If you have been reading my musings about our memories ... I'm going to touch a bit on some of the most powerful tools for triggering memory imagery... music and taste always bring back a time and a place for me but scent for me is probably the strongest trigger because it brings back images of myself and of other people, places and holidays stronger than sight, sound, taste and touch... I won't be talking so much about our memories this week but join me in sniffing out some of my observations and revelations about scents and sensibility or our sense of scents.
One of my favorite scents from nature come from Night-Blooming Jasmine (seen above) it brings back wonderful memories of growing up and different places I've been along the way... in terms of scent I have always had a preference for fresh but I'm not immune to the nostalgia that a damp, dank attic or cellar can evoke.
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| Nice is nice |
In terms of all the places I've been I think Grasse France is about as fragrant as a town can be since it's surrounded by fields of lavender, roses, jasmine and orange blossoms, I've only been there a couple of times but I'm dying to go back someday soon... I first discovered the charming town as a result of a trip to Nice (one of my favorite places to stop for a few days) but partly due to a hotel reservation mix up, lost travelers cheques and stolen passports and luggage but as a direct result of the kindness of strangers my traveling companion and I spent a lovely long weekend in Grasse until we got everything sorted and were on our way... If you want to visit on your own it's about a 90 minute drive from Nice by car but you can also take a bus or train.
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| Grasse |
There are about three perfumeries in Grasse and The Grasse Institute Of Perfumery where I took a workshop and bought some essential oils (I have a great respect for any fragrance formulated from essential oils and it's price tag from what I learned and have equal disdain for any perfume or scent using synthetic fragrance with a hefty price tag... (it's the same way I feel about designer clothing made in China out of inexpensive fabric)
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| Institute Of Perfumery |
One of the most important things I learned is that a fragrance is not a fragrance while it's still in the bottle or even if you remove the topper and sniff... it only becomes the actual fragrance once it's applied to your body and has a chance to to chemically react to your body chemistry (this is why the same perfume or cologne can smell so different on other people) in addition if your skin is oily or dry it can dramatically change the overall scent. To best test a scent apply it to the top of your hand and wait a few minutes... Mixing and formulating a scent is like science so please don't make the mistake of trying more than one scent or mixing them... what you are going to create is something horrible trust me... also don't try to mix scents you like as most are not compatible... recognize that scent is an adornment like an accessory or jewelry but please let your mantra be "less is more"... there is nothing more horrifying to me than being around anyone wearing too much fragrance... especially if I'm trapped in an elevator or any other confined space with them... I also don't apply fragrance where anyone's mouth or tongue might come into contact for any reason... so I limit my light fragrance application to the top of my ear lobes. the tip of my nose (I want to smell it too) and the pulse points of my wrist and elbow (and because of Catherine Deneuve's Chanel no5 television advertisement in the mid 70's... a little drop behind each knee)... in short be scents-ible and responsible about your fragrance... it tells as much about you to other people as what clothing you are wearing or not wearing and you will be judged by it and not always admired particularly if you can be sniffed out the second you enter the room then everyone within smelling distance is going to know you are desperate for attention... one other thing that is really important... if you are using soap, body cream and body powder and it's not the same fragrance as your perfume or cologne or aftershave make sure that all the products you use don't compete with the others.... One of the nicest compliments I ever got about my own personal scent was once someone told me how wonderful I smelled after a racquet ball game and the only scent on me was perspiration and the soap scent left over from my shower earlier in the day.
Speaking of perspiration... it's basically odorless since it is pretty much salt water (unless you consume food high in spices and garlic)... but when it mixes with bacteria that's what produces the oder we have come to call B.O. (body odor)... Soap and water can handle the B.O. issue simply and efficiently... as can wearing clean clothing and fresh undergarments daily.... I've dabbled with deodorants (they just kind of mask oder), and antiperspirants and believe it or not you used to be able to buy pure aluminum-chlorohydrate directly from a chemist over the counter... but I finally came the the conclusion that we are supposed to perspire... it's the way our body rids itself of waste and regulates body temperature... just keep clean especially underarms and the crotch area and your problems with odor will be few.
I'll close with a few thoughts... first of all one of the reasons I love going home to Honolulu is it is one of the few airports in the world that smell fabulous... I think in large part due to the beautiful Japanese garden in the courtyard... first built in the early 60's with many additions in the years that followed.
And secondly I've been an adventurer and bon vivant in almost all areas of my life except fragrance... I have worn Eau d' Hermes almost exclusively my entire life... I had a little fling with the old Eau De Balenciaga (no longer in production) but if you were reading a few weeks ago when I said I found something recently in box from the City Of Paris store in San Francisco... it was an unopened tightly sealed bottle that believe it or not after nearly a lifetime it still had the same scent.
But sadly as you can see it's almost gone.... I read something several years ago about fragrance... It should be like a wonderful glass of wine that you savor and enjoy for the moment and then move on to the next simple or exotic concoction... I've never been able to do that for some reason... (Someone who once sublet my old apartment said the place smelled like me and I seemed to still be there for months... or at least the Eau d'Hermes was still there)... I got a bottle of fragrance as part of the December... Anniversary... Hanukkah and X-mas festivities... our gifts are all inclusive to the three December holidays we celebrate... so it's the dawn of a new fragrance day I will embrace and enjoy the Greg Lauren for Barneys New York until it's gone and move on...
I'll be back next week and touch on our perceptions of beauty... I'll give you something to think about... I think the best looking people in the world can walk out of a shower, swimming pool or ocean soaking wet and still look terrific because they are not relying on clothes, cosmetics or hairspray to look good... Think about your perception of beauty and what it means to you. See you next week and thank you for your patience in my absence.
As a side note to the gardens at the Honolulu Airport I would like to pay special homage to the CB Lansing....
C. B. Lansing Garden
The C.B. Lansing Garden was constructed in 1995 when the Interisland Terminal was built. It is located on the ground level of the makai end of the Interisland Terminal. It is named in memory of Clarabell Lansing, chief Aloha Airlines flight attendant who died in the line of duty on April 28, 1988.
