My first trip to Venice was back in the Bronze Age. I was sooo excited for Venice – such history, such faded luxury. What I didn’t expect was the light, that weird, glancing light in courtyards. The sharp edges along the colorful facades in Venice’s many squares. Gorgeous, glinting light on the lagoons and canals…
…but nothing prepared me for the quietly awesome beauty of the light off Lido. I disembarked the vaporetto and walked into Lido (past my fantasy walled villa – such bliss, to find that fantasy manifest!!!) ….after a quick stop in the supermarket (because, c’mon – it’s LIDO! I have to know what a Lido supermarket is like! The answer? Pretty much like any midsized European supermarket, but with a stunning selection of sunscreen products and sandals)….anyway, I continued my walk down to the now-shuttered Hotel des Bains. I didn’t have the nerve (nor was I dressed) to walk through the lobby so I walked through the beautiful gardens, themselves awash in this weird, beautiful light. And then….omg. The Adriatic. Pale greyish-blue water, with gold-tipped waves. And ……omgosh………this incredible lilac mist on the horizon (which, btw, I thought was the portal to Morocco because Stupid. But hey…roll with my geographically-challenged self)….
…it was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen.
Neela Vermeire had much the same reaction at Pichola, the gorgeous lake region of Udaipur,Rajasthan. This scent is all about glinting reflections. The bright citrus notes (clementine & neroli) are the golden reflections on the waves..underpinned by a decidedly ‘Eastern’ note of cardamom (yum!) and saffron, much like the imagined gateway to Morocco of my first trip to Lido. Everything about this scent is playful, chiaroscuro, glinting, glancing light,, with the morning (first spritz) bringing the lilac mist to fore and the evening (the gorgeous drydown) providing the golden glow. It’s unusual in that I find it both light and playful and deep and compelling. That’s a toughie to pull off in what I consider to be a citrus-based scent. And it’s freaking GORGEOUS. golden sunlight dancing on pearlescent lilac waters! I am not going to embarrass any of us by trying to be any more lyrical than that. It’s gorgeous. And it has pretty fabulous longevity, too, though you probably won’t be able to experience that because you’ll keep spraying it because it’s like crack. Or meth. Or whatever drug it is that grabs you and turns you into an addict the first time you use it. Except it’s not likely to do more than dent your wallet just a little bit and haunt your waking and sleeping hours. I wore it yesterday and the day before and I can swear it’s still in my olfactory brain. It’s not heavy – at all. It’s just perfect. And it made me happy as an Adriatic clam to wear it.
So it would be my pleasure to clam someone else! Tell me a leetle story – what’s your favorite Neela scent? A story about light? Have you been to Lido? Do you like it? We’ve got an emergency Corso foster staying with us (more on that later) and her name is Cleo- we are calling her baby and sweetie and smoochieface and giving her lots of hugs and kisses. She’s agreed to poke ‘random’ and pick a winner, which I will announce on Wednesday. We have to do it fast so I don’t use up the sample! LOL! There’s plenty in there, I promise. And I’ve already packed it up so I don’t spray again! So get those stories started, lovies!!!
TOP NOTES
Cardamom, cinnamon, saffron, juniper,
magnolia, neroli oil, clementine, bergamot
HEART NOTES
Orange blossom absolute, rose absolute,
tuberose absolute, Jasmine sambac, ylang-
ylang
BASE NOTES
Benzoin absolute, sandalwood, driftwood,
vetiver from Haiti
Comments are closed