Bombshell Perfume updated Monday afternoon

At the request of a reader, I am presenting a list of perfumes a bombshell would and would not wear as appears in The Bombshell Manual of Style by Lauren Stover.

Monday update appears in () and bold writing.  This is waaay easier than reposting!

Arpege by Lanvin

bombshell user: Jayne Mansfield

Chanel - – “all except Allure which she might buy for a niece but finds too girlish for herself”

no 22 bombshell: Catherine Denevue

no 5 bombshell: Marilyn Monroe

Diorissimo by Christian Dior (How did she miss Miss Dior?? It’s almost ladylike with a skank under current that gives new meaning to lady in the street, ho’  between the sheets!)

Femme by Rochas (I love this one though prefer the new formula with the extra kick of cumin.  see my post on it for further thoughts)

bombshells: Mae West and yours truly

Fracas by Piguet (What, no bandit in honor of Bettie Page?)

bombshells: Marilyn, Kim Basinger

Gardenia Passion by Annick Goutal

Jicky by Guerlain (cool, refreshing with just a nice bit of dirt in the composition to keep it from getting boring)

bombshell: Bridgette Bardot

Joy by Jean Patou

bombshells: Josephine Baker, Gloria Swanson, and Marilyn Monroe

L’Heure Bleue

bombshell: Patricia Arquette

Mitsouko by Guerlain

bombshell: Jean Harlow

My Sin by Lanvin (this one I wonder about.  Everytime I tested I got aldehydes and no magic.  maybe it’s me, but all I could smell was hotel soap.  How is that sexy?)

bombshell Jayne Mansfield

Norell by Revlon

bombshell: Faye Dunaway

Nude by Bill Blass

Shalimar by Guerlain

bombshells: Gina Lollabrigida and Rita Hayworth

Spring Flower by Creed

Tabu by Dana

Tabac Blond by Caron

Narcisse Noir by Caron

bombshell :Gloria Swanson

Naricsse Blanc by Caron

Nuit de Noel by Caron

bombshell: me and auntie mame

(the carons are fabulous.  though I would definately add Parfum Sacre to the list.)

Vent Vert by Balmain

bombshell: Bridgette Bardot

White Shoulders by Evyan

Youth Dew by Estee Lauder

bombshells: Dolores Del Rio, Gloria Swanson and Joan Crawford

Perfumes Bombshells NEVER wear

“Anything that smells like food: vanilla, single fruit notes like strawberry or apple.  Jolting, loud or overwhelming fragrances like Opium, Poison, and Giorgio.  Overtly green scents like Calyx, Laura Ashley — too innocent.  Obsession.  CK One.  Eternity.  Musk. Tea Rose.  Charlie.”  (I think she had a bad elevator and Poison experience.  and personally, I think vanilla done right is very very bombshell.  THink Le Labo or even Dior’s Hypnotic.  They are non food, all femme vanillas that do not remind me of food in the least.)

I have reviewed a few of these already and will place any further bombshell perfume reviews in the category marked bombshell in the future.  What would you add or remove from either list and why?  I’ll be adding my input on the choices and what I would remove or add Tuesday.  Until then, discuss!!

Other things I would add would include

Hermes Eau Des Merveilles for the near man-cologne sandy, stubbly venus rising out of the ocean wonder it is.  It’s kind of skin scent and reeks of sex and mystery.  worn at the beach or quiet intimate encounters, sprayed at the nape of the neck

Del Rae’s Amoureuse — big flowers, lots of indolic muskiness.  It’s very womanly, very sexy and completely a bombshell.  Worn anytime anywhere, esp in spring and summer with sundresses and shades

MDCI Enlevement au Serail — the love-child of Femme and Mitsouko.  seriously erotic stuff, goes best with black lacy things, maribou slippers, a scotch and “come over here dahhhhliinnng” purred in a deep throaty whisper

Desprez Bal a Versaille  it’s a warmer, sensual dark orange.  I’d say it is what I thought Narcisse Noir would be but wasn’t for me.  Bombshells would wear this in the rain or cloudy days to invite people a little bit close rto thier sun and warmth

Fredric Malle Musc Raveguer

photo from biography.com.

Apres L’Ondee a belated but inspired Candy Jar Friday

This morning (began blog friday) I checked the usual blogs and read the lovely post on Apres L’Ondee by Pattyover at perfume posse.  Immediately I thought “hmmm I think I have a sample around here somewhere.  I need to dig that out!” In an amazing feat, I managed to find it in about 3 minutes and promptly applied the parfum to my skin.  Unbeknownst to Patty at the posse, I’ve decided to do a semi partner post on this one as I tend to get something a bit different with Guerlains. 

In the beginning, notes of very light bergamot are released with neroli.  It’s soft, kind of sweet and it’s a sunny blue skied day with the cool breeze working it’s way around me.  So far, as Patty mentions it does say spring, and I definitely agree. However my pretty spring day vignette is interrupted as the perfume takes me to what it really reminds me of, clean, sleepy baby which as any mama knows is one of life’s most joyous smells.  The opening isn’t soapy like a dry bar soap, but more like the foamy, fluffy sud bubbles in the tub and the hint left on the skin post baby bath.  The mental picture is something like this:

It’s a busy day with the little one, and yet you are somehow organized enough to have the house properly cleaned and dinner in the crock-pot, so you spend the day with the baby.  You go to the park, maybe to a cafe and get caught in a beautiful spring downpour, soaking you both is cool electrically charged rain.  You hurry home and pop yourselves into a sudsy tub.  You scrub the baby as she squeals with glee reminding you moments like these do not last forever.  Fortunately today you’re cognisant of the fleeting and you store the picture in your memory along with the smell cue of the baby soap.  Bath time is over you lift your little monkey out of the tub and dry her off, powder her bottom and play with her feet. You put her in her jammies and sit in your favorite chair by the window to nurse her.  As the baby eats she looks up at you with big eyes as if to say “you are the greatest.” She drifts off to sleep as you watch the clouds roll by the window.  

Life’s most important and most joyous moments are fleeting, unlike the opening of Apres L’Ondeewich lasts a bit longer than most top sections and makes me a little misty eyed.  Someday when my baby is grown up a whiff of Apres L’Ondee’stop notes will bring back the memories of how simple and wonderful life was with a new baby.  Definitely life affirming and very beautiful. 

What about the rest of the composition?   At some point, the foamy baby-soap suds fade into a soft silvery powder.  It’s luxuriant.  Then comes a cool vanilla woods with hints of baby peeking  in and out of the drydown.  I am sure the violet-iris is in there, they are supposed to be the powder note.  However, my nose is inexperienced with picking out the aforementioned notes, so I can’t specifically detect them or compare them to other formulae.  Elegant, refined and slightly mysterious, Apres L’Ondee turns from a post rain afternoon into a clear skied dusk. 

My skin seems to eat the less “rrreoow” Guerlains, thus I used up about a quarter of a ml to get enough silliage and lasting power to finish up this post.  My sample of the parfum is gone, and it’s pricey to replace.  Will I replace it?  I am not sure.  Typically I don’t often wear classy, elegant perfumes, I prefer things that say I am a walking sex-bomb waiting to detonate, which Apres L’Ondee certainly does not say.  However, should I be away from my princess for a length of time I’d want Apres L’Ondee with me as an olfactory snapshot of my baby.  Perhaps a day will come when I will NEED that perfume, but currently I am not sure.  I suppose I will have to wait and see if the perfume lemmings push me over the cliff on this one. 

On the other-hand, as the perfume powers that be LOVE to discontinue anything remotely decent, it may be prudent to buy a bottle for future use before it gets to be insanely expensive.  This is kind of like stock speculation, no? 

notes: bergamot, neroli, aniseed, hawthorn, violet, heliotrope, iris and musk. 

PS I believe I used Mustella or an Aveno lavender soap on the Princess during the time period referenced. 

Neil Morris wrap up

Over the last two weeks or so I’ve been going through the rest of the Neil Morris samples and here’s what I think.

First of all the longevity and silliage on these border dangerous!  I mean that in a good way, you can spray them in the morning, smell yourself all day long, leave your trace on  your clothes and sheets and smell yourself the next day.  It’s amazing, as long as you don’t over apply. 

Burnt Amber  I really wanted to like this one, as it was supposed to smell like tobacco, amber some leather and a host of other things that drive me wild.  However, all I got was *drumroll* BBQ sauce.  Not just BBQ sauce, it certainly wasn’t the liquid from the bottle, but the carmalized sauce turned gel at the end of a spare rib BBQ sauce.  Infact, it made my stomach growl. At some point I got some smoke, but it so did not happen for me.

 Dark Season  I spritzed this one on and immediately went CHRISTMAS!  The spice combination was quite delish esp with the traces of piney trees.  I would swing for feeling like I was inside by the fire with wassail, to out in the snow in the woods and agin to a church with resinous incense.   This smells like a much better version of Guerlain’s odd duck Winter Delices.  Delices was a dead wringer for my Nana’s house, which indicates air freshner.  Currently I don’t absolutely love it, but that is probably due to the fact that it’s a really long time til Christmas and it just doesn’t jive with the gorgeous spring weather we are having. 

Dark Earth   This one was interesting.  I could smell the shade under the tree in the woods.  Wet dirt, dewy grass only way it could possibly be better if there was just a trace of truffle to give you the image of truffle hunting somewhere in the forest in France.  Intriguing compostion, would work well on a man if I didn’t want a virtual reality experience for myself. 

Fetish I liked this one alot at first.  Who wouldn’t want to tell another that they are wearing something called fetish?  It was spicy, kinda headshoppy, a little skanky and then leathery.  Unfortunately for me, the leather went form awesome leather to cheap lingerie store pleather.  Then it dried down to some nice vanillac kind of thing that I wanted to cuddle up to.  Kind of middling on this one. 

Gotham  was one of my favorites.  Intially I thought hmmmm eggnog but then, somewhere in the spices and amber and dark rose I felt some magic.  I could feel a warmish october night in NY, lights and energy around me.  And the dry down… wow.  musky, semi woody just fabulous. 

October  When I spoke to Mr Morris over the phone, he mentioned this one was an october day, crisp leaves, and that bit of smoke in the air.  Sounded perfect.  Well…..I was hit in the face with a caramel apple pie.  I wasn’t expecting something quite so gourmand in the opening, so I was a bit unprepared. However, after most of the pie died I got the crispy leaves warmed up by the sun and carried along in the breeze.  The sun was shining, not quite a chill in the air, but the feeling of golden happiness you get when you are going out to the country in western New York to pick your pumpkin at one of the harvest festivals.  I’ll be revisiting this one in fall.

Swoon  opens with grapefruit.  Now, before you guys jeer about freshness, let me say this was invigorating and yet relaxing at the same time.  I could feel the normally clenched forehead muscles relax as I breathed it in.  The topnotes last for quite awhile and go into something I find very hard to describe.  What comes next is skin.  Maybe its civet or some sort of musk (I wish I had the darned notes) but whatever it is has me completely spellbound.  It is a smell that is living flesh for me, slightly dirty, yet sweet, not entirely naughty and a bit innocent.  Completely fascinating and I think my favorite out of the bunch as I tend to have my nose attached to my wrist when I wear it marveling at it’s intrigue. Oh and that drydown.  I caught some of it on my sheets the otherday and could have died.   Mr. Morris was inspired by Perfume the Story of a Murderer to create this perfume and I can imagine it maybe what causes the crowd to literally swoon and then revel.  I might even be compulsed to eat my own arm.  I won’t say more if you haven’t seen the film, which you should as it is breathtaking.  Just like Swoon. 

 Finally, I am still playing with Parfum D’Ida so look for a future posting.  So far I get lots of aldehydes and much civet.  For some reason when I wear it I tend to get busy and forget to keep monitoring my arm.

Anyone else try these yet?  Samples are available for a few dollars per decent sized spray vial via his website.  Sometime in APril all the vault scents will be listed online and I hope with the notes so I can see what is in Some of the compostions that I can’t quite get my finger on.  He also offers a custom fragrance service which is on my to do list before I die.  You are asked to go in naked (perfume wise) so he can analyze your natural scent and build your perfume on top of it, drop by drop.  He also asks millions of questions about things you love and hate in all spheres of life to get a real feel for you.  (Info courtsey of http://www.beautynewsnyc.com/fragrance/neil-morris-the-proust-of-perfume/ ) This service is the very defintion and very embodiment of art fused with luxury. 

PS that’s his picture at the top of the page I borrowed from his website www.neilmorrisfragrances.com  He may look like a brickwall of a man, but over the phone he sounds like one of the most huggable people on the planet.  And he makes perfume, BONUS!

mea culpa

I realize the last blog looks crazy with the highlighted and lined through bits.  For some reason not all of the text would show up unless I underlined or bold-ed it, even after re-writing.  Hopefully I can get this problem figured out and avoid future patchwork lookin’ pieces.

Djedi, wearing o’ the green

Love is not always kittens and butterflies and boxes from Tiffany’s.  Sometimes love can be the most tortuous agony you could ever know. It will bring you to your knees, pour salt on your willing wounds as it scars you for life and then brings you back for more.  It doesn’t smell of chocolate and sweet roses, it is the smell of mourning and decay, the smell of Guerlain’s Djedi. 

 

The quick mechanics before the prose:

At first dab, you wait half a second before WHOA Djedi nails you in the nose with an array of olfactory projectiles.  Traces of cinnamon, the driest, darkest-velvet indolent rose ever and some smouldering, mouldering skank.  The skank, while more eloquent than say, CB I hate perfume’s musk reinvention, is shocking. This is the level of shock I expected from Bandit.  However, Bandit was a pansy in comparison to this bad mother.   As for the leather, it is a dry leather, yet it is the driest leather soaked in horse sweat and left near the fire.  For the first time in a long while, a perfume has stopped me dead in my tracks.  Nose glued to my wrist I get hints of everything from florals, to metal to syrupy cinnamon to the animalics smothering me, but in a good smothering way.  Throughout the piece, oak moss pops her head out of the animalic rose bog, reminding you who is boss.  Then suddenly, Djedi is gone, leaving a trace of vetiver to haunt you as you sniff frantically to find more. 

The prose

What does this perfume bring up for me?  Loss.  Grief.  Mourning.  Some perfumes, such as  Encens et Lavande are meant for mourning those who have passed into the next world.  You wear white, light white candles and know they are in a better, happier place.  Djedi in contrast is the one you wear to wallow in your gothic misery ala Catharine and Heathcliff.  You can smell the dark moors, the castle ruins.  You can smell the cruel joke fate plays making two people destined to love each other however not destined to be together. Other imagery, particularily in the smouldering animalics, is the Story of O and Roissy.  This lesser known novel tells the tale of a woman so in love with her lover she submits entirely to him.  The story is complex, evoking a range of emotions from humiliation to understanding to despair. Other images include monks, monastaries, dark woods and sinister plots. Djedi smells like a gotic romance reads and completely overtakes you.  For me personally it reminds me of a period in my life gone quite awry romantically. Complete with twists and turns, betrayals and deceptions, dark secrets and good intentions, it started innocently enough with real love and left much damage in it’s wake. When I apply Djedi it awakens that part of me that chose to forget and haunts me to the vetvier whisper of a drydown.  Deeply romantic as it is deeply agonizing I catch myself yearning to bring out my tiny sample vial and sniff once in a great while.      

Consider these lyrics to the video “I Miss You” by Blink 182. 

I miss you
I miss you Hello there
The angel from my nightmare
The shadow in the background of the morgue
The unsuspecting victim
Of darkness in the valley
We can live like Jack and Sally if we want
Where you can always find me
And we’ll have Halloween on Christmas
And in the night we’ll wish this never ends
We’ll wish this never endsI miss you
I miss youI miss you
I miss youWhere are you
And I’m so sorry
I cannot sleep
I cannot dream tonight
I need somebody and always
This sick strange darkness
Comes creeping on
So haunting every time
And as I stared I counted
The webs from all the spiders
Catching things and eating their insides
Like indecision to call you
And hear your voice of treason
Will you come home and stop this pain tonightStop this pain tonightDon’t waste your time on me
Your already the voice inside my head
[I miss you I miss you]
Don’t waste your time on me
Your already the voice inside my head
[I miss you I miss you]

Don’t waste your time on me
Your already the voice inside my head
[I miss you I miss you]
Don’t waste your time on me
Your already the voice inside my head
[I miss you I miss you]
Don’t waste your time on me
Your already the voice inside my head
[I miss you I miss you]
Don’t waste your time on me
Your already the voice inside my head
[I miss you I miss you]

I miss you
I miss you

I miss you
I miss you

I miss you
I miss you 

 

 

Yes, it is semi pop, but it embodies Djedi in it’s dramatic dark imagery, mournful strings and and moments of tender bells. It tears at your heart.

And the practical

I personally ordered this samp on a lemming and at first hated it on intial sniff. Too dry, to stanky, too much.  I dismissed it for awhile. I spent many months sniffing other things, training my nose if you will and came back to it able to appreciate it and see the story in the smell if you will.  It’s very hard to come by, Ebay has a bottle currently going for over $900 and the auction still goes on.  Its isn’t something most people would wear regularly, more like bring out to disturb the dead, much like Heathcliff disturbed Cathrine’s grave to bring her out of her peace to haunt him – just to be near her again.  So don’t go nuts looking for it. 

notes rose, musk leather, civet vetvier, oakmoss patchouli

Quick Quickie

 

It dawned on me I have readers who share my same obsession; i.e. perfume and they might be able to help me out!  Does anyone have Guerlain Aqua Allegoria Exaltant or Shisedo Nombre Noir to swap a sample for?  I’m dyin’ to try these and I can’t seem to find samples anywheres!  So, if you have these and would like to arrange a swap, please leave me a comment.

 Look for Djedi tommorrowish

http://artfiles.art.com/images/-/Family-Guy—Stewie-Most-Wanted-Poster-C10378191.jpeg

Happy Easter!

What I wore

egg hunt at the church with family – - Miss Dior, for it’s sophisitcated green springiness and indolic fertile florals.  All the things spring is about

Rat Pack broadwayshow and fancy dinner out — CoCo Chanel was perfectly big floral bombshell that made my super bombshell-a-rific dress and fur a complete experience.  Good show if you can catch it.  I looked and felt totally Sophia Loren

Easter Sunday– I’m feeling rather tired and allergic today, and it was SUPPOSED to be rainy and cloudy, so I chose Bal a Versaille for the warm animalic,leathery comfort-skank factor.  I also brought along Songes for it’s sexy springy florals if my mood changes, which it hasn’t yet. 

 What did everyone end up actually wearing?  Coming this week: Djedi review, maybe another green review and of course candy jar friday featuring Feminite du Bois sister, Dior’s Dolce Vita. 

Enjoy your friends and family this holiday. If I find a  good picture out of the batch I might be posting one of me and the Princess this week.

A Winner! and a Question of the Day

Anne you have chosen wisely!  (now  I suppose I should kick myself in the butt and finish that review) I will be contacting you to get your mailing info to send you the prize. 

Question of the Day:  What are you all wearing for Easter?  I haven’t decided yet…

friday candy jar day! jasmin et cigarettes by etat libre d’orange

Doesn’t the name sound fabulous, as in Absolutely Fabulous?  It conjures images of calling people “sweetie-dahling” and ordering “champagne and nibbly things” while smoking a cigarette in a long holder post coitus with a trashy man.  Enough about my retirement plans, what about the perfume, eh?

Well, infatuated with the vision above I couldn’t wait to try it out.  So I dabbed and waited.

UGH.  HAMSTER!!  The cedar in the juice is WAY out of control.  I try my damnedest to wait it out for what is supposed to be amazingly indolic jasmin and tobacco…but I can’t.  my eyes are watering and I keep expecting a rodent to attack me from inside it’s excersize ball.  I scrub and scrub and scrub. 

Day two: the hamster returns!  I am so very disappointed I won’t be all french whored up with smoke and nearly humanistic function smelling jasmine  that I want to cry.  Into the pile of discards this one goes. 

notes: jasmine absolute, tobacco, hay, apricot, tonka bean, tumeric, cedar, amber and musk. actual notes : cedar, hamster hair and droppings set on fire and then doused

On a happier note, I showered off the nast with the Hermes Eau des Merveilles body wash and lotion, which I must say is rather true to the heart of the perfume — the salty, amber woodsy pepper musk divinity.  If you love EdM I reccommend getting some of the gel and lotion to layer with.  This will become a summer favorite, and a particular spa treat when I add sugar or salt to the gel to exfoliate.  Heaven!

Til next time, keep guessing on the video-perfume quiz.  I’ll give you a clue: it is a Guerlain

Prize is a few from my discards, as well as mini samps of the EdM perfume, lotion and wash and whatever else I feel inclined to throw in.  so GUESS!!!  you can’t win if you don’t play!

Ramblings updated march 31 — feminite du bois

I wasn’t feeling all greenly inspired today, so I took it off.  I went outside and enjoyed the lovely day that was just warm enough but still a bit chilly with the wind.  Princess and I did the markets and played in the sun, cut some lavander from the patio garden and just laid back.  Needing a little something different perfume-wise, I rooted around until I found some Feminite du Bois. 

Dear Feminite du Bois,

    I do apologize for slighting you on many occasions.  At first, I merely dismissed the oddness of your composition to bad chemistry or crack smoking bloggers, but then I discovered it was I who had the problem.  I simply did not give you a fair go around and as consequence, missed out on the deliciously comforting and sexy cumin bomb laced with plums and incense that you are.  Please allow me to make amends by procuring a bottle of your delightful perfume, in parfum if I am lucky enough to find it.

 Sincerest apologies,

Perfumequeen

Yes, I ‘ve finally succumbed to the goodness that is FdB and have no idea how it took me so long.  Once, while pregnant with Princess, I had a few ripe plums for breakfast, fresh from the plum tree.  Biting into each juicy ruby fleshed plumb was an ephiphany of scent.  Thier natural perfume slayed me, and since then I have been on a quest to find plum-scented perfume.  However internet searches and trips to sephora came up empty.  Then, as i sprayed FdB the plum came back to me. 

FdB is only lightly gourmand, not a perfume for one who  wants to smell like fruit.  Instead, the plum infuses the cedarwood, which in the opening takes on a cuminy face, and spices with its over-ripe decadence.   The cumin gives the compostion that familiar aroma of slightly unwashed underarm, which as I have mentioned in my Gucci and Femme reviews is very sexy.  How unexpected is it to smell something less than pristine and shower fresh on a woman these days?    Giving someone a scent-glimpse into something so private as being maybe a day old dirty is like revealing a bit more about your inner self, or at least like discreetly making it obvious you are not wearing underwear.  Its personal, and almost dangerously sexy. 

Somewhere in the concotion I smell honey-ed notes, and briefly bubblegum, but for the most part the major players of plum, cedar and spice dance together like smoke curli-ques from a hookah.  Drydown is like catnip — dark, dry almost musky woods laced with smoke.  That left on my pillow over night makes me wish to stay in bed a little bit longer.  Sensual, yet comforting FdB a brunette version of another new favorite, Dior’s Dolce Vita, which seems more peachy to my nose, though cuminy.  FdB has inspired many pther compostions, several by Serge Lutens (nose for Shishedo who released FdB and Serge Lutens line) as well as DelRae’s Bois de Paradis, which to my nose is stronger and sweeter.  It has also been said that it was inspired by other favorite, Caron Parfum Sacre, which I can feel a similairity in the comfortingly sexy aura.  FdB seems just right for cooler weather and warm blankets, or evenings in your intellectually sexiest dress. 

What do you think of it?  Lemming over the cliff? or Lemming on the way to the WWW of purchase?

UPDATE:  I just received a small sample of the pure parfum and it is sheer heaven.  all notes are more pronouced, esp. the fruit which is dripping with over-ripe juiciness.  The next bottle of extrait on ebay is MINE!!! of course I’ll share some of it in my decants, as it is also hard to find. 

notes :cedarwood, orange blossom, peach, honey, plum, and beeswax, cedarwood, clove, cardamom, and cinnamon, cedarwood, clove, cardamom, and cinnamon