Don't let me be alone. It's tearing apart my blue, blue heart.

The Prom @ Seaside, OR

Perfume Challenge Week 19: Monday, 5/23/11, to Friday, 5/27/11

Happy Memorial weekend, all! I don't know about you, but I'm at the beach for the weekend. If it's pretty, I'm walking along the water’s edge, and if not, and currently they are predicting not, I'm holed up in my room drinking coffee and watching the water from my window. Either way, epic winning! I'd prefer to have company, but sometimes a little alone time is good, too.  Also, if it's raining, I'm probably watching Dr. Who and eating ice cream in bed.  I don't know, at the moment I'm writing this, if I'm actually doing that while you're reading, but I like the idea of it enough that we'll go ahead and say that's what I'm doing right now, shall we?

This week I bring you six fabulous scents from slumberhouse, which I am proud to say is located here at home in Portland, Oregon.

Monday: slumberhouse Kote - The juice of clementines, dried with tobacco leaves and left in the sun to dry. Oh, oh, oh. I love this! The opening is highly acidic citrus orange that slides into warm tobacco. It's a little sweet and a lot of heat, but I wouldn't call it stereotypically 'masculine.' I even get a bit of hot rubber or maybe newly tarred road in the middle. Later it becomes a light green tobacco, almost like a field of fresh leaf. It grows less tart and more sweet as the drydown continues. Less sweet than CB I Hate Perfume Smokey Tobacco Accord, and more interesting and singular than Etat Libre d’Orange Jasmin et Cigarettes, both of which I really enjoy. Excellent. 5 of 5 nods.

Tuesday: slumberhouse Mur - Purist and rural elements - cassis, mate, bees wax and honey hay on a rich base of vetiver grass. Hay there! You know what this reminds me of? Livestock shows. Barns. Carnivals at fair grounds. Wild game cook-offs. And maybe that doesn't sound wonderful to you, but to me? Describes the adventures of my childhood. I went to at least one hay floored wonderland every year growing up in Texas, and this reminds me of those days. Clean, dry, sweet hay and cut grasses for feed. As a scent, I love it. I want it. If only I could figure out when or where I'd wear it. Ah, well. I've come to that point in perfumistahood where I buy the perfume and make the opportunity to wear it, not the other way around. 5 of 5 nods.

Wednesday: slumberhouse Verg - A heart chord of neroli that is animated with the brightness of ginger paints the unmistakable image of spring, while oakmoss and tobacco absolute adds a subdued grittiness in the base. A fragrance that feels like an invisible appendage outdoors, crowned in a headspace dusted with raspberry ketone. I don't get a lot of neroli or ginger; I do get grittiness. I never knew you could capture the sensation of making a cheese and mayo sandwich on white bread at the beach and, biting into it, feeling the unexpected crunch of sand between your teeth. It's so hard to describe! I don't get ginger in the open, but yes, definitely some raspberry. The grit kicks in about two minutes later, and to me it smells like hot concrete. Houston in July, but almost peppery. slumberhouse says this is supposed to be springy, but I don’t get springy. I just get weird. Not bad weird, but not I want to own it weird, either. I wish the raspberry notes hung around more. I think I might love it then.  (Though how the raspberry manages to stay there along the edge, like something you see out of the corner of your eye that disappears the moment you turn your head, I find fascinating.) Definitely worth trying, though. 4 of 5 nods.

Thursday: slumberhouse Eki - Saccharine jasmine and magnolia. Sweet and quite ethereal. What a light white flower scent! From the description I was expecting something moderately aggressive, ‘ethereal’-ness notwithstanding. It actually is ethereal, though. Very gentle and sweet, riding so close to the skin you have to get very close to smell it. If you were looking for a white flower scent to get snuggly in, this is a great one. It transitions into a sweet little scent that reminds me a bit of natural toothpaste, but not in a bad way. It blooms beautifully around the hour mark, like the swell of a chorus, before the final gentle fall. Very nice. 3 of 5 nods.

Friday: slumberhouse Kere - Milky apricot, white chocolate and spiced plum-meat accords add texture and color to syrupy orange honeysuckle absolute and licorice within a halo of vaporous aldehydes reminiscent of champagne fizz. A circus of bizarre pairings harmonized in a blurring fashion that slowly devolves into spicy sugared hay & caramel. Definitely white chocolate and licorice in the open, dark and deep black licorice-y, but also creamy and white, which makes for a unique combination. Later, it becomes more like powdered chocolate; it’s so dry. One of the most wonderful chocolate scents I have ever smelled. It’s practically edible. I find myself wanting to lick my own hand. I definitely prefer Kere to Il Profumo Chocolat EDP, which is not nearly as realistic as this is. 5 of 5 nods

Friday: slumberhouse Flou - The translucent sunbaked meat of crushed concord grapes through fractals of summer elements. My first thought? Momma-said-knock-you-out strength irises drenched in Welch's grape juice. It's so grape, it's graptastic!  You would think that would make it a youthful scent, but it doesn't feel youthful to me.  It smells sexy and a little aggressive, like a very well-made heel with a good pair of dark jeans. Sexy in the way that makes you want to wander through the grape fields and feel the rich dirt in your hands.  I am so stunned by how lovely it is, when I would have told you almost anything made of grapes would feel fake and childish, like candy.  I tend to like grape leaf scents, but not grape or wine scents. This one of the most wonderful scents I’ve tried in quite a long time. So good I practically need to create a six to quantify its AWESOMENESS. I wandered about all day, being hit by it and thinking, that’s Fantastic! What is that fantasticness? Oh, it’s me! Not enough exclamation points! I think this is what I expected CB I Hate Perfume Under the Arbor to smell like, but now I think that is the grape arbor, and this here is the grapes. My only regret?  It's available only in very small quantity, whilst I want to take a bath in it.  Very little appears to be available, too (perhaps it's a LE?), so I bought mine before telling you about it. Sorry about that. It's a reflex. You know what they say -- all's fair in love, war, and perfume. Absolutely 5 of 5 nods.

Winner of the Week Too much awesomeness to choose -- I tried six scents and two thirds of them were fives. Definitely try everything coming out of this house. It’s clearly genius. *Snoopy-style happy dance*

"I'd have sworn that with time 
thoughts of you would leave my head. 
I was wrong. 
Now I find just one thing makes me forget..." 
~ "Red, Red Wine," Bob Marley

Images from Visit Seaside Oregon, xsphotos, and agnesswart.

I was told I was beautiful but what does that mean to you?

Perfume Challenge Week 17: Monday, 5/9/11, to Friday, 5/13/11

As I driving home yesterday afternoon along a long ribboning road with an obscured view of snow capped mountains way off in the distance, a fire truck rolled out, light and sirens blaring. It was followed soon thereafter by an ambulance. In both cases, all traffic on both sides of this six lane, two-way highway stopped. Those traveling in the opposite direction pulled to the right to allow the vehicles to pass, but even traffic in my direction stopped, just froze right where it was, in case the emergency vehicles needed to cut over to our side and weave between us to get where they needed to be. In that frozen moment I had a few thoughts:

1. I love that I live in a place, and that it still exists on earth, where even a million people crowded together and in the middle of the busy commute home on a Friday afternoon, will all simply stop in unison, even when not all of us needed to, so that someone in need can be reached by those trying to help them. I like to believe it's asign of compassion seeping through cracks in our hard and cyncial shells.

2. If the rapture actually does come, it will look just like this -- the world frozen in place, cars stopped dead in the middle of the road, people just taken bodily from wherever they are. For some reason, it reminds me of the Ray Bradbury story "There Will come Soft Rains", where the family simply isn't there anymore but the technology lives on in fits and starts for a while. It's strange to think we have the capacity to do that, simply vaporize other people en masse, that we ever wanted it. Just because you can do a thing doesn't always mean you should. Humanity isn't always so good at grasping that concept.

Well, that's enough deep thoughts for the day, I'd wager.

Monday: Sage Onyx - Notes: Black Coconut, Tobacco, Oakmoss, Vanilla, Amber, Musk. Very coconut and vanilla up top, for a super sweet scent that reminds me of eating a white chocolate dipped macaroon. It's even a little mildly salty on me, though I don't get any tobacco (a shame -- I like tobacco). Onyx is a snuggly, warm sweet tropical scent thanks to the oakmoss and musk. It is a night time of tropical fun, as though created from the smell floating through a window into a hotel room after quite a bit of noctural fun has been had. A little bit naughty, a lot nice on its own merits, but when I've already got bottles of Coty Sand and Sable, CB I Hate Perfume At the Beach 1966, Creed Virgin Island Water, and Annick Goutal Songes, it's safe to say that my tropical/beachy dance card is quite full. 3 of 5 nods.

Tuesday: By Kilian A Taste of Heaven EdP - Notes: Calabria bergamot oil, geranium bourbon oil, orange flower absolute, Turkish rose absolute, green absinthe oil, lavender barreme oil, lavandin abrialis oil, lavandin green absolute, lavandin green, concrete, Indonesian patchouli oil, oak moss extract, costus oil, ambrarome absolute, vanilla bean absolute, tonka beans. Described as an "absinthe verte," menthol goes honey sweet with a bit of cinnamon and coppery penny scent. Thirty minutes in I get with a wallop of patchoui that takes the sweetness down a step in a way a really enjoy. Nice, and definitely on the drier side of sweet for me, this might make an excellent gourmand light for those who cannot stand the super saccharine affairs that dominate the field. 4 of 5 nods.

Wednesday: Les Nereides Musc de Java - Notes: light musk, berries, blackcurrant, violet leaves, sage, fresh cut hay. Violets and too new green berries become sage become hay with just a hint of blackcurrant. If you like L'Artisan Mure et Musc, or even if you hate it, give this a try. It's greener and less sweet than the aforementioned L'Artisan offering, which I prefer. The berries became stronger on me for the two to six hour period but the green is still there. Nice longevity, it's making the "when I get around to it I'd like to have this" list. 3.5 of 5 nods.

Thursday: L'Atelier Boheme Immortelle EdP - Notes: Brazilian tangerine, Italian bergamot, light florals, pomegranate, amber, immortelle.

Holy mother of baby powder! If you want to be slapped in the face with a fierce amount of amber and immortelle, this is a great scent for you. I'm gonna be straight with you, it's hard for me to get anything else right now other than dry, hay-like, carmeled powdery sweetness. It's really remarkable in the sense that the opening is like someone taking Loves Baby Soft (but way, way better) and powered it up by a factor of a thousand.

Two years ago, I would have flung the vial as far from me as possible because I didn't like it. Now, I'm not sure if I like it, but I think it's an incredible feat someone managed to make a scent this strongly aspected. I'm trying really hard to imagine a circumstance where I'd want to smell like someone just hit me in the face with a comet-sized powder puff, but all I can think is pink, pink, pink! I think I'd need to be in the mood to do it up Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette style, and I have never once sported a bouffant hair so I can't imagine wearing it. FN1.

And yet, I weirdly want it, just like I want this crazy Marie Antoniette Barbie. Yes, it's absurd and limiting and whatever, but damn -- it's so pretty. And sometimes a body wants pretty. FN2. FN3. Really wanting to try Annick Goutal Sables now, so I can have some other immortelle to compare to. 4 of 5 nods.

Friday: Bond No. 9 Scent of Peace - Notes: Grapefruit, black currant, lily of the valley, musk. Scent of Peace was created by Bond as "our post-9/11 conviction that peace is a beautiful, beautiful thing." The opening of the scent itself is a light, soapy and clean floral with gentle fruity highlights. This part is well-made, but not particularly unique. On me it starts out green, and I get a moderate serving on lily of the valley, but pretty soon it becomes the strangest scent on me. It smells like the taste of really cold, clean water, or maybe the taste of snowflakes on the tongue. I don't know if I find that peaceful; maybe I do. I certainly find it remarkable. One of my favorite things about perfume is that I never stop being surprised. Even when I think I know what will happen next when I put it on, I don't always. I love that. 5 of 5 nods.

Winner of the Week: Wow, really hard to choose this week. I think I'm giving it to Bond No. 9 Scent of Peace, for its unique, quiet, and wow, yeah, actually peaceful qualities. Rarely is it an obliquely named bottle contains what it advertises.  PDXers, I recently found out that Bond No. 9 is coming to the downtown Nordstrom, so keep that in mind when you're planning your summer scent purchases!

"You can buy your hair if it won't grow.
You can fix your nose if he says so.
You can buy all the make up
that M.A.C. can make,
but if you can't look inside you
find out who am I too
be in the position to make me feel so damned unpretty..."
~ "Unpretty," TLC

Photos: 
________________________________

FN1. Okay, not on purpose. I am a native Texan after all. Big hair just comes as a genetic gift. Just this morning I was blowing out my hair and found myself pleased because I had managed to make my already thick head of hair look fuller rather than sleeker. I actually had to stop myself, and ask the mirror "Where the hell did that come from?" I'm going to blame the resurgence of 80's styled cuts, which currently has me sporting a longer version of Joan Jett's hair circa 1985, but with swoopy side bangs and red instead of black, of course.

F2. I have a sick fascination with Barbies. I look at them, and I see the distorted body image and the perfect, smooth, plastic skin and realize it's part of what makes me hate my own body, and yet I cannot stop loving her. Sometimes I think that's the most amazingly insidious aspect of mysogany -- I love and admire the thing I will never be, and therefore hate and admire her in equal measure. And we wonder why women stuggle to have relationships with one another...

FN3. Speaking of which -- did everyone see the Glee "If Feel Pretty/Unpretty" mash-up from a couple of weeks ago? Sometimes the show does a number that really hits on something really. It gives me hope Glee! gets back to the original awesomeness it had. If any of the writers are reading this, I have suggestions.

I've been lying too long; I was right when you were wrong.

Spring Time Reflections, Some Perfumey and Some Not

View from the Oregon City elevator

In an  "everybody else is doing it so why can't we?" mindframe, I’m was going to do my top ten scents for Spring 2011, for my own since of personal scent development archiving and because I can. But I already did a pretty hefty Spring scent list over here already. So instead, I’m just gonna record, for your entertainment and mine, some random thoughts for Spring, perfumey and not.  Also, some random pictures from a recent adventure I took following brown signs to historical sites around Oregon City, Oregon.

Bands/Artists I can't get enough of: The Watson Twins, Neko Case, Rilo Kiley, The Decemberists, Fitz and the Tantrums, Fleetwood Mac, Muddy Waters.

Surprise go to Scent this Spring: DSH Perfumes Lush Honey, bought unsniffed and so loving that I will buy another bottle while I still can, before it is discontinued.

Houses I need to try more of: Dior, Hermes, Annick Goutal

Best scents I bought for under $15: A tie between Coty Stetson and Worth Je Reviens EdT.

On the "soon to be purchased" short list: Miller et Bertaux no. 3: Green, green, green and green (finally), Tauer  L'Air du Desert Marocain (also finally),  vintage Evening in Paris (go, go ebay bidding skillz), CB I Hate Perfume At The Beach 1966.

If I had a million dollars: A huge bottle of Roxana Illuminated Perfume GreenWitch, which is so amazing I can barely stand it.  At $175 for only 7.5ml, is just sadly well beyond my price range, as my ideal would be to have twice that much at least. Carefully hugs her tiny 1gram $30 sample vial. Truly one of the most beautiful green scents I've ever smelled, and deserving of a lengthy review as soon as I can get to it.

End of the Oregon Trail
Interpretive Center closed in 2010.

Happiest stumbled upon scent love of Spring: Hermes Un Jardin En Mediterranee. Who knew I liked figs? I certainly didn’t. Want to try more figs now.

Best newly discovered indie perfumer: I am so glad I found Ellen at Olympic Orchids Artisan Perfumes. Not only is she a really nice person, she makes great perfume and is doing us PNW perfumistas proud

Notes I’m weirdly over right now: vanilla, sweet florals, roses. I think I burned myself out.

Notes I can’t get enough of: weird fruits, anything green or herbal, moss, civet, cedar. If you’ve got recommendations in this area, please provide them.

Spring, in general and as part of college life: My least favorite season. Maybe it’s a time of adventure and renewal for everyone else, but for those of us who live on a college campus, it’s an ending time. This year is particularly difficult because, thanks to an early retirement program, forty-five life-long members of my beloved campus community are retiring. Yes, you read that right. Forty-five. So much for institutional memory. It really reinforces my feeling of not belonging here anymore; it’s strange to feel like a relic of someone else’s adventure in your own life.

Among those retiring is one of my favorite people in the entire universe, Stephen Dow Beckham. If there is a person in the world who inspires me to never give up or think something is out of my reach, to push myself harder and always believe I can do anything, it is this man who has done everything and still keeps on trucking. He is the first person in my collegiate career who ever implied my work was valuable, that my ideas were worthwhile and my voice, worth hearing. I had a lovely advisor before Dr. Beckham, who was a great and special man who believed in me, but Dr. Beckham is the one who took everything I did in stride as a matter of course and demanded more because he knew I was capable.

I’ll never forget the day after I did my radio interview as spokeswoman for a statewide campaign against parental notification for abortion. FN1. I ran into Dr. Beckham on my law school campus; he was there to interview dean candidates for the law school. He stopped me, and I felt this terror swirl though my stomach. Here was this educated, established, well-off white man who I loved and admired and wanted to think well of me, but whose politics I had never been all that sure of. “I heard you on the radio,” he said. I nodded, and said something perfunctory about the interviewer having ties to my alma mater. “ I heard your voice, and I thought, ‘I know who that is’” he replied, his eyes twinkling. He didn’t come out and say he was proud of me, but I could tell he was. Dr. Beckham knew one of the things I was most ashamed of in my life, and he was proud of me for standing up for what I believed in. That was the moment I knew doing the campaign was the right thing, and I felt, for the first time, we might win.

It was a huge moment for me personally, and I think it says evverything about how much a teacher can shape your life, helping you long after you've left them to know you're on the right path.  I pity all the students who won’t get to have him as their teacher. He’s the kind that can change your life.

What about you, dear reader. How is your Spring going?

"I can't hear this anymore.
It's time to leave.
I've closed the door.
Did you ever believe in me?
In you and me?"
"U-N-Me," The Watson Twins
_____________________
FN1. Yes, I had an abortion. No, I don’t regret it. No, I don’t feel the need to justify that to you. Yes, I did radio(NPR)/television (all three networks; yes, even Fox)/newspaper interviews where I talked about my experience, which included a photo of me on the front page of the widest circulating paper in the state. Yes, people said things to me, good and bad. Ultimately, we won, thus keeping Oregon the state with the least regulation on choice. I know anecdotally that at least some votes were changed because of my story. I’m glad I did the campaign and would do it again.

Let me also say, that as a woman who had an abortion in Texas, I am appalled by the recent news that the Texas Legislature has passed a bill requiring a sonogram before an abortion can be preformed.  This will not stop a woman who wants to have an abortion; it just adds unnecessary time and expense.  Society spends a large part of its energy policing women's behavior through shaming, particularly around issues of sex.  Well, guess what?  You've already made your feelings clear about our choices.  But they are our choices.  And you won't stop us.  You never have.

I'm so tired but I can't sleep.

2011 Perfume Challenge Week 17: Monday, 5/2/11, to Saturday, 5/6/11

Pass week! Yeah I know, I'm super weaksauce. This week I wore S-Perfume 100% Love, L'Artisan Vanilia, CB I Hate Black March, Jo Malone Red Roses, and  Juliette Has a Gun Citizen Queen.

What can I say? My only excuse is that it was a sad week, and I needed the comfort.

But hey -- I've got business cards now!

"Standin' on the edge of something much too deep.
It’s funny how we feel so much but we cannot say a word
We are screaming inside, but we can’t be heard..."
"I Will Remember You," Sarah McLachlan

The Monthly Spin: Neko Case - Middle Cyclone

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

Okay, so this album is from 2009, but I only got it about four months ago. Sue me. Middle Cyclone took years to make, but was well worth the effort; it was nominated for two Grammys: Contemporary Folk Album and Best Recording Package, and is most famous for Case's creation of a piano orchestra in her Vermont barn, where she obtained as many free pianos as she could off Craig's list, eight of which were playable and are used on Middle Cyclone.

Everyone on the planet should go out and purchase it immediately. It is one of the best albums I have heard in a long time. It's soulful. It's rich. It's beautiful written. I've seen it described as "elemental" and I totally agree with that assessment.

The lyrics are moving and the music is that rolling rockabilly-esque that makes older rock music still so enjoyable. I don't want to suggest it is rockabilly and country fried rock. It's not. If you are thinking you're getting Social Distortion, The The's tribute to Hank Williams Hanky Panky, or the Old 97s, that's too much country for this. At the same time, I want to put it on the shelf next to those along side The Traveling Wilburys, Jenny Lewis & The Watson Twins, the new Wanda Jackson album produced by Jack White The Party Ain't Over, Lucinda Williams, and Kristen Hersh. FN1

My favorite tracks are"People Got a Lot of Nerve," a cover of Sparks' "Never Turn Your Back on Mother Earth," and "This Tornado Loves You." also, you may recognize "I'm an Animal"  from the second season of True Blood.

Recommended if you like: Any of the aforementioned bands, but also Patti Griffith, The Jayhawks, Wilco, the more rockabilly tunes from the White Stripes, Dar Williams' The Honesty Room, Joan Beaz.

While spinning, wear: Earthy or elemental scents, scents you can imagine ripping the roof off one house and leaving the next unscathed, pulling the very earth from the ground and wreaking utter havoc before leaving as though it was only your imagination. In other words, scents that speak to you of exquisite destruction. In my world, that would be things like Bond No. 9 Andy Warhol Silver Factory, CB I Hate Perfume Revelation, Jean Desprez Bala Versailles, Juliette Has a Gun Midnight Oud.

____________________________________________
FN1 More on the Jackson/White album next month.

Scent that Book!: Beautiful Creatures & Beautiful Darkness

Scent That Book! is a new, reoccurring feature here at Feminine Things. It is premised on the idea that even books require perfuming, whether the authors realize that or not.

Reading is sexy!

Dear reader, do you read a lot? I read…a lot. I’ve always been a big reader. I was the kid who always carried around a book like a safety blanket; I was like the Rory Gilmore of my Houston suburb. My reading slowed to a trickle during college and then law school. In the last year, though, I’ve returned to fiction with ferocity. I read two to three books a week, usually in the two hundred to five hundred page range.

Something I’ve been noticing. These books will have passages that describe scents, usually the specific way a person smells, and my little sniffa brain immediately begins distracting me with an internal hunt to place the scent in the panoply of perfumes I know. Then I thought – why play a game alone that could be so much more fun with friends?

Thus here we are, the first in a new series I’m calling Scent that Book. I’ll give you a passage from a book with some scent related items mentioned. You help me figure out what perfume you think might be similar.

First up:  Beautiful Creatures, and its sequel, Beautiful Darkness, also known as the first two novels in  The Caster Chronicles, are books by Margaret Stohl and Kami Garcia. Beautiful Creatures was named it one of the top ten books of 2009 and the top pick for best teen book by Amazon.com. Here's a brief description:

Lena Duchannes is unlike anyone the small southern town of Gatlin has ever seen. Lena has wavy black hair with large green eyes. She wears a necklace made of pieces of junk and carries around a tattered journal. She is gossiped about, picked on and neglected because of the fact that she is the niece of Macon Melchizedek Ravenwood (Otherwise known as Old Man Ravenwood), the town's shut in. Lena is struggling to conceal her power and a curse that has haunted her family for generations. But even within the overgrown gardens, murky swamps, and crumbling graveyards of the forgotten south, a secret cannot stay hidden forever.

Ethan Lawson Wate, who has been counting the months until he can escape Gatlin, is haunted by dreams in which he is trying to save a beautiful girl he has never met. He has brown hair and blue eyes and lives with his care taker and house keeper Amarie "Amma" Treadeau and his depressed father who has shut himself in his study since his wife's death. When Lena moves into the town's oldest and most infamous plantation, Ethan is inexplicably drawn to her and determined to uncover the connection between them.

Without giving away too much detail, here are two snippets of scent description from Beautiful Darkness:

I was caught in her drag, struck by the current that bound us together and kept us apart. I leaned in to kiss her mouth, sand she held the lemon in front of my nose, teasing. "Smell." "Smells like you." Like lemon and rosemary, the scent that had drawn me to Lena when we first met. (pg. 32) 

Lemon and rosemary, Lena Duchannes' signature scent. So what do you think, dear reader? What scent might capture all the magical turmoil of Lena Duchannes (rhymes with "rain") and her star-crossed love affair with Ethan Wate in tiny Gatlin? I was thinking maybe Guerlain Jicky at first because Lena's power is supposed to go back generations, but now I'm thinking Miller Harris Le Petit Grain, the oak-moss, vetiver, and patchouli leaves at the base reflect some of the story elements that I'll let you discover on your own.

Ah, yes, but as all star-crossed stories go, Lena and Ethan struggle with forces working against their love, and teenage temptation rears its head. Enter Liv, who is described below.

But I didn't answer her. I pushed her shiny blonde hair away from her face and leaned down, our faces only inches apart. She inhaled softly, our lips so close I could feel her breath and the scent of her skin, like honeysuckle in springtime. She smelled like sweet tea and old books, like she had always been here. (p. 211)

Honeysuckle, sweet tea, old books. Like a cross between CB I Hate Perfume In the Library and Jo Malone Honeysuckle & Jasmine, or better yet DSH Perfumes Wild Honeysuckle? Though that, sadly, misses the sweet tea aspect, which if you're from any part of the South, you know won't do a'tall. I've never tried elizabethW Sweet Tea but maybe that would do. I dunno. It's stumper, Liv, the English would-be librarian.

So now its your turn. You've got a few words about the universe, the characters, and some notes. What do you think?

You can read more about Beautiful Creatures and Beautiful Darkness here.

There ain't no grave gonna hold my body down...

Monday, 1/31/11, through Friday, 2/4/11

First off: TaffynFontana, please send me an email at feminine.things@gmail.com to claim your prize! 


Weird week that started out with me deathly ill at the beginning and ended with what I would describe as an "atmospherically appropriate" trip to the coast on a day so grey and misty you couldn't actually see much; a nameless bar for cocktails, tomato soup, grilled cheese and fondue; a French patisserie  where I had a truly delightful and aromatic cup of rosemary mocha; and a trip to see the largest glockenspiel in the U.S.

Why did I go see said glockenspiel?  Because I could, of course!


Monday: Teo Cabanel Oha - I was so sick, kids. So very sick. Like had the serious flu and slept 30 of 36 hours. Of the six hours I was awake, I spent one of them in the shower. When I was out, clean and free of fever sweat, I still couldn't smell anything. I put on Oha on so I felt like I smelled nice, even if I couldn't tell myself. I also changed my sheets and sprayed some on my pillow case, which I liked but my kitten really did not, which she showed me by refusing to get back in the bed with me. Full review here.

Tuesday: Bond No. 9 New Haarlem - Can't smell a damn thing. On those days, you go for comforting. It's there for those small moments you get a whiff of anything while you're blowing your brains out through your nose. Full review here, though I wrote it so early in my perfumista days that it's the equivalent of a "stub" article on wikipedia.

Wednesday: Cristiano Fissore Rapsodia in Blu - Lemon, bergamot, rosemary, petitgrain, mugweed, jasmine, lily of the valley, cedarwood, white musk

Back at work, and I can even smell again...kinda. Hello white flowers, it's been a while. This is one of those scents that feels like a mishmash of similar things all smashed together to create a nice, clean, unoffensive scent. In other words, kinda boring. It's nice, but not particularly distinctive in any way. If you imagine someone filling water balloons with oil paint and then throwing them at a canvas covered in spikes to break them on impact, then replace the oil paint with scent, you get the general idea. Also, rimagine they only used pastel colored paints, and therefore pastel scent notes, and you'll get what I mean. It reminds me of Kai, but less interesting and also a lot less strong, so if you find Kai overwhelming in its giant white floral soapiness, then you might like this better. It's not a scrubber, but it just doesn't have a lot to recommend it. Which is too bad because it has a pretty kick-ass name. 2 of 5 nods.

Thursday: Comme des Garcons x Artek - Finnish Labrador Tea, Twinflower (Linnea Borealis), fennel, ginger, lemon, musk, saffron, cedarwood

The open is lemon and cedar, giving it a flickering flame and glowing soft white wax feel. Over time, it moves toward incense and wood and away from lemon. This incense reminds me of Mass (not unlike CB I Hate Perfume Fire from Heaven) but is less acrid fire and more melting candlewax and incense. I actually think it is more wearable in an okay-for-normal-every-day wear, as opposed to Fire from Heaven that feels like a Holy Day Mass, as opposed to any given Sunday during Ordinary time. FN1 I never really get any ginger and very little musk, if any. The end result is a strangely intimate kind of experience. I think this one is a better masculine than feminine, but it could go either way. 3 of 5.

Friday: CB I Hate Perfume Patchouli Empire
I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love,
If you want me again look for me under your boot-soles.
You will hardly know who I am or what I mean,

I went to a hippy college, where the "sweet scent of patchouli perfuming the air" was an ongoing joke due to the general lack of showering. So honestly I put off sampling this for a very long time because I figured I'd hate it, at minimum in principle if not in fact. Boy, was I wrong.

When I hear that trumpet sound
I’m gonna get up out of the ground

It's weird and wonderful. It's my favorite Whitman Poem. It is dreaming of transcendentalism under a tree by Walden Pond, or marching through Southern thickets in search of long lost gravemarkers for attenuated southern ancestors. If I was going to a graveside this is what I'd want to wear if I wanted to blend in with the scenary. It's not funerary; it's all earth and peat and oak moss. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.

I probably make it sound creepy, but it's not. It's the cycle of life...and death. And life again. Round and round. Like the end of Steel Magnolias. "That's the way it should be. Life goes on."

Failing to fetch me at first keep encouraged,
Missing me one place search another,
I stop somewhere waiting for you.

4.5 of 5 nods, and only because I am in love with Black March and Wild Hunt, but this is greener than either of those if you'd like all that dirt without the sweet rain of the former or the slightly floral bent of the latter.

Winner of the week:  Patchouli Empire, obviously. :)
__________________________
FN1 This analogy probably only means something to my random Catholic readers. For the rest of you unwashed heathens (*wink*) think the difference between going to Easter church with your in-laws verses getting up and going to church regularly.

When I'm lost you'll be my guide.

Monday, 1/17/11, through Friday, 1/21/11

Road trip 2011

Sorry for posting a day late this week.  The road trip threw me off.  I drove 1000+ miles across four days, but oh! The sights that were seen! More on that later.  To the perfume!

Monday: Atelier Cologne Bois Blonds - Notes: Tunisian neroli, pink pepper, Moroccan orange flower, incense, Blond woods, musks, vetiver from Haiti The open is, as promised, lightly orange citrus with a peppery edge. Then it gets dry and stay subtly sweet. I really don't know what to think of this. It's not overly floral (look at those notes) but about fifteen minutes it's got a lightly clean floral thing going on. I'm not getting any musk or incense or vetiver, unless their sole purpose is to give this a dried, as opposed to live, flowers feeling. It's nice, but just that.: nice. 2.5 of 5.

Tuesday: Calypso Mimosa EdP - Well, hello Palmolive. Seriously, I put it on and immediately thought, "Wow, I smell like Palmolive." I had a friend sniff me, and she confirmed, yes I do indeed smell like a walking dish of famous green soap. This is one of those times that I'd usually go wash it off, but I made a commitment to you, my darlings, and this is the first test. So here I sit, Soap Girl, able to remove water spots from your precious crystal glasses you stupidly stuck in the dishwasher in seconds! FN1. FN2. Let's see it gets better in the next couple hours...

31 minutes later: Lots of Palmolive in water! Seriously considering setting my hand on fire to avoid another three hours of this. It's so strong!

2 hours, 10 minutes later: Yep, still very strong Palmolive. No other notes, no subtly, and very little fading. No longer notice the scent unless my hand comes near my face to reinforce its awfulness. Trying to treat said hand like a vestigial limb and ignore it.

4 hours, 17 minutes: OH DEAR SWEET JESUS, I MADE IT! And let me tell you, friends, it STILL smells exactly like Palmolive. Exactly. Okay, maybe it has just a tiny sweet undertone, but the overwhelming effect is still Palmolive, and also still about 50% of the initial strength.

The worst part? I just dabbed a little on my hand this morning. I cannot imagine full spraying this on anyone. Or anything for that matter. For any reason. Okay, maybe on a zombie, but I can't decide if that would be to make said zombie's rotting corpse smell better or try to frighten it away.

Excuse me, I have to go wash my hands right now. ZERO of 5. FN3.

Wednesday: Annick Goutal Ninfeo Mio - Notes: bergamot, citron, petitgrain, bitter orange, galbanum, lentisque, lavender, fig leaf and lemon tree wood. You know the part of the orange peel that isn't orange, it's white? The rind part? Someone made it a perfume! No, not really, but that was my first response to this scent.It's actually a really lovely, complex scent, but you must love the citrus, dear reader, to love this one. I smell bitter orange rind, lemon juice, and pepper, and oh wait for it -- five minutes the dreaded Play-Doh note. Man, it's been a long time since I hit a perfume that had that Play-Doh thing! A mild Play-Doh scent, comparatively speaking; like more an impression of Play-Doh, a play on Play-Doh, if you will. We will see if that drops out in the next twenty minutes or so. I really hope it does.

20 minutes later: Looking at reviews, a lot of people get figs out of this, and I guess I can see some fig in there, but it is working so hard against the citrus and lavender for me.

1 hour later: I guess I can see figs. An hour in, it's much more interesting, but the conflict keeps produce a background that is decidedly Play-Doh like on me.

2-4 hours: Okay, I see the figs, and they are nice.  I really do like the dominating fig part and the bitter citrus at the openning was interesting; I wish they'd left the lavender out completely because it feels like it is in a rolling on the ground tussel with the figs, which I think I would have liked better alone. 3 of 5.

Thursday: Tauer Perfumes Orange Star - I like this. It's sticky, sweet, and hot -- not warm, mind you, but hot -- and delicious! It's like someone took an orange, starred it with cloves, covered it in honey, and rolled it in dry herbal spices before setting it to simmer in a mixture of wine and vodka to scent a house for the holidays. It's strikes me as festive, but in a Christmas-in-Miami sort of way. And also it reminds of the taste of me of red hots! It's like red Fourth of July sparklers for your nose.

On me, there's very little development throughout, so I admit it's more or less a one note song, but what a note! It is nice now, but again, this is one that is probably better in warm weather.  I will definitely set it aside for a summer revisit. 4 of 5.

Friday: Pacifica Tahitian Gardenia solid perfume - You know those free vacations they advertise on late night television, the kind that is really a trick to get you stranded somewhere and try to sell you a condo? If those ads were scented, this is what they would smell like. Gardenia and coconut and artificial sunlight, the sort of scent appropriate to be piped into a casino on a tropical cruise ship for soothing the savage gambler and separating him from his money.

Which makes it sound like I don't like it, but I do. But if Annick Goutal Songes is long satin dresses with elbow gloves and symphony by the water, and CB I Hate Perfume At the Beach 1966 is driving in a Cadillac convertible along the coast with "Palisades Park" playing on the radio, then this is the elevator Muzak version of "Girl from Ipanema," leis made of silk flowers and plastic piping, "Eat at Joe's" t-shirts, and tiki torches with glowing light bulbs. It is the summer beach scent equivalent of a college co-ed "WOO" girl in a bikini and hot-pink cowgirl hat. FN4.

It has its place, which is frivolous and fun and not to be taken seriously...and there's a time for a scent like that, too. 2.5 of 5.

Winner of the week: Tauer Perfumes Orange Star by a landslide.

"Come on, shine your heavenly body tonight
'cause I know you're gonna make everything all right.
You may be my lucky star,
but I'm the luckiest by far..."
~ "Lucky Star," Madonna
________________
FN1. Why did you put them in there in the first place? You don't dishwash crystal! That's madness, I tell you! Madness!
FN2. Stupidest super power ever. They would kick me out of Xanth.
FN3. For those who think this was a really harsh review, I'd like to mention that this is only the second ZERO I have given EVER, so if you love this scent I am very sorry but it is TOTALLY DESERVED.
FN4. "Woo Girl" best explained by the following video:

But today? Sorry, Lady. I have ennui.

 

Like Michel, I am suffering from ennui.  Serious ennui.  So significant is this ennui that I have not even tried any of my new samples yet, nor did my weird experiment of trying CB I Hate Perfume Black March layered with CB I Hate Perfume Smokey Tobacco Accord today make so much as a dent.  I'd try free writing to you all, but (and I'm am in full GG-mode of late) my free-writing tends to turn out like Lorelai's "monkey monkey underpants!" letter. (Don't know it? Follow the link.)  Trust me, no one wants that.

No, you'll just have to give me a few more days, dear reader.  I'm trying very hard to figure out why I randomly feel blue, but I just don't think putting on Guerlain L’Heure Bleue is going to help.  I'm sorry.  I love you.  I wish I could put together a coherent thought.

Until next we meet, monkey monkey underpants!

Yesterday away from you, it froze me deep inside.

CB I Hate Perfume In The Summer Kitchen and Wild Pansy

I have a couple of job interviews coming up. I'm nervous, and...cautiously optimistic. I'd like to think one of them is going to help me find some direction soon, but I don't know for sure.

I've always been a driven person. Always known what I wanted, always preparing for the next step even as I'm finish up the one I'm on. These last few months I've read through every professional guidance book I can find, met with two difference career guidance offices more than once, and yet here I am, still struggling to make the next step, to commit to a path. It was easier without anyone else to consider, but I'm older now. I've got a partner to think of, and four cats who I love a great deal and who I would never abandon after saving them from a life without love or a home. From youth's perspective, so much of adulthood looks like self-betrayal and compromise.

From my now more middling age, I see that it's not about compromise. It's about choice. You make choices, every day, about what's important to you. I could get in my car tomorrow and walk away, but I choose not to. Because I love. Because I have a home and a family now, and I don't always have to be running, all the time. I choose to be anchored. And once you recognize that, you become more at ease with the in-between spaces. So for now, I live in-between and I explore my options, especially the ones that allow me time to enjoy being with my family.

For someone who scores off the charts as risk avoidant on personality tests that assess risk aversion, it's a strange and sometimes anxious place to be.

Now, on to the perfume.

I get a little warm in my heart when I think of winter: Best of Winter 2009 & Drawing!

Inspired by I Smell Therefore I Am's list of Favorite Christmas Smells, I thought it was time I made my list of my top winter scents for 2009.

Winter is bearing down on us here in PDX. Saturday night we got our first ice over of the season, resulting -- campus events wise -- in David sliding five feet on his back, cars sliding off the road on the hill, a broken arm, and my friend Becca not being able to get back to her campus apartment from a late night in the lab because she kept sliding down the hill when she tried to walk up it! Being on a college campus at the top of a steep hill is always eventful when there's weather. Though, since I am no longer employed by a college or university, my role here is strictly spectator, even if David does have the duty phone from time to time.

So from the warmth of my apartment, with kittens all sleeping soundly, I bring you my list of winter/ holiday season favorites for 2009. My winter lists tend to be dominated by spice, sweet, and incense, which is reminiscent of my kind of winter holiday -- snow covered days spent next to fire places, spicy sweet roasted nuts, and trips to church for holy days. With that in mind, away we go!

1. Bond no. 9 New Haarlem
When it's cold, I like hot coffee with milk and sugar, and I like no coffee scent better than New Haarlem, and this one has vanilla and patchouli to boot! Every time I wear it I get tons of compliments. It's foodie but not too foodie, herbal but not too herbal, sweet but not too sweet. If you like coffee, I bet you'll love this.

For my review, which I wrote write at the beginning of this blog and really does not do this brilliant scent justice, go here.

2. CB I Hate Perfume Fire From Heaven
As I said in my review, this is such a potent smoke scent, one that to me speaks of sacred rituals and holy fires. A great scent, and one that is different enough from the generally lovely smoking smell of cold winter night spent in the warmth of wood burning fireplaces that it makes you stop and take notice.

For my full review, go here.

3. CB I Hate Perfume the Fir Tree
You might think that no one would want to smell like a fir tree, but let me tell you, you're gonna want to smell like this tree.

For my full review, go here.

4. Frapin Passion Boisee
When you think of all those spirits that help one get into the holiday spirit, and you are looking for a great holiday party or late night cocktails scent, this is the one.

For my full review, go here.

5. L'Artisan Dzing!
Possibly my favorite scent of all time. Summer, Spring, or Fall, I'll wear this one. But winter, ah, winter. I think practically every sweater I own has the faint smell of Dzing! If you are new to perfume and try this and think you don't like it, try again in six months. Trust me -- it's genius.

For my full review, go here.

6. Miller Harris Geranium Bourbon
Geranium Bourbon is another wonderful dry, boozy scent that would be great for the holidays.

For my full review, go here.

7. Tauer Perfumes L'Air du desert marocain
Hilariously, when I wrote the review I was thinking, "summer scent" but here I am in winter and I still want L'Air du desert marocain. It's possible that Andy Tauer just makes transcendent scents that go beyond time of day, event, season, or even gender. I feel this way about really all of the Tauer scents, but I love L'Air du desert marocain the best.

For my full review, go here.

8. INeKE Evening Edged in Gold
Again, here I am with the leathers and smoke, but there are plums here and gold tinsel and so many beautiful and fine things. All six of INeKE's scents are great -- definitely worth the $25 for a sample box. It's the perfect size for a stocking stuffer. Don't think, just order.

For my full review, go here.

9. Guerlain L’Heure Bleue
When I first reviewed this, one of the things I noted in the mixture was the smell of wet wool, like snow flakes melting on your coat or sweater after you come into a warm house after a winter walk.

For my full review, go here.

10. Lorenzo Villoresi Alamut
I have actually never reviewed Alamut, and I own a bottle! Ha! I'll have to get on that. I know that a lot of people were disappointed with Alamut, but I love it. It's big and warm and incense-y, and I deeply enjoy it, particularly in winter.

11. Bond no. 9 Andy Warhol Silver Factory
Possibly the best of all Bond scents, it's textured and multi-layered and beautiful. Woody, sweet, incense-y, awesomeness, with a great weirdness in the opening. Love it!

For my full review, go here.

12. DKNY Black Cashmere
One of the only bottles I've ever bought entirely unsniffed during the period when everyone thought it was being discontinued, Black Cashmere is a great spicy scent that has a weird rubbery leathered edge to it and yet somehow manages to simultaneously be a light fragrance. Donna Karan has since brought back Black Cashmere and Fuel and several other scents through the exclusive DK collection at Neiman Marcus, along with my beloved Fuel for Men, but I don't regret buying the bottle at all. This is yet another scent I need to review completely.

That's it for me. What about you? What scents do you associate with winter? In the spirit of the holidays, those who comment by 12:01am PST on Monday, December 21 will be entered in a random drawing for 1ml samples of Bond no. 9 New Haarlem, Lorenzo Villoresi Alamut, DKNY Black Cashmere, and L'Artisan Dzing!. Depending on my availability, prize package may also include a mix CD made by yours truly. Thanks in advanced for the commentary! The results will post on December 23, 2009.

"I run off where the drifts get deeper.
Sleeping beauty trips me with a frown.
I hear a voice.
'Your must learn to stand up for yourself
'cause I can't always be around.'
He says, "When you gonna make up your mind?
When you gonna love you as much as I do?"
"Winter," Tori Amos

Turkey for me, turkey for you...

CB I Hate Perfume M#3 November

When I think of November, I think of the beginning of the holidays. For me, that has always meant three things: food, family, and friends. Aside from one very lonely Thanksgiving I spent sitting in a dorm room, eating Doritos, and watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade by myself, I have spent every November focused on a day of coming together with people I loved. As I've mentioned before, I really enjoy the holidays, and thus I am always looking for scents that remind me of the holidays.

M#3 November is another creation of Christopher Brosius and part of (much beloved by me) the CB I Hate Perfume line. Brosius describes the inspiration for M#3 November, in part, as follows:

For decades November depressed me. As the year died away, I too longed for warm green grass, long summer evenings spent with friends outdoors and the sight of fireflies twinkling in the woods. the days became shorter and colder and i would become more and more gloomy. This feeling would never really leave me until the first snow fell. Sometimes that was a long wait...

But I have learned to embrace November and find comfort in the beauty of decay. I have come to realize the warmth I long for is still there - but it has taken other forms and it has changed just as I have. Change is inevitable and although I am still sometimes sad as the fall deepens, I know there is much to look forward to. The coming snow will being the warmth of family and friends.

So now on rain chilled November afternoons, I am content to sit quietly and wait...

The scent is supposedly to be an amalgamation of the scents of "Pumpkin Pie, Fallen Apples, Bonfire, Wood Smoke, Dried Grass, Fallen Leaves, Wet Branches, Damp Moss, Chanterelle Mushrooms and a hint of Pine Forest." All these scents, layered together, obviously make up the many days of November, with its weather and holidays and foods. But the amazing thing, to me, is that I smell my own special November scents in M#3 November, some of them the same and some of them the creation of my own mind and nose.

To me, M#3 November is a magical scent that embodies all things holiday. In my mind, when I sniff at M#3 November it smells like the first snow of winter. It's dry like snow, fresh like fir trees, and sweet like Christmas cookies, lightly toasted coconut on macaroons. After about ten minutes, there are hints of spiced cider and sprigs of spearmint. Two hours in, I get a little sweet chimney smoke, the way the night smells the first cold snap of the year, when everyone lights their chimneys up to keep warm.

You can buy the M#3 November for $75 in either 15ml perfume absolute or 100ml water perfume direct from the perfumer. You can also get samples from the CB website or from The Perfumed Court.

"Let's eat the turkey in my big brown shoe.
Love to eat the turkey at the table.
I once saw a movie with Betty Grable..."
- "The Thanksgiving Song," Adam Sandler

Again, the only reviews I could find were a bunch of short reviews from Luckyscent users.

Images from CB I Hate Perfume and BlogGreen.

Put up the tree before my spirit falls again.

CB I Hate Perfume the Fir Tree

“Fill up the stocking,
I may be rushing things,
but deck the halls again now.…”

Last night I was at Target and I noticed that on top of the copious Halloween decorations and the random fall themed Thanksgiving décor, the winter holiday decorations have already hit the shelves. Yes, yes. I know that, in some ways, this is just another manifestation of our gross consumerism, meant to be loathed by any right thinking person. Yes, Christmas has largely been stripped of any deeper meaning of love, generosity, faith, and spirit by secular, commercial culture. I get it. Really.

But from the time I was a little girl, I have loved Christmas and truly believed it to be a magical time of year. I believe there is such a thing as Christmas magic, and even in the face of anecdotal and statistical data that suggests otherwise, I like to believe everyone is happier during the holidays. I have tons of holiday decorations and a collection of gift wrap that would definitely underline the commercial aspects. I start Christmas shopping in October every year and send out over 100 holiday cards.

One holiday staple I’ve sort of given up on though is a live tree. For years I had a tiny plastic tree to move around with. No more than two feet tall, it got the job done but couldn’t really handle full sized ornaments. Last year I got my first full sized tree as an adult, but I still got a fake one. It’s a big nice fancy fake one that retails for several hundred dollars (though I got mine much cheaper), but it’s still fake. Because it’s so nice, it looks great and avoids all the mess and hassle of cleaning up falling needles; also I get to feel better about not cutting down a tree every year and can avoid all the guilt associated with the memory of my mother reading me “The Little Fir Tree” at a vulnerable age. The one thing I miss, though, is the wonderful smell of a real tree. I love the smell of real trees. Luckily, I can count on Christopher Brosius to help me out.

The inspiration for CB I Hate Perfume the Fir Tree, which is supposed to smell like “Fir trees in the forest with a touch of frozen earth,” is described by Brosius as follows:

I love the smell of fir trees it is one of my favorite things about winter. Whether in the woods, stacked on city sidewalks for sale in December or, best yet, in one's living room, there is something so refreshing and invigorating about the smell of these trees. It's easy to understand why they symbolize the start of the New Year. Even on the hottest summer day, I can walk in a grove of Fir Trees and feel the cool snowflakes melting on my face.

You might be thinking to yourself, “That’s real nice and all, but who the hell wants to smell like a fir tree?” Apparently, I do. the Fir Tree is an artful fir, spearmint-y, fresh, light, and appealing. This isn’t a knock you down with its strength, reeking-off-a-little-scented-paper-tree-hanging-from-your-rear-view-mirror kind of fir. This is a fir scent meant to be worn with kicky holiday frocks, sprayed around the house before a winter party, or worn while cuddling next to a roaring fire with the one you love. It works well for a man or a woman, has minimal sillage and is very light, so you’ll need to be generous with spraying on the water perfume. That’s okay, though; this one is light enough that it would be hard to over do it. What a nice, cooling fragrance for the winter! Like a dash of peppermint schnapps in your hot chocolate, it’s the perfect accent for the holiday season.

You can buy the Fir Tree for $60 in either 15ml perfume absolute or 100ml water perfume, as well as a 150ml home spray for $40, direct from the perfumer. You can also get samples from the CB website or from The Perfumed Court.

“For we need a little music,
Need a little laughter,
Need a little singing
Ringing through the rafter,
And we need a little snappy
’Happy ever after,’
We need a little Christmas now.”
- “We Need a Little Christmas,” from Jerry Herman’s Mame

Try as I might, I cannot seem to locate more reviews of the Fir Tree. Too bad for you reviewers out there. It’s worth a try.

Images from Wikimedia, & Flickr.

(Note: apparently getting real trees is more environmentally friendly. Did not know that. At least I bought mine used, so I did not increase apparent demand for the fakes. Sigh.)

Just Breath.

CB I Hate Just Breath

Not to be conceited (alert: relatively conceited comment forecoming), but I'm good at a lot of stuff.

You know what I'm not good at, though? Taking care of myself. Saying no when I am overloaded. Staying calm. Generally? Just breathing.

Luckily, to paraphrase iAdvertising, there's a scent for that.

According to Christopher Brosius, Just Breath, originally created exclusively for Marie Claire magazine, "is blended with Bamboo Leaves, Japanese Green Tea, three varieties of Cedarwood, forest and just the merest hint of Incense."

There is only so much you can do in a 24-hour period. Subatomic particles may comfortably exist in two places at once but you can't. There is a big difference between expanding your boundaries and driving yourself nuts.

Why don't you calm down for a moment and JUST BREATHE? I designed this scent to calm, balance and center you whenever you need just that.

Suddenly you're transported to a Buddhist Temple deep in the fresh green forest. Isn't that really where you'd rather be?

On me, Just Breath is a lovely mixture of dirt, mint, and clean spring water. When I breathe it in, I imagine water rushing down mountain. The water is clear, clean, and cool. As it tumbles, it picks up flecks of fresh earth, crushed flower petals, twigs of young wood, springs of herbs, torn leaves. On a hike, I stop to wash my hands in it. Raising my wet hands to cool my face, I inhale and smell...this. When you see advertisers trying to bottle freshness, refreshingness, cleanness, lightness: this is what they are trying to give you.

So when you are feeling overwhelmed, take a tip from Chris Brosius: just breath.

Just Breath is very light with low sillage. It feels more seasonally appropriate for Spring, and reads more feminine to me than I might recommend for a man.

You can buy Just Breath for $60 in either 15ml perfume absolute or 100ml water perfume direct from the perfumer. You can also get samples from the CB website or from The Perfumed Court.

I couldn't find any other reviews of CB I Hate Just Breath, so you'll have to just try it for yourself.

Images from CB I Hate and J Morgan Marketing.

Tomorrow you’ll be thinking to yourself, “Yeah, where did it all go wrong?”

CB I Hate Perfume M1 Narcissus

The story of Narcissus and Echo is a famous one. Echo, cursed by Hera for detaining Hera while the other nymphs Zeus dallied with ran away, could only reply the words spoken to her. One day she saw Narcissus, and attempted to gain his love. He shunned her. In her sadness, Echo retreated into a cave, where she stayed until nothing was left of her but her voice, cursed forever to reflect what others’ say.

Narcissus got his, though. After spurning woman after woman, eventually one plead to the heavens that Narcissus might fall for someone who ignored him and that he would feel no return of his affection as punishment. Venus cursed him accordingly, and he eventually fell in love with his own reflection. Each time he tried to touch the beautiful creature, its watery reflection retreated. Eventually he wasted away to nothing, but when the water nymphs who loved him came to dispose of his body properly, they found none – only a single flower.

I loved this story of unrequited love and deserved punishment in high school. I even wrote a poem in Latin from the perspective of Echo. It won fourth in the state at the state Latin competition.

Christopher Brosius has attempted to bottle the great spurner turned flower in M1 Narcissus. He describes the scent as being “the scent of narcissus, clean running water over mossy stones, the wind gently blowing through green leaves,’ capturing the love Narcissus only felt for himself until it consumed him. While enjoying the scent, I reflected on Brosius’ reflections on the scent:

The narcissus is not a simple flower. What does it mean?

A legend of a beautiful man destroyed by vanity. Is this true? What lies beneath? Realities dim as the world grows old, convention is laid over truth but the truth remains.

The ancients believed that the eye was the window to the soul. Looking into another’s eye was to know that person truly a dangerous pursuit. The narcissus flower was thought to represent the eye. Where is the link from man to flower to eye?

What then was this beautiful man really searching for gazing into the rippling waters of that clear brook? What really did he find there bending lower, lower, lower still? Gazing into his own eyes until the water engulfed him and he was lost. Vanity is too simple an answer.

What then really destroyed him? What is the secret hidden in this transformation? Man to flower, flower to eye. What do we find when we look into this blazing eye that gazes out at the world each spring? The narcissus is one of the first spring flowers there is no mistaking this significance in myth. Spring is a time of transformation. The time of contemplation is over and the world changes. Something is lost this is inevitable but something greater is gained. We are changed and are the wiser for it.

This is the secret hidden in the heart of the narcissus and this is the true power of spring.

On application, it's a lovely green with just hints of flowers. Then it gets a little muddy, that lovely dirt note Brosius does so well peeking in, and then the greens and white florals begin to balance out with the same sweet cinnamon-y notes you get in To See A Flower. This is a super clean, innocent scent. Quite frankly, I think it might be more appropriately named Echo or even Daphne, given their respective mythos. It’s a nice scent, but I think it might be nicest for a younger girl, maybe a girl who is breaking hearts all over town and simply does not even realize it because, in her teen-aged youth, beauty, and self-absorption, she embodies that classic archetype: The Narcissist.

Hell, if I could reach back to my sixteen-year old self, I'd hand her a bottle.

You can buy M1 Narcissus for $80 in either 15ml perfume absolute or 100ml water perfume direct from the perfumer. You can also get samples from the CB website or from The Perfumed Court.

“If you find a man that’s worth a damn and treats you well.
Then he’s a fool, you’re just as well, hope it gives you hell.”
- “Gives You Hell,” All American Rejects

Try as I might, I cannot seem to locate more reviews of the M1 Narcissus. Too bad for you reviewers out there. It’s worth a try.

Images from CB Hate Perfume, & David Revoy.