Grace Notes @ Snarkattack

Let’s clear out the draft folder, shall we? It’s not feasible for me to keep comparing BPAL fragrances but thought I’d publish this post anyway.

Golden Priapus – on me, too pine-ish! It gets beautiful, golden, radiant and sweet but more so on my male friend. The pine is not so prominent on him and it’s even sweeter on his skin. Girlie but still masculine! It’s lovely.

Carceri D’Invenzioni – smells pretty much the same on me as it does on fellow. Initially, there is more throw on me and seems to be slightly nicer on me though the notes suggest that it is really more masculine.

C. Auguste Dupin – nice and the leather is a fresh one, but I can’t really smell the lime anymore – could more when the decant was fresh. More pronounced on fellow but still no hint of the lime. It’s not actually as nice as I thought it would be on him.

Galvanic Goggles – fellow says it’s too soapy on him, I say it’s a little too stereotypically ‘male’ on me but I really like it (didn’t think I would, to be honest). I think it’s the balsam that makes it soapy, personally.

Stimulating Sassafras Strengthener – more vanillary on fellow than it is on me – I get sassafras immediately and it sticks around. This is made to resemble one of those old-world cure-all tonics and it does a good job!

Severin – wow, I thought this would be awesome (what with tea and leather) but it’s far too subtle. On both of us, it’s lemon and a tiny bit of black tea. Pout.

Again, I have had the pleasure of testing more BPAL goodness on a member of the opposite sex. I apologise in advance if this sort of thing is not to your liking; I suspect there will be more such posts so if this doesn’t interest you, hop along and go and read a good book!
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I recently made the choice to stop supporting Possets Perfumes in favour of those by Blooddrop Clothing & Fineries. I like Possets, but the fragrances are not different enough from each other, and Astrid from Blooddrop is just lovely.

There’s a new collection at the moment called ‘The Entomology of Miss Amnesty Mapleleaf’, much to the disappointment of my bank account. The collection is inspired by insects. It inspired a very child-like nostalgia in me, and reminded me of this park I used to frequent as a young one in outer London near my first primary school. Children would be taken there after school in summertime and we’d catch tadpoles and chase butterflies and other such delights.

I thought I might list my impressions of the fragrances I got from said collection for your delectation.

Honey Bee (Apis mellifera)

A bouquet of nectar filled blossoms; honeysuckle, lilac, apple blossoms, gardenia and a basket full of honeyed strawberries.

Gardenia, I’m sure I’ve said, is one of my favourite scents ever. So, when I saw this had it, I had to get it. This is a nice, fizzy floral – the strawberry is not one of those horrendous artificial ones, but very similar to what a not-yet-ripened strawberry tastes like. It reminds me a little of Rob’s ’strawbeery’ (strawberry beer! yum). It’s a light, summery scent and has a touch of flirtiness about it despite being innocent too. I’m back in my uncle’s English country garden picking his fruit and eating it unwashed (gasp!)! Rebellious, I know.

Inchworm (Inchworms are the caterpillars of geometer moths or Geometridae such as the Common Pink-barred, Rhodostrophia vibicaria)

Fuzzy, wee and charming. A blend of two ambers, daffodils, neroli, green tea, gentle rose petals and white jasmine blossoms.

Ah yes, and I’m a jasmine slut too. Again, daffodils for me equal bulb purchasing at my English primary school, so the childhood nostalgia comes back. This scent is a beautiful, baby powderish sort – very, very girlie (I don’t think I’m particularly super-girlie) and feminine, and comforting. Probably my favourite out of Part I of this collection. I get that ‘innocent but flirty’ vibe again too. Perfect for inducing a soporific state.

Ladybug (Coccinella septempunctata)

Crawling across fresh washed linens hanging on the line with the air filled of peonies and the strawberry garden.

This has a sweeter, less soapy peony than I’m used to (and that which I prefer). Much less strawberry in this one than Honey Bee. It does indeed remind me of freshly washed bedsheets flapping in the breeze, but not so much of ladybirds. It’s so evocative of my childhood in England again – I used to live below a forest and our backgarden was right next door to it. Hunting ladybirds was definitely a favourite pastime!

Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus)

Velvety wings, warm sunshine and feelers covered with sugared nectars. Magnolia, sunflowers, heliotrope and the air of warm and sugary-hued resins.

The magnolia and heliotrope attracted me to this! It makes perfect sense to use heliotrope if you want to convey sun and warmth – it is a very ’sunny’ scent (I’m reminded of Et Lux Fuit by BPAL). This scent is the most sugary out of the ones in this lot that I own – not at all as floral as the above. Probably my least favourite too – perhaps because it’s the least evocative for me?

The next ones are not part of Miss Mapleleaf’s adventures so to speak but review-worthy nevertheless.

Les Innocents (Autumn 2008) – it’s not morbid, but autumn is my favourite season. Probably because in Melbourne we still get a bit of warmth, and also because the city, and more fondly, my old university, looks gorgeous in autumn. The city frequenters also pull out their stylish, warm clothes. Oh yes.

Les Innocents – (Cemetery of the Innocents, Paris, France) A funeral dowry: sandalwood, whitened Egyptian musk, Shea, lotus and white carnation.

It doesn’t smell particularly funereal to me – actually quite flirty. Like it should be innocent but has potential to be naughty. Definitely a nighttime scent. What most attracted me to this scent was the sandalwood, whitened musk and lotus.

Merci 28 – it’s tradition that Astrid (the person behind Blooddrop) often include a bottle of Merci with orders, and you never know what vintage you’ll get and fragrance notes are never listed, though one can guess at them. A lot of the ones I’ve previously received have been very fruity and not really to my taste. The present one is fruity in a fizzy way, with a hint of saffron? I’m hopeless at guessing the notes! The saffron-type scent gives way to a green one, similar to cut grass.

I had the good fortune yesterday to test some wonderful BPAL on a good male friend who happily donated an arm, behind the ears and neck all to the cause of olfactory science.

I thought it best to document how the various fragrances differed on both of us.

Tristran – more colognesque on male than on me, but it’s grown on me: initially on my skin it was gently scented candlewax. I remarked that I think Tristran on my male friend smells like his natural scent but amplified. It’s gorgeous.

Ichabod Crane – probably my least favourite out of all tested, and also the first. The pimento is too strong. There is more fragrant candlewax evident on male friend than on my own skin. Tested behind his ear. It never really settled.

The Parliament of Monsters – I’ve tested this on M before and it’s been nice and opiumesque. It has developed into a much sweeter opium on me, but on male subject I swear I smell blackcurrant. Far more intoxicating on male than on me!

Red Phoenix – oddly, more masculine on me (I’m female, by the way) than on male friend. The tobacco smoke is more evident on my skin. A little sweeter on male than on my skin. Quite strong throw.

Snake Oil – this is the aged stuff! We’re talking over a year old! A savoury musk on my skin, much sweeter on male friend. Again, has that intoxicating quality on male. Very seductive! Generally, on both of us, very strong throw.

A lot more of my BPALs smell nicer to my nose since recent medication change – amazing to think that such things can alter it significantly, but I remain adamant that it does. Cheers to my willing male test subject too. I have a few more put aside for testing on a male.

A lonely Friday evening, what blissful delights can one conjure for solace?

Let’s tuck into the bath stash box and see, eh? But not without help from a lovely lady who sent an unexpected gift.

Yes, I have this box, and it houses my bath melts, sachets of additives and such. It was time for one of those pampering baths, and so I rummaged through it. Aha! Some Japanese bath salts scented with rose, that dyed the bathwater a vibrant pink. I looked at my body as it lay in the water – it seemed not my own, limbs rosy like the water.

The soap smelled edible – it was a piece of Lush’s ‘Emperor of Ice Cream’ buttercream (the name coming from a Wallace Stevens poem, which I’ve not read), and then after to make my skin soft, and the water milky I surrendered to yet another Japanese-style treatment: a small bag of muslin holds finely ground rice bran which is an excellent treatment for the skin, or can be added to the bathwater. This one was scented with fringed pink and had some adzuki. The fragrance is gentle, and complements the rose well. I don’t have very many floral-type lotions, but luckily have recently acquired Little Shop of Beauty’s hula girl body souffle (yes, the name is rather fanciful, but it’s lovely) in the scent ‘Powder Puff’. Needless to say, I retired smelling nice, and being extremely relaxed indeed.

But what of the present I received? I empty a padded envelope that bears a fair few objects, but two are of interest: a letter, encased in a handmade paper envelope and sealed…with wax! It seems of another world. It’s a beautiful sentiment. After I read that, I examine a paper tube which contains The Body Shop’s Magnolia EDP, the notes are as follows: ‘a classic sparkling floral fragrance that combines magnolia flowers and leaves from China with muguet, lemon blossom and white lily’.

Sadly, the citrus notes (which I imagine are the top notes) don’t die away enough for the heart and base ones to come through – but I’ll try it again in the summertime, when its warmer, floral notes are more likely to come through.

And what of the silly pink glittery puff in the attached image? They’re actually a pair of ear muffs, but I thought it might be fun to put them in the picture because they remind me of puffs that one uses for powder, or fluffy pink marshmallows. Mmm.

(well duh the photo’s mine…)

“Beauty is truth, truth beauty,–that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.”

John Keats, Ode to A Grecian Urn

It’s been mad-busy on my end. As if the very Fates conspire against me, a vast number of the Blogcritics review material I’d been assigned started to arrive this fortnight.

It’s not left me a good deal of time to review beauty products, sadly. However, now I have a good reason to knuckle down and do so.

This is dedicated to a friend of mine in Greece (in case you didn’t guess by the title), a lady who is a supreme fragrance addict, and also a lover of naturally sourced skincare like my good self. Like my geographically closer fragrance addict writer-pal, she too seems extremely eloquent when divulging the secrets of scents.

It’s hard to be an artist, sometimes, I fear. One would think “beauty addicts? again?! geez, spend your money on something that matters! Sheesh.” and to an extent you’d be right. However, as I grow more comfortable with the notion of being an adult, it seems that it is my desire and enjoyment in regards to the five senses that fuels my consumerism. Again, to an extent.

As can music and literature take you to places you’ve never been to, so can fragrance and colour. I think this too might explain my worship of the bath ritual.

Anyway, this is supposed to be a tribute to my dear Greek friend, who has had some personal tragedies very sadly, but remained strong and inspiring – especially so in regards to my own fight to stay mentally stable. The unadulterated joy that fragrance gives her is infectious.

An awfully long time ago, she sent me a treasure trove of vials, filled with perfumes of all sorts. She knows that I’m something of a gardenia/orchid whore, and I was sent things that would appeal to me. Three strike me as unforgettable: Guerlain’s Vol de Nuit, Serge Lutens’ Bois de Violette, and Guerlain’s Flora Nerolia.

Vol de Nuit is everything that I am not, in my day-to-day life: elegant, refined, polished, sophisticated. It’s a classic fragrance and it instantly makes me feel more poised, as if I too could be those things that the scent conjures. I finished the sample at least half a year ago yet I recall its scent instantly – powdery, slightly floral, sparkling like champagne.

Bois de Violette is also of similar ilk. But where Guerlain is what you would wear when decked out for a night at the opera, Violette is wearable in the daytime. This is my favourite springtime fragrance. It brings very fond memories because of the lady in question, and also because my other dear fragrance pal (author of The Fragrant Elf, as above) was horrendously kind enough to purchase me the bell jar eau de parfum in Paris – the very capital of fragrance! She could have charged me a fortune for the trouble, but no – she did not.

Flora Nerolia I tried perhaps a month ago and it was lust at first whiff. It is the fragrance out of this trio that most obviously screams “me” – it’s sexy, heady and exotic. I don’t necessarily mean I’m any of those things – but those are my instant loves in fragrance: orchids, or what I call “sex florals” – those pungent, tropical, overwhelmingly glorious scents that threaten to spin your senses into a swoon…it’s one step short of being putrid – like the scent of a skunk: offensive, pure pheremone.

When reading Anthony Burgess’ wonderful introduction to the works of James Joyce entitled Here Comes Everybody, I was introduced to another line of John Keats’:

“For the apple dies in sweetness, but I do not.”

As an orchid reaches its most pungent it alerts us that it is dying. As an apple reaches its sweetest, it too is perishing. What of this human shell of ours, the body? It takes so long to reach its full bloom, and it disappears so quickly.

And so we turn to art in hope that we may die in sweetness too, in thought if not in body.

Sorry, an obscure and clumsy reference to one of my favourite Apollinaire poems.

A dear friend from overseas sent me a sample of a fragrance I was very unlikely going to be able to try, and I had sampled it on Saturday, promising to list its notes.

It’s Fresh’s Pink Jasmine eau de parfum, which claims to be ‘…strikingly beautiful and completely romantic’. I rather agree with the latter. It took the entire day for this lovely, slightly fresh floral to really develop – kind of like watching a flower open or bloom, you know?

Here are the notes:

The top notes of a fragrance are the ones you smell instantly upon spraying the fragrance onto your skin. I instantly got the orange rind, it was nice, not too citrusy and slightly bitter. When it did develop, it’s hard to tell if it was the lilac I could smell, or the peony and possibly magnolia. Lilac and peony can be very…typically ‘perfumey’ (think obnoxious English traditional ‘grandma’ scents). I think it was actually just the lilac and peach I got. Magnolia, peony and jasmine can get ‘faecal’ or but I do taste some of that woodiness and creamy floral (magnolia and peony). What the hell do you reckon ‘precious woods’ smell like?! A bit fanciful? I think so.

Have yet to try the cream, that will bring out the florals, I suspect. I do hope my Fragrant Elf pal is reading this and is as excited as I am!

I also had some fun with makeup, might later on put in a swatch of what was used.

all MAC I think…
Non-Conformist fluidline as eyeliner on upper and lower lashlines
Sunday Best e/s as base
Iris Print on outer corner, blended towards middle of lid, and finishing there (so that base e/s shows on inner corner of eye, or was supposed to, at least)
Flirt and Tease sheer shimmertone blush (this was really nice)
Dervish lipliner
Glamoursun lipglass, my new love! It has this slight neon green pearlescence – very slight, nothing scary, promise! Love!!!

I have a couple of pals who are quite the fragrance nuts, and it’s an addiction I’m desperately doing everything to discourage. There are 2 I’ve been very constant about lusting after – Serge Lutens’ Un Lys, and Miller Harris’ Fleur orientale. Sex with the orgasm in liquid form.

I seem to have a lot of official samples hanging around, so thought I’d test one today, by Clarins called Par amour toujours EDT (eau de toilette). It’s sort of a companion to their Par amour EDP (eau de parfum, higher concentration of fragrance oil than EDT). Floral and fruity is their description of the EDT…had me a bit scared. But it’s actually quite nice – got the balance just right (usually hate fruity).

Will post the actual scent notes later. Too lazy to get up and find the card.

Here we go: rosebud, pink peppercorns and blackcurrant, pink grapefruit and raspberry.