Katie Puckrik Smells: 2008

Amouage Jubilation XXV

...like something the three wise men might have brought the Precious Baby Jesus.

Jubilation XXV is available from Amazon.com and LuckyScent.com, starting at $245 for 1.7 oz

Marc Jacobs Daisy

...a white flowers'n'fruit smoothie.

The daisy is such a sunny, happy, unpretentious little flower. This prolific weed is a favored subject of artistic toddlers and neurotic old doodlers alike. A field of daisies is practically an invitation to a childlike frolic through its midst. Marc Jacobs was certainly banking on these easy-breezy associations (well, maybe not the neurotic old doodlers part) when he named his grassy/floral/berry fragrance “Daisy”.

So far, so fruity-floral. But what do real daisies actually smell like? A Google search revealed much about the popularity and hardiness of the beloved wildflower, but stayed cagey on its odor. Turns out that while certain cultivated daisies have no scent at all, most daisies are described as “disagreeable” and “foul-smelling”. But foul-smelling how? Like ass? Like an unwashed knit beanie? Like rice-cracker breath?

I struck stank gold when I found a website called “Things That Stink”. Amid TMI postings on the aroma of Cameron Diaz’s burps and Matthew McConaughey’s pits was an item on the smell of daisies. Apparently, they smell like toe jam.

So much for “fresh as a daisy”.

Marc Jacobs Daisy is available from Perfume.com, Amazon.com and FragranceX.com

10 Corso Como

...smells like skin after it's been subjected to private activities.

Launched in 1999, 10 Corso Como was created by Olivier Gillotin for the artsy-pants Milanese boutique of the same name. Listed notes include sandalwood, frankincense, musk, rose, geranium, vetiver and oud wood oil, but none of the ingredients pop with high-def clarity. Instead, they’re fuzzed out like a fifth generation VHS tape from 1987. A tape that turns an episode of Full House into Monet’s Water Lilies. You can make out shapes and colors, but that’s about it. The familiar becomes muted and beguilingly weird.

10CC has an almost-fermented, sour scent that’s borderline “personal”. The woods give it a “I smell like this on purpose, people!” safety net, and the rose gives it prettiness.

This eau de parfum has a kinship with Stella McCartney Stella’s salty rose musk, but Stella is too controlled for any weirdness. I’m also reminded of Chanel Égoïste’s rose and milky-sour sandalwood, but Égoïste throws in more spices and glows with a sweet vanilla halo. Neither is as twangy-strange as 10CC.

10 Corso Como is available from Amazon.com and LuckyScent.com, starting at $85 for 50ml

Keiko Mecheri / Oliban

The smell of a secret garden.

Any woody rose is a rose I need to get with. I’d have said that my purchase last summer of Keiko Mecheri Oliban is what fired up my woody rose woody. But recently, while in a trancelike state triggered by too many blueberry buttermilk pancakes, I entered a past-perfume regression and recalled a teenage passion for Jean Couturier Coriandre.

Coriandre was a rose chypre, a green, spicy floral with patchouli. I say “was”, because Luca Turin reports that the stuff currently available at T.J. Maxx in no way resembles the tender minx of her old yearbook photo. I shall therefore content myself with memories of Cori in her prime. But since Oliban has reconnected me to my rose destiny, I’ve discovered, smelled and lusted after the following:

Agent Provocateur (rose-shaded Bal à Versailles)
Amouage Homage Attar (transcendently clear frankincense rose)
Amouage Lyric for Men (spiced green rose incense)
Amouage Lyric for Women (salty/nutty ylang-ylang & rose)
By Kilian Liaisons Dangereuses (fresh woody rose jam)
Byredo Rose Noir (sharp rose chypre)
Chanel Égoïste (spicy sandalwood rose)
Czech & Speake Dark Rose (perfumey oud rose)
Eau d’Italie Paestum Rose (arid incense rose)
Frédéric Malle Une Rose (voluptuous rose skyscraper)
Grès Cabaret (dry woody rose)
Juliette Has a Gun Lady Vengeance (buttered patchouli rose)
Montale White Aoud (powdered saffron rose)
People of the Labyrinths A*MAZE (oud rose wine)
Stella McCartney Stella (salty musk rose)
Tom Ford Private Blend Collection Noir de Noir (chocolate rose nuts)
Etat Libre d'Orange Rossy de Palma (metallic rose, cocoa & amber)

From here on out, roses and I are a never-ending story.

Fumies — roses, roses, bring me your roses! Tell me all about your favorite roses....

Estee Lauder Amber Ylang Ylang

...turns your skin into a yum factory.

Amber Ylang Ylang by Estée Lauder is the flip side of the amber coin from the bristly, 5 o’clock shadowed Ambre Sultan by Serge Lutens. Amber Ylang Ylang is as sweet, soft and boneless as a sleeping cat in your lap.

AYY may be boneless, but it’s not spineless. This mellow blend of vanillic incense and woods lingers like no mother’s business, with a sillage that quietly lets you know it’s doing its thing.

Though more commonly available in an eau de parfum, I prefer AYY in the pure parfum form, where the resinous odor of labdanum asserts its leathery, animalic character. My fondness for AYY is stirred in part by its resemblance to my beloved Le Labo Labdanum 18, but before Labdanum 18’s trip to the animal-butt peep show.

I wholeheartedly recommend AYY to all you amber-chasers out there who guilelessly plop down perfume dollars for any niche amber you sniff. (Katie Puckrik, I'm talking to you.) Estée Lauder’s done a fine job with this easy, pretty, sensual offering.

Estee Lauder Amber Ylang Ylang is available from EsteeLauder.com and Perfume.com, starting at $22 for 0.14 oz / $ 249 for 1 oz.

Bulgari Black

...a perfume for sexy astronauts.

It does my fragrant heart good to walk into a Sephora and see weird shit like Bulgari Black on the perfume shelves. Nestled there among the anodyne pretties and freshies and whatevs, I like seeing the freaks that make you wake up and smell the surprise.

Sephora’s kind of like a fragrance version of the classic 80s teen flick "The Breakfast Club". You’ve got the jocky sports sprays, the popular girl fruity-florals, the tough guy spicy fougères, the timid line-toeing aquatics. And those are all fine for folks who like their perfumes to come with seat belts. But if you enjoy scents that instill wonder and confound expectations, then bring on those beautiful basket cases: jolie-laides like Lolita Lempicka, Dior Hypnotic Poison and Bulgari Black.

All three were created by perfumer Annick Ménardo, which makes me want to spend a Saturday detention with her to hear her say enigmatic Ally Sheedy things like "When you grow up, your heart dies."