This Week's Random Thoughts
Have you ever noticed that Reese’s peanut butter cups can sometimes be stale? About half the time I buy a Reese’s its dry and gritty. I just toss it when they’re like this because who wants unenjoyed calories? A good/fresh Reese’s is heaven. (I know 'unenjoyed' isn't a word).
I have officially made a perfume milestone: I now love and appreciate fragrances from every category; including the very last one to win a place in my heart, which is powdery scents (Talco Delicato).
We will have a guest blogger writing for I Smell Therefore I Am on occasion. Her name is SaraD and her words debut very soon.
SaraD sent me some real civet essential oil. Oh My. This explains so much. As nasty as a vial full of civet smells, I realize I love the addition of civet in perfumery. I can now detect it’s presence in many of my favorite perfumes and find it adds a sultry depth, richness and complexity like no other.
And have you ever sniffed real galbanum? The real EO? Oh My. Amazing stuff. Sort of awful but overwhelmingly awesome.
Regarding my confusion about the woman/man (?) on Big Love. It’s Selma, a woman, and the Greens’ are so creepy!
Is anyone watching the United States of Tara with Toni Collette on Showtime? I love this show. It’s great. John Corbett plays her husband and I have a serious crush on him.
The most amazing meal for me this week (well, aside from the Sea Bass I had out at a restaurant) was a Fluffernutter sandwich. I used plain white bread, the soft and useless kind, with creamy peanut butter (not crunchy), fluff and razor thin slices of banana dusted with cinnamon.
My biggest wish for this weekend is that I stay in my pajamas and not leave the house. It’s not going to happen but a girl can dream.
A colleague of mine heard through the grapevine about my perfume habit. She’s a newbie, a budding perfumista, but very, very interested and excited about trying new perfumes. After talking with her in the most ridiculously effervescent and giddy fashion I’m thrilled to have found a new project. Heh, heh, heh. She will never know what hit her, two years from now when she has 35 bottles of perfume! Oh, the adorable questions she asked me, like “how do I find my signature scent?!” (Susan, are you reading this? I mean no harm).
My Mother comes to visit me next weekend. Eeeeeeeek.
I love Chamade but I wore it this week and found it sadly fleeting. By noon I couldn’t remember what I was wearing and couldn’t smell it.
I was very happy to read Chandler Burr’s lovely review of Neil Morris’ fragrance for Takashimaya. Congrats to Neil Morris.
Oh, and because of Tania, Vivienne Westwood Boudoir is now renamed "have sexy time" perfume (spoken like Borat).
Have a fragrant weekend everyone!
6 comments:
Last year, when my penchant for fragrance turned to a lifestyle (read obsession), I noticed that there were notes that I did not enjoy. Leather & civet, mainly. As the year has gone on, and I've sniffed more & varied fragrances, I've learned that I am enjoying & craving stronger scents. I can now wear frags with those notes.
Fluffernutters are glorious treats. Of course, one must use the useless white bread and never, crunchy peanutbutter. I like your addition of the bananas.
And finally, I commiserate with you on the visit of your mother. Nothing sends me faster into the land of migraine, than that anticipation.
I have a glorious perfume with real civet, and have never been more conflicted about a perfume. (See? I'm not even saying what it is...) Suffice to say, I love it, will hoard it, and am not sure if I'll ever buy it again.)
Ah, co-worker Sarah is in for much fine. Nice that she has a perfume mentor in her midst. Am LOL at the signature scent odyssey, of course; my top drawer is lingerie and decants of scents that have made it to "sig scent worthy" status. The idea of one bottle brings a slightly envious chuckle... ;)
My happy PB sandwiches are made with Nutella. Or lemon curd.
Remember when John Corbett played Chris, the DJ/spirit guide/ex-con on "Northern Exposure?" I had a crush on him then fer sure. I keep waiting for his character on "US of Tara" to finally get mad though.
I think the only perfumes with real civet I have are the really old extraits that were my mother's -- Arpege and Moment Supreme. There is some Civetone in the "notes" kit I have. It fools my cats pretty well -- they go a bit crazy upon smelling it. Wonder how they would react to the real thing.
And, BTW, don't mean to sound preachy here, but it's good to find some common ground with your mother if you can. I didn't get along with mine, but now that she's gone I really miss her. I realize now that the finding was more my job than hers.
Kathleen,
I hope you have Arpege in your collection given that you've turned the corner on civet & leather ;-) Arpege is sultry good stuff.
ScentScelf,
I love Nutella! My friend from Belgium brings me a case every December. But lemon curd you say - with peanut butter? Hmmm. I'll have to try that. I love lemon curd but only with the traditional stuff like scones (clotted cream - oh yeah).
Olfacta,
I love my Mom - but liking is a different story. I do try very hard with her - but it seems she still thinks I don't try hard enough. She really is a kind, genuine and nice woman so I'm pretty lucky - but we're just so opposite (I'm much more like my father). I'll do my best, but it will inevitably lead to needing a week's vacation after the weekend is over... :-( *sigh*
PS: John Corbett on Northern Exposure - oh gawd yes! He is so adorable. And, yes, his character *is* a little flat/one dimensional and too nice on US Tara. I'm waiting for him to hook up with Tara's sister though - that will be disappointing... And I wish he'd do something about the unruly kids. ;-/
Sorry... I'm catching up on your older posts. Wow. I want to get my hands on a vial of real civet. It embarrasses me to report that I wore Kouros regularly as a young twenty-something... what was I thinking? Couldn't I smell myself? Truth is, I still love that stuff, but I can't bear to break out a spray vial of it more than three or four times a year, and I rarely wear it in public. Civet really does add that certain, inimitable something to compositions like Rose Poivree and some Lutens scents like Cedre.
So where does one get civet oil if one doesn't have accord angels sending one these things in the mail?
All this reminds me that I really need to get around to sampling some Jicky SOON... I've been putting that off too long.
Joe,
Oh, yes, Jicky is a must!
I can't underscore how groundbreaking it was for me to smell real civet. Yes, it's nasty but it allowed me to detect it in many of my favorites. Unbeknownst to me I'm a huge civet fan!
Also, galbanum - this nearly singes your nostrils - but it's amazing. And, other true EOs like mimosa, cassie, agarwood - all equally fascinating...
I'll have to ask my friend where she gets these oils. She mixes them with jojoba oil otherwise you can't put them on your skin - so she does know the ropes on what to do with the real EOs. She did tell me that the mainstream brands available at places like Whole Foods, etc, aren't nearly as high quality as where she gets them.
I'll come back and leave a website link once I found out
Post a Comment