Welcome to the weekly Perfume Chat Room, perfumistas! I envision this chat room as a weekly drop-in spot online, where readers may ask questions, suggest fragrances, tell others their SOTD, comment on new releases or old favorites, and respond to each other. The perennial theme is fragrance, but we can interpret that broadly. This is meant to be a kind space, so please try not to give or take offense, and let’s all agree to disagree when opinions differ. In fragrance as in life, your mileage may vary! YMMV.
Today is Friday, April 1 — Happy April Fools’ Day! I couldn’t think of an appropriate April Fools post for a fragrance blog, though my personal Facebook feed is blowing up with silly posts from friends. Also, “rabbit rabbit” for good luck this month, and don’t miss the April Scent Semantics posts from six bloggers next Monday! I got to choose the word for April, which is fun for me. But it’s a secret until Monday, so please check back!
This week, I had to attend a neighborhood meeting to discuss a proposal for designating our neighborhood as an official historic district, which would protect us from encroaching development, roadways, and demolitions of old houses. It has become a flashpoint of controversy, and a number of homeowners who don’t want additional restrictions on what they can do to their houses — if the houses were built before the 1960s — have become very angry, threatening to sue the neighborhood volunteers who lead our civic association. I didn’t want to go to the meeting, but went to support the beleaguered volunteers and to voice support for the historic designation. Whew! Glad the meeting is over, though the controversy continues! And yes, I wore Chanel No. 19 which is my fragrance armor.
Victoria at “Bois de Jasmin” has written very knowledgeably (as always) about Chanel No. 19. She discussed its reformulations, adding this historical insight:
A side note on galbanum, fragrance and politics. When Chanel No 19 was created in 1971, it was formulated with a superb grade of Iranian galbanum oil, which was sourced especially for it. However, when the Iranian Revolution broke out in 1979, the oil became unavailable. No 19 had to be reformulated, which was accomplished with much difficulty, because the original galbanum oil was of a particularly fine, rare caliber.
History. Always fascinating, sometimes enraging.
Do you have any thoughts on what fragrance to wear for April Fools’ Day? Or for “rabbit rabbit”? Or any fragrance-related history? Do share!
Serenity Now Scents and Sensibilities 
I’m following the NST CP which is to wear a fun perfume. I chose SJP Covet, which is a weird collection of notes which somehow work on my skin (lemon, lavender, dark chocolate?) Bonus points in my book for being a cheapie I found at Marshall’s.
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Yay for finding cheapies at Marshall’s! I found my bottle of Covet either there or at TJ Maxx, don’t remember which. I like it a lot too, and you’re right — it is a fun fragrance. I haven’t decided what to wear for NST today, but I’m thinking maybe something from Smell Bent or 4160 Tuesdays, as they have plenty of fun fragrances.
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No19 is perfect fragrant armour.
An interesting thought on the history of houses & homes. In the UK we have different levels of protection on individual buildings, including homes. We’ll also have “Conservation Area” status for districts of historical interest. The level of protection makes a difference to what changes can be made to buildings, though changes can be made working with the relevant planning bodies. Otherwise some homes wouldn’t have toilets & baths!
As for April Fools, there is too much foolishness happening in the world right now for me to feel comfortable inflicting anymore.
Here we say “White Rabbits” which I didn’t say until after I wished the dog “Happy Gotcha Day”
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Yes, it’s a bit like that here in the US, but clearly the timeframes are very different! So we don’t have Grades I, II, III as in the UK, but we do have both individual buildings and entire neighborhoods designated as historic. There’s much less protection, though. The National Register of Historic Places doesn’t offer protection except from federal government action (which does matter, as that includes highway construction). Local historic district designation is the one that requires homeowners to get planning approval for certain changes. In our city, the neighborhood itself can take part in writing the regulations, which is great and offers much more flexibility. Even that is too much, apparently, for some owners. They’re perfectly entitled to their own opinions, of course, but some of them are really bullying other neighbors and spreading misinformation, which isn’t okay. Anyway, it will come to a vote, and we’ll see where it goes.
White Rabbits to you!
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Gucci Rush for me today, no joke! Too busy for pranks and luckily everyone else around me is too, lol.
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