Perfume Pen Pals: Getting to Know You



Katie Puckrik!

In the middle of the night, desperately bored with myself (I'm working on a book project) and trolling the perfume blogs, I linked to your YouTube reviews.

I'm obsessed with perfume (much more than writing, obviously), I own too many bottles to count, and seeing you talking perfume, well, it felt like my life was suddenly complete. But then everything gets blown out of proportion at 3 a.m.

Still, the videos are great, and if you ever want decants of some fabulous niche stuff, just holler.

Eau d'Italie is making some great scents (I saw you liked incense). I have a few of the By Kilians, which, yeah yeah, are overpriced, but incredible. And everything I've bought from Etat Libre d'Orange is weird and great, especially Jasmin et Cigarette. Plus, I have another hundred or two.

Dan Rolleri



Dan,

Thanks for the props on my channel! I, too, enjoy procrastinating on writing deadlines by trolling the perfume blogs.

I may well be drawing on your reckless offer of Etat Libre d'Orange decants in the future.

Katie



Katie,

Re: Etat Libre, I've got full bottles of Jasmin et Cigarette, Vraie Blonde and Encens et Bubblegum, and samples of the rest, including the notorious Secretions Magnifiques, with which I'm happy to part.

Off the top of my head, I have a few of the Hermessences, a few Chanel Exclusifs, a couple Tom Ford Private Collection (Black Violet and Velvet Gardenia)...oh gosh, this is depressing. Is this what life has come down to? My father would slap me across the head and tell me to go dig something up or haul something.

Dan



Dan,

Perfume love isn't depressing! It's a portable sybarite pleasure that doesn't pack on the calories or destroy our families.

Not to be grabby with an almost-stranger (but virtual friend!), but I'd love to have dinky li'l samples of all the Etat Libres you have. And Ambre Narguile is the Hermessence I want to try.

This is so kind of you to offer, and possibly extremely gauche of me to accept, but it's wartime...or the depression...or something, and needs must.

Katie



Katie,

Ambre Narguile is nice and sweet and comfortable but I can only imagine wearing it during the holidays. It's the pumpkin pie of perfumes.

Oh, and if you haven't already, try Parfums MDCI Enlèvement au Sérail. Sadly, I sold my bottle because it was too feminine for me to pull off. (And, let's face it, because my girlfriend had left me.) But, wow, if science ever advances to the point it can create a woman beginning only from a scent, that's the scent I'd choose. That or pumpkin pie.

Dan



Dan,

I know you're busy, buying perfume, watching my YouTube reviews, occasionally working on your book. But do not deny fellow fragrance lovers your wit, insight and untoward personal revelations.

Would you consider writing on my blog? Just think of it as a social obligation, like volunteering at a soup kitchen. You could be like Rodrigo the Perfume Dog -- in other words, much more interesting, cute and popular than I am.

Rodrigo the Perfume Dog.

Katie



Katie,

Sure, yeah, I'll contribute. I'm more comfortable as a trusty sidekick. I will not do the Rodrigo high-five, though. I don't high-five.

You'd think I'd be more at ease with the jocular elements of life. But no. Whatever allows one to high-five, whether it's a protein or a hormone or a gene, I'm missing. I don't want to slap hands with a total stranger, even in the midst of a grand celebration.

By simply refusing to engage in a perfectly acceptable social gesture, I can ruin the moment for anyone. And I'll ruin it for you, too, if you make me high-five like you did with Rodrigo.

Dan



Dan,

I don’t make Rodrigo high-five. He makes me high-five. And he’ll make you high-five too, you wait. His warm little paw pads on your palms will just melt you.

Welcome aboard, Perfume Pen Pal. High five!

Katie



Dan Rolleri is a guy who likes perfume and music and baseball, and most days he sits around the house working on a book that regrettably includes none of these things.

7 comments:

  1. Wow, what an amazingly dynamic trio we are now being treated to! Can not wait to read more. Tell me - what baseball team does Mr. Rolleri rock and roll with? I myself am a BoSox head.

    I heard on the game commentary last night that on extraordinarily hot days a coach will soak a towel in ammonia solution then he wraps it around their head so they inhale the fumes, cool down and revive. I'm sure it's amazing for them but I just thought - 'Now Youk's head smells of wee'. I was imagining far more potently desirable fragrances emitting from a bunch of hard hitting, hard running, hard catching baseball fellas. Oh well.

    I wonder what they smell like on the cooler days? Towels soaked in..?

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  2. Hi wonderful woman,

    Thanks for the note. My team is and always will be the Giants. And, between you and me, Youkilis looks like he smells of wee no matter what he wraps around his head. Thankfully, here in San Francisco it doesn't get hot enough to resort to ammonia towels. And because it's San Francisco, we're classier than that anyway. I'm guessing the guys all have some lovely lavender sachets in their lockers and sip refreshing Limoncellos after the game.

    By the way, who's in the trio? Does Rodrigo count? Because if Rodrigo counts, I want to see him type with those fat paws. High-fives count for very little in my book.

    -Dan

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  3. I'm sorry. I love Youk and am forever going to imagine a light Jasmine fragrance ensconcing his dripping hot head. I like his psychopathic-marionette ways, shaking his thang. Anyway, I digress.

    Yes I count Rodrigo as the third Amigo. I'd love to see what is produced from Dog Typing - a blog entry to anticipate for sure.

    Best dog paw moment - Toto still putting his little paw up for some tidbits whilst Judy is singing Over the Rainbow.

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  4. I don't know which is less likely: Youkilis smelling of light jasmine or Rodrigo typing. Katie does claim Rodrigo will do anything for chicken. Although I imagine the same might be true of Youkilis.

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  5. Hello to Ms Puckrik and Mr Rolleri and of course to Rodrigo.

    I was wondering whether you all match scent to mood or more to occasion?

    For instance, when attending a baseball game, does Mr Rolleri where a particular scent or is it what he happens to be wearing at the time? If the scent-choice is occasion specific, does it differ depending on a home or away game, or who happens to be the opposing team? Following from that, would any of you wear a different scent depending on the location? ie, Does LA inspire particular scents to say the East Coast or a Blighty location?

    Yours intriguedly
    Miss Wonderful Woman
    aka
    Carew
    aka
    Corinna

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  6. Miss WW, I've learned the hard way that as far as perfume goes, it's all about "location location location". For instance, I live the desert climes of Los Angeles, and had gotten used to liberal dousings of Tom Ford Private Blend Amber Absolute. The dry heat here really sucks the life out of anything delicate, so Amber Absolute's robustly resinous sap sat really well on me. But when I tried the same caper on a trip to London, the clammy humidity there turned AA into a hairy-chested hippy of a frag, and me into stinkbomb. I'm now found that dryer incenses are great in sticky weather. And a citrus chypre like Dior Diorella also works in the humidity.

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  7. Hello Corinna,

    I believe the love of perfume is not unlike romantic love: there's a fine line between affection and obsession and to overly concern oneself with always having things perfect can be smothering. Regardless of day or duty, I usually pick a fragrance moments before I spray it on, without any forethought, which admittedly results in mistakes. Lots of them. A delicate fleeting floral? Probably not ideal for a ballgame. But it's not a mistake that impacts peace talks or global warming and so I'm willing to live with it. But putting more than a moment's thought into it, I suppose a masculine leather/tobacco scent is a good match. Or maybe something grassy for a sunny day game.

    And Katie's correct: those sweet heavy ambers will potentially turn into violent maniacs in the humidity. Still, as stinky as Katie might've been, it was a day she'll always remember because of the hairy-chested perfume she picked. And that's worth something, yes? Besides, the fragrances commonly recommended for hot, humid climates are clean, light, citrus-y things, the perfume equivalent of wearing linen every day. It might be comfortable and breathe well, but there are times, regardless of the weather, when you're dying to put on something a little more luxurious.

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