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.
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.
Tea rose with dark chocolate underneath for hours and hours.
Would be lovely as a candle.
(My sable Bombay was not appreciative. Ears back at six inches, which speaks well of the sillage.)
This song never fails to make me dance. (The cat, not so much.)
Tilda Swinton’s first signature opens with more sugar than I expected–candied orange peel, neroli and honey and pumpkin spice. The immortelle (my mum called it “everlasting”) brings an enjoyable sweet yellow curry and wildflower note–but then I got a hay-fever reaction and had to scrub between sneezes.
Pair with a pretty autumn scarf and antihistamines.
This one also came out in 2010, and sweeter than expected–
This one might need sniffing on a warm body. From the magazine peelie all I get is dentist office–pink saccharine fluoride rinse and lemon antiseptic spray–in a Little Shop of Horrors way.
(And maybe it’s a sexier symbol in France, but the bottle is a turn off in these gun-crazy times in the US…)
Edit – 7/23/20
It’s better on the peelie.
A French song with some sweet swagger. I like it better.
Sadly, the most interesting part of this perfume is the sweater shaped bottle.
The juniper lemon skin scent gives me nothing but bleached sheets on a clothesline and fades in five minutes.
I liked Sonia Rykiel, but one this is forgettable.
The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill also came out in 1998 (and was extremely popular in France.) This song has a bit more citrus splash than the fragrance.
Lemon cremes and iced sweet tea with chamomile.
Fresh, light and lovely, yet also soothing, the way laundered linen feels on the skin.
Stays just inside personal space all day, and lasts on clothes forever.
I could live in this stuff all summer long.
Adele’s 25 came out in 2015, too.
Rather nice.
Wet cantaloupe, with a spritz of lemon and a dash of salt to cut the sweetness.
This guy has Soundgarden on most of his playlists, drinks good tequila and likes standup comedy. He’s fun to hang around with.
This song is not aquatic at all, but is my favorite off of Down on the Upside, which also came out in 1996.
(I’m falling in love with these solid perfumes. Airplane friendly and moisturizing!)
Zazou–surprisingly, given the twee packaging–is a sophisticated little neroli limeade spiked with aqvavit.
It opens fresh, a zing of citrus as it warms up on the skin, then relaxes and turns floral with an herbal undercurrent.
Sits just above the skin for hours until sinking under into warm green woods.
The Zazou subculture in France most likely took their name from Cab Calloway’s scat riff “Zaz, zuh, zah!”
Alcohol and asphalt, perhaps.
I might get a slight gust of subway air rising from the station at Jay Street-Borough Hall. Maybe a whiff of the spices from the import stores on Atlantic Avenue, and possibly a floral green breeze from the Botanic Garden.
But Kings County New York isn’t tentative, or maybe.
Give me the jazz zest, the hip-hop fire and the Philharmonic sweetness.
Give me diesel fumes of the BQE, Fulton Street funk and Coney Island animalics.
Give me drag queen cheesecake, everything bagels and spumoni on the Bridge.
This stuff projects only inches, not the length of Flatbush Avenue, and lasts barely through lunch, much less a Spike Lee movie, or a season binge of 2 Broke Girls.
I was born there.
Don’t spill a weak gin and tonic on the sidewalk and tell me it’s Brooklyn.
kira a. gold 