by The Mystified Musette

So…I’m still a little stuffy…okay, I’m still JAMMED in the sinii, though I’m wearing Cartier Declaration today and can parse out the bulk of the notes.  Not sure if that’s because I already know what it’s supposed to smell like, so even the sketchiest of outlines could be filled in by scent-memory …or can I actually smell it?  How can one tell?  Like…hey, do you ever wonder if what you see is what another person sees?  Like the color ‘blue’…is that all just a giant psychic agreement amongst us or  do we actually all ‘see’ the same basic shade(s) of color that we agree, in words, that we see.  Can I ever know what ‘blue’ means to you?  And why on earth am I yarking ON about that, you might ask?

Well, you might ask…but I sure can’t answer.  That’s not what today’s post is about anyway, though it is an intriguing question.    Okay – here’s today’s musings.  I was thinking about ‘light’ and ‘fresh’ scents and what they tend to represent in writing and, to a certain extent, to society still today.  This came about recently when I read A Trick of the Light by Louise Penny (thanks, S, for introducing me to Inspector Gamache!!!)…anyway, in the story one of the policemen is remembering his time spent in hospital, where he lay near death.  He compares the scent of the woman who sat at his bedside with that of his wife (they are separated)…sounds like the bedsitter is wearing Fresh Lemon Sugar and the wife is wearing Opium.  Wife loses.  He actually reminisces that he would not have come back to that cold hand and that perfume (I am paraphrasing, because I don’t have the book to reference – but it’s a close’un).  The whole paragraph is a paean to light, citrus fragrance being equated with fresh, youthful Life.

Remember the old (as in REALLY old) Harlequin Romance books?  The ones from the 60s and 70s, where the heroine always looked like a Breck Girl and the declaration of love was always just a kiss (I remember reading a Harlequin Presents and actually blushed! when they actually had…uh….you know  (hey, I was 11 when the first ‘Presents’ came out – and I was a slow, sheltered child)..anyway! back to the thought at hand…those girls also wore lemony perfumes.  Or they smelled like lilacs.  The Mean Girl always wore a heavy oriental – I call it the Miss Bingley Syndrome (think of the fabulous Anna Chancellor in her heavy Oriental silks and turbans, contrasted with Jennifer Ehle’s fresh, white gowns and simple coiffures) – and the Bingley always loses.

Okay…the stage is set.  in all types of fiction, lemon and very light florals seem to be equated with good, virtue, youth… But that’s not the part I wanted to talk about.  I wanted to talk about the fact that probably 90% of these books, if not more…are written by women!  So now I’m wondering, are we perpetrating the notion of ‘good’  = ‘fresh’ and “heavy/complex” = “bad’ ?   Not that that’s a judgement call on my part – more curiosity than anything.  I love citrus as much as I love incense – but I wonder how this came to be?  Is it a throwback from when heavy perfumes were used to mask illness, decay and body odor – since a light lemon fragrance wouldn’t do the trick, would the wearing of that type of fragrance signal health?  This is obviously not a scientific query – heck, I don’t even know if I’m right about this but it sure reads like it to me.   My ‘findings’ are also not substantiated by anything other than my ramshackle reading habits; it’s certainly not from any serious commentary on what I’m wearing – guys usually limit their perfume remarks to ‘you smell nice’.    El O couldn’t care less what I wear, as long as it’s not Yatagan and as long as I’m not wearing too much of Whatever Isn’t Yatagan.   Hub #1 preferred greeny/limey things but he’s a Gin Gimlet man so that one is easy.  Most guys I know (GUYS.  Not perfumistos) are in El O’s camp – unless they have a particular dislike of a note/scent they don’t care as long as it’s not overdone.

So….did we start  this, laydeez?   Do we secretly believe that lemons equal virginal freshness and that, when all is over, including the shouting, virginal freshness wins out?   Obviously, if we’re mating, the younger and fresher the ovum the better the reproductive chances, yeah…but does that potential for fecundity translate somehow to Fresh Lemon Sugar? Could that be the explanation for the variation on that theme, the ubiquitous fruity-floral, so beloved by young women?  What do  you think?  Do you care?  See, this is what happens when my sinuses go out and I can’t review perfume.  The mind wanders.  Faaaar afield.

And what would be the equivalent for men?  What would the Harlequin Hero wear?  (I always wanted to write a sequel to the Harlequin Romance, where all the heroines and heroes were invited to some shindig in a giant ballroom – but most of the spouses got mixed up and ended up going home with somebody else’s husband/wife..because if you’ve read more than one of those books you know that all the men are tall, muscular and dashing….like a roomful of Errol Flynn pirates or something.  Just imagine trying to pick our your Hero in a ballroom full of Heroes!   All wearing_______________?

heeheee!

I’d love to know what you all think (women and men).  Don’t hesitate to tell me if you think I’m crazy.  You won’t be the first, I promise!!!

photo:  my local library has HUNDREDS of these.

Whew!  2011 is nearly over and I still don’t have my Escape limo and I have NO idea where Woody Harrelson is right now.   Better hustle!!!  But – we still have a few days so let’s take a look back at the  best/worst/most intriguing of 2011.  Most of this will be perfume, as it is The Perfume Posse, not Anita’s Playpen…but save room for a couple of weird inclusions, just because I Am In That Kinda Mood.  We are also not limiting this list (or your comments) to stuff brought forth in 2011 – rather, we’re interested in what piqued your interest this past year – some may have transported you with delight, some might’ve brought up your lunch!  Ya nebber know.

So, without further ado, here’s what grabbed us in 2011.

Anita’s picks:

Cartier les Heurres Fougueuse.  I fell in love with this the moment I sniffed it.  Then, inexplicably, I fell OUT of love with it – I think I got scared.  Then I just…gave in.  And swooned as over the course of the year it wrapped its honeyed, monied silken tendrils of sun-kissed hay around my soul….sigh.  Oh, Mathilde…..every time I wear this my step lightens just a little.. Liz Zorn Centennial.  This is an offshoot of her Historical Chypre, which I fell in love with (and bought nearly every drop she had) during the Chicocoa Scentsation.  The perfect peachy chypre, it is the essence of everything I love about Liz’s work;  I’m praying she brings it back soon. Chanel Coco (the original).  Blame March.  I wondered what y’all were yarking on about.  Now I know.  Amouage Epic Bath Gel and Body Creme. (not too far behind on this one, right?   I know it’s a 2009 but I wasn’t able to make it to the Dubai launch -previous plans, don’tcha know…)…anyhoo, 2011 made it New To Musette.   I just might make it through the winter (and the coming Apocalypse) with this.  I’m going to have to send my water bills to Christopher Chong, though.  Or His Majesty.  Whichever one is most likely to pay.

Alahine.  Epic FAIL.  Can you believe it?  Neither can I.  I waited 2 years to sniff that and when I did……..nothing.  I mean, it’s nice.  But what in the hell are you people smelling that transports you so?  March can’t even SPELL it, she is so in love.  She’s all ‘Alahiiiiiiiine’.  Wish I could have what she’s having.  sigh.

BestChowDiscoveries: Trader Joe’s Chicken Shu Mai.  For all I know these are made with chicken feet and beaks.  But isn’t that the best part? Sonoma Farm (from Chicago, go figure) Hot Pickled Garlic (that’s not what it’s called but that’s what it is ).   The website is seemingly gone and their stuff is hard to find (and when you do, at Food Fairs, etc, well, let’s just say they are not Good With the Publick.  But!  these (and the Brussels Sprouts) are worth the slog. Perfect in everything and yummy alone.  But I suggest you actually BE alone when you eat this stuff.  You will be comin’ in HOT for awhile…

Movies:  I hate going to the movies so I’m usually months behind everybody else.  And I admit to being Cranky Old Bat about the sheer volume of crap that gets released every month – there must be a whole lotta money needs launderin’, is allz I got to say (don’t believe me?  take a look at this 2011 list  (and I’m not even that fussy – I love blow’emups and Tony Scott!).  I did brave the plex for Contagion.   3 of us in the theatre.  Hey, I could get used to that!  El O hated the movie.  I thought it was quietly horrifying.  I also finally got around to The King’s Speech - hey I said I was behind! Why didn’t the gen pop like this film?  I think Geoffrey Rush could read the phone book and I would be entranced.   The funny, touching scene with him and Colin Firth when Lionel parks himself in St. Edward’s Chair…  Pitch-perfect.

March says: I went back and looked at the release dates of new-ish perfumes I enjoyed, and … they all came out in 2010.  So this year has been kind of a dud for me, in terms of new releases.  The one exception is Bottega Veneta, a less-powdery alternative to the new iteration of Cuir de Lancome, if you like the smell of expensive handbags.  Mostly I’ve been enjoying old favorites gathering dust in my collection, including Alahine, Jubilation 25, Coco, Tauer Orris, and Lutens’ Fleurs de Oranger.  I can think of worse things.  Anita sez:  that’s Alahiiiine! to you, li’l Missy.

Patty chimes in: This has been a weirdly great year for me in finding new loves.  From Prada Candy to the new JAR Bed of Roses, to Flowerbomb Extrait to a never-smelled bottle of the now-discontinued Lorenzo Villoresi Ylang-Ylang I found in my closet (yes, everyone should have closets like mine where you find a box full of perfume you forgot you had) that has sent me to the moon (um, see yesterday’s post for histrionics over this), it’s been a mixed bag of great smells.

I still love Bertrand Duchafour because he’s prolific and great, and I know for a fact there is more great stuff coming in 2012, so he gets my vote for Perfumer of the Year? Decade?  Oh, wait, we are two years in a new decade, it’s too early.

Ann’s Picks:

MDCI’s La Belle Helene: Up until this baby, no way,  no how was I ever going into pear territory again. Annick Goutal’s Petite Cherie went sour on me in record time and too many cheap pear body products left me shuddering. Until a sweet Posse swapper sent me a sample of La Belle, and one day, feeling brave, I said, “Oh, what the heck!” and put it on. Wowza! Now this is a pear I can wear. On me, it starts out a little bright, but true to the fruit,  and later, deepens, getting burnished down to a slightly gourmand (is that chocolate I smell?) soft oriental. It has a touchable, almost suedelike vibe to it, not unlike SL’s Daim Blond. It’s almost as if her gloves got left behind in the pear orchard, instead of atop a bushel basket of apricots.

Maison Martin Margiela Untitled: The fashion minimalist in me (I’ve always loved designers such as Zoran and Ronaldus Shamask) coveted this cool, paint-dipped bottle long before I had a chance to sniff the juice. And what lovely green juice it is: A hit of bitter green galbanum a la Cristalle segues beautifully into some musky, almost smoky incense, and thankfully, not an ashtray in sight.

Parfumerie Generale’s Indochine: This has turned out to be one of my favorite comfort “blankies” this winter. It reminds me a bit of Kenzo’s Amour (perhaps the thanaka wood that both share) but to my nose, the PG is richer, more creamy, dreamy and woody. This in a body cream would be nothing short of heaven in a jar. Its stablemate, Cadjmere, is another fave, although it gets a little cheeky with me if I do more than dab it.

Bottega Veneta: This lovely is helping to make a leather lover  out of me, despite my earlier misgivings about the note. BV’s easy elegance just coos quiet sophistication and makes me feel like a million bucks. And it doesn’t hurt that the bottle’s a thing of beauty. Now, if we can just get our hands on some MPG’s Cuir Fetiche to try …

And here’s a wonderful scentiment   from Tom, which we all share!!!

I’m doing my “best of” scent-wise on PST, so I’ll content myself with with celebrating a different best here: YOU GUYS!  That’s right!  I want to toast all of you out there, fellow bloggers, commenters and readers.  In the last several years of blogging, reading, learning and meeting people I can honestly state that I have never met a more warm, funny, intelligent and giving group of people.  YOU are the best of 2011 or any other year and I wish you all the best in the future.

For more looks back at 2011 please visit  Perfume-Smellin’ Things, Bois de Jasmin, Now Smell This and Grain de Musc.

by Musette the Mystified

I was going to write about chocolate and flowers today but I can’t.  I need your help, my dearest Posse.  Here’s the scoop:  After months of lobbying, my company has been invited to a very important corporate meeting.   Yay!  As important, if not more, I will be meeting with a key player from the company with which we have formed a strategic partnership – this  is one I am very excited about – we are entering the next phases in Renewable Energy and this partnership will allow us to explore broader avenues of design and fabrication...blahblahblahyoudon’tcareIdon’tblameyou… butit’sBig Doin’s….

…..so I’m stoked.  Can you tell?  But I don’t know what to wear, perfume-wise!  I’m torn: usually I go with what makes me comfortable, which is Mitsouko.  But I found out that Mitsouko, coupled with my rather assertive nature, can be a bit unnerving to guys – and this is NOT what I am looking to do here.  Carnal Flower ? To va-va-vooom, I’m thinking.  It has to be something I can wear like a favorite couture jacket but has that ‘oh, honey’  feel of a fleece hoodie.

I’ve narrowed  the options to the following:

Vintage Parure (well, that’s a ‘duh’ .  It’s ALL vintage, as Guerlain has not seen fit to see the light)…I love the silken combination of bergamot, plum and rose, wrapped in all that green…but it doesn’t last long on me (weird, yes). I tend to apply sparingly – perhaps if I spritzed a tad more – but what if I over-spritz.  Is that possible?

Cuir de Russie parfum – perfection beyond pearls.  But is it too ‘dressy’?  This is an energy plant, not a Mad Men boardroom – at some point I will be donning a hard hat and steel toe boots.

vintage Diorling – elegant as all get-out, not as lush and louche as the Chanel – but does the concept of leather in a fragrance translate in a room full of men wearing Dockers?

I discarded the gorgeous Cartiers Brillante and Fougeuse – the former is too stilettos and cocktails and the latter, if you are not nuanced in perfume, conjures up ‘horse’.  I don’t want them wondering if I just fell out of the hayloft.  These folks know haylofts. Both Cartiers do better in the City.

Liz Zorn’s Centennial.  I have been wearing it a lot and getting lots of compliments but I dunno…..maybe too sex-peachy?  I love it but it hangs right on the knife edge, where contemporary Femme fell over (remember that awful time I wore contemporary Femme and a fuzzy sweater to a conference?  I felt like I’d shown up in last night’s negligee!)

The Oddball Choice:  LeLabo Iris 39.  Cool, confident…but maybe TOO cool?  These are extremely conservative people.  I am not.  At all.  I am a complete Alien in this environment, from an ethnic, gender and attitude standpoint.  And they are writing the checks.  So I have to make sure I don’t just Wack myself out of contention here.
Weirdo:  vintage Diorella.  It would be grand – but I tend to be over-aware of it (it is SO strangely beautiful).  I always wonder if folks (read: regular guys) ‘get’ this one.  El O often sniffs towards me (from a distance) when I wear it,  like a dog does when he senses a pack of coyotes near…

Last Ditch Perfection:  Amouage Jubilation 25.  ’nuff said.  But is it enough?  Or is it too much?  Can it bridge the bespoke jacket/fleece hoodie chasm and bring me to that level of perfect comfort I so desperately need?

My hand strays, yet again, to vintage Mitsouko edp….but it’s wa-ronnnng!  Forbidden Love, there.

So….what are your thoughts?  I have many, many more scents (yah,  quelle surprise and all that) but these are my default comfort armor choices.  If you were in my steel-toe boots, which would YOU choose?   Is there some scent I’ve missed that will hit all my Corporate requirements and still make me a happy, secure, comfortable alien?  What is your ‘default perfection’ scent for events such as this?

I have today to make the decision, tomorrow I am on the 8-hr road to Cornville.  Helllllllp!

What did I promise last week in the drawing? Oh, yeah, all those samples except the Watermelon Gazpacho, which I slurped down. Then I just abandoned all pretense of civility and started eating watermelon straight. Just watermelon/melon for three days. I’m foundering on it. We have now entered the melon feast/fast stage of summer where I live on melons and peaches.  To be followed by a fall of pumpkin everything – pumpkin gnocchi, pumpkin soup, pumpkin bread, pumpkin seeds, pumpkin pie – hmmm, can I do a raw pumpkin pie?  Must think about this

So the winners from last week are:  Matt and Brooke.  Just hit the Contact Us over on the left, remind me what you’ve won, get me your address. I’ll give you a quick “got it” return e-mail so you know you escaped my junk filter, and then I’ll get them sent out. If you don’t get a return e-mail, contact me again.  No Watermelon Gazpacho in the sample pack. Can you do a peach gazpacho?  I think I found a recipe for a pineapple gazpacho.

Now, the raw pizza crust recipe and marinara sauce:

 Crust

3 Large Yellow Onions

2/3 Cup Flax Seeds, ground (I used Brown, but Golden will also work)

1/2 Cup Sunflower Seeds, ground

1/4 Cup Almond Flour, (dehydrated almond pulp)

1/3 Cup Nama Shoyu?1/4 Cup Olive Oil (cold pressed or non-pressed)

2 Tbs Nutritional Yeast

1 Tbs Oregano

1 Clove Garlic, minced

1 Tsp Himalayan Crystal Salt (more or less to taste)

Start by grinding all of the seeds into a fine powder. Place the dry ground flax, sunflower, and almond flour into a large bowl and stir around to mix well.   Add the remaining dry ingredients, the nutritional yeast, oregano and Himalayan salt, to the bowl and again mix well.

Clean and peel the three large onions and cut into quarters.  In a food processor slice all of the onions into slivers using the slicing disc. Break up any large pieces so you are left with mostly onion slivers.  Place the onion slivers a large clump at a time into the large bowl with the dry ingredients and toss until all of the onions are well coated.   Mix together the nama shoyu, olive oil, and minced garlic, then incorporate into the dry ingredients .   Set this bowl aside for five minutes or so to allow the dry mixture to soak up the wet ingredients.  Press this mixture into a tart pan or pizza pan. Something with sides works pretty well.

Sauce

3 cup baby grape tomatoes

1 cup raisins

1 lemon, juiced

3 garlic clove

1/2 cup basil

sea salt to taste

Blend in a blender until smooth. Adjust for enough sweet flavor with a hint of tang from the lemon juice.    Top your pizza with whatever veggies you have around.

That’s your delicious raw food recipe for the week.  Wow, that’s like a whole post, none of it about perfume, except I DO have a perfume to talk about.

I like Cartier Baiser Vole.  It shocked me kind of, but not really.  Mathilde Laurent I think is so good, but I know with this and the Lune thing they did, they were aiming at a more commercial audience. I liked Lune and happily wear it from time to time. It’s easy to wear.  Baiser Vole is the same – very commercial, but really easy to wear. So commercial enough that it will sell easily, but not so much that it smells like everything else out there, just close enough that consumers won’t think it’s too weird for them.

The marketing materials say it’s all about the lily, the flower men pick as most liking to smell.  I would have argued that point, thinking men aren’t crazy about lily, but so far every male that’s smelled this perfume thinks it’s great and have commented no fewer than 5-6 times about how good it smells. It skews youthful, floral, little green, little sweetish, not entirely nice, but  mom won’t notice she’s a a bit of a tart.  It’s pretty strong out of the bottle, so go easy on it if you’re wearing it to the office or on a date, a little will waft happily across a football field.  Must be that cool bottle which looks like a lighter – shoots it like a scented flame thrower.

Source of this sample is Cartier.  They sent me plenty, so I’m going to give away like 10 generous samples of it to commenters.  So just drop a comment to be entered.

Now, y’all may shoot me for this, but it’s the end of July, and the end of summer is in sight, and it makes me sad. When peaches show up (next week), I know we are in the wrap-up phase.

Everything ends.  This is something that is stuck in my head for the last week.  I feel less sad about things that may end before I’m ready because I know the end is there for everything.  This winds up floating through my head during meditation. Oh,  yeah, I’m doing my 30-day yoga/meditation challenge. 30 days of both every day. I’m almost done with Day 3.  Much as I’d like to tell you I’m thinking about the big things in life that end – and I do! – what also crosses my mind is my dwindling supply of Apres L’Ondee vintage parfum and other finite scents that I’ll probably never see again once it’s gone.

What are you going to be sad to see end that you have in your perfume library?  Or in some other nonscented thing that you know will eventually end?

Patty

I was in Chicago for a nanosecond for meetings and some fun.  And that always includes perfume.  But it’s been kinda boring lately, with all the flankers and foobers and flubbers clanking their way across the counters, shrieking and clawing for attention, all smelling much the same (but it’s NEW!).  The really good SAs, like Mohammed at Nordstrom (shameless plug, there – he really IS phenomenal) wince every time I stalk into the perfume section “oh, dear.  Here she comes – again.  And I got nuthin’……until last Friday.

Mohammed met me at the counter with this wicked glint in his eye and an oval bottle with a vaguely familiar cap: “would you like to try something………NEW??? my dear?” He was nearly giggling with anticipation at the look of horror on my face.  (I’m such a snob).

I prepared to recoil (did I mention I’m a snob?)…..then he said the magic name:  Mathilde Laurent. I am such a Laurent fangirl that I would try eau de toilette – from the toilet – if she was behind it.    So yah, sure!  Hand it ovah!

Oh, Mathilde.  I do love you so.  I love you even more than I did when you blew my mind with the uber-urban  gin and tonic at 5:45p (Brillante)…when you brought the Saudi prince who magically bestowed upon me my Percheron 6-hitch (Fougeuse) and mornings on the terrace, watching the gardeners weed the flower beds (Diaphane)..

But I now love you more than rubies.  You have brought me a lily.  A lily I can wear.  Bless you, darling.  Baiser Vole ( Stolen Kiss) starts as a breath of soapy green, with an undercurrent of the fleshy sweetness of a Madonna Lily (lilium candidum) Not as sneezey-sweet as a Stargazer, Madonnas always smell to me  like cooling cooked sweet milk .  The soapy opening gives way to the bitter green of the stems and leaves (I think Mathilde threw the whole lily in there, from the bulb to the pistils) …then the soapy/fleshy tone comes back…then the dirt, then the cooling sweet milk…then back to the soapy green.  This is like a Philip Glass tune, with the same 5 notes played over and over – but in varying pitches and tones – like pale faceted aquamarine.  Not quite precious, but interesting and really pretty!    I’m not getting a lot of powder, instead what I get is powdered ….leaf?  Maybe.  Just a tad ‘different’ from your average soapy floral.   Unlike Les Heures, Baiser Vole seems designed for the  larger mainstream market – it doesn’t have a challenging bone in its body  but it’s nuanced enough to make it interesting beyond the first spritz.  In less adept hands this would’ve been a total snooze but La Belle Laurent keeps it on the knife-edge between ‘interesting’ and accessible.  I wore this all day yesterday and was amazed at how it kept my interest and how many people thought I smelled…pretty.  Sometimes that’s all a gal needs.

My sample came from Nordstrom Chicago which was awaiting delivery and it’s supposedly exclusive to them (in the US) for a year  -  according to Mohammed Baiser Vole will be  available in 1.6 oz/$100 and 3.3 oz/ $145 .

Notes are:  Lily flowers/lily stems/lily bulbs/lily.  I’m sure there’s other stuff in there but they didn’t have actual notes yet – so I’m giving you my version.

image:  A Stolen Kiss