smoky

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Squid

squid zoo
Decant vial with sea blue eau de parfum, naturalist drawing of a squid, and test paper cutout of Zoologist bottle.

It’s blue! And weird and wet and marvelous.

Marine water and smoke out of the vial that darkens down to black fountain pen ink, dirtying up sea foam.
Algae blooms, delicate green, strangely organic and chemical at the same time, with big juicy sillage.
The ambergris rises to the surface an hour later, making it even wetter with ocean spray; benzoin sweetens it, turning it fresh again.

Six hours later and it’s still there, chaotic, never seeming to settle down to one depth; yet it’s oddly comforting and beautiful.

Gov’t Mule does a terrific jam cover of Jimi Hendrix’s 1983 (A Merman I Shall Be)–from Electric Ladyland–that goes deep under water around the 4:15 mark.

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Breath of God

breath of god edgy
LUSH turquoise soap shingle and a printed photo of the bottle with the original label–rainbow curlicues reminiscent of Japanese woodcuts.

This one smells oddly like…
artisanal breakfast?

Toast that’s had a burnt crust scraped off, peppery citrus grilled on a cedar plank, melon on the side.

It’s like a savory gourmand–but it works, in a honeymoon morning, cabin-in-the-woods kind of way.

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The President’s Hat

president's hat tilted edgy
LUSH black label bottle on a reverse color keyboard.

A comforting scent that drifts to the masculine, with enjoyable self-care vibes.

Opens with oaky root-beer and a hit of patchouli, then settles into vanilla sweetened incense smoke.
A bit of myrrh on the bottom gives a nice medicinal note in an indulgent healing way.

Lasts for a good hour a foot of the hands, and two more close to the skin.

I snapped this pic on my dad’s harpsichord. This song features one and has some of the same easy feel-good vibe as the scent-

https://youtu.be/AWAsI3U2EaE
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O, Unknown!

O, Unknown edge
Imaginary Authors discovery set sample spray and bottle cutout test strip with woodcut mountain and crane illustration.

I get amber and salt, then… nothing.

A page turning, old paper, perhaps.
Half an hour later, a faint powdery sweetness develops, but it’s not exactly pleasant.
After two hours watery smoke sits under the skin.

The “book cover” is pretty, though. I’d have that as a poster on my wall.

*

A good song for when you feel a bit salty:

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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.

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Camel

Enamel camel pendant carrying decant vial, Zoologist bottle paper test cut-out, and dried rose petals.

Camel is that delicious import shop halfway down a dark alley that greets you with dried roses in enamel vases and sticky dates on brass trays when you walk in the door.

Cedar boxes of incense, the animal musk of raw silk tapestries…
The shopkeeper has smuggler’s eyes, and you laugh when he tells you there’s a djinn in the bottle but you buy it anyway because he’s so incredibly sexy.

*

This whole album is amazing.

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A City On Fire

a city on fire edge
Test paper cutout of Imaginary Author bottle, “Short Story Collections” book box, and sample spray.

Triage at a burn unit.
Scorched rubber tires, plastic bandages, charred flesh. An hour later, it rests painfully with a smear of aloe, and then fades completely with an ominous gasp of sweet lilies.
It’s tragic–and yet still kind of gorgeous.

I’ve always loved this song.

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Absolue Pour le Soir

pour le soir edit
Test paper with photo of bottle, distorted through a jar of honey.

Beekeepers smell like this–honey and smoke and sweet resin. Flowers and wood and hard sweaty work underneath.

Bees make a sticky glue from pine sap called propolis to secure the honeycomb. It’s been used for centuries to varnish violins and in traditional medicine to soothe irritated throats.

Smoke gets the buzzy girls high, so they don’t mind the beeman in their home. He’ll say hullo to the queen and admire the brood before leaving.

Summer afternoons, when it’s too hot for even the roses, the propolis gets soft and the honey makes a mirage of heat over the hives–this is Pour le Soir.

He actually makes the guitar bumble.