I decided to get out of my black mood and go shopping. It was thinly disguised under the need to get a birthday present but after no great gifts materialised my attention was then diverted to perfume, which I am suddenly obsessed with. I shouldn't say 'suddenly' as I have been looking for a new perfume for some time now. And I know this is after declaring undying love for Tam Dao, but sometimes I need to break out of my own mould.
I was in Myer and I overheard the sales girl talking to someone about Viktor and Rolf's Flower Bomb, " this is amazing" she said "it changes scent EVERY hour", so although I had a quick sniff before, I had to go back and spray some on to experience the magic for myself. But of course as soon as I did that, I regretted spraying anything on myself that you can buy at a major department store (I totally take that back because sometimes I do use my bf's D&G). But I can say that after three hours - it smells exactly the same on me - bad and powdery and sweet. Maybe I don't have the sophisticated skin technology that can change a fragrance hourly. Oh well.
So next stop Mecca Cosmetica. The sales staff here are generally really nice, and I hope they pay them well because it's super expensive. In here I tried on so much that I ran out of skin space and the sales boy was spraying things all over himself for me and it felt a bit rude to be smelling him so closely. There was the 'Escentric des Molecules' which crazily doesn't smell like anything in the bottle, but needs to react on your skin - I only tried one but it wasn't really me. But I really liked the Comme Des Garcons No. 3 - kind of me, but a cool and glamorous version. But my favourite was the Malin and Goetz 'Cannabis' candle, which, trust me to like a candle that you can't buy as a perfume. There were also a few Serge Lutens that I put aside to try but by that time I couldn't smell anything anymore. Where are the coffee beans when you need them?
Another one on my list is Christiane Celle's Calypso Chevrefeuille (what, no website?), which I smelt on a client at work and asked her what it was. But I'm sitting on the fence with this as I know that perfumes smell different on diffferent people. I bought Diptyque's Olene on the basis of loving it on someone else (and I didn't even ask her what it was, I went around the whole place smelling everything until I found it), and although I do like it, I feel like when I'm wearing it I'm masquerading as someone heady and passionate and romantic, when actually I'm very practical and down to earth.
I have also been told by a few people now that I must go and try Frederic Malle but at AU$250 for a bottle, I'm hesitant to put myself in the situation where I'm going to fall in love with it.
So after all of this I was wondering to myself why AM I so semi-obsessed with perfume, when it's not a big part of my life and because it could make my life so much simpler to like a celebrity and buy their fragrance or receive something for my birthday that a good friend liked, but no, no, no! I must go all over the city to spray and discuss and sit and wait for it to settle and then ponder "is it really me?" and then do some research online, which is when I read this on Now Smell This :
Lots of people like perfume, but only a few people really love it. My theory is that people who love perfume tend also to love food and art more than the average person. Perfume lovers adore a story, too, and see their lives as movies in which they’re the star. I also think a perfume lover has a hint of the nerd. Perfume lovers want to try all sorts of perfumes, categorize them by nose or note, and love to talk about them. Is there such a thing as a sensualist geek? If so, lots of perfume lovers qualify.
Well, that's a perfect explanation (and if this resonated with you, you should read the whole article, it's entertaining). But I also have such a strong image of a perfume maker in a white coat, surrounded by test tubes that any ordinary person couldn't tell apart if their life depended on it, sniffing and squinting and tapping another drop in... and I just think isn't this world amazing? That these people can create smells that can become so evocative and powerful.
But it's also because it's all the small things that make up a life and all that research on my behalf is where the all fun lies. And when I finally bring that sparkling bottle home in its beautiful heavy cardboard box that those graphic designers have laboured over, it will be absorbed into my life and become another brick in the Elizabeth-Primoeza house.
I'll keep you up to date.
