By March

If you don’t know whether to laugh or cry, you know what time it is?  Time to put on some perfume.  So there I was at Nordstrom, in a massive hurry as usual, and I walked by the Chanel counter on the way out and saw No. 19 Poudré sitting there.

The original No. 19 is, in my opinion, a love-it-or-hate-it.  Those fangs of galbanum and thorny rose … I’m more in the hate-it camp.  So of course I picked that bottle of Poudré right up and sprayed it on generously; hey, why not?  Putting on perfume can be living dangerously in a very small, safe way.

Jacques Polge did this version, and to the extent that the job of any great modern perfumer is to dumb down a classic to make it more palatable to the huddled masses, he succeeded.  The fangs have been pulled, and it’s still green at the opening, but much softer and grassier, and the scent is focused on iris more than anything.  Despite the name, it wasn’t powdery on me at all, which is a good thing.

This scent would, I think, be a bitter disappointment to anyone who loves No. 19; the relationship is tenuous, and the reviews online are pretty mixed, trending toward negative.

And yet.

You know what you get when Jacques Polge remakes a galbanum-green scent into something more mass market?  You don’t get a pair of Uggs.  You don’t get a f’ing Snuggie.  You get nine miles of uncompromising orris butter underpinned by a hint of smoky leather and what their brochure describes as “the latest generation of the most sophisticated, beautifully soft and light musks” and which I will English-to-English translate for you as: not laundry musks.

I think it’s lovely.   I’d be delighted with a bottle, thank you very much, and unlike a lot of people who’ve complained about longevity I could smell it a day later on my wrists and forearms.  In fact, I’ve decided it’s the perfect scent for the new life I am emerging into right now – the suit’s a soft knit, but the tailoring’s impeccable, and it’s got that hint of aloofness I love in the classic Chanels.

Notes: Grasse neroli, mandarin orange, jasmine absolute, iris pallida, white musk notes, Haitian vetiver, tonka.

PS Don’t forget – Swapmania starts on Friday!

March

By Ann

First off, congrats to the winners of the Dahlia Noir samples: dinazad, Madea, Austenfan and Elizabeth C. Drop Musette an e-mail at her gmail addy evilauntieanita  AT

Now that we’re well into the dangerous time of year for ice and snow in the South (much of our worst weather has come January-March), it prompted me to think about mishaps on slick or icy patches.

Even at my best, I have a natural inclination toward clumsiness. Perhaps it’s because I have too much on my mind and I’m not as aware as I should be of my surroundings. That tendency, paired with skin that bruises if you look at it too hard, makes me a prime candidate for a full-length padded body suit, as soon as someone creates one that’s practical.

One of my worst incidents, a few years back, was especially embarrassing. Coming back from the mailbox, I slipped on some icy slush at the edge of the garage, fell down, hit my browbone on my son’s scooter handle and passed out. I wound up with a whopper of a black eye and what I can only call a kaleidoscopic knee:  Each day showed off yet another intense hue on the bruise color wheel. That I covered up with pants, but the eye — well, all I can say is thank goodness for heavy-duty concealer and dark purple eyeshadow (to help make my good eye match my bruised one). It wasn’t foolproof, but it passed muster upon casual observation and helped keep the stares to a minimum. I must have looked like a goofy middle-aged woman in dire need of a makeup lesson. Poor hubby, understandably, was a bit reluctant to go anywhere with me for fear of the dirty looks he was likely to get.

Then last summer, I fell at the beach, slipping down on a rain-slick ramp in the condo parking garage. Didn’t pass out that time, but both my behind and my pride got a good bruising.

Now, you might be thinking, “Good grief! What on earth does her rambling have to do with fragrance?” Well, fear not, I’m getting to it.

A few years ago on one of my annual late spring trips (pre-unemployment, naturally) to my beloved San Francisco, I headed over to the lovely Chanel boutique on Maiden Lane. I walked in the store, so quiet and serene, almost reverential, exuding luxury from every square inch. I headed across the plush ivory carpet, past the to-die-for handbags and down the stairs to the fragrance and cosmetics area, where I could see the glorious glass bottles of the Les Exclusifs on display.

Almost there and  then — whoops! I completely miss the last step and go crashing down on my derriere. This, of course, not only knocks the wind out of me, but also mortifies me beyond belief. I’m praying the earth will open up and swallow me, because almost instantly I’m surrounded by security guards, multiple sales associates and the store manager. Turns out I wasn’t hurt, just shaken up, and I got back on my feet as quickly as I could. I assured them that I was all right and got the crowd to disperse as I limped over to the fragrance counter. There I was most attentively helped and given a good selection of samples. So in the end, my humiliation ended fairly well, save for a few days of bruising and soreness. But I might consider donning a disguise were I to visit again.

Anyhoo, what’s been your most embarrassing moment, perfume-wise?

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.

Winner Alert:  Cuir Fetich sample winner is……..Mrs Honey!!!  drop a line at ‘contact us’ with your deets (and please remind us what you won).  thanks!

Unless you live on Jupiter and only get intermittent internet signal, you know that I am still having some issues with living at the back of the back of beyond.  This is mitigated, somewhat, by my occasional Saturday forays back to Chicago.  Two weeks ago I leapt aboard the train and went to do a Mag Mile stroll with my darling Miss Francine.  Lots of stops, including Chanel  and over the next couple of posts I will tell you allllll about some new stuff I sampled and sniffed.

The Universe was on my side that Saturday.  Starting out frosty, it quickly warmed up to the mid-60s, which made strolling an absolute delight.  We met at Nordie’s, where I got to sample the Bottega Veneta everybody’s been raving about (more on that in another post, I have to take my time with that subtle one)…I also sampled Prada Candy and……..I still feel like the Nerd Girl at the Cool Party.  I can’t ‘get it’ because I CAN’T SMELL IT!  sur-prize!  I have yet to find a Prada I can get more than a faint ‘scent-over-alcohol’ smell from.

Prada Hates Me.  Who cares?  I Love Kilian. 

We went to SFA to yakk with Rosie – and smooch the Kilians.  Francine hadn’t spent a lot of time with them so it was fun to watch her reactions. I think she fell in love with Straight to Heaven , though knowing her perfume tastes I am thinking it might have been A Taste of Heaven. – it was one of the Heavens, that much I do remember (I’m OLD).   I always forget that Kilian has two gorgeous Ouds, confusing them with the Tom Fords which reside cheek by jowl against the Kilian display.  Saks’s perfume counter is abysmal, banished to the back of the section like a smelly old dog.    Anyway, I stumbled back upon Rose Oud.…I have no idea why I keep glossing over this scent.  It combines two of my favorite scent families, rose and a soft, dark oud accord – I don’t know if you remember my summer experiment where I combined Amouage Tribute Attar with Rosine Poussiere de Rosine for the Hog Roast at the nursing home….this is similar, but without the ashy accord (which I love to distraction, btw).  This is much lighter and just beautiful.  In a ‘pretty’ way.   I find myself embarrassed to describe it thus because somehow ‘pretty’ has become almost anathema in the lexicon of Serious Perfumery.  It’s okay to be ‘daring’ or ‘challenging’ or ‘intriguing’ – why not ‘pretty’?  Tribute is GORGEOUS but it can be challenging and, in some situations, requires some explanation.  Sometimes I just want to smell beautiful, in a pretty way.  Just like this.

Rose Oud is, by far, my personal win of the Kilians, with Incense Oud  in for the place.  Both of those gorgeous beauties are done by the ultra-fabulous Calice Becker.  I applaud that she didn’t crush the rose notes under a whole lotta lotta, y’know?  Rose gets short shrift sometimes, just like ‘pretty’ – for example, the Rosines are often dismissed because of their lack of darkness and complexity – but I am going to come right out and say that I LIKE a sunny rose now and again.  Yeah, they’re not over-nuanced but there’s a place for them.  Rose Oud isn’t ‘sunny’ by a long shot – rather, it’s a glowing, faceted opal of a scent, with the roses and spices weaving and winkling around each other, forming a shining veil, luminous sunlight through stained glass.   It is complex without trumpeting its complexity like a fedora on a 14 yr old boy.

I’m not in the market for a full bottle of Rose Oud because my lottery ticket has not been verified just yet but when I am I won’t be getting it in the justintimefortheholidays glamazon Swarovski crystal limited-edition bottle – as magpie as I am, I can’t love the embellished Kilian bottles.  They feel ‘bedazzled’ to me, like someone hung a Juicy Couture charm on a vintage bottle of No 5 perfume.     The standard Kilian black bottles are elegant, classic – and good enough for me.  You may feel otherwise and that’s okay – diff’rent strokes!
But I thought you might like to see it anyway.  That’s it up there.

Notes for Rose Oud are: Turkish rose, oud, saffron, cardamom

Photo courtesy shopstyle.com

SURPRISE!! If you slogged through all that, there is a halfway-decent reward.  This charming young man at the Killian counter gave me this charming little box with 5 charming Kilian samples, including Rose Oud.  I’m giving it away because I am Just That Kinda Gal.  To enter, just let me know which Kilian is your favorite  – or which one you have always wanted to try, or how you feel about the LE bottles v. the regular ones, or what you’re having for Thanksgiving dinner, because I am Just That Nosy.   Giveaway will be open until Friday, November 25.   Winner will be announced next Tuesday.

My apologies to the 176 of you that did not win. The 10 of you that did, as a reminder, are getting a 2.5 ml sample of the Bottega Veneta and Balenciaga L’Essence, then smaller samples of Chanel Jersey, Prada Candy and old version Caron Violette Precieuse.  And those ten lucky people are:

Joanie, Lisa D, Claudia, Amy K, TK, Gwenyth, Alnysie, Ines, Tommasina and Joanna.  so click on the Contact Us on the left, remind me what you won and send me your address. I’ll give you a quick reply once I get your e-mail (I don’t do it instantly, it may take a day or so), just so you know I got it and it didn’t land in the spam filter.

Chanel Jersey, I promised a review of this this week. Lavender, vanilla, white musks are the only notes I’ve been able to find officially linked to it.  First spray, you get a lot of lavender, sorta like a drive-by lavender shooting.  This works out spectacularly for me – not a fan of lavender in perfume, love it in the plant – but may not for those of you expecting a lavender-ama.  This is its most interesting time, the first 60 minutes.   The Lavender is sweetened and feels a little peppery, and this is the spot where it feels the most like the Carons. Not exactly, but the interplay of the notes just serves that up.  Now, after the first hour or so, it gets much more generic.  Still pretty, feminine, soft, but the musk gets a more clean’ish smell, the lavender fades, and that’s the place it smells more like fabric, warm and snuggly fabric that’s just been washed, definitely.  Okay, but, well, you know.  My answer?  Just keep re-spritzing.  Hey, it’s a big bottle, and the first hour is worth it.  And after the first hour, I don’t hate it at all, I like it, just not the same kind of love.

So it’s a mixed bag, and I wish the whole scent was as good as it starts out.  Anyone else smell it yet and have an opinion?

Now for my what has Patty learned this month.  I learned how to do my own Shellac polish!  I’ll still go in and have it done, but I wanted to fix my nails that chipped. I’m hard on everything, and I didn’t want to just leave my chipped nail hanging out unprotected, so I got the stuff so I can do my own repairs.  I’m pretty good at it!!!  Not great, and I won’t attempt a pink and white for a good long while, but the two nails I fixed look not horrible.  Do we think shellac hurts our nails?  Does the collective readership have an opinion on this?

Patty