Dan,
A girl just wrote to me on YouTube for a recommendation for a "soft, summery and flowery" perfume, and when I went to her pink, polka-dotted channel to get a feel for what kind of person she was, under "Interests & Hobbies" she’d put "death, mummies".
Katie
Katie,
Ah, the shifting tides of taste and desire. I know how it is. Here's a story: I love the smell of licorice and always enjoy wearing Hermès Brin de Reglisse (I'm wearing it today, in fact), and so I got a sample of Etro Anice a year or so ago. I wore it once and it almost killed me. It was so intensely anise-y, I felt as if the licorice was trying to swallow up my soul. (Tell me if I'm getting too dramatic.)
Licorice: soul swallower and colon cleanser.
But then you came along and had your little Etro fling with Sandalo and, y'know, I'm easily drawn in. So I searched my samples and found Anice, tried it again, and experienced none of the malevolence I had remembered. I liked it. It's a cruder Brin de Reglisse with less lavender, simple as that.
Dan
Dan,
Wondering if you've tried Lolita Lempicka au Masculin? It's licorice!
Katie
Katie,
Yep. I owned it. I liked it, but it gave me a bit of a headache. It smelled loud and cheap and relentless, not necessarily in a bad way, but more like that friend who often drinks too much and gets sloppy and vulgar and you love him at first, but later on, it's all you can do to get away from him. I got away from Lolita Lempicka. But I have semi-fond memories.
Rochas Man has a licorice tinge to it, too. But it's more smooth and rich than Lolita Lempicka. And also less fun. Yohji Homme is also a licorice, but I think it's now discontinued. That one was good, too. Though let's face it, anything with a prominent licorice smells like everything else with a prominent licorice.
I once read a smell study which concluded that licorice was the favorite scent of women, while men liked the smell of glazed doughnuts.
Man magnets.
I guess it makes sense, at least in the hetero world, that men would then wear the licorice and women would wear the sweet stuff, but don't people sometimes want to wear what they like to smell, too? Life can't always be about attracting the opposite sex, can it?
I'd love to smell licorice on a woman.
Dan
Dan,
I don't care about the smell of licorice one way or the other. And I really hate the flavor of licorice. But I'm definitely a woman. So the whole chicks dig licorice theory falls apart with me. On the other hand, I love glazed doughnuts, but would find it disconcerting to smell them on any flavor of human.
According to many of my YouTube teens, life (or at least, fragrance) is indeed all about attracting the opposite sex. And in the comments under my Sarah Jessica Parker Lovely review, hhsdance94 got her dander up about my suggestion that boys and girls swap fumes:
“Woah there is no way that is a unisex perfume. Men cannot be ‘lovely’ unless they're gay. Sarah aimed this for girls to be ‘lovely’ that’s why it’s in a girly bottle. Boys do not try it on, YOU WONT MISS OUT TRUST ME.”
Whew!
Katie
Katie,
I HATE the taste of licorice, too. Around my childhood backyard, there's surely the residue of all the black gumballs I accidentally put in my mouth and spit out like they were on fire. Ick. But the smell is oddly addictive.
Sounds like hhsdance94 is on her way to becoming a future Miss California.
Dan
Licorice via
Aw, you guys. Black licorice is a *good* thing. Double salt, please. Then again, it's probably in the genes. /Dutch freak flag.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I was amazed at the results of that study. Do a BN search on most hated aromas, and licorice/aniseed unfailingly ends up the winner. Or loser, depending on your perspective.
Dan, I had the exact opposite experience re: Etro Anice and Brin de Réglisse. Anice is gorgeous Ouzo-aniseed-milky yum, while Brin de Réglisse is... formaldehyde. I won't be wearing anything that reminds me of my hours spent in a cold cellar in the name of anatomy. (I still resent the misguided soul who thought adding the scent of lavender to formaldehyde to ameliorate the experience was a good idea.)
I'd never seen that Miss Cali video, by the way. Words fail me. Then I read the comments. Yowza. hhsdance94 suddenly seems like a balanced, open-minded sort of character.
Shudder - licorice - **sputters gags**. I always thought that would be what street tar or electrical cords tasted like. Good for some and plenty of it was thought of as bad. I just could not get why people liked it. When I see fennel I give it a wide berth as well. Funny, there seems to be two camps - hate and love... would make an interesting study as to why.
ReplyDeleteI like licorice, but I can't wear it. Though I suppose that SL Douce Amere has a touch of aniseed in its milky, absinthe-pudding goodness. So, yes, I contradict myself, because I love that stuff.
ReplyDeleteBut really, I was looking forward to your recommendations of soft florals for pink-mummy death girl. Perhaps a fragrance with notes of datura, foxglove and deadly nightshade?
Love the taste of licorice, couldn't imagine wanting to smell like it, or like anything that I could buy at Dunkin' Donuts, for that matter. Just call me an olde ladyeeee.
ReplyDeleteAs for the teenagers, they are at that age when they know EVERYTHING. Thankfully, most of us grow out of it.
Great, thanks Melissa -- now *I* want a fragrance with notes of datura, foxglove and deadly nightshade.
ReplyDeleteDeath in pink polka dots.
Dan had me going with his talk of a licorice-scented perfume. I love licorice. In fact, I consider black jelly beans licorice-lite. But a good licorice is delish. I vaguely remember black gumballs and they were good with the added bonus of turning your tongue black. When you are a kid, changing the color of your tongue is highly amusing.
ReplyDeleteAm a little disconcerted at how quickly death and mummies girl got left in the dust. Perhaps rightly so, but since she started out the exchange. What would you recommend for her, Katie?
And it is sad that someone so young, presumably, is already so set in her ways that she dictates that boys' perfume shan't be worn by girls and vice versa. Because I say they WILL miss out!
I've come around to agreeing with you, Arachne, on Etro Anice. I bought a bottle and it's exactly what you say it is. Brilliant. As for Brin de Reglisse, it still smells great so I suppose I have no negative associations with formaldehyde. But then I studied writing and not anatomy. So I guess my kryptonite is the grim smell of brown corduroy blazers.
ReplyDeleteFor "death" and "mummy"-inspired scents, Dioressence takes some beating. You won't find a high street fragrance that comes closer to embalming fluid. But if polka dot girl really wants soft, summery and flowery, I hear Happy in Bloom is nice, though I have not smelt it. Or Ghost Luminous, if she can handle a bit of fruit with her flowers.
ReplyDeleteLiquorice is absolutely not my thing, though it is just about tolerable in SJP Covet, of which I own the dinkiest tap-topped miniature. I am not a lover of anise either as a rule and rarely find days when I am in the mood for my decants of Ava Luxe 23 and Costume National 21. I have a sample of Caron Eau de Reglisse though, that I remember as not overly Bassett's Allsorts.
Now, Jo Malone Vanilla & Anise I love and own!
You all are so clever and interesting! I just read through the comments, and I feel like we're all sitting in a room together, snacking variously on doughnuts, licorice and gumballs. Boy, what a weird hostess I am!
ReplyDeleteVery witty, meliand61 with your summery-yet-deadly florals. I wimped out on incorporating the grim reaper, and gave mummy gal a list of some of my fave teen-friendly florals, which currently include Cacharel Scarlett, Juliette Has a Gun Miss Charming, Stella McCartney Stella Sheer 09 and D&G Anthology #18 La Lune.
Hmm, and what would be the drink served with such a repast? Champagne? I would probably just take tea...
ReplyDeleteSoS, the drink would be Alka-Seltzer.
ReplyDeleteI don't like the taste of licorice (and this is probably why Lolita Lempicka is a migraine trigger for me, since it's almost edible), but I like the way it smells, in very moderate doses, of course... this is why I still keep a bottle of Jacadi Fille in my closet, it has a nice licorice smell, but it's also a soft fragrance, specially because it was formulated for kids. It doesn't last too long on the skin, but it's a great fragrance to perfume my scarfs and my winter coats ;)
ReplyDeleteSabrina, this Jacadi Fille is all new to me! I went to their website and found this evocative sort-of-haiku:
ReplyDelete"The soft notes of Jacadi-Paris introduce the senses to aromatic compositions and leave a lasting impression of what yummy means."
That sounds like an idea gravestone epitaph: "She left a lasting impression of what yummy means."
I'm a big fan of fragrance on scarves. I also spray it on the little towel I bring to yoga class. When I'm puffed out and mopping my brow, a big inhalation of mb03 or Parfumerie Generale Intrigant Patchouli gives me the will to carry on.
Meee too i hate the taste of licorice but the smell is addictve and yummy
ReplyDelete