As a side note, I’m a little more rushed these days than usual - I’m sure y’all have noticed.  Getting ready for Harry’s graduation, too busy at work, plus doing all the last-minute planning/details for our Europe trip is taking its toll.  So indulge me until I get long plane and train rides to sniff things and write posts!  The Time Fairy is just kicking my butt right now.

Random thought for this post - being a smart person, I did get one of those portable GPS systems for Europe.  None of the cheap rental cars I rented had them, and it makes me nervous driving in a foreign country with only us (three ADHD/OCD peeps) to navigate. Yeah, exactly!  :::: shudder ::::  Other details include finishing up with my French I and Italian I lessons, drawing up the full itinerary and distributing it to everyone, none of who will pay any attention to it and will be looking at me to navigate for three weeks, making sure we have our European cell phones, train reservation tickets, and contemplating how light I can pack and still be dressed.  Ideas?

And what scents am I wearing now that spring is here, even though we get the occasional snow?  Tea, tea, tea.   Hermessence Osmanthe Yunnan for the high end, Au the Blanc and Au the Vert from Bvlgari for the low end, but the occasional spritz of CdG Tea just to make things interesting.

But let’s indulge you and say Le Banc has made a mistake in your favor to the tune of $1500.  You can spend it on one or many frivolous items. You may not spend it on bills or rent or mortgage or school.  It must be something just for you, and you may not buy anything for anyone else as a gift.  What would you get?  This can be perfume, shoes, clothes, makeup, whatever!

Few things in life are more disappointing than expecting one perfect thing and getting the exact wrong thing.   Consider the gorgeous shoes above.  That’s what I was expecting, perfectly sized up to accommodate for a narrow Christian Louboutin toe box.  What I got was a pair of Dolce & Gabanna leopard print shoes with some freaky little bow on top.  I guess they were okay shoes, if leopard print shoes suited me at all, but they don’t. I’m the furthest thing from a leopard print shoe girl you can find.  So when I opened my box and saw those instead of my classy little black and red CLs, my brain almost melted down… did not compute.  How did my cute little shoes turn into hooker shoes?  A phone call later, I found out the size I thought would work best in the CLs was then gone, and I had to go down a half a size, and now I’m crossing my fingers that that size will fit. If not… bleah.  Back they’ll go while I wait and hope the cute little Rolando style eventually comes back in stock or I find a pair while I’m in Italy.

Speaking of disappointments, I have to just bitch a little about the Givenchy Incense that got a great review in Perfumes: The Guide.  I was expecting something great, and it started off great, with a floral fougerey incense mojo that felt perfect for men or women, and then it veered off into a perfectly nice men’s scent, but not terribly entertaining.  Where in the world was the “melancholy and mystery” the review promised?

My brother, the requestor of the Sam Elliott sampler pack was also supposed to report in on a few of the scents… and another disappointment -I got zip from him.  I know he’s liked everything so far that he’s sniffed, with his favorites being the Tom of Finland, Montale Black Oud, and Ormonde Jayne Ormonde Man.  Just goes to show you, good taste does run in the family.

Anyway, I have decided that I need to start wearing high heels again after a couple of decades of flats and flip-flops.  So now I wear my Jimmy Choos around the house for 15-30 minutes at a time and my Gucci FM mules for maybe 5 minutes at a time (these things kill in more ways than one).  Is this the best way to get back into high heels, or do our feet age to the point that it just doesn’t work anymore?  My feet, so far, are turning into another disappointment, which I’m hoping I can change for the better.

That teeny girl with my sister Shirley in the picture to the right, I love taking pictures of her because she could care less if you’re snapping pictures because she is so in the moment every second of her waking life.  She was born months premature and was this tiny, tiny little thing you could hold in one hand five years ago.  Two-thre years ago, she went through a bad time with her mom, and when she came back home, she was withdrawn and silent.  She has a great father and family who surrounded her with love, and the broken places healed, and the curtain of silence lifted.  Listening to her peels of laughter and her jumping into my arms with an ear-shattering ”I’ve MISSED you!!!” reminds you that life, no matter the disappointment, always finds joy.

First, winners for the sample of Musc Nomade from Annick Goutal:  Vida, Dusan and Marina!  Just hit the contact us over on the left, get me your snail mail address, and the sample shall be yours! 

You guys are always so super-helpful to me and everyone who reads us, so here I am to call on you again for some help.

My youngest son’s high school graduation is coming up soon.   This day is totally my youngest son’s day, but then I think… isn’t it a little bit of my day too?  We made it this far, and soon… too soon we’re going our separate ways. Him to find his life out there, and me to leap joyfully around my house that I’ll have to myself. But it just won’t be the same anymore when he’s not in my house every day, playing his guitar, serenading my life with his laughter, joy and music, nor will I have to worry about him when he takes my camera and tripod out until 1a for some night photography, nor will I be woken up by his big brother (who is moving out… again and for good… in July) scaring him at 2 a.m..  It will be so much fun to watch the life chooses, to let him find his own way through, but him going so soon after my oldest son moves back out is, well, a little weird and disconcerting, and I need the perfect scent for it.

It must be joyful, with a reach back into memory.  It must be full of love because he and his older brother carry my heart around in their bodies.  It must be strong so I won’t start weeping like a flipping idiot. I did threaten Harry that I was going to start sobbing inconsolably and very loudly just to embarrass him, and he laughed and said, “Bring it, it won’t bother me, that would be fun!”

So what perfume do you wear to celebrate the ending of my live-with-me mom years and the beginning of watching both of my little ducks go quacking off into whatever life they choose?  I’m leaning towards either Mitsouko vintage parfum or Diorling parfum.  The thoughts?

A bottle of Annick Goutal’s Musc Nomade just landed in my hands… and!

Perfect. 

Created by Isabelle Doyen with Camille Goutal, it has notes of white musks (muscone, angelica, ambrette), tonka bean, almond accents, labdanum, and Bombay wood (a papyrus derivative) *taken from Now Smell This.

Some musks, like Frederic Malle Musc Ravageur, are too sweet or oily.  I like MR, but after a couple of hours, it wears on my nerves.  Some musks like CB Musk Reinvention may be too harsh for most people or too not sweet, relying more on the musk without a lot of varnish. 

Musc Nomade is the perfect musk for me. It has just a little foody input from the ambrette, tonka and almond, laying on a wood, incense and musk base.  It doesn’t shout, but it whispers of sexuality, it shows a little bit of white lace instead of the top of the thong sticking out of the jeans.  There is a softness to it, but with enough musk to not make it dainty or feminine.  It stays close to the skin and smells just like the sun  on your skin — wait, not your skin, someone you love’s skin.

It’s very much a Goutal scent, understated and finished.

Sorry for the short post today, but work, going out for some fun and some insomnia has taken its toll here at the end of the week. So let’s do a giveaway of three samples of the Musc Nomade. Just drop a note in the comments to be entered!

First, I have a new photoblog, and you can find it here.    I took the photo above when we were in NYC, and Judith and I were resting our feet outside of Bendel’s, sniffing the changes in Tom of Finland on our skin.  When we go to Europe the end of May and first half of June, that’s where we’ll upload all our pictures.  Now, I’m pretty new’ish getting back into photography, so don’t expect too much. I did it many years ago in high school… well, okay, decades.  After high school, I didn’t have the money to get my own SLR camera, so dropped the hobby.  When I stumbled back into it recently, I’ve been having a blast seeing the world through a camera lens.

In the future, when there are get-togethers, that’s where we’ll post the photos from those.

The most fabulous discovery I’ve gotten from reading Luca and Tania’s book so far is Yohji  Homme.  Notes of coffee, rum, licorice, cinnamon and leather.  This is probably the most beautifully, wonderfully addictive, warm scent I’ve sniffed in ages.  Jean-Michel Duriez was the perfumer on it, and it is showing up as discontinued, which is just a travesty.  Beautifully blended, it starts out perfectly balanced between those somewhat strong, gourmandy notes, none of them dominating the other, so it really doesn’t feel foody, just like a warm nose hug.  Some of it reminds me of Bond’s New Haarlem, but it’s not as harsh, woodier.  Those of you that hate licorice/anise, well, steer clear of this, chances are you won’t like it.  Either a man or a woman could wear this, but I suspect women like it more than men, though I’d love to snuggy up to a guy wearing it.  I add a very, very enthusiastic two thumbs up for Yohji Homme.

We gave y’all three scents to sniff, and we are posting your reviews on those scents. Y’all had a lot to say, so this was really fun for us to do!

Clinique Happy

• Am I going to hell if I say I like this fragrance? It’s cheerful. I always get compliments on it. It’s one of those summer scents that works if you want something undemanding and fun, like a gal-pal you don’t make plans with but always have a good time with, spending a Saturday morning window shopping.
• Happy is a harmless floral, best on a very young woman. Keep in mind that it doesn’t keep well; the citrus top notes fade with time.
• Once smelled this on a waitress at a local restaurant, and it smelled divine on her. But on me, Happy is not so, well, happy! It smells harsh, strong and chemical.
• I had the misfortune to try Clinique Happy in a Foley’s (back before Macy’s) when I was young and impressionable and was lead to believe that Clinique was an upscale makeup line…*shudder* My thoughts were somewhere between “Does this contain DEET?” to “The horror! The horror!” Nothing but mosquite repellant.
• Pretty and inoffensive. I smell a not-quite-realistic orange (more like powdered orange drink mix) and some sweet, clear florals (freesia?). It reminded me of something that I couldn’t quite put my finger on…and then it came to me. Bond No. 9’s new Union Square! Not exactly the same, but very similar in style. Plus Tang.
• Soapy, shower fresh scent. Easily wearable. I’m kind of over this one, but I don’t dislike it, it’s just that I used to like it much more.
• orange. If you want to be a giant orange…
• I dislike the initial fakey blast but once it settles down it’s very pretty, milky skin scent is really pleasant.

Clinique Aromatics Elixir

• For 20+ years I’ve tried to love this fragrance. I hate it. Picked up a bottle of Pure Parfum (perfect condition) last week at an estate sale for a whopping 30 cents. Sprayed just a touch in the air just inside the front door. THANK GOD it was a warm day. Fans going for an hour, with all the windows open….me outside. El O came home and said “wow! the house smells nice!”. Proof that there is something for everyone.
• Why spend a zillion bucks on Tom Ford Moss Breches when there’s Aromatics Elixir, its original? Be sure you give this only to someone who can carry a strong chypre. Someone gave my then-eighty-year-old mother a set, and it was just loud perfume overload.
• I used to hate this one, because it smelled so overpowering on everyone who wore it. But I discovered a secret: Just one spritz to the chest will do. It lasts all day, and smells like a fine French fragrance. It does, it really does!
• I have never hated a perfume as much as I hate Clinique’s Aromatics Elixir. Since I sold Clinique way back when, I HAD to wear it at the counter and I thought I would die. Anytime I read that something else smells like AE, I automatically know that I will hate it to death.
• I’m glad that I gave this one a good, long try. On a paper strip, it always seemed rather rough and scary. But on my skin, it turns into a smooth, velvety, classic chypre. It’s herby and casually sophisticated in a finely-tailored-tweed-suit sort of way.
• Hard core. This is a scent for people who want to announce their arrival with a megaphone. I hadn’t tried this in a really long time and it blew me away. There is a lot going on in this one. This screams 70’s all the way. There are some massive flowers in there (ylang ylang and jasmine, tuberose) that along with the oakmoss (and some really green notes too) really overwhelm. This is not a fragrance for the faint hearted. Bottom line, it’s a classy hippie scent that really makes a statement, but I would never wear it. Actually, I did put it on my wrist, but I was not happy.
• Harsh vetiver, florals barely discernible. When this is compared to Montale’s Vetiver Oriental, it’s enough to make you weep for the abuse of the note.
• I love Aromatics Elixir! I’ve worn it off and on since it was introduced in the early 70’s. My nose isn’t capable of defining each individual component of the fragrance but on me, the patchouli note is the most predominant. My friend also wears it; on her the rose and jasmine comes forward and it is much sweeter. I get undertones of that softness too.
• I’m very happy with my sophisticated chypre and tend to wear it when I want to feel “tailored,” whether I’m wearing clothes for the office or jeans.
• This will never appeal to me no matter how many times I smell it. Its astringent, green twiggy, herbal quality smells to me like an treatment for poison ivy.

Tommy Hilfiger Tommy Girl

• Perfume Shrine and Scent Signals have some thoughts on Tommy girl today, so make sure to check it out.

• This is a great weekend fragrance! I wear it when I’m kickin’ back or hanging out with my family. It’s fresh and uplifting with a slight spiciness to it (must be the tea) that makes it interesting and fun.
• I really like Tommy Girl. It’s such a perfect scent for jeans, T-shirt and All Stars day. Fresh and clean without being annoying. I get transparent florals, which I love. This perfume exudes confidence and doesn’t try to be sexy, because of this, to me it is. It’s like the way some people are the sexiest when they’re dressed down and in jeans - not trying too hard? That’s the way I feel about Tommy Girl. Oddly enough, my Mom steals spritzes of this one every once in a while, so I guess you could say that it’s not an exclusively “young” scent. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that I don’t think it’s exclusively a “girl” scent either.
• I have a coworker who always sprays on a generous amount of the same perfume every day. I always assumed that it was something by the Gap. It wasn’t unpleasant, but it did strike me as harsh. One day, my curiosity overcame my shyness and I asked her what it was. Her answer: Tommy Girl. I couldn’t believe that I hadn’t recognized it! Tommy Girl was my first real perfume, a Christmas gift when I was thirteen years old. I still have my near-full bottle from back then, so I must not have worn it much. I have some current Tommy Girl on my wrist right now, and it is the same as my bottle at home. I can describe it in one word: Soap. If I have to be a little more specific: Flowery soap. It smells like I’ve just washed my hands. It’s not a bad smell, by any means, and as clean-shower-fresh-soap scents go, this one is quite good, but if I want to smell like soap, I’ll take a shower!
• I gave this to my 16 year old daughter a couple years ago so I’ve been smelling it wafting through the kitchen at a very early hour for a couple of years now. On a good day it is bright, fresh and pretty — perfect for her age and I like smelling it on her. Tommy Girl has a high headache factor though and there is no way I can agree with the experts that it is extraordinary, or a “masterpiece”. It’s not interesting enough for that.

nose image: etc.usf.edu

Overmuch lately, I find myself ruminating on forgiveness and redemption.  How much can a person do before they have gone into the unforgivable, and there is no explanaiton or apology they can make for redemption in another person’s eyes?  It’s an individual barrier to be sure.  In my faith, we are called to forgive everything because we are all deeply flawed, and we should ask for the grace to do what we are completely unable to do when you are pig-biting mad.  No matter if you are religious or not, all of us must struggle with what to forgive, what to forget, and when it is too much.

Oh, no, you’re not going to get a Patty Soap Opera here, y’all.   

My next thought - as it should be for any good perfumista - what does forgiveness and redemption smell like?  Answering this question has been far tougher than I thought it would be.

Forgiveness smells cold and earthy, as you must set aside your own hurt coldly, take out the emotion, disengage, reach deep within your emotional capacity and rationally overlook the cracks and broken places in another.   But it must be a little bit warm because out of the cold must come pity and compassion enough to heat the heart to give genuine forgiveness.  It smells like Serge Lutens Iris Silver Mist.

Redemption must smell of hope and promise, going on without ever forgetting what has gone before.  It must mix regret with desperation, and at its core must be the smell of humanity, slightly decaying, but beautiful for all of its flaws.  I turned over a lot of scents in my mind for this, but finally settled on CB I Hate perfume Cradle of Light or Strange Invisible Perfumes Lady Day…

… and I put them together, side by side, running my nose from my elbow to my hand, and I can smell the limits of forgiveness and redemption, and there are none.

What scents go with forgiveness and redemption for you?

My brother has presented me with a challenge, so I, of course, turn to all of you to see what I’ve done so far and to see if you have suggestions or additions.

Tom opened up a bar and grill recently, which is is doing an amazing business in a tiny town in Kansas called Hoxie - everyone loves his food because he’s a great cook - and he barely has time to sleep, though he is as happy as a clam,  It’s one the most fun place in the town world to go — one of those places where everyone does know your name and people talk all around the room to everyone in the restaurant instead of just across their own table.  I attribute that atmosphere to Tom’s personality, which is outgoing, brash, irreverent, and he’s one of the funniest people I’ve ever known. The logo for the bar is “Beer, Burgers and Bullshit,” and that pretty much is just the way it is. He does look a little like Sam Elliott, but don’t tell him I said that because he has a monstrous big ego that needs no further feeding and watering.  He calls me lil lil sissah (as opposed to my big sister, Shirley, who is just lil sissah), and he is generally a charming, unrepentant rogue… and he will take that as a compliment.  Of course I adore him.

Success has its problems, though. Tom would like to get rid of the Eau de Grease scent that often follows him around, and he also likes to think of himself as a stud (*shrugs*).   He wants me to put together a “Sam Elliott Sampler Pack” full of all the scents I think Sam Elliott would wear, which would then be perfect for him.. I want it to be a wide variety of types, like some musk, leather, smoke, etc. This is what I’ve got so far, please let me know if you think one of these doesn’t work or if it needs something that I’m just not thinking of:

• Serge Lutens Musc Koublai Khan - it’s pretty likely he will sniff this and say something about it smelling like his pair after he’s been working all day (the language would be much more frank and graphic than my delicate version), but I think if he waits 30 minutes, he may find himself liking it - or not, but I have to be there when he tries it.
• CB Musk Reinvention - I’m iffy on this one. It will either be a big hit or a big miss, but I still think he should try it just so I can get a read on what his skank tolerance is.  Since I grew up with him and worked on the farm with him and he rubbed his sweaty armpit on my head, I’m thinking his skank tolerance has to be high.
• Etat Tom of Finland - I just think this is great smoky leather scent. Since his name is Tom, he’ll like that, too, plays into his ego to wear a scent with his name on it.
• Annick Goutal Eau de Fier - This may be uncomfortably close to the smoky bar and grill smell.
• Knize Ten - Great, classic leather, plenty rugged
• Caron Yatagan - why not?
• Helmut Lang Cuiron - iffy on this one. It’s a little less rugged, but could work great for his more refined moments, if he had any.
• Ormonde Jayne Ormonde Man - for special occasions, if he ever gets an evening out or just feel, well, um beautiful for the night, in a very manly way, of course.
• Parfums de Nicolai New York - because it is subtle and beautiful and perfect.
• Le Labo Patchouli 24 - sorry, every guy on my list gets this to try. It’s mandatory, they may hate it, but I don’t care, they have to sniff it.
• Hermessence Vetiver Tonka — again, always on any guy sampler list because I think it’s elegant and addictive.
• Hermessence Poivre Samarcande - great peppery scent
• Montale Black Oud — Needed an oud in here for him to try and see if he likes it, might as well start with the killer.
• Elternhaus kowtowingtoeveryreligiontothepointthatitsoffensive thing or Mark Buxton 03 from Biehl - Despite the goofiness of the Elternhaus, I think it’s a great incense, as is the MB03 from Biehl.  Both Mark Buxton, who I really ought to marry.  Does anyone knows if he plays on my side of the playground?
• Cdg Incense — can’t make up my mind on this. Thinking no on Avignon and Kyoto and leaning towards Zagorsk for the woody elements, which will cover a woody scent as well

Then I have a bunch of follow-on scents, depending on what he liks here. So…. the thoughts?

Do you ever just get tired of hearing about a somewhat readily available perfume that you’ve never smelled, so you finally just smell it and end your misery?  Yeah, exactly.

Tommy Girl has notes of black currant bud, apple, tangerine, mandarin, spearmint, heather, honeysuckle, violet, rose, magnolia, jasmine, lily, sandalwood and cedarwood.  Luca Turin and Tania Sanchez have given it five stars and pronounced it a masterpiece in Perfumes: The Guide.  As I agree with about 80% of the perfumes that landed on that list, I figured I should try Tommy Girl with an open mind and see what I came up with.

The open is really horrible, it’s like a bad day at the playground and I threw up fruit and gum all over the wooden merry-go-round.   Not an auspicious start, and the open gets a one star. But we all know to wait on these things, it can and often does get better… or worse.   Or I could be an unwashed rube that just doesn’t get the shimmering brilliance of Tommy Girl. 

• 30 minutes in… slightly rancid Doublemint gum and fruit throw-up in the flower bushes by the side of the playground.
• 1 hour … Okay… now we’re seeing some signs of something besides a really horrible open.  How exactly did this perfume sell so well with that open?  That’s truly the mark of Tommy Love that people would stick with that.  Isn’t this supposed to be tea?  I mean, I get a little, but the florals are just burying most of the fun stuff so far.
• I’m going for a run, let see if some heat can give TG a little oomph.  Okay, that’s much better, getting the tea and a delicate floral accord, the fruity notes are gone.  This is very pretty, but it’s really not me that much, has a little too much fresh feeling floating around.

Is it a five-star masterpiece? Not for me, but if you like the interplay of the notes and the overall direction of the perfume, I can see how you would make it a favorite.  I certainly don’t dislike it, and it was better after an hour than I thought it was going to be.

So which one(s) of the five-starred perfumes are you sure you’ll hate, but think you’ll try just to see?

A Perfume Posse First - On Friday April 25, you all get to do the reviews for our first You Sniff It Friday.  If you have smelled it already or can get a chance to smell it, we want you to sniff Clinique Aromatics Elixir, Clinique Happy and Tommy Hilfiger Tommy Girl and tell us your opinion on those scents.  We don’t want a long review, nor anything poetic, just something short - a sentence is fine - telling us what you think of the perfume. You can do all three scents or one or two of them.  Send your brief reviews to perfume dot posse at gmail dot com (just put in a . where is says  dot and the @ where it says at).  We can’t promise we’ll publish all of them since many will probably be similar either in the like or dislike column, but they will be anonymous, so speak your mind freely.  We’ll remind you next week.

Update on the eylash extensions: Loved them for about 7-10 days.  I sleep on my side, and whatever side you sleep on, eyelashes get rubbed out quicker on that side, so one eye was looking weaker than the other, and then the other side kept getting thinner faster than I thought it should.  My eyelashes are just too fine for extensions, and I am NOT doing refills on them every two weeks.  So… on to try Revitalash!

Favorite new perfume at Sniffa was easily Etat Libre d’Orange Tom of Finland. I’m not a huge fan of this line, though I don’t hate it and have found some that work for me some of the time or were interesting, like Jasmin et Cigarette, Putain des Palaces, Rien and Vraie Blonde.  Tom of Finland was commissioned by the Tom of Finland Foundation and requires ID to buy the racy version of the bottle.  It has notes of crumpled leaf, suede, metal, pepperwood, iris, tonka, vetiver, and musks.  Antoine Lie is the perfumer given the task of creating a scent that “does not disturb the odor of men.”  Oh, please. I mean…. honestly, this sort of thing just gives me agita.

Despite that…. men will enjoy wearing Tom of Finland, whether it disturbs their odor or not, but so will women because it doesn’t disturb our odor either, whatever that may mean.  If you are a fan of Santa Maria Novella Nostalgia, Bvlgari Black or Annick Goutal Eau de Fier, this is one you really should try. Despite the goofy commission and sketch the perfumer was given, it seriously rocks for little girls and little boys.  Starting out like rubber on fire, there’s some metallic clanking in the background from the iris that just gives it this cockeyed feel that I really, really love. But lest you think this is just some Freak that Patty Loves because she’s partial to freaks, in the drydown, the tonka, vetiver and musks add their notes to the baying that is totally disturbing my odor in such a great way and it becomes less fun, smokey, metallic freak and very much a smokey leather scent a lot of you should love.  That whole process, I should tell you, can take a while, so be patient with it.

I’m easily pronouncing Tom of Finland the best thing in their line. It is interesting, well made, feels complete as a perfume, has an extensive drydown that goes through several phases. So put this on your boy or on your girl and get to disturbing their scent zen, it rocks.  With the proviso that if you hate some of the rubbery smoky scents I listed in the last paragraph, there is nothing about Tom of Finland that’s going to work for you.

ADDED:  As far as I know, this is available at Bendel’s in NYC and in a few other locations in Europe.

First, a quick perfume review from my favorite series of perfumes and perfumer, the gorgeous, brillian Jean-Claude Ellena:  Un Jardin Apres la Mousson, the newest editionin the Un Jardin series from Hermes.  Notes of cardamom, coriander, pepper, ginger and ginger flower, with a vetiver accord Ellen created.   Meant to create a monson in India smell, I’m going to have to get off on whether he succeeded precisely, never having gone to India or smelled any time before, during or after a monsoon… just your standard Kansas/Colorado dusty rain shower.  Mousson is spicy earth - yeah, exactly my thinking…huh?!?! It lacks any real sweetness, which I like. There’s a dry vegetal nature to it that leans in and nods to Terre d’Hermes briefly, then the pepper and ginger shoulder up and nudge the other notes to the side.  It is spare and minimal, as JCE does, but it does not lack character, it is its own creation, not just another Un Jardin clone with slight modification, but yet it fits in the series perfect as another viewpoint.  I find it leaning to the masculine side of the scale.  I suspect this may not have the broad appeal of the other two, Mediterranee and Sur Le Nil, but as a dryer, earthier entry, I think it is done well, but I’m not finding anythin really ground-breaking. I do know I’ll enjoy wearing it during the spring/summer months, much like I enjoy Hermessence Osmanthe Yunnan.

March wrote a great review of this book already, soI’m not going to rehash it, even though I had on my plane here while I was whacked out on Xanax trying to calm my breathing (see below on flying nightmare) Both Luca and Tania are witty, concise, smart, evocative writers with a well-developed sense of humor that I enjoyed very much, finding myself laughing hysterically at some of the descriptions. They are never overwrought or given to a lot of purple prose, which I also like, though they capture the elegance and beauty of scents they love poetically. The opening chapters cover some very useful information on how to try perfumes, the history of them, etc.

Once you get to the actual reviews themselves, they are rated on a scale of 1-5 - 5 being a masterpiece. Some of the reviews are short, pithy and hilarious. Others are longer, full of history and information on that scent. You will find much you will agree with in their opinions; some you will be going, ‘What? Are you out of your mind?!?!?” For those of us who have been reading reviews online and on MUA and Basenotes for a long time, we can easily sift through and maintain our sensibilities of what we like and don’t like and won’t immediately glom onto the Masterpieces and discard our favorites.  Exhibit A for me is the Caron trashing.  Disagree vigorously. I’ve smelled the vintage of many of these and the new versions, and there is very little difference between them.  It perplexes me.  Now, the edts are a different matter, but not the urns.

My fear on this rating system is for the new perfumista, so this proviso is for them: Take it with a grain of salt. Tania and Luca are gifted writers and have an excellent sense of smell and great taste in perfume, but theirs is also an opinion, given the same weight as Freida down the road who likes things that skew to her own taste. If you try some of the Masterpieces and 4 star perfumes, you may find some new loves, or you may wind up puzzled about how they got that rating.  Listen, I’m going to take a shot at a few of them that I’m unfamiliar with, including, yes,  Tommy Girl. So as with my opinion, March’s opinion and all the other perfume blog writers and reviews on the various boards, we simply have our own taste too, which may or may not coincide with yours. If it intersects, great, you’ve got a good starting point. If not, then discard it.

Now, we totally are not talking about my flight to NYC on Thursday.  Suffice it to say I got caught in the canceled flights, found myself on another airline that was delayed, the confiscated about $200 worth of crap from my suitcase, which was supposed to be checked, but the lines were taking so long, I missed the 45 minutes before departure cut-off  for baggage check, so she told me to take it through security and check it at the gate.  They took my cleansing cream, my big bottle of hairspray, my great hand lotion, my toothpaste and something else, that was after they pulled me aside for a complete check by TSA… when I’ve got 15 minutes to make my flight.    Okay, one Xanax later once I got on the plane, and I’m feeling better now.

There was another called Midnight something?  Seriously hot.  Lilybp wound up with it on the back of her neck, and it was stunning.  My memory should be better, there were others that were just wonderful.  We all found something to love, including my mom, who doesn’t like perfume very much because it usually goes bad on her skin, but she loved the Rainflower, and it smelled beautiful on her.

 I Hope Lilybp and Chaya chime in with the names and notes of the other perfumes. I knew I should have written them down. Most of them are new and not even ready to purchase yet, but should be soon.

So many hours later, smelling just gorgeous, we left the restaurant, Neil headed home, we walked Chaya to her stop, then we went on over to Chanel and Hermes for a little shopping. What?  You really didn’t think we’d be good, did you?

Are there pictures?  Well, no, der.  I’m a goof, I forgot to take my camera, and it never occurred to me to use my cell phone camera.

Now, I also know that y’all were pulling for K.U. Saturday night.. what a game! Of course, sitting in a bar with some great friends who are as loud and obnoxious as I can be when watching my team play is great fun to begin with, but seeing them pulverize-crush-destroy er, win would have been a treat anywhere.  

I’m writing this before the Jayhawks play tonight, but I do expect y’all to do the same as last week and root them on to victory.  If victory comes, I’ll do a drawing for some of my six favorite perfumes from last Friday.  No victory… hairshirts for everyone!

Added:  What a great game!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Drop a comment if you want in the drawing!!!

When one sets out to narrow down to six perfumes her favorites, what she should do instead is grab a Xanax,  place her head under the pillow, hold it down firmly so nobody hears and scream until the mood passes.

But I didn’t. Instead I have come up with the list of the six perfumes that I cannot live without, under any circumstances, and which best define who I am or want to pretend to be. So they may or may not be the perfumes that I admire most as great creations, though I think all on this list are that, but they are the ones most beautiful to me. The agonies of discarding beloved perfumes from this list has been horrible. Warning, there are a couple of incidences of cheating to narrow this down…

1. Ormonde Woman. Full-bodied green velvet –think Miss Ellen’s Poitiers from Gone with The Wind, after they got made into that beautiful green gown for Scarlett. A little saucy and tart, makes you pucker sometimes, not sure if you like it or not, but inevitably its charm wears you down. Parfum version preferred, it just amps up the annoyance and the charm.

2. Guerlain Après L’ondee. Melancholy, regretful, but completely full of hope. It is sorrow at 1,000 yards, where you can look at it and appreciate the exquisite pain without really feeling it. The numb place before the real pain sets in or after it has gone. EDT or parfum will work.

3. Le Labo Patchouli 24/Vanille 44 – Okay, this is a cheat, I know, I know! But they GO together, kids! A spritz of Patch down the front of your shirt for depth and tarry resonance and a couple of spritzes of Vanille over your outer clothes and in your hair creates a cloud of woody vanilla over that tar - truly the most amazing and comforting scent in the world.

4. Christian Dior Dorling vintage parfum. What a cold, unfeeling thing it starts off as, and you’re thinking it has no soul; it’s finicky, much too churlish and standoffish to love. That’s when Dorling brings the magic. It warms not into the most beautiful girl in the room, but the most interesting, the one you have to stop and pay attention to, sit and talk with. Anthropomorphize much? Well, this perfume seems completely human to me, and she never fails to amaze me.

5. CB Cradle of Light/Strange Invisible Perfumes Lady Day/Serge Lutens Sarrasins. Yes, I’m cheating, but any of these three could fit here, and any day will have me changing my mind. They are gorgeous jasmine treatments, and each stuns me and can keep me mesmerized all day with its beauty - sort of a hypnotic sniffing loop.  Everyone has to have a jasmine on their list, unless you hate jasmine, but you should get over it and put one on your list anyway… or three.

6. Serge Lutens Iris Silver Mist. Give me that overabundance of cold, rooty iris with a dollop of spice in the drydown, and I’ll give you my unadorned and complete, lavish devotion for a lifetime.  Genius, brilliant, and a joy to wear on any day of the year.

While I started off with a list of five, I had to expand it to six because none of these would exit the list. Now, as I read comments, I will find my head exploding as you guys mention perfumes that should be on this list, and there is a subset of about 100 perfumes that go beneath these that I also can’t live without, but these are the list of six’ish that I will have in embarrassing amounts for all of my life.

What’s your six?

Annoying American Idol part of Friday:  Ramiele is GONE, yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mop-up items:  Winner of the Indult C16 and CdG Hinoki samples are:  Tom (tmp00) and Six.  Just click on Contact us over on the left, and send me you address and I’ll ship you the samples! 

This really is going to be one of those posts, and I do apologize, but I just have a bunch of stuff to talk about, some only a little bit about perfume.

First, I am going to just squeeze March to pieces for turning me on to these Not Your Daughter jeans.  If you are blessed with a figure that slips into 7 jeans, I’m pea green, but my boyish hips disappeared with the birth of my first son. These things are marvelous. I have hated to go jeans shopping forever because I hate the way they look, they fit or don’t fit. It’s just a trial and painful to shop for jeans. I ordered these without trying them on, just using the sizing guide, and they are perfect. Just enough stretch in them to be comfy, not enough that they are sloppy or loose. If you tend to wiggle around a size depending on the season/laxity of exercise, etc., these will accommodate those, um… size revisions.

Second, we need to organize all of you that are going to Sniffa so we can make sure we get together and meet.  March and I both are going, and it’s week after this, in NYC. If you’re going to be there, drop a note in comments, and if you put in an accurate e-mail address (which only we see), we’ll include you on an e-mail and try and plan a meet-up outside of Sniffa activities on Thurs or Fri or Sat or all three!!!  Like my life could get any better. I get to meet Chaya and lilybp and Neil Morris this week already, so I’m pretty jacked about meeting more of you next week.

 Third, it is your solemn, sworn duty as a perfumista to root for KU in the Final Four.  Well, okay, not really, but if you don’t have a team already picked, KU is a worthy team with a long, classy history of basketball excellence… and they are playing the coach that abandoned them IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT when he said he would stay — the Evil Roy Williams.  No, I’m not bitter, why do you ask?

A month or so ago, March sent me Estee Lauder Azuree to sniff because she thought I would love it.  She gets Aces for her powers of fragrant perception. Introduced in 1969, it has notes of Basil, Jasmine, Citrus, Armoise, Vetiver, Rose, Patchouli, Moss, and Amber.  It goes on like a moss blossom popped its little champagne cork, perfuming the air with lovely green bubbles.  It is your best day in the garden, your favorite, worn pair of leather gloves held up to your nose after you’ve been snipping Rose Bushes and catmint and lavender. If you are a fan of classic, timeless perfumery at its best, snag some Azuree for a run - it’s balls-out underneath a very gorgeous, feminime circle skirt — you know the one, it widens out for miles when you twirl around.

Image from Caryl Bryer Fallert

Once the temperatures start rising just a little, as I’m rolling through my decanting early in the morning, before my day job starts, there are always a few perfumes in certain seasons that I can’t pass by without spritzing. 

If it’s spring, it is Guerlain’s Apres L’ondee.  Violets in rain.  Created by Jacques Guerlain and launched in 1906, it has notes of bergamot, neroli, aniseed, hawthorn, violet, heliotrope, iris and musk. 

The scent of the time between death and life, clinging to the earth in the rootiness of the iris and musk, but stretching to life with the neroli and violet, with the anise and hawthorn giving it a little interesting rhythmic funk  just so you don’t forget how to really live in the in-between spaces.

For me, it is full-on, heady, unadorned, and unfettered joyous sorrow - tears in rain, where you cannot tell where your tears end and the rain starts; the joy racing through your veins because you still feel and are rejoicing and lamenting for all that life should be and is and isn’t.  Apres L’Ondee is the tension in life, weighty and weightless - perfectly blended, but always separate. 

March and I have joked forever that we will have Apres L’Ondee piped in during our funerals because that’s how we want people to feel when we go out — sad to see us gone, but forever glad that we lived.

Am I over the top in my love for Apres L’Ondee? Yes, absolutely. It makes my heart sing every time I smell it, rejoicing in all that life is mixed with regret for all it will never be.  There are very few perfumes that never fail to make me appreciate living as much as Apres does.  So what perfume “does it” for you?

Completely off-topic, can we talk about American Idol for a second?  That guy with the weird hair bangs that did Billie Jean — love him, just close my eyes when he sings.  Ramiele, why is she still there? At least Chikezie (sp) was interesting and entertaining.  Ramiele adds nothing to the show except shortness and whining.  Who is voting for her? If it’s you, stop it, I mean it.

Other than some continuing laryngitis - may I say that I really love the huskiness of my voice right now as long as I stay in the low registers, don’t try to raise my voice and squeak, which really spoils the sex kitten voice vibe I’d like to have - I’m slowly returning to some semblance of health that includes a hacking cough from time to time and still diminished lung capacity - but improving! Well… that was sure fun.

My nose is working properly again, and it’s time to look at a couple of new things. Indult C16 is a new release, available only at Colette in Paris for about $250 for 50 mls, plus shipping. Created by Francis Kurkdjian, It is meant to evoke the smell of Tonkin musk. I’m assuming this is not the real deal, but a chemical recreation. It strikes me on first sniff as one that you will either hate (my sister’s reaction), love as a close skin scent, but not particularly groundbreaking (my reaction) or possibly love as the best musk ever (I don’t have a third tester here, but can see someone feeling this way). It is musk, and it appears that there may be some anosmic elements at play. On me, I don’t get any bad smell at all, like my sister gets, just this very soft skin-hugging musk that’s my skin but better. I think it’s wonderful, but given the varying reaction so far, I’m afraid I’m not smelling all of it and if I wear it out, I might be shunned – so I need more people to tell me what they smell because it seems to be either a direct hit or a direct miss. YNMV. If you love musk, it’s likely worth a try. It is limited to 213 bottles at Colette, though once you buy a bottle, you can get refills for, I guess, forever.

Comme des Garcons Hinoki has notes of Cypress, turpentine, camphor, cedar, thyme, pine, Georgian wood, frankincense, moss and vetiver. This goes on ultra-woody and with the tang of the turpentine and camphor buzzing through your nose like a mentholated bullet. CdG’s incense series has long been a big favorite of mine, and I admire each of them for how they are different from the other, but hanging together as incense through and through. Hinoki feels like a piece of that set, focusing very much on the woody side of incense, but with a rich loaminess overlaying it, like a moss-covered tree. It never loses that tang throughout the drydown, though it does settle down the longer it is on. Even though it’s not officially part of the incense series, I think it belongs there and is a good addition, not like any of the other five, though touching on several of them.

In celebration of my slow return to health, let’s do a drawing for a sample of each of these. Just drop a comment, and I’ll draw a winner or two next week.

As promised, y’all get to participate in my eyelash extension session from Thursday.

Background — I am fair complected, blonde hair, and my eyelashes are almost blonde as well. Not blonde enough that they stand out a little, but just enough that they fade right into my eyeline, so nothing frames my eyes.  Compound that with having lashes to curl down below the line of the eye.  For me to even appear to have eyes with a nice little eyelash fringy frame, it requires about three coats of mascara, much curling, some conditioner, and even then… did I mention my eyelashes are really fine?  Yes, mascara does not like to stick, so it starts peeling off midway through the day.  Disheartening.  I actually have pretty great eyes other than that -  it’s one of my favorite features.  The lack of eyelashes without slathering on a lot of chemical goo suuuuucks. 

 For some idea of what my lashes look like, go here and look at the before and after pictures eight down from the top.  Not me, but that’s pretty close to my befores and afters.  I would take snaps, but I’ve had acute bronchitis all week, and even with pretty lashes, I am not looking very spiffy yet.  BTW, my doc did concoct me a killer phenergan/codeine cough syrup that is knocking me out a little at night so I’m getting just a tidge of sleep– blessedly.  I thought I was going to have to cancel my appointment this morning or give it to my sister (she was gleeful) because of my nonstop coughing, but my Lung-shushing Elixir worked its magic, and I made it through the two hours without hacking my lungs up.

I had heard about eyelash extensions from my hair stylist since they do it at her salon, thought it sounded pretty nifty, but just never seriously considered doing it until recently.  Two reasons finally made me fork over the $250 to get them done – 1) with my fair complexion, mascaras just wind up looking harsh on my mildly aging face, and 2) I really pretty much hate wearing mascara, always have and wind up going without most of the time and looking like I have no eyes. 

Lisa went over the process, what to expect, how long it would take, we decided to do a mix of black and brown lashes because I was afraid all black may be too harsh, but I wanted enough color that they would pop up.  She got me all settled down on her table, put some cooling doohickeys under my eyes, some tape to pull my eyelids up a little, and my eyes stayed closed the entire time.  She went back and forth from eye to eye putting on one lash at a time.  It’s a tedious process, and it will take a couple of hours for a full set (you can’t do your bottom lashes, nothing to grab on to.  How full/long/thick you can go depends on your natural lashes.  They have to have enough structure to support the extension.  So if you have really thin, fine lashes, don’t expect to get glam lashes. 

Just having someone working on your eye like that can be irritating. My eyes are a little sensitive to begin with, and they are still sick, so while they aren’t all red and irritated now, they do feel a bit mishish - getting better as the day goes on.

They are perfect, not too much, not over the top like false eyelashes can be, you can’t tell they are extensions; my eyes get a nice frame that they deserve, no mascara necessary. The upkeep?  Well, you have to go get a refill once every three weeks, which runs 50-65 normally, depending on how many lashes you want added back in.

It is a spendy procedure, and for people with dark lashes or no aversion to mascara, I wouldn’t recommend it just on the cost factor. If you have fine lashes, hard to see, and you hate mascara or it doesn’t stick to your lashes long and your budget can handle it, I think it’s a great way  to look great right out of bed in the morning.

Next time… I’m thinking maybe a little color, like a dark eggplant or navy blue, which is softer on the eyes.

This winter has been brutal as far as this flu/cold thing.  I’ve been flirting with having it several times, sick a little bit for a few days, but not in the same over the top, horrible way everyone else in my family has wound up with it.

The damn thing finally ran me to the ground this week, wrapping me in that thermal dance that seems to be impossible - shivering everywhwere, but your head is burning up.  Little rumbling hacking, tight cough starts somewhere in the bottom of your lungs and it’s…. oh, no!  This is really gonna suck.  You have that moment of surrender when you know there’s just no avoiding this germy bullet, time to pull out all the Jane Austen and Lord of the Rings DVDs.

Much as I’d like to be sniffing some perfumes and writing about them, instead I’m only fit to describe the homey comfort of the smell of Ben-Gay.    When we were sick as kids - and I was sick all the time - my mom would smear Ben-Gay on our chests, give us a hot toddy (little whiskey, honey and hot water), put cloths on top of the stove, heat them up, pack them on our chests, get another ocloth heated up, change it out for the first one, and keep doing that until the skin of your chest was approximately the temperature of the sun,  Then we’d be packed off to bed.  Sometime during the night, we would sweat and cough and hack and the fever would break, we were cool once again and on the mend.

I don’t do the hot towels on my chest anymore because I don’t have one of those old farm stoves to heat it up on, but the Ben-Gay is a staple.  One whiff of that pungent nasal-clearing concoction feels like home and mom and love - the one person in the world who loves you in a way no one else ever will.

As for that hot toddy, I think I’m going to just go for a Tuaca and Coke instead.  Drink a cold, starve a fever? 

Something to look forward to this week or next – my vanity tour continues.  Next up is eyelash extensions.  Being blond  has some good things about it, but it also means my lashes have always been light and almost impossible to see.  Add on to that using mascara for 40 years, and they are thin as lady bug wings right now.  So I’m heading to the eyelash store to get a nice, full set of lashes.  Anyone else done that? Then the next thing I’m toying with is the eyeliner tattoo. A friend of mine did that, and they look great, but she said it took a lot of tequila before she had it done, and even then, it hurt like heck.  Advice? 

Chandler Burr has trashed the new release Chloe in his reviews - in writing  and in person - so when it showed up as a sample in a Sak’s order, I thought… well, let’s give it a whirl and see if I agree or not. The little sniff I had before was on paper, and that tells me next to nothing.  Notes of peony, lychée, freesia, rose, magnolia, lily of the valley, amber and cedar wood.  Peony is a note I adore in everything, so I should be pre-disposed to liking this.  It goes on like a floral dud.  Seems big and then just bursts, scatters into nothing very interesting at all.  There’s almost the smell of bug spray in there.  Must be a synthetic note that’s just off in my nose.  But with that, and with the proviso that a note may be coloring the whole thing for me, this is awful.  It’s mushy with no definition, just a big ole floral soup.  Gah.

Now, why do we have the Vanity picture?  Well, I treated myself today to the first in a series of 3-5 IPL photofacials.  I used to be out in the sun a lot when I was a kid, either working on the farm or later just sunbathing trying to get as dark a tan as my very fair, English skin could manage.  Over the years, capillaries broke, there was a lot of underlying sun damage on my face, which is kinda cute when you’re young.  As I now am within spitting distance of that major age milestone, the ruddiness on my cheeks/nose was just bugging me.  I kept putting off doing the IPL (intense pulsed light) because it is costy and unnecessary, and it really doesn’t add anything to my life or my worth or well-being… except, well, I wanted to be able to once again run around without any foundation on my face and not feel/look like the ruddy washwoman fresh from the steamy suds. 

Listen, if you have rosacea or broken capillaries or acne scars or just a really uneven skin tone that makes you feel not as fresh-faced as you would like or that you always have to have your face on before you exit the house… go.now.do.IPL. Save your pennies, take out a second mortgage on your house, just do it.  With one treatment, even with the little pinkness the first day, my complexion looks clear as a bell, fresh, youthful.   I can’t even imagine what 2-4 more treatments will do, but I absolutely will be able to not even bother putting on foundation -  just throw on some eyeshadow and mascara and be done with it.  

What is the treatment like? It’s a little annoying.  You get all trussed up on your cot, they put on goggles, then she just pulses your skin with the laser.  It feels like a little bit of a rubber band snapping your skin.   The first few minutes are annoying, but then you get used to it.  When they are going over the more sensitive areas around your nose, cheeks, with the most damage, then it can get really annoying, but it doesn’t take long.  The forehead is the weirdest, because even with the goggles, you get the bright red light somewhere in your optical area - a strange sensation.  Takes about 60 minutes from start to finish.

Am I vain?  Not really.  And just a little.  Yes, those two opposites can live in perfect tension.  Nothing in me wants to be young again, I’m just not ready to be old.

How much vanity can a woman live with once she gets to a certain age, and how much aging does she have to put up with so she doesn’t become a cartoon character of herself?  This goes for men, too, because I know more and more men are doing cosmetic procedures.  How do we know when we’ve gone too far?

Lee gave a great review on this last week, and I did a short blurb as well, but I am so much in love with this stuff, I have to write a little more about it - mostly because I’ve put it on every day since I got it.

This goes on like thick honeyed smoke, a more palatable Miel de Bois with some dark, rich Tea for Two and CdG Tea thrown in.  It can change back and forth from smoke to tea to honey being more prominent, with ginger overarching the whole composition, bubbling, but never getting oppressive, which is what I would expect from something with these strong notes.  This is one of the few scents I’ve worn out that I’ve gotten a compliment on - I do try to be careful about my sillage in public, though my private sillage is just embarrassingly ridiculous much of the time.

I stuck my sprayed hand under my youngest son Harry’s nose and asked him what he thought, and he kept my hand and just drowned his nose in it.  Since he’s only done that with a couple of scents, that is high praise indeed.

If you despise tea scents or smokey scents or all of the ones referenced above, The Five may not work for you, but I am guessing this will wind up being one of the better sellers for their export line. It’s brilliantly done.  And freaking hot.

A question, if you had to pick just two of the Serge exports and two of the Serge non-exports that you could have a constant supply of for your whole life, which would you pick?