spicy

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Brooklyn

brooklyn No 9 edgyAlcohol 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.

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Glicine

glicine
Micro bottle with pale purple bow and forties graphic label.

Vintage Wisteria, by Borsari 1870.

The middle of a Venn diagram of all the purples–where violet and concord grape and lilac overlap into a unique creamy/fruity/floral, with a hint of clove to spice it up.
A sharp leafy green at the bottom keeps it from going gourmand.

A nice reference–it’s the architecture of Nest’s Wisteria Blue, and the shaded garden of Azzaro 9.

Here’s another sweet Glicine.

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Cardamom Coffee

cardamum coffee edgy
LUSH solid perfume pot and botanical drawing of Elettaria cardamomum.

Indeed.
Rich hot coffee and roasted cardamom pods at arms length for an hour, slowly fading to sweet oud and herbal rose a few inches above the skin for several more.

Gorgeously unisex, but also sensual and inviting–flickering lights on a cold night, hands held in mittens, warm drinks with spice.

The solid is nice, but I want a bottle to douse myself with on the holidays– and it would work really well as a bed linen spray, too.

This song is comforting and inviting and unisex, too.

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Rentless

rentless edge
Large Rentless bottle and solid perfume pot on botanical illustration of labdanum (rock rose.)

So Lolita Lempicka ran off and joined a coven, and came back organic and amazing.

Sugary licorice and lemonade top notes that last for hours, resin and burnt caramel all night long.
Bonfire dancing, bohemian patchouli flirting and aniseed incantations at midnight. Wakes in the morning still smelling of fairy sin on the skin.

Brash, pansexual and gorgeous.

The solid is tamed down–the gateway drug version–more secretive, the sweetness hiding in leather. I love it no less.

This song.

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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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Moscow Mule

moscow mule edge
Discovery set sample spray on printout of the bottle–the lid is copper toned.

Juliette Has A Gun’s Moscow Mule is the perfect mirror of the cocktail, down to the copper cup.

The first sip is a citrus twist, followed by big swallows of sparkling ginger ale. A wooden muddler mixes in clear vodka musk, until only the metal mug remains, a brassy mineral aftertaste.

A good happy hour scent.

*

This song has a good kick to it.

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Lolita Lempicka Au Masculin

LL Au Masculin
Charred tree stump, with mini lavender L.L. Masculin log shaped bottle.

This guy can dance, and knows how to choose a drink for someone else based on what shoes they’re wearing, but he’s got a dark gleam in his eye, and won’t hesitate to get you drunk.

Opens with Sambuca–aniseed liqueur–with a touch of absinthe to make it herbal, then gets almondy with an amaretto chaser for happy hour. Sandalwood tones the sweetness down, then the evening ends on smooth and smoky vanilla single malt scotch.

You let him take you home.

One of my favorites from Lazaretto. Definitely not smooth.

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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.