Posted by Angela
on
16 May 2011
A long time ago I read an interview with Donatella Versace in which she said wearing red lipstick with a red dress was bourgeois. She suggested pink lipstick instead. I get that. Red lipstick with a red dress is predictable, a hackneyed suggestion of seduction or power. Pink with red is a surprise that makes you look twice.
Sometimes, though, you don’t want to mess around with subtlety. You don’t want to play cute or artsy — you want to get to the point. A red dress with red lipstick will do just that. So will the perfume world’s version of red on red: a rose chypre. Gucci L’Arte di Gucci makes the point better than most.
L’Arte di Gucci launched in 1991. Its bottle, a glam concoction of asymmetry and gold, is a good representation of its contents. L’Arte di Gucci goes on sharp with a fanfare of green and rose, dirtied by cardamom. (Honestly, a fanfare. Don’t squirt the bottle while your honey’s still asleep, or you might wake him with the olfactory racket.) The fragrance shimmers with hints of orange, aldehydes, and cassis as it settles…
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Posted by Angela
on
4 April 2011
Mimosa fragrances must be tricky to pull off. There aren’t a lot of them out there. Besides Parfums de Nicolaï Mimosaique which I’m reviewing today, Caron Farnesiana, Guerlain Champs Elysées, and L’Artisan Parfumeur Mimosa Pour Moi seem to hold the field. (The jury seems to be still out on Annick Goutal’s limited edition Le Mimosa that Kevin reviewed last week.)
Or maybe mimosa just isn’t a very popular note. The milky almond sweetness of mimosa mimics heliotrope, and not everyone’s a fan. I read lots of comparisons of heliotrope to “plastic doll head,” for instance. Me, I love the smell of both heliotrope and mimosa, and I adore the fresh, warm ease of Parfums de Nicolai Mimosaique Eau de Parfum…
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Posted by Erin
on
17 February 2011
If you are sick of being sick this winter, you are not alone. Flu season started early in the more populous parts of the United States, Canada and the U.K., with several urban centers reporting up to six times the normal number of confirmed influenza cases by late December 2010. Doctors and heath practitioners in North America are also seeing more viral gastroenteritis and strep throat cases this year. Vaccine numbers are down, hospital admissions for children and the elderly in many areas are up, and with all the storms and frigid temperatures some of us have experienced, we’re trapped inside our homes, schools and workplaces with miserable, germy companions. My extended family spent the holidays passing around a virulent Norovirus. The infection casualties totaled 21 people. Since then my household has seen one bout of hacking cough, two solid weeks of influenza (four consecutive cases, with the result that I also came down with cabin fever), an infant ear infection, two cases of eczema and one four-year-old who apparently needs more liquids and fiber in her diet. The heat rash and insect bites of summer can’t come soon enough.
Being a perfumista doubles the despondency of a stuffed nose. Two or three days last month, I was unable to smell anything properly and I was bereft. During a voluntary fragrance break, you still have access to other scented comforts: food, fresh air, scotch whisky. The last few bad colds I’ve had have served to remind me how much I’ve come to rely on my sense of smell to give color and focus to each day. Every time the congestion has passed, even if I’m still suffering from other symptoms, I’ve returned to my life and my perfume cabinet with glee and relief. The world is in HD again.
There are a number of different approaches to perfuming your convalescence…
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Posted by Angela
on
24 January 2011
In 1960, Avon launched a perfume it called “Unforgettable”. By 2011, it had forgotten all about it. “It is a very, very old fragrance,” the polite Indian gentleman with the unlikely name of Fabian told me on via Avon’s customer service phone number. “It has been wiped from the database.”
“Someone must have records on it somewhere,” I told him. “Do you think you could get me the phone or an email for Avon’s PR firm?”
“Just a moment, ma’am,” Fabian said. “I will see what I can do.” While I waited I fed the cat with my free hand and started stripping the bed for the wash. I didn’t have a lot of confidence even if he did come through with a contact number that Avon’s public relations people would be very helpful. In my experience, PR firms for niche fragrances are really responsive, but for the big boys — Estée Lauder and Nina Ricci, for instance — Now Smell This’s million-plus monthly page views don’t seem to mean a lot.
Fabian was back. Skirting my request for a contact in public relations, he said, “Thank you for waiting, ma’am. I tried very, very hard to get information about Unforgettable, but it is very old. It was wiped completely from the database.” Well. Unforgettable indeed…
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Posted by Angela
on
4 October 2010
“You really want to look at that?” the clerk at Goodwill asked. She shouted toward the clerk at the cash register. “She wants to look at this old perfume.” She turned to me again. “I don’t know. It looks pretty dark. I bet it’s gone bad.”
True, the bottle wasn’t promising: an 8-ounce faceted glass canister with a cap the color of purple Jordan almonds. I figured it for yet another bottle of Avon Skinny Dip but thought I’d have a look just in case. Besides, I’d already seen an ounce bottle of Estée Lauder Aliage in the case I knew I wanted.
The label on the bottom of the bottle identified it as Intimate Eau de Cologne by Revlon. I’d never heard of it but dabbed some on my arm anyway. One whiff and Goodwill’s fluorescent lights and slight fust fell away, replaced by visions of rustling organza skirts and white gloves. Intimate was unmistakably a classic 1950s floral animalic chypre with a tingly, soapy top. I couldn’t say “I’ll take it” fast enough.
Revlon released Intimate in 1955, during the glory years of the floral, animalic chypre…
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