Not a Review

A story related to perfumes but not a review

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If Johana by Keiko Mecheri were a shoe…

 

Being parfumistas we accept that most perfumes are unisex and even those that lean towards masculine or feminine designation might be worn by any gender. The same way there are no strict rules as to which genre of perfumes should be worn in which environment or on which occasion (breathing conditions permitting).

It might be a nice contrast to put on, let’s say, a vintage Vol de Nuit extrait while wearing jeans and sneakers and running mundane errands or to use some faint and subtle skin scent with a statement evening gown. But we often think of perfumes in terms of the occasion, something like:  office-friendly, night out, beach walk or my best friend’s wedding. I thought about that while trying to classify my recent favorite – Johana by Keiko Mecheri.

It’s not an elegant and graceful Dior New Look 1947 ready for an evening in symphony (even though Luckyscent describes Johana as “elegant perfume” – I disagree).

Dior New Look and Shoes

But, on the other hand, neither it is a carefree and relaxed Estee Lauder Bronze Goddess on a tropical vacation.

Estee Lauder Bronze Goddess and Shoes

Following the idea above, to describe how I see it, I pared Johana with shoes. This perfume is more than just comfortable casual loafers but rather fun and playful (well, as far as “playful” goes for my clothes) Mary Jane shoes. Johana is a dramatic but at the same time airy perfume. It doesn’t make a shocking statement but keeps grabbing my attention as I wear it.

Keiko Mecheri Johana and Shoes

When I was planning my visit to MinNY last Fall I had no intention to test Keiko Mecheri line. Did I have any particular reason? Not really, it’s not one of the lines I’m boycotting. Other than MinNY having plethora of other brands to which I normally have no access, there is that strange feeling that there are too many perfumes in the line – and until then I haven’t tried a single one.

How did it happen that after I’ve tested a dozen of Xerjoff‘s, all available Mona di Orio‘s, as many as I could Miller Harris‘ and many other perfumes I ended up leaving with Amour de Palazzo on the wrist and a single sample of Johana in my bag? It must have been fate!

In several month I went through a couple of samples, liked the perfume more and more, went to MinNY site hoping to buy it, panicked since not only they didn’t have it in stock any longer but I also couldn’t find it on the brand’s website – I thought it was some kind of an unannounced limited editions or promptly discontinued perfume. So when I saw a partial bottle of Johana sold in one of the FB perfume-related groups I immediately grabbed it. It’s available again from MinNY and Luckyscent (it’s still not mentioned on the official website!) but I’m glad I got it.

Rusty and Johana

Johana by Keiko Mecheri – created in 2012, notes include Japanese chrysanthemum, galbanum, rose, wisteria, iris, cocoa, patchouly, incense, vanilla and sandalwood. I love most of these notes in perfumes. In Johana I cannot smell any of these! But I really enjoy this perfume even without being able to deconstruct it. Or maybe because of it?

If you want a real review, I liked very much Brian’s take on it (be patient, it takes a while for this site to load – I don’t know what widgets they use there but each time it’s a pain…)

 

Images: my own

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Unveiling the Identity of my Birthday’s Guerlain Perfume

 

In the post for my Birthday Girls Just Want to Have Fun I’ve mentioned that I treated myself to the bottle of a perfume from Guerlain (I wonder if it’ll become a yearly tradition) and asked you to try guessing which one.

There were sixteen guesses and Susan (Fine Fragrants) got it right: my new Guerlain perfume is Encens Mythique d’Orient from Les Déserts d’Orient collection. Susan will be getting a 3 ml sample of Encens Mythique d’Orient to help her through the waiting for her own bottle.

Guerlain Encens Mythique d'Orient

When last year I read about that new collection being released, not being a real Guerlain fan girl (yet?), I wasn’t too excited: one more limited distribution offering that I didn’t want to chase.

Then I read a review of all three perfumes at Olfactoria’s Travels and though it was very nice and … polite – the way most Birgit’s reviews are – it didn’t conjure any lemmings: most likely because B. didn’t love any of them and, once again, because of the limited availability.

And then I decided to break my last year’s NY resolution of not buying samples until I test most of those that I’d previously accumulated and bought 2.5 ml samples of all three perfumes in the collection.

Encens Mythique d’Orient was love at the first sniff. I haven’t read a single raving review for it (there were many positive though – not sure if reviewers really liked it or were just loyal to a favorite brand). My friend at work really disliked it; her comment was:  “It smells like a men’s perfume counter at Macy’s” (so no wearing of it to the office). I tried to negotiate with myself getting a decant first… But a decant bottle wouldn’t be a nice birthday present, would it?

Guerlain Encens Mythique d'Orient

I’ll make another 2 ml spray sample to give away to one of my readers anywhere in the world (though nobody knows what might happen to it with the international shipping) – to try if you haven’t tried it yet/want to re-try or to use if you liked it but not enough to go for a bottle – just tell me what you think. I’ll use some type of random selection after closing the draw on Wednesday, February 20, 2013, at 11:59 p.m. PST.

If you don’t want to be in the draw, tell me anyway if you liked Encens Mythique d’Orient, disliked it or felt indifferent – I’m curious.

And do not think I disregard your opinion! Even though a year ago for my birthday I chose not the mostly recommended perfume, I rectified it later in the year when I bought Chamade that seven people had suggested as a perfume to remember my New York trip by. Six readers named Vol de Nuit this time. It’s just an observation…

 

Images: my own.

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My First Niche Perfume: Tiempe Passate by Antonia’s Flowers

 

Ten years ago I knew nothing about the existence of a niche world in perfumery. When I got a sample of Tiempe Passate by Antonia’s Flowers among other samples with a perfume purchase, it was just that – another sample.

At the time I was arrogant enough to think that I knew most of the modern perfumes and could find online any of those for less than available from department stores. So I was a little surprised that I didn’t know the brand and never heard about that perfume.

The scent was very different from everything I knew and liked then but unlike many other fragrances  that left me indifferent or were resolutely classified “not for me” this one caught my attention and kept drawing me in.

Antonias Flowers Tiempe Passate

By the time I’d used up my Tiempe Passate sample I knew that I wanted more. That was when I found out that it could not be bought not only from those mass-market online discount sites but also from B&M stores.

Several years later I finally found Antonia’s Flowers website and ordered a set of samples. I was curious to try other perfumes from the line but the main purpose was to see if I still liked Tiempe Passate because $140 for 60 ml seemed totally unapproachable.

The minute I put Tiempe Passate on I felt an awful disappointment: not because it didn’t smell the way I remembered – it just didn’t smell at all! All other samples were fine but this one had just a faint smell of alcohol. I wrote to the company asking if it was possible that the sample just was off. They were surprised but sent me another one. This time it smelled great.

Three years ago my vSO got me a bottle of Tiempe Passate for my birthday. And it was the first niche perfume in my collection.

Rusty And Tiempe Passate

Tiempe Passate by Antonia’s Flowers – created by Norbert Bijaoui in 1999, notes include (I’ll go with NTS’s list) bergamot, clementine, sage, mimosa, cyclamen, Montauk rose, white orris, cedar, vetiver and amber.

Tiempe Passate starts really strong and almost unpleasant for the first minute. All I can smell is alcohol and something plastic-y or rubber-y. And then it settles and smells… just wonderful. For hours Tiempe Passate is a very pleasant skin scent with unexpected bursts of projection. I’ve got multiple compliments while wearing it.

In my two years anniversary post I mentioned that there were some personal posts that haven’t got as many readers as I’d want. One of such posts – Elusive Perfume – in addition to (hopefully) being entertaining, will explain what happened with me and the first Tiempe Passate sample vial.

Rusty and Tiempe Passate

I didn’t figure it out until today: though the list doesn’t mention Iso E Super, it is there, I’m sure. I tested two of my favorite perfumes in parallel – Molecule 01 by Escentric Molecules and Tiempe Passate by Antonia’s Flowers and I have to concede that the latter is just a nicely embellished variation of the former. And Iso E Super is exactly what I was enjoying in both (on those occasions when I could smell it). And now I know why I was having a hard time trying to describe what Tiempe Passate smelled like. Well, at least I’m being consistent in my fragrant crushes.

Even though I’m slightly disappointed I still think Tiempe Passate is worth trying. Barney’s carries Antonia’s Flowers line. Or you can order samples from the brand’s website for a more than reasonable price.

Rusty and Tiempe Passate

There are not too many reviews for this perfume. I was surprised that Robin (NST) liked it (though it was many years ago).

Do you remember your first niche perfume?

 

Images: my own

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For Every Occasion: Jul et Mad Amour de Palazzo

 

Ross: All right, Monica categorizes her towels. How many categories are there?
Joey: Everyday use.
Chandler: Fancy.
Joey: Guest.
Chandler: Fancy guest.
Ross: Two seconds…
Joey: Uh, eleven!
Ross: Eleven. Unbelievable. Eleven is correct.
.
TV show Friends, Episode 4.12

 

I’m not sure from whom I got it – maybe it was my grandmother since mom has never been like that – but as long I remember myself I always put things into categories. For many years I had Work Clothes, Weekend Wear, Evening Attire and some smaller categories in between (e.g. Tropical Vacation Wardrobe).

Tropical Vacation Wardrobe

Usually those categories didn’t intersect: to the office I would wear mostly suits (not because it was required but because I liked to); my party clothes were very dressy and my weekend-running-errands clothes were something comfortable and not demanding. As you can imagine, there wasn’t much ground for a crossover between categories.

Over years I noticed that the most willingly I would be buying clothes for going out. It was much easier to justify spending money on a beautiful cocktail dress or a dressy “dry clean only” blouse than on a sweater or a top I would wear while shopping or going for a walk in the city. The irony is that I don’t have that many occasions to wear my nice clothes. But when you have something hanging in your closet for years, even though you’ve worn it on counted occasions, you still feel it is old and want to buy something new.

My perfume collection follows the same trail: I have a group of perfumes that I never wear to work; I consider them my “special occasions wear,” and I feel more inclined to buy those. The problem is that my life doesn’t consist of those special occasions in the proportion to the number of perfumes designated for that purpose.

To give you an idea, my dress-up perfumes are Amouage Ubar, Gold and Memoir; Ormonde Jayne Ta’if, Guerlain Cruel Gardenia, Puredistance Antonia or Frederic Malle Portrait of a Lady. And daily perfumes are Jo Malone (almost anything), Annick Goutal Petite Cherie, Prada Infusion d’Iris or Byredo La Tulipe.

Jean Paul Gautier Mermaid Dress

Once I realized I had that attitude problem with my wardrobe, I started shifting the shopping emphasis from the for-when-the-Queen-comes-to-dinner to I-wouldn’t-mind-meeting-my-most-judgmental-girlfriend-now apparel. I’m just in the beginning of my transformation but I hope I’m heading there.

But while with evening gowns and my day-to-day life I have just one choice: not to buy … more than two of them for each occasion I actually get to wear them, with perfumes it’s slightly different. I can either persuade myself to wear my “dressy” perfumes more often, or I can start buying those perfumes I think are appropriate to wear without a Royal Presence.

Or I can wear Amour de Palazzo by Jul et Mad.

Amour de Palazzo by Jul et Mad – created in 2012 by Dorothée Piot and Maison Robertet, notes include pepper, cloves, ginger, nutmeg, absolute of violette, Atlas cedarwood, leather, Indonesian patchouli, labdanum, musk, oud, amber, papyrus and animal castoreum.

I discovered this perfume during my visit to MinNY last year (see my “New York, New York, it’s a wonderful town!”). I mentioned in the post that I liked Amour de Palazzo but didn’t get a sample of it. Soon after that I got a very kind offer from Madalina Stoica, the brand’s co-owner, to send me a travel spray of this perfume. Not for the review, just because.

Jul et Mad Amour De Palazzo

Amour de Palazzo is an amazing perfume. It is both very pronounced and discreet at the same time. It is rich but not loud. It is luxurious but not bling-y. I’m not a huge agarwood fan but in this perfume it’s just in the right dose for me. When I wear it I feel as if I’m wearing the most delicate silk lingerie and it doesn’t really matter if it’s under a sheath dress or jeans and a chunky sweater (but the latter of a very good quality, of course – my imaginary friend might be very judgmental).

My only complaint about Amour de Palazzo and the brand in general is that it’s only available in one size (50 ml beautiful bottle + 7 ml refillable travel atomizer that is also very nice). Most perfumistas (read – those who will know about the brand and are potential customers) do not need 50 ml of almost any perfume. We will be fine: we’ll do splits. But I think the brand might benefit from selling smaller sizes – even if those will be more expensive per ml than a bigger bottle.

 

Images: my own.

Update: Jul et Mad introduced two new sizes for their perfumes – 5 ml and 20 ml bottles. Both are extremely cute. Bravo!

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Joint Blogging Event: Three Ghosts of Christmas – Ghosts of Perfume Past, Present and Future

 

Ghost of Perfume Past

She was 27, single mom and worked as a CEO’s personal assistant (even though she graduated from a university – those were strange times in my native country). From time to time our boss used her real specialty – a translator – during business meetings with English-speaking suppliers. On one of those trips she met and started dating an older American guy. I’d never seen him but heard a lot about him from her.

Looking back now I think he was just a creep who figured it wouldn’t cost him much to get a younger lover in a poor country to where he had to travel on business. But back then both she and I were quite naïve and we both thought about those relationships as real and going somewhere.

On one of his visits he brought her a lot of clothes from Victoria’s Secret catalog (do you know any men shopping that catalog??!) and a perfume. Rapture.

For me it was love from the first sniff. I liked everything about Rapture – the scent, the heart-shaped bottle, that it came from the U.S. My co-worker let me try it once but after that I was tortured by her wearing the perfume I wanted.

Until then I’d never heard about that brand, it wasn’t present in the country. But I wanted to get it so much that I asked a friend who by that time moved to the U.S. for help. It was before Christmas when he’d got to the store and there was some huge promotion happening so I got not only a bottle of the perfume but also some other treasures.

Because of customs, it didn’t make it to me in time for Christmas or New Year. But eventually I got it and owning this bottle that came to me from another part of the world made me happy.

When I moved to the U.S. that bottle of Rapture came with me. For several years I enjoyed wearing it but since it was my “dressed-up” perfume I didn’t go through the full bottle. And then I grew out of Rapture as well as Victoria’s Secret’s other offerings. But I just couldn’t throw away that bottle!

Victorias Secret Rapture

The remaining juice is more concentrated than it used to be and, I think, the smell changed though not much: those were quality chemicals, you know. I need to take a trip to the mall and check out how Rapture smells today though it’s a commitment: once Rapture bonds with my skin it stays there for hours – even 15 years old juice from my bottle.

What is the oldest perfume bottle in your collection (not by vintage but by the time you owned it)?

 

Ghost of a Perfume Present

What is your favorite color? For many years my favorite color in clothes was black. The reason was rather unpoetical: when you do not own too many items black is the easiest to combine and the most stain resistant. Even now with enough clothes not even to joke about “absolutely nothing to wear” the number of black pieces especially when it comes to shoes is completely disproportional.

When it comes to perfumes, this year I suddenly developed a soft spot for blue/navy bottles and juice.

My Bleu Bottles

Yes, I have a long love story with Angel and its great flanker Angel Taste of Fragrance was a logical continuation of it. My star bottle is old and the color has changed a little – that’s why there is a small bottle of the same perfume in the picture.

Yes, I liked Lancome‘s Mille et Une Roses for a while and used up some samples before snatching a partial bottle on eBay.

Yes, I hoped I’d like Annick Goutal‘s Nuit Étoilée not only because I liked the brand but because I loved the bottle. But at least I tried the perfume before adding that beautiful bottle to my collection.

And yes, I did test Armani‘s La Femme Bleue from a small test vial before deciding if I want to open the bottle I’ve bought un-sniffed.

But there is no reasonable explanation to why I’m browsing Internet for cheap bottles of Van Clef & Arpels’ Midnight in Paris and Feerie: I’m not sure I smelled them – let alone tried on skin.

I am under a Blue Spell.

Will you guess what perfume I plan to test next – solely because of the color?

 

Ghost of a Perfume Future (aka New Year Resolutions)

From the list of New Year resolutions for the current year I failed mostly on the new bottles in collection limits so for 2013 I made a decision … to remove any limits.

I’m restricted to some extent by a common sense, budget considerations and space limitations – so I think those will be enough for me not to go overboard completely. But otherwise I do not want to restrict or formalize my hobby any more.

I decided not to care how many untested samples I’ve accumulated already – as long as I know that I have them. I’ll get a hundred more (though I’m still not ready to pay for most of them – let’s swap!): one day I might want to test them even if I don’t feel like doing it today.

I will not hold back on publishing pictures of Rusty: he’s one of the best perfumed cats since he spends a lot of time on my lap and doesn’t mind an inevitable transfer of the perfumes I test from my wrists to his fur.

Rusty December 2012

I’m not sure if I’ll make any general NY resolutions but when it comes to the fragrant part of my life my resolutions are to enjoy my perfumes, my blog and my perfume friends.

 

Images: my own

 

Take a look at more Christmas Ghost posts on these blogs today:

All I Am – A Redhead
Another Perfume Blog
ChickenFreak’s Obsessions
EauMG
The Muse in Wooden Shoes
Olfactoria’s Travels
Suzanne’s Perfume Journal

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To Dream or not To Dream: Sleep Scents

 

Under normal circumstances (bar sickness and problems of cosmic proportions, such as a broken umbrella) I’m a sound sleeper. Even loudly meowing cat cannot disturb my peace in the morning. But to fall asleep I need 15-20 minutes of full darkness and silence. I’ve never dozed off while watching TV or reading a book. I have to cease all activities, turn off everything – and only then I can sleep. The smallest noise or light bothers me: ticking clocks on the wall, humming cleaning machines at the supermarket down the block or flickering lights of a wireless router kept me sleepless for hours.

Scents do not bother me. I wouldn’t probably spray myself lavishly with Shalimar before going to bed (ok, strike everything after the perfume name) but I always enjoy remains of the perfume I wore earlier coming from my skin or hair as I’m drifting off to sleep.

The second type of perfumes I enjoy wearing to bed: perfumes that I actually designate as sleep scents. Usually those are perfumes that I like as scents but do not often wear as perfumes. I’m not sure what exactly sets them apart from perfumes I wear in my everyday life but I do have that category in my perfume collection.

Sonoma Scent Studio To Dream

The first fragrance that I defined for myself as a sleep scent was To Dream by Sonoma Scent Studio – created in 2011 by Laurie Erickson, notes include violet, rose, heliotrope, cedar, amber, frankincense, oakwood absolute, vetiver, tonka, orris, vanilla, musk, sandalwood, oakmoss absolute, subtle suede, cocoa and aldehydes. I do not know if the name lead me into it or if it happened on its own but To Dream became one of my favorite sleep scents.

Like many others Sonoma Scent Studio’s perfumes, To Dream is too concentrated for me to use from the spray bottle so I usually decant it into a dab vial and apply a little before going to bed. If you follow the link above you’ll find many links to other bloggers’ reviews so I won’t even try to describe the scent. I just want to say that if you haven’t tried it yet you should. I really like the travel spray option: yes, it’s more expensive per ml but it’s a very chic atomizer and with 20-24% concentration those 5 ml will last you forever.

SSS Fig Tree Shea Cream

Recently Birgit (Olfactoria’s Travels) introduced the “new idea” from Parfums d’Orsay – alcohol-free hydrating perfume. It reminded me of another amazing product from Sonoma Scent Studio – shea body creams. For the last year I’ve been using Fig Tree shea cream from time to time as my night hand lotion/sleep scent (though I love wearing Fig Tree perfume as my daytime perfume as well – see my In the Search for the Perfect Fig). Shea creams will be available soon on the site (they are seasonal items). Don’t miss them because they will be gone until the next holiday season.

 

Do you wear perfumes to bed?

 

 

Images: my own

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You say ‘Tomato’, I say ‘Leather’

 

When people who had been living in the same country for the most part of their lives and hadn’t traveled much move to a new and unfamiliar place, it’s a common situation that, at least in the beginning, they try not to embrace new environment but to adapt it to their needs and expectations. And they get frustrated when new environment pushes back.

One of my complaints after I moved to the U.S. was a taste of tomatoes. I remembered how great tomatoes that my grandmother grew in her garden were. I could eat them as is or with a little salt just biting from the fruit. Of course, at Grandma’s those were special variety tomatoes grown with love and care. But even those tomatoes that we would pick up at farms to where we were taken from schools and colleges with some strange notion to teach us to work were great.

Tomatos

With the experience of living in the new place comes the understanding that sometimes if you can’t find something that was so popular in another country it’s because there is no demand for it; if you do not like something, there’s a chance that you’re getting that something of not the best quality; and if something isn’t as good as you remember it to be, it might be because you are not in your twenties any more.

So at some point I persuaded myself that I was just buying wrong tomatoes and switched to local heirloom tomatoes during the season. Those tasted better but still not exactly how I remembered ripe tomatoes from a vine. “I’m not twenty anymore; tomatoes are just fine…” – I told myself and stopped thinking about it… until I read this article. I wasn’t that far off after all: American tomatoes suck.

What does it have to do with perfumes? – are probably asking those of you who made it to this point.

For a while cluster tomatoes were my answer to the lost tomato quest. They weren’t much better than any other variety I tried but at least the scent of the vine, on which they came, reminded me of those wonderfully flavorful tomatoes from my childhood. And when I tried this new perfume it reminded me of the scent of a tomato stem.

Cognoscenti Tomato Leather

Scent No.16 Tomato Leather by Cognoscenti – created in 2012 by Dannielle Sergent, notes include tomato leaf, clary sage, linden blossom, leather, black agarwood, benzoin, frankincense, myrrh and tobacco. I don’t know what is that with different companies and the numbers, but, in my opinion, it’s an awful idea to name perfumes with numbers if you’re not Chanel. I’m glad Cognoscenti decided to go with a subtitle for at least two of their perfumes.

Other than tomato leaves (stem), I do not smell any of the notes listed. I’m not saying there are no other notes there, the perfume has some complexity but the notes are blended in such a way that I do not recognize even those that I usually can easily pick out – linden, agarwood and tobacco. I smell something that I attribute to the “leather” part of the name but leather in Tomato Leather doesn’t remind me any other leathers I’m closely familiar with.

Tomato Leather is a truly unisex perfume: there is nothing daring in wearing it either by a man or a woman. I wonder if it has any sweetness to it: I cannot smell it at all but there might be something that my nose doesn’t register.

Cognoscenti launched its line just a couple of months ago during the First Artisan Fragrance Salon in San Francisco; and recently they’ve added an online store where you can buy samples* for all three perfumes from the line. You can buy bottles as well but I assume you’d like to test them first.

Cognoscenti Perfumes

I like almost everything about Cognoscenti – the reasonable number of perfumes in the initial collection, design of their bottles, packaging and samples availability. “Almost” because I wish they had smaller bottles – 30 ml (or even less). I think that Cognoscenti’s perfumes are very interesting and unusual. I’m just not sure that I need 50 ml of any of the two scents that I liked. But I’m tempted because I like them and would love to wear from time to time. I’ll see what to do once my samples are gone.

 

Images: tomatoes – my friend M., perfumes – my own.

* Disclaimer: I got my samples from the brand at the Fragrance Salon not for the review; recently I won the random draw for another sample set at Cafleure Bon where you can read Tama’s review for the line. I haven’t been approached by the brand or compensated in any way.

UPDATE: Now the brand offers 5 ml travel bottles

 

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Surrealism and my Surreal Perfume Perception

 

Recently I visited the exhibition Man Ray | Lee Miller: Partners in Surrealism.

The exhibition covered three distinct periods. The first period – time before 21 years old Lee Miller, an established model and an apprentice photographer, met and became a student and a lover of Man Ray, a well-known at the time avant-garde photographer and painter, seventeen years her senior. The second period – their three years together in photographs, paintings and “rayographs.” And the last one – their works after she left him and they went on with their lives.

While it wasn’t the most interesting exposition, I was very pleased to find several works for which Lee Miller took pictures of Guerlain’s shop front. Two better known – photographs Exploding Hand and Self-portrait, Reflection in the window of Guerlain (see below) and several more from the same roll that I wasn’t able to find online (with an actual Guerlain store front).

Lee Miller Self Portrait - Reflection In Guerlain Window

Disclaimer: I’m not even an amateur in art appreciation; I’m nobody, so the following part is just my layman’s opinion.

I thought Lee Miller’s photographs were very good especially those that she made as a war photographer. I liked some of Ray’s photographs (though that exhibition doesn’t do him justice) and was appalled by most of the “paintings” presented: it’s not art! Those are not good even as decorative pieces. The only excuse for showing them is that whoever curated the exhibition just couldn’t get enough good items and had to use fillers. To the same purpose, I think, there were some works of other contemporary artists from their circle. Picasso’s portrait of Lee Miller attracted my attention and prompted a comment addressed to my vSO: “This is art. He knew how to paint and then chose to do it this way. Ray Miller’s works look like he just couldn’t do it any better.” (I am like that every time I come across something that I refuse to consider art – no matter on whose authority a piece in question got in which museum/exhibition. For some reason I feel very passionate about such issues)

Picasso - Lee Miller Portrait

I tried to find those pictures as postcards in the museum shop. For some reason I wanted to buy those prints with Guerlain sign. My efforts were futile. But as I was fumbling through postcards I smelled a perfume on another customer and liked it. I complimented her on it and asked what it was. “Paloma Picasso” was her answer.

Paloma Picasso by Paloma Picasso, created in 1984 by Francis Bocris under guidance of the eldest daughter of Pablo Picasso, notes vary by the source so I’ll go with NST: yields hyacinth, citrus, coriander, angelica, cloves, rose, mimosa, ylang ylang, jasmine, patchouli, honey, civet, oakmoss, sandalwood and vetiver.

I saw Paloma Picasso thousand times. It was ubiquitous in every online and many B&M discounter stores. I could describe the bottle design if you were to ask me a month or ten years ago. Yet that moment at the museum shop I realized that I’d never even smelled it. Don’t ask me why. Ok, ask me.

Looking back I recollect that, based on the packaging (I know, I know – very deep of me), I thought it was a heavy oriental perfume, something like YSL Opium, so I didn’t think I would like it – and never tried it.

That weekend while writing one of the LLL posts I almost added the Looking For section to ask if anybody could spare a sample of Paloma Picasso – that was how much I liked it on the women in the museum. But suddenly I remembered that in one of the duty-free miniature sets that I got as a gift there was a mini of Paloma Picasso EdP.

Do you remember a “deer scene” from My Cousin Vinny?

Mona Lisa Vito: Whoa. You’re gonna shoot a deer?
Vinny Gambini: I don’t know. I suppose. I mean, I’m a man’s man, I could go deer hunting.
Mona Lisa Vito: A sweet, innocent, harmless, leaf-eating, doe-eyed little deer.
Vinny Gambini: Hey Lisa, I’m not gonna go out there just to wimp out, you know. I mean, the guy will lose respect for me, would you rather have that?
[Lisa gets up, walks over to the bathroom and shuts the door]
Vinny Gambini: What about these pants I got on, you think they’re O.K.?
Mona Lisa Vito: [comes out of the bathroom] Imagine you’re a deer. You’re prancing along, you get thirsty, you spot a little brook, you put your little deer lips down to the cool clear water… BAM! A f** bullet rips off part of your head! Your brains are laying on the ground in little bloody pieces! Now I ask ya. Would you give a f**k what kind of pants the son of a bitch who shot you was wearing?

That “BAM!” (you have to watch that short clip from the link above if you do not have a visual image of Marisa Tomei’s gesture in your head) was how I felt the first time I applied Paloma EdP. It is a very strong and very loud perfume. I love what I smell but I’m not sure I can actually wear it: I feel almost overwhelmed just testing Paloma from a dab mini on my wrist. But I’m so impressed by it and so surprised that I avoided it for so long that I plan to try to wear it (meaning – I’ll carefully apply it in 2-3 spots while having a shower within my reach).

Paloma Picasso perfume

For real reviews go to Bois de Jasmine, The Non-Blonde or Perfume Shrine.

 

Image: Self-portrait from here; Picasso from here; perfume – my own.

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[Forest] Walk down the Memory Lane

 

School at the country where I grew up when I was growing up meant ten years in the same building, mostly with the same classmates from the first grade and until the graduation.

School

Starting from the fifth grade several times a year each class for a week was responsible for tidying up school common areas – wiping, sweeping, washing and taking out garbage.

The best chore was to be a coat room keys keeper. Since we didn’t have lockers all outerwear had to be hanged in a coat room. Usually students weren’t allowed to leave during a school day unless a teacher came with a class or sent a note. But somebody had to be “on the post” with keys in case a student needed to leave. The great part about it was that it would give you an official permission not to attend classes that day. Only students with good grades were trusted with that important mission. I was an “A” student.

A coat room was a nice place to “work” not only because of skipping classes but also because you were getting a chance to meet everybody while being in charge. Everybody.  Even from those classes two-three year older who usually do not notice you. And also it allowed you some freedom: your friends would join you either after running their choirs instead of returning to a class room or during breaks. Because it was a perfect place to hang out, to play hide and seek between rows of jackets or to talk about your feelings (and perfumes) with your first love.

Cinderella

The second best assignment was to wax parquet in corridors. It also had to be done while everybody was in class rooms studying. I always imagined doing it Cinderella’s way (click and watch for 10 seconds – I couldn’t embed it to start on the right time but for those who can’t watch a clip on youtube there is a static picture above) but in reality it was just one floor brush with a strap for your foot and tubes of floor wax/polish. It was made of turpentine (pine resin), paraffin, ceresin wax and beeswax.

Parquet polish

My school was many-many years ago but the first time I smelled Forest Walk, the latest perfume from Sonoma Scent Studo, I was immediately transported back to that school corridor. I know that it’s a complex perfume, it’s built with many great ingredients (notes include Black hemlock absolute, fir absolute, Western red cedar, oakwood absolute, galbanum resin, jasmine sambac absolute, violet, olibanum, labdanum absolute, natural oakmoss absolute, aged Indian patchouli, New Caledonia sandalwood, orris, benzoin and earthy notes). But for me Forest Walk smells of happy times of sanctioned skipped classes, pine-smelling floor wax and the imaginary pas de deux with that handsome classmate.

I haven’t conjured a forest out of this perfume but I still enjoyed the walk I’ve got from it.

For real reviews read Gaia‘s (The Non-Blonde) and Mark‘s (Ca Fleure Bon) posts.

I got my sample with a purchase from Sonoma Scent Studio at First Artisan Fragrance Salon in San Francisco.

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Twice into the same river?

I was a teenager; she was a beautiful young woman. I was staying at her house as a guest. I think she didn’t like me much (it’s complicated), and I admired her. One night, as we were dressing up for a birthday party, she kindly allowed me to use her makeup and even let me spray one of her French perfumes. All dressed up and smelling wonderfully, I felt myself all grown-up and irresistible.

ISA by Ulric de Varens

Several years later, I found and bought Isa by Ulric de Varens. By that time I already owned several perfumes including my all-time favorite Climat by Lancôme (in the same post you’ll find the explanation of the “French perfume” term I used above), but Isa found its place in my fragrance wardrobe, and I wore it on and off for several years.

When a couple of years ago I remembered about Isa and tried to look for it online, I discovered that it wasn’t easily available. I read mentions of it here and there but nobody was selling it. Luckily for me, I didn’t know then the perfumer’s name (Jacques Saint Pres) or I could have ended up paying $180 for it. Eventually, I came across Ulric de Varens’ website and an online store. Too bad they weren’t shipping to anywhere outside France.

A year ago, I asked my friend who was going on a car trip through Europe to look for Isa if he happens to visit any of drugstores in France (I assumed it was that type of a brand). He took it even further: he actually drove to France to go into a couple of stores. Not speaking French, he managed to get help and find some perfumes from Ulric de Varens. No Isa though.

Two months ago, I asked Suzanne of Eiderdown Press who was going to Paris (see her account for this trip – Paris, je t’aime) to help me with my quest. She tried. She drove to the address she got from the website and walked back and forth along the street – no store, just the Consulate of Oman. The further investigation revealed that by mistake she got their corporate mailing address instead of a store one. But it was too late.

Recently, somebody in the Facebook Fragrance Friends group mentioned Suzan of Shop France, Inc. who, among other things like planning and organizing trips to Paris, does personal shopping there. She brings to the U.S. exclusive French perfumes that aren’t available here – Lutens, Guerlain, etc. And there was I asking for a $5 French drugstore brand… But two weeks later I got a package with a fragrant blast from the past (Thank you, Susan!).

Fragrantica for Isa by Ulric de Varens lists just floral notes, nutmeg and spices. That’s it. How does it smell? Unidentifiable floral notes. Unidentifiable spices. That’s it. Was it reformulated since I tried it last? I don’t know! It’s so synthetic that I’m sure no animal plant was harmed during its creation. But since packaging did change to worse (it’s a really cheap looking box, bottle and cap) I wouldn’t be surprised. On skin it doesn’t change much over the course of its life, its veeery long life (easily 12 hours and then some).

ISA by Ulric de Varens

I’m glad I got it and I’m grateful to everybody who helped me to get this perfume that has a sentimental value to me. Will I wear it? I’m not sure. My vSO didn’t like it this time around; he thinks “it smells like soap”. I must have spoiled him with all those exclusive French perfumes…

 

Images: my own