It was a very stressful week: nothing too serious but a lot of small problems at work and some health issues. I’m feeling better now and ready to deal with everything I need to deal with in the office. But I had the most wonderful weekend including a perfumeeting with Natalie (Another Perfume Blog) that went too fast – as all good things usually do.
Lemmings
It feels like I’m the last person in the Perfumeland who hasn’t tried yet two last most recent creations from Amouage. New surge of lemmings this week:
Since one of the draw winners hasn’t contacted me in a week I used random.org once again. A new winner is Suzanne. Please contact me with your shipping address.
Feel free to share any links – your lemmings, [new] loves or good laughs.
When I was a child there was a sketch comedy TV show for kids – Yeralash. One of the episodes was titled Twins (it’s shorter than 2 minutes, you can watch it for the idea, I didn’t find it with subtitles).
The plot: Two little boys (LBs) on a sled bump into an older boy (OB). He gets up to confront them when he notices that they look alike.
OB: Identical twins! LBs(here and later they speak in unison): We are not identical twins! OB: What do you mean “not twins”? Are you brothers? LBs: Yes! OB: Then you’re identical twins! LBs: No, we told you, we are not identical twins! OB: Were you born the same day? LBs: Yes! OB: Then you are identical twins! LBs: No, we are not! OB: Why are you messing with me?! Let’s do it again. Were you born the same day? Are you brothers? Are you look-alike? LBs: Yes! Yes! Yes! OB: Then you are twins! (the third little boy who looks exactly as the first two comes from behind and pushes OB away): Leave them alone! We are identical triplets!!! I went to pee!
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A year ago in one of the department stores I came across a stand with six or seven classic Guerlein fragrances. It was my first close encounter with those perfumes and since the only one I tried before – Shalimar – didn’t work for me I was reluctant to put anything on my skin. So I spent some time with all those bottles and paper strips. Have you ever tried keeping six unsigned blotters in order? I thought I was doing fine… Later, as I was going through those blotters in the car, the scent from one of them suddenly felt very familiar. A couple of minutes of intense sniffing later I conjured an answer: Estee Lauder’s Tuscany per Donna! The problem was that I didn’t know which perfume it was: blotters mixed in my hands and names did the same in my head.
I came home and went through the notes lists for those perfumes I suspected might be “it” – Mitsouko, Jicky, Jardins de Bagatelle and L’Heure Bleue. Each one of them had a potential but I couldn’t tell which one it was just from comparing notes. So the next week I went back to the store and sprayed those perfumes on new blotters (signed this time to avoid confusion). Nothing. None of them smelled like Tuscany per Donna. Since all that happen soon after I published the first episode in my o Déjà vu category I concluded that it was a wishful thinking on my part and thus concluded my experiments.
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During my Guerlain Quest at Las Vegas this February, following Suzanne’s recommendation, I tested Samsara in parfum concentration. I smelled it from a blotter that an SA handed to me and immediately thought of another perfume Samsara reminded me of. Actually, I thought of another two perfumes. But remembering reaction of the Specialist (I won’t repeat the link but you might want to look through the story from the Episode 1 linked above to understand what I’m referring to); I chose the “more niche” of two to mention to that SA. I told him that Samsara reminded me of Frederic Malle’s Iris Poudre. And that was where it was “déjà vu all over again”: his reaction was really similar to the one I got from Malle’s Specialist. I thought it was ironic.
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A month ago at a grocery store I thought I recognized a scent on a woman. I’m never shy to approach people about perfumes (or shoes) they are wearing:
- Are you wearing Tuscany per Donna? – I asked. - No, it’s Samsara – she answered.
The circle has closed.
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Since this post is a follow-up to my older story I decided against a full-blown blind testing (which was, in my opinion, a complete success in my second Déjà vu episode) but I had a chance to solicit a quick blind sniffing participation from Susan (Fine Fragrants):
Based on my first tries of each of these perfumes, I agree that they are similar. Yet I can readily identify differences between each of them. Red (Iris Poudre) smells more “modern” to me than Blue (Tuscany per Donna) or Yellow (Samsara) – more like something that would be coming out on the market now. Yellow is quieter and closer to the skin than Red or Blue. Blue is the most assertive, classic, and sexiest, as well as the most animalic – it’s the one I’d want if I had to buy one of these perfumes. It’s the diva of the trio.
Summer is here! I’m not excited (I do not like hot weather) – just stating the fact. Suddenly I do not know what to wear, clothes- or perfume-wise. My cat Rusty, on the other hand (paw?), isn’t confused: he knows what NOT to wear – his fur. He’s shedding everywhere!
Lemmings
I do not have any practical use for that amount of Guerlain’s Muguet but it’s such a beautiful scent and I really like this year’s bottle! Please somebody tell me I shouldn’t be ordering it! Thanks for tempting me go to Robin (Now Smell This).
Laughs
I think everybody has read this already but if somehow you missed it read semi-final of Prix Eau Faux 2012 at Now Smell This. It’s hilarious! My favorite is Rhapsody by United Airlines for the print copy and Fairleigh Fanged by Fairleigh Lowd for the TV commercial (I know it wasn’t a category but I just “saw” it while reading).
Jo Loves – Jo Malone‘s new brand, – finally offers samples from their site. You can order two free samples. It says on the site that they ship perfumes to the U.K. only but my samples order went through, I got a confirmation in e-mail, so you can also try if you’re interested in the line.
The winner of the second draw is australianperfumejunkies.
Congratulations! Both winners please send me your shipping addresses.
Four people guessed it right: My Daughter Dieudonne by William Merritt Chase was an inspiration for the flower arrangement from the brain teaser.
A word to those eleven who thought it was Caroline de Bassano, Marquise d’Espeuilles by John Singer Sargent: at the exhibition I had to double-check the label on the arrangement. Zoom in to see more details for both pictures.
I have previously mentioned in Three Pieces of Neela Vermeire’s India Puzzle story, I love brain teasers. So even though I’ve previously won a Discovery Set I couldn’t pass by another picture puzzle that Neela Vermeire posted on her Facebook Wall. I found the answer and won “Try your India” trial set. Out of three in the set my favorite perfume is Bombay Bling! I like Trayee and do not mind Mohur. Once my discovery set’s bottles are gone, I’ll either buy another one or will go for a full bottle. Extra 2 ml of each perfume won’t make much difference for me. So I thought it would be a good idea to spread the joy. I asked Neela if she would mind if I held a draw for my readers and transfer my winning to the lucky winner. She didn’t mind. So here we are.
If you a) have never tried these perfumes before, b) sniffed/tried those at the store and now want to try more or c) own samples already but want to test more before deciding, you are eligible. Just tell me which one it is – a, b or c. That’s it. It won’t affect your odds, I’m just curious.
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When I asked Neela about transferring my prize she offered to double the draw. How do you feel about solving a puzzle to be entered into the second draw?
In one of the halls of the de Young museum at the Bouquets to Art exhibition there were two paintings on the wall, one next to the other, and two flower arrangements inspired by those paintings. One of the arrangements, in my opinion, could be easily paired with any of the two paintings.
Caroline de Bassano, Marquise d'Espeuilles by John Singer Sargent
Bouquet (front)
Bouquet (back)
My Daughter Dieudonne by William Merritt Chase
Which painting do you think was an inspiration for that bouquet? Click on pictures to get a larger size. It doesn’t matter if you guess it right or not, you’ll be entered into the second draw. If you do not want to be entered into the draw, I’d still want to know your choice of a painting.
It was a good week: there were more reviews for my current favorites than those posts that created lemmings to find new favorites – yey! It was a busy week and I’m still catching up on my reading but it’s time for a round-up so I’ll finish later (and if I missed anything I’ll bring it up next week).
If you haven’t read Birgit’s Fresh Baked Biker – Review: Armani Privé Cuir Noir on your own or following my lemmings link above, do it now for a good laugh (I don’t want to quote the best part of the joke not to spoil it).
If, like me, you were busy and distraught past week and missed Another Perfume Blog’s first year anniversary, I’m sure it’s not too late to stop by and wish Natalie all the best.
Every spring for the last 28 years San Francisco’s Fine Arts Museum de Young organizes a very popular event Bouquets to Art. More than a hundred floral designers from all over the Bay Area submit their choices and concepts to a panel of judges who decide on the final list of exhibitors and those chosen then create floral arrangements based on the art in de Young permanent collection.
I love flowers so I’m very surprised I didn’t know about this exhibition until this year. I will try not to miss future events: it was a great experience, both my vSO and I didn’t notice how two and half hours went by.
I’ve never seen so many people in this museum before! It was impressive. Since for this event photography without a flash was allowed sometimes it took up to five minutes to get in the position to take a picture without people blocking something.
Despite multiple flower arrangements in each room the museum didn’t smell like a flower shop. Mostly I could smell other visitors’ perfumes. I wore ChanelNo 19 parfum: I wanted to smell nice but not to overpower any possible floral aroma with my perfume. It didn’t. The only room with a distinct floral fragrance in the air was the one with the composition made of thousands of gardenia petals.
The smell was so captivating that I didn’t even think of looking for the art piece which that composition was supposed to represent. All I wanted to do was to smell it closer. So did many other people. I couldn’t find a moment to take a shot without anybody in the picture.
The exhibition was uneven: there were very creative inspirational compositions as well as very literal recreations of the art pieces (including a bucolic scene with a toy size cow or the one with banal lampshades on a table). I won’t spend space demonstrating those that I didn’t like and will focus on those that I think are interesting.
It isn’t easy to choose just several pictures for this post out of dozens I took. I tried to catch both – the composition and the art behind it (literally and figuratively). I wish there were fewer people, better lighting and a tripod.
Chihuly’s glass is created to be reproduce in bouquets!
One of the compositions that impressed me the most was inspired by Willard Leroy Metcalf’s painting Winter’s Festival.
Although appearing nearly monochromatic at first glance, such images reveal Metcalf’s extraordinarily subtle yet inventive use of color. Among the vegetation, vibrant hints of aqua, pink, gold, and even burgundy invigorate the subdued palette and suggest the dormant vitality of the frozen flora. Blue-tinted shadows and underlying traces of violet and lavender remind us that snow, never purely white, admits to endless variation. (Hood Museum of Art)
That description perfectly fits both the painting and the installation.
As I was exiting one of the rooms I overheard a conversation from a group entering that room:
From their angle of viewing they couldn’t see that Arthur Tress’ photograph of a donut was an archetype for that composition. When I told this story to a friend who also attended that exhibition, she suggested calling that composition An Infinite Donut.
This week I read almost everything on my reading list. There were many interesting posts and discussions. I feel that I need to introduce a (temporary?) additional category – Leftovers. I plan to use it for some newsworthy links that don’t feet into my regular categories.
In addition to announcing on their FB page that “700 ASIAN TALES samples have left our offices yesterday!!! We will deliver the most far countries first, then Europe and then France.” (can hardly wait to get it!) Kilian also posted: “My dear friends, I know I have been silent for the past few weeks…I am sorry. But me and my team needed to shut down from the world to finalize the Fall project. We can’t wait to show it to you! We think it is going to be a breakthrough in the world of perfume…we will call this collection: “in the garden of good & evil”…and you are the first one to know that in the world!!! Keep it a secret…. Love, k …”
In the last several days there were three unrelated reports on the blogs content poaching. Tarleisio (The Alembicated Genie) described first two in her passionately written post and Vanessa (Bonkers about Perfume) shared the story of her own fight. Regardless of which engine you use for your blog WordPress has a useful resource Prevent Content Theft. In comments to Vanessa’s post I described step-by-step changing RSS settings for Blogger and here you can find how to change settings for WP-based blogs.
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In case you somehow missed it, Surrender to Chance , a new samples/decanting website created after The Perfumed Court split, is having a Grand Opening and offers 15% off every item in the store (code: honeybadgersaysopen expires on April 9, 2012). In addition, until April 14 all orders over $75 will ship free (no code necessary).
While reflecting upon that change and feeling a little sad (I don’t like changes) I suddenly realized that I went through with just a single order from TPC. After that every time I would put something into the cart, think about it and go away without purchasing.
How many times (approximately?) have you placed an order with TPC?
We had a great rainy March. Now everything is green and fresh and blooming. I enjoy wearing my favorite perfumes and try to do it almost every day. I decided for myself that it didn’t make any sense to keep testing new perfumes in the search for a new love if I do not use those that I love already.
I tried to be good with my New Year resolutions but I think I’m failing: I bought two bottles of perfume. And though one of them (Samsara EdT by Guerlain) was during the The smell good do good charity sale at Scents of Self and the second one probably doesn’t count since I’ve already split it (I still have 5 ml of Une Rose Vermeille by Tauer Perfumes to share at cost – send me an e-mail if you’re interested), I still feel I’ll have to increase my yearly FB quota.
Also, I realized that even though I wear perfume every day I do not get too many acknowledgements. I do not know if I’m constantly under-applying and nobody can smell it or if I choose perfumes that people do not like and they are being polite by keeping it to themselves but results are the same (or at least it feels like that). Starting this month I record when I get a reaction to the perfume I’m wearing (both positive and negative – see the chart below).
Wnen was the last time anybody complimented you on the perfume you were wearing? Do you remember the last complaint?
Quick March stats:
Numbers in parenthesis are comparison to the previous month’s numbers.
* Different perfumes worn: 27 (+8) from 16 (+4) brands on 29 (+7) occasions;
* Favorite perfumes worn: 21 (+7) on 23 (+6) occasions;
* Different perfumes tested: 48 (+6)from 33 (+8) brands on 58 (+14)occasions;
* Perfumes I tried for the first time: 25 (+1);
* Perfume house I wore most often: Chanel;
* Perfume house I tested the most: Guerlain (second month in a row – and this is after not owning/not testing a single perfume from this brand);
* Most popular notes (only from perfumes I chose to wear): top – (not counting bergamot) mandarin, lemon and pepper; middle – (not counting rose and jasmine) ylang ylang, iris root and lily of the valley; base – vanilla, musk and sandalwood;
I didn’t count (for a change) but I have a feeling that last week there were fewer posts in my main blog-roll (list on the right) and in all other RSS feeds. Spring? Esxence2012? I don’t know. But as I promised in the beginning I won’t force myself to mention anything just for the sake of posting. So this issue will be a short one.
This isn’t coming from a blog but I’ll mention it here since my first reaction after reading about Chanel releasing a limited edition of Chanel N°19 Body Cream was “WANT!” But I don’t think I’ll ever warrant spending $80 on a body cream even for one of my most favorite perfumes. On the other hand, body lotion goes for “just” $50… Hmm…
Posted by Undina 
