My Perfume is Arrogant

[ellenkushner]

We have in the past, here, discussed Chypre and Eau de Riverside (which I'm still holding my breath for BPAL to pick up) . . . . The scents that I myself wear regularly are pretty limited, though: Caleche (Hermes - and turns out to contain, guess what, chypre!); Padparadscha (Satellite); and Blenheim Bouquet (Penhaligon's).

While surfing for the ingredients to Blenheim (which elisem and Phoebe were trying to deduce this afternoon here at Hotel Chateau Riverside), I found some pretty amusing reviews on Basenotes, referring to Blenheim as austere . . . potent and dignified, but with virtually no “warm” or animal components... It’s hard to imagine any contemporary perfumer making a scent like this.... unapproachable.....not at all sexy or even concerned about being liked by anyone at all. ... It suggests a powerful arrogance .....an air of unapologetic immediacy and unquestioning self-assertion without any self-effacing self-consciousness....

Sound like anyone we know? It was, indeed, created in 1902 for a Duke (and not Tremontaine or even Avon, whatever you may think!) - though one enthusiast thinks it has all the sublimity of nature in a bottle - this is what Oberon sweats.... While another opines: a testimony to masterful blending and assured breeding.... Don't expect women to like this one. It's too resolutely masculine.

What more need be said?

OK, Penhaligon's (which does not distinguish between scents for men and women) lists the mix as: Lemon, Lime and Lavender, Pine, Musk and Black pepper.

And it smells damned good on me.

(And if you want to sniff it for yourself, they now stock Penhaligon's delicious scents at a surprising number of stores across the U.S.)

Comments

[habiliments.livejournal.com]

Oh ... this BPAL junkie would love a Swordsport line.

[woodburner.livejournal.com]

That would be awesome indeed!

[habiliments.livejournal.com]

It'd be even better if I could spell Swordspoint properly, I think. *blush* (The not-very-funny punchline to this joke is that my hand is tired from fencing class. Eep.)

[woodburner.livejournal.com]

Hah! How appropriate.

[dyfferent.livejournal.com]

I am sure there is a Hamam Bouquet wearer in the series at well...but who?

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

I tried Hamam Bouquet - the notes (Lavender and Bergamot,Rose Otto, Cedarwood, Orris and Jasmine,Amber, Musk and Sandalwood) are all things I like - but there's something in there that, like many perfumes, comes up too sweet on my skin after about 20 minutes (which, if someone reading this doesn't know from perfumes, is about how long you should leave it on before buying it. I'm told most new perfumes are concocted to smell great when shpritzed in the air in a department store or piece of paper, or when you first put them on . . . But of course, that's not what they're going to smell like on an individual for the rest of the day. Bah! this modern world!).

So no saying who it would take to, is there? But we can now play the fun new "Basenotes" game, and look up the reviews there, and see what adjectives come up most often and figure out which characters they best describe, can't we?

Ooo, fun!

[feuervogel]

Oh, I would, too.

I'm pretty sure there are some discussions in the forum (bpal.org) about what various Riverside scents would smell like, and the winter book club discussion was Swordspoint. *grin*

[wolfsilveroak.livejournal.com]

I second that.}:)

[woodburner.livejournal.com]

I'm not so sure about the lemon and lime, but the rest of those notes make it sound like exactly the sort of scent I like... Argh, no NC locations listed.

[elisem.livejournal.com]

And it smells damned good on me.

It certainly does. I can testify to that.

Thank you for a most splendid afternoon of art and conversation!

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

It was most memorable; I'm glad I commemorated it here. See you at KGB tonight - I'll be the one Defending the Realm!

Padparadscha

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

According to one website (http://nowsmellthis.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2006/2/20/1774093.html), "Padparadscha is named for the rare Padparadscha sapphire, and the notes include amber, musk, cedar, sandalwood, juniper and pepper" and also "might actually appeal to men more than women, given that it is so dry, and juniper also tends to seem more masculine than feminine."

Well, at least I'm consistent.

[kijjohnson.livejournal.com]

I tried a bunch of the Penhaligon scents when I was searching for a signature perfume, but I avoided even trying that one, figuring it was going to be a floral and I am not even a little about the florals. Now I need to find a place that carries it, I see.

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

Yes, the word "Bouquet" is misleading. Did you try Quercus? We both like that one, too - Delia is cursed with a skin that makes almost everything turn powdery sweet on her, but Quercus stands up to her.

[kijjohnson.livejournal.com]

I didn't try Quercus, though i tried English Fern and a couple of the others. English Fern was pretty sweet on me, so it's possible that I have the same problem Delia has.

[phoebesmum.livejournal.com]

The perfume I wear is alleged to have notes of citrus, leather and tobacco, which sounds as if it ought to make me smell like an old armchair in a gentlemen's club. Fortunately, it doesn't. Or, if it does, no-one's ever come right out and said so.

[quizzicalsphinx.livejournal.com]

My current favourite is BPAL's "Goblin", which is black coconut and patchouli that comes out smelling more like black pepper and vanilla cake--but in such a way that it makes black-pepper-and-vanilla cake sound delicious.

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

Cool! What's it called?

It's all so much a matter of individual skin chemistry, ennit?

[phoebesmum.livejournal.com]

It's Cabochard, by Gres. A work colleague used to wear it when I was in my 20s, but it took me nearly another 20 years (and the invention of the Internet) to track it down. In the course of which time, I suppose, I matured into it. I was an Anais Anais girl in my 20s.

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

Yum!

[handworn.livejournal.com]

But does the perfume go out of its way to be outrageous? Though I suppose that's a lot to ask of a scent. A wearer could instead suggest that part with clothing.

[wolfsilveroak.livejournal.com]

Sounds like something I'd like.
I'm not big on 'flowery' or 'floral', 'girly' perfumes, for all that I am female.

Personally, I wear BPAL's 'Wolf's Heart' alot.}:P

[saralinda.livejournal.com]

"This is what Oberon sweats"

You know, this image really turns me off of the idea of the fragrance. Really.