Nude, Nude & More Nude

by Nava

I think everybody knows what a sucker I am for Donna Karan Cashmere Mist, so of course I’m going to try every flanker of the scent, including the newest one, Liquid Nude. Big surprise; I love it. I’ve never been a fan of wearing Cashmere Mist in warm weather, even though it’s supposed to evoke the feeling of a “second skin”. Liquid Nude to me, is the perfect combination of orange blossom, with the tenacity of the original Cashmere Mist base, so it’s lighter and slightly fresher, but still manages to hang around without suffocating. It also passes the “aunt” test because the sample I’ve been wearing all week hasn’t raised any hackles or caused any headaches. It dries down with the same warm muskiness of the original, but the freshness of the orange blossom stays strong throughout. Dare I say, this might be the perfect orange blossom scent, since the warmer notes act as an anchor, preventing it from disappearing. I’ve always had that problem with orange blossom, but here, it hangs around and then some.

My discovery of Liquid Nude got me thinking about the concept of “nude” scents. That got me nostalgic for Bonne Bell Skin Musk and Alyssa Ashley Musk; also Body Time’s China Rain and that scent Dawn Spencer-Hurwitz did that was supposed to be an anti-perfume. March, help me out here, I know you know which one I’m talking about. Then Robin at Now Smell This posted yesterday about the latest Juliette Has a Gun fragrance, Not a Perfume, which is another one of those pure Ambrox scents (like Escentric Molecule 02), which I cannot smell. So, I’m wondering, why wear nude when you want to smell, well, nude?

For me, “nude” always meant musk. I don’t think of musk the same way other fragrance aficionados do. Unless we’re talking about the old barnyard monster, Muscs Koublai Khan, my favourite interpretation is more of a white musk that’s slightly floral, but that I must be able to smell. I cannot smell Narciso Rodriguez Musc for Her or any other type of Egyptian musk, but a clean smelling, slightly floral musk is something I can really get into now and again. I had a 1/4 oz. bottle of that DSH oil, but I cannot seem to locate it. Currently, I have one other “nude” in my collection, my bottle of Memoire Liquide Nudité Absolue, which I’m showing a lot of love to right now – it’s nude with a woody, slightly patchouli-tinged base that’s been mixing well with my Liquid Nude samples.

I was a bad girl last Saturday when I ventured over to the Murale store here in Toronto looking for June Jacobs sunblock (yes, they have June Jacobs!), which they did not carry, and instead walked out with a bottle of Nudité Intense, which I was even more shocked to find. This one is very close to the China Rain type floral musk that I love, and for $48.00, I thought, hey – practically free, right? These types of scents smell so right to me, that I just can’t get enough of them. Last year, my transitional fave was a spicy floral. This year, it’s clean musk. I’m waiting for just a bit more of a chill in the air before I break out my vial of Bruno Acampora Musk, which is almost as dirty as MKK, but not nearly as temperamental. Gee, now that I see it all on paper, I guess I am pretty well-stocked in the musk department.

It must be the onset of autumn, and spending time with my family during the Jewish holidays that has me nostalgic for these types of scents. After last week’s matzo ball and brisket extravaganza, I was once again feeling very blessed to be here in my favourite city, with my wonderfully nutty family, plus my little freelance writing business that’s chugging along with a few belches of smoke now and again. Life in my little corner of the world is pretty not bad. Oh, and I did manage to finagle payment out of my pain-in-the-rear-end client. Crisis averted; until next time.

For all of you who giggled and guffawed through the tale of my cousin Jessica’s colonoscopy two weeks ago, her results were clean as a whistle.

Now for some sharing: Tell me your favourite “clean” musky type scents.

Disclosure: Samples of Donna Karan Cashmere Mist Liquid Nude were obtained at The Bay. Memoire Liquide Nudité Absolue and Nudité Intense are from my personal collection.