"In December 1959 at the Daniel Cordier Gallery in Paris the eighth 'International Surrealist Exhibition' devoted to 'EROS,' as conceived by Duchamp and Breton, opened its doors . . . In another room a tape of the recorded sighs of women making love played endlessly, while mists of a perfume by Houbigant, called Flatterie, scented the air." - Perfume: Joy, Obsession, Scandal, Sin by Richard Stamelman
Glass labyrinth of mirrors opening onto billows of snow-white iris, lilies with violet hearts. Flowers with grasping hands instead of stamens. Nusch Eluard. Diaphanous milky agate of smell. I want to cradle my head to my wrist and never wake up.
EDIT FEBRUARY 14: The iris, the iris of Cuir de Russie. It's there.
Friday, February 10, 2012
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Necessary Destruction Part 2 - Lentheric Dark Brilliance (s)nip
After laying low and skulking about (illness, lack of employment) I am ready to demonise the earth ONCE MORE with inane perfume talk! Yay, clap hands.
In the mood for breaking things, I decided today would be the perfect moment to break open a perfume snip. Immediate death (a snip is only good for one use, and barely gives out enough to warrant a vial) = good! The satisfaction of hearing the icicle snap of obsolescent plastene = good! Having a little crystal chunk of said artificial material embed in my finger = not so good, but it matched the spit 'n' bile mood.
I broke off both ends of my black-tipped Dark Brilliance (s)nip and wrote with the uric-acid yellow fluid on my arms. The consistency was slightly syrupy, and left a strange film on my skin. Thick incense and soap-flake smell, a wraith of something that has been imprisoned in plastic for the past 65 years.
It smells like it wants badly to be My Sin by Lanvin, but it has none of that narcotic slumberland oneirism. It smells like ironing out those oldtimey gel air fresheners that shrivelled like scrotums once they hit the 2-month mark.
In the mood for breaking things, I decided today would be the perfect moment to break open a perfume snip. Immediate death (a snip is only good for one use, and barely gives out enough to warrant a vial) = good! The satisfaction of hearing the icicle snap of obsolescent plastene = good! Having a little crystal chunk of said artificial material embed in my finger = not so good, but it matched the spit 'n' bile mood.
I broke off both ends of my black-tipped Dark Brilliance (s)nip and wrote with the uric-acid yellow fluid on my arms. The consistency was slightly syrupy, and left a strange film on my skin. Thick incense and soap-flake smell, a wraith of something that has been imprisoned in plastic for the past 65 years.
It smells like it wants badly to be My Sin by Lanvin, but it has none of that narcotic slumberland oneirism. It smells like ironing out those oldtimey gel air fresheners that shrivelled like scrotums once they hit the 2-month mark.
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Creative Scentualization - Perfect Veil
Pick up x female interest mag (InStyle, Cosmopolitan, x tabloid weekly, x x) and turn to page 32.
Behold.
(Let me know what you see - it will be true.)
Behold.
(Let me know what you see - it will be true.)
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Sunday, January 8, 2012
necessary destruction
Today, a wee cardboard tube containing Lentheric Perfume Snips.
I have always seen nips, aka snips - embryonic sample vials, made of plastene, very dangerous and needle-looking, with coloured balls at the end. I reckon you snap off the coloured balls and then the precious liquid can issue forth. Here is what is left in my little sample pack:
Shanghai
Gardenia
Anticipation
Confetti
Dark Brilliance
Repartee
Will test as soon as I get over my fear of plastene snapping off into my pupils, ingestion by overly curious cat, etc.
Also: Bal a Versailles "parfum de toilette" (what is this? pick one or the other!) by Jean Desprez
Le Dandy edt by D'Orsay - simply divine, words to come soon.
I have always seen nips, aka snips - embryonic sample vials, made of plastene, very dangerous and needle-looking, with coloured balls at the end. I reckon you snap off the coloured balls and then the precious liquid can issue forth. Here is what is left in my little sample pack:
Shanghai
Gardenia
Anticipation
Confetti
Dark Brilliance
Repartee
Will test as soon as I get over my fear of plastene snapping off into my pupils, ingestion by overly curious cat, etc.
Also: Bal a Versailles "parfum de toilette" (what is this? pick one or the other!) by Jean Desprez
Le Dandy edt by D'Orsay - simply divine, words to come soon.
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Guerlain - Shalimar Parfum Initial
The fresh bergamot of a tin of new Earl Grey tea, pinkness, men's soap-on-a-rope, and, faint and barely breathing, the smoky amber richness of Shalimar, all bouncing off one another like a volley of tennis balls, never adhering or coalescing into something great.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Hilde Soliani - Vecchi Rossetti +
Cherry-coloured funk that slides to cherry wood.
Serge Lutens - Jeux de Peau
Maple butter and stroopwafels. It feels strange to associate this homely little muffin with the eldritch Oriental elegance of Lutens. I feel to apply it with a honey wand -
Carousels, autumn fairs, childhood. Buckles and brown betties. Makes me feel knobby-kneed and gauche. Goldenrods, honey-bears, walnut wood. But with all this warmth I still feel a desolation hollowing itself, barren honeycomb - the emptiness of Jean Rollin carnivals, Mouchette on the bumper cars.
Serge Lutens - Jeux de Peau
Maple butter and stroopwafels. It feels strange to associate this homely little muffin with the eldritch Oriental elegance of Lutens. I feel to apply it with a honey wand -
Carousels, autumn fairs, childhood. Buckles and brown betties. Makes me feel knobby-kneed and gauche. Goldenrods, honey-bears, walnut wood. But with all this warmth I still feel a desolation hollowing itself, barren honeycomb - the emptiness of Jean Rollin carnivals, Mouchette on the bumper cars.
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