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Demeter on the Brain

Lately I've been liking Demeter a lot. Over the summer I wore Rain a lot after I finally found a bottle. (Whole Foods had been sold out, and someone there even told me the scent was no longer made.) Incidentally, Rain: to me it smells like a tangerine floating in ozonated air. When I first experience it, I thought of the smell of coming out of a swimming pool, except not chlorine-like. That's hard to describe. Anyway, the site says, circuitously, that the scent essentially combines earthy, plant odors. I think.

One of the scents that I wear now is Bonfire. It's supposed to be the smell of burning maple leaves. I was looking for Fresh Hay, which I also love, when I picked this one up instead. It does smell like smoke. Here's the interesting part, though: Think of smoke and smell it. Done? OK. Now, think of barbecue-flavored potato chips and smell it. Fascinating! I wonder if this accord is used in smoke flavors.

And another Demeter scent that I quite like is Myrrh. To me, it smells just like myrrh, except perhaps a bit lighter. It strikes me as a very understated, subtle scent to wear; I also think it would combine well with other scents. A note about the smell of myrrh: I always think of dried saffron when I smell it. I haven't smelled saffron in years, and I haven't compared the two, but I think they smell similar. Do they? Does anyone else think that?

And that's the beep for now.

Perfume!

Whoah!!! Someone made that Patrick Suskind novel which I've still never read, Perfume, into a movie! The site says it's "coming soon." I wonder when it will hit theaters, or whether I'm so behind the beans that it already has and I just didn't know about it. Cool! I can't wait to see it. From the trailer I could tell that Dustin Hoffman is in it. And I thought I saw Claire Danes, but I'm not sure. (She's probably not in it--I'm terrible with faces. This is how I could walk around Manhattan for 6 years and never notice a celebrity.) The trailer looks interesting, but don't all trailers? Man, that's good work if you can get it--making movie trailers, that is. Anyway, this is one movie that I'm definitely going to intend to endeavor to attempt to try to see while it's in the theaters.

Oh yeah--the trailer. I saw it here, on youtube, of course. Here's the long one in German(?). ...And the short one in English.

Beep!

Antidepressant Perfume Smells Like BS

The other day my roommate asked me if I'd heard of the "antidepressant perfume," something he'd seen in New York magazine. Whahappah?? I said. So I performed a Web search using google (is that the correct terminology these days?), and found a blog entry about it with a link that didn't work. Herein I shall reproduce the quote that the blog quoted from the site:

Prescription free happiness, now available?! Smiley offers a unisex and universal range of products with micro-nutrients to activate happiness! Its secret: the formula is based on natural bio-chemistry combining theobromine with phenylethylamine derived from pure cocoa extract. This psycho stimulant cocktail is available in a whole range of preparations using galenical pharmacology. A 100% medical look for a unique therapy, the range is revealed out of the confined box of the luxury perfume industry! This antidepressant remedy is to be consumed without any moderation: in the shower, in the bath, for specific use anytime you wish! The formulae are preserved in exclusive perfume bottles developed by the prestigious glassmaking techniques of Saint-Gobain and desinged by Ora-Ito, the most sought after designer of his generation. Nothing like it to contain the happy therapy!

Load of crap, as if you needed me to tell you. Granted, I'm not a doctor; I'm not a biochemist; I don't play either on TV; I don't know Hugh Laurie. But I don't think you need highly specialized knowledge to determine that a perfume containing minute amounts of allegedly psychotropic chemicals isn't going to act as an antidepressant. First of all--theobromine and PEA. Theobromine? Since when was that associated with well-being?! I thought for a moment that it was similar to caffeine; then I got the bright idea to wikipedia caffeine, and, sure enough it is. Caffeine is methyltheobromine. So I guess theobromine could have an effect, but I doubt it would affect your mood. But wait! Wikipedia says that theobromine can affect mood. Who knew! And PEA--well, PEA is supposed to skyrocket in your brain when you fall in love, and some antidepressants (and maybe illicit drugs; not sure) are derivative of PEA. I guess it could alter your mood if it got into your system and crossed the blood-brain barrier. Which brings us to the bigger questions:

• How much of these chemicals could be in a few sprays of perfume?
• Would they be absorbed through the skin?
• Are they stable enough to survive on a store shelf long enough to be effective?
• Do they not react with the other components of the perfume (eg, the fixatives, the fragrant materials)
  

I'm sure someone with knowledge of chemistry could point out other reasons why the whole idea of antidepressant perfume is preposterous. At least this one is. I guess if you wanted to produce an antidepressant perfume, you could simply spray the outer side (the one not touching the skin) of an EMSAM patch with fragrance. [Duh note: Do not do this! I am neither a doctor or a chemist; I do not endorse spraying medical devices with perfume.]

So much for the antidepressant perfume.

Beep!

Well, I was at the Body Shop last night to check out their new seasonal oils, and I gotta say--I'm very pleased with what I found. I was very, very pleased to see one called Fireside, which, true to its name, has a kind of smoky odor, although it's not exactly the perfect burning wood-type scent as, say, Demeter's Bonfire, which I find excellent. Fireside, I think, has more woody-green notes.

Interestingly, you can actually look at the notes in the oils now on the Body Shop site. You couldn't do this before, and when you'd go to the store and ask the person behind the counter, "What's in this Pine?"and they'd say, "Pine," and you'd say, "Aren't there other notes? Because I really think there's orange in here." "Pine." Now when you want to know what's in something, you can just go to the site. For example, here's their description of Fireside:

Top notes: herbal armoise, crushed leaf and pine needles, hints of aromatic juniper berries and delicate wood smoke. Heart notes: cedar lots, freshly cut incense and fir cone. Base notes: warm smoky sandalwood, hints of patchouli, spice and lichen.

Lovely! I love having it right there for me. I'm going to be experimenting with this oil at Christmastime--adding it to the Christmas Wreath tarts from Yankee Candle that I love so well. And this winter I really have to get the Firewood candle by Henri Bendel, even though it smells more like Helmut Lang's Cuiron than firewood per se. But I can't afford the really expensive Feu de Bois one. I guess the smell of woodsmoke is finally having its day, and it's about damn time.

A couple of other oils I liked at the Body Shop were Toasted Marshmallow, which was too subtle to really pick up amid the olfactory cacophony of the store, and Steamed Milk, which smells so natural it's uncanny. I really, really like this Steamed Milk one. What does it smell like? Steamed milk! That's the only way to describe it! Toasted Marshmallow is nice, kind of vanillic, I think, with a fruity tone. You can go to the Body Shop site if you really want to know what's in them...

...But don't rely strictly on the descriptions! I was really excited to smell their Plum Pudding oil, because the notes made it sound delicious, but it just didn't do it for me. It reminded me of their Spicy Berry oil, which was sharp and disastrous.

Let's see... what other seasonal oils were there? Golden Apple: underwhelming. Cinnamon: see Golden Apple. Pomegranate: Unmemorable. Gingerbread: more like "fresh sharp lemony ginger, with maybe some vanilla in the background"--didn't smell warm and cozy, like you expect a gingerbread-type scent to smell. (L'Occitane's gingerbread scent is also a dud, but that's no surprise.) Vanilla Spice: Acceptable, but a litle harsh--not very natural. Holiday Garland: I bought this last year, and the smell, which is kind of herbal, reminded me somewhat of Chinese food. I don't think it smells like Christmas at all. Pass on this one. Fresh Baked Cookies: Surprisingly natural. A confection-y, very oily/buttery vanillic smell. Not bad. Almond: Why not just call it "Benzaldehyde"? You can find fake almond oil for cheaper, and it's the same. Then again, $7 for this beats whatever the bitter almond essential oil, which is pricey, is going for these days.

And that's me quick update for now. I shall endeavor to intend to plan on aiming to attempt posting more soon, especially since I took all those notes that the first Sniffapalooza I attended, which was quite a while ago. So, as the IM'ers say: l8r.

Beep!

ADDENDUM: After smelling the Toasted Marshmallow again, I have to say that it smells faintly like strawberry. Kind of like cotton candy, actually.

Crabtree L'Occitane

First off, a word about L'Occitane. I went to their SoHo store a few weeks ago and inquired whether they had an autumn fragrance. You know, how Crabtree & Eveyln came out with Harvest a few years ago and how the Body Shop comes out with autumn oils? That's what I meant. But the salesperson said something like, "We don't have seasonal lines. You have to be a little more creative here." So then of course I was at a different L'Occitane last week or so and saw their Pumpkin Chestnut, Gingerbread and I think Caramel fragrances. So much for being 'creative' with scents. But on to the scents: They're terrible. But I wasn't surprised when I smelled them, because they've put out crap before. Some of their stuff is good, but a lot is bad. The Pumpkin Chestnut should have been called just 'Chestnut.' The Gingerbread and Caramel ones should have just been called "Poor Synthetic Reproductions of Gingerbread and Caramel." The gingerbread doesn't even small culinary. It doesn't even smell like ginger. I can't recommend any autumn fragrances from L'Occitane, except for their Pear, which is passable.

Crabtree & Eveyln: I liked their autumn line of oils, which included Warm Evergreen, Vanilla Truffle, an apple one and Moroccan Spice. The Warm Evergreen was the best: It smelled like the frankincense accord in Noel; The Vanilla Truffle was pretty much a regular culinary vanilla-type; The apple one was a nice apple; Moroccan Spice I didn't care for all that much--I think it was spicy (duh). Here's one thing to know about Warm Evergreen and Noel (I'm not sure if it holds with their other scents: Don't store the oil with the dropper top in it. Store it with the regular cap on and then switch to the dropper when you need to. If you store it with the dropper, the oil will eat through it. This has happened to me with both Warm Evergreen and Noel. In fact, my whole bag smells like Warm Evergreen, and even though I tried ionizing the bag, it still smells like that, and it's strong. Alas!

And that's all I've got for now.

Beep!
Ed Shepp

Autumnal Extravaganza!

Lots of autumn fragrances out there, and I couldn't be happier. Let's go over what I saw over the weekend:

Bath & Body Works: They have(/had) their Perfect Autumn line out now; I can't remember if it was out last year. It contains Pumpkin, Apple, Plum and Caramel scents in candles, sprays, 'scented stones' and oils. They're all pleasant enough--I don't expect transcendently beautiful scents from BBW (but I do from Henri Bendel, who does one of the candle lines they sell). I was very disappointed by the fact that they were sold out of all their oils (the second store I went to was; I don't know about the one in Manhattan in the 20s on 5th--no one was providing customer service for me there), but I was more disappointed when they told me at the store that they were taking this line down today (It's not even October! It's really not even autumn!). HUGE disappointment in Bath & Body Works.

Speaking of Bath & Body Works, they also had a couple new scents in their Tutti Dolci line, an amaretto and a tiramisu-type scent. The amaretto-type also has notes of coconut macaroons. It's intensely wonderful. The tiramisu scent is also luxurious and decadent, but the amaretto one takes the cake. It could be the best one they've done. Clarification: I'm referring to the Body Moisturizing Soufflés. The eaux de toilette don't cut it--they don't last and they change quickly in the drydown. They can't hold a candle to the creams--don't buy them.

The Body Shop: They have a few seasonal home-fragrance oils out now, including Vanilla Spice, Spicy Berry, Sweet Maple, Blackberry Apple, Candied Citrus and Pumpkin Nectarine. I've written about Pumpkin Nectarine and Spicy Berry before. As for the others: Sweet Maple is lovely if you're looking for something that basically smells like pancake syrup (and there's nothing wrong with that); Vanilla Spice is pleasant enough, but it doesn't really convey the title all that much--actually, there's an orangey note that's very prominent in the blend--it could easily be called Orange Anise with hints of synthetic Vanilla; Blackberry Apple I regretfully didn't get to sample; Candied Citrus is pleasant but apparently not especially memorable, since that's all I can remember to say about it.

Pier 1 Imports: Pier 1 has some nice autumnal scents this year. Harvest Spice, which was renamed Harvest Pumpkin Spice last year, has been rechristened Pumpkin Bread for this year. (I think that etymology is correct.) New this year are Spice Cake, which smells pleasant but isn't anything to make a fuss about; Mulled Cider, same as Spice Cake; and Sugared Pecan, which smells wonderful and almondlike. Of course you must buy the Pumpkin Bread scent, since this is the scent from Pier 1 and it's a required purchase every autumn; but Sugared Pecan is also an excellent choice for a fall/winter scent. I recommend them both; and I should point out that they're both available as spray air fresheners as well as candles.

Yankee Candle: Gotta mention Yankee Candle, because I noticed that this year they have plug-in and spray versions of Bayberry and (drum roll, please) Christmas Wreath!!! I actually wrote them last year inquiring why Christmas Wreath wasn't available as a spray! So I'm very, very glad to see this development. But I have something unfortunate to report: last year I bought the refresher oil for their Mistletoe scent, and it was very disppointing--it had the green notes that the candle does, but they were far overshadowed by a bizarre sweet fruity note that I don't detect in the wax version. I think it's the oil vector--I think it just contributes this note by virtue of the different formulation. Unfortunately it totally changes the character of the scent. And doubly unfortunately, it seems that the plug-in oil for Christmas Wreath seems to share this deficiency. It doesn't smell like the candle. However, I've yet to actually plug it in, so maybe in December I'll be pleasantly surprised. But my experience in this department leads me to believe I won't. The news isn't all bad, however: I didn't smell the Christmas Wreath spray, but I did buy the Mistletoe spray a couple years ago, and it smelled just like the candle; so I have every reason to believe that the Christmas Wreath spray will as well. I hope I get to go home for Christmas this year--I can finally have a spray that actually smells like a Christmas tree!! ...And since I mentioneded the plug-in scents, I got their plug-in Golden Spiced Pear, and it's performing wonderfully.

And that's the fragrance beep for now!

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!

New Mown Demeter

I was at Sephora last night in the Time Warner Center, gandering at different things, and I noticed they had some Demeter fragrances in the mens section. All of the flavors were I guess what they would construe as 'masculine,' flavors like Riding Crop, Leather, Humidor, Mesquite... But the two that caught my eye that I haven't seen before were Fresh Hay and New Zealand.

I was excited to see Fresh Hay, but didn't expect much. I love that new mown hay/tonka smell, but everytime I come across another product that I think will have the scent (eg, the Henri Bendel Tonka Bean candle) it disappoints. This Demeter fragrance, however, did NOT disappoint! It's absolutely perfect--a perfect coumarin/new mown hay/tonka smell. Actually, it would be totally perfect if it had a fixative in it--Demeter fragrances don't, which is why they flit away after 2 seconds. However, hay is a base note, so maybe this one would stick around for a while, especially if I sprayed it on my clothes. So this scent is definitely a must-have, especially for fall. But since hay is such a versatile and extremely pleasant note (I could probably combine it with Aramis or something grassy/lavendery for a summer scent), I could probably wear this scent any part of the year. Two thumbs up for this scent, definitely.

New Zealand was interesting. I didn't realize that the entire country has one distinct odor, but I suppose it does. Apparently it smells like fresh grassy notes that fade into an ozone-like freshness that's almost identical to Demeter Rain. It's not unpleasant, but if I wanted to wear something like that I'd just buy Rain. Because the grassy notes just don't last long enough, even in their Grass scent, which fades into something not dissimilar to Fresh Hay. (I've noticed this with grassy scents. Either they start out fresh and sharp and fade into a foliage-like, almost hyacinthy tone or they start out fresh and sharp and fade into a coumarinic tone.) I wouldn't recommend this scent.

In a last li'l note, the other fragrance I noticed was Obsession Night. I wondered why this scent was necessary, and if it smelled like Obsession, which calls to mind something like the smell of a urine-soaked nightmare. Obsession Night actually smells much better, very woody if I remember correctly. But it's not something that I went gaga over. And I couldn't see myself wearing something like that--the bottle is so cheesy.

And that's that for now.

Tommy Bahama

A Macy's thing came in the mail a couple weeks ago with scent strips for Tommy Bahama fragrance for men and women. I love these! The mens one was warm and woody, nice. Something I might wear in cooler weather here but any weather if I lived in the Bahamas, I assume. The womens was the one I really liked, though. It's a fruity floral, and kind of smelled like Carolina Hererra to me (probably the tuberose in it shining through), but with fruity tones at the beginning of it. Very lush and tropical. That's a fragrance I would love to give to someone. I'm really loving floral tropical womens' fragrances in general now, like Beyond Paradise, Bora Bora and this one. I wish more people wore them.

I also like the whole branding of this Tommy Bahama line. It's all very consistent, and just looking at their materials I wish I could run off to those islands and live a carefree life wearing these fragrances and sitting in wicker chairs swatting mosquitos.

Tonka Beep

I smelled the Henri Bendel Tonka Bean candle last week, and for the first time, I was disappointed in something from that collection. Tonka bean is a wonderful, amazing smell, sort of like almond & coumarin, sweet and sometimes with a jam-like backnote. The candle smells nothing like tonka bean or tonka bean absolute. It smells kind of like a woody, cocoa smell. It's just off. And it's a damn shame too, because tonka bean is a fantastic smell that you just can't find. I like it in autumn, but it's appropriate for all year, I'd say. In fall/winter it's nice cux it's warm and vanillic; in spring/summer it's nice because there's a coumarinic note in grass and lavender that tonka echoes. Alas, you get none of it from this candle. A shame.

And that's my li'l tonka beep.

Celeditude and Basil

Today is Celeditude, the celebration of my birthday. And since citrus/orange blossom are traditional for Celeditude, I'm wearing an eau de cologne scent. This one I got from L'Occitane en Provence, and I have to say I'm very impressed with it. It's called Feuilles d'Oranger Eau de Cologne (I think--I don't have the box in front of me and it's hard to figure out their exact name for it), and it's basically orange/lemon/bergamot notes with petitgrain. It's light and citrusy, and very similar to Eau d'Orange Verte by Hermès. The similarity is a good thing, because the L'Occitane stuff is MUCH cheaper, and smells just as good. And I should say that I prefer the Feuilles d'Oranger to their Neroli perfume, which just doesn't smell right. It has a heavy ambery note, if I remember properly.

As far as other Celeditude fragrances go, I got as a gift Chanel Pour Monsieur, which is perfectly appropriate, as it has topnotes of citrus and neroli. So it's a great Celeditude fragrance. And a great summery one, right up there with Eau de Cartier Concentrée, which I love so well.

And one more thing: I was at Bed, Bath and Beyond the other night gandering at the candles, and I came across one of the new scents by Colonial Candle - Sun-Drenched Herbs, I think the name was. The scent is wonderful--very much like basil. And something of another find in terms of lessexpensiveness, as I was pining for the Henri Bendel Basil candle, and almost bought it when it was on sale (but opted for Tuberose instead); now I can just buy the Colonial Candle wax tart, which needless to say is much cheaper than the $24 Henri Bendel candle.

And that's the beep for today.

Archipelago-go

Archipelago is really making some good candles. Over the weekend I stumbled across two of their lines that I hadn't closely looked at before. The first was Archipelago Monograms soy candles. They come in pastel boxes, one for each letter of the alphabet, and the fragrances to some degree correspond with the letter. My favorite fragrances were:

E--eucalyptus and sweet basil (sweet, fresh, but not mentholic, like eucalyptus can often be)

B--bouganivillea and tuberose (full, soft floral)

O--olive blossom and white fig (tangy, unusual)

Those were my favorites, but all of the candles smell spectacular. Most of them were soft and floral. Most of them also smelled almost like fine perfumes. The only drawback, at least at the store I saw them, was price: they didn't carry any under $40! So basically they're an extravagance at this point. I don't think I'd buy one for myself, but maybe I'd buy one as a gift for someone, if I knew they LOVED scented candles and I wanted to buy them a really nice one.

The other line I noticed by them was Archipelago Wood. There are 5 scents in this line: Ebony Wood/Vanilla, Linden Wood/Fig, Orange Wood/Spice, Fruit Wood/Cassis and Walnut Wood/Espresso. The scents smell much like the descriptions: the Orange Wood/Spice smells like spiced orange with a wood note; the Fruit Wood/Cassis like a fruity cassis with a wood tone. Ebony Wood/Vanilla smells very cedar-y. My favorites were Walnut Wood/Espresso (dark coffee-like smell with a wood backdrop) and Orange Wood/Spice. The design os the candles is simple and elegant. And the best part is that they come in a variety of sizes, so you don't necessarily have to spend $40. All the scents are sophisticated and widely appealing.

I noticed one other line by Archipelago that I found amusing, because it looks like a virtual copy of the Henri Bendel line. It's a line of candles with names like Amber, Expresso [sic], Juniper [smells quite lavendery], Clove and Vanilla; and the design of the candles practically replicates the Henri Bendel line at Bath & Body Works. I found it funny. The scents are OK; not as good as the Monograms line. I don't get the need to put out the line, frankly. Perhaps the Henri Bendel line is doing SO well that it's spawning quite literal imitators.

And that's the scent beep for now.

It's Beginning to Smell A Lot Like Christmas

Here's my brief survey of fragrances for the holidays (which really means Christmas, since I simply don't know enough about Chanukah, Kwanzaa or any of the others to even look for fragances for those festivities). Basically I just looked around at the candles or sprays that I came across and noted what they smelled like and if I liked them. Generally Christmas scents tended to fall into 2 categories: the Christmas tree type and the orange spice/cinnamon type. Occasionally there were gingerbread or peppermint accords offered, but the preponderance of holiday scents are pine or orange spice. Let's get started.

But first, I should mention my favorite holiday scent, one that I buy every year: Noël, by Crabtree and Evelyn. It's a blend of frankincese and Siberian fir, orange and spiced cranberry notes. It's simply wonderful. And strong too. I always get the potpourri refresher oil--you only need to put a few drops here and there (on a cloth, light bulb ring, sofa, anything) to completely fragrance the room. And it's long-lasting as well. Truly an excellently made fragrance. And now on to the survey.

Yankee Candle
As expected, they have a wide variety of holiday scents from which to choose. Here they are:

• Christmas Wreath - In terms of sheer odor, this is far and away the best holiday scent I've encountered. It's an exquisitely natural fresh-cut pine scent (I'll use the word pine to refer to any coniferous, Christmas-tree type scent) and is head and shoulders above most of the competition. I actually bought the candle for this (the large size!) and several tarts. I've had good results before with the tarts; last year I used them and they filled the room well. The only problem was that the smell seemed to fade quickly. But that was the first time I'd used them, so I could've been using them improperly. With the candle, I've had less success. I bought the candle when I went home last year, and it performed disappointingly, not filling the room with fragrance. (I was quite surprised, as I had the Sage & Citrus candle, and it performed exceptionally well; I assumed the Christmas Wreath would too.) Rooms are different in the way they perfuse with scent, however; things like air circulation and humidity can affect it. I bought the candle this year for my party, and, regretfully, I had the same relatively poor performance in terms of fragrance output. Alas. So I'm left to conclude that while Christmas Wreath is a lovely fragrance, it's not as effusive as I'd like.
  
• Balsam Fir, Balsam & Cedar - Balsam Fir is quite pleasant. It's deep and woody, darker and sharper than Christmas Wreath. It smells quite a bit like fresh cut pine branches. I burned the tarts, and unfortunately they didn't prove too effusive, but that may be the room. It's a nice odor, though, and if you like something woodier and stronger than Christmas Wreath then this is the way to go. Balsam & Cedar is a pine note similar to the Balsam Fir but with the addition of cedar; I don't find the cedar pleasant. I think that Balsam Fir is the better of the two.
  
• Holiday Bayberry - This is a typical bayberry scent - sharp and minty fresh. (Does bayberry smell of mint or spice? I've never been able to piece it apart in my head) It's also effusive and seems to be quite popular as a holiday scent. It also mixes well with the pine scents.
  
• Mistletoe - This one has been around for some time, and Yankee Candle has apparently made it, along with Home for the Holidays, their signature holiday scent. I like it, but I don't see how it should be at the forefront of the holiday season. As a matter of fact, I commented on the Yankee Candle site to ask them why they chose it as their holiday forerunner; I was actually wondering whether there was something I'd missed in the actual aroma, whether Mistletoe indeed is so superior a fragrance, or whether it's something more about sensitivity (I assume one wouldn't want to really push a product with the word Christmas in the title, risking losing the patronage of someone who doesn't celebrate the holiday. That said, I can't imagine that Yankee Candle has a large following in the Jewish, Wiccan, or whatever else community). Of course I got an email saying that decisions about product naming and promoting are done in the corporate office (well, duh) and that they'll get back with me. No response. Oh well. I guess if I want responses I can buy from Bath & Body Works. But that's another story.
  Mistletoe basically smells to me like evergreen notes, perhaps around a core of a berry-type scent. It also smells slightly moldy, for lack of a better term, but the effect is interesting. I like to burn the Mistletoe tarts with the Christmas Wreath ones. I should also point out that the Misltetoe candles and tarts smell dramatically different from the oil. The oil starts out with the same green notes, but they vanish very quickly, leaving a peculiar fruity, berry-like scent, one that you don't smell with the same prominence in the candles. Overall, the scent isn't one for everyone, and if you're looking for a straight coniferous smell, you'd be better off going with Christmas Wreath or Balsam Fir.
  
• Home for the Holidays - This is largely a cinnamon scent, but there are balsam notes. If you like the smell of cinammon candles, then this is pleasant enough. I think that there are better options, though. Mainly a cinnamon orange one. In fact, for an orange spice note, Clove Bud & Citrus by Yankee Candle is an excellent choice.
  
• White Christmas, Snow Angels - Both of these struck me as very abstract. White Christmas smlled kind of like toilet paper, and I couldn't really detect any of the 'evergreen' notes that I'd read were in it. Snow Angels was so abstract it just smelled like nothing to me.
  
• Christmas Berries, Christmas Eve, Hollyberry - The first is basically a berry scent-- no surprise there. The second struck me as very berryish as well. The Hollyberry struck me as slightly berryish, with perhaps a bayberry note or a woody nuance, very like what one expects from a fragrance called Hollyberry.
  
• Peppermint Cocoa, Cranberry Peppermint, Jack Frost - I'm not a big fan of peppermint scents, but all of these are superb. Peppermint Cocoa is a lovely mint chocolate type smell, very much like a cup of hot chocolate with a candy cane in it. Cranberry Peppermint didn't sound very appetizing to me when I first read the name, but when I smelled it I was surprised and quite pleased. Tangy cranberry with cool peppermint--it really works well. Jack Frost seems to be a blend of peppermint and vanilla; it actually smells like a flavor of Velamints (back in the day, when they had flavors other than chocolate). It's the most pleasant peppermint-dominant scent I can think of; and the design on the candle is fun too.
  
• Hot Buttered Rum, Christmas Cookie - The first is a sweet, heavy butterscotch scent (I found it similar to peru balsam), very pleasant. The second is your standard confectionary vanilla type scent. I've always thought it was superior to the original Vanilla Cookie, although I'm not really sure if there's any difference.

The holiday scent that I didn't get to smell, in spite of the fact that I've been to 2 separate Yankee Candle stores, was Holiday Twinkle. I really wanted to smell this one, because it's a pine accord with citrus and spice. But alas, I've not been able to find it anywhere. Also, as an aside, today I discovered a candle called Crisp Spruce, which I hadn't seen before. It seems to be a much greener coniferous smell, with herbaceous tones. And for some reason when I smell the candle I think of Chinese food.

Votivo
Votivo has such a great line of candles, so I was excited to see their holiday line. They have three scents: Christmas Sage, Joie de Noël and Gingersnaps. Christmas Sage is obviously the pine type; I found it a little too sage-y and not pine-y enough, but I give them points for doing something different. The Joie de Noël is a pretty standard orange spice scent, and it's quite pleasant. Gingersnaps I didn't find done so well; gingerbread/gingersnaps is a scent that's pretty easily done well, and I didn't find this scent all that pleasant. It was too dark for my tastes. I'd prefer a warmer scent.

Bath & Body Works
I've mentioned their Perfect Christmas line before, but it's worth revisiting a little. Winterberry is a lovely blend of berry and pine, Cookie is a good vanilla confection scent, Spice is a passable cinnamon scentm, and Tree is a fine pine scent, with a hint of cedar. I've since tried the plug-ins for Tree, and I must say I quite like them. The scent from the plugin doesn't strike me as too cedar-y; in fact, it smells pretty much how I'd like a Christmas tree scent to smell. And it's moderatly effusive, too. I'm very pleased with it. The other offering from Bath & Body works to pay attention to is the Henri Bendel holiday candle, Bitter Orange. It's basically an orange spice scent, but it's superbly well done, very natural and suave. It has notes of orange, musk, clove and bay rum. If you're willing to pay more for a high-quality orange spice candle, this is definitely the one to buy. Also good for the holidays is the Henri Bendel Firewood candle, which is an excellent scent (and smells a bit like the Helmut Lang cologne Cuiron). Unfortunately, it's only available as a candle, where the Bitter Orange is also available as a spray.

Other

• Archipelago Botanicals: Two holiday scents: Joy, in red, is an orange spice blend, and Spirit, in green, is a blend of bayberry, pine and clove (the bayberry is very evident). Both excellent, and what's more, the glass jars that hold the candles are subtle, sophisticated and very aesthetic. This brand probably wins for most aesthetic candles. They also have a gift boxed candle called Joy of the Season (orange spice); the gift box itself is irresistebly cute.
  
• The Thymes: Their Frasier Fir is a wonderful pine scent.
  
• Aromatique: They have a red scent, The Smell of Christmas, that is an orange cinammon and is very heavy on the cassia scent; it's not as sophisticated as it wants to be. The green, The Smell of Christmas, is a pleasant, dark pine smell. And incidentally, while I wouldn't call it a holiday scent per se, you almost always see their Cinnamon Cider scent stocked with the Christmas ones. It's absolutely ghastly, and I don't recommend it at all.
  
• Slatkin & Co: They have a pleasant scent called, simply, Holiday. It has notes of orange, spice, wood and eucalyptus. The eucalyptus gives it a bayberry tone.
  

And there you have my holiday fragrance survey for 2004! Whew! Beep.

Textures by Maison

Unfortunately, I can't find the li'l piece of paper where I scratched my notes on, but I came across an impressive line of candles the other day at Bed, Bath and Beyond. It's called Textures and it's by Maison (the people that make the great Blood Orange and Tobacco & Bergamot candles). I believe there were 4 or 5 scents, but 2 really caught my nose: Smoke, a blend of pine, birch and oakwood which actually smells smoky, like wood burning (although I wouldn't exactly call it firewood per se), and one that melded vanilla, cocoa and espresso in such a way that it smelled like a frappucino or coffee smoothie. There was also one in the line with a prominent fig note that was pleasant. I really wish I could remember the other scents, cux as a whole the line was quite nice. I hope they introduce more fragrances for it in the future.

I must add here--I think firewood is really up-and-coming. Could it be the next Cucumber Melon? It's showing up everywhere--it used to be that you could only find it in expensive, high-end brands, but it seems to be filtering down quickly. Soon we'll see firewood scents everywhere. And that's a good thing. Hopefully a cheap but true-to-life firewood scent will come out, maybe by Glade (although most of what they do is such crap, I doubt it). Coffee scents seem to be breaking out too. I noticed it with those Votivo Murano candles, with the Venetian Coffee scent, and now in this Textures line. I wonder if they'll catch on. It seems unlikely to me, but I guess time will tell.

And that's the fragrance beep for now!

Wired Blurb

A blurb from Wired news about downloading scent. Not exactly critical news, since this type of thing has been talked about for some time, but interesting nonetheless:

A new service being tested by NTT Communications sends out smells according to data received over the internet.

Users attach a device to their laptops that resembles a crystal ball with a nozzle. The device receives aroma data from the central server and exudes fumes from the nozzle in accordance with that reading.

NTT is considering the system as a commercial product for aromatherapy, testing incense or just plain fun.

Beep.

Here's the Story

I came across the holiday disc for Febreze Scentstories the other day in KMart. What a disappointment. I'm no closer to wanting to buy one of those players than I ever was before. Here are the scents on it:

1. Mulling Cranberry Cider
2. Baking Holiday Pies
3. Lighting a Mulberry Candle
4. Making a Gingerbread House
5. Cookies Warm from the Oven

How lame. They should've listened to my suggestion for what to put into a holiday disc. What they've come up with is a big yawm. It starts out well--spiced cranberry is always a good idea for the holidays, and the holiday pies thing is also good, if unimaginative. But then they go to this 'lighting a mulberry candle.' If this were a real story, as in a written narrative, that would be the point at which I threw the book in the garbage. I mean, how is that supposed to fit into an interesting holiday narrative?! And do you light the candle for 30 minutes?!?! More importantly, however, mulberry is LAME. It's the ultimate cheap shizzly scent--that's the reason why you can find a mulberry candle in every Wal-Mart and discount store in the country. Personally I think most mulberry scents smell like a bathroom--they remind me of those urinal cakes with the unpleasant odor, for some reason. But furthermore, if you already have a cranberry-type fragance, why would you then do a mulberry-type one for the next 'movement'??! It's stupid. Then the disc moves to gingerbread and then cookies. It seems like this scent category should've been covered in the holiday pie part. In fact, there shouldn't have been a holiday pie one--maybe gingerbread should've been there. If they were going to put another gourmand type scent, why not spiced eggnog? As for the disc as a whole, WHERE is the pine?!?! You'd think that pine would be a necessity, right? Even if you're trying to appeal to people of every religious stripe, pine is still a benchmark of the holiday season--it's in all the stores; there's even a pine wreath in their marketing!! (And let's be serious here--who is possibly buying these Scentstories things, anyway? I really doubt that a huge part of the market for it is Jewish and Muslim families. Personally I think the people who are buying it are married women in middle America who wear those homemade holiday sweatshirts and vastly self-identify as Christian.) And while some might consider a pine scent hackneyed, I would argue that a really WELL DONE one (like Yankee Candle's Christmas Wreath) isn't trite, but rather, it's timeless. So the Febreze people really dropped the ball on this one. The job they did is especially pathetic considering the plethora of scents they could've chosen from for a holiday disc: clove-orange ("making a pomander"); peppermint ("making candy canes"); cocoa ("making holiday cocoa"); bayberry ("standing under the mistletoe"); 'hollyberry' ("making a holiday wreath"), etc.... All in all I'd give their holiday effort an F, because it lacks any semblance of imagination or even boldness (they could've put interesting, lush scents in there, but they played to what was safe). I can't see that I will ever buy one of those scentstories contraptions now; they're destined to be permanently lame--hopefully they'll be withdrawn from the market within the next 6 months.

In other news, I caught the commercial for Chanel's No 5 last night, the little mini-movie with Nicole Kidman. The 'movie' itself is quick-cut and attractively shot. I think it moves a little too quick to be understood--it comes off as a bit incoherent. I think it's supposed to be moving; it's not. Interestingly, Nicole Kidman doesn't look as pretty as she should in the commercial. You'd think that since it was produced by a beauty company, they would make her look even more luminescent, which is what usually happens when an actress does an ad campaign for a cosmetics company. Not this time. Part of it is that butter-yellow blond hair she has in it, which doesn't really look good on her. The rest, I guess, is the makeup. (Or maybe she's just too thin.) Does the commercial do a good job of selling No. 5? Well, it works about as well as their magazine ads, and if it intends to make younger people interested in wearing the perfume, then I suppose it's successful. Was it worth the $12 million they paid Nicole Kidman to do it? Probably not. But then if you're Chanel, I guess that kind of $ doesn't really matter, does it?

And that's the fragrance beep for today.

Blips from the Aside

This weekend I trekked out to Yankee Candle to get a bunch of Christmas scents--Christmas Wreath, Home for the Holidays, etc. I went to early because the only Yankee Candle I know of is out in New Jersey, and I hate making the trip, so I decided I'd get it over with (imagine my delight when they told me at the store that there's a Yankee Candle at South Street Seaport in Manhattan now). I ended up getting a bunch of the simmering tarts, in various flavors. It was a productive trip. However, I'll write about those scents later, as I want to post a survey of the different holiday scents out there. So for this entry, I'm just putting up some quick blips about other interesting stuff I found.

While I was at that mall with Yankee Candle in it, I popped into Bath & Body Works to look around. Mostly to smell the holiday scents again and see if I still had the same opinion on them as I did at first. Tree still smells just a bit too cedar-y, but it might work; also, I was right about Winterberry, in that it does have an evergreen note in it. I like that one best. After looking at the holiday scents, I moved on to the Henri Bendel collection. They had a greater variety of scents there than I've seen at the stores in Manhattan. Some scents I haven't seen before were Lavender Leaves, a nicely natural lavender smell; Birch, a really well done light woody and slightly earthy smell; and White Pepper, a pleasant scent. I don't recall if I've seen it before (I don't think I have), but there was also one called White Lily, a really wonderful scent reminiscent of certain floral oils I've smelled before (synthetic repros of orange blossom or pikake), but with a depth, fullness and softness that made it a truly wonderful scent.

The store didn't have the Jeff Leatham candles, which was disappointing. They also didn't have that food-scents line that I saw on their website the last time I visited. I know this because the person I asked about the Jeff Leatham line thought I meant the food-scent line. She mentioned a specific candle from said line that I wasn't aware of: Mashed Potatoes. She said that it really does smell like hot buttered mashed potatoes. Interesting.

The other little blip to mention is a candle I saw at a different store back in Manhattan. I was looking through the scents from The Thymes collection, and I smelled one called Agarwood Incense. I'm not sure if I've experienced this one before; maybe I did and it smells different to me this time around (it happens). Well, I wish I'd smelled it better before, because it had the right type of odor that I wanted to use for my Hallooweegan party. It struck me this time around as very cistus-labdanum, very deep, hay-like, with a hint of a certain leather kind of smell. It would have been nice to use. Alas!

And that's the fragrance beep for now.

Weekend Update

This weekend I found myself at Bath & Body Works, and was pleased to see that they have some new stuff there. I looked at their holiday scents for this year and a line of mostly body products they have called Tutti Dolce.

Their holiday line is called The Perfect Christmas. It includes candles, sprays and assorted decorations. The scents include Tree, Winterberry, Christmas Cookie and Spice (at least I think those are the names; the web site only has Tree). They're all pleasant, but there might be better scents out there this year. Tree was nice, but heavy on the cedar - I'm sure I could find a better pine scent. Winterberry was the most interesting - the typical berry note, but seemingly with coniferous tone, like a piney Christmas-tree type smell with a berry like note behind it. I might actually get that one. Christmas Cookie and Spice are both pretty predictable, with Christmas Cookie being the more pleasant of the two.

The Tutti Dolce line is basically a line of gourmand scents and body products. All of the scents are dessert scents (probably inspired by Jessica Simpson's Desserts line). They're all pleasant. The scents are as follows: Crème Brûlée, Lemon Meringue, Sugar Wafer, Angel Food Cake, Cinnamon Frosting and Chocolate Fondue. My favorites were Angel Food Cake and Cinnamon Frosting (even though I don't think I detected any cinnamon in the latter; that and the fact that they smelled much the same, with Lemon Meringue standing out from the rest). Sugar Wafer was the only one available in an eau de toilette, as far as I could tell. The scent from the creams, which are very rich, stayed on my hand for some time, but it didn't smell as rich and gourmand-y on my skin as it did in the jar. I think that if you like a subtle, light foody scent, then you'd probably like this line.

Incidentally, as I was writing this I clicked on Bath & Body Works' web site to check on the names of the lines, and was surprised to see a couple lines of products that I did NOT see in the store: Most importantly, the Jeff Leatham line of candles. It must not have been at the store I visited yet (Broadway & 4th, I think). I'd really like to smell those candles, though, because the names and descriptions look quite interesting: Green Carnation, White Arum, Lotus Fruit... They look great, and their packaging implies that they're meant to be of the same quality of the Henri Bendel candles and BBW sells, which are spectacular; moreover, the scent descriptions imply that they're complext blends. So I can't wait to see that line. I'd also like to see the Henri Bendel body collection, which I didn't see at the store. I wonder if the scents come off as good as the candle line. Another line on the web site that I don't recall seeing at the store was the True Temptations candle collection (although the name sounds familiar. From the looks of it, just another line of food scents, but sometimes those can be good. Scents like Butterscotch Icing and Cinnamon Coffee make it sound tempting indeed.

Another place I dropped into over the weekend was Pottery Barn, where I smelled their scents. Since I haven't been there in forever, I don't know if anything is actually new. I know, however, that I've seen Citrus Cassis and Paperwhite before, and I love them both. This time around I also saw Fresh Cut, which I quite like (I think it had notes of lime, cilantro and grass, if I remember coreectly), and Cranberry Spice, which was simply wonderful. In fact it might be the holiday scent to use this year. It even seemed to have pine notes in it, which makes me wonder whether I simply am smelling pine notes in all these cranberry fragrances. (I don't think so, because I don't get that tone from The Body Shop's Cranberry oil, which I love too--it's a very deep cranberry smell, and seems to have notes of grape in it. It's much better than most cranberry scents I've smelled.) I may decide to get the Cranberry Spice candle--my roommate had one of their candles before - Moon Grass - and it proved, unpleasantly, to be very strond and effusive; so I have high hopes for the Cranberry Spice as well.

And that's the scent Beep for today.