Oribe Cote d’Azur, Desertland and Valley of Flowers

Will Rogers’ home in the Palisades, in happier times. Gone.

I am going to jump in here and briefly hijack this review to give you an update on the situation here in Los Angeles.

The fires are not out yet, but the situation is far better than it was last week, The winds have died down somewhat, and although they are returning later in the week, they are not expected to be as strong as they were at the beginning of the fire events, when LAFD and LACFD could not use water-dropping aircraft to fight the fires. Later in last week when the Sunset fire (which was chillingly close to my place and visible from my building) occurred, they were able to use those tools and had the fire relatively under control in a matter of hours. It is vile and disgusting (not to mention an insult to the brave men and women who fight those fires) to try to score cheap political points off this tragedy- the point was that in the record winds (gusts of over 100MPH) the firefighters had to use what they could- water from the hydrants fed from reservoirs. and tanker trucks brought in over surface streets. When you are fighting a fire that is the size of Chicago, while trying to get your ground equipment through streets crowded with evacuees and cars abandoned by them. And not using the Pacific Ocean which is the usual resource to battle these fires.

Gladstone’s in Malibu, where for 50 years Angelenos took out of town visitors for mediocre fish but a spectacular view. Gone.

I also have seen comments from people that these residents somehow “deserved” this because they were wealthy or lived in an area prone to fires. Well the Palisades, while not Skid Row, is the home to retirees, apartment-dwellers, elderly pensioners and is firmly middle-class and since the last fire that neighborhood had was in 1963 I can’t call that “prone”.  I would hope people aren’t mean spirited enough to think that people in Kansas “deserve” to die in tornados or people in Florida “deserve” to die in hurricanes or that people who live in the snowbelt should just shut up about deadly, crippling snowstorms. I hope that we are collectively kinder than that; I have backed off reading social media comments to help maintain that illusion of humanity.

My view of the Sunset Fire, thankfully knocked down quickly.

I did go for a drive yesterday. I could not take the usual route because a lot of it was closed off because of the fires. The National Guard is stationed in Santa Monica (and I assume around the other fire borders) keeping people from entering for reasons of both safety and security. I actually didn’t want to enter- it’s going to be painful to witness the devastation to areas of the city I love and have proudly shown to so many friends who have visited. Of course that pain is nothing compared to the people directly affected by this tragedy.

A fact that I wish the blowhards, bloviators, and Monday-morning Quarterbacks would think about before they open their laptops and big traps..

Thanks for letting me vent, and now back to our regularly scheduled program..

I don’t know about you but I had no idea that Oribe, a company (rightly) noted for it’s hair care products even did scents, but cruising through the C.O. Bigelow website looking for a Christmas present or two I found that not only did they, but they have a sampler set for $18 of all three scents. Since that’s the price of two limited time only McRibs (not that I would ever consume something so dreadful..) I tossed one in the basket to get free shipping. So, what are they? How are they?

Côte d’Azur is apparently the scent of their hair products and they state it has bergamot, jasmine and sandalwood. I do kind of get those but I also get something that smells like melon. Like someone stuffed a cantaloupe with jasmine leaves. Which is not the way I remember their hair care line smelling, but oh well. If you have a low threshold for fruity-florals, you won’t care for this one. Mine is at zero, soooo..

Desertland lists juniper berry, lavender, pine and cedarwood. Now this one opens sharp- like freshly sawn pine boards were used to smack the living daylights out of a bunch of very ripe juniper berries. As much as I love that portion of the program I suppose that it couldn’t last, but the lavender creeping in and the pencil-shavings cedar keep this one firmly in the fun zone, and I love it for that.

Valley of Flowers is rose, jasmine and peony with a base of amber, wood, and musk. Not my favorite- there’s something of the aquatic in here that kind of floods that valley of flowers, which were, frankly, kind of generic to begin with. Now I am fully willing to admit that subtlety and I are, while not enemies, not exactly pals. Nothing thrills me more that flowers with a threatening aura (I would still love to get a bottle of JAR Fermez Tes Yeux, but I think it’s long gone..) so a scent that it more, shall we say, self effacing isn’t going to be on top of my top ten list. I like it, but wouldn’t jump through hoops to get it. Luckily you and I don’t have to.

McYuck

So there was one direct hit, one that went lightly wide of the mark and one miss. But having written that I wish everyone would do these discovery sets. They’re a good way to try without committing (too much) in these days where free samples seem to have gone the way of the buffalo. And more kudos for doing them in travel sizes.

All of these are available at the Oribe website: $126 for 2.5oz, $34 for .34oz travel spray, and $18 for the pictured coffret of 3 .07oz “Experience Set.” The latter I purchased from C.O. Bigelow.

Photos: My iPhone, Pexels, and Wikimedia Commons