thousand a month for personal upkeep alone?  Yeah, I laughed too.  This is y’all’s chance to laugh at me. Those who are in a similar boat can commiserate.  Remember, this is quarterly, not  monthly.

• Pedicure & manicure x 6 – $300
• Hair coloring (this varies on whether I’m cheating on my usual expensive stylist with an even more expensive one) – $250
• Haircut between coloring – $50
• Yoga monthly membership x3 – $360
• Tanning monthly membership x3 (hey, don’t judge) – $240
• Laser on face to keep peaches ‘n cream complexion or just avoid looking as haggy as I could – $500
• Filler 1-2x per year, so in half – $300
• Cosmetics that are essential – does not include new shades of lipsticks, eyeshadow, mascara, nail polish, just refills on mascara, foundation, etc – $300.
• If I Included new shades of everything – $600+ depending on whether I liked the new collections
• Pilates – 4-6 sessions a month at $20 per – $260
• Acupuncture to keep stuff working  2x a month – $440
• Rolfing 1x a month just to keep shit in line  – $300
• Waxing 1x a month – $390
• Massage to work out kinks from working out – $200
• increase in monthly food bill to have organic food so I don’t introduce more toxins into system that lived through, but barely remembers, the ’70s and ’80s – $400
• Lotions – this is Colorado, the parched skin capital of the world, so I can go through several of these a month for lips, hands, body, etc – $100
• Perfume – no, let’s don’t, I can’t even face that.  But just refills of fragrances that I wear personally and replace is 100-200 a month as an average. So I have a few’ish bottles that I wear personally and I have to average over 20 years.

What did I miss? So far, I’m at 5k plus every three months.  I’m stunned, shocked and quite a bit chagrined.  So is this just me?  Or is it normal for women over 40 or 50?  I’m not willing to give up any of it.  The good news is, with all of this upkeep, I have zero medical problems, so spend almost nothing on medicine or doctors.

Perversely, I feel a lot better about buying those bags now.  Paying to get rid of bags and paying to get them.  A puzzle.  Do we want to go back to talking about sperm now?

Patty