Perfume Pen Pals: Nasomatto Nuda



Dan,

I got the following message on YouTube:

“My smeller has been out of whack for a long time. All I can smell are the bad things.

Peggy”


Katie




Katie,

This sounds serious. Though I suspect the problem isn't with Peggy's nose, but with her state of mind. I hope she hasn't given up entirely.

I'm in the middle of mopping my floors with this Mrs. Meyer's Geranium and so that's all I can smell. It reminds me of being a kid and visiting my dead relatives in the mausoleum. Which isn't as macabre as it sounds. I'm sure it was merely the smell of many flowers in an enclosed space. The other mausoleum smells are sealed off, right?




Speaking of decay, which I was not, I just bought a bottle of Nasomatto Nuda on eBay, even though straight jasmine always feels a little extreme. But I like some of those Nasomattos, including my Black Afgano. I recently tried Absinthe again, which is just so potent. I'm not convinced it's good but I have that typical male response, that I sometimes just admire the loudness of things.

I loved this negative Lucky Scent review of Nuda: "This could have been sexy but it wasn't; it just smelled somewhat skanky... My husband said he liked it but he couldn't smell the skanky thing and he likes anything."

So she mentions her husband's opinion and then dismisses it in the next breath.

But Nuda is supposed to be special. And, yes, even if it is special, I probably won't be able to wear it, but it'll be encouragement to finally find just the right girlfriend. That thing I said about building a woman around a fragrance suddenly doesn't seem so crazy. Big things are on the horizon, KP.

Dan


For more on Nuda, read Viewer Mail: Help Me Smell Like Un Homme Fatal

Mausoleum via

18 comments:

  1. Hi Dan, I always thought mausoleums smelled great, even the ones which are not full of flowers... also like how old churches smell too, this could explain my recent incense kick.

    About the Nasomattos, I've never tried any of them, but Nuda sounds interesting, specially after the bad review. I am trying to stay lemming free for a while, but this one is definitely joining my "to try" list. I have a weird fascination for fragrances that have colorful bad reviews, as MKK and Dans tes Bras.

    And your idea of building a woman around a fragrance doesn't seem crazy at all, I am sure you will find her!

    Hugs,

    S.

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  2. Dan, send your Nuda to me! I love it! (Why did that sound porn-ish?)

    And Katie, I'll vouch for Peggy that she's not crazy. I had that happen a couple of weeks ago, after having a bad cold. Just the smell of death for two days. It sucked. Here's hoping things got better for Peggy, because I know after an hour of that I wanted to jump off a bridge.

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  3. I'm sorry that the Luckyscent reviewer couldn't appreciate the skank, or indoles, or whatever it was that she detected, in Nuda. I don't think it's particularly skanky, but then, I have a pretty high tolerance for all things animalic. Her husband sounds like a gem though. Would it be better if he hated everything? Situations like that pop up on the blogs sometimes. "My husband is allergic to everything I wear" or simply "my boyfriend hates perfume". New reality show: It's Me or the Perfume.

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  4. Sabrina, I share your fascination for perfumes that are almost universally dismissed. Greatness is rarely acknowledged during its time, I tell myself. Plus, I don't typically trust public opinion. Alas, the bad reviews are often deserved and identifying the colorful bad ones, which indicate something might at least be interesting, requires close attention. Perfume is hard work, isn't it?

    And I'm sorry, Kitty, but you don't get my Nuda because I love it, too. And so does Katie, I think, and she'd be sad if I sent it to you and not to her.

    And melisand61, we could also produce a reality show on all the people I've encountered who insist they're allergic to everything. San Francisco sometimes seems like a place where people come to be sick. (Or imagine they're sick.) My tolerance for skank is much higher than my tolerance for people with all-inclusive allergies.

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  5. Reality show, part II: It's Me or Your Allergies.

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  6. Oh, I hear ya, Melissa and Dan. The people who cross the line from having allergies and aches and pains, to structuring their whole persona around being a sufferer...well, that's what makes me suffer!

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  7. I'll stick to Stella Nude, thanks... To my timorous nose Nuda was up there with Gorilla Lust in the SWF (Scary White Floral) stakes!

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  8. Vanessa, I so appreciate your perspective. It's easy to get caught up in that "no smell too terrifying" perfumista show-off mode. I know I do!

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  9. I have strong reactions to increasingly fewer perfumes these days. I used to get migraines from everything, but now I only get them from patchouli. Which is in a lot of perfumes, but now I can research before I test.

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  10. The more stuff you smell, the more you seem to inoculate yourself against extreme reactions, I'm finding.

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  11. Speaking of odd smells, I want some advice on finding a scent that is very metallic, or has serious metallic energy to it. I'm envisioning a scent that is very reminiscent of smelling a hour or a car key, or pig iron at the gym, etc.

    Help a 'head out, Dan and the Puckrikettes?

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  12. Oh, and "hour" is meant to be "house." Apologies.

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  13. Stefush, When I think of cold inanimate metal (as opposed to the more human metallic/blood accord), I think Comme des Garcons Odeur 53 & 71. Of the two, 53 is closer to what you describe, though more difficult to wear. Also, there's Andrea Maack Craft, which is uncompromisingly cold and metallic. And just weird. I put it on this morning and while, yes, I now have "serious metallic energy," I also have weird-smelling wrists. I'm glad I'm staying in today.

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  14. Dan - to each their own, I guess. I find the smell of metal very comforting and seductive for some reason. One of those scents that can't be mistaken for anything but what it is. I have no accounting for this in my memory; just something I respond to like I imagine other folks respond to animalic or indolic notes. (Which for me are anathema for the most part...)

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  15. I'm with you, Stefush, but it seems like some smells are tricky when featured in fragrances. Craft, specifically, is one of those oddball perfumes that's easy to admire but difficult to love. Try it and tell us how close it gets you to pig iron.

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  16. Dan: Whoa, your family rocks. Visiting mausoleums and such.

    Stefush: It's interesting that you find metallic smells so comforting, I wonder why? That's how I feel about anything that smells smoky or incense-y or just plain set on fire.

    melisa: "It's Me or Your Drama-Queen Hallucinations."

    Katie: Off-topic, but you did a review of "Sensuous" by Estee Laudre awhile back, and I had a chance to try it last night. Is it just me or does it smell a lot like Bulgari's Omnia?

    Junelady: I also tried MDC last night and I thought it was nice but not something I'd reach for on a regular basis.

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  17. Nora, I've not smelled Sensuous against Omnia, but I can well imagine a kinship between the creamy nutty/sandalwood aspects of the two.

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  18. lol...I had to laugh with the suffers of scent..sometimes..my partner one day will say "you smell really good" and then the next day the same scent will elicit " that is too strong". When I say it is the exact thing he liked the day before I get. "YOU DON"T KNOW MY NOSE" It cracks me up everytime.

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