Hold me until all the prayers that go to heaven get an answer.

Perfume Challenge Week 20: Monday, 5/30/11, to Friday, 6/3/11

Dear reader -- I am currently enraged by this WSJ piece criticizing current Young Adult novels. I am enraged for many, many reasons, but for now I will focus on this one.

My brother had severe hearing problems as a child, and as a result had slower reading development than average. This always made him feel stupid and academically inadequate.

My parents did not help in this, constantly reinforcing my voracious reading habits and academic prowess, while telling my brother his strengths lay in his athletic accomplishments and social acumen.

In the 8th grade, his English teacher assigned his class S.E. Hinton's "The Outsiders."

It was the first book my brother ever truly read, and he identified with many of the characters and themes. It became a favorite. It inspired him to read "Rumblefish" then "Tex" and to branch out to other authors. He learned about poetry, because the book used Robert Frost's "Nothing Gold Can Stay."

He's 31 years old now. He has three sons. He reads to them all the time when he's not gone on deployment. In just this last year he's read Kerouac's "On the Road" and Homer's "The Odyssey" -- for pleasure.

"The Outsiders" changed my brother's life.

Shame on anyone who would have denied him that opportunity because they felt they had the right to determine what was appropriate for him to read. Growing up as children in a home caught in the grip of domestic violence and alcoholism, I assure you that these books were far less dark than parts of our every day lives. Instead, they made us feel less alone.

Okay. Rage...abated, temporarily. On to the perfume.

This week I bring you five scents from the lovely house of By Kilian. Founded by "the heir to a long line of cognac-makers that were pioneers in luxury, the grandson of the founder of The LVMH Group" this line is a fantastic,luxurious scents. The line is, generally speaking, heavy on sillage and foodie aspects, though some of the scents occasionally surprise.

Monday: By Kilian Love - neroli, iris, jasmine, rose, musk, vanilla. Supposedly inspired by the smell of marshmallow  this is one very gourmand scent. I do get marshmellow fluff, but really it reminds me most of the these creamy glazed bundt cakes they sell in grocery stores across the southlands from whence I spring. (Sadly, I cannot find there here, but they generally looked like the photo to the right.) Super sweet, even as it turns towards its more floral face toward you as about forty-fve minutes in. If you don't like sweet, run away from this. If, however, you love sweet like I do, it's pretty good. 3 of 5 nods.

Tuesday: By Kilian Liaisons Dangereuses - plum, pelargonium, cinnamon, musk, sandalwood. A sophisticated rose with an obvious fruit aspect, in a realistic way that makes me feel like I'm biting into a fresh plum. It's also got a nice coconut aspect, more like the fresh flesh of a coconut than the sweetened and sugared flake. I also definitely plum in it, which I surprising and lovely. It reminds me most of Jo Malone Red Roses, but less soapy. 3.5 of 5 nods.

Wednesday: By Kilian Cruel Intentions - Notes: calabrian bergamot rose, papyrus, tahitian vetiver, guaiac wood, amber, coconut and styrax. Hello oriential. Cruel Intentions is woodier than your classic big orientals, like CK Obsession, though you can tell they are in the same family. Lots of powdery amber here, but I get a decent wallop of the vetiver which makes it feel less like a big-haired model straight out of Xanadu or Elton John's "I'm Still Standing" video (see left). Very nice, as orientials go. The vetiver is what really sets this apart, giving it a dry smooth quality like a good leather. A well-made oriential, so if you roll that way, try it. 3.5 of 5 nods.

Thursday: By Kilian Back to Black - Notes: bergamot, saffron, nutmeg, cardamom, coriander, raspberry, chamomile, olibanum, honey, cedar, oak, tobacco, patchouli, almond, vanilla and labdanum. According to Fragantica, Back to Black is loved by those who enjoy L'Artisan Tea for Two, Guerlain Spiritueuse Double Vanille, L'Artisan Timbuktu, Tauer Perfumes L'Air du desert marocain, all of which I love. So here I am, getting all googlied eyed at another tobacco scent. I'm starting to wonder if I'll ever meet one I don't like, or if my intense love and adoration for my grandpa and his pipe smoking during my formative years is going to result in an army of tobacco scented bottles in my perfume armory. Back to Black comes off at first as a weirdly spicy tobacco; I definitely get some of the various spicy top notes, particularly the cardamon. During the dry down, I'd think there was coconut oil in here from the beach-y note I keep hitting half an hour in, but I suspect that's a combination of the vanilla and labdanum base notes bleeding through. This does not seem particularly foodie, thought it is sweet, more sweet than a lot of other tabacco scents. I'd love to smell this on a man; I think the sugary edge to it would be dead sexy with an open collar and light summer suit. 4 of 5 nods.

Friday: By Kilian Straight to Heaven - Nutmeg, patchouli, rum, cedar. The opening is whack in the face of rum. It's like taking a shot of rum and just as the initial taste on the tongue fades, taking another. It then grows increasingly nutty, and not all that sweet, which after this week of scents, was really welcome, especially in our close to 80 degree weather. Also, in a house where so many scents are knock-me-down strong, this is surprisingly subtle. I really like it.

I tried it next to Olympic Orchids Bay Rum, which is more medicinal and earthy, where Straight to Heaven remains polished, sleek, and smooth. The difference feels like the difference between drinking hooch our of a barrel with the Bay Rum, as opposed to sipping from elegantly cut crystal tumblers with Straight to Haven. If you're into boozy scents, this is going to thrill you to your toes. 4 of 5 nods.

Winner of the Week: You know, on Thursday I thought I'd be saying Back to Black, but I think I have to go with Straight to Heaven.  On the whole, though, I really enjoy the various offerings of the house in general, and I would be pleased to own any of these scents.

"You are absurd.
You say the cutest things I've ever heard.
I don't think that I could take another word,
or my head might explode
and I might have to go to heaven
Love me..."
~ "Go To Heaven," The Pierces

Scent samples generously provided for review by the perfumer.

We're drinking and we're dancing and the band is really happening and the Johnny Walker wisdom running high...

Perfume Challenge Week 18: Monday, 5/16/11, to Friday, 5/20/11

"Ah, we're lonely, we're romantic
and the cider's laced with acid
and the Holy Spirit's crying, 
'Where's the beef?' 

And the moon is swimming naked
and the summer night is fragrant
with a mighty expectation of relief."

This week in Oregon, we had two consecutive completely sunny days with temperatures in the 70s. This is the first time this has happened since October 19th and 20th, 2010. That's right -- seven months. If that isn't a sign of end times, I don't know what is. At this moment, the day is overcast, but that doesn't change the fact that when the weather is lovely, and it's been a long time since it's been lovely, we Oregonians get really excited. Me? I went for several long, barefoot walks. It was nice.

You know, when I wrote about the rapture last week, I didn't even know it was going to be a big deal this week. If we've got to go, at least the weather was nice this week. In all seriousness, though, I feel unspeakably sad for those who have nothing to live for but their faith in a better life after this one. Because this one? It can be pretty powerfully awesome when you really stop to appreciate it. And part of what makes it awesome is all this wonderful perfume.

Monday: Jo Malone Grapefruit - Notes: grapefruit, tangerine, vetiver, rosemary. A bitter sharp take on the fruit, with none of the sweetness you expect.  It reminds me of the first sharp tang of a large gulp of grapefruit juice, like fruit rind and pulp instead of the fruit itself, and also a little bit like dried and cracked leather and pencil shavings.  Not bad, but not what I'd like out of a grapefruit.  If you like less sweet fruits, though, definitely give it a try.  3 of 5 nods.

Tuesday: Miller Harris Figue Amere - Notes: figs, green violet, amber and cedar. Holy moly, bitter fig is right! Oh god, the applicaton is almost a scrubber for me. It's true that it never hits the super sweet you expect from a fig, but I kind of wish it did. The dry down is a light amber and cedar blend, which is nice enough actually, but not particularly figgy. And the figgy part is just....wow, does not work for me.  I just have such a difficulty with the bitterness.  It's like an aspirin dissolving on the tongue.  2 of 5 nods.

Wednesday: DSH Perfumes Butterfly - Notes: Blood Orange (Israel), Lime Peel, Mango, Melon, Ocean, Egyptian Blue Lotus, Gardenia, Green Tea, Honey, Jasmine, Purple Lilac, Tiger Lily, Amber, Brazilian Vetiver, Chai Tea, Musk, Sandalwood, True Arabian Myrrh. What a sparkly lovely spring scent. I typically do not love any scent with the word "ocean" in the notes, but this works for me. Maybe because there is so much going on I can't quite determine what I'm getting other than zesty, bright, sparkling, light, and effervescent. The immediate opening is orange-y, but soon I get a burst of lime peel and green tea, myrrh. I like it so much -- and that's rare or me for such a bright floral. I bought an ounce after a quick sniff from a wand sampler, and I don't regret it at all. 4 of 5 nods.

Thursday: Ava Luxe Opoponax Intense - Notes: opoponax, amber, vanilla, Himalayan cedar, Mysore sandalwood, iris,black rose, jasmine, orris.. Reminds me of Calvin Klein Obsession, except way nicer. Its sweeter and less synthetic, and where Obsession is peppery, sharp and green Opoponax Intense is gentle, sweet, and lulling. It's like the difference between 80s florescent and a naturally bright color. It's beautiful if you like that super-duper sweetness of the big 80's O variety, definitely give this one a whirl. 4 of 5 nods

Friday: Jo Wood Organics Amka - Notes: Iranian rose otto, Egyptian jasmine, neroli, bergamot, green mandarin, sweet orange, cedarwood. Bergmot, neroli, and orange dominate the top creating a crisp, light scent. I love how green and limey it is. This is a perfect scent for warm weather. It reminds me of laying in the shade under a tree in a citrus grove, the grass awaying gently around me. My only complaint is the it doesn't have greaat lasting power, but in Amka's defense, I did not have a sample I could spray myself wet with, which may be the way to make the loveliness last. This is everything I wanted Jo Malone Lime Basil & Mandarin to be. 3.5 of 5 nods.

Winner of the Week: This is so tough. I think I'm giving the tie to Ava Luxe Opoponax Intense and Jo Wood Organics Amka, though I love Butterfly and own it, so there you go. For those of you who love Figue Amere, I'm sorry. I just can't get into it and I tried three times. When I want strong fig leaf, I go to Olympic Orchid's Midsummer Day's Dream.

For those of you who don't get raptured today, I'll still be here next week, heathen that I am, to bring you more post-apocalyptic, perfumey thoughts. If you're looking for safe haven and can make it to Lewis amp; Clark, we will be more than happy to take you into our community. And for the record, the same holds true for a Zombie apocalypse.

"So we struggle and we stagger 

down the snakes and up the ladder
to the tower where the blessed hours chime
and I swear it happened just like this:
a sigh, a cry, a hungry kiss,
the Gates of Love they budged an inch.
I can't say much has happened since
but closing time."

~ "Closing Time," Leonard Cohen

Photos by Diana Wiener Rosengard, 2011. All rights reserved.

If you're so smart, tell me, why are you still so afraid?

Calvin Klein Euphoria EdP

As I've been saying, I am making a concerted effort to make the best of this whole "being unemployed" situation. As my friend Cameron said to me the other day, "This whole being unemployed thing makes it really difficult to enjoy all this time off." And he's right. In my ideal world, where I have enough to eat and a place to live -- which I do for the next solid year thanks to my husband's job -- if I can't find work, there are a lot of things I can do. I have creative projects to work on, things that are already in progress. I have books to read. Things to teach myself about. Doctors appointments to make and (finally) get around to going to. Better health practices to engage in (exercise, diet, whatnot). Why not do those things and look for a job, too?

Now, onto the perfume!

When I first started this perfume business, it was all because I wanted to buy myself a nice bottle of perfume for my 30th birthday. At the time, I happened to work at a nonprofit with Angela from Now Smell This! I remember I was trying to decide amongst three department store brands -- Chloe EDP, Barberry Brit, and CK Euphoria, specifically -- which I had choosen based on scent strips out of magazine (my first mistake!), and went to Angela to ask for advice. She ended up turning my life upside down by bringing in five samples that were NOT any of those three. Needless to say, those scents were left in the dust as I embarked on the great olfactory adventure we call perfume.

Except....

Except that actually I wanted to know just how bad my first instincts were. So I bought a mini of the Chloe EDP off Ebay. And then I saw a great deal on a BOTTLE of Euphoria and went ahead and bought the entire bottle scent unsniffed, which was the first time I ever bought a bottle blind. It arrived. I tried it...annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd immediately I also experienced my first bout of itchy-perfume-trigger-finger buyer's remorse. Into the back of the perfume cabinet the bottle went, banished from my sight, behind my Bonds and Chanels and CB I Hate Perfumes.

Over time I've acquired a small but respectable bottle collection and the Euphoria has just been back there....sitting. Waiting. Rejected. It reminded me of the Rainbow Bright doll I got one Christmas. In my house we were allowed to open one gift of our choice on Christmas Eve if it was decided we'd acted nicely over the course of the day as we were dragged around to relatives' houses and forced to open gifts like socks and ugly sweaters with smiles on our faces. (My bio-parents? All about the bribery for good behavior.) I remember this particular Christmas, I carefully chose a package I'd been ogling since it had gone next to the tree (approximately a week, which was FOR-EVVVVV-ER in my child-mind), and when I ripped off the shiny paper, I was overjoyed. Oh rapture! Oh ecstasy! My VERY OWN Rainbow Bright doll! I hugged her, patted her orange yarn hair with love, and trotted off to bed to hold her with all the strength my tiny arms and tiny heart could muster.

My love for her, tragically, ended the next morning, when I opened another package and found my first Cabbage Patch doll. Yep. The holy grail of toys that year, I got a little red-headed Cabbage Patch doll who became my new BBF and Rainbow Bright was banished forever to lay, discarded, on my bed next to the pile of other dolls of the past. My fickle heart had loved her and then tossed her aside at the first opportunity. To this day I feel a strange sort of pity for that underloved doll. (I blame my mom for reading me a lot of really depressing Hans Christian Andersen stories about little match stick girls and sad little fir trees.) In the world of perfume, that bottle of CK Euphoria is my Rainbow Bright doll.

So in an attempt to be a better person than I was (because I am the sort of person who still obsesses over childhood stuff as being someone reflective of inherent character flaws), I pulled out my CK Euphoria this weekend and gave myself a giant spray down in an effort to find the good in there. And, to my surprise, I found that it wasn't nearly as unimpressive as I'd previously thought.

According to Calvin Klein's website, Euphoria is

Mysterious. Provocative. Exciting. The fantasy and surprise of the black orchid creates a captivating oriental fragrance that contrasts exotic fruits, seductive florals and a rich, creamy signature.

Notes: pomegranate, persimmon, lush green; lotus blossom, champaca flower, black orchid; liquid amber, black violet, cream, mahogany

On me, Euphoria is, well, not euphoria-inducing, exactly, but it wasn't unpleasant. The first burst was supposed to be pomegranate but came across more like grenadine and coca-cola, a sort of super sweet fizzy sugary slap to the face I would have liked drinking back when I owned that Rainbow Bright doll. Almost immediately after I get a lot of powdery notes that I think are coming from the amber, which turns it more toward a talcum powder and sour cherry pie filling mixture. After about a half hour the fruity bits back off and something a little more floral going on, and the powdery bits get a little dark, which kind of reminded me of the smell and feel of suede. It's still very sweet, but less foodie and more flowers and pressed face powder from the 1980s. It kind of reminded me of kissing my grandmother's just made up face.

In short, Euphoria, on the whole, no longer feels like the wasted opportunity it used to. Is it great? No. Would I buy it again? Knowing what there is out there to have instead, no. But do I regret the money I spent that could have gone toward something else? No. This is a scent that has, after the drydown, a soft, subtle, moderately indistinguishable pinkish smell to it. Not a loud pink, not a bubble gum pink, but more like a soft, light mauve color. Is that something I tend to think of myself wearing? No, but sometimes it's nice to have that kind of scent. Also, thanks to a decanting disaster I accidentally layered it over Téo Cabanel Oha at one point, which was pretty and interesting. I doubt I'll ever actually finish the bottle of Euphoria, but it probably won't always be discarded in the back of the perfume pantry anymore. And that is a nice surprise, and a good reminder to always be opening about trying and retrying things, even if you think you already know what you're gonna be getting.

You can buy CK Euphoria just everywhere. Amazon, Overstock.com, and every other discounter under the sun. Try this first, but if you want it then it's out there for cheap.

"Where's the fire? What's the hurry about?
You'd better cool it off before you burn it out.
You've got so much to do and only so many hours in a day.
But you know that when the truth is told,
that you can get what you want or you get old.
You're gonna kick off before you even get halfway through.
When will you realize, Vienna waits for you?"
- "Vienna," Billy Joel (You can listen to the song here)

Want more reviews? Try...
~ A review from Robin from Now Smell This!
~ A review from Perfume-Smellin' Things
~ A review from Bois de Jasmin

Drugstore blues

In an effort to keep my promise regarding a review of drug store/lower end perfumes in honor of Sookie Stackhouse and the other lovely residents of the fictional Bon Temps, LA, I went to three drug stores and two combo stores in my area this weekend trying to find one that didn’t keep all the bottles locked behind a class case with no sample sprayers.

I failed.

It appears things have changed from when I was a little girl, and a person could walk into a store and actually try on perfume before purchasing it, even if that store was a Walgreens, CVS, or Eckerds (now Rite-Aid). This is no longer that case, and I couldn’t bring myself to drop $50 on 2-4 full bottles of scent I might really never wear again. At least, not at this economically challenging moment. Thus, the drugstore scent reviews will be furloughed (as I have been) until I have the time and money to get to them. I apologize for any disappointment this causes.

I noticed something else, though, while I was on my local tour of drug/ discount department/superstores. I was surprised to see that scents that were strictly “middle to high end department store” nice when I was fifteen are now relegated to partial/full drugstore status. I saw Elizabeth Arden Red Door, CK One, and Elizabeth Taylor White Diamonds all sitting next to Coty and Charlie. When I checked Target, it turns out that there were almost exclusively scents that used to be big name department store scents hanging out behind the glass, waiting for purchase. (Can anyone say Joop! cologne or Ralph Lauren Polo?)

I suppose in the last fifteen years perfume has become more stratified economically. Or maybe I have. I grew up in the sort of family that still ordered clothes from the Sears & Roebuck catalogue if you needed something “fancy.” I don’t think I set foot in a Nordstrom level department store until my mid-late 20s. My prom dress came straight off the rack from the local J.C. Penney, and I felt beautiful in it all the same. But I wonder how much the internet has played a role in the class elements of perfume expanding. When I can give a limited edition perfume made and sold exclusively in France to my niece as a graduation present, it’s clear that her world, and mine, have grown to include things my grandmother and her $15 bottle of perfume, which was considered an “expensive” gift appropriate for birthdays or anniversaries, never dreamed off.

I like the world I live in now. I like its infinite possibilities. I like that the best way to order from one of my very favorite perfumers, Christopher Brosius, is to go straight to his website and order direct from his single independent store in NYC. But I wonder at what we have to give up right outside our doors in exchange. I remember when my grandmother bought me a bottle of Sunflowers for my fifteenth birthday. I felt so special and grown up to have gotten such a nice gift, and everyone around me thought it was really nice, too. I didn’t feel sad or ashamed I wore drugstore perfume. That’s what everyone did, and we were happy that way. I would be sad to think that such an opportunity might be missed today in the shuffle of our increasingly busy world.

To that end, I would like to direct any readers with interests toward Angela's series at Now Smell This! on economically accessible scents (in these trying times) from Victoria Secret, Bath & Body Works, and the like.

Hiatus endeth!

Sorry for the break, dear readers. I am now finished with my 2L finals and will resume my fragrance love documentation.

Generally, I tend to love heavy, dark, rich, strong fragrances, but now that things are getting warm (like 96 degrees with no air conditioning warm), sporting these fragrances seems so...stuffy. So I am now engaging in a search for lovely light summer scents. Whilst I and my credit cards embark on that create experiment, I offer up my "So Far 2008" list, the list of fragrances I've acquired thus far this year:

First Quarter

1. Annick Goutal Songes (x2 - great deal!)
2. CK Euphoria (Yick! What a mistake that was!)
3. Gap So Pink! (I have no excuses for my fondness)
4. L'Artisan Dzing!
5. Lorenzo Villoresi Alamut
6. Origins Ginger With a Twist

Second Quarter

1. CB I Hate Perfume Smokey Tabacco Accord
2. Chanel No. 5 EDT
3. DK Black Cashmere
4. Juliette Has a Gun Lady Vengeance
5. Origins Ginger with a Twist (2nd bottle b/c now discontinued)
6. Red Flower organic Guaiac

This is not counting decants, samples, etc. Just full bottled purchases... Wow. More engaged than certainly I would have ever expected given that I accidented my way into this via wanting to buy myself a gift of perfume for my 30th birthday (just this past Spring). And, of course, I still have a long list of more scents I love/want!