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.

First, winners of the teeny samples of Flowerbomb extrait, JAR Bed of Roses, Puredistance M and I extraits are – Pat Boutilier and Sujaan.  In case you don’t know what to do – click the contact us over there on the left, send me your address, remind me what you’ve won (I know, this sounds ridiculous, but I get like 600 e-mails a day or more, it’s important to tell me what I’m supposed to be doing or I’ll bumble around and just sound daft), and I’ll give you a quick “got it” e-mail so you know it didn’t get trapped in spam, and then I’ll get the little gems out to you, enjoy!

There’s this closet in what used to be my youngest son’s room, which is still sorta his room when he’s here, which is a lot. I’m not exactly sure why he pays rent somewhere else, but my kids like this method of moving out – rent something else, then stay here 90% of the time.  Over time, this closet became filled with lots of things – swords, clothes, old video games, books, stuffed animals, Beanie Babies nobody knew what to do with anymore. This room is supposed to be my zen/meditation/yoga room, though we have to find a buyer for the ginormous lovesak that’s making its home there before that happens, and it’s close to being done, but… that closet!  It scared me to open it.  I told Harry to please clean it out, I just couldn’t, it scared me.  He starts cleaning, gets closer to the bottom and brings me out this big box, says, “I think this is yours.”  It’s filled with Lorenzo Villoresi scents that I must have bought or swapped for years ago, put away – not sure why they went in that closet. maybe the year he got out of high school and went to college and I used it for storage – and forgot.

As I pull out some extraordinary scents, some discontinued, my eyes lit on the Ylang-Ylang.  Huh, never heard of that!  HolyMotherofGod, I sprayed it on and literally swooned. This is the closest a scent has gotten to the real ylang like I smelled in Costa Rica.  Rich, sunny, bright, warm, slightly indolent – well, more than slightly, but not so much that you’ll be looking around for what might be spoiling behind the washer – it’s amazing and perfect, and I am back in a rainforest next to a beach in the Osa Peninsula thinking time has stopped. Now why would it get discontinued?  Nobody bought it, got too expensive to make, couldn’t get the materials for it anymore?  Whichever it was, it’s tragic, it is the perfect Ylang scent.

I think I need to clean out the rest of my closets. Best find in your closet or drawer – something pretty awesome that you forgot you had?  Short one today, guys, since I still need to finish up the Best of 2011 post, my part, for Friday, too!  I’ll give out five samples of the Lorenzo Villoresi Ylang-Ylang to five lucky commenters today!

Patty

by the Stuffed-to-the-Gills Musette

So…the frenzy of Christmas (in the US) is done.  Whew!  Ours was very quiet, which was great.  I have spent way too many years stressing myself into a spasm over the Perfection of the Presentation.  One holiday I took a look at it and realized that it was a weird form of aggression, so I cut it out. Such relief.  The food is  good and my house is clean but if the dishes aren’t perfectly matched and I don’t always have the good silver out, guess what?  My guests still seem to have a good time.  Better yet?  So do I.

Which brings me to the point of this post – sorta.   Okay, not yet but roll with me here – I’m still in a food-coma.

We haven’t focused on big-time gifts in a long time.  We have nearly everything we need and a whole lot of what we want, so getting tons of stuff is just …more stuff.  I mentioned on Ann’s post yesterday that I got one of those Posh Pocket crossword books and was over the moon!  I am an inveterate crossworder and those books are perfect for throwing in your handbag.   I was a happy girl!

What I have focused on in the past decade?  The food!  And guess what?  Everybody else does, too!  We ate like porkrinds yesterday – breakfast was a huge affair, with Pork Products Unlimited (pigs fear me), latkes, cheese souffle, home made yeasted waffles (just take a minute and consider the calorie count of what I just listed there) pots and pots of good, dark coffee and fresh-squeezed OJ ….oh, it was wonderful.

After breakfast, El O broke out the ham, which had been brining in ginger ale and garlic overnight – we got that in the oven for a sloooooow bake  for dinner.  Scalloped potatoes, spinach souffle, homemade Parker House rolls, green beans from this summer’s garden, my mother’s corn pudding…..ah, joy.  Miette double chocolate cake.  Sublime. We count no carbs on Christmas, we just walk a lot, hoping to stave off the poundage with brisk movement.  And every. single. person. we ran into in our small burg talked about….Food!  What they made, what they ate, what they wished so-and-so would quit making because it sucks sooo bad…..all aspects of chowing down were discussed, from one end of town to the other.   Several of my neighbors were unrepentant is revealing the multiple dinners they would  happily ingest that day, often  from the same table!   Leftovers Rule!! Everyone’s eyes shone, as they described some heirloom dish, passed down through the generations, that their own grandchildren are now enjoying each holiday.   The continuity of family and community seems to be so much through food.  Go on Facebook today, see what the bulk of your friends are posting.  I’ll bet it’s mostly food.  Chatted with friends this morning (Boxing Day) – we did not talk about gifts.  We talked about what we ate yesterday.  The Italian pork roast (oh, good grief!  my heart nearly stopped with desire)… chicken meatballs with spinach (and a spirited discussion over the merits of fennel seed  therein (I’m a fennel gal, meself) sweet potato v. pumpkin pie, chocolate, peppermint, red velvet……El O’s cub was here yesterday, having spent Christmas Eve at his mother’s.  No talk of ‘what he got’ .  Instead, pictures of the groaning board, with a beautiful crown roast and this really strange dish with grapes and whipped topping that was kinda freaky-looking – but they love it!  It’s a family tradition.  He brought his best friend to both houses and it reminded me:  food tastes much better shared.

And we are family here…so I wanna know ALLLL about it!  What did you guys EAT?  What are your  fun/goofy/great food traditions?  (mine is:  if you take the last of the corn pudding that’s in the fridge I will Bite you so hard you will cry!).  Are you known for a special dish?  Or are you the one who Brings the Milk?  My cousin is required to bring her mamma’s tamales, no matter what the occasion.  Another friend, whose cooking runs counter to the rural community she just moved to, has been asked to bring the milk to community gatherings – I guess that tofu lasagne didn’t go over too well…

Can’t wait to hear about it.  You can also tell me what perfume you wore: mine was Diaghilev, which was a perfect scent for yesterday’s cooking and eating and walking extravaganza.  Tomorrow it’s back to work.  And oatmeal.  sigh.   I’m wearing Mitsouko to prepare for it.

image:  tolkienlibrary.net

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

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!