Saturday, April 4, 2009

Mood: blustery

Wallace Stevens can usually be counted on to be right--irritatingly so. We are the weather, he says, and like the weather right now, I'm feeling ambivalent and fickle. Reading Wallace Stevens' Harmonium is perfect for my mood. What's a better description of Spring's blustery changeableness than this:
The sovereign clouds came clustering. The conch
Of loyal conjuration trumped. The wind
Of green blooms turning crisped the motley hue

To clearing opalescence. Then the sea
And heaven rolled as one and from the two
Came fresh transfigurings of freshest blue.
-- Sea Surface Full of Clouds, Wallace Stevens
Some more quickie, fickle Spring fragrance reviews to go with my mood:

Dior Escale a Portofino
A nice orange blossom cologne, with a bit of almondy notes. I have a decant of L'Artisan Parfumeur's Fleur d'Oranger limited edition, though, and this is not as nice. Redundant.

Serge Lutens Muscs Koublai Khan
Wow, this is supposed to be intimidating? You cuddly-wuddly warrior-horseman, you. Who's a big, bad Mongol emperor? C'mere.

Guerlain Jicky edt
Hot mess of overbearing lavender and tumid vanilla, completely unbearable to me, sadly. I can't do lavender and vanilla--doesn't work for me in Caron's Pour Un Homme, either.

Guerlain Mouchoir de Monsieur
Like an eccentric and frustrating boyfriend, first repellant (an initial hit of civet, i.e. poo) who becomes more attractive (lemony citrus warmed irresistably by civet). I'm going to try layering this with something floral, since it is a bit too linear once it calms.

Kiehl's Original Musk
Floral, powdery musk, with none of the sweaty tang that makes Muscs Kublai Khan so comforting.

Jil Sander #4 parfum
Smells like panettone, the spiced, raisin-studded Italian holiday bread.

Narciso Rodriguez edt
Floor-cleaner citrus that appears to be not quite well-blended with a barely perceptible (to me) musk.

10 comments:

Charlotte Vale said...

Hi Aimee,

I haven't commented on your blog before, but I too live in Austin, so I know what you mean about blustery!

LOL at "tumid vanilla." I personally do not find the Jickster overpowering, but classic and easy-to-wear, except in very hot weather, when the skank is just too skanky.

Maybe there's no such thing as too skanky for you? We might be EFTs.

Aimée L'Ondée said...

Hi Charlotte, Thanks for commenting! I love to hear from other Austin perfumistas. I was just at Nordstrom this morning checking out Escale a Portofino, trying not to be too rude to the SAs as they move in on me, saying "let me just spray this for you to try it." Um. No. Thanks.

So yeah, there is stuff that's too bitter for me (e.g. Bandit, Yatagan) and a LOT of stuff that's too sweet for me, but rarely is something too skanky for me!

And by the way, what's an EFT?

Charlotte Vale said...

Evil Fragrance Twin--someone whose proclivities are the opposite of yours. Doesn't sound like that's the case, though, too sweet is often the breaking point for me as well.

Yeah, those people at Nordstrom are at out of control. I feel like I should carry a tranquilizer gun when I go in there (which is probably even legal in Texas!)

BitterGrace said...

Consider yourselves lucky--at least Austin has a Nordstrom, even if you do need to go there armed.

I laughed out loud at the MKK review--perfect! And thanks for the Wallace Stevens.

chayaruchama said...

You ARE a wicked one.
I love tumid, too.

As maman Meister is wont to burble...
Chacun a son gout !
[MWAH ]

Aimée L'Ondée said...

BitterGrace, thanks for writing! Glad you like the MKK review.

Aimée L'Ondée said...

Chaya, absolument--vive le gout!
:^)

Rose said...

Portofino is so evocative though no? I quite like Jill Sander 4- I think her perfumes are a bit underated generally.

Aimée L'Ondée said...

Hi Rose! Yes, Portofino is really a lovely scent--it's only that recently I've fallen out of love with orange blossom, so (thankfully!) I don't need it like I thought I would.

And yes, I like Jil Sander 4 a lot, too. I have those little sample 5ml bottles of the parfum and the edp, and I probably don't need a full bottle, but it is very good stuff. My favorite Jil Sander recently is Scent79 Man, which I am waiting impatiently to arrive at perfume discounters, because it's awesome but I can't justify paying full price for it, which the perfume binge I've been on recently. Have you tried the Scent79 Man and Woman yet?

Rose said...

hi Aimee- sorry for the very late reply! no I haven't tried either scent79 man or woman but will definitely try and find them. I'm not sure if they are available here, the Sander fragrances are quite hard to find in the UK and I've tried them more in Germany and other parts of Europe.