The worst days for me in writing are when no sample, perfume, idea, season jumps out at me and seems to want to be written about – there’s just this great big empty space where my brain used to be. I uncap and sniff sample after sample, wanting one of them to speak to me – good, bad, anything but indifferent.  And they are all silent.

Panic set in after I’d gone through about 20-30 samples, mostly new stuff, and I was resigning myself to writing about plants or sewing or sex.  BTW, I did just order a tuberose bulb so I can have the smell of tuberose around my house.  It joins my champacca, gardenia and jasmine plant.

Then I spied the new Soivohle samples. Surely something in there would leap out at me.  Pink Praline sounds like a sticky mess, though I was pretty sure it wouldn’t be Liz’s somewhat more refined rendition of Pink Sugar.  Notes of pink grapefruit, cocoa, maple, dark roasted coffee, spices, cinnamon, honey, fenugreek, vanilla.

Citrusy, almost tart chocolate on the open, which is a little weird, but then the coffee really takes it in another direction.  It’s gourmand, but not GOURMAND.  Spicy coffee chocolate, which just a touch of sweetness from the vanilla and maple.  I love Bond’s New Haarlem for coffee fragrance for many years, but I prefer the Pink Praline much more – it’s not as agressive, I don’t feel like Starbucks and Tastee Cakes were making out on my arm. It’s subtler and more interesting.  And it’s definitely a gourmand you can wear in the summer, it’s not heavy, it has almost a coolness to it.  Basially a tasteful New Haarlem.

What perfume’s name threw you when you actuallly smelled the perfume the most?

Patty

Hello, darlings – it’s me again.  Daphne.  I’m terribly sorry to report that March is out faffing about in an undisclosed location, where she’s being forced to consume a variety of bourbons (for educational purposes, poppets).  Also, I’m … well, I’m a bit shocked by this, but I saw her eat fried chicken, Maryland crab cakes and steamed, spiced shrimp for dinner.  In a single meal.  I did tell her that  Posh er, Victoria and I will have to stage an intervention, because she’ll never fit into size 00s if she keeps on like that!   Her mouth was too full of Parker House roll for me to understand her response, but I think she told me to get stuffed.

She’s now passed out on the sofa, so I’ve had to step in.  Let’s have a giveaway, shall we?  Try to make things right?  Today we’re giving away a 1.7oz bottle of Chanel Chance Eau Tendre, absolutely free, to one lucky commenter!*  Winner will be drawn using random.org.   Also, and my sincerest apologies for this, but the winner must be a resident of the United States. Given recent security alerts, overseas mailing of contraband perfume from the D.C. area is a pain. Winner (Carter) has been selected and announced, contest is closed. Thanks to everyone who commented.

With any luck, March will put down the drumstick, wipe the Old Bay seasoning off her greasy fingers and pull herself together by Wednesday. We can all hope.  Until then – as March would say, smell good but don’t be good.  Cheers.

* The fine print — March will contact you through your email address, which you type in before you comment.  If  your address is incorrect, if you fail to respond within a week, or if the package gets lost in the mail — there will be no additional/alternate compensation.

March

When I did the nude makeup post, Carter made a suggestion for a particular look (I think it was a combo of an eyeshadow, eyeliner and lipstick?) that sounded lovely.  I said I’d like to do a post where people could submit their favorite makeup looks, and … here it is.  You’re invited to submit in comments one of your favorite “looks” – whether it’s built around a particular feature, like a smoky eye, or highlights a much-beloved product is up to you.

For the purposes of commenting, we’ll assume the basic prep (e.g., sunscreen, foundation) has been done, unless you want to pimp a particular foundation or tinted moisturizer – in which case, go right ahead!  This is the time of year when lots of folks — including our male readers — are looking for sunscreen suggestions.

Also please add information about your skin tone/eye coloring etc., if you think it would be relevant to readers.

Have fun!  I won’t be replying to comments, but I’ll be reading them, looking for ideas …

* * *

Okay, here’s mine:  March’s Five-Minute, Ten-Hour face, built around my new toy – the nude lip.   I’m pale with hazel eyes.

On eyelids: Bobbi Brown cream shadow in Slate (a matte greige), applied with a brush.  It hides my pinkish lids and makes my eyes stand out, but it’s still neutral and subtle.

Bobbi Brown gel eyeliner in Black Plum (my BB gels do not budge) and/or, if I’m feeling the heightened drama, more penciling at the lashline with MAC Powerpoint pencil in Permaplum.

Mascara: Blinc (a tubular mascara that does not flake or irritate my eyes)

Cheeks:  MAC Strada, the perfect neutral cheek powder, with a very light touch of pink on the apples, not too far forward (NARS Penny Lane cream or Sephora Rose Rebelle 1 matte powder.)

Nude lip:  NARS Chelsea Girls (lip lacquer) – OR — Shu Uemura lipstick in 318M (“matte neutral pink, warm undertone”) which is as nude and matte as I can go while avoiding the brown-lips-of-death look (note the WARM undertone.  No beige here!)  If the Shu’s too extreme you can gloss it.  They have some great nudie colors and I think the clear tube is fun, link to their lipstick here.

A pinky-sized dab of MAC Shroom, a very pale moonlight shimmer, on the inner eyes next to the tear ducts, and above my lips on my cupid’s bow.

March

Honestly, I´ve never even considered another Givenchy fragrance, save for March´s and my obsession with that “sexy cupcake”, Organza Indecence.

Apparently, all it takes is one rather pushy (yet very sweet) SA at the Bay, and all of a sudden, I´m head over heels for not one, but three more Givenchy scents: Ange au Démon Le Secret, Very Irrésistible Rose Centifolia (from the 2009 Harvest Collection) and their newest, Eaudemoiselle, for which I am about 20 years past the target demographic. But, as I always say, when has that ever stopped me?

Givenchy fragrances have a huge presence here in Canada. What I am slowly discovering, now that I live here permanently, is how different Canadians really are from Americans. For one thing, there are many “Britishisms” alive and well and scattered all over the landscape. You can buy greeting cards for “Mum”, the Queen´s picture is on all the money, and, you can get some pretty decent fish and chips if you know where to look. I wouldn´t go so far as to say Canada is a total doppelgà¤nger of the UK, but hey, we still are a Commonwealth nation, and we´ve been under minority government rule for the past 6 years (waves to Lee). There are some American traits sneaking up on us here: surly transit workers, Victoria´s Secret stores opening in all the malls, litter, me being able to drop the occasional F-bomb without my aunt turning white as a bed sheet…

What does all this have to do with Givenchy? I don´t have a clue. What I´m trying to articulate is that yeah, things are different here. One country´s Givenchy is another´s Ralph Lauren.  Givenchy fragrances preside over some major real estate in the fragrance department at The Bay, and lo and behold, some of them are actually quite good. Again, I´m not talking about the classics here, but the ones I´ve mentioned are lovely for the spring/summer seasons and their price tags won´t clean out your bank account. Most of them hover in the $85-$100 range; it´s money better spent than $60 for SJP NYC. As far as I know, Bonne Bell Strawberry Lip Smackers can still be had at Wal Mart for about $2.

So, here´s a rundown of my Top 3:

Ange au Démon Le Secret:  Cranberry, green tea, crystalline jasmine, blond wood.  Tart, light, refreshing, and actually has some staying power.

Very Irrésistible Rose Centifolia: Moroccan centifolia rose, a bunch of other roses, patchouli. First of all, the patchouli is very mild. Second, the SA told me there´s some orange blossom in this scent, as there is in the other 2009 Harvest scents. It´s very apparent to me, and it adds a wonderful airiness to the blend. I don´t normally go for rose, but I find the older I get, the more I´m starting to like it.

Eaudemoiselle: Winter lemon, rose, ylang, musk, ambrette seeds. I believe March told me this was the top seller at Sephora in Paris. As I said, it´s targeted toward the sophisticated twenty-something, not old farts like me. Again, no biggie; if I like it, I wear it. End of story.

Do you have a favourite Givenchy? If so, tell me about it.

Disclosure:  Samples of all the scents were obtained at The Bay.

A very dear friend’s daughter is getting married this Saturday in New Orleans, and all she wanted was for me to help her find a perfume to wear for her wedding.

One bottle of champagne and several cupcakes later, she picked five.  Megan is 27, and I knew her tastes ran more to the gourmands, she wears Angel most of the time, and she doesnt’ like “old lady” perfumes – don’t hit me, this is just young people shorthand – that contain a lot of violet and iris or are powdery.  I kept all my vintage stuff tucked away and focused, obviously, on the modern perfumes, once given that information.

She smelled probably 60 perfumes, narrowing as we went to what she liked more, which helped me keep refining what I brought out for her. This was so fun for me, and it took like 3-4 hours. Every comment about what she smelled gave me more information on what else to bring out.

What did she pick?

Her wedding day perfume – Tan Giudicelli Annam.  No danger here of having any other bride or person in New Orleans smell like you since this has been discontinued for a few years and about as rare as perfumes get.  Rice, milk, comfort, it’s distinct and lasts forever  It fits her like a glove.

Perfumes for the other days around her wedding -  not sure what she will wear when, but this Catholic New Orleans  wedding, complete with brass band second line, carriages and St. Louis Cathedral goes on for 3-4 days, so she needs plenty – are:

Le Labo Musc 25 – she hates musk, but loved that this had all the elements of musk that she did like, but didn’t have that oily, sticky feeling to it.

Van Cleef & Arpels Gardenia Petale – completely perfect for a southern wedding, big white flowers in a modern setting.

Byredo La Tulipe – of course!  This was like the second or third perfume I brought out for her, and she hugged this one and the Annam close by through all the hours of sniffing, and I knew they were going to make the end cut. Annam barely edged out the Tulipe, but she just wanted something a little more distinctive to remember her wedding by, which the Annam has.

Linari Angelo Di Fiume – Linaris never took off, and I don’t know why, maybe not wide enough distribution? this is gourmandy and sweet, but has a nice sophistication to it.

Top five picks for wedding perfumes for you? Or what did you wear on your wedding day?

Patty