Category: What We’re Wearing

Blackberry Hotel

Post author By Karen Dubin
Post date July 19, 2011

I love staying in hotels. Always have, since I was a little kid. Doesn’t matter where it is – I’ve stayed at the uber-fabulous, four-star Gritti Palace in Venice, Italy and the spartan, no-star Camelot Motor Inn in Cape May, NJ – and I get the same sense of excitement when I walk into the lobby for the first time.

Here we were on Fourth of July weekend, at yet another Courtyard by Marriott. I knew what to expect – I could describe the surroundings to you blindfolded. I closed my eyes and visualized the usual pedestrian earth tones of terra cotta, deep Indian red, tangerine and chocolate brown to compliment the faux-adobe stylized lobby. Accents of huge earthenware vases with spindly, sad pussy willows sticking out of them. A fake fireplace with brass kokopelli figurines dancing across the mantel. And an overwhelming aroma of cloyingly sweet citrus-cinnamon potpourri, so strong and pungent that my eyes would begin to tear as soon as we crossed the threshold.

But as the automatic doors flung open and we rolled our luggage in, my nostrils immediately perked up and stood at attention. What a lovely, familiar smell! I stopped, inhaled. Yes… that was blackberry… and musk. My sensory memory kicked in without missing a beat. Our hotel smelled like L’Artisan Parfumeur Mure et Musc, one of my favorite fragrances! Or was it more like Trish McEvoy No. 9 Blackberry & Vanilla Musk, in the cool triangular bottle? No, it was definitely the L’Artisan! And I couldn’t be happier… because at least for the weekend, I was living in a perfume bottle.

What We're Wearing What's New

Just Showered

Post author By Karen Adams
Post date July 11, 2011

Step out of the shower on a sweltering day and even the steamiest bathroom air feels deliciously chilly on damp skin. As the summer days heat up, fragrances that help recreate that just stepped out of the shower feeling are very compelling. Clean scents linger softly during the day. The hint of delicate soap whispers cooling memories.

Penhaligons Castile is the quintessential classic soap scent, with notes of neroli, petitgrain, bergamot, orange blossom, rose, woods and musk. CB I Hate Perfume lets you choose from five different varieties of soap – Musky, Pine Tar, White, Tabac, and Plain Old. Philosophy Pure Grace claims to be simple soap & water, while Gendarme Carriere adds jasmine & lilac. And then there’s Bobbi Brown Almost Bare, reminiscent of a certain hair smells terrific shampoo. But that’s a whole other blog post.

What We're Wearing What's New

Fragrance on the Brain

Post author By Karen Dubin
Post date July 8, 2011

Sometime in the last ten years I came to the realization that everything I observe, hear, taste, inhale, process, digest, or soak up through osmosis I do in a sensory way. Translation: virtually everything makes me think of fragrance!

I don’t know why it took me so long to figure this out, I’ve been doing it since I’m four years old… when my grandmother Rose first brought me a little wrapped, triple-milled, highly fragranced soap from the Ritz Hotel in Paris and my sense of smell stood at attention, saluted and my potent attraction to scent was born.

I’m in the Strand bookstore – the sweet, damp smell of vintage books and brittle, yellowing newspaper wafting to my nostrils. And my thoughts immediately gravitate to CB I Hate Perfume In the Library, which really *does* smell like a room full of well-loved tomes. Or Chanel Cuir de Russie, a beautiful portrayal of pungent, tanned leather, worthy to bind the complete works of Shakespeare or Dickens.

A trip to Dylan’s Candy Bar with my daughter, and I’m loitering by the black licorice, which I’m fairly convinced I’m addicted to. Good n Plenty, Twizzlers, black Jelly Bellies, Australian, salted, licorice shaped like ropes, pipes, Scotty dogs… I crave it all. And I want to wear it – in the form of Etro Anice (the closest you’ll get to smelling like the black and pink morsels of Good n Plenty), and Caron Aimez Moi, which, with it’s intoxicating blend of anisette and violet, replicates not only licorice, but also those powdery violet candies your grandmother used to keep in her purse.

Window-shopping in Soho, and I’m mesmerized by the display of creamy, blush-colored lingerie at Kiki de Montparnasse. Nothing could be more sensual, languidly kissing the female form. And the fragrance that my mind conjures up? Stella McCartney Stella Nude, which is absolutely the personification of lingerie with its soft, musky, rose accord.

Is this normal? Is it a quirk? Do other people convert everything to smells in their minds? I don’t know… But I’ve learned to enjoy my affinity and it’s become a form of entertainment.