The Intrigue of a Woody Oriental

Morning Divas,

Why does it always rain when I return to New Haven? It's like rolling back the tape on a sad movie, coming back to the same rainy scene. I'm spending the weekend with a friend and time I stepped off the train it seems like the clouds inflated at once and began to perforate. This morning my alarm was nature. Water rushed to the ground like marbles, bounced, and scattered beneath the cold gusts of air. The sound was quite pleasant. It sounded just like those rain makers. The sight, not so much.

I will tell you what was pleasant; the scent of Samsara by House of Guerlain against my slumbering body. Of course by morning it had politely nestled into my sheets, pillow, and blanket as well. I love waking up to a great perfume. I just bought Samsara yesterday but I knew I'd love it. First of all it is by Guerlain, perfume diety. Secondly, it's a bold woody oriental and I've decided that this is the category of perfume that best expresses me.

What is a woody oriental? This simply means that traditional and fragrant oriental flowers such as jasmine, rose, and bergamot blend with heavy, more pungent, even masculine woody base notes like cedar, patchouli and oakmoss. The result is a provocative scent that is both mysterious, and sensual. These are complex, intellectual scents that open rather oddly, mystifying the nose, and over time they take on a warm, deep, and sexual nature. It's a journey in scent best for the woman who holds that a little mystery goes a long way and the woman who practices a slow seduction rather than a quick thrill. Other remarkable fragrances of this type include Prada by Prada, Hanae Mori's Butterfly, Omnia by Bulgari, Black Orchid by Tom Ford, and Calvin Klein's Obsession (love it).

Today the market is flooded with sexy spicy oriental and florientals (Armani Code, Magnetism by Escada, etc.) but I think it's quite nice to stand out in the crowd and to catch the unsuspecting nose by surprise. Many of the better woody orientals are really before our time, such as Mitsouko (which means 'mystery' in Japanese) which was created by Guerlain in the twenties. While this fragrance type isn't for every woman, if you're looking to switch it up from sweet and spicy, to bold and mysterious perhaps, try one of these next time you hit the perfume counter. It might become your new thing.

flyness and funk

Ike

Pleasure Principle Scents

Evening Divas,

This evening I'm munching on mom's gingerbread cookies and spagetti, listening to the sugary laughter of my neice and nephews as they run around. However, yesterday took a major emotional toll on me. Tragedy begets maturation; taking people, life, and opportunity for granted is truly a mark of youth. I'm a week from my 22nd birthday, and watching a loved one fight for their life is the hardest thing I have ever had to do. Honestly, I became an adult last night. It is one thing to be mature, or knowledgable or even sophisticated but shedding the narcissm of youth is the hallmark of adulthood.

Nevertheless, feeling undone, my friend and I decided to catch the last hour of a holiday party at a lounge in my town. It was horrible. Well, the ambiance was cute, but the crowd was much too large and a bit uncouth for my tastes. It wasn't my scene. People I haven't seen since high school feeling themselves, young girls trying to front as grown, sexy girls trying... too hard, and other disdainful fiercetrocities. It didn't help me in my time of grief.

But Ash and I looked cute. We wore similar knee length, embellished, chiffon dresses. Her's was aqua blue and mine was saphire. I love my BFF.

I also wanted to tell you about my latest fragrance find. Last night I wore a roll-on essential oil by Pleasure Principle, a line of bath, body, and erotic products for women. It's run by a fly woman of color out of Connecticut, who is an entrepreneur, attorney, author,wife and mother. Last night I wore "Night Star", a fragrance of juicy strawberries with a hint of musk. It's naughty and nice. The scents are artfully designed by Rayna, Pleasure Principle founder and CEO, and are all sophisticated, complex, and ravenously seductive. Other popular scents include "Come", "Day dream", "Naked", "Bump n' Grind" and "Desire". Wear these to conjure your passionate, sensual side or to entice your man. Hey, it's a great way to seduce him and with your clothes on. (hehehehe) But seriously. You'll turn heads.

The essential oils, made of grapeseed, rice bran and sunflower oils are sold in larger sizes as excellent daily moisturizers. Find out more or purchase here.

Flyness, funk, and fa la-la-la-la,

Ike

SPOTLIGHT: J'adore Commercial, Charlize Theron, Marvin Gaye (vocals), 2007

I have no idea what the scent is like, but this may be one of the best Perfume commercials ever created. It stars Charlize Theron.
Oh, and this is Marvin Gaye's "Funky Space Reincarnation" in the background." This commercial is fierce on so many levels.

Virgin Island Water, Take Me Away

Morning Divas,

I'm a little groggy. Crashing an article deadline for 12 PM. Unwritten papers looming on the horizon as is the arabic exam next week that will surely be the ruin of my life.

Time for an escape... to the Islands. I'm dreaming of turquoise seas, white sands, sun...and rum.

I can't travel right now, but this scent certainly puts me in this place. Virgin Island Water by Creed. The House of Creed is known world-wide as an elite fragrance dynasty. It has been lead by eight generations of perfumiers and the youngest son created this fragrance to appeal to younger women with a taste for sophistication.



Creed is an androgynous scent... which I'm learning to love because it appeals to men (or your man... or maybe the man you want to be your man) on a subconscious level by using notes they are familiar with.



This scent literally smells like paradise. The base notes are composed of deep and sweet notes of tonkin musk, white rum, and sugar cane. The middle notes are sultry; jasmin, ylang ylang (afro-disiac), and ginger. The coconut in the top notes are strong, but it is balanced with the citrus freshness of lime and mandarin, and the elegance of Bergamot. It contains all of the sexyness of a spicy oriental without being just another sweet spicy oriental. The distinctly island notes (rum, sugar cane, coconut) makes this an exotic scent and the citrus top notes tame it's sweetness and gives it a great wearability.

I also find that black men enjoy the deep fruity scents on us and every man that I've worn this with has commented. My daddy actually purchased this from Neimans for my mom. That's how I discovered it.

You can't bottle Paradise, but this is a close as it gets. Purchase a 4.0 oz bottle here for $187. (worth every penny)

-with flyness and funk,

Ike

Moet Tastes, Zinfandel Budget: The Solution for the Perfume Obsessed

In the words of famous perfumer Pierre Dinand, "Without Perfume a woman is naked." It's so important that a woman's scent is evocative of her personality, her carriage, and... her very womanhood. Quite often the best scents (House of Guerlain, Chanel, Creed) are those made of complex, exotic notes that are designed to tittilate and intrigue the olfactories. Nevertheless you may pay a grip for such fragrances.





NOT anymore. There's a store called United Roots right down the street from Yale's campus that I stumbled into one day, just out of curiosity. To my sensual pleasure, I found over 800 scent types in oil base!!! United Roots carries designer-type scents (Cocomademoiselle, Magnetism, Armani Code, Shalimar Light), essential oils and blends. Every time I go there I stay for over an hour. Oh and prices.... between $5 and $25. Perfume fans, welcome to paradise!

A word of caution: while some scents are enhanced in their oil base (the original base before alcohol is added) others are not. Oil-bases tend to be base-note heavy and they don't have the same dynamic scent-release quality of alcohol bases in which you first smell mostly the top, then the middle, then the base-notes. The oil base tends to flatten the smell. Nevertheless it lasts practically all day, verses 3 to 5 hours, and the little $5 roll-on sticks are perfect for sticking in your evening clutch to freshen up your scent at the end of the night.... or the next morning (a fly diva's got to stay prepared, hehehe).



The website is http://www.unitedroots.com/. The store is located at 49 Orange Street, New Haven CT and there is another at 140 Fairfield Ave. in Bridgeport CT. If you are anywhere near this area, it's worth the trip.