Author: kira a. gold

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Sådanne

Sadanne edgy
Clear glass flask with pewter cap, filled with blush liquid.

Tipsy strawberries and seawater, roses and a tangled forest.
Projects like spilled wine and soaks clothes for weeks.

Several years ago I wrote a novella set on Öland, an island off the coast of Sweden. My two young lovers celebrate midsummer eating strawberries and getting drunk, and if the pages could be scented, they’d smell like Sådanne.

Salty sand and boozy sweet fruit, so sun-ripe it’s alcoholic, eaten in the shadows of the sea-wind twisted trees on the shore.
I adore it.

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A Swedish outfit with an echoing wistful tune–

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Nuvol de Llimona

Nuvol de Limona edgesSo Nivol de Limona means “lemon cloud.” I don’t get fluffy, but it does change shape as it quickly passes by.

Starts with a squirt of Dawn dish detergent, takes an enjoyable but brief snack of milk and lemon Girl Scout sandwich cookies, then disappears with a wave of sugar scented hand lotion.

Here’s a sweet cloud by Tori that lasts longer.

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Kept

kept edgyA tall glass of iced tea with a silver spoon, sipped by a woman who lives by her wits and looks gorgeous doing it.

Opens with rose and Lapsang Souchong with lemon and maybe a little vodka to keep an adult edge, sophisticated and sharp.
Cloves soften the dry down and add a touch of sweetness, then they fade to delicate amber on the skin after a few hours.

Lovely.

 

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Memoirs of a Trespasser

Memoirs of a Trespasser edgy
Imaginary Authors book themed discovery set, sample spray and test strip cutout of book bottle with arcane ingredients on the cover.

This is an embrace by the most comforting man you’ve ever met.

Sweet pipe tobacco and vanilla.
Dry oak, like bourbon barrels, with a hint of char, rounded out by benzoin, and warmed up with myrrh.

The official story is of an explorer, retired in solitude to Madagascar, and it works.
Imaginary Authors scents are usually chaotic and ever-morphing, but this one holds enjoyably still, in a pleasant mood.

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By the Fireplace

Maison Margiela promo card touting “Burning wood and chestnut” and spray sample with amber l’eau.

Sweet roasted nuts. (TWSS.)
Nice. I’d burn the candle in November.

Edit – 8/30/21

Talking to a cosmetics savvy friend the other day about Replica–By the Fireplace is her favorite of the house.

I still have the same reaction to it, that it’s lovely, but I want the smoke and heat of a candle to cut through the sweetness. The spice is nice, and the cashmeran dries it out, but the chestnuts get swamped by the vanilla, and they’re the most interesting facet of the fragrance to me.

Lasts all day in socially distant space with long trailers.
On the caramel top of unisex.

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Mushaboom by Feist is sweet and a bit nutty.

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Bat

Paper test cutout of Zoologist bottle with a very Vlad looking bat on the label, a blue rhinestone bat, some black dirt and a decant vial.

Bat is entertaining, but makes me feel like I’m in a nature documentary narrated by David Attenborough.

“The species Chiroptera wakes in his cave, rife with mineral dirt, dust and a trace of smoke, hungry for the tropical fruits of his diet. Bananas and figs sustain him for several hours, but eventually rain hinders his foraging, and he must find refuge in the green forest floor, hiding under his own leathery wings in the woody undergrowth until it passes.”

This weird little song was in the soundtrack for Batman & Robin and might be the best thing about that whole movie.

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Blueberry Musk

blueberry musk edge
Grainy pic of a decant vial on a Shay & Blue advert.

The first breath is a splash of orange, then the blueberries take over, juicy with a hint of mint.

Wet musk supports the fruit, like a glass jar holding the jam.
A puff of cream, a sprinkle of salt, and a breath of orange flower water to keep it from being too sugary.

It’s elegant and posh but slightly unusual–a bride in icy blue silk rather than white, or patent leather Mary Janes in navy instead of black.

Lingers six inches above the skin for a few sweet hours.

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From the soundtrack to Blueberry Nights.

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Joy by Dior

Ad card featuring photo of pink eau filled bottle, with white spray sample.

Jennifer Lawrence’s bottled tears.

This is department store white musk and Earl Grey tea with cream. She might have a rose in her teeth, but it’s faux silk and plastic.

Joy by Dior has none of J-Law’s fun spirit. The musk is too cheap, the citrus too sharp, the rose too artificial.
I’m sad, too.

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L’Eau Majeure d’Issey

L'eau Majeure d'Issey edgyThis scent is strangely enveloping, just like an Issey Miyake coat, the fabric overwhelming in its comfort.

L’Eau Majeure drowns you after a squeeze of grapefruit to clarify the water, and a sprig of mint to make it even fresher.
At the bottom is a shipwreck–sea eroded pine beams–in the softest sand.
Trendy and fun.

This was the trendiest song of 2017. It’s fun and comfortable, I suppose.

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Girl of Now

girl of now edgyWith emphasis on girl.
One to wear with pigtails and a mini-skirt.

Opens with a juicy slice of pear, and soft citrus, and as it warms, a lovely pistachio.
Orange flower water pushes through, then almond marzipan.
In half an hour it developed to syrupy tonka bean and heavy artificial amber, a foot off the wrist, and made my ears ring and my teeth hurt with how sweet it is.

The guy said it smelled like a very young girl’s perfume and made him feel a bit creepy.