By March

This post is, eventually, about perfume.  Also it’s the usual March meander.  Consider yourselves warned.

When you’re a kid, whatever your parents do probably seems normal.  I was raised in the Lutheran church, mostly because my mother didn’t drive and that was the closest church to our house, within walking distance.  Somewhere in my early childhood, my mother decided that the Christmas Eve church services needed some fellowship.  So for days and weeks prior to that night, she planned and bought the necessary supplies, with her own money.  My sister and my dad and mom and I all headed over there at around 4 pm to set the food tables and everything else up.  We stayed the entire evening, refreshing the cookie and sandwich trays and refilling the punch bowls with ginger ale and frozen fruit-punch rings (remember those?)  The good Lutherans of that church got into the spirit quickly and brought all sorts of goodies for the table – bread and cheese and dips and crackers and cookies.  My favorite cookies were the dyed-green, hand-shaped Christmas wreaths made with melted marshmallows and corn flakes, decorated with red-hots representing the holly berries.

Every year my mother wore the same outfit – her one pair of nice gold earrings and a dashiki she’d bought in Senegal – and a modest spritz of My Sin, the only fragrance she owned.  I’d go to the midnight service, which was candle-lit and always seemed magical to me.  Then we’d all stay and clean up and go home in the bitter cold at, oh, 3 am or thereabouts.  My parents had to get up on Christmas day and put up with our present-opening, as much as I’m sure they’d have liked to sleep in.

I look back on this as an adult and realize what an incredible gift it was – to the church, to all of us, and by my father.  Because my dad’s a devout atheist who thinks the whole Christian tradition is a bunch of hooey.  But he loved my mother so much that he spent all that time helping her, because it was important to her, no matter how stupid or loathsome he found it.

I don’t know how I feel about God right now, particularly after this year.  But I know that if there’s a heaven, my mom and dad and every dog I’ve loved will be there.

If I were doing the Lutheran Christmas shindig this year, I’d wear Guerlain Jicky.  Jicky was one of my gateway drugs to perfumery.  Jicky is angular and strange, even more so than Mitsouko; it would fit easily into the lineup at Comme des Garcons. My old-ish bottle of the parfum is lavender and pure, animalic skank.  The EDT is lemon and lavender and a generous dollop of WTF.  Luca Turin suggests that the PDT is the closest to the original.  Earlier this year one of you (Musette?) sent me a small bottle of the PDT, which I wanted desperately, with a note that said, paraphrasing, I hear you like this evil thing, so, mazeltov! The PDT is hot candle wax and frigid winter, lemony furniture polish in the sanctuary, damp wool, and icicles glowing in the light.

For any of you who’ve read this far: here’s March’s Christmas Giveaway.  To one commenter I will send three (bootlegged!) CDs of our family’s favorite Christmas music from years past, including a 1940s Christmas, traditional Christmas, and the groovy guitar and singing of the Monks of Weston Priory, a seasonal LP which my mother and I loved and which has garnered more than one raised eyebrow from friends (no accounting for taste, right?)  Also included will be a small decant of Jicky PDT and two bricks of my favorite Santa Fe piñon incense.  If Christmas isn’t your tradition, you can always give those CDs away.  And feel free to name your traditions/favorite music in comments!

Finally, here’s a YouTube link to one of my favorite traditional Christmas carols, The Holly and the Ivy, adapted slightly and sung, in haunting and melodic fashion, by an obscure pop band (Los Campesinos) which Diva played for me this weekend in the car on her iPod. The visuals are boring but I got all verklempt listening to it.

Grace and peace to all of you, and blessings for the new year.

Image: Holly and ivy in Wales, Eric Jones, wikimedia commons.

March

by Musette the Anxious

 Since the ‘publish’ thingydoodle boogered up the schedule, we are going to continue this chat through Monday!

I have been in a state of high anxiety for a LONG time – and most of it is my fault (well, being in a business-challenged state isn’t – well, it is but only partly my fault...oh shut up and get ON with it already!)  Anyhoo, a big reason my anxiety is super-ramped is that I have not been painting.  In fact, I haven’t been doing much of anything except scrambling to build our business (relatively successful) and trying to walk at lunchtime/early evenings (before the zombies come out) to keep my stress levels down (only mildly successful on the stress thingy).

I woke up at 5am this morning with an epiphany:  I have to paint if I am to survive.  Yes,  I love Bear Boring and am very proud of what I have accomplished, wrestling this business into being from the ground up.  But when all is said and done, in order for me to breathe normally I have to continue painting.  March told me to stop sobbing in my soup and PAINT.  Besides – you wanna talk smellgasmic?  You get me around some Archival oils and linseed.  oh, yum!

So I just came down from my ramshackle studio, where I was throwing away packing boxes and putting away suitcases, etc – yes, it had turned into a storage room – Call A&E!  I’m not quite done but I set an alarm for 2 1-hour stints.  It’s 10×10 – maybe- and the goal here is to make it so I can get to the easel and get back to work.  Will let you know how that second hour goes.  My goal is to have a canvas on the easel by 5pm and at least a dab of paint lurking somewhere near. wish me luck!

(this is my studio, pre-clean.  Shameful.  Just shaaaaameful)

During the declutter I rewound some odd body product/scent pairings.  Some of them were on purpose and a couple were accidental.  I will share them with you now, you lucky Posse.  Warning:  some of these might bring up your breakfast.  Proceed with caution.

The Good:

This one was totally accidental.  I took a shower in the vaunted Amouage Epic.  Layered a bit of the body lotion (every bit as smellolicious as the cream, btw)…and then absently grabbed the wrong sample and spritzed Opus V from the Library Collection!  Quel horror!??  Uh, not really.  I’d worn Opus V once or twice and was a bit mystified – It’s almost-luxe and because I equate Amouage with luxe before anything else I was having trouble with this one.   LOTS of orris.  a little bit of rose.  I totally missed the civet.  And the dry wood?  On its own perfume merits, I barely noticed it.

However, when paired with the Epic lotion, it really sings – in fact, I like the combo better than an all-Epic menu.  The orris and frankincense (and maybe just a touch of the sandalwood) boost the base notes of Opus V and give it the heft I have come to expect from Amouage.  Possibly not what it was designed for but hey!  It’s Amouage!  Go Big!

The Bad:

I decided to do some experimenting with complementary scents, forgetting that I don’t have a clue in class what I’m doing.  Witness:  Fracas bath and body products.  Paired with Henri Bendel Jasmine and Tuberose Body Cream (you wanna talk room-clearing?   I could clear Wrigley Field with this!)….then, hey!  Tuberose has ‘rose’ in it, right?  RIGHT?  So why not try  Rose d’Homme (Rosine).  Why not set my hair on fire while I’m at it!  The lavender-vetiver base, so lovely in that scent, went headlong into war with the buttery-oily tuberose…and got stomped into a gooey mess.   It smelled like Godzilla had eaten an entire field in Grasse (rose harvesters and all) and then threw up in yet another field, burying the lavender harvesters in his vomitous sludge.  Other than that, it was okay.

The Uuuuuugly:

There are so many in this group – but the funniest of the Uglies are accidental (the on-purpose pairings are just scary).  Accidental one:  This was awhile back but is seared into my memory.  Some cheap Taylor of London Muguet  body wash and body lotion (in itself not the worst thing in the world – I was intending to augment the decidedly-thin Coty Muguet)…then the phone rang and my sister was having DRAMA!  I grabbed…..(I swear to Floyd I am not making this up) my go-to:  Mitsouko.  Contemporary Mitsouko.  Do y’all remember Meryl Streep in ‘Death Becomes Her’?

yeah.  Just. Like. That

On purpose (but Just As Ugly):  I am having trouble with Amouage Honour (more on that later) – but there was this note I thought I should maybe/could maybe amp – so I paired it with Calyx ancillaries.  In another review I will explain why this actually works in theory – sort of (okay NOT.  but the ‘idea’ isn’t as offbeat as you might imagine).  In reality, though, it could’ve given ol Maddy up there a lurch for her money!

There are many more but I’m sick of embarrassing myself.  Time for y’all to fess up.  Your Goods.  Your Bads.  Your Uglies/Funnies.

post-Hoarder – at least I can reach the easel!

Clint/Lee Marvin photo: Paint Your Wagon

Streep photo:  filmweb.pl

 Happy Halloween to all of our ghoulishly lovely Posse peeps! It’s that time of year where we conjure our favorite (or most frightening, as the case may be) scents of the season and share them with you. So here goes …

From Ann –

After the long, hot summer  we’ve had, I was really revving my broom in anticipation of cool-weather scents. So here’s what’s rattling my chain this season:

Its incense, juniper, pine and bergamot make Byredo’s Gypsy Water mysterious and intriguing, yet still easy to wear;  Le Labo’s Vanille 44 falls in the same vein, but with less mystery and more cozy comfort. And from my newly acquired fondness for  leather (not to worry, folks, no leather pants here),  I’ve got Bottega Veneta and Cuir de Lancome in as heavy a rotation as my samples will allow. P.S. Just got my sample of Serge Lutens’ Profundis — I’m kinda grooving on its earthy floral vibe with just a hint of  greeny-dark goodness. Maybe I’ll unearth this one for the trick-or-treating to come tonight …

From Anita/Musette –

I’m crawling out of my Grant Application Grave (bwaaahaha -oh, forget it)  just long enough to tell you what scents scare me…and what scents I use to scare others! bwaaahahahaha <ack!>

What Scares Me:

Angel.  Try as I might, I cannot get closer to Angel than 3′.  I was in SFA a few months ago and a woman came in, liberally marinated in the jus.  She wanted to chat and couldn’t understand why I kept backing away!  Finally I asked what she was wearing and she said ‘Angel.  My signature scent’.  All I can say is Voldemort, have I got a gal for youuu!

Opium.  Fear Factor 10.  On my way to the Malle Candle Thingy (yeah, that long ago and it’s STILL seared into my memory).  Got a teeny little dab on my fingertip.  Two trips to the bathroom and a trip to the Clinique counter for some Number 4 Toner Love….and that damn thing STILL clung to me, scattering the hoards right and left as I blazed a trail up Boul Mich to meet M. Frederic. The Opium preceded my entrance by a good 5 feet.   It’s a wonder he didn’t throw a bucket of Carnal Flower on me!

Aromatics Elixir.  In my entire life I have only had two things run me out of my house.  One was a bug bomb I intentionally set off (you know, set it and run like hell, slamming the door behind you)…and the other is Aromatics Elixir, when I spilled it on a leather chair.  It’s not that it’s not gorgeous.  It is.  But so are cobras.  Three days on the porch, that chair.

My Own Skary Ones:

Contemporary (current) Mitsouko.  For sheer, wet-your-pants Terror, nothing says “I will bite your head clean off” like current Mitsouko, with that elegant gasoline punch to the nose.  I wear it when I have to advocate for my dad or remind a Neanderthal site crew that I Am Their Boss.  Something about it really tends to frighten people.  Or maybe it’s just me?

Bandit.  It’s got a mean streak that I just LOVE! but beautiful in its capacity to terrorize.  Like a vampire created by FX artist Rick Baker.  You know it can’t hurt you…..right?  You’re sure about that?

Jolie Madame.  Booooya (with the emphasis on ‘boo’!).  Another one of those to give you pause.  Dark night, dark street.  Gorgeous woman in a fur coat and stilettos slinking down the fog-shrouded sidewalk.  Uh, that is a fur coat…..isn’t it?

From March –

I could aim for the cheap seats with something like Etro Messe de Minuit, which I put on the other day and got an extra dose of crypt from (although it smells like incense-roses on a friend, go figure.)  But instead I think I’ll run with:

Aquolina Pink Sugar.  Parents around here go different routes with the whole Leftover Halloween Candy issue, including doling out two pieces a night for three months, or letting the Great Pumpkin take it all away after a three days.  Our approach has always been: have at it.  I’m pretty sure at least two of my four kids have gorged on their candy until they (literally) puked, and there’s no way I could come up with a better lesson about moderation than that.  Bringing me around to Pink Sugar, a fragrance sweet enough to conjure the evil spirits of five pounds of candy corn, and which nauseates me in pretty much the same way.

When I think about trick or treating as a kid, what is the strongest memory besides the candy?  It’s the smell of the evening, out there in the dark for what seemed like hours of bliss, tromping around with friends in our cheesy home-made costumes up and down sidewalks, and around (and through) endless raked piles of leaves.  The smell of fall is still defined for me by that indescribable leaf pile aroma, which is why I was so thrilled the first time I smelled CB I Hate Perfumes’ Burning Leaves and realized he’d gotten it perfectly.  I’m old enough to remember the excitement when we and all the neighbors used to burn those leaves curbside (something I assume folks outside the city still do).  As great as the fragrance is when you first put it on, my favorite part is the drydown — when the “burning” fades away and I’m left with the smell of fallen leaves and a hint of autumn chill.

From Tom –

Well, fall in Los Angeles can’t decide from one hour to the next whether it will be chilly with a marine layer or  having hot Santa Ana winds, so choosing a scent can be an adventure in itself.  That spritz of Fumerie Turque that seemed so appropriate at 8 a.m. when it was 57 degrees  can become a little, well, challenging when it starts to hit the mid-80s at noon.

So I am keeping the Sables, with its immortelle-bomb aspect until it stays cool. I’m enjoying the comfort of ELdO Like This and Le Labo Musk (which you can all sample this November if there’s a Le Labo near you).

For other lists, please visit:  Bois de Jasmin, Grain de Musc, Now Smell This and Perfume-Smellin- Things.

Share your favorites for fall, what scent you’ll be wearing for tonight, or if you’ve got something special planned for Halloween.

pumpkin image: there are a ton of fun carved pumpkins, including plenty of NSFW images.  Since this pumpkin image appears on several sites, I don’t know which one to credit. — March

by Musette, who is craving some chocolate layer cake.

I remember the first time.  I was in Saks, back in the Joy/Paris/Poison days….  Diane was helping me, as I considered a purchase of Joy (remember when it was The Costliest Perfume in the World?)…anyway, she said “you need to layer” and proceeded to slather on some cream, then the spritz of perfume.  “It fixes the perfume and it lasts all day”.  Oh.  okay!  So…Amex groaning under the weight, I  bought the soap, the cream, the powder..and the edt.  And proceeded to lather, mousse and spritz myself into a Joy-ous olfactory coma.  Christmas = Gift Sets!.  It was the 80s and Layering was Quing.  I don’t think I wore anything in those days that wasn’t augmented by bath and body products.  Calyx!   My bathroom smelled like Sybil’s Whorehouse on payday.  I revisited that loft a year after I sold it and I could swear that bathroom still smelled of Calyx.   I think it penetrated the tile!

Then, sometime in the late 90s it stopped.   I went to a Perfume Only state, blissfully spritzing on a bare canvas.  Until recently.  It started about 2 years ago – Lovely Nancy, who introduced me to my Summer fave, Agraria Bitter Orange, sent along a little sample of the shower gel.  Bliss.  There’s something about surrounding yourself with hot, scented, foamy water that is just delightful – especially as the days grow shorter…and colder.  For lot of women (I can’t speak for the guys here), especially moms, shower-time is the only time you are even remotely able to have a couple of minutes to yourself.  Even if your kids sit outside the bathroom door, as my bf’s kids do, they are unlikely to come in the actual shower with you.   Perfect YOU Time.  My stress levels are sky-high and the shower is my one refuge – it’s difficult to think about business/personal drama when you are completely surrounded by the foamy scent of Jubilation 25.    I use one of those Japanese scrubbing cloths (mine is Salux) -  a dime-sized dab with a lot of water and scrunching and you have enough suds for 3 people and a Rottweiler, if you are so inclined.  Alas, the Bitter Orange shower gel was lovely in the shower but it deposited little scent on the skin.  No matter – it made showering a wholly different sensory experience from scrubbing up with  Dial.  Agraria’s hard-milled soaps are a better scent depositer and with the Salux it doesn’t matter – you still get a whole lotta foam.  So I foamed away!

Inspired by my found-again love, I went rummaging through the closet to find what other gels, soaps and lotions I might indulge in.  Uh….hmmm.  Apparently I bought a LOT of gift sets in the day.  So I had lots to play with for this post.

Fracas.  Had the soap, the shower gel, the lotion, the powder.  El O was gone (post-Fracas bathrooms can be a bit overwhelming).   I find that sometimes, when Milady gets to be a bit much perfumewise, a hit with the accoutrements  gives the same scent  experience without gassing everybody out of the county.   Carnal Flower Body Butter.   M. Frederic…?  S’il vous plait?  At least a hard-milled soap.  My water bills would be sky-high!  Aiiiiyyy!  but I would be soooo happy!

I played on, blowin’  the bathroom UP! with Lucien Lelong (gift set score!  gel, cream, edp.  whoa, Nellie! The bathroom smelled like the South of France for 2 days!!!)…..a lovely friend gifted me with vintage Diorissimo body lotion.  I should’ve grabbed the shower gel when I had the chance cuz it’s gawwwn now.  But the vintage lotion packs a hefty punch for such a demure fragrance and stays linear with the vintage perfume.

I got a lovely group of samples from Amouage, which included the Epic and Jubilation 25 shower gels and body creams.  Let me just say this:  it is scary, because I am currently in Bizarro World, can barely buy dog food some days and still I am ogling both Epic and Jube25 bath and body – and it’s a damn shame because I never ‘got’ Epic before I took a whirl in the shower.  The incense in the perfume hit my nose too hard and I just shut down.  But the shower gel spreads it out quite a bit, then add the body cream and wham-o!  You are ready for the gorgeous perfume.  I’m wearing it again today.  I’ve done this 4 times in the past 2 weeks and I am still finding fascination in how this scent unfolds.  Needless to say  I am now hooked.   I thank Christopher Chong every. stinkin. day. that he did not do bath and body for Ubar or Tribute.   I’d have to kill myself.   Jube 25 foamy is so beautiful it takes my breath away and both Epic and Jube gels leave a solid scent on the skin. It was surprising because the shower gels smell thin and weak in the bottle (at least the little samplse do – I sniffed them, thought “oh, what a rrrrrrrrrip!” …until you get a drop on the Salux, then they explode into a foaming cloud of scent that sticks with you, your towels, your robe….it is olfactory heaven that is tenacious (I actually have Designated Amouage pjs.  Really. Tide is no match for the Royal House).  If you use these, leave your bathroom door open, apres-bain.  Your house will smell luxe all day.

I do think there are some differences in the effect body products have on fragrance, though, depending upon the fragrance.   Malle’s Carnal Flower, for instance.  The Body Butter is insanely gorgeous and just the act of scooping out a bit and warming it in your hands is enough to transport.  If I want a ‘compliment’ to the scent, that’s when I use the cream because it actually smells a bit different than the perfume (skin reaction? composition?  who knows?)  – in the cream the eucalyptus/camphor thread is more pronounced.  If I want to smell CF straight I do Dial and then spritz.  It’s nice to have all those choices in how to experience the scent.  Personally I think that is the best thing since Miette dark chocolate cake but ymmv.  But know this:  you will have to pry both the Body Butter and the perfume out of my cold, dead hands.  I couldn’t live without either and if The Walking Dead show up and I have to flee, I will be fleeing with both of these in my totebag.  Oh!  While I’m on the Malle line:  Parfum de Therese.  For those of you who find it a bit fleeting or thin – the body cream locks it right down and gives it an almost perfect linear boost.  I think it’s that Old School, Dior-type formula.  But it really is the perfect match.

I know a lot of purists are probably shuddering in their shoes right now at the idea of adding body products to perfume use and I totally understand though there are some, like Fracas, that are totally linear to the perfume (maybe the old-school composition, like Therese there).  And some are downright terrifying (Mitsouko body lotion which, if combined with the edp, transforms Mme Mits into a scary, tentacled thing – I’ve never seen a soap or gel.  March and I saw some ‘lotion vegetal’ on the eeeB which I think is hair oil).  If you are focusing solely on the scent,it might work against you.  But if, like me, you are looking for a sensory experience, I think bath-to-perfume is an excellent way to go.  And  btw,  you can forget about  layering resulting in less perfume use.  LOL (or, as I was recently taught, LOLdemort!) – not happening.  You end up spraying/dabbing just as much scent as before because it’s all just so damn luxe!  Louche.  Lovely!  And why not? Go Big or Get Off The Bus.

So this isn’t a Frugal/Alternative Bathumista post.  Obviously I can’t say it’s  less expensive -  it’s mo’ stuff and even Fresh Sugar Lemon bath gel  will run you $20.  Jubilation 25 shower gel : E55, which as of this morning converts to a whopping $76!  But, used judiciously, that gel will last you 6 months, unless you take 4 showers a day, in which case it will last you 3.   I would happily take 4 showers a day but I have to work to pay for the shower gel, dangit.

What say you?  How do you all feel about ancillary bath and body products?  Do they support or do they change your perception of the scent?    What are your favorites….or do you hate the very idea!?

Next up:  we will discuss Happy Layering Accidents.  And some Not So Happy.  I have some whoppers!  So hang on to those for next week’s installment!

xoxo your foamy, creamy,spritzy Musette

photo courtesy of Country Living 2011 Chocolate Pumpkin cake

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!