Mar 25

The Current Shopping List

In the absence of actual shopping (with the exception of one Lush binge, my last shopping trip was in December), my shopping list has been piling up! These are the perfume and non-perfume items that I’m currently lusting after. What’s on your shopping list? Please feel free to share your own list with us in the comments!

 Buxom Stay-There Eye Shadows
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These cream eye shadows are named after dog breeds, and if you think for one minute that I am above this sort of gimmick, you’ve been huffing too much Fracas. I already own Pug (my very favorite kind of dog, and the most unique color, in my opinion), and am saving up for Mutt.

Gorilla Perfumes Voice of Reason

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I’ve been looking for the perfect coffee fragrance for years and years now. Comptoir Sud Pacifique Vanille Mokha was too sweet; Bond No. 9 New Haarlem wasn’t sweet enough. Jo Malone Black Vetyver Cafe is very close, but it sadly disappears from my skin within 20 minutes. Voice of Reason, which claims to smell like “espresso, French cigarettes, and whiskey”, sounds like a worthy contender.

Ted Baker London Print Fit & Flare Dress

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I’m not usually a big fan of Peter Pan collars, but I can’t even explain to you how cute this dress looks in person. As an aside, this model’s legs are taller than my entire body.

Lubin Idole EDT

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Last week I had dinner with the very funny and hugely knowledgeable Judith of The Unseen Censer, who spontaneously decided to buy a bottle of Idole after smelling it on me. It’s that good, y’all. This is the warm, spicy, saffron-y scent of my dreams. The EDP is richer and woodier, but it somehow feels less “me”.

We Killed: The Rise of Women in American Comedy

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I am deeply invested in the idea that women can be funny, because otherwise I’m just plain obnoxious.

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Mar 20

Lancôme La Vie Est Belle

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Lancôme is calling La Vie Est Belle “the first ever iris gourmand.” (Nobody tell Guerlain Iris Ganache. Or Parfumerie Generale Iris Taizo.) Questionable claims aside, an iris gourmand sounds great! Too bad La Vie Est Belle isn’t one.

I don’t know what I was expecting from a brand crazy enough to discontinue Cuir de Lancôme, but this is a positively typical fruitchouli. That is to say, indistinguishable fruits (the notes say blackcurrant- I hate blackcurrant), a chocolate note straight out of Thierry Mugler Angel, and a sanitized patchouli drydown. When compared to the current fruitchouli standard, Viktor & Rolf Flowerbomb, La Vie Est Belle is less sparkling and somewhat deeper. I happen to prefer Flowerbomb.

One thing that I will say for La Vie Est Belle is that the materials don’t feel cheap. The fragrance never becomes thin or weak. Still, I wish that La Vie Est Belle was the potentially interesting iris gourmand we were promised instead of this utterly unnecessarily fruitchouli.

Mar 19

What Are Your Workhorses?

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My workhorses aren’t necessarily my favorite or most valuable perfumes; they’re the ones that I actually wear. These are my most-worn perfumes, the bottles I reach for again and again.

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Hilary Duff With Love. DON’T YOU JUDGE ME. Everyone compliments this perfume. It’s sweet and juicy without being obnoxious.

Jo Malone Black Vetyver Cafe. This is the most severe perfume in my collection, so I like to wear it with black outfits. And I wear a lot of black.

L’Artisan Parfumeur Poivre Piquant. This is my go-to perfume when I need something that’s sweet but still sophisticated, thanks to the unusual pepper note. This is the only decant I’ve ever actually finished!

A Lab on Fire What We Do In Paris Is Secret. My bedtime perfume! Nothing says “turn off your brain” like a cloud of honey and heliotrope.

What are your workhorse perfumes?

Mar 18

Hermes Jour d’Hermes

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The first paragraph of Jean-Claude Ellena’s The Diary of a Nose reads, “Since I started composing perfumes I’ve learned, I’ve invented “catchphrase-smells”, like the first sentence, the first notes of a piece of music, the initial images that are reworked at length to capture a reader’s, a listener’s, a spectator’s attention. So that he or she wants to carry on, in order to pursue the pleasure. In a society where speed is everything, perfumes are judged in a couple of seconds, as if at a glance. The hastiness of these assessments upsets me: a perfume can only truly tell its story when it is smelled and worn.”

I’m not sure what happened during the three years between that diary entry and the release of Jour d’Hermes, but Jour d’Hermes is exactly the kind of perfume that Ellena condemns in his Diary. The top notes, a burst of lilies brightened with lemon, are nothing short of exquisite. But each time that I put my nose to my wrist after those thrilling first ten minutes, I find that the fragrance has become thinner, more synthetic. After perhaps 45 minutes, Jour d’Hermes is just another pleasant but unremarkable lemony floral.

Quite a few other perfume bloggers really liked Jour d’Hermes; Robin at Now Smell This bought a bottle, as did Birgit of Olfactoria’s Travels. Jour d’Hermes is even The Candy Perfume Boy’s fifth anniversary perfume. Here’s my explanation: I have extremely dry skin. Virtually zero perfumes last even an hour on me. I figure that Jour d’Hermes’ beautiful top notes must last longer on its fans.

If you liked Cartier Baiser Vole, another photorealistic lily perfume, then I think you might really enjoy Jour d’Hermes. Although I just called Jour d’Hermes’ drydown “unremarkable”, it’s actually much more successful than Baiser Vole’s drydown, which had an unfortunate Maxipad vibe.

Mar 12

Scent Diary: 3/12/2013

The second of my three automated wake-up calls wakes me up at 6:09 AM. My physics midterm starts at 8. I eat Fruit Loops and pound a Five Hour Energy. It is deeply unpleasant.

I have literally six Lush body washes (The Olive Branch, Grass, Ro’s Argan, Dream Wash, and two varieties of Lush FUN), but I choose The Olive Branch for my shower this morning because citrus scents are supposed to be all energizing. I do not feel particularly energized, but it is hard to say whether it is my fault or The Olive Branch’s. One of my medications causes very vivid nightmares, so my sleep is never all that restful anyway.

The physics building is a fifteen minute walk away. It is raining. The cat mangled my last umbrella. I put on my Kate Nash Pandora station for the very wet walk. Mumford & Sons comes on. I hurriedly switch to my Disney Pandora station.

Normally I wear Jo Malone Black Vetyver Cafe when taking tests, the theory being that a coffee scent should keep me energized. But I was wearing Idole de Lubin EDT (sent to me by my gracious reader Allison) when I was studying last night, and we all know the studies about how you should wear the same scent when you prepare for and then subsequently take a test.

The midterm goes bizarrely well. I feel prouder of myself than I have in months, and reward myself with Pokemon and beauty blogs.

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Around 9:30, I realize that I need cookie dough more than I have ever needed anything in my life. I buy it at a nearby grocery store run by a Palestinian family. They sell lots of Middle Eastern food items, including rosewater. Last weekend I tried to make a cocktail with gin and rosewater, inspired by the gorgeous and effervescent TokyoMilk Gin & Rosewater. It was wretched, and I do not know if I will ever be able to trust TokyoMilk again.

Idole EDT has everything I could ever want in a perfume- warmth, spices, a prominent saffron note- except for lasting power. By 9:40, it was already time for a new SOTD. I chose creamy, peanut butter-y L’Artisan Bois Farine. Bois Farine is an excellent bedtime scent, but Five Hour Energies are not conducive to napping. I lay in bed and shake like an overexcited chihuahua for a good 45 minutes before finally giving up.

I test the new Jo Malone Ginger Biscuit during lunch. I am even less impressed than I was when I first tried it at Nordstrom. The ginger top note is attractive, but a generic Spicy Man Smell haunts the fragrance all the way down to the base notes. I am genuinely curious why the Sugar & Spice collection is so much worse than the Tea collection just a year before.

Lunch is tom yum soup and genmaicha tea, which tastes just like rice steam. I am still not very good at this whole taking pictures of your food thing.

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