This one is pure kindergarten teacher.
Thirsty green apple juice boxes, cucumber slices and flowers on the desk–lily-of-the-valley and roses–with a base of amber and gnawed-on pencils.
Good sillage, lasts through noon recess, and never makes you stand in the corner.
I’d give it a B+.
My favorite cute schoolyard tune.
This one makes me feel like I’ve been to that fantastic salon I can’t really afford.
Apple shampoo and flowery conditioner at first, then gorgeous honey notes from peach and clover for an hour.
Dries down to sweet patchy detangler musk.
Not great sillage–three inches above the skin, at most–and not terribly long lasting. Also, oddly greasy on the skin; I’m guessing it would stain a scarf.
(And always remember to tip your stylist.)
Indigo Girls tangling up some Dylan blues.
Soapy with creamy magnolia flowers and ubiquitous church congregation white musk.
A little headache inducing, but the brief driftwood note is kind of interesting.
Eric Clapton and John Meyer covering J.J. Coles’s Magnolia–
Bright and cheerful wake-me-up citrus that settles down to baby aspirin and Yankee Candle Freesia & Musk.
It’s oddly comforting, in a Cracker Barrel breakfast kind of way.
I always order the Uncle Hershel’s Favorite platter.
Opens aquatic, sea-breeze shower fresh, with some transparent grapefruit-y citrus. Tropical sweetness ripens from underneath–passion flower and and passion fruit–but it’s glittery rather than juicy, with that faceted cut of all the Omnia line.
Settles comfortably into personal space for the afternoon, and leaves a woody residue on cuffs.
Fun fact: Brazilian Paraiba tourmalines get their gorgeous aquamarine color from copper.
A bottle of Bridezilla, with a cathedral length train.
She comes in on full pipe organ, fruity sweet floral honey for the first half hour, then the nectar turns to a cascade of petals: carnations and roses, lilac and mimosa.
Spills blooms through the reception and the dancing, and ends in sweet vanilla sandalwood and musk, trailing Just Married signs–
–and wasn’t her dress just beautiful?
A another good first dance song that came out the same year.
This one bridges the gap between Lolita Lempicka L’Eau en Blanc and the original first scent, but somehow loses the vibrancy of both parents.
Pretty mixed-up berries in the beginning that eventually decide they’re black currants, then aniseed hits with the usual LL violet-iris notes before it settles in close with pleasant white musk and sandalwood powder.
A good bridesmaid perfume.
This is a lovely “first dance” wedding song–
It’s pretty, in a girl’s First Perfume kind of way–
Opens with spring floral orchard blooms, then fades to a powdery, almost childish cherry. Lasts the length of a junior high date, with cinema seat projection.
There’s nothing really special about it–Outremer’s Cola has that marvelous splashy pop, and Pêche is pure sass and juice–so I was expecting a kick of something more.
Here’s a song with a lot of kick–
This is lemon Italian ice, sold from a cheery street vendor in August.
Sugary citrus blooms, loud, with a wet floral that is supposed to be lotus, but seems more like yellow roses, with synthetic papery wooden notes underneath.
Citrine is sweet but safe, polite sillage that doesn’t overstay its welcome, no risks, no glory.
It needs a layer of musk, or even a bite of something animalic to make it shine.
Bono channeling his inner Elton-Bowie-Elvis is amazing. Whether you grin or groan, you have to admit he takes risks–and the song is great.
Honeysuckle nectar and lilac and more honey, then a mouthful of cherry and lily-of-the-valley cream, but always the pervasive tropical green note that is the Zoologist trademark.
Sits a few inches above the skin for several hours, but it’s too sweet for me.
This cover of Leon Russell’s Hummingbird (made famous by BB King) is also sweet but much less flighty–
kira a. gold 