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Wednesday, May 10, 2006
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Stuff and 'Fumes
The store is a store, but in a good way. The house is a house, in a
house-like way. All of my body parts are functioning as well as usual,
which is to say that I'm plugging along but rather creaky. Lorelei's
life fluctuates on an hourly basis. Storm is a kid. MisterX is a neat
guy. The dog smells bad. The bird is a bird. The rabbits are rabbits.
The snake is still missing. The lizard sits. I dyed my hair the other
day and it came out the color of pink candy floss, so now I have to fix
it.
Otherwise, I continue to study perfumery and suchlike.
I've discussed Bandit (Piguet) lately, but did I talk about Fracas?
Big, buttery tuberose goodness. Think Chloe, but without the peach or
the skin musks. Or think Versace's Blonde, with a little more of an
orange blossom top. It was developed by Piguet in 1948 and is reputed
to be a favorite of Madonna, for whatever that's worth. I'm not much of
a florals person as a rule, but Fracas really grabs me on those rare
occasions when I'm feeling "blonde siren-ish". It's very little black
dress-worthy, and there's not an old-fashioned bone in this 60-year-old
perfume body.
I've also been grooving on some Dark Amber provided to me by <a href="http://www.edenbotanicals.com">Eden Botanicals</a>,
natural perfumers who specialize in a variety of fragrance amber resins
and many other fragrant natural perfume oils. They sent me a wonderful
sample of an extract from the cepe mushroom...you wouldn't believe this
stuff. At first blush, straight from the bottle, it smells like
Marmite: salty and tangy and caramelized. On a paper strip, it evolves
into a tangy, almost fruity nature that reminds me a bit of dried
citrus peels or of the first blush of labdanum combined with a tincture
from an old, well-used piece of leather. I'm going to tincture a little
bit and see what happens. I'd love to see what happens when this is
mixed with various rich florals or earthy green things like vetivert.
Well, I guess I'm done. My battery is croaking out.
8:37:20 PM 
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Soaping and 'Fuming
Soap. I need to take new pictures of things. To do this, I need to
remember to bring the tripod to work, because I seem to be incapable of
taking a non-blurry picture without it. I twitch like a hamster,
apparently. I need to *seriously* update my website to include a slew
of new soaps, and also to include my Skin Silk lotion because it's a
raving success with all who have tried it. I had a lady come in today
to buy five more bottles in several different fragrances because she
liked the texture so much. It's got very good skin-slip, but it absorbs
quickly and doesn't leave the skin feeling greasy, nor does it soak in
so much that you have that squeaky-dry feeling five minutes later,
either. They're just...silky feeling. And more hydrated, because
there's plenty of moisture in it. I've also had lots of people come in
on the word of mouth in order to play with my scent table and mix their
own concoctions. I get their names and store their formulas in the
computer so that if they really fall in love with a combination they
can come back and get more any time. One lady made a delicious one this
weekend, it was so good I made a tub of sugar scrub scented that way
for myself. Basically a combination of the Spiced Orange and Vanilla
Bean fragrances, with the Clove and Cardamom spices kicked up a notch.
I've already had repeat business from people who wandered in before,
and it's only been open 4 weeks. That's pretty good, I think. I have to
go in early in the morning because I sold out of lotion today and the
sugar scrub shelf is getting a little sparse. Also, I got a commission
to create lotion bars via the Design-Your-Own page on my website. As
soon as the shea butter comes in the mail, I'll get those done. Their
scent combination sounds good, too.
Perfume. Thierry Muglers fragrance, Angel, is one of the top perfumes of this year. I mean, look at this thing:
With
a bottle like that, and purple juice, fer chrissakes, you really want
to like it. Well, I did. And then, the ingredients lineup is
mouthwatering: Chocolate, Vanilla, Caramel, Berries, Honey, Bergamot,
Cumin, Patchouli.
And the reviews, of course, are almost
slavishly worshipful. At $60+ a bottle, I was prepared for some kind of
mystical experience when my sample arrived.
Er, no.
Take
a young boy, say, around 9 or 10 years old. You know; old enough that
the sweet, clean, pure smell of New, Untainted Human has worn off, and
before concerns about hygiene have set in. Now send him out to play in
the hot sun for an afternoon. Make him run a lot, perhaps wallow in the
dirt a bit. Now smell his head. Dig in; part the hair and get right
down to the greasy, sweaty scalp. Get a good whiff. Now, get a bottle
of the blue coconut syrup they use on Sno-Cones. Rub a little bit of
that into his head. Okay, next get a bottle of Yoohoo. You need a
chocolate note, but a fresh chocolate won't do for this. It needs to be
stale-smelling, old and dank and syrupy. Yoohoo is perfect. Sprinkle a
bit of this into the area with the Sno-Cone syrup. Now borrow his dad,
who has been out mowing grass in the hot sun and is nice and sweaty.
Perhaps Dad hasn't showered yet today, preferring to wait until after
the yardwork is done so that the shower will do some good. Now borrow
his shirt. Massage the armpit area of Dad's shirt into the Sno-Cone
glazed section of the boy's hair. Voila: you have created Angel. Add
some purple food coloring and enjoy being a superstar.
8:35:40 PM
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...by the way: I am now the mother of a teenager.
image by <a href="http://www.vaughnsphotoart.com">Vaughn Teegarden</a> of course.
Happy birthday, Lorelei. I really like who you are turning out to be. It's so amazing watching you becoming that person.
8:34:33 PM
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Whingeing and 'Fuming
It's raining today, so my arthritis is having a party. I'm on the third
reheating of my trusty rice bag right now. It's starting to help a
little, along with the naproxen. I'm going to take a scalding-hot
shower in a minute and that'll be about as good as it gets. Virtually
had a wet dream last night about being at a massage therapist and
having her doing the Oriental walking-on-the-back thing. Oooooh, it was
soooo gooooood. When I woke up and saw the rain, I understood why.
I
have a crock of leftover Easter ham and potatoes going in the kitchen
so that dinner will be dealt with when I get home tonight. I used a new
spice, these little black bean pods from West Africa called Uda
Hwentia. They literally smell like a pot of well-seasoned soup, so I
figured they would be excellent for this. I can't wait to see how it
turns out. I also need to pinch back the marjoram and rosemary that are
growing in the "conservatory" at my shop, so perhaps we'll have white
beans with garlic and herbs tomorrow night. I need to find some savory,
though. Mine didn't make it through winter and beans really cry out for
it.
Bah. I'm so interesting.
Hey, I was thinking of
doing a Scent of the Day thing on here, for a while anyway, until I
lose interest. I post my fragrance choice each morning, you guys
respond with what you're wearing. What do you think?
Anyway,
today's choice remains to be seen. If the bottle of Shalimar I got for
writing perfume reviews comes today, I'll wear that. If not, I'll
probably wear Anna Sui's Sui Dreams, which is kind of a 3-star
fragrance but the soft, vanilla-sandalwood with touches of orange that
it develops on the drydown would be nice and gentle on a day like today
when I'm feeling fragile and ouchy. It has a very orangey, almost
"beverage crystals" sort of edge when you first put it on, but that
goes away very quickly. I don't like the opening much, but I don't hate
it so I can ignore it until it dissipates and leaves behind the
pleasant, soft vanilla-wood. And the bottle is gorgeous. Look:
Just
don't spray it on your clothes (which is a good trick to make something
have more lasting power, generally) because the blue color in the juice
will discolor things, although it does come out in the wash.
8:33:27 PM
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Fume Review: Hypnotic Poison, Christian Dior
Top Notes
Caraway, Bitter Almond
Middle Notes
Jasmine Sambac, Moss
Base Notes
Jacarander Wood, Vanilla, Musk
Even
when I hate the Poisons, I love them. Remember the purple original? The
most viciously, aggressively sweet yet unfriendly perfume ever. Poison
would step on your toes with her stiletto heels, and stare you down all
the while, daring you to protest. Oh, and instant headache and nausea
to so many people. Still, you have to admit it was like nothing else
out there at the time. It was quite avant-garde, back then. And still,
even in it's uniqueness, it had a finger on the pulse of eighties
style, which was all about big hair, big shoulder pads, and big
perfumes. Dior knew what they were doing, no doubts about it. I respect
them. And Poison still makes me want to barf.
That said,
Hypnotic Poison is absolutely beautiful. It's just about the only
vanilla-based fragrance that reminds me of skin, rather than of food or
plastic dolls or Play-Doh. The deep red bottle is appropriate, because
this is so warm on the body, so come-hither without being the least bit
vampish. However, I could also see this coming in a creamy ivory
bottle, because even while it is warm, it is clean and light. It is
light while also being lasting, which is an incredible accomplishment
for a perfume. Usually, you have to choose between light and fleeting
or heavy and lasting. Not here. Hypnotic Poison gives a lasting
softness and warmth to the skin. The caraway/bitter almond note give a
bit of sweetness that never falls over the edge into cloying, and
avoids the current trendiness of fruits providing all the sweetness.
Fruits are great, but not everyone wants them. The dryness of the wood
also blends with the caraway note in a way that creates a clean
tobacco-like note, making this scent totally wearable as a man's
fragrance. It really has no gender, it's just clean, soft, warm and
snuggly. Oh, I know there's jasmine in it, but it's really lost on me.
I think it serves as enhancement, not really making itself all that
clear in the composition. Besides, jasmine is very common in men's
fragrances, whether they realize it or not. I've also read that some
find it to be a suntan lotion-like scent, and I can see that. Not in a
coconut sort of way, but in a creamy, warm way. I can also see how the
top notes create sort of a "scented tissue" aspect. All of which should
illustrate how gentle but mesmerizing, comforting but noticeable, warm
but not overwhelming Hypnotic Poison is. And it's so refreshingly
itself, too. Not like everything else on the counter at this moment.
True to the original, it is unlike anything else on the shelf while
still keeping an eye on the trends of today, which are headed in a
seriously foodie direction. So they give us a vanilla unlike any other,
and they give it to us good. This smells like a person you would want
to be close to.
This isn't the kind of thing I'd normally go
for, especially since there isn't a spice, a rose or a patchouli note
anywhere in it. But it's mesmerizing, nevertheless. I might get a mini
eventually and try living with it for a few days to see if it turns
into love. |
8:32:34 PM
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© Copyright
2006
Melanie Teegarden.
Last update:
6/1/2006; 7:31:37 PM.
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