Scentzilla!

V’Tae Parfum & Body Care promises that its products are ” made with specially selected essential oils and organic, natural ingredients” and ” 100% cruelty free & PETA approved,” on their official website. What I find are afforadable products of good quality.

Sacred Fire is a pillowy and smokey incense fragrance, with an arid base of cedar and sandalwood. It’s warm spices perk my nose up, but never overpower me or make me feel like I’m only wearing spices. Corriander is the listed spice, but what it smells like to me is Mexican cinnamon sticks. A dab, and only the smallest dab, of vanilla seems to dwell at the heart of the scent. The perfumer who made it has a really nice delicate touch here, and consequently I’d describe it as a sensual but subtle incense perfume. There’s something to the feel of it that reminds me well of Givenchy’s Organza Indecence, which from me is a very complimentary comparison. I think my fellow Organza Indecence worshippers will find much to like in this fragrance. Sacred Fire is available both directly through V’Tae for $25, and discounted to $15 on the Amazon.com storefront for VitaminLife if you plan to spend enough to take advantage of their specials. It can be had for the same price of $15 directly through VitaminLife.com, however.

Green Grass & Sunshine is downright cheery. It goes on my skin quite sharply at first, and I have to wait several minutes before I can apreciate what it has to offer. The scent of a newly mown baseball field, wooden park benches warming in the sun, a glass of lemonade dripping with condensation from the summer heat: all these allusions artfully create an ideal summer setting. The notes smell to me like lemongrass, grass, juice-dripping citrus fruits like orange and lemon, and a particularly fine sandalwood note such as the one used in Czech & Speake’s No.88. It was a delightful discovery, and it can currently be had for a virtual steal for $7.24 at Amazon.com:::update::: SOLD OUT. There are some Green Grass & Sunshine body lotions going cheap from this eBay seller, and the eau de parfum is still being sold at Lotion Ocean for $19.50.

Egyptian Garden cooled me strangely enough, though it offers an almost-musky ambery aroma. Gentle use of florals adds to the cooling effect, causing me to smell clean and dew drop fresh, with little of the heaviness you might expect from an “oriental” perfume. It’s as refreshing as munching on cold cucumber slices on a hot day, though I did not per se actually smell cucumbers in the scent. Amazon.com describes it as a “velvety, sultry, complex parfum that has great tenacity,” and I would agree with that assessment. However, if you are sensitive to musks, especially in the warmer seasons, I might avoid buying this perfume unsniffed. The best deal for Egyptian Garden is also via the Amazon.com storefront for Vitamin Life if you plan to spend enough to take advantage of their specials. However, it can be had directly through VitaminLife.com for the same price of $27.

Important News for Stila Cosmetics Fans: According to the Beauty Jones blog, Stila will NO LONGER be carried at Nordstrom. Please see click on the link and read her right hand sidebar for more information.

Updated list of participants in the upcoming Mother’s Day Benevolent Blogging event:

Legerdenez is written by Cait Shorell, whose big beautiful brain I would love to crawl inside just to see how it works. Her sharp sythetical mind is able to see connections between different art forms in ways that are exciting and surprising. Her appreciation of perfumery, art, and literature never fail to inform and entertain. Legerdenez will be donating $1 for every comment made on the post on Mother’s Day to Orphan Foundation of America, and in addition, she awesomely will be holding a drawing for a to-be-announced perfume giveaway of some sort.

Victoria of Victoria’s Own has beautiful taste, and daily shares both her scent of the day as well as a photo of the day, usually taken from some favorite spot in Paris. Her readers offer up comments on what their choice of fragrance is for the day as well, and the range of perfumes worn by all is impressive. Reading her unpretentious and straightforward reviews is a delight, and no can ever predict what she will be wearing next because her curiosity is so far-reaching. Victoria will be sponsoring FINCA International on Mother’s Day.

Brain Trapped In Girl’s Body is Tania’s blog. She has a cunning way with language; she is its mistress, making it do what she wants when she wants. Her blog has sported a wide range of topics, from cooking to perfume to economics to science, and she covers all of it with her characteristic intelligence and charm. She’s also the author of a crazy and fun novel written in the word-spree that is NaNoWriMo, which you can read in full by clicking on her archives for November of 2005. I don’t know just yet which charity she will be supporting, but she is definitely in!

Ach, am I ever tired. We are moving to a new house! Yay! Only it’s time consuming, and the seller’s realtor tried to pull a fast one on us at the last minute, which needless to say added to our stress levels and the legal forms we had to fill out. I am no longer going to be an Oregonian (wah!) and will become a Washingtonian (yay?) We’re pulling up stakes and heading across the Columbia River, so I’m not going too far thankfully, and shall remain in the Pacific Northwest. The picture was not taken today, but Monday, when the sky was so nice and clear. It’s a shot across the Columbia River facing east towards Mt. Hood. Forgive the lousy image quality, as I’ve only got a cheap 2 megapixel camera, but you can click on it to see it enlarged.

To soothe my nerves I dug out my Mirra Mirra by J&E Atkinsons from their I Coloniali line. Like their other scents I’ve tried, it too is quite linear in composition. The relaxing scent of myrrh is also something I really dig on bad allergy days, and with all this sunshine we’ve been having lately, my seasonal allergies have really kicked into overdrive. Achoo! Woody intonations, and the piquant scent of sticky pine needles intermingle over the top of the myrrh. A deep vanilla base softens and slightly sweetens the overall effect, and while I know that sometimes myrrh can be vanillic, I perceive it as a seperate element. I am guessing that even if the myrrh note they used was vanillic already, they almost certainly bumped it up with an added dose of the stuff. I find it a calming scent, one that almost induces me to sleep, such is its soothing power. Mirra Mirra is becoming increasingly hard to find here in the States, and the only place I can find at this moment still selling it online anymore is via European Bath Essentials through Amazon.com and PopeHair. Occasionally some I Coloniali items do come up on eBay as well, but not regularly.

For an up to the minute list of bloggers that will be fundraising for Mother’s Day, please go to benevolentblogging.com, or read below, please:

Perfumery will be raising money for FINCA International. Andy Tauer will be making a one dollar donation for every comment left on his blog. Excitingly, he is also being generous enough to hold a random drawing to win one of his exquisite perfumes, your choice of either le Maroc pour elle (50 ml) or the L’air du désert marocain (100 ml) should you be the lucky soul whose name is drawn. If you are already a commenter there, please stop by, and if you are new to his blog, come by say “hi!” and discover his lovely words and gorgeous perfumes.

March and Patty from Peppermint Patty’s Perfume Posse will be raising money for Orphan Foundation of America on Mother’s Day. These two lovely perfume-nuts have style, brains, and are raucously fun to read. Please drop in whether you are a stranger they just haven’t met yet or one of their dedicated readers on Mother’s Day to give them a big howdy!

Perfume-Smellin’ Things is run by Marina, who writes so elegantly you would swear some of her perfume reviews are poetry. Her honest and graceful reviews have already won her a loyal readership, and if you are new to her you’ll find much to like, and if you already love her writing then I’m just preaching to the choir, ain’t I? Marina will be fundraising for Orphan Foundation of America on May 14th.

Urban Chick zanily and breezily discusses topics ranging from the profound (shoes) to the profane (life.) She’s so witty it is almost scary, and she regularly makes her readers laugh until they cry. Please be sure to check out her list of regularly changing taglines, which are simply hilarious. She will be making a donation of £1 per comment to the UK based charity Womankind Worldwide for the date of May 12th rather than the 14th, since she will be out of town on that day.

Scentzilla is my blog, which pretty much details my ever-growing addiction to fragrances. I’m a dork, what can I say? I will be donating one dollar for every comment left on the special Mother’s Day post I will make on my blog to FINCA International. I hope you will stop by to say hi whether you are new to Scentzilla, or already a reader.

A big THANK YOU to everyone who has signed up to participate thus far! If I have missed your email or notification with this post, don’t worry, I will be regularly updating this page!

Hello everyone! I apologize right now for the lack of advance warning, but I thought of something only this weekend a few days ago, and it has an encroaching deadline. While this post is directed specifically at fellow bloggers, I hope it will also serve as advance warning for readers?

Mother’s Day is just around the bend on the 14th of May. My favorite way to celebrate is to share my good fortune in life, because I feel like helping others makes me a better mother and the world a better place for my children to grow up. While I am not an old softie, the fact is that where most people have a fleshy beating heart muscle, I have a melting hunk of Velveeta cheese in my chest instead, so I tend to ask for a charity donation as a gift. It occured to me that many other folks out there share this sentiment, and I have resolved to embark upon a mass-blog fundraising campaign to take place upon Mother’s Day itself. For this purpose I created a site that is currenly located at this address (if I can ever get the stupid domain redirect to take effect, you’ll eventually just have to type benevolentblogging.com: effing ipower.com sucks.) Some of us are mothers. Some are not. But we all came squalling into this world somehow, and it was not because we miraculously materialized out of thin air.

How it works is this:

For each comment left on the calendar date of Mother’s Day, each blogger will agree to donate a specified amount to a chosen charity. Which charity? How much?

The charities which I have selected as preferred charities are not random. I chose two, one focusing on women, and one that concentrates on children who do not have the “luxury” of growing up with their mother. Both are reliable, resourceful, and responsible charities.

FINCA International provides loans to low-income microentrepreneurs, focusing especially on women. From FINCA’s website - ” Of the 1.3 billion people living in poverty worldwide, women account for 70 percent. In the developing world, and even in the United States, a woman’s chances of receiving credit are markedly lower than a man’s, and yet, in an increasing number of families, the woman provides a substantial portion—or all—of the family’s income.” FINCA operates on a global level, with active programs in Latin America, Eurasia, Central Asia, and Africa. This organization receives CharityNavigator.org’s highest rating of four stars, which you can view by clicking here. Because FINCA uses loans rather than grants, every donation adds to an ever-growing pool of funds to help these burgeoning businesswomen. The loans are set at market rates, which means they are not prohibitive or unreasonably hard to pay back. Many clients take pride in repaying their loans, and feel glad to know that their repayments will mean one more woman not unlike themselves will be able to successfully care for her children and her family. (Taking care of one another is one of those things that I personally believe to be part of the meaning of life. Well, that and orthopedically sensible shoes, but as usual, I digress.)

Orphan Foundation of America, which “has served thousands of foster teens all across the United States. From teaching youth how to balance a checkbook, write a resume, and apply for that first big job, to testifying before Congress and State Legislatures, OFA has long been a vocal champion of foster teens… Each year OFA and its scholarship partners award more funding and provide a stronger safety net for those pursuing post-secondary education.” OFA also received a four star rating from CharityNavigator, which can be viewed by clicking here. In addition to financial donations, OFA also has opportunities for knitters to donate the products of their artistry. There is additionally the option for women to join the Pink Panel, run by The Benchmarking Company, who will donate $5.00 to a scholarship fund run by the OFA each time a woman joins or fills out a beauty survey.

While you do not have to select either of these charities, it would be wonderful to see a big group of us make a big pile of money for them specifically, creating a much larger force than us as random individuals could possibly manage on our own. Bloggers are a force to be reckoned with nowadays for sure, but wouldn’t it be wonderful if we were a force for TANGIBLE good, too? I worry that writing a blog is simply nothing more than a self-indulgent exercise. While this doesn’t allay that fear, at least we can all point to this and remind ourselves that our self-indulgence can be quatifiably projected outwards for the better of others.

So, just how much per comment should you as a blogger consider ponying up the cash for? Me, I’m choosing one dollar for every comment left under the relevant and specific post I will make for Mother’s Day. One dollar is a nice even amount. Which? While I do enjoy helping others, I do not enjoy math particularly. Adding ones makes my life so much easier, heh. However, I do recognize that this amount would place an undue onus on some of you financially, especially those of you who regularly get tons of comments. I would set an amount that you personally feel is feasible for you, be that a quarter per comment, or more.

Want to do even more? Consider “selling” ad space on your site for a set fee, and in lieu of a payment, accept receipt of donation to your charity. Or hold a prize drawing for those readers that sumbit a receipt of donation at a predetermined dollar amount of your choosing. - I know many of you who are my fellow perfumistas that are more than able to make a decant of many much-wanted and/or hard to find perfumes.

As a bonus, you as a blogger will not be acting entirely unselfishly. You will be able to draw out lurkers who usually are too intimidated or unmotivated to make a comment. Moreover, you will be able to draw new traffic to your site via a comprehensive list at Benevolent Blogging, which will list all participating blogs upon notification to me at this address. Please also email me with which charity you will be fundraising for, so that I may also mention that on the site, and please submit your participation in advance of Mother’s Day. I will forward you some images that I have cleared for distribution use for this purpose that you may use on your site to promote the event. (A special thanks in advance to Ronaldo Taveira for letting us use his images. His name will run on some of the images, and please do not remove it, as it is part of my agreement with him.)

All I ask is that you email me within a few days after Mother’s Day how much money you raised in total. I will not need to see your receipts, as we are working strictly on the honor code here.

Mother’s Day was originally instigated “by Julia Ward Howe after the American Civil War as a day honoring (in her opinion) the inherent pacifism of mothers.” (quoting Wikipedia.) Ms. Howe was wrong, which I say not as a discredit to woment, but as a more balanced and realistic view of men AND women. Perhaps rather than honoring anyone’s “inherent” pacifism, we should all like to celebrate our own inherent goodness. (I may be just as deluded as her, I admit!)

Quoting briefly from Ms. Howe’s original Mother’s Day proclamation:

Arise then…women of this day!
Arise, all women who have hearts!
Whether your baptism be of water or of tears!

I would like very much to make this some sort of annual event if it has even a modicum of success.

Also note that if you’re in one of my email address books, you will likely be receiving the text of this post as an email ;)

I tend to publicly disdain advertising I think is a hair too silly to be believed, and thought it might be nice to share an ad I actually admire. This ad for Lynx body deodorant is so well done, like a little puzzle: it looks like its going to go all porny, but then it’s totally not!

(The words aren’t provocative, they simply read “The Power Of Lynx/Try Our New Formula.”)

I’m using my computer time today to work on something which I hope to have ready to unveil tomorrow, so no reviews today. But watch the ad, it’s great!

The following reviews were brought to you by my sleep deprived brain. One of my twins has an ear infection so bad that his ear drum punctured. So I was up all night with him basically. The antibiotics are finally starting to kick in for my poor little guy, but it was a rough night. I don’t remember sleeping so much as I remember being repeatedly awakened and looking at the clock A LOT. Why on earth do I do that? Does it really matter what time it is when I’m up in the middle of the night? I’m gonna be bone-tired in the morning either way. What a weird habit.

Patchouli Empire: Oh. My. God. It’s dirty. No wait. Make that dirrty (with two Rs) AND dirty. Gah, I just referenced Christina Aguilara in a non-sarcastic way. I’m so ashamed. Patchouli Emprire is so humpy and SAUCY (said in the best worst British accent ever, of course.) But there’s more. I waved my wrist under my husband’s nose, and his response was, “it smells like Christmas.” Yes, yes it does! I can see it. In the Pacific Northwest (and other forested places too I presume) there’s a strong tendancy towards cut-your-own Christmas trees. I personally hate doing that, because you’re sawing at the tree, and it’s not going as quickly as you thought it should, because you bought a brand new saw so what’s the deal, but the tree won’t just give in and “timber!” already, so you keep sawing, and that’s when the cursing begins, because the tree still won’t fall, so then you get really mad and want to take the tree out Elvis-style, and by Elvis-style I mean you want to shoot the tree down with a gun, yes, a gun, and then give it a final kung-fu kick for flourish, because why won’t it DIE already, yet the tree just won’t budge from its vertical postion, then FINALLY it does fall, and you’re grumpy after all that effort, but oh!… How marvelous you smell afterwards! All dirt-like and Douglas Fir resplendant, and as long as you get a hot cocoa afterwards, you feel sort of sentimenal about that bastardly tree.* So, Patchouli Empire is Christmas and sex in short. So try it? Please? I promise the above was actually a positive review. Everyone loves Christmas and sex.

In The Library: Hey, I know that smell: it’s Powell’s Bookstore. All those old scrumptious yellowing paperbacks waiting to be read. But unlike Powell’s Bookstore, In The Library serves up a hot buttered toddy while you relax in an old leathery chair rather than standing on concrete floors in the aisleways while trying to dodge ladders and other shoppers with too hot coffee. Layering it over Patchouli Empire is not quite successful on me, but nice nevertheless, as nothing is sexier to me than people who are humpy AND well read - or at least smelling like it. In The Library is one of those fragrances that are terrible perfumes and wonderful aromas. Kudos to Mr. Brosius for not only thinking up the fragrance, but executing it in such perfect fashion.

Russian Caravan Tea: It starts out on me as fresh and invigorating as a well brewed pot of black tea. Then it begins to cool, and mellows slightly. Unfortunately on my skin, it begins to fall a bit flat in the dry down. However, I still think it’s worth the trouble of seeking out if you enjoy tea fragrances. You can read a great brief review of it at Now Smell This, where it was deemed full bottle worthy.

Smoking Leaves: I’m heartbroken over this one. It smells entirely of caramel dip on me. Sure, there’s a hint of smoke in there, but mostly it’s all caramelized something or another. Sigh. I must have sweet-amplifying skin. Now Smell This got way more smoke and only a hint of caramel in it, so obviously this is not necessarily supposed to be such a candied scent.

I’m also trying out Mr. Hulot’s Holiday, but I can make neither heads nor tails of it. It’s reminiscent of my John Frieda Kelp Help hair conditioner, which is a very good thing. Yet it’s wispy, almost dream-like on me too. I can’t decide if I like it or not, which in all honesty, can sometimes be a very good sign.

EDIT:D’oh! Forgot to mention that all of these scents can be sampled via the CB I Hate Perfume website, so you don’t need to live near his shop to be able to find out for yourself about them!

*Based on a true story, but I’m not saying whose ;)

Vow Fragrance somewhat follows the current trend of limited edition perfumes: each year the fragrance will change, so that what you buy this year is not the same as what you’d buy the next. Each version is intended to provide a bride with a fragrance tied directly to the year she was married, and upon subsequent registration with the company, ladies will be able to continue buying the formulation from the year they were wed.

Vow’s 2006 eau de parfum is a light floral blend that to my nose smells of watery lily of the valley, pale rose and other white florals with peppery accents and a sandalwood and musk base. The musk is remarkably light, which I think makes it an ideal scent to wear outdoors in the heat of summer. It’s a polite fragrance. The notes as listed by the company’s literature are:

Top:Sparkling citrus blossoms, white pepper, and pink freesia
Heart:Champagne roses, honeysuckle, orange flower, and night blooming wild jasmine
Base: Amber and sheer musk

I’m secretly sentimental sometimes, so at our wedding I wore something that held memories of when my husband and I first met. Some men likely wouldn’t know the difference, but mine would. Hell, he still rues the day I gave up wearing Magie Noire for any and all special occasions, although I do think this might be partially due to the fact that our house is virtually populated by samples, decants, and bottles like Oregon is forested with trees. So personally, I would not ever choose something new to wear at my wedding. Others differ, of course, and want something “special.” I’m not a “special” kind of gal, though, so while it would not be something I’d ever buy for myself, I think I would have been delighted to receive it as a gift. The simple packaging is quite elegant, and would make a nice gift at a bridal shower. There is a slot inside the box containing a card for registration of the scent, but one could also slip a gift card in there as well, which would make for a much more lovely presentation than just handing the bride-to-be an easily forgotten envelope. For that matter, I also think it would make an excellent gift to bridesmaids - it seems more personal than presents of cheesy catalog jewelry, and this is the sort of scent that will offend no one’s nose.

One can purchase a sample of Vow 2006 directly through the company for $2.00 via their online store.

The photo above is my husband’s fave of me on our wedding day. Actually, it’s one of his favorite pictures of me ever. I was getting ready in the dressing room, and realized too late that between the push-up bra and the flouncy poofy underskirt I could no longer see my feet to put my own shoes on. So I plopped down on the floor so I could reach them. . “There’ll be no standing upon formalities for you!” is what he said the first time he saw it. He still giggles when we look at it. I guess I could have chosen a more formal picture, but you know, you gotta go with the one that makes your husband giggle. Sorry for the crudly quality of the image: it’s a photo of a photo, so it’s a bit fuzzy looking.

Lily Lambert No. 11 is predominated by notes of soft gardenia and clean musk. Honeysuckle briefly shimmers across the top of it, but it dissipates quickly, leaving behind a tender shower-fresh white floral fragrance. Like the other fragrances in the line, it’s quite simple in compostion, but it should find some fans this summer as a result. I think it’s minimal lines and strong staying power will work well on humid sunny (and sweaty) days.

No. 44 contains the seeds of what is perhaps the most unique of the Lily Lambert scents. Berries seem to have brushed past swirls of smokey herbs. It’s a little surprising and wonderful… then slowly there’s plastic. Sand was SO right when she pegged 44 as the smell of Strawberry Shortcake toys. This scent quite quickly begins to smell almost like nothing at all on me but Strawberry Shortcake. It’s kind of a “skin” strawberry scent, I guess, and not for me, since I’ve no desire whatsoever to smell like a doll. Others may find it a fun walk down nostalgia lane, however, and on that count I’d say it would be a fun scent to sample.

The topmost water lily inflection of No. 55 feels cooling and refreshing. As the water lily fades, fruity notes begin to rise. The effect is… sigh, well… Kool-Aid. When I was little, sometimes my mom used to mix packets of different flavors together to fill our really big Tupperware pitcher, and it smells vaguely like one of her combos. I hate saying that, but that’s what it triggers in my mind, so there ya go: Mom’s mystery Kool-Aid.

No. 77 begins quite full, rendolent of juicy melon, pomegranate, roses. Sadly on my skin the scent becomes tinny, dwindling into an lax fruity-floral with warm wisps of a amber base. It’s very pretty, but wan, and does not carry through on the promise the opening makes to me. I do wonder how it might smell on other people, however, I also am unsure if anyone would really get much more out of it than I.

Lily Lambert scents are carried exclusively online by b-glowing. But like the dolt I am, I totally forgot to mention in my earlier review of the others that if you live in Portland they can also be tried at Blush Beauty Bar on NW 23rd.

So, in summation, the Lily Lamberts that get my thumbs up are numbers 11 and 66. The clean scents! Me! Who doesn’t usually cotton to those kind! However, I also recommend possibly trying the No. 22 out if you have the chance, because I think it will prove to be a happy fit for some folks.

I think I covered all the angles up there, right?

On Sunday, my family will gather together to worship a giant bunny rabbit. Then in chocolate communion we shall eat our god. I like to eat my god eyes first. I don’t like the feeling my chocolate bunny might be watching me eat him. My husband thinks that’s just weird, because “everyone” knows you nibble off the feet first so they can’t run away. Luckily my boys have not picked up on either of our neurotic tics, and they don’t seem to have a preference beyond the fact that they like dark chocolate so much better than milk chocolate.

No reviews today, I just thought I might just share a little bit of my ancestry and their Easter traditions. One end of my family is entirely descended from Germans from Russia, who eventually settled in the American plains states.

Here’s a recipe for an Easter bread called “baska,” which nicely demonstrates the influence my ancestors’ Ukrainian neighbors had on them - click here for the recipe, and a little storytelling, too. And here’s what the process and finished product look like, by Michael M. Miller via NDSU.

If you don’t know much about Germans from Russia, there’s a nice collection of stories available on the internet from North Dakota State University, and it includes a brief time line outlining their history.

Kid Carpet is a musician from the UK who I love to bits. His music would be categorized as “experimental,” but what does that really mean to anyone? To me they’re flat out good songs. His choice of instruments, however, is really unusual. Remember those battery-powered toy guitars made for little kids? Know those cheap Casio keyboards that you still see being unloaded at garage sales? And Furbies? This is his medium. It’s awesome.

For me, those mysteriously lonesome shoes you see lying abandoned roadside are regrettable litter. But to Kid Carpet, that’s a song. An old ad for a carpet store becomes symphonic in his toy filled orchestra.

Clip from “There’s a Shoe” -

“Bristol Carpet Factory” in entirety, because it’s too short to reasonably be able to make a clip -

Sometimes I think “experimental” is really verbal shorthand for “playful.” When children and adults play, they try new things out - they experiment. Who doesn’t like to play?

From a discussion on another blog, I had to point out one of the weirdest fragrances I’ve smelled. Comme des Garçons’ Odeur 71 is, in all honesty, a terrible perfume. By that I don’t mean it’s a bad fragrance, it’s just not “perfumey” in the manner you usually think of fragrances being.

The typewriter ribbons I smelled in Man 2 are there right on the top. Then I get a little whiff of a weirdo on a bus drinking mystery booze in a paper sack. Then a car interior that’s been freshly cleaned with Armor All and had the felt-covered bucket seats vacuumed. Tree bark. Computers. Metal knives chopping bell peppers. Wilting and limpid flowers. Finally, there is laundromat, which seems fitting given the laundry list of weirdness here. Yet the scent is not industrial or overwhelming. It’s… light but strange. I find new irregular angles in it every time I smell it. There’s some great reviews of it at Basenotes, too.

I am too young to know how Coppertone suntan lotion used to smell in its 1960s incarnation, so I can’t comment on the veracity of the fragrance Christopher Brosius is trying to recreate with CB I Hate Perfume’s Beach 1966. However, it seemed a fun arcane idea to me. Sure enough, I get a strong sensation of suntan lotion, a little sea spray, and a neat touch of the way your skin smells when brushing off that sand crust that forms on your legs after splashing in the water and then sitting back down on the sand. It’s a little goofy, and a lot perfect. (I am a big fan of goofiness in general, so that’s also a compliment, heh.)

Kid Carpet’s CD “Ideas & Oh Dears” can be ordered via either Amazon UK or as an import via Amazon US. You can also purchase the album wherever you are from iTunes. I also DEEPLY recommend you watch his video for the song “Carrier Bag.” I’ve decided it’s the best music video I’ve ever seen, and that’s saying a ton from me, because I actually OWN the Duran Duran video collection, and as we all know, Rio rules. What’s that? Oh shush up, Rio does SO rule. I refuse to acknowledge otherwise.

On a whole ‘nother note, Scentzilla was recently feature along with several other sites in Cosmetic World’s latest issue. Which? Feels awfully nifty:

Other featured sites include:

• Basenotes
• Scenteur7
• Perfume Posse
• Beauty News NYC
• Now Smell This
• Victoria’s Own
• Bois de Jasmin

Le Couvent Des Minimes ~ Orange Blossom Body Softening Cream

What a gorgeous scent. Victoria was so right about this lotion. This cream has a nice rich texture that absorbs quickly, leaving the most beautiful orange blossom and softly woody scent on me. The heavenly aroma lingers for hours after I apply. It’s a must-try even for hard-core orange blossom addicts. I would swim in giant pools of it, were it economically feasible. I would slather everyone I come into contact with in it, were it socially acceptable. I would spread it on toast, were it not toxic to ingest. I would wear it in a box, with a fox, in a house, and with a mouse. I would wear it here and I would wear it there. Say, I would wear it anywhere! I do so like Orange Blossom Body Softening Cream! Thank you, Victoria-I-Am! (Le Couvent Des Minimes is carred by the Bath and Body Works chain in the US. I don’t know where to find it outside of the States, unfortunately.)

Michel Comte ~ Shared Water pour femme

Shared Water begins as if it’s a floral only scent, and initially gives the impression that it’s going to go nowhere. But top burns off quickly, revealing the warm aroma of jasmine rice cooking in a steamer. To me this is a gourmand scent, since even the thought of jasmine rice makes me embarassingly hungry without olfactory provocation. In actuality there’s a slight salinity in the scent, which would more likely classify Shared Water as belonging to the “marine” family. It’s lovely, if very light, but sadly it’s too far out of my own budget to consider paying for a full bottle of such a discreet fragrance (I’m not really a discreet sort of gal, heh!) The only place that *I* know of to get Shared Water is via First-in-Fragrance. (A word about the spraying mechanism: it’s a little different. Rather than spraying straight at you, it sprays up and out.)

Apivita ~ Euphoria

Two years ago, ULTA (it’s like Sephora, but with drugstore makeup) sold the BEST WHITE CHOCOLATE BATH LINE EVER during a Christmas promotion. Sorry to shout in capitals, but it was sooo good. How good? It’s two years later, and I’m still bitching about it never being offered again. I think I only paid five bucks apiece for the lotion and shower gel, but it was such a rich, almost nutty white chocolate scent. I loved it so much, and was hoping they’d sell it again this last holiday season, but alas they did not. Sigh. So now I’m trying to find something I will love almost as much.

The first suggestion I got was for Apivita’s Euphoria line of bath and body products. I picked up a sampler to try them all out. Euphoria smells strongly bergamot, with a touch of white tea, and vanillic white chocolate underneath. It’s rather nice, and I bet would be wonderful in summer when heavy scents turn rank in the summer heat.

The body scrub was the real winner for me in the sampler. The scent in it seemed more vibrant to me than other products in the line, tart but not sour, while never losing its vanillic sweetness. The scrub’s pumice is not so big as to be irritating, but not so small as to be ineffectual. I might buy this again, once my hunt for a new BEST WHITE CHOCOLATE BATH LINE EVER is completed, and whether or not I find a new best one.

The body milk lotion has a nice medium weight density, and feels very cooling to me. I think I might like it better if I owned a complimenting perfume to wear, but it was all right. I just don’t have anything I felt matched it well enough to layer over it.

The milk bath strangely smelled a little plasticky to me. I could smell the “Euphoria” perfume, but I also smelled rubber doggy chew toys. Uh, yeah. So I’ll be skipping this one in the future. I think if you’re one of those folks who doesn’t notice the plasticky smells in the Philosophy line of 3-in-1s then you wouldn’t notice it here either.

Using Euphoria’s shampoo was surprisingly nice. It, too, bore a touch of plastic, but nothing I can’t live with. I did like the smell, which I got to enjoy while I lathered, but I wasn’t stuck it with all day long because it rinsed out completely. Love that. It has very low lather, which is something I normally like, since I find that there’s a direct correlation between high lather and me sporting crispy scarecrow-lady hair usually. However in this case the very low lather made it tricky to work with in my below shoulder length hair - it’s almost too low. I liked it anyhow, and it did not strip or dry out my hair in the least, not even a little and I can count on my hands how few shampoos can accomplish that. I’m on the fence if I’d ever get it again, but I might someday if I’m in the mood for a fun scented one. For now I’ll just stick with my regular stand-by products.

I would strongly recommend if you want to try these to go to b-glowing for the sampler kit ($10), or better yet just a full size bottle of the scrub, and using code instyle06 for 25% off your purchase.

Book Review

I was so excited to find a perfume themed book for kids! The Perfume of Memory is illustrated so beautifully by artist Jean Claverie, but alas the story by Michelle Nikly disappoints a bit. The story is about a kingdom where perfume making is held divine, yet only men are allowed to be perfumers, much to the chagrin of a young girl and her father. The prose itself is lovely enough for adults to enjoy, yet not too difficult for elementary school aged children to get through. Unfortunately, the plot had a big giant hole in it, which I wondered if my own twins would spot. And they did. The “villian” in the story is really a misunderstood man, and he gets thrown into prison for his machinating against the kingdom in a desperate scheme to remind the people of their perfume making heritage. But, what bugged my kids is that he somehow gets out of prison with no explanation given. They didn’t mind that he did escape, mind you, they just got scrunchy-browed over HOW. Moreover, the villain contrived to create a perfume that was supposed to be “wrong,” but it sounded more enticing than any of the “good” perfumes the protagonists offered in the book. I don’t know that I would necessarily drop everything and run out to buy this, but if you spot it on sale or at your library it’s still worth a perusal (especially for its wonderful artwork.) ISBN#0439082064