Author: kira a. gold

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Juke Joint

juke jointMint juleps–sugary booze and spearmint–with a solid wood note on the bottom.

Becomes a skin scent quickly, but lingers louder on clothes.
It’s got some of the XY gene of Eros and Bleu de Chanel, but with an organic softness that makes me nostalgic for the head shop that sold the best handmade candles and always played B.B. King albums.

The scent might be too simple to represent the complex history of the barrelhouses of the South that gave birth to the blues–but there’s an earthy sweetness to it that I’d enjoy on a guy with a good voice.

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Eclat

eclat edgesThis opens with a premier class take on Victoria’s Secret Love Spell, then it melts into amber-y burnt sugar, all business with extra legroom.

Sweet and enjoyable, (and extremely long-lasting) but too young for me.

Moby remixed Slipping Away with Mylène Farmer, a French pop singer from Quebec in 2006. It’s equally sweet.

 

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Art Color Love

art color love edgy
Sample vial with bottle cut-out test paper strip.

Lighthearted and young.
This girl wears bright sundresses and statement shoes and laughs at everything.

A joyful projection of watermelon taffy with a toasted coconut accord close to the skin.

There’s a champagne feel, too–a sparkle in the gourmand sweetness–that’s quite charming, like an innocent twist on Mugler’s Eau de Star.

This song always makes me happy. This  fun cover is by Haddy N’Jie.

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4711

4711 and limes
Coin shaped flask with iconic gold and turquoise label, red and gold cap, and cut limes in the sun.

A splash of limeade and orange zest, a rub of basil and flower petals, a breath of cedar, and then it’s gone.

The brevity is a strength–4711 glories in its opening moment, the interaction of refreshment, the awakening.

Many of us grew up with this one in the medicine chest rather than the vanity, used to disinfect cuts and soothe burns. It’s still one of my favorite comfort scents.

Haydn’s Surprise Symphony (No. 94) came out in in 1792 too.

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Tommy Girl

tommy girlI love this one on everybody else–fruity fresh honeysuckle and minty citrus–but it sits all wrong on me.
Opens sweaty on what should be sweet blossom, the lemonade is bitter–almost pithy–and the roses dead. The pretty woodsy floral base is bleachy-screechy and sinus headache inducing–though I get compliments as I ask for aspirin.

If I can make it through the first two hours, the drydown is lovely.

Jewel’s biggest hit topped the charts the same year.

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Light Blue Pour Homme

light blue pour homme edgy
Ad peelies sporting a frosted flask and David Gandy (who races speedboats now, and designs his own clothes) on a notebook page.

The same lemon and white musk, but all the sharp herbs and incense smoke make it oversexed.

The glory of the female version, and why it’s such a powerhouse, is the ace quality that strips away any overt gendered invitation.

So by omitting all the sweet notes, the masculine edition just becomes another passive aggressive drink garnish at the patio bar.

Kanye West put out Stronger the same year. It was both as synthetic and popular.

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Ysatis

ysatis edge
Cut crystal Ysatis mini bottle with skyscraper lines and pyramid top, filled with dark amber liquid.

Opens with lemony ylang-ylang, then settles to aldehydic woods and tuberose with some animalic dank notes that keep it from being too sweet.

Strong sillage, and long lasting, but it does seem from another time, when perfume focused on gravitas and established style. Now the trends seem to aim for playfulness and creativity.

This might have more personality on a gentleman, today.

Ysatis came out in 1984, and I discovered short-haired girls.

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Eau Légère Pailletee

Large frosted lavender Lolita Lempicka bottle with silver embossed ivy, sitting in a pile of pink and white Good & Plenty.

(Paillettes are spangles, the dangling sequins on shimmering gowns.)

Fairy dust potion.
Seriously, this is what Tinkerbell sprays all over folks so they can fly.

My favorite L.L. bottle ever, filled with the most magical, silky, pink frosted liquid, scented with a light powdery version of the original.

This came out in 2001, but it’s worth nabbing second hand. The scent is lovely, of course–violets and aniseed and sheer musk–but the body shimmer feels and looks so amazing on the skin. (Especially dark skin! The only time I ever broke my no-perfume-in-costume rule was for the actress who introduced me to this beauty. She looked incredible under the stage-lights.)

I was the only kid who loved getting the little boxes of Good & Plenty licorice candy while trick-or-treating. Lolita Lempicka smells like they taste, so maybe that’s why I enjoy it so much.

 This is a sparkly song.