Perfume Pen Pals: The Incense Craze and an Existential Crisis



Katie,

This morning I'm wearing Jaisalmer, one of the less acclaimed of Comme des GarçonsIncense line, the Goat's Head Soup of incense. And it's great. All of those CdG incenses are great, and surprisingly distinct from each other. My next big check and I'm buying full bottles of all of them! (I only own Avignon now.)

Dan



Dan,

Your insatiability for perfumes is astonishing. I can't even make myself try the Incense Series samples that I have, let alone work up enough enthusiasm to want to own them. I circle my future perfume purchases cautiously, like big game.

Katie



Katie,

Why are you such a Debbie Downer about CdG incenses? They're all quite lovely. Well, not Avignon. Avignon is hardcore Catholic shit. But you should appreciate that. The rest wear surprisingly well.

And we're in the midst of an incense craze. Don't you want to be part of the incense craze? The Perfumed Court had a sale on them six months ago, so I got large samples of each. And six months later, I still have more than half of each sample. So I shouldn't be so enthusiastic. Why am I always so enthusiastic?

Dan



Dan,

I’m not a Debbie Downer about CdG incenses. I LOVE my Avignon. The others just didn't grab me in the same way, but they're fine.

And whaddaya mean "don't you want to be part of the incense craze?" I was an early adopter of incense. There would be no craze without my part in the initial frothing of frenzy for the stuff. Basically, I want to buy every incense I ever smell, and have to stop somewhere, and I stopped at all the other CdGs.

But in the meantime, along with CdG Avignon, I own CdG 2 Man, Donna Karan Black Cashmere, Keiko Mecheri Oliban, L'Artisan Passage d'Enfer, biehl parfumkunstwerke MB03, Juozas Statkevicius, Satellite Padparadscha, Amouage Jubilation XXV, Creed Angelique Encens, Bond No. 9 Silver Factory, Miller Harris Fleur Oriental, Amouage Homage Attar, and Perfumerie Generale Intrigant Patchouli.

And I had to forcibly escort myself away from the Annick Goutal counter so that I wouldn't purchase Encens Flamboyant. The same goes for Cartier XII L'Heure Mystérieuse. But don't think I don't still have my eye on them....

Katie



Katie

I knew you liked incense, but that's some list. I don't mean to argue your tastes but surely one or two of the CdG incense line are more wearable for you than 2Man. Have you tried Etro Messe de Minuit?

Dan



Dan,

Yes yes yes. Recommend all the extra incenses all you want. It's like saying, "Oh, but the 59th Elvis Costello album is an unmissable classic." But albums 1-4 are doing me just fine, as it happens. At a certain point, the earhole will not accept any more Elvis Costello, or Tracy Chapman, or Ryan Adams, no matter how "classic" they are.

And that goes for the noseholes and incense, too. Actually, I take it back. It goes more for amber. Amber's been releasing too many albums lately.

But to take up your point: I agree that 2Man is pretty unwearable. I got it in a rush when I felt I needed something to anchor and soothe me on a sure-to-be jangling trip back home. But then the DC humidity hit me, and I smelled like a virile fancy man from 1987. So it's just there in my collection as "reference".

Katie



Katie,

I've been thinking about your Elvis Costello remark and, looking over my bottles, I'm suddenly afraid I have fifty copies of Elvis Costello's 27th record. Do I really need big bottles of CdG Odeur 53 AND Odeur 71? (And Dry Clean? And Escentric Molecules Escentric 02?)

Do I need seven different woody florals? CB I Hate Perfume At The Beach 1966 AND Bond No. 9 Fire Island? While eyeing Le Labo Neroli 36? And save for a few lame late-80s/early-90s Warners records, I have everything from Elvis Costello. (And I listen to almost none of it.)

You've sent me into an existential crisis. One from which I'll surely recover by tomorrow because I'm going downtown with my perfume friend Beth. If I don't come home with at least one Le Labo or Malle, it probably means I got hit by a bus. So bad news either way, for my physical health or my existential health.

Dan

19 comments:

  1. Wow! Dan - you are so funny. I can almost see the hand-wringing now. Will I buy a new fragrance or will I be hit by a bus? What makes it even funnier is that is started out cheerful and upbeat with your incense talk and ends up with you under the bus. I think Katie did a number on you with Elvis Costello remark. Re-read your first post and then stop there!

    ReplyDelete
  2. ScentsofSmell: the fluctuation between cheerfulness and despair is what best defines my perfume addiction, and that I can never "stop there" will eventually spell my downfall. What's funny here is how Katie's astute little Elvis Costello analogy not only made me question nearly everything in my perfume collection, it made me question my music collection, too. She's crafty, that one.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The Elvis Costello analogy is a good way of expressing the downside of excessive verticality in one's collecting strategy. Or should that be excessive uprightness? Which brings me back to the hardcore Catholic shit that is Avignon. And Messe de Minuit, even more so.

    I like only the lightest incense that stops short of full blown religiosity. Passage d'Enfer and Black Cashmere are on the cusp. Kenzo Flower Oriental gets it just right.

    ReplyDelete
  4. all I can say with the lists of things and someone who loves to smell like a church..On most days...although lately violets. You both have gotten me in a lot of trouble as I cut and paste and google more about the lists above...now my saturday is enveloped. does anything smell like violets in a church?

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'm laughing so hard at this entire exchange, especially the enabling role that Dan is playing: "Why own just one CdG incense when you can own them ALL?!!"

    Also loving the decision in advance of the perfume expedition that he's going to come home with at least one Le Labo or Malle. It's like an LV or Hermes bag addict who has no idea what she's going to come home with after a determined day of foraging for accessories -- just that it *will* be an LV or an Hermes (so help her god, and spare the buses).

    And Katie, you're right. Amber has been releasing way too many albums lately. I'm in danger of losing my love for the beat.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Joking aside, Nathan, seeing my craziness spelled out contributes a layer of self-consciousness that sometimes helps cool my jets. (And other times not so much.)

    I will defend the above Barneys trip because it resulted in me buying Patchouli 24. Which, yes, then resulted in me buying several lesser smoky things. Which is a further tribute to "Stop There!" But where exactly is there, Nathan? Where?

    ReplyDelete
  7. onesmalldog, get your 2 scoops of violet and incense from these:
    Bond No. 9 Silver Factory
    The Different Company Un Parfum des Sens et Bois
    Montale Louban

    Enjoy getting into more trouble.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Nathan, Dan and I have the occasional sidebar where we worry about which of Dr. Drew's addiction categories he'll assign us. Dan vacillates between announcing that he's through with new perfumes, and predicting he'll end up dead in an alley behind the Scent Bar.

    ReplyDelete
  9. flittersniffer, I do enjoy Kenzo Flower Oriental, but I find it an evolutionary step down from Miller Harris Fleur Oriental (hmm, similar names, come to think of it!), which I'm koo-koo about in the pure parfum. Sniff and see!

    ReplyDelete
  10. oh wow...I love Le Labo Patchouli 24. I think next time I am at a counter....sadly mine is limited to internet until I make the big move to a city that has more than a clinque counter I will look over and see a man buying all the good stuff and will know it is Dan. I do have Avignon which I love on my churchest of days and thanks to that youtube vixen Katie I have Encens Flamboyant. Who could resist that Katie video..I couldn't

    ReplyDelete
  11. Thanks, osd, I shall try my minx-y best to live up to that "vixen" sobriquet.

    ReplyDelete
  12. This exchange reads as an illustration for the dangers of people, places and things to the newly recovering fraddict. :D
    But I must agree with Dan; all the CdG Incenses do surprisingly well on their own and I couldn't blame ya if you owned the lot. Well, maybe a bit, what with that comprehensive collection up there.
    Timely post, too: I'm currently weighing Avignon against Ouarzazate as a future purchase. Avignon is a league of its own (and not having had the benefit of a Catholic upbringing but thoroughly afflicted with culturally-minded parents, it smells like summer holidays to me) but Ouarzazate may be the more wearable. Don't tell me I need them both...

    ReplyDelete
  13. I smelled patchouli the other day in a store which caused my head to spin like in Exorcist in an attempt to spy who was wearing it. It reminded me of my late husband's wearing of the patchouli oil. I haven't smelled Le Labo Patchouli 24 but now will seek it out to see if it is something I can wear.

    ReplyDelete
  14. SoS, there are some beautiful treatments of "true" patchoulis out there (I like Nasomatto Hindu Grass), but Patchouli 24 is a misnomer, cuz it's all about the charred wood in smoky, burnt out campfire. I find it a little coughety-cough hard going, but Dan swears by the stuff.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Is Avignon the pinnacle of church incense fragrances, then? I'm dying to find something that smells like the ecclesiastical incense blends of my Greek Orthodox upbringing, which are always heavy on the frankincense and have various additions, such as damask rose, white rose, myrrh, amber, etc. There would definitely be no patchouli or sandalwood in it... Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Exotic Life, I find Avignon's scent very evocative of a Roman Catholic church, and though patchouli is listed, I don't detect it. Heeley Cardinal is another Roman Catholic church incense, but drier and sheerer than Avignon (and also with the invisible patchouli note).

    Love the sound of Greek Orthodox church incense, and you might find what you're looking for in Norma Kamali Incense and Diptique Eau Trois. I think both may be discontinued, judging by how hard they are to find, but they are out there. At least the Norma Kamali is, cuz my buddy SuperMarky was kind enough to share some of his sample with me. And NK Incence blows your mo-fo head off with the eye-smartingly burning frankincense and myrrh. Both of those put you smack dab in the front row pew.

    However, they don't have the rose you mentioned. For rose incense, my solid is Amouage Homage Attar, but that's all about Arabian Nights, and nothing to do with a penitential church moment.

    And back to eau de Roman Catholic - I recently smelled a candle that summed that whole gig up: Spiritus Sancti by Cire Trudon. It's got incense, muguet, labdanum and benzoin, and according to the company, they sell them to churches in Rome. Oh how I wish they'd make a perfume version!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Katie,
    Thank you so much for your detailed response, I've added all the mentioned fragrances to my "to smell" list, especially the Norma Kamali. Your description sounded, er, divine. I found it at Beauty Habit, but at $220 (gulp), I will have to wait a bit before I can own it. Off to find a site with samples... Thank you again! - Mary

    ReplyDelete
  18. Have you smelled Regina Harris Frankincense - Myrrh - Rose Maroc? If so, any thoughts?

    ReplyDelete
  19. Mary, it's been a while since I tried that Regina Harris number, so can't comment on that one.

    Wanted to mention that no "incense craze" tour is complete without exploring Tauer Perfumes' incense offerings, including my fave, L'Air du Désert Marocain.

    ReplyDelete