Melting! I’m Melting!
Good lord, it was as hot as balls this weekend! Triple digits, too: 109F at my in-laws’ house Friday, 104F at my house on Saturday and Sunday. It’s flipping too hot to think, and I’ve been leery of spending to much time on the computer, since the poor laptop kept overheating with the temperatures.It’s almost enough to make a gal reconsider her anti-air conditioning stance. Almost.
So, what do you wear when it’s hot as balls out? I thought on Friday I’d pick Floris’ Malmaison Carnation. And if you said, “hey, it’s too hot for Malmaison,” you’d be…….. right. GAH! Damn you and your rightyness! It lasted all of fifteen minutes on me. I chose it because powdery scents tend to fare better on my skin in hot weather, and I was craving something with a gentle kick. Under more temperate circumstances Malmaison evokes the spicy clove chill of the carnation bloom, with a touch of powder not unlike Dreft baby detergent. In hundred degree weather, it smells more ethereal, softer yet spicier. But again, alas it’s so short lived that wearing it is a waste. Best to save it for the cooler months when it doesn’t fly right off the skin.
Saturday I wore nothing. Or rather, I wore nothing scented, though literally wearing nothing would have been nice, too.
Sunday I revisited E. Coudray’s Jacinthe et Rose, a fragrance that has never quite worked for me in the past. I figured I had nothing to lose, since the odds were good it’d be gone within several minutes. You know, it finally revealed its charm to me. The top notes of hyacinth, ylang ylang, and peach burned off super fast, and allowed me to enjoy its suprisingly enjoyable middle and drydown. In previous attempts with Jacinthe et Rose, the top has always worn just a bit too sour for my taste. The top would stick so well that it soured the rest of the development. But in the hot weather, the top buggers off, and lets me get to the part of Jacinthe et Rose I like best. The middle period is marked by vanillic peony, which evaporates into a nice ambery rose with musk and sandalwood at the bottom. The drydown lingered well for 104F, at around an hour. That sounds short, but it honestly ain’t shabby all things considered. And in the heat the fragrance wore as tart rather than sour. Lovely. I still don’t think this fragrance is a masterpiece by any means, but definitely worth a look-see if you prefer florals and want somethng that is going to be summer appropriate.
After this weekend, today’s ninety some odd degree weather is feeling like a relief. The only inferno I approve of is a disco one, and those are in abysmally short supply these days. So it’s best to make due and handle the blazing heat as best can be done. Today I’ve splashed on Pecksniff’s Naughty body cologne, trying to get my spice back on again. It’s failed me in the colder months, but the dark cedar and cumin are doing okay today, and its lavender note is not disappearing into the folds of those two notes for once. There’s no real complexity to the scent, but I think that’s okay - it’s working just fine for me.
Image from retro postcard at allposters.com
July 24th, 2006 at 6:22 pm
Well, you are making me feel positively REFRESHED in our upper 90s. That sounds awful. Although only a melting brain could have prompted you to reach for Malmaison… although I’d have guessed it would have killed you with cloves rather than just vaporizing. However, it’s the perfect weather to try Your Mystery Samples! ;-)
July 24th, 2006 at 6:42 pm
I don’t know exactly why I reached for it, I just wanted to give it another go after trying the cheapie Russian carnation, and dammit I want my spice!! The clovey part was quite refreshing, honestly… it simply did not last long enough for it to matter, sadly.