Children of Aphrodite
"At various times of the year, as gift-giving holidays approach, the advertising columns of the newspapers take on a changed aspect. The flights of fancy of the copy writers have no limits. The lady is exhorted to use a drop of an odor that will bring back the precious moment of an exotic night . . . the enchantment of seductive shadows . . . the glamour and the heart throbs and the maddening joys of the pleasures of the senses. The only scent . . . for the only one. The perfume that will give the body the charm of an Egyptian princess . . . the allure of a faraway star on a dark but moonlit night. One breath . . . and then a black-out of all reason. One breath . . . and then the endless embrace . . . in a full-page ad in the Sunday papers."The Science and Art of Perfumery, Edward Sagarin, 1955 (2nd Edition)
Edward Sagarin had a sense of humor, and he was dead-on right in this observation. Mother's Day is coming up quickly, so are those ads! I don't get the Sunday papers anymore, but I have seen the ads on tv, mostly for Tresor. So I took a trip to the 'fume boutique to sniff this gotta-have-it-and-give-it-to-Mum-on-her-day perfume. I only gave it a brief sniff as it smelled like 95% of all the other stuff out there. Nothing really sticks in my mind about it.
Traveled on to the next perfume counter and picked up my favorite cinched at the waist in golden ribbon perfume ~ Youth Dew. Still smells terrific. The perfume lady was trying to get me to purchase an $85 gift basket of Youth Dew products, encouraging me with the special bonus of a set of tea plates and a $10 gift coupon. Er, no.
Came home, got on ebay and bought a vintage bottle of Youth Dew instead.
When it arrives, I'm sure I'll feel 'maddening joy', but I promise not to think I'm an Egyptian princess. Or a star.
I think it was right after Tresor was first released, when I saw a perfume saleslady at Macy's get a nosebleed after sniffing it on her wrist. 1990?
ReplyDeleteTresor is all about the apricotty peachy aldehydes. I can't do that cha-cha, myself.
The one I really like, and have a hard time finding except for on eBay now, is Byblos. And it has to be the eau de parfum, not the eau de toilette. The parfum has all the great fruity marigold and boronia notes.
The other one I'm still fond of is Eau de Givenchy.
Youth Dew is good, Private Collection even better but my fav of all EL is Cinnabar!!
ReplyDeleteBut nowadays I can't even smell a non botanical perfume without loosing my breath and start coughing madly.
That makes me know for sure where my nose belongs LOL.
God Lord, a nose bleed? That sounds interesting ~ I wonder if she ever tried Tresor on her skin again?
ReplyDeleteNever tried Byblos, but I see it's been discontinued. I do love marigold in a perfume.
Eau de Givenchy ~ tried it so long ago, and my memory's shot, I can't remember anything about it.
The only truly cha-cha 'fume I use (very, very rarely) is Mitsouko. It took me a long time to appreciate it, but now I'm back to square one with it -- I can hardly stand to look at the bottle :D
Received the YD in the post yesterday after writing that bit on the blog. I couldn't wait to give myself a shot ~ I'd forgotten about those vicious aldehydes! After 15 minutes or so, that harshness disappeared and my lovely ambery YD shined.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you re: the botanicals! The longer I work with botanicals, the more I appreciate their lack of tenacity. I kind of like that just whispers of BP's are left on my collar the next morning.