TWRT 11.20.09

This week's random thoughts ~

I had a revelation today. I love Baghari. I've had it for a long time and never really worn it, spent time with it. I wore it today and it's sublime. It's a big aldehydic floral akin to Chanel No. 22, Le Labo Aldehyde 44 and Mariella Burani. I'm not sure when this shift happened, but I love aldehydic fragrances now. Baghari doesn't have the most amazing longevity, but for the first hour it's blissful. It lasts on me about 3 hours which is decent.

Now that I live in such a dry climate I use a lot of moisturizer and for the first time in my life I wear SPF 30 every.single.day. I'm so close to the sun at this altitude. I'm wondering if I should get higher than 30?

I have never ever ever ever ever found a mascara that I think is excellent. I've never worn a mascara that does all the great things it claims to do. I received a free Chanel mascara with a recent fragrance purchase. This stuff is the best mascara I've ever used. It's called Exceptionnel de Chanel, Intense Volume and Curl mascara, in Smoky Noir. I know it's just mascara but I'm astounded it actually works. Here's a link in case you're interested. It's $30 bucks and I'm pretty sure I'll be purchasing it from now on.

Speaking of Chanel, I've sorta bashed No. 5 in the past because I don't think it deserves it's exalted status. I have tried it in all concentrations previously but I just bought a bottle of No. 5 parfum that is really much better than I remembered. Did this change and actually get better? With all the complaints of reformulation I want to log this very positive note that I think No. 5 in pure parfum is better than it ever was.

At the risk of seeming like a Laurie Erickson stalker, I would just like to mention that Jour Ensoleille is yet another Sonoma Scent Studio gem. Does she make one single bad or boring perfume? I think not. She is gifted. Jour Ensoleille is a light chypre, with sunny, happy floral notes of orange blossom, tuberose and jasmine. When it dries down the florals lessen and it becomes an easy and gentle oakmoss base with some green-ish resinous notes. In the drydown it has a nice hay note that I find dreamy. I'm all kinds of crazy for hay.

Brian and I have discussed this and we agree that Dexter is just not good this season.

I thought Diorissimo eau de parfum (edp not edt) was discontinued but I purchased it for The Posh Peasant this week. I also got some Diorissimo parfum extrait. I'm afraid to open it because I will surely want to keep it for myself.

I will be volunteering at the local animal shelter soon. I feel responsible (because it's our fault, as humans) that there are so many neglected and unwanted animals. I will be walking dogs and playing with them and cleaning up their stalls. I'm really looking forward to it but I know there will be sad moments. And I know I must be strong because I have 2 pugs and cannot have another dog. Cannot. Reminding myself that I cannot.

This week I've been on an oatmeal kick. Sugar-free, good old fashioned oatmeal, sprinkled with slivered almonds, orange essence cranberries, sliced bananas, cinnamon and a dollop of maple syrup. It doesn't seem possible that this is good for me because it's oh-so-yummy.

Does anyone out there watch Friday Night Lights? OK, a show about high school football in Texas would *never* be my thing but a friend urged me to watch it a few seasons ago and it is such a great series. It actually makes me interested in football a little bit and I know nothing about football. The characters are terrific. Have I already mentioned this? Sorry if I'm repeating myself.

I was not impressed with CdG Artek. Seems rather similar to the CdG made for H&M. I am, however, still in love with CdG Daphne.

Have a fragrant weekend everyone! :-)

PS: Above and side photos are Taylor Kistch, aka Timmy Riggins from Friday Night Lights. So...enjoy a little eye candy folks.

And the winner is....

...drum roll...

Fountaingirl!

You've won the set of 3 Travalo atomizers. Please contact me with your shipping details.

Congratulations :-)

A Tribute to Diptyque L'Eau Trois

Diptyque L'Eau Trois is the best myrrh focused fragrance I have ever sniffed.

Somehow I managed to buy a bottle of L'Eau Trois many years ago before I was even a full fledged Scent Junkie, in fact, I still have my first bottle, with only about 15% remaining. L'Eau Trois has been around since 1975 and I probably stumbled across it in the mid-90's. I have lived in fear of it's discontinuation ever since. And now that terrible day has dawned...L'Eau Trois is discontinued.

I have a few other myrrh/resin focused fragrances; Annick Goutal Myrrhe Ardente, Laura Tonatto Amir, Etro Messe de Minuit, the CdG incense series and to a lesser extent L'Artisan Passage d'Enfer, but none of these are as good as L'Eau Trois. I'm serious, I really think L'Eau Trois is the holy grail of myrrh fragrances. The discontinuation of this pains me.

Myrrh seems a difficult scent to get right. As much as I love Annick Goutal fragrances, Myrrhe Ardente was a let down, it mostly smells of root beer. In my book, fragrant myrrh needs to be resinous, woody, herbaceous, incense-y and only barely sweet. Most other myrrh fragrances are actually amber scents with too much vanilla frosting. L'Eau Trois is so perfect, it's as if I wrote a letter to Diptyque asking them to create an exquisitely dry (dry as a bone) scent, with loads of herbs, woods, spice, incense and barely a drop of something sweet just to make it a perfume one can wear in public.

Rustic is a word that comes to mind when I smell L'Eau Trois. It's a rustic, natural, earthy, sappy smell. I think of tree sap - gooey and golden. Thyme and rosemary are prominent notes - which I adore - it's not very often you smell these herbs in perfume. And there's also a coniferous (pine) quality to L'Eau Trois. The scent of L'Eau Trois is so balancing, centering and idyllic it seems the perfect antidote to a stressed individual. Diptyque suggest that L'Eau Trois is meant to capture Northern Greece. I've never been to Northern Greece, but if it smells like this, I would love to visit and stay for awhile. Having recently moved to the southwestern United States, I find a striking similarity with the smells here in the high desert. Perhaps this is why I've been craving L'Eau Trois and brooding over it's discontinuation.

I think of L'Eau Trois as an uncompromising perfume renegade. She doesn't smell of flowers or vanilla or citrus or fruit like the vast majority of fragrances. In my mind, L'Eau Trois is Amelia Earhart, a pioneer who has left us before her time.

The nose behind this fragrance is Serge Kalouguine. Notes are: rosemary, myrrh, myrtle, oregano, cistus labdanum, pine, laurel, and thyme.

Coromandel: Second Opinion

Abigail reviewed Coromandel months ago during a Chanel intensive, and I remember thinking, "That sounds promising," but when I tried it at Nordstrom it struck me as being more than a little similar to Prada for Women--which meant a definitive No Thank You for me. As usual, I should have listened more closely to my co-blogger, because of course this stuff is leagues away from Prada (or anything else, really) and so good it's almost indecent.

I'm a fan of Jacques Polge and Christopher Sheldrake, the two behind Coromandel, and I do see a connection to Sheldrake's Borneo 1834, another fragrance adjectives fail. Is Coromandel Chanel's version of Borneo, as some have suggested? Probably no more than Diorella, by Edmond Roudnitska, was Dior's version of Le Parfum de Therese, also by Roudnitska. To be sure, Coromandel is closer to Borneo than to many of Sheldrake's other fragrances, but the contribution by Polge is significant enough that it fits resolutely within the Chanel line-up, not just its Les Exclusifs brethren but all the department store mainstays, from No. 19 to Allure, with a definite tip of the hat to Chance.

Coromandel has the trademark citrus shimmer that many of Polge's Chanel fragrances have, that sense of being illuminated from within, shot through with light. The most recent example of this tendency would be Chanel No. 5 Eau Premiere. The in-store displays for Eau Premiere feature a tiny light under each bottle, driving the point home. As far as I know, Sheldrake had nothing to do with the latest flanker to No. 5. Eau Premiere has a fraction of Coromandel's staying power, and none of its sturm und drang. Part of what gives Coromandel this sense of drama is probably its treatment of patchouli, a note it fully embraces. While few will characterize this as a head shop patchouli, no one will accuse it of transparency, either. Much has been made of the cleanliness of contemporary patchouli. Though definitely of its time, Coromandel has an earthiness the majority of patchouli-focused fragrances take pains to scrub away. For this alone, it sits alongside Cuir de Russie as one of the bolder iterations of the Chanel sensibility.

You'll find quite a dollop of vanilla in there, as well as amber, spices, woods, and frankincense. Coromandel broods around on the skin with a forcefulness that no other Exclusif displays. It smells of cosmetics periodically, specifically powder, and I would wager there are aldehydes in there, but none of these make it particularly feminine to me. Strangely, the overall effect is simultaneously subtle and robust, asserting itself with a sinuous stealth Ninotchka might applaud. Chanel calls Coromandel exotic and voluptuous, a "woody oriental", which is a bit like characterizing a Cadillac as a four wheel vehicle. For me, Coromandel straddles the gender divide with unusual finesse, making transitions back and forth as it plays itself out. Chanel says the fragrance pays homage to Gabrielle Chanel's passion for the decorative lacquer of the same name. The intricate, submerged intaglio of coromandel screens make an apt visual for the perfume's peculiar ambiance, rendering polished detail out of rough hewn lumber.

Lightning strikes twice, I guess. Last year, I received a half-empty bottle of Cuir de Russie from the Chanel Boutique in Beverly Hills. I assumed at the time that the leakage and the busted atomizer were due to magnificently silly packaging by the staff (several sheets of tissue paper and a lot of air space, if memory serves). Coromandel came in a box which was packed more meticulously than the cookies your grandmother sends at Christmas. Nevertheless, it too was half gone. The perfume was still in its cellophane wrap, and once I removed it I had to use a pen knife to pry open the Les Exclusifs container. That tells you something about the quality of oils used in these fragrances, so thick they served as glue with the addition of a little heat. The fact that the atomizer was askew suggests faulty design--or extraordinary bad luck.

Then again, I know that Abigail's bottle of Coromandel leaked significantly in the mail. That makes three, yet when I called Chanel to complain, the sales associate reacted as though I were reporting a Bigfoot sighting. "I've never heard of anything like that happening before," he said, adding very quickly: "I'm not saying I don't believe you." He didn't say he did believe me, and I had the distinct feeling it wasn't his first time around the block with this kind of phone call. At least they offered to send a replacement bottle, without asking me to return the first one. There's something vaguely tawdry and thoroughly inconvenient about returning a broken bottle of Chanel to Beverly Hills, as I was asked to do with Cuir de Russie. Call it insult to injury, or luxury goods buzz kill.

Travalo Atomizer: Free Giveaway!

I received this refillable atomizer and gave it a test run myself.

It's a nitfy little thing. Perfect for us Scent Junkies.

The exterior isn't glass, it's tough aluminum, therefore virtually unbreakable under normal conditions. Travalos are incredibly easy to fill - you don't need funnels or pipettes or excellent eye hand coordination and you won't waste a drop of your precious perfume. The size is perfect for pocket or purse, airplane or gym bag. And they come in three colors, gold, silver and pink.

I received mine from dmfragrances.co.uk - this link will take you there and show you how to use a Travalo atomizer along with some images.

I would purchase a ton of them but they are £9.99 (approx. $16 US). They do seem well made and worth it to me, for a few of my favorite fragrances. They are refillable and will last for years.

FREE GIVEAWAY - one lucky reader will receive a set of three Travalos - in gold, silver and pink. The drawing is open to readers who have commented at least once before. Drawing closes on Wednesday November 18th. Good luck!

Above photo courtesy of: Valentine Zavgorodnev

More gems from Sonoma Scent Studio: Opal & Femme Jolie

The past few days have left me in a bad mood. Sometimes I turn to big, billowy fl-orientals when I'm down, as a sort of olfactory armor to make people leave me alone. But other times I want something cuddly and warm, something that takes care of me, gently.

I've mentioned before that one of Brian's sayings is "one can't have too few skin scents" and I thoroughly concur. But I broke my anti-skin scent rule by loving Barbara Bui Le Parfum. So maybe I was ripe for another skin scent to waltz along and win my heart. I ordered a few fragrances from Sonoma Scent Studio to have at The Posh Peasant. Several I knew I would love but a few were meant for decanting purposes. And, just for the record, I live in fear of being stuck with all this perfume at The Posh Peasant one day, that nobody will buy it, so I try to only purchase things I like. But I must buy perfumes for other's tastes, hence, Sonoma Scent Studio Opal.

Opal is described by the perfumer, Laurie Erickson, as a vanilla musk. A comforting, warm and sweet scent. Something entirely inoffensive and safe. Sounds utterly boring if I'm being honest. It took me about a week to even smell Opal. But yesterday I needed something comforting and the bottle was literally staring at me so I tried it. Wow. It *is* comforting, warm, safe and inoffensive but it's also downright cheerful, delicious and sexy. I find Opal powdery. But it's the sort of powdery quality I love, an illuminated from within sort of gorgeous powdery aspect. It's a vanilla-musk-sandalwood but the vanilla is that sort of fluffy powdery vanilla and not a foody one. There's also a hint of bergamot and ambrette giving the overall scent a jab of freshness so it's not all vanilla-musk-blah-ness. You might compare Opal with Creative Scentualizations Perfect Veil but I find Opal far superior. Opal is less sweet and more potent with a higher quality sandalwood note. A few hours after applying Opal for the first time I went back and spritzed myself again - at least 4 times. I wanted to be bathed in it. Instead of "Calgon take me away" this was "Opal take me away" and it did.

So now I have 2 skin scents in my arsenal. And the beauty of Opal is that it's potent. One big turnoff with other skin scents is that they're fleeting. Like all perfumes from Sonoma Scent Studio, Opal is highly concentrated, virtually parfum strength I believe, and it lasts forever.

Sometimes perfumes call to mind a specific person, celebrity or character and Opal makes me think of Nigella Lawson. Nigella is gorgeous, feminine, soft but also incredibly sexy. I can't seem to watch her cooking shows, though, because they are all about her beauty and not about the darn food.
The other gem from Sonoma Scent Studio is Femme Jolie. Now I purchased Femme Jolie knowing it was my type of thing. And that it was. I read on SSS's website that Femme Jolie is back by popular demand for a limited time. According to the perfumer, Femme Jolie is a long-lasting cedar scent composed of woods, soft spices, musk, fruits, and florals. Notes are ginger, cinnamon, clove, plum, peach, orange blossom, violet, cedar, sandalwood, vanilla, musk. The floral notes are soft and subtle while the cedar and spices are more prominent.

Ok, seriously, if you love woods and spices you've got to get some Femme Jolie. This is Serge Lutens Bois et Fruits and Feminite de Bois but better. I've said this before and I know it's probably taboo but I find Sonoma Scent Studio's fragrances on par if not better than the big boys. Femme Jolie is an extravaganza of soft woods and zesty spices. I love the undercurrent of ginger, cinnamon and clove. It isn't heavy in the least and swirls about you in a light, yet potent fashion. The quality of the cedar and sandalwood the perfumer uses is simply divine. Femme Jolie is fantastic stuff.

Sonoma Scent Studio website

Top photo of Sonoma Scent Studio boxes by Nathan Branch

Gucci Eau de Parfum

The juice is dark brown, that alone made me want it. It took me a few wearings to truly love it, but, oh, how I do.

Gucci eau de parfum was created in 2002 by Daniela Roche and was apparently based upon an idea by Tom Ford. Do not confuse Gucci edp with Gucci by Gucci or Gucci II which are inferior by a mile. Gucci by Gucci is housed in a square brown bottle. The good stuff, the stuff I'm writing about, is Gucci edp, pictured above, it's the brown juice in a clear glass bottle. A hefty glass bottle.

Gucci eau de parfum is easily Gucci's best fragrance next to Envy. Gucci edp is dirty. It's a filthy little trollop for the first hour. One you might wish you hadn't worn to the office. I don't even know how to categorize Gucci edp. It's a whole number of things all at once - it's a dirty musk - a woody oriental - a luscious skin scent - a sweet vanillic leather - a herbaceous yet synthetic elixir. The word potion comes to mind when I sniff Gucci edp. It seems to be a potion rather than a perfume. It's drop dead sexy in an understated manner. It's Debra Winger in Urban Cowboy. It's not a curvaceous blond bombshell but a tousled natural beauty in jeans and her lover's t-shirt. She probably has a tattoo and a scar.

Gucci edp starts off a bit rocky for me. It has a weird medicinal start, perhaps the mixing of notes such as thyme, cumin and orange blossom. I've come to love this odd start in the way I sometimes long for the beginning of Tubereuse Criminelle. Though, for the record, Gucci edp's start is nowhere near as difficult as Tubereuse Criminelle. After about an hour, Gucci edp becomes so easy to wear. It melts into my skin and becomes one of those "me but better" fragrances. Gucci edp doesn't shout "look at me" but instead slinks into the room and slowly but surely takes the center of attention. It's a potion. I'm telling you. There's magic here.

Notes:
Top notes - orris, heliotrope, orange blossom, and vanilla absolute.
Middle notes - cistus, cumin, and thyme
Base notes - patchouli, vanilla, and deep musk.

TWRT on Sunday 11.8.09

This Week's random thoughts ~

It's only a matter of time until I decide a pair of cowgirl boots would be tres chic.

The dry desert climate is changing my taste in perfumes. At least I think it's the climate but maybe it's the season because I cannot fathom wearing a big floral right now. It's all woods, spices, incense and resins which seem to match the terrain here.

Are you watching Parks & Recreation with Amy Poehler? The show is hysterical, don't miss it. Plus I worry not enough people are watching it and it will be canceled.

I hardly ever complain/comment about the price of perfume but the Le Labo City Exclusives and the new Creed Sublime Vanille are making $250 bottles seems reasonable. I seriously hope that $1000 bottles of perfume aren't on the horizon. My scented hobby does have a limit. I do think the Creed bottle is gorgeous, though.

Sopapillas are so good. They are similar to beignets in New Orleans but even better.

I saw Julia & Julie last night. It's a great, feel good flick. I feel like cooking.

Wasn't there a magnolia scent coming from Frederic Malle this Fall?

I'm still head over heels in love with Le Labo's Aldehyde 44. It's in my top 10 of all time. Don't ask me to list my top 10, though. It would probably be around 25.

Brian was right about the Limited Edition Angel and Alien Liqueur. I really like the Alien liqueur. It's so over the top I feel as if I should be going to the Rocky Horror Picture show when I wear it. Fragrances are supposed to be fun and interesting - not practical - at least not practical all the time. I'm wearing Alien Liqueur right now...L.O.V.E it.

Jo Malone Vanilla & Anise is pleasant. It mostly smells like root beer to me.

Sandwich of the week: breakfast burrito made with egg whites, refried pinto beans, green chiles (mild), Paul Newman's peach salsa, and a dab of light sour cream and guacamole.

Purchase I'm most looking forward to showing up: Parfum d'Empire Equistrius.

Pre-order I've long given up on liking: L'Artisan Havana Vanille

Aspect of perfume I enjoy the least: advertising. The models seem increasingly young and I'm just so tired of the sexy 17 year old girl ad. Yawn.

Notes I'd like to see show up in perfumery: aloe, cactus, pinon, roasted pecans, spray of sunset, old leather saddle, aspens in the mountains, tomatillo (!) ;-)

YSL Baby Doll

I wonder. Maybe the folks at YSL created a bottle in the shape of a spinning top so that it might withstand all the knocks it gets. The derision toward Baby Doll is so near-unanimous that until recently I basically ignored it, like a movie I've watched and don't even see at the video store anymore. It's on sale perpetually at TJ Max, which seems odd, given it's also ubiquitous at the department store, where, increasingly, the counter space is sparse. Both Macy's and Dillards have "reorganized" numerous times over the last six months to a year, shrinking their inventories by half, yet Baby Doll remains.

I'd imagined Baby Doll to be sugary sweet and mind-numbingly floral. Michael Edwards lists it as "floral--fruity". I thought it must be the quintessential example of the category, the be all and end all of a trend I've been not-so-patiently sitting out. The top notes seemed to confirm the suspicion. According to Osmoz: black currant, orange, apple, pineapple. What else could there possibly be to say?

I was pretty surprised when I smelled the stuff, because while it is sugared and it is somewhat floral, the first and lasting impression is salty and bitter. I mean this in a good way. There's something so tart and puckered about Baby Doll that it reminds me of some dessert I'd enjoy smelling if not tasting at the local Korean restaurant. There's a deliciously pickled quality to it, something that wakes you up and takes you on a joy ride.

Is it childish? I expected it to be; not just because of the name, a dead giveaway, but because of the packaging and the reputation of the juice. Wearing it, I'm not apt to answer so conclusively. There's no question it's not your dress-up oriental. This is not Opium. You don't wear it to a funeral, probably, unless the deceased asked for a party. It isn't stuffy. It isn't anywhere near sophisticated. This is the kind of perfume that enters a lame party and gets everyone dancing by forcing the DJ to change the tune. Childish, to me, is Britney Spears Midnight Fantasy: something you might whip up in your E-Z Bake Oven in a matter of minutes because, really, it's all about the icing.

What I realized, smelling Baby Doll, is that the name is tongue in cheek. This perfume was released ten years ago, before the fragrance industry started so relentlessly marketing to tweens. It speaks to a sensibility and a stereotype, playing with connotations and received ideas in a child-like, as opposed to childish, way. While expecting very little from YSL is understandable at this point, picturing faux-pouty April Lavigne or a sixteen year-old with glittered lip gloss might be just a bit literal. Baby Doll is decidedly adult. It isn't a young girl but a grown woman in a sexy dress and mary-jane shoes with six inch heels, playing off a man's desperate desire for youth with the kind of wit only a mature woman has.

Cassis often does weird things to a perfume, when handled well. The nearest analog to Baby Doll, for me, is Cartier's So Pretty, the brainchild of Jean Guichard. Released in 1995, four short years before Baby Doll, So Pretty's use of Cassis is more openly staid, but the anarchy it sets loose on the chypre template has the spirit of the young in it. Cassis has an air of insolence. Used intelligently, it's a bracing shock to the system, a contradiction, both succulent and puckered. So Pretty is a young girl dressed up in her mother's lipstick. Her image in the mirror recalls her mother's generation but looks straight ahead with a confidence bordering on arrogance. She looks rather silly making faces she doesn't understand, but the lipstick does a lot of the work for her. Baby Doll is the older woman the lipstick belongs to. She doesn't have to make faces anymore. Been there, done that, with an evolved sense of humor and irony to prove it.

A winner...

Congratulations to Gator Grad, you won The Body Shop Love Etc!

please contact me with your shipping details.