Hello darlings!  You’re stuck with ol’ Musette again, as Mistress March wings her way to GayP.  I promise she’ll be back soon.  I promise.

Spring, where is thy sting?  I was going to complain about still  being caught in winter, then I realized this IS Spring.  Last week it was  cold, then rainy and warm, then sunny and hot (60F!  Alert the media!), now it’s back to blustery/chilly/sunny/cloudy/ohlook!there’s a robin!/snow-showery??  not a flower in sight/crap! it’s hot!/I’m freeeezing!! – in short, Spring in the Midwest.

This weird transitional time  challenges my perfume choices.  The beautiful Diorissimo is just too fragile for these mercurial days – in the time it’s taken me to type that sentence the sun has come and gone at least 5 times  and my go-to aldehydes are shivering in their boxes.  Big Floral goes all Suzanne Sugarbaker in this .  Funny how this wet, muddy cold wreaks more havoc than icy temps.

For me, this time calls for dirt.  Wet dirt.  And violets and the sharp edge of mint.  The wet dirt is obvious -  every single square inch from here to Nebraska is a sucking maw of mud but the goats are dropping their kids and I’m seeing chickens dropping eggs in the neighbor’s yard.  I pay homage to it with Liz Zorn’s Violets and Rainwater (like you all weren’t expecting that) – I likened it to finding an overturned pot of violets and daffodils on wet, windy Lexington Avenue but it works just as well in a muddy  field.  What you guys aren’t expecting from my anosmic self  is another smash hit for this transitional weather:  Le Labo Iris 39.  Ha!  Gotcha!  This is not only one of the only irises I can smell, it’s one of the only irises I actually ‘get’  – and definitely the ONLY iris I love.  And I love this stuff because it doesn’t actually smell like orris to me (not that I would know all that much since I usually can’t smell it).  I get ‘wet, muddy, windy Spring’ – dirt and violets and crocuses and a touch of wet leather – my bike jacket smells like this when I get caught in the rain.  Is that orris?  I wouldn’t know.  But it smells yum, pulling off the insane trick of smelling both complex and uncomplicated.

Mint is one of those herbs that always signifies early Spring to me -nevermind that I won’t actually get any blooming mint until  late June – but this is the time for hot, honeyed-mint tea, after taking the boys for a brisk walk  up Bullycow Hill to see the calves.  Too late in the season for hot chocolate, too early for lemonade, mint tea is the perfect seasonal bridge – and my beloved Charmes et Feuilles (The Different Company) is the epitome of a blustery Spring day. This one is green but not the warm green of Vent Vert.  Charmes et Feuilles is a tinkling sterling silver windchime in a mossy, rain-swept  knot-garden.  I’m trying not to wear a hole in my split (wait, that sounds..uh..) but I think I will just Shut Up and get the big ol’ silvery green bottle one of these days.  Oooh!  I almost forgot Geranium Pour Monsieur! I love so many of the Malles but this one has a special place in my heart.  It’s minty, which I love, without smelling like and the hint of scented geranium leaf is, like the leaves themselves, elusive.  I need to give this one a lot more love – it’s very deserving.

I’m hoping we’ll have this weather for awhile.  It’s a novel departure from our typical zero to 70F.   The bluebells and lilacs might stand a chance and I can play with these transitional scents a little while longer.

What’s up in your perfume and weather neck of the woods?

source:  all my stuff

We’re late this morning! The blog was down last night, and I had to go to bed, so I’m typing away furiously this morning, but will give you a teaser below on what I’m going to very quickly talk about.  Pardon typos, I’ve got one pass through to proof this before I have to be out the door this morning.

My apologies in advance this week.  March is off having fun, I’m running long meetings all week that require my attendance and serious attention, so commenting will be at low tide, and I hate it when my days turn into that because it truly is the commenting back and forth and sense of community around this blog that has all the joy for me.  I hope you guys know that. If not, I’m telling you.  Whenever I can’t comment because I’m tied up at work, I’m hoping y’all will just keep talking to each other because I read all of them and smile and wish I had more time that day to come and play with you.

Yum on Byredo La Tulipe.  The nice person at Barney’s sent me a sample of this – after I ordered a bottle unsniffed.   From the PR – “Notes of rhubarb, cyclamen and freesia and a heart note of tulip. Green base notes of blond woods and vetyver.”

Not that much rhubarb on the open, which is a shame, I love rhubarb, but it wouldn’t have been appropriate for this scent. The freesia is tamped down on the sweet, which is normallly the thing I hate most about freesia, it’s just too much. Not sure how they got the freesia in there without OD’ing on it. Someone has a light hand here. Anyone know the perfumer?

What puzzled me most is how they were going to do tulip. Tulips don’t have much of a smell. They fall more in the “iris in a bunch” category.  You put a lot of them together, and it is a distinct smell. And lovely. And springy.  And who can figure out how to capture that?  Nobody’s managed yet to get the Iris flower bunched together in a perfume, just the root.

Nicely done, Byredo.  They got it. It’s light, it has that vaguely plasticky earthy note a tulip has.  It’s been blizzard after blizzard here in Denver all through March.  We get three days of 70 degrees – hope for spring blooms! – and then a foot of snow.  This is normal March, complete with the up and down hopefulness that soon the snow will stop, the beautiful weather will hold, and spring will be here.  So every year, it is the tulips and the daphne and cylamen and hyacinths that make me smile because they know, better than I do, that spring will arrive.

All of the spring is in a bottle of  La Tulipe. It is light and effervescent, slightly earthy. My only complaint is that it’s not a long-laster, but it does seem to have some waft to it.  I’m doing clothes spraying now to see if it will hold there, and I think it will.  Unfortunately, because my sample showed up in yesterday’s mail and I only got to sample it for a couple of hours last night then this morning, I can’t tell you what the lasting power or waft is on it. But you know what? I don’t care. I’ll spritz this 40 times a day if necessary.  I don’t know if any of you will like it or if you’ll find it too light, too ephemeral to spend $195 for 100 mls. For me, it is spring, and I need that right now, and that makes it perfect.

Good thing I liked my unsniffed bottle that hasn’t even arrived yet.

Speaking of spring, I posted a picture of my new hair on Facebook.  I got tired of being blond, so I went to an apricot interspersed with copper hair, which is pretty close to my hair in high school.  I’m not sure how long I’ll keep it, but I forgot how darker hair makes my eyes pop out.  For those of you that do red, ideas?  Suggestions?  Dos and don’ts?  I’ve done red before, and it’s a ton of upkeep, but I think we’ve got a good mix of coloring in it that will make it not quite as time intensive.

And champage.  Spring (okay, not JUST spring) turns me to champagne.  I just ordered in some of my favorites because it was back in stock – the Launois (if you haven’t had it, don’t ask questions, just get some, you won’t regret it), and a Marguet Pere rose.  I also love Tarlant and Billecart Salmon, but tend to buy fewer of those because they run at the high end of my price tag or out of my price range.

Any other suggestions for champagnes I really need to try?  Don’t get too crazy on the price. I don’t do uber-expensive champagne. Weirdly enough, it just bugs me to drink $200+ worth of stuff. I’ll go up to $60 a bottle for something really good, but like to stay in the sweet zone of $20-40 a bottle most of the time.  I found a couple of less expensive champagnes that are perfection. I was going to tell you the name, but it appears I swigged those down first and need to go find them on the K&L Wines website since I can’t get the name from the bottle.  Ariston Aspasie Brut champagne. $24.99 a bottle, great stuff, everyday champagne in my house.  They also have a brut Rose which is amazing for $32.99.

So that’s my favorite champagnes. What are yours?  I didn’t have time to do the drawing for the Voyage d’Hermes from last week, but I’ll get that on Thursday, along with a drawing for 3 samples of La Tulipe!  My bottle should be here this week, I’ve about consumed this sample already, threw it in a spray and have been happily spritzing all morning.  Poor people in my meetings today might ask me to sit at the far end of the table.

Patty

I’m off to Paris on Tuesday, but I wanted to do one more post before I left, on and cologne-ish scents.

Several separate ideas came together and prompted this.  First off, there was Mr. Lutens’ declaration that he hates cologne, coupled with the release of his new Eau (which I still haven’t tried.)   Second is my general, inevitable browse in Sephora and Nordstrom, in which I am reminded once again that people who don’t want their perfumes to smell like fruitchouli, cupcakes or laundry detergent want them to smell like, essentially, nothing.  Very light.  Very fleeting.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that.  I have some musks that are fairly light, some favorite skin scents.  I also have some colognes I like.  I find them cheerful, and (winter or summer) there are certain days that nothing else will do.

So join me – let’s make a list, with room for debate, of our favorite colognes.  I am going to create some rules guidelines (there are no rules on the Posse) which I’ll probably violate as well.   For the purposes of this post, let us define “cologne” as that light, refreshing, sorta-citrusy, kinda-herbal-y stuff that comes in bottles large and small, tends to be rather short-lived, and is exemplified on the cheap end by 4711 Kolnisch Wasser – which must surely be one of the “original” colognes, if not the original (this wiki article gives some interesting historical info)  - and on the expensive end by, say, the Chanel Les Exclusifs cologne.  You know the deal: bergamot, petitgrain, citrus, neroli, herbs ‘n spices….

So:  the eau de cologne strength of, say, Bal a Versailles (which smells intensely animalic, thanks for asking!) does NOT qualify as a “cologne” for the purposes of today’s discussion.  There are huge gray areas we can argue over: like, does it have to be technically a cologne (as opposed to an EdT)?  If it has oakmoss in the base, is it disqualified?  What should we categorize as a “cologne” if we’re not going to be hung up on technicalities but are instead aiming for the refreshing cologne effect?  Dior Eau Noire, in my book, is too interesting/weird/long-lasting to qualify, although as a fragrance it’s fabulous, I love that immortelle. We might leave out the ones that are a wee bit too redolent of armpit/civet (Guerlain Mouchoir de Monsieur.)  And I adore Annick Goutal’s weird/fabulous and rather hard to find Eau de Monsieur, but between the immortelle and the oakmoss, I’m not sure I can endorse it as a nice, refreshing summer scent.

I keep a huge bottle of 4711 in the fridge most summers to splash on in the heat.  Our Greek barber has it on his counter; I love it.  I’m sure for some of you, 4711 must be like eating a Tastykake cupcake when you might just as well be having some tarte tatin (or some Guerlain Cologne du 68, which I would really like to own).  I’d like to include Dior’s Escale a Portofino, which to me smells like a citrusy cologne with an interesting nutty twist, but that musk lasts forever (and it’s also an EDT)… so perhaps not?  Do we include Dior Eau Fraiche?  Malle Bigarade?  Annick Goutal Hadrien?  Jean Nate?  The Mugler cologne?  You tell me.  Where do you think we should draw the line?  There are lots of “splashes” that are quite light but don’t smell anything like traditional cologne (examples: most of the Marc Jacobs splashes).  Do those count?  Finally, do you have a favorite cologne?  What is it?

PS I bought an old bottle of Chloe EDT for about 2 cents on eBay – seller says it’s her bottle dating from roughly 1980 and kept in a closet.  The top’s degraded a little, but I got more of the aldehydes that I remember, and really – that drydown, in all its retro-70s glory, makes me smile.  I refreshed a couple of my mother-in-law’s items.  The ghost of Chloe lives on.

March

(Okay, peeps — for the next couple of weeks we may be messing with the usual posting order.   Today is Musette.)

I got a visit from the Life Police a little while ago.  They gave me a ticket!!! and told me to shut down my Pity Party, it was going on too long, it was too loud and the neighbors were starting to complain.  I was indignant!  I loved hosting that party!  But a warning ticket from the Life Police ain’t no joke so I decided to comply.  But where to start?

Well, insides are harder than outsides so I started with the outside.   OMG! 2 sizes bigger? when did THAT happen?!?   My haiiiiiir! !!!!  what’s with the nails – are you reroofing the Vatican with your bare hands?  2 SIZES BIGGER?  WTH?   WHY ARE YOU IN SWEATS?  YOU ARE NOT AT THE GYM! HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN IN SWEATS???

Okay You (well, ‘me’) -  First Thing:  get your lard-butt up and get to the gym, every day.  I live in the smallest town in the Universe.  We are blessed with a little gym 2 blocks from my house (everything is two blocks from my house).  Nobody’s there and they have HGTV and What Not to Wear.  No excuses!  Then my existential walk through our hilly cemetery every day (get healthy!/ why bother?)…  2 blocks from my house.  No excuses.

Man.  This is hard.  I’m so used to sitting on my lard-butt, eating a brownie and bemoaning my fate.  But I’m slogging through it.

…and slowwwwly…the poundages are slippering off.  And hey!  Nails?  They’re actually ‘done’.  And the hair – well, I’ve still got to go to a Big City for that (some things just …well, you know - it’s my hair!).

And while I’m in this improvement mode I’m noticing that my perfume choices have changed – are being assigned certain values.  Perhaps I’m every bit as insane as y’all think I am but I swear there are perfumes that make me smell fat! And some that sort of help on the thinnin’ side of things.  This came to me whilst reading Shelley’s blog post on comfort scents, where she broke things down by variations on comfort (snuggly/armored/etc) – so while I was working the elliptical I compiled my Thick/Thin lists.  This is in relation to myself alone – these scents do not conjure up any size imagery when worn by others so don’t get all bitey with me, okay? As they say, YMMV.

The List (for now)

I feel thinner already (at the gym):

Bel Respiro

No 19 edt, screaming at me to WORK IT!

Cemetery daytime

Mitsouko

Cemetery nighttime

I don’t think so.   that’s when the zombies come out!

I feel a cupcake coming on!

Fracas

Lys Mediteranee

Whoa!  my bra size is WHAT?

Femme

C-cup, bay-bee!  C-cup!

vintage Femme

3am. I’m fat! Panic attack.

Going for a walk, just me and the coyotes.  Take a stick and:

Jacomo Silences

L’eau Imperiale (Guerlain)

Y’know, I’m looking pretty good!:

Doblis

vintage Diorling

I give up – I’m a mess

Ines de la Fressange (leaf bottle)

L’eau d’Hiver

Oh, shut up.  I’m doing fine!

TdC Charmes et Feuilles

Size 10 = a trip to Paris

Cartier Brillante

it will be interesting to see where these fall, once I reach my size goal, but for now they are defining my highs and lows as I struggle through this.  Do you all have particular scents that represent certain aspects of your life struggles? (weight is not the criterion here)  Would love to hear about them.  I’ll holla back when I get home from the cemetery – gotta beat the zombies!

There are many moments in a Perfumista’s life that are fraught with peril.  I had three of them in one day.  A couple of glasses of champagne are helping now.

The vintage Mitsouko parfum arrived, and it was perfect and pristine, and I sniffed the stopper, and I smelled  – nothing.  OHNOES!  Factice?  Gently clip the tie for the seal, try to turn Baccarat stopper. Frozen stiff.  Take deep breath for surgical stopper removal and feeling grateful I did not start drinking early today, despite the foot of snow that came overnight.  Bathroom faucet turned to hot, gently place neck of bottle under it for 30 seconds, make sure I’m not cavalierly holding bottle when I turn it again. Ah, it turns.  But does it smell?

ohmygodyesitdoesanditsthebestsmellingmitsoukoiveeverencountered.

Dab some on to make sure  top through bottom notes are in good shape.  Swoon some more. Walk huge honking bottle back to safe place.  Whew!

Open box that has a small bottle of Joy parfum in it and unknown size bottle of 1000 parfum in it.  Open box to very strong Patou smell.  Well, yeah, they always leak, those Patou parfum bottles – not sure why, but never had one show up without smelling it before I open the box. Seller sure had a weird way to wrap this, and – crap! – paper around one bottle is very brown.  Very bad.  Pull it out and squeal when I realize it hadn’t leaked much, until, of course, the stopper came out in my hand and I spilled more all over my hands.  Slippery little thing, caught it before I dumped more of it, didn’t lose much.  Then pull out bottle of 1000 parfum, which feels… well, large!  And IT IS!!!!  Big honking bottle of 1000 parfum for ridiculously low price because seller did not state the size.

So far, a couple of near misses that turned out excellent. A great day.

Open new Hermes from Jean-Claude Ellena, Voyage d’Hermes. Will this finallly be the Ellena where he re-creates the smell of air?  I know it’s going to happen, I don’t know when, and I don’t want my crushing on J-CE to be over yet.  No list of notes that I can find, just the cryptic “musky woods” as the description, along with a lot of stuff about taking a journey.

Spray.  There are notes, it is not air, I am saved!!!  Most of the reviews and descriptions of this are similar to each other and the way I experienced it, so it seems to not be veering all over the place on how people smell it. Citrusy and a little tart on the open, green, a shot of skank as that clears, very brief, like a flash of bloomers (or less), but an interesting follow-up to the open, before it lands, for me, in a little bit vegetal Terre d’Hermes place, but not exactly there, with the tartness sorta swirling around.  It is, like most of the J-CE’s of the past few years, fairly transparent. There’s no heaviness that weighs it down, it has a nice float to it. It is so easy to wear and has that beautiful waftiness that so many of his scents have that are difficult to smell when you put your nose to your skin, but surround you in a lovely cloud of scent.

The bottle is gorgeous, and it is refillable.  The 100 ml refillable bottle is going for $145, they will have a 125 ml refill bottle for who knows what price, I think it’s usually $125(?), but my boutique didn’t have those as of yet.  Of course they tossed in a sample for me!  So I’ve got one carded sample to give away, plus a couple of other noncarded samples I’ll make up for three commenters total.

So what has been the most perilous moment in your perfuming adventures?

Patty