Scentzilla!

UPDATE: Nobi has closed the contest… the earlier hyperlink to the page wih entry information now lists the answers, if you’re curious.

Shioya Nobi, who some of you may remember is the grand emcee behind the Made by Blog project I am participating in, has opened up a contest to ring in 2007 in style. A winner who correctly answers either A or B of this quiz style contest will win S-Perfume fragrances. A winner who correctly answers both questions will additionally receive the INEFFABLE Alberto Absolu. Alberto Absolu quite frankly, is a prize worthy of anyone’s attention, but especially my fellow perfume nuts. (In addition to my own review, you can also read Chandler Burr’s take on it.) The contest closes on January 7th, so don’t dilly-dally! Besides, your answers have got to be better than mine:

• Giorgio Armani (fashion designer, Italian)
• Chandler Burr (writer, American)
• Tom Ford (fashion designer, American)
• Francis Kurkdjian (perfumer, Armenian)
• Christophe Laudamiel (perfumer, French)
• Issey Miyake (fashion designer, Japanese)
• Alberto Morillas (perfumer, Spanish)
• Thierry Wasser (perfumer, Swiss)

Quiz:

(A) Besides having something to say about perfume, there is one thing all the above men are good at. What is it?

Soap Box Derby racing?

(B) One person in the above list is (utterly) different from the rest. Who is it?

All the above wear suits to work, except for Chandler Burr, who prefers the breezy, unfettered joy of a kilt?

I am sure you guys can come up with more accurate information. Good luck!

I am writing this now, in 2006, but scheduled it to post at midnight, so it will no longer be “now” by the time you read this. Hello there, 2007.

It’s interwebby TIME-TRAVEL!

Thus, I bring you greetings from the past… or would that be the future, since I’m scheduling this to post at a time which does not yet exist now?

I’ve just confused myself.

Likely there’s a logical way out of this riddle, but I DON’T CARE!! I’m off to drink glasses of good champagne!

Which will likely be followed by lots more of mostly cheap champagne!

Which will be followed by a rueful headache and my annual New Year’s Eve regret!

Happy New Year, everybody!

Good luck with the hangovers: I recommend an egg breakfast.

I’m taking a little time out from perfume stuff to share a recipe today. When digging through the cookbooks to find some holiday baking ideas, I rediscovered this little gem. Its components are artificial, highly processed… and delicious. I’m the sort of dork who serves Cool Whip rather than real whipped cream, too. Fake food tastes yummy, and sometimes you just have to say screw the gourmandise palate. *shrug* Let he who is without sin cast the first skillet.

Classy? Yeah, totally classy. Anyhow: Enjoy!

I’m not sure this was the best headline, but it seemed appropriate somehow. The latest rounds of my Made by Blog fragrance make it seem as if we’re in full gallop of something breathtaking.

To say the very least, I was thrilled with them.

You can read more about them in my letter to Laurent directly at Made by Blog. There’s still a few sets of this latest batch left at the Made by Blog store, but I’m not sure how long it’ll be before they run out.

* Internet Exporer 7 is pants. I’m not sure what the deal with it is, and thus, my apologies to those of you who are using it to browse this site. That browser, and that browser alone, makes the comments appear screwy, and I don’t know how to fix that yet. I’ll keep at it, but I am not personally impressed by IE7. Sigh. If you like the tabbing feature on it, I strenuously suggest swiching over to Firefox, which handles “div”s (a component of most sites’ style sheets) with what seems like much better stability and standards compliance to me.

* I saw this news photo of a dog fashion show, and it’s so deeply wrong. It nearly completes some full octave of awful which circles around to hideously brilliant: meet meta dog.

* Christopher Brosius of CB I Hate Perfumes has been keeping a small online journal, and I am really enjoying reading it. I suppose this is old news to everyone, but I wanted to share the link: CB Journal.

* I found this little item from the Wall Street Journal interesting… Something about it appeals not to my fragrance-obsessive self, but to that little nine year old kid still in me that used to collect stickers. (The best ones to get were of course the scratch-and-sniff ones! Second best were the “puffy” ones.) Kraft Vies for Eyes — and Noses

* Not sure how I missed this earlier, but Hugo Boss’ campaign for their Green fragrances is really kind of neat. Sure doesn’t hurt that the campaign features Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, who is ever so pretty. Lots of images and info at the DWA Client page describing it. (Via AdRants.)

* If it wasn’t alreay clear, the whole celebrity fragrance thing has once and for all definitively “jumped the shark.” BetUs.com is now posting odds on which will be the next celebrity fragrance. Sure, it LOOKS like a big spoof-up, but when even Barry Manilow has a fragrance, I can’t help but feel there’s a grain of truth to it all.

* Coty’s Wild Musk commercial ranks at #29 on Giant Magazine’s 50 Greatest Commericals of the ’80s. Use it before you stalk? Egads!

A number of sites have already covered holiday gift ideas, and covered them well, but usually the hardest things to shop for are stocking stuffers. Well, I mean it’s easy to find tons of little stuff, but not necessarily the little stuff that folks might actually appreciate. Here’s my fragrant list of ideas, with online shopping links when available. I’ve roughly organized them from lowest to highest in price, though I’ve tried to focus mostly on items $15 or less:

Pre de Provence Guest Soaps, starting at $0.89 each in my neck of the woods. I especially recommend the Linden. Available at so many places now, including Wild Oats groceries. I see they’re also online at Bon Savon or in cute little gift sets sold at Joan of Arte, including 5 packs of these little bars for $6.00, which are just the right long shape for fitting well in stockings.

Bee & Flower Sandalwood soap, usually around $1-$2. Sold all sorts of places, including many health/natural food stores.

Bath Fizzies, from Ulta, only $2, and adorablely shaped like cupcakes. I’m generally well-pleased with Ulta’s house brand of bath and body products, which are nicely made but not hard on the wallet.

Paddywax travel tin candles, $4. The Paddywax brand is available in the Portland area at Cielo Home, and online through Paddywax.com.

Perfumeria Gal Lip Balm in Violet, around $5 on average. Available at some Urban Outfitters stores, and online at American Discount Beauty Supply. Also online at Adore Beauty in Austrailia for AU $11.95.

Handmade soaps from Maryam’s Soap Nook, $5. These are all so gorgeous looking, and I’d especially like to point out the Pomegranate and Wildberries soap to everyone because of its rich fragrance.

For the kids: Pluto Cologne, $5.99 at Imagination Perfumery. It smells a little like CK One, admittedly, but c’mon! It’s friggin’ Pluto!

Oregon Cabernet Wine Truffles, starting from $6.50 at Euphoria Chocolate. Seriously, they’re scary delicious. The Double Chocolate ones are awfully good, too, but I don’t see a smaller stocking size box at the online site… which is as good an excuse as anything to make a trip to Eugene, I guess. Hint, hint, Mr. Katie, *ahem*.

Fragrance decants from eBay seller dragonfly00, prices vary. I’ve yet to have anything other than a pleasant shopping experience with her. I wouldn’t necessarily give these decants as regular gifts, but for stocking stuffers they are perfect, and the labels she makes for her decants always look simply lovely.

Coffee Cup Air Freshener, $6.95, and T-bone Air Fresheners, $3.95 for a set of 3, at Archie McPhee.

Perfume mini bottles are fantastic last minute items to pick up when all else fails. I’ve found them at Fred Meyer and Target, both of which have the best selection and best prices, though K-mart, Wal-Mart (if you’re so inclined), and Walgreen’s, sometimes stock them as well. Prices can vary wildly, but generally expect to see most priced between $7-$15.

Sephora Fragrance Atomizers, $9-$15. Perfect for throwing into a purse or bag, and if you buy it in the brick and mortar store and you’re lucky, they’ll even fill it with a favorite fragrance for you! Also sold empty online at Sephora.com, in the 3″ Atomizer and Bullet Atomizer for the recipient to fill from their own collection.

Travel size Eau de Toilettes from L’Occitane, starting at $9. Consider their Verbena or Eau de Iparie for either men or women. If you have a L’Occitane boutique near you, be sure to check out their trial size product section, which is just brimming with ideas for stocking stuffers, including the small tubes of their fantastic hand cream.

Stella McCartney, Stella Eau de Parfum Roll-On, $10. Admittedly not a favorite fragrance of mine, but it sure is ideal for friends and family who love it. Sold at Sephora.

Fresh To Go trial size items, prices vary. The Pomegranate Hair Rinse and the Sugar Blossom Body Treatment are items that might be the most welcome discoveries for recipients who’ve never tried the line before.

The biggest (and smallest in size) hit from last Christmas was Philosophy’s Cinnamon Buns Lip Shine, $10. I make my own ribbon bows, and I used these little tubes in the center of the bows, but they’re ideal for stocking goodies.

Benefit “Touch me and then try to leave” Cream, $12 for a 1.3 oz travel size, or $28 for a full size 4.75 oz tub. Sold at Benefit counters, and at benefitcosmetics.com, which I can’t link to because their site is not working properly at the moment.

Fruits & Passion Hot Dog Puppy Shampoo for Puppies and Sensitive Skin, $16, at Drugstore.com. What? Don’t look at me like that. Yes, I put up a stocking every year for my dog, but it’s not like I’m the only one who suffers from this particular form of mental illness. This is becoming my new favorite winter shampoo for Fred - his skin gets so dry during the cold months, and thus far it has yet to irritate his skin or make it flakey, it lathers up easily, and is only scented very lightly with citrus and fig. Fred smells divine these days.

Also for the dog, The Laundress Fabric Fresh spray in Cedar, $12, is awesome for spritzing the dog bed from time to time. Okay, so the dog might strenuously object to you removing his stank, but you know, one does have to draw the line somewhere when catering to the little kings and queens of the household.

Demeter Home Fragrance Sprays in general, and their Laundromat and Bamboo in specific, prices vary depending on seller and locale. The best place to buy Demeter anything is in a brick and mortar store, since buying blind from this line can be a crapshoot. However, if you’re shopping online, I feel the best place to purchase Demeter is through eBay seller, awhumer. Great turn around time on shipping, and the shipping charges are quite reasonable.

Body Butter Trio, $24, or a full-size tub of the Buttercream Frosting Body Butter, $22, by Jaqua. The Buttercream feels rich, and smells scrummy with no off notes. Love this stuff. Jaqua helpfully provides an extensive list of brick and mortar shops, as well as a local store finder, to locate where their products are sold right on their site.

Agraria Cologne sprays, $36, at Fragrances & More, in your choice of four different scents. It’s Balsam that has caught my attention.

Esteban Paris’ Note Marine 2 potpourri from Aedes, $38. I keep meaning to write a review, but then other stuff comes up. It’s a very subtle fragrance, with just a touch of saltiness and cucumber, along with those melony notes we usually associate with marine fragrances, and light florals. It’s a wonderful way to make the house smell of spring at the beach during the doldrums of winter. There’s also something very tactilely addictive about it, and I dare you not to occasionally pick up the odd piece now and again to smooth your fingers over.

Slatkin & Co. Blaine Trump Candles, $50 - $65. Proceeds of sales through the following hyperlink will benefit God’s Love We Deliver, a charity which serves those living with HIV/AIDS and other illnesses by preparing and delivering “nutritious, high-quality meals to people who, because of their illness, are unable to provide or prepare meals for themselves.” (Hat tip to Jack & Hill for making me aware of this charity and the site.)

I hope this list is helpful, and please feel free to comment with your own good ideas for fragragrant stocking stuffers!!

Following up on an earlier post from last week, both of the following Perfume in Art parodies were sent in by the Fragrant Funster of the Spoofume blog:

Rubens’ Adam and Eve:

Dali does Chanel:

Great work! Thanks so much!

If you are inspired or just plain bored at work, I’ll continue to take submissions for a little while. Email to katie at scentzilla dot com, with the subject line in Perfume in Art.

I spend a lot of time talking about the art of perfumery, but a recent Pixel Challenge (photoshopping contest) at Television Without Pity to insert favorite characters from TV into works of art got me thinking… why not have some fun putting perfume in art?

(more…)

I put about exactly as much stock in the gossip rags as they deserve, but I thought this blip from Page Six was pretty funny:

From We Hear:

“November 14, 2006 –

THAT Tom Ford specifically asked executives at Estée Lauder to have his new Black Orchid fragrance smell ‘like a man’s crotch’ . . .”

My first reaction can be summed up as:?!

My second reaction?

I think the phrase “black orchid” may have just entered the cultural lexicon as a dirty euphemism. Thanks, Mr. Ford!

Links via one of today’s Gawker comments, but you may also wish to read this earlier post

The NPR show All Things Considered will be broadcasting a story today about the Osmotheque… Susan Stone interviews Jean Kerleo, and they chat about the perfumes the Osmotheque recreates and preserves. You may check your local listings for a broadcast schedule through the website, or else wait for the audio to be posted later this evening online.