SOTD: The Different Company Oriental Lounge. And the courage of my stinky convictions.

I wore this one again. And I wore (I lower my voice for this) enough for someone else to smell. I consciously put on a bit more than usual, and a friend complimented me on the scent at lunch.

I can never make up my mind how I feel about my perfume being noticeable. When someone wafts past me wearing a good perfume, I always enjoy that moment, so apparently I approve of it in others. Even if they waft past me wearing bad perfume, I mildly approve, as long as it's not a choking fog. I approve of perfume in general. I was pleased to get the compliment.

But I still usually wear one halfhearted spritz on the back of my neck under my hair, and another on my stomach under my shirt, so that even I only rarely get a faint whiff of the stuff. I'm a spritz wimp.

Is it time to change that?

Review Roundup: Is here.

Image: By Ilmari Karonen. Wikimedia Commons.

SOTD: Parfumerie Generale Iris Oriental. And Statistics.

Today I wore Parfumerie Generale Iris Oriental. Lovely, incense-dusty, starts out dry and dries down toward sweet. I'm considering a bottle. But how often would I wear it?

That makes me consider, how often do I wear anything? I've been logging almost every perfume-consuming day since I started this blog in October. I realized today that, hey! my tag counts give me an approximate idea of how much I've worn each fragrance. ("Approximate", because sometimes I tag a post based on a mention of a fragrance, rather than a wearing.)

So what have I been wearing? The top ten are:

• Serge Lutens Un Lys
• Chanel Cristalle
• Bois 1920 Sushi Imperiale
• Parfumerie Generale L'Eau Rare Matale
• Parfumerie Generale Tubereuse Couture
• Issey Miyake A Scent
• Parfumerie Generale Cadjmere
• Chanel Cuir de Russie
• Chanel No. 19
• Fendi Theorema

The most wearings for any scent, in the ten months since I started the blog, is eleven. That suggests that I shouldn't own more than a decant of anything. Let's just ignore that fact and move on quickly.

Parfumerie Generale is heavily represented - that's no surprise. I wouldn't have expected Un Lys to lead the pack, but it is an all-season fragrance, while Cristalle and Sushi Imperiale are seasonal. No. 19, my favorite, was several positions down from the top, but that's logical - I'm very protective of its scent associations, and generally save it for special occasions.

Issey Miyake A Scent is an unexpected entry in the top ten - I would have said that I mildly like this scent and only bought it to support the "green" trend. But it appears that I'm quite fond of it.

Cuir de Russie is the only fragrance in the top ten that I don't own in a full bottle. I shy away from the huge Thermos-sized bottle, but maybe I should break down and buy myself a one-ounce decant, and find a pretty old-fashioned atomizer to put it in. Or maybe I should just buy the Thermos and run around town forcing half-ounces on everyone who's ever expressed an interest in perfume. (Postal Regulation Phobia bites me again; without that, I could do a bottle split and keep the bottle.)

What aren't I wearing? What "investment" scents could have been skipped? Well, when I want incense, Paestum Rose can't compete with Serge Noire.  Cuir Venenum loses to Daim Blond or, when I want something less sweet, Cuir de Russie. Original Vetiver loses the battle with Vetiver Tonka. Cedre Sandaraque fails to beat the simpler Art of Shaving Sandalwood.

I remember loving Cuir Venenum and Cedre Sandaraque, so I'm going to resolve to wear them more often, until they find their niche. Paestum Rose and Original Vetiver, on the other hand, may be bottles that I'm ready to let go. If I could do so without mailing them, that is.

I still want that bottle of Iris Oriental. But the numbers have me persuaded that that would be Wrong. We'll see how long this sensible phase lasts.

Review Roundup for Iris Oriental: Is here.

Image: Wikimedia Commons.

SOTD: Parfumerie Generale Iris Oriental/Iris Taizo

Today is a gray, halfheartedly stormy, dull day. A boring day, finishing up a task that's already had all the flavor chewed out of it, followed by a dark evening that's not quite long enough, because the boring work took too long.

A feel-good scent wasn't going to work today. I'm just not in the mood to be beguiled. I went digging through the bottles and samples, and nothing was quite right. Bergamot or citrus or pretty flowers would be too maddeningly cheerful. Serge Noire, today, would be funereal. Comfort scents would either annoy me or send me straight to bed.

I picked up Iris Taizo on instinct, sprayed it on, and it's perfect. The stern, textured, challenging opening is just right for my mood. And I know that as my mood improves - the work is over, after all, even if it took too long - the scent will grow sweeter and quieter until, just about the time that I am ready to go to bed, it will have become a comfort scent.

Just right.

Review Roundup: Is here.

Image: Wikimedia Commons.

SOTD: Parfumerie Generale Iris Oriental (Formerly Taizo)

I just wore perfume again! I just enjoyed it, minus analysis.

My perfume work ethic has fallen apart. I can't tell you a single new thing about Iris Oriental, except that I like it even more than I did before.

(Updated!) Review Roundup: Is here.

Slacker Kitty picture by Clavecin. Wikimedia Commons.

SOTD: Parfumerie Generale Iris Oriental (Formerly Iris Taizo) and value through association

Last time I tried this one, I disliked the beginning, but I liked the whole package better and better as it developed.  This time, I still didn't like the top notes for themselves, but I associate them with the later stages that I do like, so I enjoyed them.

This is a phenomenon that I also experience with Serge Noire. I don't like the beginning - I find it odd and camphorous and watery and over-aggressive at the same time. But I still "like" this stage because I strongly associate it with the later stages, which I adore. I can "smell through" the unpleasant parts, and detect traces of the gorgeous dusty darkness that's coming. To a lesser extent, the same seems to be true of yesterday's Musk, and now of Iris Oriental.

I have a similar reaction to Chanel No. 19 Eau de Parfum and Eau de Toilette - I don't actually like those fragrances, but I love Chanel No. 19 parfum, and the other two strengths remind me of the parfum, so I like them by association. In fact, almost anything with a clearly perceptible galbanum note gets free points by riding Chanel No. 19's coattails, as far as I'm concerned.

I think that the fact that people form mental associations with scents so quickly, including associations with other scents, may make perfume a particularly subjective art form. An objectively beautiful perfume may remind you of a teacher that you hated. A dreadful one may remind you of the aunt that you adored. A rather average one may start with an accord that reminds you of the sweet peas that grew in your favorite place in the world when you were four, and that makes it magnificent for you.

So when am I going to get back to talking about Iris Oriental? Well, this wearing didn't teach me much more than last time, except that, yes, I do like it. Enough to be debating a decant or even a bottle.

Illustration: Wikimedia Commons

SOTD: Parfumerie Generale Iris Oriental (Formerly Iris Taizo)

Today my long-debated and long-awaited bottle of Parfumerie Generale Tubereuse Couture arrived in the mail. So my SOTD is my sample of Parfumerie Generale Iris Oriental, formerly named Iris Taizo. Don't ask me; I don't know. I used to be sane.

The listed notes for this are Guatemalan cardamom, iris, jinkoh wood, fig-tree honey, Mexican vanilla, and balsamic resins. I always wish that whoever writes these notes lists would make a point of specifying "iris root", because that's what "iris" is in perfumes - it has nothing to do with the flower. Somehow, I always forget that, so I always expect an iris perfume to be at least a little floral. At least in this case, nope. No flowers here.

It starts out heavy, dusty, and incense-like, though incense isn't in the listed notes - perhaps it's the cardamom. It's simultaneously dry and very thick. I can smell something inviting at the core, something sweeter and less dusty, and I want to brush all that incense away to get at it.

And that happens naturally - the incense seems to slowly burn away and fade to the background. An hour after application, it was all the same notes, but with the proportions tilted, with the wood facing me, and the whole thing a good deal less dry, though still very far from sweet.

A couple of hours after that, the incense seemed to be back, but an entirely different incense, softer and powdery. I went out to the grocery at this point, and kept walking through a lovely cloud of gentle, dry, lightly powdery oriental, and wheeling around to try to see who produced it. I suspect, in the end, that I was smelling myself. So it seems that I like this, or at least I like the heart and base notes. I'll have to wait for the next wearing to see if the top notes have grown on me.

Review Roundup: Now Smell This and The Non-Blonde and Perfume-Smellin' Things and Fragrantica and Basenotes and Perfume Posse (brief) and Aromascope (brief) and MakeupAlley and Scent of Abricots and Tea, Sympathy, and Perfume and WAFT and parfumieren and Perfume Patter and Beauty on the Outside.

Updated to expand the Review Roundup.

Photo: Mine