balsamic

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All Good Things

all good things edgesThe soap shingle might not be the best way to test, but it’s fun. I get honey tempered with burnt cedar in the suds, and sweet resinous spice on the rinse.

I like the chocolate licorice accord, though any Lolita Lempicka Noir does it better.
Not for me, but pleasant enough to sit next to on a long bus ride.

All Good Things was the super-group everybody had heard but never heard of–they did epic rock studio work for video game soundtracks and TV shows–until their fans tracked them down and said give us albums. So they did.

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Lou Lou

Lou Lou
Opaque blue bottle with tall red cap sitting on a purple dish of Ceylon cinnamon.

(That feeling when you finally get your hands on the one everyone told you about and you’re all “Okay, I get it now.”)

All the treats of all the winter holidays bottled into Aladdin’s lamp, doled out in wishes.

Smoked spiced plums and sweet purple flowers–violets and iris–that get creamy with tuberose after an hour, turning the cinnamon sticks to sandalwood.
Later, vanilla and benzoin incense leave hazy trails like warm season’s greetings for days.

Lou Lou came out in 1987, along with INXS’s Kick. Here’s a sweet cover from Beck and Annie from St. Vincent.

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Harem Rose

harem-rose edgySugar and roses at first spray, then more roses, with stray woody spice underneath, then more roses (and sneezing!) with a bit of caramel benzoin and more roses.

The random notes trickling in and out seem like passing cars blaring random pop songs while one is listening to Ella Fitzgerald.

Close to the skin within ten minutes and gone in twenty.*

*ETA: lasts months on cotton–so perhaps a better one for hair and scarves rather than skin?

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Forty Thieves

forty-thieves edgyOpens with incense and intrigue, and a sweet, spicy neroli rose that blooms a yard off the wrist.
Soon melts down to rich amber resin and sandalwood and lingers on the skin for an hour.

Lovely and mysterious, but I wish the honey notes lasted longer–and that price is not a steal.

This song effectively ended the eighties, and confused a hella lot of us about fashion, gender norms, and which ends of our cutoff jeans we were supposed to wear where.
Damn, I miss Prince.

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Tiger’s Nest

tigers nest edgy
Decant vial and test strip cut-out of Memo’s tricolor woodblock label with a broody tiger.

This is one of those fancy organic sodas from the health food store with the artsy label–that’s totally worth the ridiculous price.

Uncaps to smoky root beer, then settles into Sprite and an aldehydic seltzer. Lasts a good two hours a foot off the wrist and leaves a pleasant malty sweet amber on the skin the whole afternoon.

Perfect for a sushi lunch date.

I played second flute for an excruciating season of junior high band–The Eye of the Tiger was our big number. I like Katrine Ottosen’s cover. (Her Tiny Desk Concert is over here.)

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Minotaure

Minotaure edgesDavid Bowie wore Minotaure.
So of course I had to know what the Goblin King smelled like.

Paloma Picasso’s only masculine opens with a sharp and spicy fizzy lime pop, then eases into fruit candy–the fancy jelly slices with sugared edges. The sweetness turns floral, then herbal, bubblegum slowly drying down to brooding cedar.
Sandalwood talc and vanilla tonka powder settle above the skin, shimmering all night long, both comforting and seductive, sexy Stardust indeed.
Fades into the collar and cuffs with androgynous amber, and leaves songs stuck in your head–You remind me of the babe–for days.

My favorite Bowie song is still China Girl.

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Ore

ore edgy
Decant vial on printout of Slumberhouse flask. The juice is very amber colored.

Smoke, leather and cocoa powder.
Peppery milk chocolate grows slowly, endlessly, with maple and balsam and kerosene.

This could be worn by a wounded-football-hero-turned-reclusive-lumberjack when he decides to clean up nice.
He has no clue that he’s sexy AF.

It fades after a long day to an herbal kiss on sweaty skin, left with creamy lip balm.

This song has that same sweet roughness. (Seven Nations is an awesome Celtic-American folk-rock band.)

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Grev

grev edge
Test scratch paper with image of Slumberhouse Grev, and decant vial with bright green eau.

Alpha male cloves, softened by spring pine. Riding leather and a hint of spearmint underneath.

Josh Lobb of Slumberhouse designed it for men, but a hardcore dominatrix could pull this off beautifully. Bullwhip velvet and chai tea aftercare. Yes, please.

There are some fantastic covers of this song–this one is high on my list right now.

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Norne

norne edgy
Slumberhouse flask with olive green liquid, casting funky shadows.

A Midwinter’s orgy.
Opens with fir and sticky chocolate, incense and sex.

Seriously. This stuff is like having violent Viking-love in a heap of furs in front of a balsam bonfire. It writes runes on your body with spruce psychotropics and sweet ash.

The juice is dark and lays heavy on the skin, like hands and honey and pine tree sap, and stains clothes with green spoor.
Amazing.

Norne can  refer to a calypso orchid, or to the three Norse goddesses of destiny.