Overload

Oops. I've worn too much cologne today. I guess I should have showed a little more restraint, considering I am wearing Halston Z-14, which can be pretty strong. I know I'm wearing too much cux it's making my own nose tickle a little. Oop. However, the people on the subway weren't coughing and theater-sneezing, as they usually do when I put on too much. Yet I'm pretty sure I overdid it. Well, it's been on for over an hour, so it should be quickly losing its maximum piquancy. And I did just wipe a little off (I hate doing that).

The problem with wearing too much cologne is not that it might set off peoples' allergies (and much of the time I don't think said allergies even exist; you can see this in the staged, exaggerated way that people sneeze and cough when they know someone is wearing fragrance, usually cux someone told them. I've noticed that if no one tells them, and the fragrance isn't strong enough to be detected from miles, then these people don't react). It's that someone might come up to you (especially at work) and ask you to stop wearing cologne cux they can't deal with it. And what choice do you have then?! You (usually) have to stop wearing it. So the objective is not to wear so much that people get to put on the whole I'm-a-victim-of-cologne show.

Since I'm talking about overcologning, I'll just say it: I wear too damn much anyway. Cux I wanna smell it! I know you're not supposed to be able to smell your own fragrance (and that you still can on a level under your conscious awareness), but what's the point of wearing it if you can't smell it at least a little?! (This is why I've been known to put some kind of scent on my chin [vanilla oleoresin/absolute is good for this] or on a scent strip that I affix to my glasses, to have a smell in my personal space.) Maybe it's lameazoid, but I'm a fragrance fiend, and I have to wear them! So gnak! If only my nose were more sensitive, I wouldn't have to wear as much. Sigh.... Oh but for a harmless pill that would enhance your sense of smell (not to mention hearing and sight).... Sigh....

There are exciting new air freshener thingies out with unexciting scents! I saw some over the weekend--one that is battery operated and sprays a scent throughout the day (or something like that). The unfortunate thing is that it's by Glade, and it has the same tired, never-all-that-great, focused-grouped-into-nothing scents that they always have: the 'outdoor green fresh' accord and the 'vaguely floral buy really synthetic smelling' accord. And I think I saw some by Oust too, but they're similar: the vaguely green outdoor fresh scent and the citrus-but-weirdly-metallic scent. I would love to see a battery-powered air freshener that sprays scent all day in a scent that's pleasing and works with the home. Some suggestions: teakwood; cedre & santal; firewood; tonka/coumarin; fresh cut grass; vanilla cookies; freshly-baked bread; suede; clove/allspice; fig; tomato leaf; frankincense..... There are so many other scents; why do Glade et al. always make their products so pedestrian?! (I actually just sent them a note from their website about that.)

Oh, and talk of firewood and suede reminds me: Bath and Body Works had their Wallflowers plug-in units on sale for $5 (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) for last weekend only. If I hadn't been spending a small fortune on my party, I would have bought 10 (OK, maybe not ten; probably 4, though). The Wallflowers and their candles are actually made by The White Barn Candle Co., and the quality is superior. I bought two Wallflowers, one in Sweet Cinammon Pumpkin for autumn (I can't get enough of the smell of spiced pumpkin; it's my favorite, no matter how synthetic or decadent it smells) and Kitchen Spice to add to the vanilla/fresh baked/confection fragrance aesthetic of my housewarming party. Kitchen Spice isn't really a spice scent; it's more of a gourmand scent, with notes of vanilla, mocha, buttercream and hazelnut, and touches of nutmeg - it's nice. I would have gotten cucumber melon, but it's so hackneyed; I did not get spiced cider, because it's really not that pleasant. But that sale's over; there are, however, other things to check out: they have a car scenter now, in most of the usual fragrances, but there's one that's new and I think it's called suede. There wasn't a tester to smell, but the people behind the counter had an opinion on it: they didn't like it. They said it smelled 'burned.' Interesting. 'Burned like burnt rubber or like firewood?' I asked (cux I've smelled a cheap 'leather' oil that smelled like burnt rubber, kind of like lower Manhattan after 9/11), and they replied that it's like firewood. That sounds wonderful! One day I might try it, but I really have to smell it first. As far as their other products, their new higher-end candles are stunning. The Basil scent is complex and very sophisticated. If I wasn't po-as-hell I would get it. But the others are just as nice: the firewood one is fantastic, if it does smell somewhat like Cuiron by Helmut Lang. The Clove could certainly be more clove-y and, well, just more all around (I mean, Esté Lauder's Spellbound can be read as a clovelike scent, and it's unbelievable); the Orange Flower is an interesting bouquet, very full. I forget the other scents, but the point is it's a great line.

Another always-superior line of home fragrances is the Pier One line. Harvest Pumpkin Spice (formerly Harvest Spice; I guess pumpkin consciousness is raising, since they added pumpkin to the name) is out again; it's the bestest fragrance ever ever ever!! Don't let autumn slip away without buying some of this! You can even use it as a linen spray; in fact, that's prolly the best use, cux it fades less quickly. Or, rather, get a candle. Duhr. Along with Harvest Pumpkin Spice comes Cinnamon Bun, an OK attempt. They're actually doing quite a bit of gourmand scents now - buttercream vanilla, caramel vanilla, spiced pear. Well, it's good to see it. They have a new Clove out too, but I forget the name. This one smells more like traditional clove bud. The original, titled simply Clove (and with the candle is GREEN(?!?!)) didn't really smell anything like clove buds. It must have been over my head. I wish they'd come out with a banana bread candle. Maybe they have, who knows.... I also like their First Bloom candle. And I'm sure some great Multiples candle involving pumpkin spice will come out in the autumn, as there was one last year (I'd not seen one before last year). Can't wait to see what it is.

And that's the fragrance beep for now.
Beep!