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.

In my many, jumbled boxes of photos lie many, many photos of rivers.   Most of them are bends.  I have always loved bends in rivers – even if you pass that bend several times a day, if you allow yourself you can reimagine and reinvent what’s around that bend each time you look at it.   One of my earliest river loves was the Ohio River, a beautiful, winding ribbon through the Ohio Valley.  I’m hoping it’s what inspired Liz  Zorn to create Rivertown Road…..it’s as beautiful, winding and lyrical as the Ohio.   Actually, I’m lying through my lyrical teeth.  I am not getting the Ohio River at all.  I’m getting Riverside Drive.  And that’s a beautiful thing.  I love Riverside Drive, probably more than I love the Ohio River.  At least on Riverside Drive you can grab a cab to Cartier.

Billed as a masculine (“absolute pour homme”) this is easily and beautifully wearable by anyone with a nose for elegance. Liz bills it as being inspired by rivers, river towns and river people.  And I get just the opposite.  The first sniff, right off the spritz, is a bit blasty – the lavender needs a minute to settle down and let the bay, lime and bergamot make the necessary social introductions.  I know, it’s sounding very much Old Bay Rum – but hang on – once the lavender lets those three introduce themselves, they extend a hand to help violet out of the town car.  That’s right….for all the talk of rivers and bends and river people, what I get is a very elegant couple exiting a car at the Sherry-Netherland.  On a man, I would like to catch just a passing whiff of this as he leans over the back of my chair to whisper that he’s sorry he’s late for cocktails but he had to stop and pick something up (oh, gasp!, it’s a red leather box!)…as his fingertips brush my bare arm….this is a lovely scent, did I mention that?   The thought of smelling this on a man I was aquiver for…gah! it makes my liver jump around somethin’ awful!!!   This is a  perfect scent for a man who is completely at home in his own skin, whether that skin is in a Savile Row suit or in firefighter’s gear.  For a woman – at least this woman – it combines the cool spareness of lavender with the dirty warmth of the violet and jasmine into a butchy-femme genderbending delight.  I keep thinking of this as a Ginger Rogers perfume – I imagine her wearing this in Top Hat, whilst riding in Central Park,  not in her trademark feathers and satins. I’m not ‘pretty’ so who knows what kind of vibe I’m sending with this thing – but it’s making me feel like I could’ve been Ginger, maybe, if I’d paid more attention in tap lessons.  Maybe…?   But no matter if it’s Pierce or Ginger, the setting in always urban – and very elegant.   Sorry, Liz.  I was hoping to take a ride on a raft on the Ohio. Instead, I’m in a roadster on Riverside Drive.

Notes from the Soivohle website:

Opening Notes: French Lavender, Dominican Bay, Key Lime, Bergamot
Heart Notes: Dry White Violet, Seville Lavender Absolute, Jasmine Sambac, Green Roses, Saigon Cinnamon, Mimosa Absolute, Tobacco Absolute, Carnation Accord, Foin Coupe Absolute,  Tonka Bean Tincture
Base Notes: Tolu Essence, Animalic Musk, Cedar Wood Oil, Sandalwood, Frankincense, Hatian Vetiver, Beach Ambergris, Liquidambar, Nutmeg Absolute, Oakmoss Accord, Aged Patchouli

Fragrance Type: Herbal/Fresh/Green Chypre
Note: this fragrance rides the fence between Chypre and Fougere

A few days ago Tom mentioned that he sees the future of perfumery in niche and indie perfumers (my paraphrase).  I think Liz Zorn’s work is at the vanguard of that future; Rivertown Road is a classic example of what happens when a perfumer is able to follow the direction their artistry and passion takes them .  In doing so, they create scents that can stand alongside many classics.   I am not a rubber-stamp fangirl, really (there are several Zorns I cannot love) but I think hers truly is a talent to treasure.  Here’s hoping she and the rest of the indie/niche perfumers continue their craft for a long time to come.

sample:  Liz Zorn sample with purchase

photo/ Pierce Brosnan:  who the hell knows where I got this.  All I know is, it makes my gums hurt with lust every time I see it!

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!

Don’t forget to visit  Olfactarama today for more interesting conversation with Brian Pera and Andy Tauer on their film/perfume collaboration!

It’s that weirdly wonderful downswing – again.  Fog in the mornings, bright sunny days…..rainy evenings.  In my City Life I noted the shift in seasons by fashion – the newest boot, the fabbo little jacket…  out here in the country you can gauge the shift to autumn by a slightly different set of parameters:  harvest is  real and present  here, bringing dust, flying beetles and massive allergies.  Then there’s the beauty -  watching the Big Dipper as it begins its winter slide away from us….hummingbirds by the dozens, fighting at the feeders as they bulk up for their long flight south….   and the melancholy: clearing the vegetable gardens for fall plantings and prepping for winter <sigh>, hearing the last of the crickets.. …canning and freezing the last of the tomatoes and peaches.  Thinking about apples and cinnamon……and a cute new boot.

Perfume is changing, too.   You know my love of the big, smoky flowers in high summer but as the temps drop and the light changes, all I can think of is Chypre.  This is the perfect weather for the perfection of  vintage Coty Chypre,  the bombaliciousness of current Femme (that sweaty, plummy goodness) and the vaunted Mitsouko, both vintage and contemporary (we’re talking pre-reformulation, here, though the current isn’t the worst thing in the world,)…..and there’s a Newish Gal in Town.

Centennial.   Liz Zorn.  I  think of Liz as the modern-day Queen of Chypre -  her nuanced approach to the chypre base runs the gamut from the heavy-plummy/peachy-jammy fabulousosity of Love Speaks Primeval to the quiet-cool Green Oakmoss, she weaves  her chypre base into her scents, beautifully.  And never more so than in Centennial.  This was the Historical Chypre that I confused with Historical Jasmine at the Scentsation (back in the Jurassic Era). Yah.  Because I was a newbie, didn’t know jasmine from peanut butter and figured this glorious thing had to be a ‘flower’.  I thought the Chypre was the one that smelled like buttery poop.

Hey, what did I know?

Historical Chypre is now called Centennial and is part of Liz Zorn’s Retro Collection.    Liz calls it a throwback to the classic early 20th Century floral chypre.  M. Coty would approve.  It’s a beautiful next generation of what  Coty started with his classic Chypre, updated to an almost-skin scent (especially perfect for those of us who don’t like modern, musky skin-scents.  This hints of sex without the skeevocity of  a perfume trying too hard.    I really like this in  its new edp form  – the lighter concentration makes it perfect daywear.  Centennial is not  ‘wow!  what are you wearing?’ .  Rather, it’s a ‘hmmm’ scent that entices the sniffer to get just a tad closer, without all the ‘hey!  over here!!!’ yelly stuff  – I found El O edging nearer, nose in the air like a pointer, with no clear idea how or why he’d draped himself around me  (I’m not that cute anymore, I’m in menopause and I’m a shrike.  He tends to keep his distance these days).  I’ve been wearing it a lot these past couple of days and wearing a lot of it!  Well, not marinating in it – but wearing enough to provide a nice little veil.  It doesn’t shift about a lot – it stays pretty true to itself from first warm, floral/peach spritz to the drydown, which is reminiscent of a ripe, fuzzy peach skin (that sounds vaguely crazy – and fruity-floral scary but it couldn’t be farther from that -  it’s gorgeous).

It’s like wrapping yourself in a lightweight cashmere stole.  Perfect for this time of year.

Notes (from lizzornperfumes.com ) are rose, jasmine and orange blossom, wrapped in a classic chypre veil.   I’m smelling those but also the fuzzy peach skin and oakmoss of a vintage Mitsouko, though a little bit warmer .

What notes call to you, as the days slide into the next season?  What are you shifting out of?

Source:  my bottle.    She’s having a sale, which makes it almost the New Free.  ( shut up

by Moosette

Aiiyy!  We are having That Midwest Weather Thing again.  Hummingbirds and margaritas one minute, Dorothy Gale and heavy socks the next.  (at this rate we will have sweet corn in September).  Dang (stomping back up the attic stairs to pull the hoodies back out).  I was all set to review some classic leathers in the heat but Nature has other plans – so I’m going to review niche leathers in the blustery weirdness.  Leather is a note I absolutely adore but don’t always want to wear (except vintage Diorling which I hope to die in sometime way down the line).  And for me they, like oudhs, work best in extreme heat but your mileage may vary.  I’m reading the latest issue of Shotgun News, hence the gun references.

So let’s start with Heeley Fine Leather.  I didn’t even know this existed – I was in Barneys, sniffing Oranges and Lemons Say the Bells of St. Clement’s which, btw, bears a shocking resemblance to 4711 – a reverse “If You Love _________”.  Musette says: save your simoleans, go to Loehmann’s and get the Real Deal for $19.99.

Sorry.  Where was I?  Oh, yeah.  Heeley  Cuir Pleine Fleur, aka Fine Leather.  Bradley spritzed this on me and I was pleasantly surprised!  I’ve had troubles with Heeley in the past, with Ophelia boring me to tears, Cardinal making me sneeze, etc…and then O&LStBoSC just insulting me….but this one, Fine Leather?  It’s really nice.  It’s a soft, flowery leather, not chilly, not oily and there’s a nice powdery aspect to this that makes it a bit more ‘femme-y” than some other leathers but has just enough of the butchy stinkeye to keep it interesting.

Gun quotient: If someone stuck a shotgun in my face and said I had to buy a Heeley this would be the one.

Notes: violet leaf, bergamot, mimosa, aubepine (acaccia), hawthorn blossom, birch, suede, vetiver, cedarwood, castoreum.

Mark Buxton Hot Leather.  I got this in a split – tres cheap, thank Floyd. Oh, Mark.  I expected way better from you.    ‘tis neither hot nor leather.  It’s a lukewarm attempt at ‘cool’, like somebody threw one of those cheap cowhides on a shiny vinyl floor and tried to make it look Bauhaus.  It’s not bad-smelling, don’t get me wrong.  It’s a very nice Generic Masculine-Pretty that has some pretensions to elegance – Tony Curtis wore something like this in 40 Pounds of Trouble, I’m sure of it.   Only his was cool.

Gun quotient:  It would have to be a Very BIG gun.

Notes: citrus, bergamot, coriander, mandarine, orris, jasmine, patchouli, cedarwood and vanilla.  March reviewed it here

Tom Ford Tuscan Leather. Maybe I’m just crabby…but Tom Ford gets on My Very Last Nerve.  I want him to stop preening, take a shower, put his clothes on and act like he’s got some sense.  Then I smell something like Tuscan Leather and I’m reminded that the world is full of  non-greasy, sensible people – and very few of them would have the huevos to create what he does.    Love him or loathe him, we need narcissistic freaks like Tom to keep things interesting.  Tuscan Leather is interesting.  A smoky-woody leather, it’s bling-free, elegantly dry and simple, with all the complex bits on the inside, like a bespoke suit or a vintage Roadster or a swan.  For women this is the perfect leather to wear with an Anne Fontaine pintuck blouse at work and a black sheath and some chunky gold jewelry come nightfall.  For men, it’s a perfect scent, period.  Thanks, Tom.  Sorry I skeeved on ya.

Gun Quotient: No ammo need apply.  I would happily wear this, though I would rather save for a new 12-gauge than for a  full bottle.

saffron, raspberry , thyme, olibanum , jasmine, leather, black suede and amber.

Liz Zorn Sonoran Leather. Yeah, y’all know me as the Liz Zorn FanGirl Absolute.  So it’s always a surprise when I put this one on – and am immediately freaked out.  There’s a whole lot going on here, upfront.  I get jams and plums, cowhides and smoke andfireandtarandsoundandfury(pant!pant!) and it’s terrifying and I always want to cry because I’m so used to loving her stuff and I love leather and……and…then I scrub it off so I don’t have to think about it anymore.

A mistake.  And one that I’m glad I was forced to rectify last night.  Wore it après-bain. I was so whupped that I could barely crawl into bed.  Forget getting up to scrub.  Too early to sleep, too tired to think….I read some more Shotgun News and a Brad Thor novel and about 40 minutes into my settledown I brought my wrist up to my nose, wondering ‘what the heck is that incredibly beautiful…?” …It  smells exactly like a Baja California night or how March always describes New Mexico.  Mesquite? No.  That’s barbeque.  Pinon!  Yes, pinon. Or juniper.  That oily-citrus tang.  Just a touch, with those little flowers that always dot the desert floor whenever it rains.  Butter-tan cowhide drying by the fire.  Rough but so rich.  Then just smooth and beautiful. This is a challenging one to wear, going in but I do think it’s worth the effort.   Give it time to drydown and smooth out – once it does it will transport you to a midnight-blue, starlit desert sky.

Notes from Liz:

Leather (suede) Choya Nakh, Birch Tar, Tobacco, Cinnamon, Cloves, Animal Musk Accord, Rosewood, Sandalwood, Tolu.

It also has Jasmine and Rose in lesser amounts.

Gun Quotient:  Her prices are sane.  No armed robbery necessary.  Shotgun (and Shotgun News) safely back in the cabinet.

What are your leathers?  Do you have a particular Leather Weather?  I know lots of folks love ‘em in the winter cold – not meee!  I like ‘em HOT!

ps.  I was going to rave on about the leather note in Tommi Sooni Tarantella but I’ve never been able to replicate that first experience, where the leather just glided in, midway, and gobsmacked me. I’m starting to wonder if I made that up…