I Love All The Mom Bodies at This Beach

The title of today's post comes from Ode, a poem by Elizabeth Alexander, from her book American Sublime:

I love all the mom bodies at this beach,
the tummies, the one-piece bathing suits,
the bosoms that slope, the wide nice bottoms,
thigh flesh shirred as gentle wind shirrs a pond.

So many sensible haircuts and ponytails!
These bodies show they have grown babies, then
nourished them, woken to their cries, fretted
at their fevers. Biceps have lifted and toted

the babies now printed on their mothers.
"If you lined up a hundred bodies,
I could tell you which ones have borne children,"
the midwife says. In the secret place or

in sunlight at the beach, our bodies say
this is who we are, no, This is what
we have done and continue to do.
We labor in love. We do it. We mother.

You can peruse our tributes to Mothers and Fragrances which either remind us of them, or which we will pass on to our children, on these links on Perfume Shrine:
Mothers and Kids and the Scents that Bind us Together
The Indefineable Allure of a Signature Scent

Poem brought to my attention by Bergamot/POL
Pic sent to me by the good people at Hermes.

Skin Scent: What is it, What's the Appeal and Top Skin Scents

"Skin scent" is a much brandished term among perfume cognoscenti, but what does it mean exactly? Usually its use revolves around two possible meanings: 1) A fragrance resembling the natural scent of one's skin, i.e. "my skin but better" (as in the ever popular "le no makeup look" or "your lips but better" shade in cosmetic parlance) It amplifies your own skin odour and reflects it back as the smell of soft, clean skin. Or 2) A fragrance that projects at such a low pitch that it melds with your natural smell and stays very close, so that only someone hugging you would be able to detect it.
Perhaps it's a bit of both, sometimes.




But why would this idea be so appealing? First of all, there would be the intimacy factor: There is something alluring and inwardly exciting about something theoretically public, which is there in the open, yet somehow delivered only to those who lean closer to discover it. Like the bearer of happy news who smiles a bit inside at the revelation that's about to happen. Secondly, it's often a mark of elegance and timely discretion: A skin scent does not affect co-workers that work a few cubicles away, or people in the subway, it keeps its manners at all times and yet ~if it's a good one lasting the whole day~ it whispers seductively to your lover when you get back home. There's something deeply satisfying about that.

Skin scents usually run the gamut of fragrance families and categories: There's nothing that prevents them from being florals or orientals "in the letter of the law", so to speak. The sun tan lotion note for instance is technically a tropical reference, usually married to wild white flowers, yet, fragrances sporting it aim to smell like your skin while sunbathing, therefore, like skin...Yet usually they veer into either soft woodies or humming muskies. Musk scents are naturally conceived to be smelling of warm human skin, so the association is self-evident. Another quirky category with lots of potential would be "mineral", abstract fragrances with a nuance of warm stones, sand, salt notes or ambergris.

Below, please find a selection of some of the best skin scents out there. Something out of those would satisfy the desire for such an animal. Highlighted links point to full fragrance reviews.

Woody skin scents:

Gaiac 10 by Le Labo

Wonderwood by Comme des Garcons

Poivre Samarkande by Hermès

In the library by CB I Hate Perfume


Musky skin scents:

Muscs Kublaï Khan by Serge Lutens

Clair de Musc by Serge Lutens

Narciso Rodriguez Musk for Her (oil parfum)

Nude Musk by Ava Luxe

No.18 by Chanel Les Exclusifs

Perfect Veil by Creative Scentualisation

Sienna Musk by Sonoma Scent Studio

Voyage d'Hermès by Hermès

L'Eté en Douce by L'Artisan Parfumeur


Mineral skin scents:

L'Eau Ambrée by Prada

Eau de Merveilles by Hermès

Eau de Gentiane Blanche by Hermès

L'antimatière by Les Nez

31 Rue Cambon by Chanel Les Exclusifs


Wild card skin scents (off category players):

Let me Play the Lion by Les Nez

Arsène Lupin Dandy by Guerlain Les Exclusives

Le Parfum de Thérèse by F.Malle

Sonia Rykiel Woman -not for men! Eau de Parfum by Sonia Rykiel

Vanille Insensée by Atelier Cologne

Nude by Bills Blass

Bronze Goddess/Azurée Soleil by Estee Lauder
These are the older sun tan lotion skin note "editions" in contrast to the new Bronze Goddess Soleil which is a tropical citrus.



Which is YOUR favourite skin scent?

Photo by Horst P.Horst "Odalisque" 1943. Stills from the film Last Tango in Paris and Satyricon.

My Romance doesn't Have to Have a Moon in the Sky

The next chapter in the Romance story, the one inspired by Ralph Lauren's fragrance that is includes real-life husband and wife, Nacho Figueras and Delfina "Delfi" Blaquier, the latest stars of the 2011 Ralph Lauren Romance campaign, featured below. The new commercial film for Ralph Lauren Romance was shot by Bruce Weber. The song is sung by Seal; it's the classic Sinatra "My Romance" song by Hart & Rogers.

Giveaway of Overindulgent Gift Set (several costly products!)

A PR company contacted me with an offer that includes several scented products and fragrance -for once, usually they give away endless cosmetics which have absolutely no relevance to out site- and ONE winner is eligible for ALL of them in the 50 continental United States. State your interest in the comments and I will pick a winner by Thursday midnight Greenwich time.

First "item" is actually a scented products set by Honeycat cosmetics.

"Check out my new, "Sex and the Kitty" gift set: "Calypso Kitty" tropical salt scrub, "Frisky kitty bath Fizzy" rose & lemongrass (forget boring old flowers. Toss one of these baby's into the tub, and she will have her own, private, bath bouquet). "Rub My Tummy" milk & honey body cream, and "On The Prowl" peach brandy shower gel...mmm, smells sooo good!" Price:$40.00

Secondly, there is fragrance involved: Soulgarsm by Sasha Varon (not my cuppa, but it might be yours, who knows). They say it includes:

"Top notes: succulent Peach, Anjou pear, fragrant South African Freesia and warm, exotic Black Currant are instantly intoxicating
Heart notes: Salacious notes of wild, night blooming Jasmine, delicate Eurasian Lily and multi-faceted Woodberry blossom forth
Base notes: Flushed, lusty notes of clean Musk, Amber, and sweet, warm Vanilla punctuate this sensually provocative, luxe parfum".

They're offering a 2.4oz Vintage Atomizer of Soulgarsm, priced at $65.00

Last but not least the winner receives a Ferrum Styler hair styling aid of 160$ retail price. According to the ad copy

"What Makes Ferrum Different? The answer lies in the technology of the VSS System which is a combination of a non-heated padded fabric element and a tourmaline coated ceramic plate. The real distinction of this tool is the fabric padded side. The fabric is a combination of lightweight, anti-static polymers that allows the hair to "breathe" while straightening. In combination with the pad, the styling result most closely resembles blow-drying; which tends to give hair exponentially more volume than flat-ironing. Since the fabric padded side is non-heated, the Ferrum styler doesn't burn all the moisture out of the root of the hair giving it a much more vibrant, "bouncy" look. A flatiron will fry and dry out your hair between two solid hot plates. The Ferrum styler will allow your hair to rest on glide on a soft surface, allowing hair to breathe and retain more of its natural moisture, shine and volume".

Hurry up!

NB: I have absolutely NO affiliation with any of the companies involved. It's just a good opportunity for making someone happy or for that someone to give gifts on their turn to someone they love. Winner will receive their gifts directly by the PR company.

Le Labo Gaiac 10: fragrance review

Perfumer Annick Ménardo does a Marc Buxton on us with Le Labo Gaiac 10; a sensual, diaphanous and creamy season-less woody fragrance with just the barest hint of soft, sweet musks and comforting, meditative incense in the drydown. Why so? Because Annick shares the beloved mixture of Ambroxan and Iso-E Super of Buxton's famous woody incenses and fluffies his somber yet clean style with the infusion of a hint of sweetness that lends come hither charm to the proceedings.: a delicate balance fit for an experienced trapeze artist.

Gaïac is a very hard greenish wood that isn’t as dry as cedar and that is subtle, profound, and stable. Le Labo’s GAIAC 10, a perfume extract that has been developed in partnership with cult perfumer Annick Ménardo (Bulgari Black, Lolita Lempicka, Patchouli 24) in 2008, is a tense formula built on gaïac wood and surrounded by muscs (4 different synthetic musk types in all), with hints of cedar and olibanum (incense). If you like the meditative, cool Eastern incense vibe of Kyoto by Comme de Garçons, you have good chances to appreciate that element in the Le Labo offering. The musks are the "clean" variety, lightly sweet with a faintly fruity tonality, with no funk or sweat involved. The woody background with a light peppery nuance is reminiscent of the base notes treatment in Poivre Samarkande for Hermessences and Bang by Marc Jacobs. (So we know it's Iso E Super that's doing the trick). And of course there's incense. Subtle, coolish, lightly smoky incense, contemplative and serene.

Essentially monochromatic, entirely linear but pleasurably so, I find that Gaiac 10 projects as a secret aura more than a fragrance: It's the type of scent to wear when you desire people to spontaneously exclaim "you smell good" instead of "your fragrance smells good".

The lasting power of Le Labo Gaiac 10 is amazingly good, about 12 hours and going on my skin, while the perfume wears close to the body, yet still enough to be noticeable at all times during a hug or a kiss. Marketed as a masculine, I believe it is in reality a shared fragrance and it would be ultra neat for lovers to share; just imagine the possibilities, assuming that the steep price point is not a deterrent! It is available in the standard basic apothecary style bottle and label of Le Labo, customized per customer and only available in Tokyo; unless you get the opportunity to catch this in the course of Japan Relief while supplies last online for a limited time only (find out more on the link).

Still from the film Der Himmel über Berlin (Wings of Desire) by Wim Wenders (1987).