By March

I had fun doing random candy samples the other day.  Here are some more, in order of personal dislike (worst to best), which I selected mostly by rummaging in my handbag, just for fun, to see what would turn up …

Jimmy Choo – my most common perfume change-of-heart is when something I dislike begins to grow on me over time.  Jimmy Choo has the interesting distinction of trending the opposite direction – each time I spray that bottle at Saks, I hate the fragrance a little more.  I put all my paper blotters in my purse, but this one I handed back to the SA and asked her politely to discard.  Is it the saccharine?  The patchouli?  The raspy woods?   The faint note of rotting fruit?  I am not sure.

Bond Madison Square Park – when niche perfume felt like a brave new world, and Bond only had eight or ten fragrances instead of the 90+ they have now (okay, okay, it just seems that way on the counter) they did some interesting scents, like Chinatown and New Haarlem.  The Warhol Silver Factory’s pretty great too, and I have a soft spot for the linden one (Noho?)  Madison Square Park is musky, fruital and extremely sweet.  It’s supposed to have a darker, vetiver/woods drydown, but not on my skin.

Hermes Un Jardin sur le Toit – of the series, Jardin sur le Nil is the bottle I own.  Méditerranée is too woody/herbal on me, but I have stopped more than one woman on the street to compliment her fragrance and been told that’s what it was.  Mousson?  The less said, the better.  Sur le Toit is a limpid, vitamin-water-strength fruit-tree scent that makes one think of Hermessences like Vanille Galante, sans  aquamelon.  It is apparently selling quite well in D.C.  As Robin said in her review on Now Smell This, “It’s young and spring-like and fresh, and very Jean-Claude Ellena, which will either please you or it won’t.”

Love, Chloe – insert screed here about how the original Chloe was so much better in its jasmine-tuberose-drenched 1970s heydey than the current 2008 version.  Add general sneering about the new-ish flanker(s?).  Thus, my expectations for Love, Chloe were, uh, minimal.  What a pleasant surprise this scent is. I’d add this to my list for a graduation present to a high school or college girl who’s maybe brand-conscious, an alternate to Coach and Chanel; they have a sweet gift set.  I wish it retained its initial iris/power structure, it’s very pretty then, but even after half an hour (and then all day long) it’s a soft powder/musk string-of-pearls-scent that manages to be polished and even work-friendly while retaining a little character, young without being insipid.

Maison Martin Margiela Untitled – Nobody’s showing this thing much love but me, right?  It’s deceptive at first, sharp and green and nutty, like Cristalle sprayed on a wet hemp basket, one of those worn-by-smokers galbanum fragrances (see: original Lauder Azuree, Jasmine White Moss).  Get past that, though, and the reward is the charming, quirky mix of cinnamon and wintergreen – it blows hot and cold at the same time, and would be a great alternative to a cologne in the summer heat.  Quite unisexy.  Smells much, much better on skin than on paper.  Also, the minimalist, Le Labo-ish bottle made my eyes roll when I first saw a photo, but it’s nice in the hand and, next to the various foofy, bloblular, and/or beribboned bottles on the counter at Saks, clean and appealing.

March

Zeta Winners (March’s draw from last week) – drawn by the fickle finger of fate random.org — Suzanne M., Rappleyea, and Francesca!  (Francesca, congrats, have you ever won anything? Me neither.)  I’ll email you three.  If you didn’t win – Patty’s giving away four more on yesterday’s post.  Okay, here’s Tom.

by Tom

Commenting on my post on Tuesday about Christian Dior Leather Oud, Fernando wrote after being frustrated by Dior’s website and the clueless SA’s at the Boston Dior Boutique he was turning to the Montale.  I agree.  The earlier Montale has the same four notes (oud, tobacco, leather and woods) but the volume is turned up.

Smelled side-by-side with the Dior, Leather Oud seems wan and rather pinched, the cedar feeling more Faber than fabulous.  The Montale’s tobacco has the moist fattiness of the good stuff fresh from Dunhill, the leather full, rich and aniline dyed, the wood hand-polished and the oud is, well, oudier.  Writing that this is no way overpowering and in no way unfeminine.  Birkin bags are leather after all.

I do like the Dior mind you.  I like Montale’s earlier more full bodied take on the same four notes better.  Thanks Fernando for reminding me.

$150 for 50ML at the usual suspects, available easily online.  My sample is from my bottle.

photo: Lady Gaga with her scribbled-on Birkin Bag.  Oh, the Hermanity!  I think she raffled it off, or gave it to a fan or sent it to the moon or something….well, it’s hers to do with as she would but my heart is swimming in blood…

Hey, I’m back! Well, as back as I get. YTT is over, I’m a certified yoga teacher who only has interest in teaching  homeless people, battered women and their children staying in shelters, seniors (because they are too much fun!) and my kids. It was a long haul, but a richly rewarding one. Do you have those times when you think – hey, if I could design a class and draw up my fellow students and instructors to be exactly how I would want them to be for the best learning experience – calm, centered, not annoying, genuine people without pretense – you would have my teachers and co-students in YTT. I kept looking around, expecting someone to start jumping up and down on my last nerve or to have an epic meltdown, and it never happened. Truly one of those Lightning Strikes Just once things.

But! I have some time again! So let’s gab about a couple of summery scents since we are honing in on that time of year and exiting the heavy perfumes of winter.

Before I forget, there’s another Canadian Fragrance Folks gathering in Toronto this Satuday the 16th.  Follow the link to get the details.  If you are planning a Perfume Meet-up in your city and would like me to mention it here on the blog, I’m happy to do that. Just  click on the Contact Us over there on the left and let me know the details and a link, if you have one, where people can ask any questions or sign up.  I’d do a fragrance thing in Denver, but with the exception of DSH in Boulder, the perfume world here sucks majorly.

Hermes Un jardin Sur Le Toit is Jean-Claude Ellena’s next entry in the Jardin series. Based on the rooftop garden Hermes maintains on their building at 24 Rue du Faubourg in Paris, it has notes of apple, pear, magnolia, rose, grass, basil and compost. It fairly sparkles on the open, reminds me a bit of Rose Ikebana’s rhubarb note, but it’s not listed, but it has that effect – could be the compost/grass/apple combo? I like the pear note in it, but like the one in MDCI’s La Belle Helene so much more.  Toit is easy to wear, very summery, nothing in the world wrong with it, and it fits in with the other Jardin scents. It’s not my favorite of the four? five? But it’s something that I’d reach for on a summer day and be happy to wear.  Easy for the office, wedding, nonoffensive, and, alas, forgettable.  JCE is not, of course.

March already reviewed Andy Tauer’s new collectible (not sure if this means limited?  guess so.  Nope. Just means not all batches will smell the same since the ingredients will have some variability) Zeta.  Holy smoldering Linden Blossom!!!!  I have smelled Linden in bloom.   There was a large Linden tree outside of a house that I flipped, and it was one reason why I would have liked to have kept that house.  In bloom, it just radiated summer and sunshine and sweet vibrancy.  It was one of the most sweetly alive smells I’ve known.  Notes of lemon, bergamot, sweet orange, ylang, orange blossom absolute, neroli, linden blossom, rose, orris, sandalwood and vanilla.  The citrus notes don’t Pledge up your nose at all, they just fall out of the scent and add brightness, landing softly around the hear of it.  The Tauer-ade, as March mentioned, is very light.  I love Andy’s scents, but sometimes the base is too heavy for me to wear them often. Zets is an absolute exception.  I don’t know that it’s exactly Linden Blossom, but it feels like it, which is more important.  Sometimes a thing can be chemically accurate on the exact smell, but miss how a thing feels in nature.  Linden feels like sunshine and sweet green.  Bright, sparkling, sunny, but warmed completely by the sun to make it soft.

Zeta is a scent you can sink down into and watch fluffy clouds drift by in the summer sky.  And I know exactly what scent I’m adding to my list to take to Costa Rica next month!

And a giveway of course. I know March did one already, but I suspect you guys won’t mind another. I’ll give away four samples of Zeta along with Toit, so both.  Just drop a comment to be entered, tell me whatever you want – how good looking JCE is, what your favorite sunshine perfume is, or who you think I should teach yoga to (funny suggestions are always welcome).

Oh, yeah, we are going to get a bottle of that Petit Mort thingie Duchafour did for TPC – mostly because I have a sneaking suspicion more than just me is wildly curious to sniff it. If not, well, that’s 1k down the drain.  For those of you wondering what I”m talking about.  I know I should look the other way and pretend it doesn’t exist, but curiosity is killing me.

Patty

by Musette

When we were in our 20s (back in the Jefferson administration)  my galpals and I  fantasized about our married coworkers’ lives -a permanent partner for Chinese food and Friday Movies, sex every night, total validation on Valentine’s Day…and the cessation of the ignominy of the Blind Date.  One by one, we entered into couplehood, thinking our problems were all behind us, especially the Blind Date.

Then came an even scarier Event: Couples Blind Dating.   When you’re single, blind dating is weird enough – but usually it’s just between you and the date.   But once you are a couple, you end up occasionally dating other couples – folks you Might Not Know But Your Partner Does.   And the stakes are often higher.  Is this an old pal? A friend from work? A Business Connection?  What a pain.  Now try it when you’re older than dirt, you’ve worked all day and you are NOT in the mood.  What do you wear?  I struggled with this in the 20 minutes I had to throw on some lipstick and a heavier jacket  (it was a night to stay in with a hot cocoa and a good book, not go gallivanting off to dinner with strangers).  I toyed with the idea of my new love, Diaghilev but  if the night sucked CheezWhiz  I would be stuck with the association.  Mitsouko was out of the question – I’m working on softening my mien, not ramping up the terror quotient.   I needed a comfy scent that would remind me of me, in case I hated every aspect of them, but a perfume I could kick to the curb for awhile if the association was too tiresome.

I chose Bas de Soie. Just so ya know, this is NOT a review of Bas de Soie.   I think I’ve already reviewed it but in case I didn’t, here it is, in a nutshell:  I like it.  It’s got a facet that I find compelling/slightly irritating (which is the compelling part, I think)…but even though I really like it, I have no emotional attachment to it.  Vi-ola!   A perfect ‘sacrifice’ scent.  I threw it on, it was great – nobody sneezed or threw up and it kept me engaged through the whole evening, which turned out just fine, btw – they’re nice people and I liked them enough to hope they thought I was nice people, too.  But if it had icked out I could’ve shelved Bas de Soie for a few months with nary a tear.

On the way home  I started wondering ‘what scents would I be willing to sacrifice, should a particular occasion blow up in my face?’   Not throwaway scents; these sacrifices would be scents you like/love that you could rely upon to get you through a potentially challenging situation but if it turned ugly it wouldn’t kill you to retire that scent for a long time (this is of particular importance for those of you who have scent/memory issues ).   I thought about the following situations and here is a random list of what might/did/could work for me:

Cold Customer Meeting: Hermes Caleche. It’s confident and ladylike, with a coolness that gives pause…but its very aloofness means I could box it on the way-back shelf if that cold customer broke my day. Ask Caleche if it cares.  It doesn’t.

New Mother in Law: Fracas (I can’t believe I might throw Fracas under the bus; then again, I’ve had great luck with mothers in law – besides, NOBODY can keep Fracas down.  She would be back, like the Terminator)

Job Interview:  TDC Charmes and Leaves. It’s lovely.  I love it.  But it’s innocuous.  Innocuous has a way of being expendable for the time it takes to get my guts back.

Amicable divorce lawyer meeting : Calyx. It was his fave.  If it got nasty, oh well.  If not, it’s a nice memory of a nice ending.  I got lucky on that one, both with the ex and the perfume. I still wear it now and then, 20 yrs later.

Wedding of someone you adore who is Not Marrying You: Shalimar perfume/extrait. It can take the hit and Lord knows, if you put enough on and  wrangle even a quick hug, the wedding night will have ‘you’ all over it.  Grab a slow dance and your aura might stick around through the honeymoon.  Not that I would know anything about that kinda thing…

Lunch with an old rival: Cartier Brillante. It makes me feel thinner and slightly richer…but if it turns out that the shrike is still richer and thinner than you it can go back in its red leatherette box for a Season.  Next time you take it out maybe you will have laid off the chocolate cake!  And you’re in fundages again.  Birkin-level fundages!  It could happen!

What are your challenging occasions?  And what scents would you be willing to sacrifice if the  scent association gods demanded?

photo:  Morning Glory/flower sacrifice

oooh!  almost forgot (again)!  Bruno Acampora winner is jen. (all lower case, no asterisk – clarifying because there were 3 ‘jen’ variations in the draw) :  Musette

When I first stumbled into the Posse,  one of the first things I did, after I stopped drooling, was to go into the Archives to see what I’d been missing .  One of my faves was this hysterical post, which got me on a hunt for Hermes Doblis, just to see what the fuss was about.  I thought about what constitutes “smelling like money”.  Doblis has it, with its rich, honeyed-leather tones…lots of money there…tons of money…

..yeah, right.

You want MONEY?  How about Saudi Prince money?  A state-of-the-art stable full of Arabians, each with its own groom, massage therapist… private plane (I’m talking the horses here), air conditioned semis….tack that costs more than your house?

Hellooo, Cartier L’Heure Fougueuse. Mathilde….wow.   It’s phenomenal.   I get a huge blast of clean, slightly-green hay, coupled with that sharp, acrid smell that says ”barnyard’…… then, about 5 minutes into it, that all smooths out and it gets weird, compelling and way fabulous – not perfumey at all, more essential/elemental…..but seriously groomed and refined. A scent of elegant contradictions.   Per Denyse’s review here, Mathilde Laurent used what she called a ‘mane accord’ but I’m not getting ‘horse mane’, as in what you get on a farm (at least not for me – but I wasn’t raised on a farm so what do I know)… Yes, it’s ‘horses’ but not really (bear with me as I try to make sense here)….for me, the overwhelming impression I get from it the idea of a stable built for a staggering cost, housing the most cosseted horses on the planet.

I know this is a lame review.   I can’t really talk about the notes on this one.  It’s just….honest, I just can’t get past this seamless marriage of Nature and Money.  Horse translates to  ‘ the best horse (and horse stuff) that money can buy.  LOTS of money.  Fougueuse is gorgeous and addictive – I wore it for several days in a row and could happily make this my next  Scent Challenge – if I could afford it!  As with the other Les Heures, it is shockin’ expensive.  And I’m still awaiting that Saudi prince.

Serendipity:  for a more coherent take, see what Victoria has to say about it – she’s reviewing it today as well here.

photo:  Arabian Horse Network/2008 Al Khalediah Arabian Horse Festival

Photos courtesy of Scott Bailey

perfume sample from a generous, private ‘gifter’