Perfume Chat Room, July 16

Perfume Chat Room, July 16

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, July 16, and WordPress tells me it is the 6th anniversary of when I registered with them! This blog’s anniversary comes a bit later. I remember that summer so well. I spent it also working remotely, because I had fallen and broken my shoulder while on a June visit to London and couldn’t leave the house. In fact, I couldn’t sleep in my own bed because of the sling I was in and the pain it caused to move too much. I slept in a “medical lift chair” in our dining room! But after the initial week or two, I was able to work online, and one of my colleagues would come over to my house two days a week.

That was the summer I learned how to blog on WordPress and discovered some of my favorite fragrance blogs and bloggers. Some of you are regular visitors here now, and I appreciate that! I had already gone down the perfume rabbit hole in 2014, when I read Chandler Burr’s “The Perfect Scent” and then Turin and Sanchez’ “Perfumes: The A-Z Guide.” Starting my own blog in 2015 was a welcome distraction from my broken shoulder and some very nasty goings-on at work. It was a bright spot in an otherwise challenging year. The name “Serenity Now” originated in my attempts to stay mindful and calm that summer.

Speaking of work, I had my first full day back at my office this past Wednesday. Boy, it was weird to be back other than for a mail pick-up. It was great to see many of my colleagues in person instead of onscreen, though, as most of them are very nice. It’s going to take a while for my introverted self to adjust to being back among groups of people. My SOTD was Pure Grace Summer Moments, a very pleasant flanker of the original Pure Grace that I actually prefer to its predecessor. Yesterday I worked from home again, because I had to teach an online workshop and it’s easier to do that from here (and tbh, I needed to decompress a bit). I felt very contrary, so I wore Chanel No. 19. What a truly great fragrance that is! I know not everyone likes it, let alone loves it as I do, but there’s no denying its greatness.

What does your daily life look like these days? Working? Working from home still? If you’ve returned to an in-person workplace outside the home, how is that going? Have you changed any of your scents or scent-wearing habits?

May Melange Marathon: Thank You

May Melange Marathon: Thank You

I pondered and pondered what would be the subject of my last May Melange Marathon post today. How could I pick one out of so many lovely scents? How to choose? It has been easier when I’ve focused on a single note, like muguet or rose — that limits the candidates quite a bit. But this year, when my May Marathon has been a somewhat random mix of “May flowers”, the selection is more difficult.

So instead, I am writing to express my thanks to the many perfumers whose work has given me and others so much pleasure, especially during this past year of pandemic. Trying fragrances and writing about them has been a welcome distraction from the turmoil of 2020 and even into 2021. I am especially thankful for the independent perfumers who have labored through the most difficult economic times I can remember; the independent perfumeries who have done the same; the reviewers, posters, and bloggers whose work I admire and enjoy; and especially the readers who are kind enough to read my blog and others, and who form a supportive community worldwide.

So thank you, in no particular order, Diane St. Clair, Sarah McCartney (and Nick!), Liz Moores, Dawn Spencer Hurwitz, Jeffrey Dame, Pissara Umavijani, Christi Meshell, Shawn Maher, Jean-Philippe Clermont, Undina, MMKinPA, Neil at The Black Narcissus, Victoria at Bois de Jasmin, Robin and the community at Now Smell This, Portia Turbo and Jin, Megan In Ste. Maxime, Sam Scriven at I Scent You A Day, Tara at A Bottled Rose, The Candy Perfume Boy, Wafts From The Loft, Bloom Perfumery, Perfumology, LuckyScent, Krystal Fragrance, Tigerlily, Indigo Perfumery, CaFleureBon and all its writers and editors, Colognoisseur, Mr. Cologne 76, Sebastian, American Perfumer, Scent Trunk, Fragrantica and all its writers and editors, and so many others I’m sure I’ve left out. I appreciate you all!

Featured image from Dreamstime.com.

PSA: Weekend Discount Code

PSA: Weekend Discount Code

Perfumista friends: Beautyhabit has a 20% off code this weekend for purchases of $100 and up, BHFF20, and they have a wide range of niche fragrances in stock, including some Nicolai, Parfums de Rosine, Serge Lutens, and others. Some were already on sale, and the code gives you an extra 20% off the sale price. The code is good until midnight PST on Sunday, July 26. Le Muguet de Rosine and Nicolai’s Week-End in Normandy are on their way to me now!

Perfume Chat Room, July 17

Perfume Chat Room, July 17

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, July 17. Continue reading

Perfume Chat Room, July 3

Perfume Chat Room, July 3

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, July 3. Happy Fourth of July! Continue reading

Perfume Chat Room, June 26

Perfume Chat Room, June 26

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, June 26. Continue reading

Scent Sample Sunday: Lady Stetson

Scent Sample Sunday: Lady Stetson

I have decided to seek out, proactively, some black perfumers and black-owned fragrance brands to highlight periodically, because I’ve been so concerned about the racial tensions in my city, state, and country lately, and this feels like something positive I can do through my little blog (I regularly encounter and try to handle issues around racial justice in my actual job). And someone I have recently discovered is Howard Kennedy, a longtime perfumer and “nose”, who created Lady Stetson and won five FiFi awards for “Fragrance of the Year” during his long career. He is one of the rare black perfumers recognized as having made important contributions to fragrance in the 20th century.

Today’s “Scent Sample Sunday”, then, will be Lady Stetson. Continue reading

Perfume Chat Room, June 12

Perfume Chat Room, June 12

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, June 12. Continue reading

Perfume Chat Room, May 15

Perfume Chat Room, May 15

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. As regular readers know, I am in the middle of a “Roses de Mai Marathon” during which I am trying to post a daily review of a different rose scent. That will continue today (post will come later), but in the meantime, please feel free to chat! At an appropriate social distance, of course.

Today is May 15, and I have Southern magnolias (Magnolia grandiflora) blooming in my garden! Huge, fragrant white flowers against dark green leaves. What’s blooming where you are? My SOTD is Balenciaga’s Rosabotanica. Yours?

Featured image by J.D. Crowe for www.al.com.

Perfume Chat Room, March 27

Perfume Chat Room, March 27

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 March 27, the first official week of spring in this hemisphere, and COVID-19 continues to dominate news and thoughts everywhere. Continue reading