Thursday, August 2, 2012

Sparks ~ Parfums


For this edition of Sparks (things I dig), I'm focusing on perfumes that really ring my olfactory bells.

The first is an oldie that came out in the mid 80s. Poison by Dior intrigued me with its dark, mysterious sexiness (naturally), and deluged my mind with images of a sophisticated dinner party, held in some foreign land (probably England), on a cool and rainy Saturday night, where my destiny awaited in the form of someone tall, dark, and toothsome...


Now, when I wear it in winter (it doesn't seem right for warmer weather, to me), I remember putting it on it in 1987 and listening to Depeche Mode's If You Want as I made ready to go...somewhere. (Given that I was incredibly sheltered and my mom hardly ever let me go anywhere that wasn't somehow related to school or family, you'd think I'd remember where the hell I was going, but I totally don't. I blame Momnesia.) 



Next is Michael Kors by Michael Kors. I find this robust, exotic scent perfect for summertime wear, as it makes me think of beaches and ocean breezes, and moonlit nights with...well, a fella who's tall, dark, and toothsome. :-)



Last is Florence by Tocca. I sniffed it on someone working in my office one day and followed my nose to the source to learn the name of this elegant, almost candy-like scent. I love wearing it on a crisp fall or spring day (which is lucky, as now all my seasonal scent needs are covered). Oh, yeah; and I'd totally wear it for an impromptu picnic of buttery brie, sesame crackers, lush red grapes, and a lovely Californian cabernet sauvignon with Mr. Tall-Dark-and-Toothsome.


I've wondered what it is about these three perfumes that resounds with me on such a visceral level and learned that the one thing they all have in common is tuberose at their core. I can certainly detect this in the Michael Kors and Florence, but don't have such an easy time sniffing it out in Poison, possibly because of the many other notes in that perfume, as well as the emotional attachment I have to it...all I know is I take a whiff of Poison and my soul growls, "Woof!" Looking further into tuberose, I got a big kick out of Blogdorf Goodman's post on this scent...::sighs::, it's just so me (I like to flatter myself). :-D

So what do y'all like to wear when you wanna feel sexy?


All pics in this post were (poorly) snapped by me.

21 comments:

  1. Scents are interesting. My favorite parfume worn by a woman is Jean Patou's "Joy". It reminds me of lilacs and lily of the valley among other fragrances.

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  2. You got the perfumes, so now it sounds like you just need Mr. Tall-Dark-and-Toothsome. :)

    I don't wear much perfume, since strong perfumes bother my allergies, but I do like a faint hint of flowers that is in some of the perfumes.

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  3. Perfumes give me a splitting headache so I don't wear them and I don't like being around them. I always bum hard when I give a friend a hug and get perfume transferred onto me! I did sometimes wear a dab of patchouli at Dead shows though.

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  4. @Michael - And what's your fave scent worn by YOU? :-)

    @Cherie - I'd sacrifice the scents for...that other thing. ;-)

    @JoJo - For me, a little patchouli goes a loooooooooooong way! :-D

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  5. I don't know why, but for the longest time my fav perfume was actually an eau de toilette de Ralph Lauren, RALPH. But at the moment I'm sans a favorite scent, I'm just using up old stuff to get rid of them.

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  6. I bought Poison once for someone I was dating; I thought it had a rather pleasant allure but she turned her nose up at it - actually that change in tone is considerably more pleasing on the eye.

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  7. @Elise - if I come across any perfume samples anywhere, I'll horde them and mail them to ya! (In plastic baggies, and whatnot.)

    @David - alas, not everyone's up for the awesome that is Poison. And yay, I'm glad the color change has taken the edge off! (Of course, I look at the new touches of color on my blog now and think it looks like Halloween. Which I love.) :-)

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    1. yes Halloween tends to be toothsome - had a hunch you might like.

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  8. I love a fresh, clean smell, and to be honest I'm not shy about complementing folks on their perfume/cologne. I, personally, wear Clinique's 'Happy' for men. I love the freshness of it and the slightly fruity, lightness of the scent.

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    1. BTW - answered your ELEVEN questions. I hope they satisfy your demonic curiosity :P

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    2. Nice one, Mark. I always enjoy being complimented on a scent I'm wearing (you know, so long as the compliment doesn't drift into Creepy Land). :-) I remember giving the chick's "Happy" a sniff and not really feeling it was right for me. A little too...cheerful, I think. :-D

      PS: About time, Mark. Ya slacker. ;-)

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  9. Tuberose is a great scent. Me, I love to wear stuff with lilacs or freesia. Those are two of my favorite scents. I do have a thing for Calvin Klein's Escape, though.

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    1. Michael Kors has a bit of freesia in the top notes. I'll have to remember to give CK's Escape a sniff next time I'm in a department store. :-)

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  10. Oooooooooooooo. I love a good new smell to investigate. I am a Jil Sander No.4 and a Dolce Gabbana One fan also partial to Thierry Muglers collection even though I heard Angel was dangerous.

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    1. Hey, I've used Mugler's "Angel" and quite liked it, found it a warm, sensual scent. You've intrigued me, though - why is it dangerous??? :-)

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  11. I have a very keen sense of smell, but there's never been a perfume that has sung to me as those do to you. Now if there was something that smelled like freshly baked chocolate chip cookies, well, I'd be hooked!

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    1. Ohmigosh, can you imagine??? Well, loads of scents do have vanilla in them (actually, that takes me back to the perfume Siv mentioned above, Mugler's Angel), so that's kinda...close. Sorta. :-)

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  12. My favs are Hypnotic Poison by Dior and Beautiful by Estee Lauder. (And don't you love that movie "Perfume: The Story of a Murderer"?)

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  13. Fun post! My faves are Paloma Picasso and oddly enough, the el cheapo Tabu. Last winter, I checked out a very hi-brow trendy perfume place in Brooklyn called I Hate Perfume. They had some really amazingly creative scents that mirrored stuff in real life. But after buying one that smelled like wet spring soil, I realized that I didn't really want to smell like dirt, or cotton candy, or a leather-bound book, you know?

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    1. LOL, I totally know what you mean! That's how patchouli affects me, I have to say...There's a cheapie scent I like a lot too, Sand and Sable, which actually would be nice for summer, too...

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