Blame March! (Nava)

I just added a category named “Blame March”. I decided we needed one; this is all her fault.

I’d been jonesing a sniff of DKNY Pure, and March beat me to it. So, I took it upon myself to locate some, and the verdict is…BAD. Sorry March, I know you were sure I was going to like this one, but uh, no. Funeral arrangement dipped in bad vanilla. I’d almost expect something like that to come out of a bottle of Febreze, not from the woman who puts her name on two of my all-time faves: Chaos and Cashmere Mist. I was blown back on my kiester, gobsmacked, horrified; dare I say it: nauseated.

In the hunt for greener pastures, I stumbled upon, of all things, Thierry Mugler Womanity, newly ensconced at The Bay, and damned if I didn’t have the exact opposite reaction to it. You all know I am one of the staunchest haters of Angel walking the Earth, but this…this has fig in it! And salt, er, caviar! God help me, I like it, and I’m not ashamed to admit it.

Before I sat down to pen this essay, I went back and read what Robin had to say from this past May, and Pattys take from last month. Both ladies were begrudgingly positive in their opinions, but I just flat-out fell in love with the stuff. I didn’t get the sharp, overwhelming citrus that Robin did, nor did I find it overwhelmingly sweet like Patty.  I spritzed a bit on my skin, and was pleasantly surprised at how gloriously figgy it was right off the bat, with a nice bit of salt lurking in the background, courtesy of the caviar, I’m guessing, and a faint tropical vibe; almost like the woodsy/coconutty/limey-ness  of Creed’s Virgin Island Water. The bottle is every bit as creepy in person as it is in all the adverts. I don’t know what to make of those faces. The cap is actually a ring attached to a chain that snaps over the atomizer. Interesting, but nothing all that innovative.

I would classify Womanity as “kitschy” in the same vein as Virgin Island Water.  I don’t see how anyone could classify it as “sexy”, “womanly” or “seductive”. Then again, I don’t see how anyone can stand to be in the same room with a person doused in Angel. Granted, Womanity is patchouli-free, and much easier to wear than Angel. I know many would beg to differ with that, especially if you’re able to withstand the oppressiveness of summer with Angel as your armour. For that you have my enduring respect and admiration. I’m still on an all-Tylenol diet, but things are slowly improving. I’ve actually found some relief in the oddest of places: a jar of Physician’s Formula Organic Wear eye makeup remover pads. They were $19 for three jars of 60 pads at Costco, and I took a shot. They’re not all that thrilling in terms of mascara removal, but they do have the most heavenly lavender scent. So, there you have it: Womanity and lavender scented eye-makeup remover pads. I think I might need to investigate that surgery for a deviated septum.

Random Friday Musing: Has anyone tried Steam Cream yet? If you can get your hands on some, I can’t suggest it strongly enough. It’s been at BeautyHabit for a while now, and for all you MD/DC/VA girls, a store named The British Bazaar in Reston VA purportedly stocks it. It is such a wonderful, fluffy, natural all-purpose cream, and it’s packaged in the cutest metal tins. I’ve been using it on my face and hands at bed time, and the floral/herbal scent is also wonderfully soothing. Now if I can only get Womanity out of my mind… By the way, Steam Cream is only about $18 for a 2.6 oz. tin. Can’t beat that with a stick, can you?

Disclosure: Thierry Mugler Womanity was sampled at The Bay. DKNY Pure was sampled at Murale.

  • Fragrant Witch says:

    Steam cream is fabulous! I didn’t realise it was now available in the US. I am in the UK and I have been sending pots to girlfriends back home. The tins are adorable and so handy for travel, plus my daughters like them when they are empty to use to play with. At not quite 4 and 18 mos. they are still to young to be pinching my cosmetics/ perfumes but I am sure that day is just around the corner. That said, they both love looking at and sniffing all my fragrances… I am setting them up for expensive tastes I fear. My husband has no idea what lies ahead!!

  • Sara A. says:

    That bottle is seriously freaky. It looks like some sort of artifact of ultimate evil power in a video game.

    That being said I don’t think Thierry Mugler is for me. When I was looking for wedding perfume the lady tried to sell me on Alien and Angel and I can’t say they smelled good or desirable on me. Most recent perfumes smell too sweet and girlish on me. The one recent release I can wear is Pure White Linen and that kind of smells like celery after a few hours.

  • Tiara says:

    ‘Bout time there was a category for “Blame March”. Have been led down the rabbit hole many times by her (and you, and Patty and…)!

  • karin says:

    I bought the small promotional bottle of Womanity unsniffed, and can’t say I hate it. But it’s not as distinctive to me as Angel was. It’s definitely a strange scent, though. Hard to classify. Wouldn’t call it a floral or oriental or chypre, etc. What would it be? Just looked it up on Michael Edward’s site. He calls it Woods – Crisp – Citrus Fruity. Hmmm…

    • Nava says:

      It definitely leans more towards the gourmand for me, but in a much less harassing way than Angel.

  • maggiecat says:

    Perfumistas need working noses! My best wishes to all of you – I have much milder sinus-/allergy issues but enough to truly empathize. Take care, all of you!

  • Meliscents says:

    Guess I’ll have to try Womanity. The bottle is “interesting”. For some reason it reminds me of a prop in an Alien/Predator movie. I don’t know why. The sweetness concerns me. That’s the biggest problem with new releases for me is the killer sweet dry down. SCARY! Especially in the horrid heat.

    And I’m STILL recovering from the surgery on my septum & sinuses I had on the 6th. They took the splints out on the 13th & it was… UNPLEASANT! To say the least. Now I’m just stuffy and still seeing gross things leaving my nose. But not near as bad as it was. And my nose is still tender to the touch. I have really high hopes that after the swelling is gone & I’m all healed up that I’ll be able to tell a difference. I’m keeping my fingers crossed. I’ve battled with sinus problems for as long as I can remember and I’m WAY over it.

    • Musette says:

      OOh! Please keep us posted. I have wanted/needed that surgery for 54 years. You know it’s bad when the ENT looks up there and says ‘whoa!!’ :o

      xo >-)

      • Meliscents says:

        Yea, that’s what the Doc said to me! He said it was a wonder I could breathe. The best part is that in the 80’s I had a “nose job” & that doctor didn’t bother to fix my septum while he was up there!:-?

        • Nava says:

          Yikes! I sure hope it works out for you. My sinus issues have become steadily worse over the past 10 or so years, usually in high humidity. I have a feeling I’m going to have to do something about it one of these days, like it or not.

  • Erin T says:

    Just a note that Murale, that new Shopper’s Drug Market spinoff, carries the Steam Cream. I got mine recently in Calgary, of all places. There’s a Murale in Toronto – I think it’s up at Yorkdale.

    • Nava says:

      The Murale in Toronto is at The Shops at Don Mills. They have Steam Cream there. It’s $19.00 and they have about 5-6 different tins.

  • Bunny says:

    Last Friday I tried the Womanity at the Bay… so many ads in the Queen St. store, ACK! I thought the top was nice. I just got fig with a bit of saltiness, after a while it seemed oppressively sweet but that might have been my exhaustion and the brutal heat LOL so I’ll try it again when it’s cooler. Weren’t they supposed to be selling a 10ml bottle of this one?

    • Nava says:

      I think Robin’s review on NST said the 10 ml bottle is supposed to be exclusive to Sephora at the beginning. You should definitely check it out again now, since it’s not as oppressively humid like last week.

  • March says:

    Hah. Another FAIL on the Pure. And I still have not tried the Womanity, but I *want* to like it. Fig + caviar sounds great, IMO. Robin’s review tempered my enthusiasm (Womanity doesn’t sound strange enough) and then the too-sweet thing. Still, though, I want to try it. How did you end up feeling about the bottle in person? It looks so awful in photos.

    • Nava says:

      The bottle isn’t all that impressive, but it is refillable like the Angel and Alien bottles, so at least if you love the stuff, you won’t wind up having to keep buying them.

      Personally, I don’t find it all that sweet. Could be I’ve damaged my nose from my B&BW phase from a few months ago. But it is some salty fig, and I do like it.