SOTD: Chanel No. 19 parfum

Eep! I forgot my SOTD post!

Well, through the magic of backdating, here it is. Thursday's scent was Chanel No. 19 parfum. I've mentioned that I generally save this scent for days that are near-guaranteed to be pleasant. But I badly wanted to smell it, so I risked wearing it on a work day. And it was a medium lousy work day.

But No. 19 was its usual self, a combination of surpassing beauty and "you wanna make something of it?" strength. So maybe it's the best thing to wear on a bad work day.

Review Roundup: Is here.

Image: Wikimedia Commons.

SOTD: Chanel Cristalle (Woohoo!)

Ha! I sprayed on Cristalle this morning, expecting that my nose would shrug.

Nope. It's fantastic. Green. Crisp. Sharp. That ambiguous no-season of shrugging at my perfume is over. The warm season is here. I declare celebration.

Review Roundup: Is here.

Photo: By Alex Sims. Wikimedia Commons.

SOTD: Serge Lutens Daim Blond

Yum.

I tried another overapplication experiment with this, to see if it changed at all. It didn't. And that's fine - I love Daim Blond just the way it is.

But I see that I've never talked about it in detail. That's probably because it's hard to describe. It's not hard to smell or to love - at least for me, it's a love at first sniff, sink in, comfort scent. But it's a scent that doesn't make sense. Leather and fruit. Pale suede and apricot. It's not an apricot danish thrown at a lady's suede hat, or an apricot hand pie in a suede crust (eew), or anything like that. The two are merged. It's... it's... OK, you see the problem? I can't come up with a single fantastical object that ought to smell like this.

Now, the notes don't say apricots. The notes are hawthorn and cardamom on top, iris and apricot stone and pallida in the middle, and musk, heliotrope, and leather at the base. I'm guessing that the fruit that I'm getting is really the heliotrope - don't they call it "cherry pie"?

The top notes are my favorite. There's an odd scent that's both fresh, or maybe I just mean volatile, and rich - maybe it's the hawthorn. And plenty of fruit, and plenty of suede. But even though it announces "suede" loud and clear, there's nothing animalic here. No, I can't explain that. I don't get the cardamom at all, but I'm guessing that it, plus the bitterness of the apricot stone, explains why the whole mix doesn't collapse into an oversweet mess.

As time goes on, there's a good deal less fruit, and the leather is quieter. The musk shows itself, and there's a very fine, silky powder that I'd guess is the pallida. Even when I officially hated powder and musk, and disliked iris, I loved Daim Blond.  Now all three are growing on me, and someday I may prefer this phase to the fruity top notes.

At the end, the last traces are a faintly sweet powder. That's nice, too; I may overapply even more next time to get a stronger, clearer view of the base.

Yum.

Review Roundup: Is here.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

SOTD: Serge Lutens Serge Noire

This is one of my very favorites. Sadly, it was the wrong choice for today - a cloudy, dull, day, neither hot or cold, one of those days when you keep putting the sweater on and taking it off again, when you alternate between feeling chilly and unprotected, or sweaty and crowded.

It appears that Serge Noire is better for days with more decided weather. I've loved it in the cold, and in the summer heat, and in air conditioned chill after stepping in from summer heat, and in heated spaces after stepping in from the cold. But it apparently doesn't like halfhearted weather - that sort of weather brings out too much of the  sticky resin and too little of the glorious stone dust.

It's still a grand perfume, just not for today.

Review Roundup: Is here.

Photo: By AJHall1st. Wikimedia Commons.

SOTD: Chanel No. 19

I realized today that Chanel No. 19 extrait has two roles.

First, it's a special-occasion scent, a celebratory scent. A scent for dressing up. In that role, it's also one of the scents that I most strongly defend from negative associations - normally, I only wear Chanel No. 19 on days that I expect to be very good days.

But it has a second role. It's also a "don't mess with me" scent.

In this role, I see it as a beautiful, not altogether human creature. She's lounging as she observes the source of the problem. Her green claws are sheathed but ready, and one eyebrow is raised just enough to inquire, without words, "Are you sure you want to do that?"

Like my image for Tubereuse Couture, I'm not that creature, but sometimes it's very useful to smell as if I am.

Review Roundup: Is here.

Cropped image of William Glacken's Young Woman In Green: Wikimedia Commons.

SOTD: Bois 1920 Sushi Imperiale

Someone on Basenotes recently asked what scent Santa would wear. Sushi Imperiale, of course!

So I wore it today for Christmas shopping. After I put it on, I thought for a moment that it might be a little too bracing for my sleepy self. But it turned out to be the perfect thing to wake me up for the outing, and right now for collapsing again at home after walking home with the bags.

Edited! because I forgot to point to the post with the Sushi Imperiale Review Roundup. Gotta have that.

Image: Wikimedia Commons.

SOTE: Chanel Cristalle EDT

I first discovered Cristalle on a fool's errand - I was looking for Cristalle Eau Verte, under the mistaken impression that I'd prefer the sweeter, fresher, watery modern flanker.

Feh. I smelled them both, and Eau Verte was forever forgotten. Okay maybe not forever - it is a green, after all, and it's hard for me to ignore any green. But it has to do a good long penance for daring to use Cristalle's name, before I'll consider it again.

Because Cristalle is Cristalle. Nothing else should be using its name. That is, Cristalle Eau de Toilette is Cristalle - the Eau de Parfum should also run along and get another name. Cristalle EDT, 1974 formulation, by Henri Robert, is Cristalle, and irreplaceable among the greens.

And you should go get a bottle, before it gets reformulated out of existence, if it hasn't already. I, personally, have two medium and two mini bottles, so I'm taken care of for a while. Though I admit that I'm tempted to send off for a gross of bottles and a fridge to keep them in.

So, worshipful maundering aside, what does it smell like? To me, it smells like galbanum (bright, sharp, merciless green), osmanthus (soft, gentle, creamy flowers), and oakmoss (oakmoss). Officially, it smells like Sicilian lemon, bergamot, rosewood, hyacinth, oakmoss, and vetiver. I'll take their word for most of that, and I can pick out the hyacinth once I'm told, but I can't believe that there's no galbanum in there.

Again, go buy some before it's too late.

Review Roundup: Now Smell This and Perfume-Smellin' Things and Bois de Jasmin and Perfume Posse and ScentsOfSelf and MakeupAlley and Fragrantica and PeredePierre and Yesterday's Perfume.

(Edited to add to the Review Roundup.)


Photo: By Juni. Wikimedia Commons

SOTD: Bois 1920 Sushi Imperiale

This is another one of Those Scents, the scents that smell like me. The core wardrobe. The ones I'd take to a desert island.

I can't really offer any review-like words, because Fracas hasn't altogether gone away since yesterday. But I talked about it here.

I'm getting alternating whiffs of Sushi Imperiale's glittering ginger, and Fracas's thick tuberose. I'm getting a vision of that sugar-crusted candied ginger, in a crystal bowl with heavy cream poured over it.

It's nice.

That is all.

Photo of candied orange peel (I know, but I couldn't find ginger) from Wikimedia Commons.

SOTD: Chanel No. 19 Parfum, or, what would a witch wear?

This one is my favorite.

WARNING: Rhapsodizing ahead again.

Given that I've sampled hundreds of perfumes and own dozens, and that more of them than I can list were absolutely delicious, that's no small statement.

I'll say it again: This one is my favorite.

I can't do it justice in description. The best phrase that I've seen isn't mine - it refers to No. 19's "unsheathed green claws".  There are companions to the green, the rose most apparent, but galbanum is the queen. Today, the witch queen.

This one is my favorite. I have no more words.

Review Roundup: Perfume-Smellin' Things and Bois de Jasmin and Legerdenez and PeredePierre (the EDT) and The Non-Blonde and Yesterday's Perfume and ScentsOfSelf and MossyLoomings and ScentLessSensibilities and Now Smell This.

Modified to add to the Review Roundup.

Photo: Mine

SOTD: Serge Lutens Serge Noire

I continue to be surprised at how much I love this one. When I first sprayed it on my arm, long ago at Barney's (visualize nostalgic Mists of Time... OK, it was just last year or so) I thought that it was somewhere between unimpressive and unpleasant.

I had something much sweeter and more inviting (Chergui?) on the other arm, so when we rushed away (Barney's usually needs to fit in after a show and before dinner) I was happily sniffing that, and occasionally checking in to see what the deal was with that weird, sour stuff on the Serge Noire arm.

Then the weird, sour stuff started to develop, and became not sour, but dry. And still weird, but a dark, wonderful sort of weird. When I smell it, I see an endless desert of jet-black powder-fine sand. Maybe with a volcano nearby, long cold, but you can still smell the fact that there was once fire there.

After an hour, I was sniffing the arms equally. After ninety minutes, it was the sweet arm that was only occasionally getting a sniff. After two hours, I'd forgotten the sweet arm entirely and was dividing my attention between my dinner (a very fine dinner) and the wonderful black dust.

I still delight in this transformation, every time I wear Serge Noire. I don't like the top notes much better than I ever did, but they make me happy, because I know what's coming.

Review Roundup: Love it or hate it, this one gets a lot of opinions! Perfume Posse and Fragrantica and Perfume Shrine and Grain de Musc and Pink Magenta and Nathan Branch and Now Smell This and WAFT and StyleCaster and BitterGrace Notes (one sentence review) and EauMG and Grain de Musc and Basenotes and Fragrantica and Perfume Shrine and Perfume-Smellin' Things and Fragrantica again and Pink Sith.

Edited to expand the Review Roundup.

Photo by Mila Zinkova. Wikimedia Commons. Click for details.

SOTD: Bois 1920 Sushi Imperiale

Ahhhh.

This one just makes me happy.

Someone described it as smelling like root beer. I can see that, though it's really old-fashioned root beer that's still made with real roots. There's also a ginger beer vibe, the strong real-ginger ginger beer. This isn't warm, bready gingerbread; it's a brighter and more electric ginger than that.

It's happy. It's silly. It's Christmas. It doesn't shine, it sparkles. White twinkly lights. White twinkly lights on an ice-covered tree luxuriating in billows of snow on a sunlit winter day, when you don't have to do anything but sit inside by the Christmas tree and admire the view outside. And the holidays are still ahead of you, and they're going to be good, and there are cookies in the house and, of course, you're going to eat them with the ginger beer. Ice cold ginger beer, but that's OK, because it's warm in here.

I've mentioned, I think, that I like this stuff?

Ahhhh.

Oh! And the Review Roundup: Smell-O-Vision and Fragrantica and Vetivresse and Perfume Posse and PeredePierre and Perfume Patter and EauMG.

(Edited to add to the Review Roundup.)

Photo: Wikimedia Commons, by Jake N. Click for more details.

SOTD: Serge Lutens Daim Blond

Suede and apricots.

Fact one about Daim Blond: I remember reading that leather scents don't really smell like leather, but instead smell like the chemicals used to treat leather. That certainly seems to be true of Daim Blond. It smells like a brand-new, well-pampered suede... something. A cloak, maybe. A fur-lined cloak, but since we're in a perfume fantasy it's leather and fur that didn't require actually killing anything. Pale blonde suede and deep silky white fur.

Fact two about Daim Blond: If I'm wearing this, the cold season has begun. The desire for bright, refreshing, breezy perfumes is gone. Now I want to be wrapped in olfactory warmth.

Fact three about Daim Blond: I like the top notes of this one the most. All day, I'll be resisting the temptation to spray on just a little more, to get the top notes again. Don't get me wrong - it's delicious from beginning to end, but the beginning is the best.

Fact four about Daim Blond: I love this stuff. It's one of "my scents". There are the scents that guest star, that I dig out of the sample box or the Drawer Of Forgotten Bottles and go "ooh!" and try them out for the day. And then there are the scents with well-established associations, that I put on and sink into. The ones that make me "smell like me", even if "me" smells twenty different ways because I have far too many favorites.

New discovery about Daim Blond, as I do the review roundup: Hey, it has a hawthorne note? Is that the special part that I can't put my finger on? I'm adding hawthorne to my list of Notes To Investigate.

I usually wear Daim Blond when I'm at least a little dressed up and going out on a cold day. Today, I'm wearing pajamas and socks. As I suspected, it works well that way.

Review Roundup: Perfume-Smellin' Things and Perfume-Smellin' Things again and peredepierre and Fragrantica and Basenotes and MakeupAlley and Boomtown Boudoir and Sweet Diva and The Non Blonde and Pink Manhattan and wouldsmellassweet and Perfume Posse and Katie Puckrick Smells and Bonkers About Perfume.

Edited to add to the Review Roundup.

Photo by Fir0002, Wikimedia Commons. Click for details.