Posted by Robin
on
8 June 2009
Will we one day be able to sniff appreciatively and ask "is that the new Salman Rushdie you're wearing? I'm getting hints of post colonialism ..." What might a JK Rowling smell like? Unwashed teenage boy, perhaps, with a whiff of owl droppings. Ian Fleming would be suave, sophisticated – sandalwood, maybe, with topnotes of gunfire. I don't think I'd want to smell what they'd come up with for Irvine Welsh.
— From Making scents out of novels at The Guardian, an article that wonders what might ensue if others follow in the novel-as-perfume footsteps of Floris Madonna of the Almonds. Many thanks to Nancy for the link!
Posted by Robin
on
18 May 2009
Floris has launched Madonna of the Almonds (shown above left), a limited edition perfume for women. The scent is being introduced in conjunction with the novel of the same name by author Marina Fiorato — “an unforgettable story of love and art set against the backdrop of the Italian wars”.
Fresh zesty citrus notes of bergamot and lemon, so redolent of Italy, mingle with the delicate floral accord…
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Posted by Angela
on
26 January 2009
The building was pink stucco, big and new and ugly. It had a side entrance with “Romp Room” lettered above it in red neon…[I heard] The high titter of drunk and flattered women, the animal sounds of drunk and eager men. Babel with a wild jazz obbligato.
A big henna redhead in a shotsilk blouse was making drinks at a service bar near the door. Her torso jiggled in the blouse like a giant soft-boiled egg with the shell removed.*
The scent wafting off this dame was unmistakable: Coty Emeraude, in the bottle with the plastic lid. I bet she was saving up for Shalimar. Not that she should bother — the stink of cigarette smoke and bleach water bar rags would follow her wherever she went.
But who was this gorgeous dame down the bar? She was years away from drugstore perfume. At first glance, I'd peg her for Frédéric Malle Carnal Flower.
I stole a look at the woman, to confirm my first impression. Her atmosphere was like pure oxygen; if you breathed it deep it could make you dizzy and gay, or poison you. Her eyes were melancholy under heavy lashes, her cheeks faintly hollowed as if she had been feeding on her own beauty…Her hands fumbled with the diamond clasp of a gold lamé bag, and groped inside. “God damn and blast it,” she said.*
Hmm. Beautiful — ethereal even — but with a potty mouth…
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Posted by Robin
on
7 August 2008
We already did a poll on Jane Austen (and another on Harry Potter), now it's time for another of my favorite authors: Lucy Maud Montgomery. I read the whole of her Anne of Green Gables series several times over as a child, and then I read them several times over again as an adult.
The first novel in the series, Anne of Green Gables, appeared 100 years ago, in 1908. According to Wikipedia, Montgomery “used a photograph of Evelyn Nesbit, clipped from an American magazine and pasted on the wall above her writing desk, as the model for Anne Shirley, the book's main character”, but the editions I had as a child, printed by Grosset & Dunlap in the 1970s…
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Posted by Robin
on
16 May 2008
That's right: two lazy polls in a row! That might be a Now Smell This first, but I've been inexplicably exhausted all this week, and can't bring myself to finish another perfume review. This poll is for any of my fellow Janeites out there, and the rest of you will find it dull as nails so please come back tomorrow when Jessica will review the new Clean Well Hand Washes scented by Mandy Aftel of Aftelier.
So…I'm sure I'm not the only one who watched much of the recent Masterpiece Austen-fest on PBS. I enjoyed it immensely…
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