Comforting Scents for Uncomfortable Times

We all have our own ways of coping when we're jingle-jangled. My "bastard times" arsenal includes yoga class, a cup of Kava Kalm tea, and "Shooting Star" by The Mamas and the Papas set on repeat. Oh, and perfume. Lots of perfume.

Truthfully, I'd be comforted by just about anything from my collection. (Well, maybe not Comme des Garçons 2 Man. That one's kind of annoying.) But there are a handful of smells that uplift my spirit and offer me succor. Cozy up to these nose treats and smell for yourself:

Comme des Garçons Daphne

Amouage Homage Attar

Montale White Aoud

Perfumer's Workshop Tea Rose

Burt's Bees Orange Essence Facial Cleanser

Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab Oceans of Love and Millions of Kisses bath oil from the Wanton Voluptuousness series

By Kilian Back to Black

And hightail it over to the following fine fume bloggers for more comfort scent tips -- for when life jabs you like a triangular piece of Toblerone impaling the roof of your mouth:

All I Am A Redhead
A Rose Beyond the Thames
BitterGrace Notes
I Smell Therefore I Am
Notes from the Ledge
Olfactarama
Perfume in Progress
Perfume Shrine
Roxana's Illuminated Journal
Savvy Thinker
Scent Hive
SmellyBlog
The Non Blonde

Many thanks to Ayala Sender for organizing this shindig.

Fumies, what scents do you bust out to lift and separate yourself from a bad day?

Katie’s Perfume Collection Part 2

When I posted the first of my perfume collection videos last week, I was surprised -- happily -- by the response. It turns out that people have a higher tolerance for my squirrelly off-the-cuff fume ramblings than I anticipated. Good thing, too, because there are three more of these "Puckrik Unplugged" collection vids coming up after this one. And I just discovered that I left out a bottle. (I promise I'll make it up to you, Comme des Garçons Daphne.)

Picking up where I left off in Part 1, Part 2 sees me doh-dee-doh-ing my way from number 17 to 29 of my sniffy buddies.

Here are the featured fragrances:

1. Shiseido Feminité du Bois (now available in the Serge Lutens line)
2. Santa Maria Novella Acqua di Cuba
3. Sarah Jessica Parker Lovely liquid satin
4. Parfumerie Generale L’Oiseau de Nuit
5. Frédéric Malle Une Rose
6. Le Labo Labdanum 18
7. Frédéric Malle Musc Ravageur
8. Ultima II Sheer Scent
9. Solange Azagury Partridge Cosmic
10. Solange Azagury Partridge Stoned
11. Ormonde Jayne Tolu parfum
12. Guerlain Attrape Coeur
13. Juliette Has a Gun Lady Vengeance

Any of these tickle or torture your nose?

Click on the fragrance names for more information.

Viewer Mail: I Want to Smell Like Me

Dear Katie,

I have reached a point in my fragrance-collecting adventure where I start getting funny little ideas that turn into quests to find a scent that fits the description.

Example -- violets are one of my favorite floral notes, and incense is another, and I had the idea to make my next purchase something with prominent violets/incense notes and I did: Silver Factory by Bond No. 9.

Now I am faced with a new dilemma that I need help with, because I have very little musk experience. I want a fragrance that smells like it could just be me. I want something that could come from the pores of my skin. A fragrance that becomes so intertwined in my natural chemistry that I could get away with lying and saying, "My perfume? Oh, I'm not wearing one!".

Am I making sense, or is this a pipe dream?

Your Loyal Viewer,
Jake

Jake, those “funny little ideas” are the devils on the shoulder of any card-carrying fumehead. One minute, you’re sauntering down the avenue, trilby pushed back on your head, whistling a tune from Guys & Dolls. The next, you’re wild-eyed and squirrelly-brained, pestering the perfume counter jockeys and running up your credit card on mail-order samples. Merciful heavens, the perfect oud-and-steak-tartar body splash has just got to be out there!

Thankfully in this instance, the “my skin but better” musk hunt is a well-traveled road to Mecca. We shall leave aside the more elaborate musk pairings, like Frédéric Malle Musc Ravageur with its vanilla spice, or Stella McCartney Stella with its rose, to focus on the creamy character of solo musk.

There are two approaches to musk perfume: clean and dirty. The dirty one, with emphasized beastiness, smells more realistically me-but-better, but if you’re a boy in a bubble type who prefers their fragrances to be as scrubbed up as they are, the bright, soapy flavor of musk might be more your speed.

For clean musks, try:

Narciso Rodriguez Musc For Him oil (musk with hints of violet leaves and concrete; becoming hard to find)
Le Labo Musc 25 (bright, clean musk)
Kenzo Power (woody, musky floral)
C.O. Bigelow Musk oil (clean, sweet musk)
LesNez L’Antimatiere (it’s like invisible ink: a light musk fades up into consciousness after about 20 minutes)

On the dirty side, there is:

Bruno Acampora Musc (my personal favorite; the smell of slept-in sheets and unwashed shirts)
Annick Goutal Musc Nomade (warm, thick, a bit sweet and powdery)
Amouage Epic Man (a flamboyantly complex composition that dries down to the relative simplicity of leathery-oudy musk.)
Serge Lutens Muscs Koublai Khan (a “who let the dogs out” perfume of the first order. The eventual drydown gets you to “sexy skin smell”, but not before you do battle with all the passengers on Noah’s Ark.)

May your musk quest be fruitful, Jake. It better be -- because I just spied another funny little idea lurking up ahead.

Fumies, any “skin musk” tips for Jake?

Perfume Pen Pals: SJP NYC

Katie,

What happened to Sarah Jessica Parker’s dirty manly perfume? Is SJP NYC what became of it? Strawberry? And why do I want to smell this? (I did love Shasta Strawberry soda as a kid. Though not as much as Shasta Grape.)

Dan

Dan,

I tried SJP NYC the other day at the mall, and it's nasty. It's the smell of the air in a Bath & Body Works store: a mindless jumble of artificial, unspecified fruitiness and hell.

When I smelled it, my thought was, "Oh, I get it. Sarah Jessica Parker needs to deliver a hit album to the record company, so she's just slapping her name on this cynical teen-bait."

I, too, am waiting for SJP's dirty manly perfume. The last I heard was that the perfumer she's working with was ordering cases of Tauer Perfumes L'Air du Desert Marocain. And that she personally wears the stuff, too.

Katie

Katie,

The SJP site says it was inspired by the spirit of Carrie Bradshaw and it's about freedom, possibilities and "fabulous style." Are you saying fabulous style smells like artificial fruit?

This is disappointing after reading all about SJP's sophisticated sense of smell and her upcoming "dirty" perfume. How many times must we endure being let down by our celebrities?

"It's the smell of the air in a Bath & Body Works store: a mindless jumble of artificial, unspecified fruitiness and hell."

That's not exactly the SJP NYC ad copy. In fact, the ad copy is:

"The new scent by Sarah Jessica Parker that brings fragrance and fashion together in a surprising new way."

You should put both on your blog and let people who've sampled it pick the most accurate one.

Dan

Katie’s Perfume Collection Part 1

When you’re part of the YouTube community of bedroom broadcasters, there are certain neighborly conventions, like the round robins of “What’s in my purse?” videos. Or the “Naked Vlog” you’re supposed to post if tagged “it”.

Well, you can “tag” your damn digits off, I ain’t playin’. The only community service I’m willing to perform is the one that makes sense to me: the perfume collection video.

After months of requests, I finally caved. Here’s how it went down: I assembled my perfume bottles, the camera started rolling, I started talking, and an hour later...I was still talking.

Turns out I have a lot of perfume. I’ve broken down my filibuster into five manageable sections, and I won’t know exactly how many bottles I own until I post Part 5. I counted them four times, and came up with a different number every time.

Well, even if I’m bad at counting, I’m good at smelling good. Here are the fragrances from my personal collection featured in Part 1:

1. Prada L'Eau Ambrée
2. Comme des Garçons 2 Man
3. Bulgari Black
4. People of the Labyrinths A*Maze parfum
5. Yves Saint Laurent Kouros
6. Chanel No. 5 edt
7. Bulgari Jasmin Noir edp
8. Etro Shaal Nur
9. Juozas Statkevicius (aka Josef Statkus)
10. Amouage Jubilation XXV
11. Mona di Orio Nuit Noire
12. L'Artisan Parfumeur Passage D'Enfer
13. Jean Desprez Bal à Versailles parfum
14. Chanel Coromandel
15. Bruno Acampora Musc
16. Bond No. 9 Andy Warhol Silver Factory

Have I hit on any of your fragrance faves -- or perfume Kryptonite, here?

Click on the fragrance names for more information.