Go on, go on and talk...

First, dear reader, let me say that this author has been touched beyond belief with the calls, emails, Facebook messages, tweets, and, in one case, an actual visit to my house in response to my last post.  

 I love you, dear reader, and it is startling to know that you, within the confines of the various forms and functions love allows, love me, too. You make every day worthwhile. 

Okay, having been accused of "blerghing" rather than blogging last week, let's move past the mushy stuff, shall we? FN1.

It's getting cooler in Portland, which means we are approaching my favorite time of year: Fall. I love everything about fall. The holidays. The cool weather. The fall leaves that paper the streets, slick with rain. The moody cloud cover. The foods. The smell of fireplaces and wet pines and musty wool. School spirit and new beginnings and Friday night football games. FN2. FN3.

Last week I woke up and the rain and wind were knocking yellow leaves from the trees along my drive in to the office, when only the day before those leaves had been green. Fall isn't here precisely, but it will be soon.

The winter ships come and go
despite the Columbia fog...

What does Fall mean to you, dear reader? For me, it means a change in scent wardrobe, thought that likely won't occur until I come back from Nashville next week. FN4. FN5. But I've been thinking about it a lot. What will inevitably rotate to the back of the scent collection and what will come to the fore. Since I'm skipping my annual September trip to the Olympic Peninsula in lieu of Nashville and won't likely get up there now until it is full on winter, you will all have to cope with tales of broody Portland fall this year. FN6.

Since it was cool and wet yesterday morning, I dug out my bottle of Bvlgari Black. If you've never tried Bvlgari Black, you really should. It's beautiful, edgy yet feminine, and you can always find it at a reasonable price.


To get to Bvlgari Black, I had to reach past Tauer Perfumes L'Air du desert marocain, a long standing favorite, and Pentachord Auburn, which I bought after wearing it out of The Perfume House and then thinking about it for the next two months. Both of these are nice for fall.

Last week, I whipped out Lorenzo Villoresi Alamut, which is indelibly sweater linked in my head. I also recently found a place for my Jo Malone Blackberry & Bay on my Lazy Susan which holds my seasonal choices. (I rotate things in and our of drawers on the Lazy Susan, which I can spin at leisure in the morning.)

What else smells like fall to me? As someone who associates fall with it beginning to rain again, I can't ever smell those wet leaves without thinking of CB I Hate Perfume Black March, which I love layering with the easy, soapy, beauty of Jo Malone Red Roses.

Another happy Fall scent for me is slumberhouse Rume, which I once referred to as "the fall evening aromas of humidifier mist." It is a spicy, wintry, vaguely medicinal fruitcake liqueur of a scent, and every time it gets cooler, I reach into the cabinet for a healthy spray of it.

For something more toward the foodie end of things, may I recommend Annick Goutal Vanille Exquise for fall? This vanilla plays toward the burnt sugar and salted caramel end of things for me. When I saw the salted caramel mochas were back on the seasonal menu at Starbucks, I knew it was the right time to dig this one of the the drawer. Vanille Exquise always reminds me of pie walks and homemade carnival treats at elementary school carnivals. I think I only got to go to one at my own school when I was very little, but it remains one of my favorite childhood memories. If anyone has a recipe for really good popcorn balls, I'll take it.

For my final Fall-scented thought for this moment of transition, when every breath carries with it the death of the old in favor of a long coming new beginning, I'll add one of those scents that, if money were no object, I'd buy a giant bottle of so that I would never run out: By Kilian Back to Black. Tobacco and sugar are at their best here, intermingled together with a laudanum undertone that makes it a perennial hit in my book.


So there you have it, dear reader. Ten forward thinking Fall scents for the coming season. I know these are all scents I've reviewed before, and I promise, new reviews are on the horizon. But I realized this week that I haven't really sat down and spent quality time with my current collection in a long while…too long, really. I need to take some time to reflect on what I have and what I want and what I am missing. I suspect this will also result in a round of "What I can give away," so be prepared for that to come, too, dear reader.

The time has come to reassess and clean a little house. So mixes and scent packages will be forthcoming, as well as some long overdue gifts I owe.

Until next time, when I hope to write you from the land of barbecue, boots, and bourbon, I'll be thinking of you.

Pier 39, Astoria, Oregon.

You know this isn’t right, 
can’t we just have a fair fight?
So you need to hide to get through the day.
Stop being nice. 
Say it to my face:
am I Jezebel or am I Gargamel today?
You know it makes me laugh out loud.
You can’t hurt me now.
Go on, go on and talk
You can say whatever you want
Call me a homewrecker; call me a monster.
Give me what you’ve got!
~ "Give Me What You've Got," The Shondes

______
FN1. I'm looking at you, knife boy.
FN2. Okay, technically Lewis & Clark plays on Saturday afternoons, which is weird, but whatever. I'm from Texas, and in my head, it's all about the Friday Night Lights.
FN3. And here's why:

There is no quit in those boys. NO QUIT. And as my beloved brother was once a teenage Texas football player, a lingering intense pride remains.
FN4. Oh? Did I fail to mention I am currently in Nashville for a week to hang with my very own The Kate? Yep.
FN5. I am buying my first pair of cowgirl boots in over a decade while I am there. I am very excited. There will a fancy new shoes post to come soon for those of you into that sort of thing.
Wait.
That came out wrong.
FN6. Though I also have a trip to Chicago in October and a trip to Seattle in November, so there will be multi-state perfume plotting.

Today you can call me Zelda, because I'm bringing all the Link-age.

Hello dear reader!

Today I'm going to offer you all this list of links of fun and interesting things, perfumey and non, that I have come across on the tubes during my long dark winter of plaguery. I recommend all the items on this list if you've got an hour to kill and want to do a little web exploring with me. This list is lovingly brought to you by me and my beloved elder cat, Terric.

~ First, let's talk about the perfume linkage:

While I was trying to defeat the plague, it appears everyone has released their winter 2013 lists, because there are a group of bloggers one could consider the Five Families of Perfume Blogging, and in case you haven't noticed, they tend to simulcast these things. Instead of rushing to give you mine, I'll give you a list of links to everyone else's and a few words of my own about each. Really nothing like critiquing the critique, is there? Yeah, I'm being lazy. Sorry.

• Angela of Now Smell This! gives us her list of Top 10 Scents for Winter.  I love this list, and would echo two of her choices: Annick Goutal Duel and Aftelier Wild Roses. If you've never read Angela's writing, she's terrific, and her regular posting day is Monday.  

• Grain de Musc also released its Winter Top 10. I can't really comment on this list because I haven't tried any of these scents, but the By Kilian's In the Garden of Good and Evil and Arabian Nights scents are already in my LuckyScent basket, so hopefully I'll get to those soon.

• Here you will find Perfume Posse's Top 10 Winter Scent List written complied from six of PP's fabulous bloggers. Of this list I'd endorse Bvlgari BLV Pour Homme, CB I Hate Perfume Winter 1972, and Le Labo Vanille 44. I still need to try Prada Candy.

• Bois de Jasmin's Favorite Fragrances for Winter Days includes a few personal favorites: Donna Karan Black Cashmere, DSH Perfumes Winter White (Holiday No. 4), and biehl parfumkunstwerke eo01.

• And last but never least, there is a winter scents offering from Tom of Perfume-Smellin' Things. Since Tom is located in So Cal, he admits there hasn't been a lot of call for wintery scents, but the comments mentioned Bal a Versailles, which I think is nice for February for all sorts of reasons (smexy!), and I have to give a winter shout out to this sexy scent, as well as Guerlain Shalimar, which I love in cool weather.

So there you have it. A list of wintery scents I like that are also endorsed by the Dons of perfume blogging. Can't beat that now, can you?

~ And while I'm on excellent perfume pieces, allow me to also recommend the following:

• In a Non-Top 10 Winter Scent list offering, this "Perfume Primer" piece of the "Much Maligned Fruity Floral"  from Perfume Shrine is great.   I myself have written two third of my own version championing those fruity florals I enjoy...and then left to malinger in the dusty corners of my hard drive.  Until I can get my act together, this is a good read. It also includes a lot of history of the development of the fruity floral that I was not previously fully aware of, so give it a gander.

• From Perfume Posse, there's a nice piece about the best perfumes not enough people know about.  I myself haven't found the hidden greatness of Puredistance, but I agree with a few of the others on this list.  In fact, maybe I'll make one of my own...

• Perfume-in-Progress has a brief but interesting piece on the artisanal business model of perfumery, with a link to an interview with Mandy Aftel wherein she reflects on her life as a independent business owner/perfumer.

• Also, I meant to share this super hilarious piece from Parfümieren months ago about the twelve step affirmation of perfume addiction. It is a truly great, and I am sorry I sat on it so long. (Ed. note: Sadly, this blog has gone private recently due to online harassment, so I've removed the link. It is too bad; it is a great site.)

And then there's the perfume SHOPPING! I offer the following:

• The lovely and talented Amanda at Essentual Alchemy wrote in with the following note:

As some of you know, Kevin had a difficult battle with cancer. About a week ago, Kevin caught one of the strains of flu that was going around, in spite of his flu shot. Who knew! While he's recovering I need to put my business into high gear, and generate fast income. 
So I'm here to offer a BOO FLU event - BOO FLU equals more good smells for you! For one week, starting Tuesday, Feb. 5 through Feb. 12. 

Here's a couple of options to play with me:   

~ Buy 4 EdP sprays, get 1 free!

~ I'll have a special coupon – Please use code: BOOFLU at checkout to receive 25% off your total.  

Need Valentine's Day gifts? I love putting together custom perfume packages for people. 

As a victim of this year's dreaded flu season, I feel Amanda's pain.  Also, cancer seems to be touching a lot of people in my life right now, so I have a special place in my heart for Amanda, Kevin, and Kevin's post-cancer health struggles. Hitting the BOO FLU event isn't just shopping; it's a mitzvah, and you get nice perfume as a bonus.

I have reviewed a number of Essentual Alchemy scents, so don't forget to check the review list.  

• Also, from the lovely Dawn Spencer Hurwitz at DSH Perfumes:

Love is in the air at DSH! It's our Valentine's Day Sale.

In the midst of the winter chill, we're staying cozy and warm with the delicious kisses of our favorite softly spicy and gourmand scents-- so perfect to celebrate Valentine's Day. St. Valentine, Piment et Chocolat, Vanille Botanique and our fab Les Rouges Collection Box top our fave picks and to make things even sweeter we're giving 15% off site wide through 2.18.13.

Just use coupon code: sweetheart13 for you or your sweetheart this Valentine's Day & share the love! 

I have reviewed a number of DSH Perfumes scents, so again don't forget to check the review list for suggestions. I'm doing a Valentine's recommendations post soonish as well, so keep an eye out for that.

In non-perfume related items, I found these interesting:

~ The Terror Of "Twin Peaks": His Name Is BOB presents a terrific piece on the mystery and terror that is Twin Peaks's accidental boogeyman. Massive spoiler for the initiated.  Massive.  Seriously.  This will ruin the series for you if you haven't seen it all the way through to the bitter end.  If you have, though, read away! Thanks to my friend and reader Anna F. for the link!

~ Dedicated Hunger Games fans found the Quarter Quell’s  arena shooting location on Google Earth. How freaking dedicated do you have to be to search the globe for that kind of image!?! So awesome. My hats off to those District 12 sponsors. I should be so lucky to have such fans some day.

~ A group of friends has spent the past 23 years playing an elaborate game of 'tag.' My favorite part is that the lawyer of the group drafted the "Tag Participation Agreement" and they all signed. Now that's some lawyering I can get behind.

~ This list of bizarre twists on classic fairy tales is at least partly familiar to me (Cinder is on my 'too read' list and El Hubs has collected Fables since it began – we both love it) but there are several I wasn't familiar with. I'm most intrigued by the western Snow White for I love the western motif, and I am definitely going to find a copy of Anne Sexton's Transformations. Poetry + reinterpreted fairy tales? I'm already in love.

~ The lovely Smith sisters, both Audrey and Ashley, sent me this great photo essay showing Former Secretary Hillary Clinton in every country she's visited as Secretary of State. Apparently she set a new record for foreign visits. Are you ready for the count? 112! Incredible. And all over the world, we had this smart, thoughtful, passionate, shrewd woman representing our country. I'm deeply proud she was our SoS.

~ If you like dystopian, paranormal & supernatural YA reads and you aren't already stalking HarperTeen's Pitch Dark Days site and following their twitter, you should be. My favs in this group are: Boundless, the conclusion of Cynthia Hand's Unearthly trilogy; Everbound. the sequel to Brodi Ashton's terrific Everneath; and Requiem the conclusion to Lauren Oliver's dystopian world where love is a disease. But I have to say, I find routinely new authors to love among the Pitch Dark Days collection, so get if you like your YA dark, then get thee to the website and start browsing!

~ Just in time for Valentine's Day, Crave Online brings readers this piece on six loving couples Marvel recently destroyed. I really enjoyed it, both for the couple histories, and for the critique of how hard it is to have a relationship as a hero, particularly if Jason Aaron has anything to do say about it. Reading all the way to the end certainly made me appreciate how easy David and I have it with our random arguments over whose turn it is to do some neglected chore. Also, it underscore that a love that last fifty years or more is bound to encounter big challenges, so be generous with one another and appreciate the time you have.  A good message as we approach the Cupid season, or any time of year, really.

~ Thanks to our lovely friend and reader, Jillian, for the link to this unique fashion tumblr, which provides outfits based on characters from literature. It is a great tumblr! I don't care what you're a fan of – they've got it. Here are a few of my favorites:

• Classic Greeks like Antigone 
• Modern YA favorites like Karou from Laini Taylor's Daughter of Smoke and Bone and District 12's gritty heroine, Katniss Everdeen 
• Harry Potter characters good/bad/ugly, like the loathsome Rita Skeeter 
• Classic literary figures like Street Car Named Desire's Blanche Dubois 
• Long time youthful favorites like Sweet Valley High's famous twinsome, Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield 
• And last, but never least, in honor of my deep and unabiding love for The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, the wonderful author Jane Austen. (Yes, they have all our Pride and Prejudice favs as well!)

The full character/outfit list is here.

Okay. That's it for me today. Hope this gives you lots to click through, keeping you busy and entertained until I return. Work is busy but good, in a trying-to-keep-my-head-above-water sort of way.

Until then, dear reader, don't forget to read deeply and smell pretty!

Favorite coupledoms in Movies/TV/Books

Dear reader,

Do you know what a 'shipper is? It's someone who gets super into relationships in pop culture and feels very strongly about the fates and futures of said relationships. I, dear reader, am a shipper. I'm not hardcore, per se. I don't write fanfiction to create alternate universes where my couples get together. I don't wear 'TEAM' t-shirts. But I do strongly identify with a fictional relationship occasionally and root for that relationship.

So in honor of it being Valentine's week, and because I am feeling especially sappy this year, here is a list of a few of my favorite 'ships from movies, books, and television, along with a (sometimes unconventional) song for them and a scent or two.

~~~

1. Debi Newberry & Martin Blank, Grosse Pointe Blank

You know the story. "Spring of '96. Two young lovers with frightening natural chemistry. A girl sits in a seven hundred dollar prom dress on the front steps of her house, waiting for the most romantic moment of her young life. Boy never shows up. Not until now." Debi and Martin are wonderful because they lead us to believe those that loved us once, and loved us best, might still love us again. Even in an ugly callous cynical and sarcastic world like the one of Grosse Pointe Blank, love conquers all -- in fully-automatic style.

Martin: "I'm sorry if I fucked up your life."
Debi: "It's not over yet."

Song: Peter Gabriel, "Let My Love Open the Door (To Your Heart);" Neko Case, "This Tornado Loves You"
Perfume: I always think of Debi (half) ironically wearing CK Obsession to the reunion. Is that weird? Martin does have obsessive recurring dreams about her... Martin doesn't wear anything. Someone might smell him coming.

~~~

2. Jane Eyre & Edward Fairfax Rochester, Jane Eyre

Now and forever, Jane and Edward will stand out in my mind as two sad and broken people who find each other and, despite great obstacles of circumstance and social convention, rebel against everything in defense of their love for one another. Is their relationship problematic? Sure. Could I forgive Edward if I were Jane? I don't know. I only know that when she hears his name on the wind, she goes to him, and I am glad she does.

Songs: Depeche Mode, "Somebody," The Decemberists, "Hazards of Love"
Perfume: For Jane, Guerlain Mitsouko; For Rochester, Guerlain Habit Rouge.

~~~

3. Nora Grey & Patch Cipriano, Hush, Hush series

I wasn't sure how I felt about Patch initially. He ran hot/cold and was often mean, way meaner than Daniel was to Luce in Fallen. It's hard to resist roguish, though. Is it wrong when I mentally picture Patch, he's basically Jess Mariano? But, you know, more of a '50s tough, and angelic. I like that Nora doesn't always trust him and isn't always willing to listen. I like that she makes her own decisions. Over the course of the series, Nora grows into one of the bravest female protagonists I've found in YA today. I'm excited to see how the series resolves.

Songs: Lou Reed, "This Magic Moment;" The Smiths "There is a Light That Never Goes Out"
Perfume: Patch is supposed to smell like "mint and earth," so I'm tossing CB I Hate Perfume Black March onto the list, but I admit I also associate Il Profumo Patchouli Noir with Patch and Nora.

~~~

4. Ethan Wate & Lena Duchannes, Beautiful Creatures

Ethan & Lena - you want to talk about two kids who will break your heart? Here they are. The most wonderful thing about this series is that the stories are told from Ethan's perspective, and he's the devoted and wounded one most of the time. Lena is confused, wild, willful, and non-conformist. And even when they're apart, their love is strong enough it could reconfigure time and space, even tear the world in two.

Songs: The Band Perry, "Walk Me Down the Middle;" Alison Brown, "Every Day I Write the Book;" The White Stripes, "Sugar Never Tasted So Good"
Perfume: Lena's scent, rosemary and lemons, which always makes me think of Miller Harris Fleurs de Bois, because it's meant to be a warm weather scent and it is always hot in Gatlin.

~~~

5. Bella Swan & Jacob Black, Twilight

Yeah, yeah, Edward is forever, he and Bella are both eternal sparkly diamond parents. Call me a heretic, but to me the more interesting relationship isn't the first person you love who screws you over, abandons you, and breaks your heart. It's the person who comes after them. The person that says "Yes, I see how broken and messed up you are. That's okay. I'll love you, anyway." That's the person who restores my faith in humanity, my hope for a better love tomorrow. You know that Garth Brook's song, "Unanswered Prayers"? I love that song. Because Charlie is right - sometimes you have to love what's good for you. Or at least, here in the non-sparkly world, you should.

Songs: Soltero, "The Moment You Said Yes;" Linda Ronstadt, "When Will I Be Loved;" Natasha Bedingfield, "Pocket Full of Sunshine"
Perfume: I always think Bella must smell like food since people want to eat her, but if we focus on the non-blood drinkable parts of Bella (Are there any?), then I want to give her and Jacob a warm, sunny scent reflective of their warmth and Bella's desert origins, like Tauer Perfumes L'Air du Desert Marocain or  Olympic Orchids Arizona. (Too on the nose?)

~~~

6. The Doctor & Rose Tyler, Doctor Who

They traveled through time and space, exploring both together and saving the world.  They literally bent (and sometimes broke) the laws of the universe to find one another even when it seemed. Their isn't just a love for the ages, it is a love for all ages, all times, all dimensions. He's her mad man in a blue box; she's his Bad Wolf. Enough said.

Songs: Lykke Li, "Unrequited Love;" David Bowie, "Modern Love;" Beatles, "Here, There, and Everywhere"
Perfume: I want to put Rose in something excellent like By Kilian Back to Black, but she's probably wearing Burberry Brit with those overalls. And I can't scent the Doctor, but I  know Esscentual Alchemy Natural Perfumes has taken a delightful stab with Time Lord, found here.

~~~

7. Elena Gilbert and Stefan Salvatore, The CW's The Vampire Diaries

I know, I know. Believe me. Damon and Elena means more Damon, and who couldn't use more of that?  Damon is so hot sometimes I think my eyeballs will literally melt out of my head. But when it comes to Elena, I'm going to have to say that she was a healthier, happier person with Stefan, and Stefan was a less Ripper/slightly more broody version of himself. They love each other and they're better for and with each other. We're all going to have to deal with that.

(Which leaves Damon conveniently available....right?)

Songs: Fiona Apple, "Slow Like Honey;"  Feist, "1-2-3-4;" Iron & Wine, "Such Great Heights"
Perfume: Elena is so innocent, but I can't help but imagine her running around Mystic Falls in Agent Provocateur. Okay, maybe she only wears that only when she starts running around in one of those ridiculous Founder's event ballgowns.  The rest of the time she probably rocks something like Prada Infusion d'Iris. Stefan probably wears something youthful and full of denial, like Davidoff Cool Water or Thierry Mugler Angel AMen. (And I like to imagine Damon wearing Bvlgari Black, and his songs for Elena have to be Chris Issak's "Wicked Game" and Ok Go's "A Million Ways to be Cruel".)

~~~

8. Logan Echolls & Veronica Mars, Veronica Mars

Oh, Veronica and Logan. How I love to want to kill both of you for being stupid.  If ever two people were a disaster of epic love proportions, it is you two. You hurt each other over and over, and yet there is not a moment after the kiss on the balcony that I cannot see you together. It just seems cataclysmically meant to be.

Logan: "I thought our story was epic, you know? You and me."
Veronica: "Epic how?"
Logan: "Spanning years and continents. Lives ruined and blood shed. Epic!"
Veronica: "Come on. Ruined lives? Bloodshed? You really think a relationship should be that hard?"
Logan: "No one writes songs about the ones that come easy."

Songs: Mike Doughty, "I Hear the Bells;" Blair, "Hearts;" The Be Good Tanyas, "In Spite of All the Damage I've Done"
Perfume: Veronica wears Jovan White Musk (Okay, this is a cheat KBell wears it herself, and I can't not think that when I mentally sniff her.) For Logan, something warm and sexy and not necessarily traditional - Costume National 21 or CB/Alan Cumming's 2nd Cumming.

~~~

9. Buffy Summers & Angel, Buffy: The Vampire Slayer

One girl in all the world... and one vampire redeemed find love against all odds. It's written in the stars by the Powers that Be.  Some day, hopefully in the not so distant future, she will stop carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders. And when she does, the monster she made a man will be waiting. (I mentally retcon the Angel/Cordelia fiasco. When it comes to Angel and Buffy, there can be only one.)

Angel: "You still my girl?"
Buffy: "Always."

Songs: Urge Overkill, "Girl You'll Be a Woman Soon;" Bat for Lashes "Siren Song;" Tom Petty, "Angel Dream (No. 2)"
Perfume: Serge Luten Bois de Violette, which I cannot justify. I don't even know where Buffy would come by such a thing. I just feel like she would. Or maybe Atelier Grand Neroli? Sweet and not necessarily innocent or fragile, but hopeful nonetheless, particularly in those early seasons.

~~~

10. Sydney Bristow & Michael Vaughan, Alias

In the first three seasons of this show, their love was so amazing and palpable and yet played with such restraint and subtly that I could not get enough of it. There is this scene from the first season that completely sold me on this relationship. Sydney is having an awful time.  She calls Vaughan and they meet on a pier pretending not to be together.  Overcome, Sydney starts sobbing, and you can just tell it is killing Vaughan he can't hurt her or help her or make it better.  Then Sydney reaches out and takes his hand, even though she's not supposed to and its dangerous and stupid and could blow her cover and get them both killed, because she cannot help herself. Even though  she can't even look back at him, and it doesn't matter because...he's her anchor.  He's the thing that keeps her in that moment from giving up.  From that moment on you just know somewhere deep inside, no matter what happens, they'll find their way back to one another.

Songs: Peggy Lee & Benny Goodman, "All I Need Is You"; Beatles, "I've Just Seen a Face;" Robin Thicke, "When I Get You Alone"
Perfume: Sydney might where a lot of different scents with her costumes, but she strikes me as a classic sort of girl -- Chanel No. 5 or Worth Je Reviens, maybe? Something that screams classic and elegant and refined, but not too noticeable - a great cover for the dangerous, adventure-loving spy in us all.

I have a tough time scenting Michael Vartan because I feel like, having spent a huge portion of his formative years in France, he'd have some strong personal preferences.  Vaughan, on the other hand, probably wears something very work-a-day government handler, like Old Spice. Boring, conventional, reliable, but also...attractive.

~~~

That's my list.  What couples for you 'ship, dear reader? I see Titanic is being re-released in 3D soon.  Who wants to tell me what they think Jack or Rose would wear?  Wish I'd done Tara & Willow from Buffy instead? Any Luke Danes/Lorelai Gilmore fans out there? What about Wash & Zoe from Firefly? Or Brian Kinney & Justin Taylor from Queer as Folk? (I will never forget that dance scene.) 

Inquiring 'shippy minds want to know.

Take me out to the black, tell them I ain't coming back...

I recently switched cell phone providers to an Android phone, and uploaded a bunch of music to Google Music to try it out. It turns out that I forgot I had a bunch of audio clips from TV shows and movies I love on my hard drive, because I will occasionally build a mix CD off some other medium -- a piece of visual artwork, but more frequently a quote from a poem or book or film or show -- and I like to use the audio clip to open or close the mix CD. FN1. So now occasionally I get these clips mixed in with my music, which is surprisingly delightful, particularly when the following song seems to pair with the quote.

I aim to misbehave.

One of the quotes I keep running into is this from one Malcolm Reynolds, captain of the firefly-class space ship Serenity: "The darkness. Kind of darkness you can't even imagine. Blacker than the space it moves through."
So imagine that you are me, mindlessly drafting away on legal documents, listening to music, and then these words pop into your head. What perfume do you instantly think of?
For me, it's obvious: Bvlgari Black.
Created in 1998 by Annick Menardo, Bvlgari Black is described on the Bvlgari website as follows:

Black is unconventional, a fragrance conceived around the smoky, woody notes of Lapsang Souchong tea, that celebrates the pleasure and freedom of expression. A fusion of cool, stripped-down design in high-tech matte rubber with a chrome cap and transparent glass.


Notes are black tea, rosewood, bergamot, cedar, oakmoss, vanilla, amber, sandalwood, and musk.

What can I say? Black is  a multitude of wonderful smells, and yet, difficult to describe. Its immediately evocative of hard vanilla candies, incense smoke, hot rubber, the smell when you pull cold water rushing over stones into a cup in your hands and bring it to your lips, the smell of the inside of your boyfriend's leather coat when you are held with it wrapped around your whole body. 

But that's just me.  Other people get "celery salt and rubber" and "pale green;" "dark vintage cashmere allure;"  "urban cool;" and a tie for my favorites: "biker eating an ice cream cone" and "most likely work best on attractive young yuppies or hipsters of either gender." It's somehow everything, and nothing, and appears to change a lot, based on the person wearing it. Not unlike looking out into the Black, I suppose.

Do I like Black? Of course I do.  It's sweetly strange, delightfully sexy, and weirdly delicious.  I can't decide if I want to taste it on my lips when I kiss someone's neck or spray it on a riding crop or spray it on my scarf on a cold morning.  Perusing reviews, it seems the real test of Black, though, is how it holds up next to one of my all-time favorites, the equally avant-garde L'Artisan Dzing!

Ah, the infamous hockey puck!

Trying them side by side, Dzing! and Black seem like cousins. Okay, perhaps less cousins, and more like.... You know how, when you see someone from the back or the side or at a weird angle and you are110% sure that it is someone you know and it is not until you actually walk up to them and say something that you realize they are a complete stranger and you have made a complete fool of yourself? That's what mistaking Dzing! and Black is like.  You are sure they look alike, but when you really pay attention, you realize they are nothing alike. FN2.

 I never thought there'd be two of them, and there aren't really.  Black is sweeter, smoother, and less aggressive or muscular than Dzing! Dzing! is heavier on the rubber and salt on me, while Black is heavier on the amber and sandalwood end of things. I like them both, and I think my preference for one over the other would probably hinge on my mood, or the weather, or the day, or my destination, unlike the great LT, who put Black in the top 10 fragrances of all time. FN3. Me? I think I might be more of a Dzing! girl, but I'm biased. After all, I've lived with and loved Dzing! for years now.  That said, at the low price point one can acquire a bottle of Black, I say, why not have both? I found a 100ml bottle on Amazon for $35 of all places!

Black is marketed unisex, and that's a good thing, because it is a lovely scent that could work great on anyone.  And at the low, low price of practically next to nothing, I command you to get thee to a Sephora to try it, and don't be dissuaded if they happen to have stuck it on the 'men's' perfume wall. 

 Want more? Try:
~ a review from Robin at Now Smell This!
~ a review from I Smell Therefore I Am
~ a review from Muse in Wooden Shoes
~ a review from Bois de Jasmin
~ a review from + Q Perfume Blog
~ a review from ChickenFreak's Obsessions
~ a review from All I Am - A Redhead
~ a review from Pere De Pierre
~ a review from Nathan Branch
~ a review from Scent of the Day
~ a review from Scentsate
___________
FN1. Yes, I love the mix tape, for lo, I am a child of the 1980s, and I *still* have tapes x-boyfriends made me twenty years ago, even though I have nothing to play them on, because I think they are some of the most personal gifts I ever received.


FN2. Or, Oh! You know that tumblr of Lesbians Who Look Like Justin Bieber? It's like that! Like mistaking one of those lesbians from a distance for the real Bieber! (BTW, I have an IRL friend who was actually featured on the site.) (It's even Bieber approved (See video clip below.))

FN3. LT = Luca Turin, author of Perfumes: The Guide, and other fancy perfume accomplishments.  If you don't know, google it.

Monthly Spin: The Avett Brothers - I and Love and You

The Monthly Spin is a recurring feature on Feminine Things wherein I talked about an album I'm loving and the perfumes I think go with it.

"I haven't finished a thing since I started my life;
I haven't finished a thing since I started my life..."

I freely admit to having totally avoided the Avett Brothers in general and this album in particular because the song "Head Full of Doubt, Heart Full of Promise" was played approximately every two and half minutes for the entire multiple year run of TNT's Saving Grace which I did not enjoy (ads or show) and I got so sick of it I ran in the opposite direction anytime I heard the words, "And now, the Avett Brothers...."

...which, it turns out, was too bad. Here I am, two years later, finally enjoying the album I and Love and You thanks to "I and Love and You" getting into radio rotation on the PDX alt.station 94.7. Because folks, if someone had played "My Heart like a Kick Drum" or "Ill With Want" for me first, I might have overlooked that painful "Head Full of Doubt" period.

I admit that when I first heard "I and Love and You," my first thought went something like this. "Is that the Counting Crows? No..... Did Jakob Dylan's voice get super gravelly? No....." The Avett Brothers' sound feels comfortable and familiar, like you've heard it before, but I wouldn't necessarily call it derivative. I'd more describe it as filling a mental musical space you didn't realize was empty. It's a little bluesy, a little blue grassy, a lot of introspective navel gazing. ("Oh my favorite!" says my partner with sarcasm as he rolls his eyes.) I find it pretty enjoyable and easy to listen to. It seems like the kind of tunes good for a reflective, solo road trip of self-exploration and discovery. Since I indulge myself in such trips with almost monthly frequency, this works for me.

Also, if you're thinking about giving the Avett Brothers a chance, may I recommend you actually start with the 2007 release Emotionalism? It's terrific and not nearly as overplayed, though you'll probably find yourself thinking, "Hey I recognize this!" on the occasional track. I like that the bluegrass roots of the Avett Brothers is more obvious here, which of course makes it less mainstream radio accessible, but probably the better album. My favs off of Emotionalism are 'The Ballad of Love and Hate," "Will You Return", and "I Would Be Sad".

"Love arrives safely with suitcase in tow,
carrying with her the good things we know --
a reason to live, and a reason to grow,
to trust, to hold, to care..."

Recommended if you like: Counting Crows, Gin Blossoms, Bob Dylan, Jakob Dylan,  Mumford and Sons

While spinning, wear:  Olympic Orchids Arizona, slumberhouse Rume, Bulgari BLV Pour Homme,  Bellatrix Perfumes Titania. I don't really know what links these scents together with these songs/musical style in my mind.  I guess I think of these scents as being earthy and beautiful without trying too hard, just sort of appearing out of the ether in their beautiful complexity without even a backward glance of acknowledgment that they were really intensely difficult to create. Which is how I find the Avett Brothers' music -- accessible to the point of being deceptive in its complexity.

I love you when you give me things.

Etat Libre d'Orange Tilda Swinton Like This

"The real science is discovery, Charles, not invention. The truths are there, whether we find them, or not." - Peter MacNicol as Dr. Larry Fleinhardt, NUMB3RS

I heard this said on a tv show I watch recently, and of course, like everything else, it made me think of perfume. Do we ever ‘create’ scent, really? Or is the creation of perfume really just a matter of discovery? Out there lays a vast ocean of scent, and we just wander around in it, waiting to happen upon a new sensation or old memory. So when it comes to the new Etat Libre d'Orange scent, Tilda Swinton Like This, I have some discovery related intrepidation. You see, the Rumi poem that supposedly inspired the scent? Also the poem from whence my husband’s wedding vows to me came from.

Yep.

He took it from an illustrated book of Rumi poetry I gave him early in our courtship.  So, basically this scent had a lot of very specific things it had to live up to in order to please me.

According to Etat Libre d'Orange , the scent came about like this:

I have never been a one for scents in bottles.

I have always located my favourite fragrances at the doorways of kitchens, in the heart of a greenhouse, at the bottom of a garden. Scent means place to me: place and state of mind – even state of grace. Certainly state of ease.

My favourite smells are the smells of home, the experience of the reliable recognizable after the exotic adventure: the regular – natural – turn of the seasons, simplicity and softness after the duck and dive of definition in the wide, wide world.

When Mathilde Bijaoui first asked me what my own favorite scent in a bottle might contain, I described a magic potion that I could carry with me wherever I went that would hold for me the fragrance – the spirit – of home.

The warm ginger of new baking on a wood table, the immortelle of a fresh spring afternoon, the lazy sunshine of my grandfather’s summer greenhouse, woodsmoke and the whisky peat of the Scottish Highlands after rain.

I told her about a bottle of spirit, something very simple, to me: something almost indescribable, so personal it should be.

The miracle is that Mathilde made it.

The great Sufi poet Rumi wrote:

If anyone wants to know what “spirit” is,
or what “God’s fragrance” means,
lean your head toward him or her.
Keep your face there close.
Like this.

This is possibly my favourite poem of all time. It restores me like the smoke/rain/gingerbread/greenhouse my scent-sense is fed by. It is a poem about simplicity, about human-scaled miracles. About trust. About home.

In my fantasy there is a lost chapter of Alice in Wonderland – after the drink saying Drink Me, after the cake pleading Eat Me – where the adventuring, alien, Alice, way down the rabbit hole, far fro m the familiar and maybe somewhat homesick – comes upon a modest glass with a ginger stem reaching down into a pale golden scent that humbly suggests: Like This…

My goodness! She does go on, doesn’t she? Well at least she had some ideas about what kind of scent she wanted her name on, distinguishing her from a lot of celebrities.

The purported notes are “yellow mandarin, ginger, pumpkin, immortelle, neroli, rose, vetiver, heliotrope and musk.“ Other reviewers have described it as a non-foodie pumpkin, pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, etc. scent. Me? Here are, unedited, my immediate stream of consciousness reactions:

Wow. This is weird. What the hell do I smell? Celery smoothie, a fresh box of crayons, cantaloupe juice spilled on a silk tie, and day old instant coffee all at once. Or...pumpkin bread with an overwhelming dose of coriander, if it were left in the sun on the sidewalk for three days in a plastic baggie and is now covered in that whitish mold. And then taken and covered in maple syrup and served for Sunday brunch. Or maybe someone made you a pumpkin latte with soy milk but the flavor syrup they used was cantaloupe?

Despite all those food words I just used, I agree with everyone who said it isn’t foodie. The scents I can think of that Like This reminds me of are SJP Covet and Bvlgari BLV Pour Homme. I tried all three together after my first go with Like This on it's own so that, like the bear who went over the mountain, I could see what I could see.

Like This is a more muted version of both, making it better than Covet (which is the weakest of the three) and making it less rich than BLV Pour Homme. While Covet is sharp like astringent, BLV Pour Homme is savory like a main course and Like This is sweet like a fancy dessert of fresh fruit poached in dessert wine. At this point, about 30 minutes in, Like This is the best of the three if you're trying to find a feminine in this vein. Around the two and a half hour mark Like This and Covet are completely indistinguishable on me, and neither is a particularly likable experience.

And I hate that. I do. I hate it when a scent everyone else seems to love just fizzles on me. And I really can't believe no one else noticed the similarity to Covet, as far as I can tell.  Of the three, I'd be most inclined to buy the muscular BLV Pour Homme for about a fifth of the price of Like This instead. But when I think of the Rumi poem, this is, in no world of mine, what it smells like. Ah, well. On to the next scent.

And with that, I leave you with this: The song David and I had our first dance to, five years ago this October.

"The book of love is long and boring
And written very long ago
It's full of flowers and heart-shaped boxes
And things we're all too young to know but
I...
I love it when you give me things and
You...
You ought to give me wedding rings."
- "The Book of Love," Magnetic Fields (You can listen to the song here)

You can buy Tilda Swinton Like this in 50ml for $99 from Luckyscent. However, I strongly recommend trying before buying on this one. You can get samples from either Luckyscent or The Perfumed Court.

Want more reviews? Try...
~ a review from Angela at Now Smell This!
~ a review from Perfume-Smellin’ Things
~ a review from the Non-Blonde
~ a review from Perfume Posse
~ a review from The Scented Salamander
~ a review from 1000 Fragrances
~ a review from Perfume Shrine
~ a review from London Makeup Girl
~ a review from peredepierre

You only answer, "Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps."

Bvlgari BLV Pour Homme

Another day, another quest for those scents that work well in warmer weather and bring the sunshine in, cold snap be damned.

Bvlgari BLV Pour Homme is described as follows:

Fire and ice. Passion and poise. A study in contradiction-like a woman without regret. Bvlgari's BLV opens with a refreshing burst of ginger and finishes with the full, sensual scents of vanilla, wisteria, and sandalwood. Like the woman who wears it, BLV is a force, a spirit, an unforgettable experience.

Top Notes: Cardamon and Sandalwood
Heart: Juniper Berries, Ginger and Galanga
Base: Ginko Leaves, Grey Teak and Tobacco Flower

The immediate, initial "just applied it to my skin and stuck my face in it" scent is a mishmash of spicy, sticky, sweet, tangy, synthetic mess. Luckily, I will always wait about 10 minutes, even for the worst stuff, before giving up and going off to scrub, and in this case I am really glad I waited.

This is foodie in the way that Indian food is spiced and flavored, which I suspect is a result of the strong cardamon top note. I'm guessing it's the combination of ginger and sandalwood. Smoked meat? Very traditionally masculine. This scent seems like a combination of fence building sweat, dry rubbing down meat for the smoker, the sweet smell of wet grass stuck to your legs from mowing, and maybe a little grease and oil from working on the car. In other words, it reminds me of the manly things men do in Texas in the summer. (Except that my mom did all the mowing and we got other people to build fences, work on the cars.) But yes, it smells like the kind of scent that someone created to embody traditional masculinity when you smelled it.

So in my quest to experience scent in the widest ways possible in an effort to enjoy the scents and improve my nose, one of the ways I try different smells is to close my eyes, open my mouth, and inhale in order to taste the scent. This is, admittedly, a little weird. That said, sometimes I notice things I'd otherwise miss. This has a salty edge like the taste of kissing sweaty skin and tastes of cardamon, cumin and chili powder. After about an hour, BLV get sweeter because you get more of the sandalwood and tobacco flower.

This is one very sexy scent. I would have a hard time resisting anyone wearing this scent. It's spicy and sweet and has a lot of heat to it. It's a very heavy, aggressive scent with a lot of sillage and a lot of muscle, and the person wearing it would have to have a lot of confidence in their own sexual prowess to truly carry it, but if they did -- wow. Like Johnny Depp in, well, anything, or Penelope Cruz in VickyCristinaBarcelona, or Scarlett Johansson in Match Point, they have to know that people want them, and revel in it.

Nordstrom and Sephora carry Bvlgari Pour Homme, but you can get huge amounts of it from places like Amazon and Overstock.com significantly discounted. My 1.5ml sample, which went a long way, I got for 50 cents from Rei Rien.

"If you can't make your mind up, we'll never get started,
and I don't wanna wind up being parted, broken-hearted.
So if you really love me, say yes,
but if you don't dear, confess,
but please don't tell me
'Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps.' "
- "Quizás, Quizás, Quizás (Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps)," Osvaldo Farrés (You can listen Cake's version here)

I frequently have a tough time finding reviews of commercial scents. This one is no exception. You'll just have to try it yourself.

Circles and I’m watching the sparks; you’re traveling into the dark...

Bvlgari Jasmin Noir

As I've mentioned before, I love noir. I'm currently working my way through The Complete Sherlock Holmes, on loan from my husband in preparation for our post New Year's trip to see the new film. I'm really excited for the film, both because I love mysteries and because I have been a faithful fan of Robert Downey Jr. for years, even through his can't'-work-consistently-because-of-all-the-drugs period. If any of you have seen the movie, I'd love to know what you thought -- but no spoilers!

Because of my deep immersion in all things mystery related, I tend to run directly toward anything with the word "noir" in the title, even if in perfume, that means something very different. Thus, I am here wth a review of Bvlgari's Jasmine Noir, which I also stumbled across at Sephora. According to Sephora,

Bvlgari's newest fragrance, Jasmin Noir, captures the irresistible charm of a mysterious and intensely sensual woman. Captivating and caressing, Jasmin Noir is a rich mix of voluptuous floral and precious woody notes with accents of almond and licorice. This infinitely addictive essence is sublimely revealed by jasmine, a flower whose beauty is as pure as it is tantalizing. This scent embodies the very heart of the Bvlgari brand, reflecting the richest and noblest codes of a luxury jewelry legacy. The deep black and luminous gold bottle beautifully honors the heritage of prestigious allure.

Notes: Green Sap, Gardenia, Sambac Jasmin, Satin Almond, Precious Woods, Tonka Bean Absolute, Licorice

Despite this fairly crappy, overblown ad, Jasmin Noir is decent. It's a lot of sugar and flowers, surprisingly more gardenia than jasmin up front, though. I'd really get any woods or licorice, but after a while I do get some almond and hints of a vanilla-ish scent that must be from the tonka bean. It's a totally inoffensive scent, very smooth. At the end, it becomes what could be mistaken for powdery, but really it's a nice sweet floral mix. If you sniff carefully, you can discern both the gardenia and jasmin, which is really nice.

It's not heavy enough to be heavy, but not light enough to be delicate. There's nothing dark about it, either. When I hear noir, I come looking for darkness, complexity, mystery. This is about as mysterious as a Nancy Drew novel. Now that's not a slam from my perspective; once upon a time, I owned all 52 original Nancy Drews in hardback. (Also, I found the Nancy Drew tweeny-bopper movie that came out a few years ago charming, even if, in my childhood mind, Nancy was a lot less cardigan sporting and a lot more Veronica Mars.) But it isn't a grown up kind of mystery. It's an easily solvable mystery, the kind you along with because you enjoy the sweet simplicity of the problems and their ready solutions, not because you are looking for intrigue. But I thought, on the whole, that Jasmin Noir was a pretty and accessible jasmin for a really good price. Definitely worth a try if you've got a Sephora nearby.

You can buy Jasmin Noir in 10ml travel spray and 33ml bottles for $25 and $68 respectively from Sephora or Amazon, though Ebay had bottles for a fairly decent discount. And before you drop those 68 bones, you shou7ld know I saw a 100ml bottle available through an online discounter for a mere $55. If you like this one, you can get a bottle as large as those ridiculous skulls sized jugs of Prada Infusion d'Iris I'm always seeing in Vogue and Elle.

"The night you swore your heart nearly bled,
I saw a part of you that’s already dead.
I’ve heard places and times they’ve got their own M.O.
Tear the surface; let’s go looking below.
I’ve heard faces and signs they’ve got their own M.O.
Hiding secrets they don’t want you to know."
- "M.O.," Oppenheimer

Want more reviews? Try...
~ A review from Robin at Now Smell This!
~ A review from Perfume-Smellin' Things
~ A review from Pere de Pierre
~ A review from Polish, Platforms, Perfume
~ A review from Fragrantica