Perfume Pen Pals: The Scent of Mom and By Kilian A Taste of Heaven


Katie,

Your obsession for a big rich and round rose got me thinking, and I have nothing like that in my collection. My only rose is the dry and dusty Eau d'Italie Paestum Rose, which I like but which better fills the "dry and dusty" category (to be known from now on as the "L'Air du Desert dry dry dry" category) than it fills the rose category.

Also, many of the roses I've smelled either remind me of Mom or their decks are stacked with spicy smoky incense, probably so they won't remind me of Mom. (Which kind of rose one prefers is almost certainly a good litmus test of one's relationship with one's mother.) So now I'm looking for something in between: no big fat rose mirrors with Mom in them but no scaredy-cat rose incense that tries to make you forget you ever had a mother.

It does get difficult to be satisfied with these post-modern scents when you have a gallon of Chanel Coromandel sitting around. Which is what I wore today. What a wonderful perfume. And it ends up only an inch or two from By Kilian A Taste of Heaven, the green lavender, which also features patchouli. I guess the lavender hits the road first.

Dan


Dan,

I have that exact same feeling about post-modern scent satisfaction when facing the indies off against Comomandel. Every time I take a passing sniff of Coromandel, I end up spritzing myself all over like a kid playing in a lawn sprinkler.

Will check out A Taste of Heaven when I go to Scent Bar next...TO BUY CHERGUI. As you've indicated, our communal frothing over perfume might not be such a good thing for the finances. Discussion stirs the thirst. Bartender!

Katie


Katie,

You HAVE A Taste of Heaven, Katie! It's part of the decant package I sent you.

Chergui? But you already own L'Air du Desert bullshit bullshit. How many Moroccan desert scents does one girl need? Wait, don't answer that. Because I'm not the one who should be asking it. I don't come to this subject with a clean record. I'm pretty sure I bought four different woody scents just last week.

Dan


Dan,

Whoops, you're right - you did send me Taste of Heaven, and I've just sprayed it on the back of my hand. Hmm. Lavender. And a cardboard box shaped somewhat like my square head. That's all I'm getting right now, one minute in. Square cardboard lavender. Might have to go back to drug dog school, cuz I can't imagine a drydown reminiscent of Coromandel. We'll see.

Ooh! Now getting something animally from Taste of Heaven.

Okay, T of H now smelling like cardboard smeared with Icy Hot.

I don't own L'Air du Coughing Fit, okay? I just enjoy smelling it, and spray it on liberally at Scent Bar from time to time, to experience its curious arid Coca-Cola accord. And Chergui, even though the name supposedly refers to a Moroccan desert wind, is

a) nothing like Coughing Fit
b) not really all that dry
c) a more natural-smelling, herbal version of Bulgari Black, which I do own and love
d) will be great in the dry dry dry sauna dryness of LA - as is Nasomatto China White

But you're right, I'm a sucker for the same shit over and over again. The LuckyScent site links China White to Tann-Rokka Aki and Josef Statkus, and I own all of those, all right.

Taste of Heaven has now settled at cardboard smeared with Icy Hot. With beaver butt in the background.

Katie



Katie,

Taste of Heaven lasts FOREVER and in a couple hours, it will smell nothing like it smells now. I know you don't believe me but I'm telling you, it's lavender and rose and patchouli (and "medicine", I think), but the patchouli ends up vanishing and it smells a lot like Coromandel. Not as good, mind you. Not as rich or sweet or soft, but patchouli on the same patchouli continuum.

My ex loved Bulgari Black and so I got rid of my bottle and I can't wear it. Not because of any emotional trauma but because it's her favorite fragrance and there's nothing I can do about it.

Dan


Dan,

Y’know, you like to "give me the needle" on L'air du Desert Marocain, and there you are guffing back the internal organ-desiccating Paestrum Rose.

And I don't associate roses with mothers. My Mom was a Chanel No. 5/Estée Lauder Youth Dew lady all the way.

Katie


Katie,

My mother LOVED rose anything, so I only associate rose with her. I didn't have a Chanel mom, I had an Avon mom. (Fabergé for fancy occasions.)

Dan


Fumeheads - what perfume do you associate with your mother?

4 comments:

  1. Katie, We must have had the same Mom! My Mom is a Chanel No. 5/Estee Lauder Youth Dew lady, too! (Fist bump!)

    ReplyDelete
  2. LOVE the incense rose. Adore it.
    Paestum Rose and Incense Rose are brilliant. That's all I have to say. Fist bump?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Scott, incense and rose is practically the perfume version of peanut butter and jelly. Fist bump!

    ReplyDelete