(To our Tumblr followers: we read you on the feed side b/c Cindy really loathes using the Tumblr interface for reading posts.)
For me, there’s no such thing as a Mr. Almost Right in the realm of scent.
Just before and after my marriage, I wore Worth’s “Je Reviens” (which used to be colored blue and stained your clothes, if you weren’t careful). The name means “I will return.” “Is that a promise or a threat?” my eventual husband used to joke.
And then, once I had begun writing about dancing, I discovered the old Guerlain fragrances. My favorite was “Mitsouko,” not least because it had been Diaghilev’s scent. Now favored by both men and women, it was introduced to me by my fellow dance writer Sally Banes and worn for decades by Balanchine’s right-hand-woman, Barbara Horgan. I abandoned it finally when the formula seemed to become more synthetic or something that made it not quite true to itself.
After the eclipse of Guerlain, I practiced a kind of serial monogamy, returning to old favorites for months, even years, at a time. More successfully—since the old scents or I had changed and thus lost our affinity with each other—I discovered new creations.
Perfume: Personal Indulgences No. 10 - Seeing Things (Tobi Tobias - Arts Journal, via Vonelle)
The drama and science of choosing a scent! During a recent fit of pique about the difficulty of finding Norell (success at Filene’s!), Cindy discovered the Fragrance Directory, a vast clearing house of information regarding the composition of specific scents and when they were established. Cindy learned that the scents she invariably dislikes (and describes as smelling like “cake that’s gone off”) are moss-bassed Chypre florals. I experienced the penetrating glimpse into the obvious that I like classic Orientals (Shalimar, Emeraude, etc.), but I also learned that the florals I prefer are the detested Chypre florals (like Guerlain’s Mitsouko) and that the vast majority of perfumes I like were established in the 20s—with the exception of Cacharel’s LouLou (1988), Piguet’s Fracas (1948), and Agent Provocateur (2000; also a Chypre floral). Not only do I look like a flapper; I evidently stink like one too. What should men smell like? Wood-based floral aldehydes. No, I’m not kidding.