Scent Diary, May 9-15, 2011

Short Scent Diary this week.  Sorry, but you’ll see why as you read.  Please note:  if you won a sample a few weeks ago, please email me your brief 2-3 sentences of review.  I’ve already received some of them, and they’re great, but I don’t have everybody’s yet.  Thanks!

Monday, May 9: Today marks 19 years I’ve been married to The CEO. SOTD: Ines de la Fressange (first version, octagonal bottle, girly peach-rose). We didn’t feel much like celebrating, though, so we’ve put off our date night for another time.

Tuesday, May 10: Put together a display board with pictures of my father-in-law, Bill, for the funeral tomorrow. Cleaned house. Boring boring. Getting lots of lip and ‘tude from Taz, which might be normal for a ten-year-old boy, but We Won’t Have That in This House. He lost computer/TV privileges. SOTD: Soivohle Lilacs & Heliotrope. I thought it might make me feel better. Nope.

Wednesday, May 11: A beautiful day. Private family graveside service at noon, followed by memorial service at the church Bill attended all his life and a reception in the fellowship hall. The CEO remarked that it’s unusual, particularly these days, to have both grandfathers buried in the same cemetery, but it’s the case for him. And in fact, his dad is now buried next to his mother’s father.  His other grandfather, dead for the past 63 years – dead at the age of 51 from the lethal combination of a genetic clotting disorder and an appendectomy – is in another part of the church cemetery.  The CEO’s sister J insisted that in honor of Bill’s life skills, certain items should be placed in the grave: some duct tape, some baling twine, a metal washer.  Yes, a nutty idea.  But if it makes her feel better, I see no harm in it.

It was a lovely service, full of appreciation for Bill. But it was hard, very hard, for me to be back at New Dublin Presbyterian. I miss it. I don’t want to attend there anymore, ever again, but I miss it.   SOTD: Chanel 31 Rue Cambon. Wonderful.  I had considered La Myrrhe, because it is also transcendently beautiful, and because I just can’t bring myself to wear the cheap’n’cheerfuls to such an occasion.  However, I didn’t want to risk turning La Myrrhe into a “funeral fragrance.”  I’d worn it to my grandmother’s service in December. 

Thursday, May 12: Rainy morning. Cleaned out the bedroom closet. Cleaned out the freezer. Worked on my laptop to remove the screen (aargh).  Ordered a replacement, which should show up by next Friday, hopefully before then.   Mowed the grass, since it’s supposed to rain every day between now and next Monday.  Gaze’s middle school band concert was this evening; the Beginning Band did very well.  The Intermediate Band (7th and 8th graders) was filled out with high school band volunteers, including  Bookworm, and the group did very well too, yet I am concerned that the talent level for these kids – or perhaps the practice level – is less than it should be.    SOTD: Le Temps d’une Fete.

Friday, May 13: (Wow, Friday the 13th.  I note the fact, and yet it has no effect whatsoever on my daily activities.)  SOTD: SSS Jour Ensoleille.  I should review this.  Short take: gorgeous.   Bookworm’s track meet was delayed, and then canceled, due to… yes, rain.  Eventually, I put a bit of Vamp a NY on the other wrist.  I love it, but apparently I’m the only one in the house who does.  “Cupcakes!  And… root beer!” Taz exclaimed.  “Vanilla,” The CEO said, adding, “and something sort of floral, too.  It’s sort of… I dunno.  Weird.”   

Saturday, May 14: Indeed, more rain.  SOTD: Diptyque Do Son.  Should review this one, too, for the Tuberose Series.   SOTE: Vintage Emeraude.  Am now working on a story about a butterfly pin that means grandmotherly love to a grown woman, but something very different to her mother and aunt.  May post a snippet later.

 We’ve been watching the three-game Red Sox-Yankees series on TV.  The CEO stays on tenterhooks about the whole thing, because he hates the Evil Empire (the Yankees) so much, and they’re playing in what he calls The Heart of Darkness (Yankee Stadium, in the Bronx).  Have I mentioned before that The CEO is a rabid Red Sox fan?  No?  That he’s been a fan since he was 8 years old, win or lose?  No?  That we made a pilgrimage to Fenway Park on our honeymoon?? Nooo?  Well, now you know.

Sunday, May 15:  Yet more rain, and mixed with patches of sunshine, which my grandmother Nell always insisted meant that the next day would hold rain as well: “Rainin’ while the sun shines, it’ll rain again tomorra.”  So far as I know, she’s always been right.  SOTD: Guerlain Elixirs Charnels Floral Romantique, courtesy of Dear Daisy.  (Why isn’t it Florale Romantique?  Seems weird, but I studied Spanish rather than French, and I don’t know.  Nor can I be bothered to research it.)  This is definitively “a Guerlain,” particularly in the beginning, and reminds me quite a bit of both variations of Idylle that I’ve smelled.  It might be closer to the original Idylle EdP, with more citrus in the opening, and less Coco-Mademoiselle-ish patchouli and less of the muguet of the EdT formulation.  The CEO said he liked Floral Romantique better than Jour Ensoleille, because as he said, “That one [JE] smells like flowers.  This one [FR] just smells pretty, like you smell pretty.”  I didn’t bother to tell him how much it costs (i.e., Too Much); I too thought it pretty but nothing that moved me.

SOTA:  Keiko Mecheri Taormine, thanks to a lovely swapper (who sent me this? I can’t remember… Heidi, was that you? Or Daisy?).  I wouldn’t have picked it out for myself, given that Fragrantica calls it a classic cologne structure with almond.  It smells, to me, a lot like the Christian Dior La Collection New Look 1947 that annoyed me so much by being more powder-and-makeup than white-flowers.  I liked it for a long time, and then it went all Classic Cologne, which bores me to tears.  So: very Not Me, but interesting all the same.

Top image is Romantic Perfumes, from Ms. Tina at Flickr.  Lower photo is from Sterling Keeper.