22 Monday Jul 2019
Posted in Film/TV and Scent
Tags
Stranger Things, S 3 Ep 2: “Mall Rats”
This post is spoiler-free! 😉
My husband and I just watched the latest season of the Netflix series Stranger Things, and there are so many things I could write about it… but I’ll focus on a fleeting perfume-related moment in the second episode!
In this season, a new mall called Starcourt has just opened in the small town of Hawkins, Indiana. In the shot above, Max (with the long red hair) is introducing Eleven (“El”) to the joys of shopping.
17 Wednesday Jul 2019
Posted in Perfume Reviews
Tags
blackbird on ballard, cire trudon, dawn spencer hurwitz, demeter fragrances, penhaligon's, pilar and lucy, schmidt's deodorant
Jean Shrimpton photographed by Richard Avedon for Harper’s Bazaar, 1965
July 20, 2019 is the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11’s spaceflight to the Moon and the first human contact there. “One small step for man…” (You know the rest!)
I don’t think Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong, and Michael Collins were wearing cologne on that historic voyage—they had other things on their mind!—but I couldn’t help wondering, what perfume would I wear for a fantasy visit to the Moon, or simply for an evening of moon-gazing?
Here are a few ideas…
15 Monday Jul 2019
Posted in Passing Fancies
Tags
Time for a mid-month check-in!
Reading: Ocean Vuong, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous
Audio: The cast recording of the new Oklahoma! revival
Video: The new season of Stranger Things
Art: Hudson Rising at the New-York Historical Society
12 Friday Jul 2019
Posted in Perfume Reviews
My latest post on Now Smell This is a review of Dawn Spencer Hurwitz’s newest limited edition fragrance, Sharkskin.
You can read it here.
05 Friday Jul 2019
Posted in Perfume Reviews
My latest post on Now Smell This is a review of Winter Palace and Siwa, two fragrances from the French brand Memo.
You can read it here.
04 Thursday Jul 2019
Posted in Advertising and Scent
Spacious skies, amber waves of grain, the open road…this print advertisement for Perry Ellis America (1996, now discontinued) has everything.
“It’s Big. Really Big.”
I’ve never tried either of these his-and-hers fragrances in their eagle-embossed bottles. I doubt that either of them would have thrilled me as a perfume when they were still available. However, looking back, I can’t help but admire their Clinton-era optimism. So much has changed since the mid-90s.
Wishing you a happy Independence Day, however you’re celebrating it.
02 Tuesday Jul 2019
Posted in Classes and Lectures
I’m teaching my one-night “Perfume 101: Fragrance Appreciation” class at the Brooklyn Brainery on Thursday, July 11, 2019. This class is an introduction to the past and present of perfumery, including some classic scents that we’ll sniff together. If you know someone who has a beginner’s interest in this subject, feel free to pass this information along!
Image: Rimmel Perfumery’s “perfumed almanac” of 1861
24 Monday Jun 2019
Posted in On Blogging
This Wednesday is my birthday. I’ll be taking a day or two off work, and going out on the town in the evenings — so I may not be posting much this week, but I’ll be back soon, older and (I hope) wiser.
Image: Florine Stettheimer, My Birthday Eyegay, 1929
21 Friday Jun 2019
Posted in Advertising and Scent
Tags
Here’s a 1994 advertisement for Ô de Lancome to mark the summer solstice. It’s time to break out those citrusy Eau de Cologne or “eau fraîche” splashes!
(The echo of “Suddenly, Last Summer” in the copy throws me off a bit…but I’m sure Lancôme’s creative team wasn’t counting on us to know much about the plot of Tennessee Williams’s play.)
