aquatic

by

Dragonfly

Sample spray and promo card showing pink lotus blossoms and bottle with label of a dragonfly wearing an embroidered caped greatcoat.

Edit – 9/29/21

The 2021 remake of Dragonfly is a little lighter, I think–the amber and heliotrope is replaced with benzoin and ginger, with the wet notes lasting longer on the bottom.
The mustiness of the rice still comes through, but it’s more powdery now–drying out just after a sun shower, rather than in the rain–and still cloying.
Not my favorite Zoologist.

*

dragonfly edgy
Decant vial on Zoologist ad. (The first edition had lavender eau.)

Green pond lilies and sugar dipped flowers steaming in summer rainstorms.

There’s an amber shard edge that keeps it from being cloying, but it’s still too sweet for me.

An acoustic track from a post-grunge group that definitely has an amber edge.

by

Truly Dazzling

truly dazzling edgy
Turquoise green wavy graphic peelie and sea salt.

Fresh and fun and fashionable–a mermaid in spangled spandex and designer seashells.

Wet flowers bloom strong, then ease into sugary herbs, water mint and those funny green lake apples that float on the surface in the summer. A bit later salt cascades into the sweet, the sharp edges of the crystals biting like ocean water.

I liked the advertising insert enough to look for it in the store–it fades fast. A pick me up rather than a long wear, but the lack of white musk is refreshing.

This is also fun and fashionable and fresh–

by

Dark Saphir

dark saphir edgyDark Saphir opens with a bomb siren of green violet and spices, then grows louder with industrial roses–they’ve been stripped of innocence and turned neon blue, fluorescent sillage at arms length that doesn’t settle down.
An hour later the blitz is still on, metallic flowers and galvanized seltzer rain. Eventually it cools to a clean patchi-oudish clear-coat that lasts all night.

Complicated and tense–one to wear when sporting thorns.

This one is also tense and galvanized , in a good way.

by

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.

by

Every Storm a Serenade

every storm a serenade edgyRain on the sea and blue spruce, with a smear of mint camphor rub on the chest.

Moody and clever and so wet.
The man wearing this might be prone to rough fisherman’s sweaters and prefers strange tasting akvavits.
The woman wearing this also wears eyeglasses instead of contacts at business meetings, so people will take her more seriously.

This one is from Above. An incredibly moody and clever album.

by

Nude Rose

Philosophy peelie featuring a beige bottle and an ecru rose.

Hey, Philosophy, with that bottle color, you mean “Caucasian,” not nude.

But the magazine sample was free, so:
Smells like a bouquet of over-bred pale tea roses in a hospital room. Pretty but generic, with an odd note of bleach musk underneath.

There are soooo many better rose scents out there. Lush’s Imogen Rose is heaven. Tea Rose by Perfumer’s Workshop is a great bargain for an awesome rose. Annick Goutal’s Rose Absolue is a petal bomb. Filch your grandmother’s YSL Paris if you have to.

But roses shouldn’t ever be beige.
And nude is an absence of clothing, not “white people skin.” Not the best marketing moment for a product line called Pure Grace.

This song came out in 1992. Feels like we’ve actually slid backward since then, but more likely, we’re finally seeing what has always been.

by

Womanity Eau

womanity eau edgesThe bottle is gorgeous. I want it to hold all my secrets and mist me with strength and sex and knowledge.
It doesn’t.
Instead, I am sprayed with slush and rock-salt from a road plow, and pelted with rotting strawberries, and wow, does Thierry Mugler ever blow loud and long on that truck horn.
Whew. Not for me.

All the love for this woman–and I adore this salty song.

by

Fraaagola Saalaaata

fragolaaa
Wild strawberries, salt, decant vial and paper test cutout of pink capped bottle.

Imagine the Morton Salt girl in a pink raincoat and red rubber boots, blowing a bubble of strawberry gum.
The strawberries run the gamut from fresh picked berries in the sun, to red soda pop, then shortcake ice cream bars, and finally those smelly erasers from primary school.

The salt melts quickly and disappears into violets, then a breath of vanilla, a brief taste of hazelnut.
Sweet but strangely chaotic.

(In my head, this is what the Strawberry Letter was scented with.)
Yuna is amazing–this song was featured in an H&M video spread.

by

Eau de Star

eau de star
Triangle bottle with blue liquid, surrounded by a rainbow of hard candies.

Thierry Mugler’s Eau de Star bottles up that summer you spent with the bleach blonde stoner cutie who carved a bong out of a watermelon.

Fresh and wet and high and unforgettable.

It was my favorite candy perfume until the guy said, “That reminds me of what (our hot European neighbor) wears.”
She’s ten years younger than me and a flight attendant.

I love this live version of Madonna’s Candy Perfume Girl, bitchy and hard and still sweet.