Scentzilla!

A final round-up of the total amount of money (as expressed in US Dollars) raised through Benevolent Blogging on Mother’s Day… Together we raised just under $1200! Seriously! Wow! I am so, so proud to say I am associated with all of you who took part - you are all such great folks. Thank you, and congratulations. Also, I’d like to repeat my appreciation for those of you who stopped in and commented, especially those who took the time to visit all the bloggers who were participating. Muchas gracias to everyone.

Ach, moving is tiring. Even the dog is beat. This is an older picture of him, but it’s how he usually prefers to sleep when he has the bed all to himself. I had to move the pillow out from under his head in order to photograph him. I don’t think he lays like this because he thinks he’s “people.” No, I get the impression he considers us all dogs, and has learned this behavior from his loving pack of two-legged dogs.

Packing up the perfume was kind of fun, although I am terrified that everything I love best will break or spill. I revisted and resniffed at many, turning it into an enjoyable activity instead of a chore. I thought I’d mention a few of my vanillas today.

When packing, the newer acquisitions of course got boxed first since they were the ones easy to get at. J&E Atkinsons’ Vanilla Tales is a scent I’d heard only a little of, but I liked what I did hear. I’d stalk the auction sites from time to time, hoping to see it, but it eluded me. Finally, a winning bid on a set from a UK eBayer secured me a chance to finally find out what those few fans were talking about. It proved not to be quite the romance I was hoping for, but it was worth the trouble of stalking. The first few minutes set my teeth to clench. What is this? Some stupid Hypnotic Poison dupe?? I was waiting for this?? Then the bitter almond-vanilla-Play Doh burns away to reveal a curious little thing. Milk! It doesn’t smell “creamy” or “chalky.” It is the scent of cold milk… with vanilla, of course, and a strong dose of anise doled out like medicine on a teaspoon. I am not particularly a fan of anise, but I can see where the appeal for Vanilla Tales lies because of it. Of any of the vanillas I’ve tried lately, Vanilla Tales seems the best suited for wear during the summer.

I also uncovered and then packed up a decant a dear friend had given me of Parfums de Nicolai’s Vanille Tonka. It’s one of those scents that sneak up on you. At first you just think, oh this is nice, but pay no real mind to it. Then slowly you realize you’re leaning into yourself over and again to get repeated whiffs. Slightly creamy vanilla is the obvious theme, yet on my skin, it is the loud open-mouthed smack of Juicy Fruit gum which both attracts and repels me. Citrus fruits and frankincense are apparently among the fragrance notes, but I don’t perceive them as such. There’s more the smell of a thick cutting board, dirty from slicing up fruit and garden goodies. The dry down opens up a small jar of whole cinnamon sticks from the spice cabinet, which occurs like an interesting twist in a novel. It catches you off guard, adding interest to an already good plot. For some well-written reviews, please check out the ones at Now Smell This and Bois de Jasmin I could kick myself for not digging into the decant of this scent earlier. It would have been perfect for soggy old spring, but since I am in the Pacific Northwest, Vanille Tonka luckily only has to wait for soggy old fall.

The first vanilla-specific perfume I ever bought myself was Victoria’s Secret Vanille Musc, one of four vanilla themed fragrances from their discontinued (a decade ago, roughly) Essences de Voyage line. Before packing it up, I had to take a quick spray. I bought it my first year of college, and while I don’t think it was really so spendy (it was less than twenty bucks I am sure), at the time I sweated bullets over the price. I knew I should be saving all my money to pay my upcoming term’s tuition, but I loved the line so! Well, except for the apricot-vanilla one: that smelled too much like jam to me. The other two in the line were a vanilla caramel combo, which I decided against as there was something unhappily burnt smelling in it, and a fourth, which I am guessing must have been a plain vanilla. Vanille Musc is not the most unique composition, but it still smells as seductive and easy to wear as it did when I first bought it. The powdery aspect of the musk, once faint, is slowly taking over with age unfortunately, but I still love it. Sure do wish it were still around so I could stop acting so damn precious about the contents my old bottle. The vanillas of this line do come up occasionally on eBay, but they go for a pretty penny, so I must not be the only who still loves them.

Naturally, because I am an obsessive, I concluded I must take a break from boxing up the ones I own to head to the mall for some quick sniffas of new ones, too.

On my trip to the mall, I decided I ought to try the newest of Britney Spears’ In Control. Oh golly. It was unimpressive upon the air and paper, so like the GIANT idiot I am, I decided to give it the skin test. After all, Victoria at Bois de Jasmin was relatively kind to it, though not exactly approving. See? GIANT idiot, I am. So there I was stuck with the smell, and there was nothing I could do about it. I felt like uselessly screaming “KHAAAAAAAN!” in displeasure. It’s not exactly an evil perfume, but it absconded with my good mood. I’d say it’s pleasant enough for those who go in for this sort of sugar-rimmed thing. It’s sappily sweet aroma stands squarely at odds with Ms. Spears’ statement at a recent press apperance that, “This perfume is for empowered girls who want to take over the world forget about the men! […] It’s more demanding, it’s more sensual, it’s black, it’s about being in control. That’s cool and inspirational … girls need that.” It is not demanding. It is not particularly sensual. She’s correct that the bottle is black (looks like a plastic carnival prize, something you’d win at a ring toss) but the juice lands in the pastel color schemes of My Little Pony. More than anything else, it’s NOT about being in control. In Control is about being cutesy, with a confused but mostly safe expression of burgeoning naive sexuality that comes with being a young and less-than-wordly adolescent. I perceived In Control as being composed of vanilla, french vanilla, a rather well done caramel note, and what seemed like the way left-over cotton candy smells when you’ve already eaten too much of it. I later waved my wrist under my husband’s nose without telling him what I was subjecting him to, in order to see what he’d think. “What does this smell like to you?” “I don’t know, it’s really juevenille… it doesn’t smell like any thing, it just smells little kid-ish.”

He then compared it to the only other fragrance I had ceded real estate to that day, Eddie Bauer’s Adventurer, which he pointed to as an example of what does smell good. On me it was a warm and leathery scent. I am wondering if I really smelled what I thought I smelled: a reviewer at Basenotes has left me unsure, because unlike him I did not find it sugary in the least. I felt Adventurer was surprisingly wonderful. Okay, so it did begin as if it might turn into a cheesy “male” cologne, but the drydown was all woodsy musky leather. I had not realized that Eddie Bauer sold fragrances. There were two women’s selections that also seemed rather nice: Balance, a light citrusy floral, and Pure, a pale, almost creamy white floral. But they did not grab me by the nostrils so strongly as Adventurer. I liked it well enough to consider a purchase at some point. It is quite afforable, too.

I sniffed a few other new-ish items as well, all terribly forgetable. Well, aside that is, from the friendly saleswoman trying to push Euphoria on me by cheerfully asking me to sniff her arm. Oh dear. I’m not particularly a fan of that fruity-ambery concoction, but I am not surprised no one was buying it that day. Sadly, it smelled awry on her. There’s this weird little funny note in the base that smells of stale silk flowers on me, but on her it was not nearly so benign. I have few, if any, social graces, so I struggled to bite my tongue and refrain from telling her that base in Euphoria made her smell as if something had crawled onto her skin and died. More precisely, to quote Barney from The Simpsons, “It didn’t die.” THAT at least was memorable. I am pleased to report, however, that the Clackamas Meier & Frank (Portland area) is carrying the Amarige Harvest Collection fragrance. They lacked testers for it, but I assure you it is worth buying. The longer I have owned and been wearing it, the more I am in love with it.

Images: At top, Vanilla Plantifolia photo, which is in the public domain as a work of the US Federal Government, via wikipedia. My Little Pony picture made by using Hasbo’s offical site, through the “Ponyville Sticker Book.” Eddie Bauer Adventurer photo from fragrancex.com

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!

Cananga di Java (Javanese Cananga) reminds me in feel of fragrances past, vaguely calling to mind vintage scents from fifty years ago. It’s new and old-fashioned in its way.

The fragrance is fairly linear. What you initially smell is what you get. Cananga di Java doesn’t particularly develop any unexpected surprises. Which is fine by me. A high sweet ylang ylang rises off rich honeyed wood notes. Warm ambers implying incense and soap create an ambience of candlelit rooms. Folded into the base is what I perceive as a wee touch of patchouli. I really noticed the patchouli during the summer when I tried to wear this, since with the heat of the season that note wore on me as “armpit” rather than patchouli. Cananga di Java is quite well blended, and for something that seems so simple it’s immensely satisfying.

J & E Atkinsons have shifted identity from an English to an Italian company. But their history in England is worth mentioning I think, because of of a quirky little historical footnote to WWII. To assist (and I suppose make money) with the war effort, they manufactured cakes of anthrax (!) under a military directive from Winston Churchill. This has nothing to do with this scent, but it’s so unusual I thought it worth sharing.

Rather than posting an image for Cananga di Java, I thought I’d share a song. Pink Martini’s Una Notte a Napoli is also new but old-fashioned and satisfyingly fun:

Pink Martini is a band based in Portland, and both their CDs get regular rotation on my player. I’d especially recommend listening to the original compositions U Plavu Zoru and Sympathique, as well as their cover of Jimenez’s Donde Estas, Yolanda? The music clip is from NPR, and here is their feature story on the band. To listen to all their recordings, or to purchase their CDs, visit Pink Martini’s site. I can’t emphasize enough how great they are, and if you like music that gives you “happy feet” then this is the band for you.