Wednesday, June 22, 2016

Perfume Fetish

Ever since my second grade teacher Miss Bunting walked by me with her perfume wafting behind, I have had a very strong perfume fetish. If someone was wearing a delicious fragrance, I would try to follow him or her, pulling scent from their wake of air.  I learned to ask, "What is your perfume?" It was the late 50's, and the social air was scented.

In this blog, I talk about "perfume," but what I really mean is either cologne or eau de toilette. I  rarely came in contact with perfume-the-real-stuff until a few months ago.

My earliest experiment was wearing "Topaz," a scent by Avon which my mother liked. One Monday I sneaked some before going to school. "What stinks?" asked Steven Parry in my 7th grade social studies class. Mom had other bottles of equal unpleasantness, but I tried them just the same. She finally did better with a bottle of Chanel No. 5. Impressed with the attachment Mom had for it, I didn't dare try any, but instead sniffed for magic at the tiny hole in the atomizer. Unfortunately, Mom rationed it so carefully that it ultimately turned to antique vinegar. On my own at last at age 18, and in Japan to study, my perfume hunt was stymied. In 1969, Japanese ladies bought bottles of scent but never wore them. Like French cheeses, they were admired and detested.  I knew the name of one perfume I liked, "Femme" by Rochas. A 4-hour trip to Tokyo and then to a large department store netted me a very expensive bottle, which I couldn't wait to bring back to the countryside of Nagano Prefecture. When I opened the bottle, instead of heaven was---nothing! It was a "dummy bottle," meant for display only. Was I cheated? Was it just a mistake? I'll never know, because I was too embarrassed to do anything about it, including telling anyone---which I do here for the very first time.

From 1971 until the present, I have never been without a bottle or two of eau de cologne or eau de toilette. My favorites that I can remember have been "O de Lancome," "Fleur de Rocaille,""L'Air de Temps," "Shalimar," "White Linen," "Chanel No. 5," Floris "Sandalwood,""Femme," (not in a dummy bottle) "Lalique for Men,""Gucci Rush,""Flor Botanica," and "Henna de Pravia." I have always been searching for My Perfect Scent.

Suddenly, this year of 2016, I made a discovery. Silly naif: I never realized that the world of perfume is as complex as the world of wine. Even the simplest Wikipedia search for "Perfume" yields more information about the field than I ever knew existed. But for me, a new and serious exploration started with the discovery of the website Basenotes  which is dedicated to perfume news and reviews. As I began reading about my favorites of yore, I realized that my infrequent trips to department stores to sniff pieces of stiff paper sprayed randomly with the big commercial brands were silly and inadequate. By chance, on Basenotes, I discovered a Los Angeles wonder store called Lucky Scent  which actually sends samples. These are not samples of the highly-advertised mall brands, but of special niche brands from all over the world. They cost $4-$6 per 7 ml. vial, which yield enough scent to know. Hooray! I got started right away with their Essential 13 unisex sample bag.

For each scent, there is a pyramid of ingredients which corresponds to the time it takes for them to develop. Starting with the top notes, right after the initial spray and "dry down," there is then a period of "middle notes," followed by the after-30-minutes more subtle "base notes." 

Now behold my ignorance. Since I was searching for The Perfect Scent, I took notes on the 13 unisex scents at two stages of their development: the top notes and the base notes, and then I gave them letter grades. Here is a "review" of my only A+, Montale's "Intense Cafe:" Has bergamot---wonderful. Four hours later, still wonderful."  Compare this with customer reviews (parts excerpted) on Basenotes: "The composition is mainly a balance of coffee, amber, rose and vanilla that leans most heavily to vanilla. I found the opening more fruity and floral fresh, with the dry down more a harmonious blend of the notes above..."  It "opens with a strong coffee note, and ...then it turns into a sweet rose with vanilla and amber. I could detect some coffee in the background."   Etc. If I decide to be a reviewer, my user name would have to be "The Tin Nose."  

Never mind, I found an A+ scent today: L'Artisan Parfumeur's "Chocolate Greedy." This was panned by a few reviewers, but what do I care? Smelling chocolate at the base of my throat for 8 hours is my fetishy idea of heaven. Follow my wake.

Note the astute reviews given by "The Tin Nose."


No more big bottles for the time being:samples are wonderful!!