Splattering Through Sephora

I gwankled over to Sephora over the weekend to finally pick up a li'l bottle of Demeter's Fresh Hay. I decided that I simply had to have it for autumn, even though I never buy Demeter fragrances, since they don't last. But I got this one, and in fact I'm wearing it today, mixed with Chanel Pour Monsieur. (And to think I never thought I'd wear Pour Monsieur again, since for years I've associated it with that dogawful job interview so many years ago for somewhere we'll call Goondiberstal Stuvios Finordida.)

Whilst in Sephora, I gandered around and made a couple notes: I smelled Comme des Garcons 2 Man, and I love it! I don't think I've ever smelled it before; I think I avoided that line ever since Odeur 53 didn't live up to the hype in my mind. To me, 2 Man smelled like that ambient smell in the air that I always expect in autumn (but never really smell): woodsy and burnt, kind of like firewood. 2 Man had a very burnt wood smell to me, and I suppose that makes sense when you see that one of the notes in it is "white smoke." I couldn't detect much else of the scent, but the smoky note just made it for me. I like this stuff. I'd wear it in late autumn and winter, before winter becomes unbearable and I wear summer fragrances just because I want any escape from winter possible. This is a fragrance to wear when you're glad that the weather is cool. It's a November fragrance.

Peeping at some of the women's scents, I saw the new Escada, called Escada (wasn't the original scent called Escada? I guess it wasn't.) For a second there I wondered if the name might be Escada Pink Dot, because there's a pink dot on the otherwise color-free bottle, and if there's a significance to said dot, I don't know what it is. Fully expecting it to be in the same vein as pretty much all the other Escada scents--a big bag of tropical fruit with a few flowers thrown in--I sniffed with trepidation. But I was surprised and impressed by the actual character of the scent. It is probably a fruity-floral scent, but the effect that hit me was of a sheer, abstract, very linen-y floral, with only a vague tropical fruit feel that I wasn't sure I was actually smelling or just expecting from an Escada fragrance. The scent struck me as something appropriate for a casual date or for daytime, and it was one that I would definitely feel comfortable gifting. It may be on the list to give my sister this year for xmas.

And then there's Demeter. I saw a couple in the women's section that I don't think I'd seen before, since it's been a while since I've been in Sephora. Waffle Cone and Banana Flambee. Waffle Cone is the typical buttery, Belgian-waffle type smell, and it holds up well on paper (it doesn't collapse into some weird powdery or coconut note). Banana Flambee I found very impressive at first. I love banana-caramel type scents. Unfortunately, it seemed to collapse into a coconut smell too soon on the test strip. Alas! Well, there's always Vanille Banane by Sud Pacifique, which is second-to-none.

Lastly, there's another product at Sephora that seriously deserves mention: Sephora-brand "Whipped Body Delights." Basically they're thick, heavily-scented creams for the body (I presume--I'm not exactly sure what a 'whipped body delight is supposed to be), and they come in wonderful, true-to-life fragrances like Marshmallow Fluff and Bamboo Garden (a green, foliage-y scent). But the best scent, and the one I had to have, is Pumpkin Thyme. It smells just like heaven, which is to say that it smells just like Harvest Moon Pumpkin ice cream. And if you've never tasted that, you're missing out; if you come across it, put a moratorium on living la vida low-carb and pick up a pint. It tastes just like pumpkin pie with the whippied cream on it, except cold. Words cannot describe its perfection. The best part of it is that, like pumpkin-spice-flavored coffee, all the brands do it well (but I recommend Edys or D'Agostino brand). And this cream by Sephora is the olfactory equivalent to this ice cream. So if you want a pumpkin-y treat for autumn, this cream is definitely a good buy (especially at $8).

And that's the fragrance beep for now, gbeeplets.

An Idea from the Main Blog

Here is an idea from the main blog that works here as well:

I was talking with some peeps about waking up in the morning, about how I want one of those sunrise simulator alarm clocks that slowly dims from darkness to full power, and something occurred to me: why not have a coffeemaker that's timed to go off when you want to wake up that makes bacon-and-eggs-flavored-coffee? That way you get the full-on olfactory experience of breakfast (which would get you out of bed), and you also get the full-on gustatory experience when you're drinking your coffee. Honestly, I think that if it could be made properly, bacon&eggs-flavored coffee would be quite good. I think if you're having it with bacon and eggs, you wouldn't even notice the hint of flavoring. That said, flavored coffee in general almost always ends up tasting so bad (it's so acidic; pumpkin-spice-flavored coffee is the only really good one) that this idea might not work. So I tweaked the idea a little: a coffeemaker that goes off when you want to wake up and makes regular coffee, but has a component that you put a cartridge in which creates a separate scent that you experience in tandem with the coffee's aroma. The cartridge could be either: 1) bacon and eggs 2) belgian waffles 3) toast 4) cantaloupe or 5) a combination of the above. There could be 3 or more slots for cartridges. It could be noted that people needn't use the cartridges only for breakfast alarms, and I'd predict that scents like coffee cake and belgian waffles would be popular for general home fragrancing. (You better not be scoffing there! You don't believe that Belgian waffles make an extremely pleasant home fragrance? Check out Crabtree & Evelyn's Patisserie from their Cooks line, or the Grandma's Cookies plug-in from Airwick, both of which smell like Belgian waffles.) (Incidentally, someone tried to shoot down my idea, saying something like, 'Would you want to go around smelling like Belgian waffles all day?' My answer: Obviously, the smell wouldn't be strong enough or heated for long enough to cling to clothing, but even if it were, people 'go around smelling like' Belgian waffles all the time--look at the sales of vanilla-based perfumes like Cake Batter by SmellThis, Vanille/Vanille-Abricot/Vanille-Coco/Vanille-Banane by Sud Pacifique, the Desserts line by Jessica Simpson and countless other gourmand-type fragrances, within which I would dare to include Mugler's Angel, the hallmark of which is its cocoa-vanilla accord. I will also note the reaction many people have when they walk into a yogurt store that reeks of vanilla and cocoa-butter: "I'd LOVE to smell like this every day!" So there!)

Beep!