girly

I haven't been writing or posting much, but that should change soon. I don't have much to say today except that I've switched to ultra-girly fragrances lately, for whatever reason. Chanel Coco Mademoiselle and Juicy Couture, most often. And I'm not just spritzing, I'm dousing myself liberally. I usually go for something drier, greener, more masculine and more understated, but lately it's all about the girly. And even though I'm overdosing, it seems no one in my near vicinity is recoiling in horror upon encountering me. 'Cause I smell so pretty, that's why.

ormande jayne man and woman

I finally got my nose back after my cold, and while I haven't had a chance to do a whole lot with it, I have really been enjoying the Ormande Jayne sampler set I received in the mail a couple of weeks ago. Perfumes from this line seem to pop up a lot when I am reading perfume blogs - most often, it seems, Ta'if and Ormonde Man. I am working my way through the samplers and I am here to tell you that they are all good so far. A couple of them - Frangipani and Ormonde Man - are fast becoming favorites.

When my family was living in Micronesia, we had frangipani trees in the yard, and I can still remember their distinctively sweet, milky, gingery smell. Frangipani the perfume smells a bit different from my memory of the flower, but it is recognizable, and I love it so much I am having a hard time tearing myself away from it to try some of the others. But I did manage to also spritz two perfumes - Ormonde Jayne Man and Ormonde Jayne Woman - on either wrist this evening. Ormonde Jayne Man is another one that I pretty much adored from the first sniff - very peppery without being annoying, with some nice woods, including oud - and this will go on my growing list of masculine scents that I can't resist. Ormonde Jayne Woman is wonderful - soft spices somehow paired with dark greens, among other things. This is a captivating, complex perfume, and while it didn't grab me instantly like the other two, I know that I will be going back to it, like a particularly good Edith Wharton novel.

stuffy nose

My nose has been crippled by a cold for the past couple of weeks, and I'm dying because I just got the Ormonde Jayne sampler pack and I can't frickin smell any of 'em. Last night I tried, but the only one I could smell even a little bit was Frangipani (smelled good, from what I can tell). I am practically in tears from the frustration of it all. But it will probably be at least another week or so before I'm recovered, so in the meantime I will do other stuff, like work and laundry and stuff.

andy warhol union square

I love that Andy Warhol was buried with a copy of Interview magazine and a bottle of Estee Lauder Beautiful perfume. Popular legend (i.e., Wikipedia) doesn't tell me whether he loved this particular perfume, but he was, by all accounts, a perfume lover, and I could see how he might like a big, bright, plastic-y floral like Beautiful. And I've become curious to compare Beautiful with two recent Bond No. 9 perfumes that were inspired by Andy Warhol, i.e., Andy Warhol Union Square and Andy Warhol Silver Factory, so here goes.

First, Andy Warhol Union Square. This perfume is a recent launch, and like nearly all of the Bond No. 9 perfumes I've tried so far, it goes on like gangbusters. Andy would certainly approve. The first blast of top notes is very pleasing to my nose, and includes the smell of grass, sugar, and possibly chlorine. There are also some bold white and green florals here, and maybe a touch of asphalt or other building materials. First impression is that this perfume pretty much nails the smell of Springtime in the city. The middle notes emerge fairly quickly, and include some big, sweet flowers - it's here, especially in the fabulous lily, where I definitely recognize some of Estee Lauder's genetic material. It's also at this point that I realize that what I mistook for chlorine earlier appears to be a wood - a bright, sharp wood that furthers a resemblance to Beautiful. But Union Square has more going on here than just Beautiful's big, bright floral. To me, it smells like the playground and the playground attendant, if it were snack time and the attendant were wearing Beautiful.

Okay, now Andy Warhol Silver Factory. I love this perfume. Although both Silver Factory and Union Square are perfumes that grab one's attention, rather sharply, I don't so much see any resemblance between SF and Beautiful. What I'm struck by instead is that both Silver Factory and Union Square have what seem to me to be very distinctive and well-integrated floral accords, each of which works an unusual job. For Silver Factory, I think the florals are what create that metallic/silver note; in Union Square, they result in more of a dessert note (maybe it's the freesia doing the work there?).

After another couple of hours, I am starting to really fall in love with Union Square. I don't know if it's the amber in the base or what, but it seems as though the combination of bright woods and sweet greens has lasted through to the end, and gained a really wonderful softness. Bond No. 9 calls this perfume warm and cool at the same time, but I would characterize it more as bright and dark - and at the end, it has a very nice depth that manages to elude melancholy. It's a little heavy and sweet for a Springtime fragrance, but I will definitely be wearing this one in the next few months.

One last note on what is probably my own favorite Estee Lauder perfume - i.e., White Linen. White Linen is such a nice, pleasing perfume in the bottle or the air that it makes me chuckle. On me it mostly smells like crayon, for some reason. Which is still a pretty nice smell.

ysl M7

My favorite perfume to wear right now is Yves Saint Laurent M7, which is a freakishly earthy, woody, dark masculine fragrance, but there you go.

andy warhol union square perfume bottle

I like this perfume bottle. What do you think? What do you think the perfume smells like?
(image courtesy of Bond No. 9)

strawberries

I went to the Lake Merritt farmer's market Saturday morning and got a basket of strawberries, and just now had some of them with my lunch. And I am here to tell you there really aren't too many things better than the sweet, dark, creamy fragrance of slightly over-ripe California strawberries in season. This incredible smell doesn't come from the strawberries that you buy at Safeway; I think the difference is that Safeway strawberries are picked green in order to make them travel well, and the farmer's market strawberries go more directly to the consumer - they are picked closer to ripening, and don't have to travel too far. To do it right, you really should go to the source - to the Central Coast, where I grew up, and get your strawberries from a location as close to the field as is available. And the strawberries you want are those ones that are just hitting that edge between ripe and rotting - based on my empirical research, there is a very short window for this, of about one or two days. And then you have your perfect strawberries, and that wonderful fragrance, which must be what it smells like in heaven.