Getting Clean

Photo of Twomas and me in the dear, departed Z-3. Didn’t think to take one in the Z-4

Well, Memorial Day weekend came and went. My friend Tomas was visiting from NYC. Part business and part personal- his work does have an office in Los Angeles and his elderly parents have an apartment in a high-rise on the shore in Santa Monica, so he stays in a small hotel there and Ubers around. There’s a restaurant close to me in West Hollywood that we like called Bottega Louie that also has great desserts, so he could kill two birds with one stone by having lunch and picking up his mom a birthday cake from there. After lunch we Ubered over to some shops on Beverly Blvd, including Heath Ceramics, where he had never been and ScentBar, where he had also never been. Steve G happened to be there, looking as dapper as ever and it occurred to me that I had not been there since before the pandemic. So that must be what, five years? Maybe I’d been worried about dropping that Covid 25 (to be extremely charitable) but no, I hadn’t gone in. I did get a sample from Imaginary Authors, which I will circle back to at some point. The reason for the lack of an actual perfume review will become clear later..

Are you on tenterhooks, yet? No? Okay..

Yes, I consider that “running low”

So one thing I am running low on is a Moulton Brown shower gel in the most delicious rose ever. It’s so wonderfully rosy that it pretty much perfumes the whole apartment, much less the bathroom for hours after use and stays on the body as well. Normally I don’t like that in a shower gel- I like it to perfume the shower while I am using it and then begone. But I can use this to be a base for a great rose scent like Uncle Serge’s La Fille de Berlin to which I might add if I am feeling really frisky (and won’t be meeting anyone) a good spritz of MKK.

In any case I have been on Amazon looking at cheap and cheerful subs.

Bouquet Garni Rose Garden was the first and while it wasn’t a complete disappointment it wasn’t rocking my world. It was a nice rosy hand wash type thing what would be perfect to fill up the soap dispenser in the guest bathroom. If I had a guest bathroom. Or a soap dispenser. Or for that matter, guests. It foams up, is rosy, then goes away. Perfect for a hand soap but lacks the richness of the MB.

So Mrs. Meyer was next. Of course having the attention span of a fruit fly (and the budget of same) I was distracted from actually having anything rose scented from them by Tomato Vine. I really love the scent of tomato leaf with it’s delicate earthy greenness. This is extremely pretty, with just a touch of earthiness. Which is I suppose sensible- the idea of washing your hands in fresh dirt probably went out with Euell Gibbons eating pine trees. It’s also apparently a limited edition so I refuse to fall in love with it.

The third purchase was because of some comment somewhere on the interwebs (I would give credit if I could remember) about carbolic soap and how it brings back memories for those of us of a certain age. That particular medicinal smell is quite definite and has a certain throw-back charm to it. In the way that certain retro cleaning products have: Pine-Sol (“I can tell by the smell you’re been cleaning” the spokeslady would chirp as she entered the kitchen where the lady of the house had finished mopping) is one, but it is I have been told toxic to pets. Old School Spic and Span powder is another. I purchased something called “Blue Power” carbolic soap in a 3-pack. I should have been clued in that it was wrapped like plutonium- it has a definite medicinal smell that may even be a trigger for someone who had a bad experience at the Dentists in the 70’s. Which I guess would be anyone who lived and had teeth in the 70’s. In any case, it does have a definite smell of “clean” as in “sanitized for your protection” that is actually pleasant when not having to sanitize your average crime scene or bus-stop bathroom. It does however preclude even trying to wear perfume: Even heavy hitters like Giorgio aren’t going to be able to muscle their way in on this one. You are just going to  smell unassailably, virtuously clean for the day after a shower with this. Which, depending upon their associations, either reassure or terrify those around you.

So the search for the rose is ongoing. Any suggestions?

Blue Power Carbolic soap was about $10, Mrs. Meyers Tomato Vine was around $5 and Bouquet Garni Rose was $14, all purchased from Amazon. I don’t know where I bought the Moulton Brown, but buy it I did. Pictures are mine, Pexels, and stolen from Amazon (hey, I bought the darned soap so fair use.)