First of all, apologies for radio silence. Like many other bloggers who started out around ten years ago, my perfume and blogging fervor has waned significantly in recent times. A large part of that is no doubt down to the passage of time but the pandemic certainly played a part in my case. At this point, I can’t imagine going back to regular blogging but I am keeping the blog live so the old posts aren’t lost and in case our beloved Val ever wishes to write again.
All the same, I’m very happy to hear that Perfume Lovers London is returning after being on hiatus since Covid. It is being organised and hosted by lovely former member Brooke, who has sent me all the details below:
Barbara Herman, founder and creative director of New York based niche perfume brand ERIS PARFUMS will be flying over to meet with the group on Friday 28th October at the October Gallery in Bloomsbury. She’ll be sharing the stories and exploring the ingredients that comprise ERIS’s seven fragrances, all composed by master perfumer Antoine Lie. Everyone who attends will be able to experience natural ambergris, hyraceum, seaweed, tuberose and more alongside each of the finished scents.
Barbara started out as a blogger for Yesterday’s Perfume (2008 – 2012), writing her impressions of the vintage fragrances that she started collecting in 2008. This exploration turned into a book, Scent and Subversion: Decoding a Century of Provocative Perfume, which looked at the cultural, political, and aesthetic history of 20th century perfume, with an original focus on its queer, subversive nature and how it upended conventions around gender, gentility, and even our sense of smell as the lowest in the hierarchy of the senses.
Barbara’s talk will begin at 7pm in the October Gallery’s Club Room. Tickets cost £25, which can be used towards an ERIS fragrance on the night of the event. Copies of Scent and Subversion and ERIS Discovery Sets will also be available for purchase. You can book a ticket here.
It would be good to catch up in the comments. Let me know how things are with you.
Our very last Scent Semantics. 12 months flew by in the blink of an eye. Even for the six bloggers who have been on the Scent Semantics journey lives have changed inextricably. Suddenly the world opened up and needed us all to get back involved, produce, create, scrutinise, write and read. Sheila is fulfilling lifelong dreams, Daisy is travelling and making podcasts happen, Elena is now a published author and the blog is going great guns, Undina has had family come to the USA and work, Old Herbaceous has also dealt with upheavals in the family and I’ve been getting back into Trivia work, events and property purchasing. Add to this the pall of C19 and Ukraine. It’s been a big 12 months.
Scent Semantics? We get a word, we get a date, we have to choose a single fragrance that fits the word and then have to explain how it fits together, in our way. As much or little as we feel the word/fragrance connection needs. We are going to probe a little into how each of us bloggers see the world, fragrance, ourselves. We get to see how one word can inspire different directions in connection. or not.
We get a word, we get a date, we have to choose a single fragrance that fits the word and then have to explain how it fits together, in our way. As much or little as we feel the word/fragrance connection needs. We are going to probe a little into how each of us bloggers see the world, fragrance, ourselves. We get to see how one word can inspire different directions in connection. or not.
We get a word, we get a date, we have to choose a single fragrance that fits the word and then have to explain how it fits together, in our way. As much or little as we feel the word/fragrance connection needs. We are going to probe a little into how each of us bloggers see the world, fragrance, ourselves. We get to see how one word can inspire different directions in connection. or not.
We get a word, we get a date, we have to choose a single fragrance that fits the word and then have to explain how it fits together, in our way. As much or little as we feel the word/fragrance connection needs. We are going to probe a little into how each of us bloggers see the world, fragrance, ourselves. We get to see how one word can inspire different directions in connection. or not.
I do love the smell of the standard tea-lights. (Is that hyphenated?) I always have one burning in the bog. It’s lovely to go into, amazing how much warmth and smell one candle can give off. The whole loo is so gemütlich. Inviting a Wordle session ——
Pretty similar in a church, but of course much more intense. The larger number of candles heating and expanding the air above them, as they flicker and glow.
It would appear that Albrighton had 11 relatives, all of whom have turned their toes up. And he lit 11 candles, in Antwerp, for them. I don’t think they all died in Antwerp though. I mean that would be a bit odd. Unless they al fought in the Siege of Antwerp. Or the Battle of the Scheldt. I dunno.
A CLASSICAL WHITE ORCHID bouquet, spiked with pink pepper, melts into a bed of dense creamy candlewax. Beschreiben von Parfüm muss man lieben!! I am sure he missed out jasmine ——
Basically it’s a very appealing creamy waxy white floral. It stays on the skin perhaps longer than his other fragrances, but that is not a negative thing. It’s gorgeous on your clothing the next day I must say. Very Lutensian in smell, with a name that Serge himself might well have come up with.
Does it smell of candlewax? Yes. Would we have known that had candles not been mentioned in the name? Probably not. Does it matter? No.
We get a word, we get a date, we have to choose a single fragrance that fits the word and then have to explain how it fits together, in our way. As much or little as we feel the word/fragrance connection needs. We are going to probe a little into how each of us bloggers see the world, fragrance, ourselves. We get to see how one word can inspire different directions in connection. or not.
Since December I’ve been on a self-development/spirituality audiobook kick which shows no immediate signs of abating. Therefore my fiction reading has slowed down but here are the books that I have got to.
The Galaxy, And The Ground Within (Wayfarers 4) by Becky Chambers
“She definitely looked to be the sort who would love a good exclamation point (or twelve).”
I’ve loved this Sci-Fi series so much I was a bit apprehensive about how it would be concluded. I had hoped it would circle back to the characters in the first book but instead once again we have a new cast (except for one) and this time they are all aliens. I say aliens, really they all talk and act in such human ways it doesn’t feel like reading about beings from other planets. The plot is that three spaceships are grounded at a kind of planetary rest stop when the satellite system goes down. The pilots are three different species and their host and her young child do their best to make them all feel welcome while stranded.
Like the other books it’s all about the characters and their interactions rather than an action-packed storyline. Prejudices are expressed and overcome and it leaves you feeling uplifted and hopeful. I can see how some would find the Wayfarers series too ‘woke’ with its themes about gender and race but I’ve loved it. 4.25/5
The Other Bennett Sister byJanice Hadlow
“There are times when happiness must be fought for, if we are to have any chance at all of achieving it.”
If like me, you’re a fan of Pride and Prejudice in any of its forms, I highly recommend this book. It starts off as a kind of retelling of the Austen novel but from the perspective of the overlooked, middle sister, Mary. In the many versions of the story, Mary comes across as dull, priggish and lacking in self-awareness. The Other Bennett shows how she may have become this way with a critical mother, a distant father and sisters who eclipsed her in varying ways.
It was fun to see Lizzy and Mr Darcy enjoying married life and the marriage of Mr Collins and Charlotte Lucas up close. However, it then carries on after the events of Pride and Prejudice as Mary sets out on her own quest to find a place for herself in a society where a single woman without money is in a precarious and piteous position. She aims to live only by cold rationality but finds this is challenged as we see Mary has feelings that she has tried her hardest to push down.
The plot is often unlikely and unsurprising in equal measure but it’s also a delight. The writing is seamlessly in the Austen style and Mary proves a compelling heroine in her own right. 4.25/5
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
“It’s the regret that makes us shrivel and wither and feel like our own and other people’s worst enemy.”
Hmm, I have many thoughts and feelings about this book which has been hugely popular and won Best Fiction in the Goodreads Awards last year.
I gained a lot from Haig’s memoir about depression Reasons to Stay Alive but this is the first fiction work of his I’ve read. At the start of the book, Nora becomes depressed after a series of tough live events, eventually becoming suicidal and taking an overdose. She finds out the place between life and death is The Midnight Library where each of the infinite number of books on its shelves represents an alternate life she could have lived had she made minutely different decisions. This way, she gets to go down various roads not travelled – the lives where she was an Olympic swimmer, a glaciologist, an academic, a rock star etc – to see if there is one she would like to stay in.
I can see that if you struggle with regret this book could be comforting but I would strongly advise against reading it if you’re actually depressed. The opening chapters are hard to read if you’ve been in that place and really, it offers no real solace if you’re in that situation (you’re far better off reading his non-fiction such as Reasons to Stay Alive or The Comfort Book). I found it overly simplistic and sentimental as well as boringly predictable. I knew exactly how these often daft parallel lives would turn out and how the story would end. It was all pretty trite and irritating. 2/5
Again, Rachel by Marian Keyes
“My personal brand was, ‘In recovery, but still great fun’.”
Marian Keyes is one of my favourite people. For me, the world is a better place for having her in it. She comes across as warm, funny, kind and compassionate. She is an addict in recovery and knows the depths of prolonged suicidal despair. I had a chance to meet her once but chickened out because I felt too emotional at the time.
A friend lent me a copy of Rachel’s Holiday when it was published in 1997. It was about an addict going to rehab in Ireland; an experience Marian went through herself. It’s beloved by Marian’s fans and Luke is definitely her best loved (lusted) male character. There was much excitement at the thought that there would be a sequel set two decades later. I re-read Rachel’s Holiday before I started Again, Rachel.
It was good to catch up with Rachel in her late 40s but obviously everything is not rosy. She is dealing with past trauma and life as an addict in long-term recovery. About half way through I guessed how the rest of the story would unfold but I still hugely enjoyed reading it. It was also a lot of fun to re-visit the raucous dynamics of the Walsh family – and to get more Luke! 4.5/5
Ariadne by Jennifer Saint
“I would not let a man who knew the value of nothing make me doubt the value of myself.”
I was a narrator in a play about Ariadne and the Minotaur in middle school so I was particularly drawn to this, though I have a love of Greek myth re-tellings generally. This version focuses on Ariadne and her sister Phaedra, princesses of Crete who lives are overshadowed by the existence of their minotaur brother living in the labyrinth under the palace. Everything changes for them when Theseus arrives from Athens with the other tributes to be fed to the half-bull, half-human.
This book is sold as ‘gripping’ and while I thoroughly enjoyed the first half, the second half was indeed a real-page turner. As usual women are the pawns of men and gods in these tales but both Ariadne and Phaedra endeavour to make the best of their situations and the story is told from both of their perspectives. I highly recommend it but especially for fans of Circe by Madeline Miller. 5/5
Please let me know in the comments if you’ve read any of these or if you have any other books to recommend.
It’s the sweet floury coating on the long pack of Bazooka Joe – the one that divided into 5 chunks making it easier to break off the pieces. I would shove it into my gob all in one go, chew until my jaw ached, and then blow thick bubbles, big enough to cover my whole face including bangs.
As the blast of Hubba Bubba divineness softens – luckily it takes a long time, YUM – I get a gorgeous artificial blackcurrant creeping in through the gumpowder. There’s a foamy pink sweet shrimp note somewhere in there. Fabulous. (Do you get foamy pink shrimps outside of The Commonwealth, please stand up).
You can really spray it like a Bro. Like all of Albrighton’s perfumes, it fades out beautifully until it disappears, leaving no long term chemical burn.
It’s a brilliant fun wear (read that as joyful) because the last thing it is, is cheap or nasty. It’s sweet, but kept from being thick and sticky, with a soft base of cashmere, spiced cedar, a sandalwood and musk.
Freddie Albrighton will go far, you mark my unhinged words.
Last Minute Change of Heart is expected mid-May 2022. There are a number of stockists. Check his website.
VAL
PSA. This is an experimental blog post. I am still MIA – due to a trauma in my life that resulted in a nervous breakdown. I will not answer questions but will accept all prayers. It’s rough.
We get a word, we get a date, we have to choose a single fragrance that fits the word and then have to explain how it fits together, in our way. As much or little as we feel the word/fragrance connection needs. We are going to probe a little into how each of us bloggers see the world, fragrance, ourselves. We get to see how one word can inspire different directions in connection. or not.
A Bottled Rose 