Scents of Self

Mals86 of The Muse in Wooden Shoes is perfume blogging’s Pioneer Woman. Mals writes from her beef cattle farm in very rural southwest Virginia, where her access to perfumes is just a little bit limited (she has to drive an hour to reach a mall with both a Belk’s and a Macy’s). Not only does The Muse in Wooden Shoes provide an utterly unique perspective (where else are you going to read about perfume and farming in the same paragraph?), Mals’ writing is also terrifically droll and engaging. Today Mals shares a tantalizing peek at her newly written novel and lets us city slickers know what country smells we’re missing out on.

Interests outside of perfume include marathon novel-reading, writing about whatever’s on my mind, and singing in my local community chorus.  I love to cook, but I live with a couple of mildly-picky people, one fairly-picky person, and one insanely picky person*, so of necessity my cooking repertoire is somewhat more limited than I’d like.  I used to cross-stitch and crochet, but incipient carpal tunnel syndrome has nixed those hobbies.  I don’t watch a lot of TV, although I have recently discovered reruns of The Big Bang Theory.  And I just freaking LOVE marching bands.

* There was a period in my youngest son’s life during which he lived on only milk, red food and chicken nuggets.  He’s better about trying new things now, but not that much better.  I can forget about trying to cook that recipe for scallops in coconut milk.

What perfumes are you hoping to find under the Christmas tree/Menorah branches this year?

Perfumes I’d like to find under the Christmas tree?  Well, assuming that some magic philanthropist sneaks into my house in the middle of the night to leave me fragrance (it certainly won’t be The CEO), I’ll put in an order for a full bottle of Iris Poudre and/or Guerlain Vega.  But maybe I’d trade them both for a bottle of Carnal Flower.  However, there won’t be any.  (We don’t really do Santa at my house – not that we’re opposed philosophically, but we prefer to not give credit for gifts to some imaginary dude in velvet pants.)

Alas, The CEO and I need a new bed.  The antique rope bed that my grandmother had had refinished and retrofitted with siderails in the late 1940s, the one that I’ve owned since I was twelve?  Well, those siderails are starting to crack.  And because the metal fittings that hook the rails onto the head- and footboard were specially made, I can’t use a standard set of rails or a standard bedframe with my bed.  We could probably find someone to make us new rails, but in the meantime we’d have to put the mattress on the floor – ergo, it’ll be a new bed and no new smellies for me this year.  Update: we just found a guy who’s willing to make new rails for us.  That’ll be in January.

You didn’t ask, but I have both a cat and a dog.  The cat is 18 years old.  Her name is Silvia, after a character in a Scott Turow novel, and she is The Queen.  The dog is 7 and a half; her name is Hayley and she’s a beagle-lab mix, a rescue dog that is so! happy! to be here!  (wag wag, bark of affirmation)  I would have included a picture of all three of us together, but Silvia refuses to acknowledge that Hayley exists, so I didn’t even bother to request a photo op.  Besides which, neither of them seem interested in fragrance at all.  Silvia has arthritis, but she can still hop off the couch and zip into the kitchen in under 3.2 seconds when the molecules of tuna scent the air.  Hayley loves to go out into the pasture and roll in things better not discussed here, and she has the annoying habit of stealing and hoarding dirty socks, especially The CEO’s because he is her Favorite! Person! in the WORLD! (wag wag, bark of affirmation).

Okay, y’all, I have established the least sketchy way possible to do this Refuge fundraiser! I have just set up a JustGiving page here. When you press the Donate button, your money will go straight from your debit or credit card to Refuge. So there will be no PayPal account, and the money we raise will not be in my personal bank account at any point.

So here is the final version how this fundraiser will work: I will list all items for sale here on Scents of Self. If you are interested in any items, please leave a comment you want to purchase it and then make a donation for its asking price using the Scents of Self JustGiving page. Your purchase’s original owner will then send it to you, and I will cover everyone’s shipping costs using PayPal. Any questions or concerns?

1) The winners of the Stella rollerball giveaway are Rebecca, micaela6955, and Irina! Yaaay! Please email me at scentsofself@gmail.com with your mailing address so that I can send you your prize! Thank you so much to everyone else who entered!

Ahh, the grey-wearing days.

Perfume Posse’s March just did a great post about establishing a uniform for her new job. My definition of a uniform is a type of outfit that one tends to fall back on day after day. Identifying my sartorial uniform was relatively simple, as I only wear one type of shirt (polo), one type of dress (short-sleeved or sleeveless knee-length A-line), and three colors (black, pink, and yellow). I also used to wear grey, but was ultimately overwhelmed by having four whole colors to choose from.

Colors are for the weak.

But what of the perfume uniform? Which perfumes are my constants, wearable in almost any situation? The perfume uniform must be special enough that you are happy to wear it practically every day. It cannot make you feel under- or over-dressed. And unless you spend most of your days in dens of sin and ill repute, it is most likely not going to be your sexiest perfume.

I was ultimately able to narrow down my perfume uniform to 2 fragrances: L’Artisan Safran Troublant and Prada Candy. I honestly can’t think of a situation in which the fresh, luminous Safran Troublant would be inappropriate. As I said in a previous review of Safran Troublant, its rose note is so clean that I initially mistook it for some strange new kind of citrus! Prada Candy is the perfume I choose for nearly all social situations. I wear this sweet, light-hearted scent in the hopes that no one will notice that I am a socially inept nervous wreck who really just wants to go home and watch Star Trek with the cat.

What is your perfume uniform? (And feel free to tell us about your fashion uniform, too!)

So you have this perfume. You don’t want it anymore, and since you are a wonderful and highly attractive person, you’d like to find something charitable to do with it. Unfortunately, you used it once or twice (or fifty times), and most women’s shelters don’t accept used perfumes. What can you do? Scents of Self to the rescue! I’d like to host a perfume sale fundraiser for Refuge, a Captain Picard-approved UK charity that provides safe houses to women and children escaping domestic violence. I have quite a few items to donate, but to make this a really kickass fundraiser, we’ll need other donations, too! Please help me make this a perfumista’s dream event: a way to buy perfume and do good at the same time.

Now, let’s get down to the brass tacks:

How will this work? If you would like to donate an item(s) (yaaaaay!), please email me at scentsofself@gmail.com with pictures of these items. You will not be sending the items themselves to me. I will then post pictures of everyone’s items here on Scents of Self. The seller will mail their items directly to the buyer, not to me. I will compensate everyone’s shipping costs. I will be setting up a separate Paypal account specifically for this fundraiser. I will provide screenshots of the account every day or two to keep everyone informed of how much we have raised. When the fundraiser is over, I will donate every cent from that account to Refuge, and will post a screenshot of the receipt.

What kind of items can I donate? Pretty much anything is completely welcome. This is, of course, primarily a perfume sale (and both used and unused perfumes are 100% acceptable), but if you have a non-perfume item that you think others might be interested, please let me know! Some welcome non-perfume items might be books, teas, DVDs, other beauty items, cat toys, etc. I, for one, am definitely planning to sell a few books.

What is the deadline for donating items? Two weeks from now, let’s say?

Isn’t there already a beauty blogger’s auction? Indeed there is! Beauty Bloggers for Charity is a wonderful organization that benefits Doctors Without Borders. I felt that another fundraiser would not be superfluous for two reasons: the Beauty Bloggers for Charity auction mostly contains cosmetics and not perfume, and I wanted to support a cause that specifically helps women.

Will this be a sale or an auction? A sale, not an auction. Auctions stress me out.

Will you be claiming this fundraiser as a tax deduction? No, because I don’t know how to do that.

How do I know you won’t steal the money? I post on this website every day under my real name, Arielle Weinberg. I have, as they say on Law and Order: SVU, “extensive ties to the community”. I would never compromise my integrity as a perfume blogger (or as a human being!) by acting dishonestly with this money.

While I JUST got around to posting my first review of the top 20 bestselling perfumes of 2011, the other bloggers who are participating in the project have left me in the dust. Please check out their wonderful reviews!

• The Muse in Wooden Shoes somehow manages to not scrub off Thierry Mugler Angel and tells Taylor Swift to “grow up a little” (a girl can dream) in her review of Estee Lauder Knowing, Estee Lauder Sensuous Nude, Fan di Fendi, Prada Candy, Taylor Swift Wonderstruck, and Thierry Mugler Angel.

• No Disassemble Charlie No. 5′s review of Estee Lauder Beautiful contains a somewhat worrying account of that time when she tried to pierce a cousin’s ear using an earring sterilized by a curling iron.

• The Unseen Censer calls me “effervescent” in her review of J’Adore Dior. She is now my new best friend. Effervescent, y’all!

So in yesterday’s Perfumed Philanthropy post, I suggested a perfume sale to raise money for charity and asked for suggestions as to the charity. I’ve read through your comments, and several of them expressed a preference for a charity that supports women. I think that I may well have found the perfect one (and by perfect, I mean that it has a Star Trek connection).

Refuge is a UK charity that provides safe houses and legal advocacy for women and children who have experienced domestic violence. I was most impressed by the fact that several of these safe houses are culturally specific, meaning that the accommodations and services are tailored to help women who may be marginalized due to their race, nationality, or religion. I cannot stress how necessary this is. Abusers are aware that these factors can isolate women, making them more vulnerable and more afraid to get help.

My paternal grandmother experienced violence at the hands of her father, who once sent her to the hospital by punching her in the head. My grandmother and her family were part of what is essentially a self-segregated Orthodox Jewish neighborhood in New York. There is no doubt in my mind that the insulated nature of their community was part of what made her father feel that he would get away with it.

How did I hear about Refuge? From its passionate advocate, the dashing Sir Patrick Stewart. Patrick Stewart, who played Captain Picard on Star Trek: The Next Generation, spent his childhood trying to protect his mother from his father’s violence. In Patrick’s own, beautiful words: “When Refuge, the national domestic violence charity, asked me to become a patron, I accepted without hesitation. I accepted for my mother. As a child, there was little I could do to help her. But now I can give support and encouragement to women who live in the same sort of fear that she did.”

One week ago, Patrick wrote an editorial for The Guardian expressing his alarm at this year’s 31% budget cut to the funding of London’s domestic violence services. By the way, there wasn’t much to cut in the first place; last year’s 7.8 million pound budget has now been reduced to 5.4 million. (5.4 million for ALL of London???) Patrick writes that “Refuge- along with other women’s charities- is facing its toughest year to date. The gradual erosion of statutory funding has made Refuge even more reliant on voluntary income, but fundraising is an uphill battle.” Well, that’s where we come in, y’all. So what do you say? Shall we make it so?

Ever since breast cancer charity Susan G. Komen inexplicably jumped the shark by defunding Planned Parenthood last month, I’ve been thinking of hosting a perfume sale here on Scents of Self for which 100% of the money raised would go to a charity. So I have two questions for y’all. First, would anyone be interested in donating unwanted perfumes to this sale? (Unwanted makeup should probably be donated to the Beauty Bloggers for Charity auction instead.) I was thinking that I could set up a Paypal account specifically for the sale (separate from my personal one), so that everyone could see where their money was going and there wouldn’t be issues with paying multiple people. Second, where should the money go? Please comment and suggest/campaign for your favorite organizations or causes. When we’ve got enough answers, I’ll put it to a vote!