by the Weirdo Musette
If you tell anybody this, I’ll deny it, but…..welll….I’m glad it’s back to being cool. There. I said it. But you know, living in the Midwest is an exercise in extremes most of the time. We don’t get Winter, we get Permafrost. And Summer? Well you can make glass out of sand on the beach some Julys, without need of an oven. So Autumn and Spring are usually the only chances we get to enjoy a more temperate approach to weather. This Spring sprung extremely early and then flung itself, screaming and drooling, into August-level temps. It’s unnerving to watch tulips shoot up and bloom in 36 hrs (yes, I have BLOOMING tulips in my garden) before the scylla are even out. Mosquitoes. In March. A Lot of Mosquitoes. A LOT.
Then all of a sudden Spring returned as temps dropped from 85 to 55, which is where they belong right about now (hell, in past years we would’ve danced the Mamoushka at the thought of 45!!). And it brought a blustery rain, which is what we are supposed to have, NOT scorching sun. So we’re back to normal temps, folks have stopped tilling their gardens (really, people? Tilling? In March? Are you high? You KNOW it’s going to come back to bite you). I’ve stopped looking at citrus and wondering if I’ve lost my mind. I’m now free to browse the Wuthering perfumes in my cabinet.
This is supposed to be the season of mists on the moors, windblown hair and heather and soft violet light. Diorella, Charmes y Leaves, Silences……those silvery-greenery galbanum-y scents that are all misty morning and silk scarves that flutter in the rain-tinged breeze. So ‘me’ with my delicate self! 🙂 Violets and Rainwater. Helloooo? I certainly need RAIN for that one. The shift back to traditional Springlike weather means I can wear those scents without feeling like I dressed for Laurence Olivier but fell into Groucho’s lap instead. The cool, wet weather allowed me to revisit an old love that’s extremely difficult to wear (for me, anyway) in any but wet, transient weather: Malle’s Fleur de Cassie. It’s one of those ultra-weird, shapeshifting scents – in colder weather it has an oily tinge to it that distracts me and it’s really unnerving in very hot weather, with that (insert Massengill Moment here …or is it Poise? )…… :-p But in the 50s and 60s, with a coolish, damp wind blowing, the scent loses that cloying mimosa note (I’ve yet to find a mimosa to love, alas), the violet cools down and the leather comes forward with a lush, buttery feel. I wore the last of the body butter (sadly, now discontinued) and just marveled at its beauty. In 80degree weather it would’ve brought up my lunch.
so YAHOO! for Spring! And all my weird, Spring faves! What is your weather like right now? Weirdly Hot? Weirdly Cold? Just Right? What Spring scents are you pull out of hibernation?
ps. never fear, Missy March will be back shortly. She’s crazybusy and I had a free day, so I’m stepping in. But not for long, so don’t despair.
pps. who won the “Love to Hear From You” samples: Suzy Q!! and Oh Lily !! drop me a gmail line : evilauntieanita AT, give me your details and I will get a fun little package out to you!
Howdy, divine Ms. M! Glad you got another bout of chilly weather. We’re still stinkin’ warm here (84 today, I heard), and I’m thinking it’s probably not going to drop back down, like I’d hoped it would. So I’m gravitating toward spring and greens — had Bas de Soie on the other day, some Silences, some iris things. Guess I’m learning that you just gotta roll with what you’re given …
We had the same weird weather here — I had the heat on, then DIRECTLY to the A/C, then … back to the heat. I’ve been craving wet spring scents. Black March, for instance.
Wow! Suddenly the comment space has come back yay! Wasn’t able to make that happen recently. Today it’s raining again here in Oakland. My tulips are on their second week, and the quince is covered in fresh green leaves and pale pink blossoms. Today struck me as a good day for a nice spritz of Eau Premiere, and it is making me very happy. The cold and damp is keeping it close to the skin, so it’s my little secret for now. And it’s fun to have secrets, sometimes, isn’t it? “>}
We’re still working on the site (haw! ‘we’re’ – like I’m doing anything other than pass the issues on to Patty)
I thought about Eau Premier yesterday! No quince trees, though. Apples are blooming – pray we don’t have a freeze!!!
xo >-)
Oh, I love the way quince fruit smells. Taste, not so much, but the smell is great.
Arrghhh stupid too clever Facebook!
Well south-east England is in a relative heat wave! It has been 25C/ 73F here since Saturday. Chilly mornings but by 10am it is really warm. So chicken white legs and arms abound as everyone strips down to enjoy the sun! Like others, I can’t get my brain in summer fragrance mode so have been wearing vtg L’air du Temps (wth have they done to the new juice??), Chamade, Black March, Mecca Balsam, my samples of Stella and No.19 Poudre (both of which are growing on me) and, oddly, Youth Dew bath oil.
I envy you your success with Violets and Rainwater- a very kind Posseite sent me some and I so wanted to love it but it pulled a Voleur de Roses on me and became moldy window casements. Big frown.
We’re in the weird weather pattern, too.. Last week, I just gave up on scent, but this week is starting to make sense again. Now (finally!) the weather and my nose are in sync, and the green spring scents are working for me.
Musette, Fleur de Cassie can be a tough one for me, too. There is a temperature range that is just great, then there is the “OMG! _what_ died??!?!” temperature range. Makes me a little nervous to put it on..
I know just what you mean. A mere 5 degrees can tip it into mayhem!
xo >-)
We don’t really get extremes of weather here, and sometimes I miss them. It’s been a little colder than it should be (50s and 60s) but I’m ready for some “spring” perfumes. Very few green, galbanum-y ones work for me, but I do like Bel Respiro and have been wearing that. Also TDC de Bachmakov.
I only appreciate extremes of weather if I am not inconvenienced by them. It’s lovely to sit inside, sipping hot chocolate, and looking at a blizzard. Ditto sitting under a patio umbrella, sipping a lemonade in 90F. Lots of sipping going on, and little else 😉
Bel Respiro is a gorgeous green!!
xo >-)
It’s actually snowing today here in central Maine. That bizarre warm spell we had last week forced some daffodils into bloom, at least three weeks earlier than I would usually expect them. The daffodils don’t seem to mind getting snowed upon and are quite lovely now, their yellow blossoms peeking through a blanket of white.
Gardener that I am, I’m happy about the snow. I’ve been worrying about how dry it has been and am glad to have some moisture sinking into the ground. Nonetheless,this day feels chilly, damp and raw and I’ve got a fire going in the wood stove. As far as perfumes go, today at least I am in full winter retreat looking for some coziness and warmth. My scent of the day is Lab on Fire’s What We Do in Paris is Secret.
Wood fire, Secret Paris, daffodils in the snow.
What a gorgeous image!
xo >-)
One of the things that’s interesting about being part of the perfume crowd is learning about what the weather’s like elsewhere; like many of you, I’m heavily influenced by the temperature in my fragrance choices.
The disadvantage for me this winter/spring is that we have looooong winters where I live, and near the end of it I’m usually going bonkers in anticipation of spring – which does not show up here until April. It didn’t help to hear all the “Wow, it’s hot” when we’ve still got snow. My inner grump was starting to emerge: “Shut. up. SHUT UP!! I don’t want to hear about your fabulous weather!!! *$&)@$!!”………… OK, ……ok, I’m good. The truth is, it’s about normal for this time of year here: weather hovering around 0 Celsius, warming up during the day, snow melting, spring will soon be here.
I’m preparing for spring by ordering a whole wack of heliotrope samples, there’s something about them I’m craving. One more month and I’m tiptoeing through the tulips with the rest of you – with the exception of the Australian perfumistas, of course. ;)
LOL! I know just how you feel. I get that way when my CA friends start moaning about the rain in Feb. – but it’s still 60F in Santa Monica (rockslides notwithstanding, the weather’s always pretty fabbo)………and I’m ankle-deep in icy snow.
We had a mild winter – but that doesn’t mean I want August in March!
xo >-)
We’ve had some freakabobble weather here recently: last week we were in the upper 70s and sunny, and then Saturday, just as The CEO and Bookworm got back from their college tour (I was painting the living room and didn’t go), we had HAIL. And TORRENTIAL RAIN. And the temperature dropped 30 FREAKIN’ DEGREES. And yesterday we were back into the upper 70s again. The grass is growing like crazy, and if I don’t mow today we will all need machetes to find the driveway, aarrrrggh.
And I keep trying to wear my spring florals but except for Silences and Le Temps d’une Fete – both of which are not ONLY spring scents for me – they keep making my brain explode. No Diorissimo, no Apres l’Ondee. No DSH White Lilac. They’re just wrong and I can’t say why.
Violetta worked on Sunday, but it was 55 degrees and misty, perfect Heathcliffy weather, wonderful for that chilly green violet. That’s how early spring should feel, and I suppose I should be grateful I got even that one day of the right weather.
upper 70s is Dead Wrong for ‘rissimo and Al’O, imo. It needs to be somewhere in the high 50s – 60s, with a hint of dampness and a breeze.
A few patch farmers here jumped the gun, planting peppers! 😕 I have spinach in pots, along with lettuces….but those are made for cool weather. But Peppers?
They got destroyed in the hard rain/cold snap. Betcha that farmer won’t do that again.
xo >-)
This is not particularly on topic, but I can’t wait to share the most brilliant experience with people who might understand. Because the sun is shining unseasonably brightly today, I seized the opportunity to take my Introduction to Social Sciences class outside to the park. This is an international group with students from Brazil to India, China to Nigeria, and further afield. I’m teaching them about cultural goods, so I packed up my perfume collection and took that with us. I let each student pick two perfumes and say whether they seemed masculine or feminine, old or young, heavy or light, floral, spicy, woody, western, oriental, traditional or modern. It was amazing and instructional to see what different perceptions students had. Fun in the sun, or what!
That sounds like a lot of fun!
What perfumes did you take?
xo >-)
Errr, 3 different Miller Harris, several Chanels, Guerlains, some Diptyques, Jo Malones, Guccis, Hermes – I got generous with Black Sea, Jub25, and my poor husband’s Terre D’Hermes. Lots of stuff, as long as it wasn’t my precious extraits I could spare a few squirts in the name of education. It all filled one very large shopping bag and was incredibly heavy. I was amazed at how open-minded they were, with the biggest, butchest, most drop dead handsome Nigerian fella going for Voile de Jasmine and several of my girls expressing love for things I’d written down as unisex or masculine like Sienne l’hiver or Molecule 01. Most of them were horrified, though, by Black March – not ready yet for anti-perfume but I’m working on them.
Your post is timely because I’ve been wondering if others among us are having the same problems. I tried wearing summer perfume when the temperatures were high but it just seemed Wrong. My internal clock associates certain scents with certain seasons.
Last month I bought a FB of Ambre Sultan. In my mind it was going to be a winter scent but I’m rockin’ it like crazy this spring. It’s time to break out the Chamade but I’m still enjoying ambers and patchoulis! And that’s o.k.
I agree about summer frags smelling Wrong even though it was 85 degrees. Ambers and patchoulis are more my thing, too.
I know what you mean. I brought out Brillante but when I got ready to spritz it, the bottle looked at me like I’d lost my mind! So I put it back. Ditto my go-to Summer fragrance, Agraria Bitter Orange. It shied and scuttled back into the corner of the cabinet and wouldn’t look me in the eye. I don’t think it’s ready to come out yet.
xo >-)
Great post, Miss Musette, and lovely photo. Looks like a Whistler.
I got out my En passant, my Après l’ondée, my Temps d’une fête—and then the temperature dropped like a sumbitch on Monday, so yesterday I wore Idole and today I’m wearing 10 Corso Como.
Isn’t that a lovely photo? My bff Missy Denise shot and colored that. Our temps dropped like that, too. I went back to ………:-?.oh, yeah….Epic and Jube 25. Epic doesn’t work in transitional weather for me – it has to be shocking hot or shocking cold. Jube, of course, works always!
xo >-)
Hi, Ms Delicate Petal, aka Musette :) Love your misty Heathcliff on the moors descriptions! My weather has of course been your weather; all the trees bloomed at once, some bulbs totally overshot themselves, I gave serious thought to turning on the AC, which I hesitate to do until June, most years. So yes, I’m glad to a return to more normal temps! I’ve been craving and enjoying rose scents, esp a decant of DSH American Beauty. It’s the perfect rose soliflore. Have rediscovered SL Gris Clair and wore it all weekend. Today I’m craving Pd’E Wazamba. Enjoy your day, all!
I laugh every time I find myself ogling that ‘type’ – as if I stand a snowball’s chance in hell of ever being considered ‘delicate’! =)) I still can’t believe that I’m grateful for the cooling down – but I am. Spring is to be savored, not sped through like a race through Death Valley!
xo >-)
Temps in Cleveland are back to normal whick is in the 40’s. I’ve been having this weird craving for chypres, so I’ve been wearing a lot of Denuve. But still don’t want to wear Mitsouko. But I am getting that itch to get a full bottle of perfume. I need another full bottle of perfume like I need another hole in the head.
For me, this is perfect Mitsy weather. Mitsy was The One that got me through driving in that tornado, where I couldn’t pull over because I couldn’t tell if I was on the edge of a ravine or in the middle of the road! 😮 I kept frantically sniffing my wrist, hoping She would give me courage – and She did!!!
xo >-)
Trepanning is underrated.
The weather here is probably pretty similar to yours. We had some kind of crazy warm, we’re not in Minnesota anymore days and then a minor cold snap and suddenly the reset button was pushed and we’re mildly spring.
I’ve been all about Neil Morris lately. Dark Earth, Parfum D’Odette, Woodland Strawberries, Gotham. A fb of Odette is my “Carrot” for reaching a weightloss goal and I’m nearly there. :) Honestly looking foward to the bottle more than smaller pants.
You are too funny with the FB v. the smaller pants!!!
xo >-)
and congratulations! I’ve been sloooooooooowly working towards that goal myself.