Can I get a collective “Hallelujah!!”?

Yep, it’s that time of year again: back to school.

Now those of you who don’t have kids may not

care, but for those who do, it’s a pretty big day.

As much as we love them, it will be nice to get a break

from the frequent refrain of “Mom, I’m bored” that the

end of summer often brings. And it will be good to see

them get back into a routine.

My son heads back today, even though it may seem awfully

early to you. (It does to me, too.) But that “first day” will be here

for everyone else before you know it.

Here’s a look at scents that might work for several

back-to-class scenarios:

For the mom or dad for whom summer has gone on justa little too long: By Kilian’s Sweet Redemption (sweet relief,

perhaps?) or even A Taste of Heaven (of course you miss them,but ahh, that peace and quiet is nice, isn’t it?).

For those with little ones heading off for the first time:

Divine’s L’Infante or By Kilian’s Love and Tears (they were

just in diapers yesterday – how can they be in kindergartenalready?).

Oh, no! In all the excitement, they’ve left their lunchbox,

backpack, etc. at home and you’re already late for work:

Sacrebleu!

For dealing with diehard sleepyheads on that first morning,

i.e., “Go away, Mom, I was having the most wonderful …”

thump – head hitting the pillow again: Montale’s Sweet Oriental

Dream

When your daughter finally does get up, who will youencounter at the breakfast table: Miss Charming or

Lady Vengeance?

Let’s think positive and assume it’ll be Miss Charming.

To go with her carefully chosen outfit: Dior’s New Look 1947.

Speaking of teens, what else might they be packing: Encens et

Bubblegum, or, heaven forbid, Jasmin et Cigarettes.

And with that, ahem, more mature crowd, there’s not likely

to be much goodbye affection for the parental

units: Take comfort in Kiss Me Tender or Love Comes From Within.

When they come home that afternoon and you ask, “What did you do

at school today?”:  Jacomo Silences will get you prepped for the

noncommittal shrug and mumbled, “Nothing,” that might beforthcoming.

Helping your college-age son or daughter move into a dorm or

apartment? Heeley’s Menthe Fraiche to keep your cool

during the move-in madness. When tempers flare and things

get ugly: Step back with Vol de Nuit’s Evasion.

And when it’s all over and you’re heading home: Jubilation 25

with a spot of Champagne, Gin Fizz or Elixir of your choice.

OK, enough silliness. What scents remind you of back to school

or have you thinking ahead to fall? 

Celebrity scents are for the most part, not to put too fine a point on it, crap.  Oh, there are ones that are wonderful: Miller Harris l’Air de Rien and Etat Libre Like This are exceptions but for every one of those there’s 10 Britnay Kardoostian’s Phrooty Phantasy or 12 Incontinence by Paducah Budgetel.  Ones that are perhaps too literal looks into the naming person, in that the scents are cheap, strident and ultimately insufferable.

Jennifer by Jennifer Aniston is not that.

Jennifer starts off with a bright citrus burst and some cabbage rose, adds in a very clean jasmine and finishes with a hint of warm woods and a slightly salty skin scent.  It’s lovely really: completely wearable and balances the floral, citrus and beachy skin aspect in a way that’s well, pretty is the word I keep coming back to.  No bad thing at all.

Angelina?

I know I have turned into a Comments Loser. Not because I don’t wanna, but work/life/commitments just allow so little time on all the things I want to do, and something has to give. But I get e-mails with every comment, and I read them all.

My post last week talked about India, and several of you asked about that trip, so I wanted to do a quick post on it.  A friend of mine who has been there before wanted to take people she liked and knew well with her, people who hadn’t been there before and could rough it and wouldn’t be whiners.

It had really never occurred to me that I wanted to go to India until she asked me.  Once I was asked, I knew that it was one place I had to go.

We’re flying into Delhi, then we go touristy to the Taj Mahal. Then it’s off to Bagdogra by plane with a jeep to Gangtok. This is all in the Sikkim region, north of Bangladesh and east of Nepal, south of Tibet.  So we spend a day in Gantok, then jeep to Pelling, hike to a lake (I’m getting a little worried about what altitude we’re at here), then hike to Yuksom, another hike to the waterfalls and a monastery.

Then we leave this area, fly back to Delhi, take a train to Hardiwar, then we are in Rishikesh for 2-3 days, then back to Delhi for shopping in the markets, and then we go home.  I know, right?  I have my books on India that I’ve just started, and I’m really overwhelmed at just how different this is going to be from my regular life.

I’ve seen Eat, Pray, Love.  I’m not a huge fan of the movie or Julia Roberts, but it has its moments of personal clarity that did incent me to pick up the book so I can get past the Julia Roberts irritation to try and appreciate the story on its own. I think the India section in the movie could have been a lot better.  I mean, did she really just hang around the Ashram for four months? Who does that? I’m not the Ashram sort at all, though a week or two there really does sound lovely.  But I’d never do an ashram or monastery or anything for months without equal amounts of time exploring the country.

The movie version of Eat, Pray, Love makes me think of Etat’s Sex Pistols scent.  A lot of buildup to something great, but it feels more like a washed-out version of something else that was so much better in the original.  I had a lot of hope for Sex Pistols, especially after the brilliance of the  Tilda Swinton fragrance, which I adore, but it feels like ’70s or ’80s men’s cologne, and I don’t mean that in a good way.  Gail told me it would be a disappointment, but I kept hoping for weird to show up – bubblegum, urine, spunk, anything? I’d stare at my arm the three times I’ve tested it, knowing there was more to it.  Alas, ordinary, already done is all there is.

More India tips from those who have been there.  Or tell me the biggest ordinary disappointment from a perfume you’ve had.

Patty

Today’s post is a bit of a grab-bag.

Angie bought The new Etat Libre d’Orange Tilda Swinton Like This in Paris and wore it beautifully, and Patty reviewed it last Thursday.  (Notes: mandarin, ginger, winter squash, jungle essence, everlasting flower, Moroccan neroli, Grasse rose, vetiver, heliotrope and musk.)  I thought I’d put my two cents in.  I experienced it after the first ten or fifteen minutes as very much a skin scent, which you wouldn’t necessarily expect given that list of notes, although a quiet skin scent seems so … Swinton to me.  You have to be pretty darn close to whoever’s wearing it to smell it, although as I believe Angela mentioned, it does come up to you in bits and wafts.  In my limited experience with it, compared to Tilda, Eau des Merveilles, for instance (which I find a bit similar in feel) is a sillage monster.   So don’t be ordering Tilda unsniffed if you aren’t willing to settle for something that wears as close as a favorite tee shirt.  It does have a little of that peculiar metallic/orange blossom vibe that S-Perfumes’ Sloth had, to reference a really obscure scent.

Speaking of skin scents, on this trip I also gained a new appreciation for the other scents of Olivia Giacobetti at IUNX, which – even if you aren’t fans of her work – is a fun store to visit, in a little room off the entrance of the Hotel Costes.  Each scent is set up with a cone affixed to the wall which you sniff from, and there’s a little fan that goes on automatically when you lean in – it’s a neat way to sample and gives you a good impression of the scents.  I never got to try the original IUNX waters before she closed down the first time, but I still have my original decant of L’Ether, and it is great stuff, probably my favorite from the line.  I put it on while I was writing this to remind myself how much I like it.  It’s stronger than the others (notes are myrrh, benzoin, rosewood, saffron, maplewood, sandalwood), a woody, slightly sweet saffron-incense that feels like a kissing cousin of Passage d’Enfer.   If you’re a fan of her ethereal scents it’s well worth a sniff.  (UPDATE: a commenter below says you can buy the small 10ml bottle of this separately at the store;  I misunderstood that it came with the big bottle.)  Splash Forte is sort of the world’s best cinnamon mouthwash in a scent, but if you’ve got Lutens’ Rousse I’m not sure you need it.  Also, I wish they didn’t sell the IUNXen in those ginormous 200 ml(?) bottles.  Since my nose wasn’t fatigued and the shop is clean and spare and not overwhelmed with other scents, I could appreciate the laundry/steam-iron-esque (sound familiar?) L’Eau Blanche (linen, white iris, teak wood), which I found more appealing than the new Serge Eau, and L´Eau Sento, (“a tree stands near peaceful waters in Japan.  Its moisure-filled blond wood is smooth and warm.  Close your eyes and feel the heat of wood-infused steam…” seriously, that’s all I can find), Denyse described it in an email to me as “green and incense-y, like a luxury spa,” and I think that’s an excellent description.  She said she’d like her apartment to smell like that, and I have to agree.  They also sell the Hotel Costes scents in there, the original and the new Costes 2.  Costes the first is too rose-y for me, lovely though it is (it’s also done by Giacobetti, notes are lavender, bay-tree, coriander, white pepper, rose, incense, woods and light musk.)   Costes 2 is benzoin, Ceylon cinnamon essence, Turkish rose, Tunisian orange blossom and gaiac wood … come on, you know you want it.  Look at those notes. You want it, don’t you?  I waffled for awhile about this one while still in Paris; did I need it?  (Although you can get it here at Lucky.)   It’s another wallpaper scent, a skin scent of the most excellent, whisper-of-spice, breath-of-wood sort that makes all us OG fangirls squee.  But here’s the thing: after the spiciness at the top has settled and we’re well into the drydown, I swear on my skin it smells kind of like Barbara Bui. Which is not a criticism, I mean, I love love love Barbara Bui, but I haven’t decided whether this is sufficiently different.  Possibly.  I think I need a decant for further consideration.

I’ll wrap this up by talking for a minute about the new, much-anticipated L’Artisan Nuit de Tubéreuse done by Bertrand Duchaufour.   Angie, Louise and I were lucky enough to be able to try it in Paris, thanks to Denyse.  It’s in production now, and apparently they were passing around testers at Sniffa in NYC a couple of weeks ago, so I know some of you have already had a chance to try it.   I still have the Paris scent strip (on which I wrote “secret”) sitting here.   Historically, I’ve had more admiration for Duchaufour’s scents than a desire to wear them – I find signature BD compositions like Timbuktu and Eau d’Italie Sienne l’Hiver murky and sour, like old vase water, and (for me) mostly unwearable.  All I can offer on that front is a shoulder shrug – we like what we like, you know?

IMPORTANT UPDATE #2: commenter below says it’s at Barneys NYC, which surprises me, as my Secret Perfume Insider Decoder Ring insists that it’s in production and I should “try again later…” oh, wait, that’s my magic 8-Ball.  I’ll try calling Barneys this morning or wait for Carter to report back! There is A TESTER at Barneys (and other places, for all I know … didn’t you all smell it at Bendel for Sniffa?)  But Barneys will not have the actual BOTTLES in for “several weeks.”  Price will be $95 for a 1.7 and $135 for a 3.4  This info courtesy of Atique (“ahTEEK”)  at Barneys, and wth here’s his direct line since he was nice and helpful: 212-833-2002.

So, that’s all great, March; how is that Nuit de Tubéreuse already?  Well, I can’t add anything to the review Denyse did; what else is there to say?  Except this.  I took a deep whiff of Tubereuse, first on the scent strip and then (after shameless begging) on my skin, and then I said something really elegant and March-esque.  Something along the lines of: damn, they are going to sell the sh!t out of this thing.

Because it’s just that awesome.  It’s commercial in the best possible way — interesting but totally wearable – and if you like tuberose, I can’t imagine your hand wouldn’t drift down to your credit card as if you were in a trance as soon as you sniff it.  It doesn’t go the Fracas route (powdery Sex Bomb) or the chilly intellectual route (Serge TC or my beloved Carnal Flower.)    Cribbing from Denyse again – she uses the words rooty and resinous, and there’s something … there’s something in BD’s tuberose, spicy and wet and green and milky and poisonous all at the same time, that made me feel like I was in the presence of something dangerous, which tuberose is and should be, and that it was so stunningly beautiful and not weird, so it has to sell despite its white-flower handicap.   After all, my understanding is that the white-flower-bomb La Chasse is one of the biggest L’Artisan sellers in the US, if not the biggest, and that thing’s a sillage monster.  If Kim Kardashian can do a big ol’ white flower bouquet as her recent signature, God love her, then maybe white flower sillage monsters are the new pink pepper.  A girl can dream.  Anyway, I’m looking forward to the rollout of this one in the summer, I think.

Notes for Nuit de Tubéreuse, consolidated by me from their website: cardamom, clove absolute, pink pepper, citrus fruits, white flowers (tuberose, orange blossom and ylang-ylang) rose essential oil and absolute, mango, tuberose root, angelica, gorse, sandalwood, palisander, musks, benzoin, styrax.

PS The imaging feature on here continues to be broken, and will likely stay that way until we nag Patty to move us to another host.  In the meantime,  I did finally upload a few pics to FaceBook, for those interested.  Photos of food, of course!  And the passage d’Enfer, and some other things.

March

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.

Patty