Frog Blog

i've been inspired by scents lately. i just read an article in the new yorker about a perfume maker who concocted the latest perfume for hermes, "un jardin sur le nil." it was fascinating-- the perfume uses green mango, lotus and lily, i think, to capture what the perfumer and his team experienced in egypt while researching. apparently mangoes smell a certain way before they're picked; about five minutes after picking the fragrance fades away. and that fleeting scent is in the perfume! one of my professors scored a sample at sephora and wore it today, and while i normally do not care for overly floral perfumes, this one is leveled out with a woody base. thanks to sephora, i now know that i prefer oriental fragrances-- orange flower, some wood, spicy base notes, dark shades.

i'm fascinated by perfume. there are so many that give me a headache so when i find one i like it's heaven. i love the idea of perfume-- that people want to apply something to their body in order to smell good. i don't mind basic people smell, but to think of the history of perfume and how long people have worn it... and how much it helps when someone doesn't smell that good. plus, it's pretty-- little glass bottles with the promise of smelling good, leaving an impression of you on someone else when you enter a room or when you leave something behind. i would like to work in a perfume house and learn how to make it. a more realistic goal is to become a certified aromatherapist when i get back home-- i've heard it's not all that hard to do.

the perfumes i like now are: roberto cavalli, joy by jean patou, l'occitane's tilleul (linden) water, fiorucci.

i've been thinking a lot about smells i really like and those i don't like, and thanks to an inspiration by jennie b's comment on my stinky post a few weeks ago, here are my lists.

what i like:

marshmallow, wet pavement, warm baguette, gasoline, garages, mangoes, b's cooking, the room after you peel an orange, campfires, a baby's head, lavender, unbrewed marco polo tea, unbrewed coffee, sauteed onions, hot and buttery garlic bread, b's hair, benefit dandelion blush powder, the smell of maine (especially when i walk out of the airport), ocean, linden, old lipstick, salon-in-vogue (they use aveda products), my mother's cinnamon rolls, hay, a new book, hawaiian tropic aloe vera lipbalm, pinapples.

what i loathe:

licorice, cat pee, fried dough from the carnival, blood meal, mont d'or cheese on my fingertips, when someone eats lay's potato chips on the back of the bus on a really rainy day, mcdonald's on the plane (smuggled in from the airport), wet peanut butter (as in, when you're washing off the knife), poo that doesn't belong to you, spit, too strong cheap perfume, when someone has bad breath and they're in your bubble, gel toothpaste, second hand stores, teenage sweat (particularly after a class with the door closed and the heat on high), perms, nail salons.