mémoire

To round off a week of fragrance posts, the latest batch of my first impressions:

Arquiste Fleur de Louis
Day 1: a floral bouquet it definitely is. I can identify the neroli…I think, and there’s a touch of green-ness which is probably the galbanum, but overall a nice fresh, floral mix. Very smoothly mixed, it’s also light, feels like a very fine veil. Perhaps lovely is the best word to describe this smell. I can also see this as a bridal or baby shower scent. I feel rather impulsive to want a full bottle of this, but it really is lovely.

Day 2 & 3 & 4: been wearing this to work and have decided on purchasing the full bottle.



Caron Sacre EdT
Day 1: fizzy green ish opening that soon turns into darker, heavier florals. Texture is like velvet? Probably it’s the Myrrh that’s contributing to this texture and the warmth? It definitely doesn't feel like a modern fragrance, which it isn't (actually older than me!). Once the scent settles, I get more so a powdery note. But I don’t really get any of the spice notes, perhaps that’s because my sample isn’t a spray vial so I’m missing out on the top notes. I imagine this being the fragrance of a old-school, white table cloth restaurant that enforces a dress code, or like a charity gala or award night.



Miller Harris Fleur de Sel
The very start of the opening was a light bouquet of flowers, with the texture of a tightly weaved linen that’s been washed so much that it’s super soft. Then I smell spices. And none of these are in the commonly perceived notes, which are herbal/aromatic, and salty. I think the combination of herbs and leather might be what gives me the spices impression. One note that I do smell distinctly is vetiver.

Unfortunately I didn’t realize this was a discontinued scent before buying a sample of it. I have a policy of not trying any vintage or discontinued scents in case I fall in love with them…which is exactly what happened here. It has all the elements of what I like in a fragrance for hot weather. I’ve already messaged Miller Harris’ customer service with hopes that there may be a chance for it to come back, but at the very least I can buy 15ml decants on Surrender to Chance (very expensive per ml) or gamble on eBay.



Van Cleef & Arpels Bois d’Iris
It reminds me of several Sylvaine Delacourte scents, there is creamy vanilla, a powdery iris, and the woods. Quite a heavy textured scent, which I’m not feeling in this early summer weather. Will retry when it cools down. Ah I smell some amber in the dry down, nevermind time to skip. I was not diligent enough checking the notes before sampling.



Clinique Aromatic Elixir
Day 1: the opening invokes New York. It’s cool (the vibe, not the temperature). It’s something I want to wear while walking around the shops in Soho and Nolita. It also smells retro…or I guess not modern, which again it isn’t. The scent very much reminds me of soap, but specifically of 肥皂 (soap for washing clothes, as oppose to 香皂, soap for washing yourself). In some whiffs I detect a floral香 as well. It’s a very intriguing scent, and I can’t figure out why I like the smell so much. It’s not really an attractive smell, like florals for example, but it’s just so interesting. It’s dry (as in opposite of sweet) and herbal enough to wear in the heat, so perhaps I’ll wear this instead of resorting to desperate measures to get my hands on Fleur de Sel.

Day 2: got a whiff of the florals in the opening



Serge Luten Iris Silver Mist
It smells like a place. Definitely a familiar smell, but not a perfume. Maybe my maternal grandparent’s place? Smells like a lot of old stuff, but like comforting. The official site’s description mentions that “Iris rhizomes have long been used in Tuscany to perfume linen cupboards”, which matches me imagery. An old closet full of bedding and towels, all clean but have been frequently used for many years. Familiar. It also feels warm to me, which is odd since most reviews mention a cool feeling. Also don’t get a metallic feel either. The earthiness might be what reminds me of my grandparent’s place, since it was humid and often musty (is that the white amber? cause its not as awful as amber but definitely a note that makes me pause) due it being on the ground floor and without AC when I was a kid. 

Don’t think I would want to reach for it often, for when a contemplative mood strikes (aka when I’m tired but can’t sleep). That doesn’t stop me from wanting to own a bottle, thankfully logistics is rightfully preventing me from doing so. Actually…opps I found a good deal for the 30ml, uh oh. Lemmi sit on this. Nevermind, the amber is stronger now and it does really bother me. Hurray for money saved!

ripple

Contrary to my last perfume post, the package I was expecting did not arrive. Or USPS tracking said it was delivered, but it was not. Unless someone stole the package within the 20min that the delivery was timestamped and me arriving me, but I think its more likely that it was a snafu on USPS' part. Except that my claim has been sent around to 3 post office locations with no results. Let's see how this plays out.

That is not to say that I'm without samples to play with. It's the opposite actually, my two other orders arrived, and I've gone to Houston's Le Labo and Aesop store when I realized that I was a block away on my home from Menil.

Today's post will be my first impression of the Le Labo and Aesop scents:

First off, Le Labo samples are so expensive (actually not a surprise), they're $6 each for a standard sample size vial. Luckyscent's samples are almost always $4 ;_; At least the Aesop samples are complimentary, although they're one time use wipes.

I've been wearing Bergamote 22 for the latter half of last week, but the remaining are all blotter impressions:

Aesop Marrakesh Intense
omg I totally know what sandalwood smells like, it’s those scented fans I had as a kid! I like the smell very much, but not sure if I want to wear it as perfume. Can see it as a scent to wear to sleep, most strongly associated with summer evenings. Would be all over this as a home scent tho, a diffuser perhaps?

Aesop Tacit
I smell the yuzu, but then it smells like a generic lemon cleaning product scent.

Aesop Hwyl
oof lots of smokey wood at the opening, which made me discover that I’m not a fan of smokey woods. But once that goes away in 15-20min, it’s a pure coniferous forest smell. I picture myself hiking up Grouse (never again…) an being surrounded by coniferous trees and mist. Not getting the moss tho (but then again…what does moss even smell like), which was the imagery that made me want to try this. This is super fresh, will try again on an unbearably humid day.

Le Labo Rose 31
rose, but green. Not spicy. If I smell really hard, there’s some wood in the background. After about an hour, I’m starting to smell the resemblance to Duke, which I found out is formulated by the same nose (Dauphne Bogey). But this leans a lighter feeling than Duke. Fairly certain I’ll buy one of the two.

Le Labo Bergamote 22
Blotter impression: smells like bergamot briefly at the very beginning, then changes. Not sure what is changes to, but smells nice. About 2 hours in, it’s powdery and soft, which is totally the opposite of what I associate with bergamot. Most reviews I’ve read of Le Labo mentions the lack of relation between the name and main scent, so I’m not surprised. While I do like the scent, it’s nothing special and not what I was looking for. In the dry down, I smells hints of citrus poking though.

Day 1: Very bergamot opening, but like…smooth, almost creamy (as in the texture, not the dairy product smell). I like the opening very much, overall super pleasant. Reminds me of having afternoon tea. Next comes a floral note, can’t identify which flower tho. Blends very smoothly with the bergamot. Still very pleasant, but not remarkable. The scent is already starting to fade (~2 hours)…uh oh.

Day 2: perhaps the longevity is short because the sample vial has a crappy spray. Today is 2 sprays on the back of my neck. It smells the same as day 1, with decent projection (can smell myself). Lasted about 6 hours, it was nice getting whiffs of the smell while it latest.

Day 3: wore this out to site visit to see if a hotter and more humid environment changes the scent. Not really xD Pretty much same smell and performance as Day 2.

Overall impression: pleasant, just very pleasant. Also very inoffensive, I'd feel safe wearing this to client meetings. Will pass on full bottle.

 Another datapoint in my ongoing quest to figure out the correlation / causation between scents and my headaches: I did develop a headache after coming home from these shops. I was not as dehydrated as previous occurrences, so this is at least only a contributing factor. A new factor I'm considering is the intensity of smells, by which I mean in perfume shops I smell a lot of things in a short amount of time. In contrast when I'm sampling at home, I try only 1 or 2 scents a day. 

19.03 Monthly Review-ish

I've wrote it...on the topic of relationship changes...elsewhere.

But here's a quotation that sums up the bulk of the reflection:

Loss is designed to be the catalyst for the more intense appreciation of the here and now

From one of the exhibits at MFAH

...

Maybe this except isn't giving the right mood of my reflection. It was a painful process, for sure, but the temporary resolution I'm quite happy about and satisfied with. I've also come out with deeper knowledge of myself. So it's more of a...it was a great learning experience but never again! Except it will happen again, and again, ad infinitum probably. So perhaps a more accurate categorization is that if faced with those time machine questions (if you could go back to one event and change the outcome), I'd immediately think of this change but decide that it was for the better and not change it.

In a parallel universe, it's true

Feels like I've been trying to catch up with life, never quite getting there tho.

Here's catching up with my liked tracks on Soundcloud:



Guess I'm still at a stage where these lyrics makes my heart tinge.

...

FYI this post is being written approx ~2 weeks before it's posting date. But throughout last week (so 3 weeks ago from when you read this), I was thinking really hard how to answer the casual question of "how are you / how was your weekend / etc" without being false but while being bland. I ended up answering either "lacking sleep", which is the incomplete truth, or "could be better", which cannot ever be false. I think a more satisfying (to myself) answer would be the experience simultaneously being a very good and very bad thing.

orris

I've very recently said that I would sample perfumes slowly...but I threw that discretion out the window and have since made 3 sample orders. The first of which arrived earlier this week so I'm posting my notes from my Saks samples:

L'artisan Parfumeur - Dzhonkha

Day 1
Florals for hours ~2-3
Dry down is warm, bit too warm for my preference
Long lasting, could smell on self after work

Day 2
Opening...sour, don't think was present in the first day. Not sure how to describe the sour? Like a body odour sour? Yoghurt that's been in the fridge too long sour? Not a gross sour, but a...this is past it's prime but still ok sour.

Day 3
No sour smell this time, a hint of fruitiness, just a barest hint, in with the florals?

Overall: on the fence about, aka no full bottle

...

Penhaligon - Much Ado About the Duke

Day 1
Opening very rose, but pleasant to me rose. I get sniffs of peppery-ness, but would not have identified it without reading the notes. To me it's like a...sparkling feeling, a little green. Predominantly rose, and very static.
Applied second time later in the day (~7 hours later), smells much more spicy. Is it because I read reviews that mentions the spiciness?

Day 2
Back to rose opening, but do notice the spiciness in the heart and dry down. Very tenacious perfume, lasts through a hot long shower, I like. Very close to skin, nose needs to be within ~1” to smell it once the opening is gone. Very tempted to buy full bottle…but will try Le Labo Rose 31 before deciding.

Overall: like this a lot better on my skin than on the blotter while in stores. Very tempted to buy full bottle, but will try other spicy rose scents.

...

Penhaligon - Iris Prima

Day 1
Powdery floral opening? I like the first 30 seconds or so quite a lot. But then I remember why I shy away from florals, which is that I can’t stand them in large or long doses without some other element to ground it (like the spices in Duke). I get the ballerina / ballet association with this scent, it’s like the soft, pink stereotype, although I’ve read that the inspiration for this perfume is the opposite, suppose to be the sweat, grit, and daily practice. I also thought I recognized the iris note in this, but not every time that I sniff this. About 10 mins in, I’m starting to smell more…grounding elements? Maybe it’s the leather, although I don’t have a good reference for how leather smells like in perfume, although I do very much know the smell irl. I’ll go with a soft, worn leather ballet flat.

Day 2
~6 hours later: suede! Maybe a suede glove rather than suede shoes. Or even a suede jacket or accessory.

Overall: I like but not enough for full bottle. Also ordered other iris centric fragrances to sample.

...

Penhaligon - The Uncompromising Sohan

Day 1
I like the opening a lot, am ambivalent about the heart, but do enjoy the dry down again. There are also a ton of samples of oud-y rose fragrances in my to-try skin. It’s also the first scent that I associate a seasonality to, this is definitely something I prefer to wear in the winter. It’d be perfect for hiding under blankets. Actually, on that thought, a good scent to apply when you get home, which works out to falling asleep to the dry down notes.

Overall: I like this less on my skin than on the blotter in store, so no full bottle. Will sample other rose-saffron-oud fragrances, particularly excited about trying Amouage.

...

I recall making notes on the other samples I've tried, and on Lord George, but seem to have lost them. From my memory:

• Penhaligon Lord George: my everyday working scent, LBD equivalent? 
• L'artisan Parfumeur Mandarina Corsica: I surprisingly like this, multi-faceted mandarine, with a creamy caramel note that I can actually stand. Will wear the remaining of my sample for Thanksgiving / Christmas.
• L'artisan Parfumeur Passage D'enfer: I'm ambivalent erring on the side of like. It's pleasant but no aspect really stands out to me. Ditto for Timbuku. 
• L'artisan Parfumeur Mirabilis: oh gosh this one I hated. Attempted to wash it off my skin after ~30min, but it was a tenacious scent. Too sweet, which is bad enough, but also resin-y which just made the sweetness even more unbearable. 

...

Overall take-aways:

• I had no idea that I would be into rose. I've written off florals as a whole due to my headaches before, but I'm excited to explore them again
• Iris I still like
• Incense I don't like as much as I initially thought. It adds interest, but I don't want too much of it. Maybe it's because most of the incense is Western incense, which is not the same of my memory of incense in Buddhist temples. 
• Currently ambivalent on heavy woods, maybe it's just the season?

luminance

This weekend's outing: BBQ & more art

The Menil Collection main building

I discovered really cool mobiles by Alexander Calder, and a painting that reminded me of a particular Kyotographie exhibit (plankton macro). I miss that trip ugh.

The Pit Room

The charred green beans are amazing! I'm guessing charred and then braised with drippings from the meat. The sauce is very sour with decent level of spiciness. The pickle(s, there was a pickle bar!) were a relief between all the meat. The meat...well the brisket would be more tender, and the pulled pork is pretty similar to every other pulled pork.

pop

Turns out that the answer to both making and eating granola is buttermilk:

recipe via Serious Eats

Stella has already wrote about the effect of buttermilk in making granola in the linked recipe, so I'll just append that with buttermilk has the perfect consistency (milk is too thin and yogurt, especially greek yogurt, too thick) and a good amount of acidity to team with the granola.